Back again I am, with a real mixed bag of new music for your perusal – hope you enjoy at least some of it!
HÄXAN
‘The best Welsh power trio since Budgie‘ said my colleague the Boss Man on hearing Häxan‘s debut album White Noise which came out a couple of years back, whilst Gavin Strickmann, who is actually Welsh and thus far more qualified to pronounce on such matters, proclaimed the record to be ‘nothing short of miraculous’… high praise indeed from a pair of old cynics like those!
Anyways the girls are back with a new five tracker entitled Death of Me, and a highly accomplished eighteen minutes of racket it is too. In fact, to my battered old ears, one of the tracks featured here, Thirteenth Hour, easily surpasses anything on that debut. The title track is no slouch either, featuring some solid drum work from Jess Hartley underpinning Harriet Wadeson‘s rumbling bass sorties and the classic metal riffage of Sam Bolderson, who also puts in an assured performance behind the mic,
Death of Me isn’t out for about a month (release date is May 23 – facts-obsessed Ed), so you can spend the interim time chewing over this missive straight from the mouth of Ms Bolderson herself: “We know it’s been a while since our debut album, and that’s because we were lucky enough that it kept us so busy with touring and being on the road, finding the time—or headspace—to write just wasn’t possible. Some bands write on the road, in vans, hotel rooms, but that’s just not us. We need to shut ourselves away and get stuck in. When we finally had the chance to do this, it took a little time to get back into the writing swing of things. Most of the songs on Death of Me revolve around a kind of disconnection that doesn’t happen overnight—it creeps in. The kind of slow unraveling that builds over time. They don’t deal in answers or resolutions; they just sit in the tension.”
XENOS A.D.
Well, I must say this was a bit of a pleasant surprise. We obviously receive a lot of submissions from bands looking for a bit o’ the old Sentinel patronage – especially thrash and death metal bands – and after a listening session spanning hours that turns up nothing but bands that sound exactly the same it can get a bit dispiriting. I should complain, I know, but facts are facts… Anyways, just as one such of these sessions was dragging it’s sorry arse to an end I slapped on the new offering from Sicilians Xenos A.D. AND SPARKS FLEW!
That’s right. So, whilst it’s undeniable that XAD do sound a bit familiar – think Kreator before they went glossy, added to the technical virtuosity of Mustaine and the superior songwriting nous of Metal Church in their pomp – they do so with such wild-eyed commitment and sincerity that it’s actually pretty hard to resist. Mastered to perfection by Top Dog Italian Knob Twiddler Simone Mularone, the band’s latest offering, Reqviem For The Oppressor is an absolute riot of violent thrash metal, chock full of razor throated vocal mayhem, jackhammer rhythmic thrust and finger twitching solos. he mad prog interlude at the end of Children of the Atomic Sun is a highlight that underlines the musical credentials of the band, but every track on the album is worthy of some ear time if old school thrash is your passion. Great stuff!
WARRIOR POPE
Any of you fascinated by pomp, circumstance and mystery surrounding the recent death of the Pope in Rome might be interested to make your ways to the upcoming new album from Crusty Brit Doom purveyors Warrior Pope and their super new album A Morbid Parody of Justice, which is set for release at the end of May. Not only does the album feature the use of one of my fave words – Pontifex – it tells, in grindingly doomish fashion, the story of The Cadaver Synod, when the Body of Pope Formosus was memorably dug up and put on trial!
I won’t go too deeply into the subject matter here – suffice to say the album captures it brilliantly in sound – but have to say that, fascinating concept or not, the album slays on a purely musical level in that primitive way only British doom can. There’s not a hint of Dio here, and precious little Ozzy either, but there’s a whole load of crushing noise to enjoy if you like names like Electric Wizard and Amebix. That’s not to say that Warrior Pope particularly sound like either of them, but they do brilliantly harness the oppressive, airless spirit of true doom that exists in those band’s recordings.
Oli Foxen‘s bass work is absolutely titanic, especially on standout track Condemnations of Formosus, but really this isn’t an album where picking out individual performances or standout tracks is particularly helpful. Just sit back and wallow in it as a whole, living, desperately breathing piece, and wallow in the misery. And if it doesn’t have you scuttling away to read up more on one of the most bemusing incidents in Papal History then I’d be very surprised indeed. Musical enjoyment and an addition to the knowledge base? Yes please!
PENITENT
Finally for this episode of MMM we feature Penitent, a venerable name from the past for those of you with an interest in the Cold Meat Industry catalogue…
The re-imagining of the 1996 CMI debut from Norwegian darkwave pioneers Penitent will be available from The Circle Music at the end of next month. Melancholia Redux is an enhanced re-release as almost everything has been changed with re-recorded music, new artwork and rewritten English lyrics.
Adds Karsten Hamre, the prime mover behind Penitent: “After nearly thirty years, the Penitent debut album Melancholia is set to be released in a new incarnation… The music and instrumentation has been re-recorded, and the lyrics have been rewritten and are now all in English. Thanks to the good people at The Circle Music this reincarnation, now dubbed Melancholia Redux is set to be released on both CD and LP. I am thrilled about this cooperation, which should be a long-lasting one, and it should include more reworks as well as new and updated versions of the Penitent back catalogue (some to have voice/vocals added to them).”
Hamre, Penitent’s heart and soul, has followed a peculiar personal path and for more than three decades has remained consistent, dressing his poetry in black and eerie melodies. Not only did the passing of time not deter him, on the contrary, today he is possessed by a freshness that is like doing a complete restart. He has re-recorded a large part of the ten albums he has released to date, while at the same time making new plans for the future.
That’s it for this episode – I’ll be back soon with more nutritious nuggets!
Leave A Comment