Welcome to another big bag of morsels – and what a mixed bag it is this time around. If you’ve music you think we should be including please get in contact via the contact page on the site and shoot through some of what you think makes you worthy of morseldom! Anyways, without further ado please give these artists a go and maybe some support if you think they warrant it! Cheers!
WARCRAB
Just when you thought UK death metal/sludge titans WarCrab’s sound was getting slower and sludgier, they do the unexpected and bring in death metal influences in a huge way. And it’s not even in the form of a thick, ponderous blend of the two styles; Instead, they’ve shed the extra weight that was holding them down and have progressed in a faster, crustier direction!
They’re now effortlessly switching between the two predominant styles as and when the music demands it rather than having a monotonous and predictable sound. The music becomes especially exhilarating when they lay down fuzz-wrapped concrete slabs of riffs one after the other till it reaches a crescendo and then lighting cracks in the sky and all hell breaks loose and the music shapeshifts into a majestic death metal creature galloping to save us all.
There are several other epitaphs glorifying their songwriting skills, some even revealing their emotional side which is something that they didn’t make too apparent before this, and coupled with the fact that they can do all of this and retain your attention for songs lasting for even as long as ten minutes says a lot. This is WarCrab at the peak of their creative prowess. They are back and better than ever before have a listen to the superb The Howling Silence below for more evidence, should you require it!
NOISEPOETNOBODY
Okay, so this column is called Mickey’s Metal Morsels, but I’m taking a bit of licence today and throwing in Seattle’s decidedly unmetal Noispoetnobody for your consideration.
The project of one Casey Jones, Noisepoetnobody has spent much time performing in underground venues, bars, art galleries, abandoned buildings, and illegal DIY spaces forever seeking to promote mental deprogramming through anti-commercial sonic immersion. Each Noisepoetnobody set is a one-of-a-kind exchange of energy employing analogue electronics and improvised inspirations via speaker cones.
Most commonly associated with the genres experimental, minimalism, noise, industrial, and drone, Casey Jones’ solo works and collaborations have been released by Scry Recordings, Lens Records and Public Eyesore, among others. Noisepoetnobody has participated in numerous festivals and series including NorCal Noise Fest, Eugene Noise Fest, Olympia Experimental Music Festival, Litha Cascadia, and is a regular artist at Modular On The Spot and Modular Nights Seattle. Jones also originated the Driftwood Orchestra, Seattle Dismal Fest, Pillow Full Of Drone, and currently joins Peter Keller in the duo Dosenöffner. Additionally, Jones also produced and performed in the three-album Epos Nemo Latrocinium series with Tatsuya Nakatani, Tom Swafford, Dean Moore, and Joy Von Spain.
This is definitely not your usual Sentinel Daily fayre, but please do take a listen and, if you feel so moved, let me know what you think in the comments section below – keen to know what you think!
DUN RINGILL
You gotta love a band with three guitars in the lineup! Swedish doom exponents (well, it’s proper old school metal really but they seem to dig the doom tag so let’s go with it) Dun Ringill have just released their new full-length, Where The Old Gods Play, Act 1, and a more bracing listening experience it would be hard to imagine; Abrasive nuggets like The Devil Wears a Papal Tiara are sure to find favour amongst fans of a more straightforward bent but the band (who feature Neil Mackay Grant, lately of one of my fave bands, End of Level Boss, on drums) pepper their music with enough Nordic folk influences to keep things from getting too mundane, whilst the nicely sandpapered throat of Tomas Eriksson adds a little frisson of the extreme to the mix for good measure.
The resultant din is pretty spectacular; Baptised in Fire lurches gloriously out of the speakers, led by some nifty lead playing and some neat, slightly off-kilter rhythms that keep the listener engaged and on their toes at all time. So whilst this is broadly traditional music, there are enough well-engineered and executed little twists and turns thrown in to the journey to suggest that this is a band with lots of potential for more growth moving forward to full length number four.
HOWLING GIANT
Here’s some exciting news! Myself and Sentinel Daily editor Scott Adams have long championed the work of American stoners Howling Giant, so it’s great to see that the band are on the verge of a new album release! Ahead of this the band have released a new single, which also happens to be the title track of the record – which you can watch below!
Says the band’s guitarist and singer Tom Polzine: “The frenetic energy of ‘Glass Future is part of the overarching theme of our new record. We’ve dabbled in apocalyptic songs through a scifi or fantasy lens in the past, but wanted to explore those themes in a more immediate way this time. Like the angel falling in the song: the world is fragile, don’t drop it.”
Every song on HG’s sophomore album Glass Future tells its own story. Yet even without an overarching concept, all could exist within the same universe. Such crafty lyrical world-building is hardly surprising coming from a trio of enthusiastic fantasy and science fiction aficionados. Glass Future downright asks to inspire a book or graphic novel, even as it explodes with furious energy and thunderous acrobatics.
Musically, Glass Future offers a continuation and evolution of all the elements that made the debut album The Space Between Worlds (2019) such a success. Howling Giant entice classic metal and hard rock to interact dynamically with spacy, prog-infused passages, desert and psychedelic metal moments, rock organs, catchy hooks, and top everything off with soaring harmonised vocals.
The band has taken a gargantuan leap forward with Glass Future that brings their outstanding musicianship and golden-throated triple vocal attack fully into stride. Nothing to do but try to keep up and enjoy the stunning sonic scenery along the way!
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