Here we are – here you are – let’s just get stuck right in to Episode twenty of Mickey’s Metal Morsels shall we?

FILTH
Filth morsels
Shadowy Aussie anger merchants Filth have emerged from nowhere with a vile blast of pugnacious assault and battery that quite honestly defies description…

The band themselves, who I am reliably informed are comprised of some ‘mid-tier personalities’, are steeped in death metal and squat/crust dynamics, and you can hear that on their first, incredibly lo-fi release, Useful Idiots. Even the spoken vocals sound barely in tune, but there’s a desperate, vicious malice and latent intent in the delivery of the words juxtaposed with the bludgeoning yet strangely groovy programmed drums and grinding, hammer force guitars that is strangely alluring in a JG Ballard sort of way…

One track is all you’ll get at the minute, with the promise of more to come if ‘the listening public like what we’re doing’… ‘Like’ might be a strong word for something so caustic, but stranger things have happened in the wonderful and frightening world of heavy metal before, so who knows?

AKLASH
Aklash morsels
Phew. If Filth are as unsophisticated as it gets, then Brighton denizens Aklash are the living, breathing polar opposite! Their new album Reincarnation is absolutely dripping with class, and I’m going to be demanding that everyone who makes the mistake of knocking on my front door in the next few weeks gets a good earful of it!

The opening track on the new record – which came out a couple of weeks ago – absolutely has to be heard to be believed, mixing as it does some prime black metal vibes with with a sort of proggish, very British ‘psych’ feel that brings to mind seventies hero Steve Hillage and eighties phenomenon The Teardrop Explodes.

Next track Communion with Ghosts is a little more straightforward, but even here the band don’t baulk at injecting more than the average amount of quirk into the mix, infusing every note with the sheer force of their personality to create something very special indeed.

Nicholas Millar is almost shamanic up front, wild-eyed and savage when required yet projecting a real substance behind the bluster that marks him out as a bit special; But he’s not alone there, and together the band present a formidably accomplished front that simply demands to be heard. Chris Kendell‘s bass on Babylon is astounding, but after listening to the album a few times you realise that, actually, astounding is Aklash’s default setting. If the idea of Akercocke communing with the great pantheon of Britain’s psych rock Gods gets you excited, you should make a bee line for Aklash now and prepare to be utterly captivated. All hail the new Gods!

APOSENTO
Aposento Morsels
Next up we head to Logroño and legendary Spanish death metallers Aposento. Although they formed in 1990 the band didn’t get a full-length album out until 2014, but now they are back with their fourth offering in the space of ten years in the shape of just-released effort No Safe Haven.

Those nineties vibes saturate the new album though, with the band clearly seeking to commune with the spirits of the Florida of those times when MORRISOUND was the only word that mattered. That said, there’s nothing here you could decry as sounding like a direct ripoff, and the band harness the essence and vibe of ‘old school’ death metal expertly over the course of the album’s ten tracks.

It’s a no-frills affair, but you can’t deny Aposento’s sheer commitment to the death metal cause. They might not be offering anything new here, but they are offering something well worth listening to.

ENDLESS FLOODS
Endless Floods Morsels
It’s no secret we’re big fans here at MMM of the wonderful variety of music that seems to be coming out of France on an almost weekly basis at the moment, and the latest addition to our list (or Le List, as I like to call it) is Bordeaux’s Endless Floods, who this week release their latest offering Rites Futurs.

Like Aklash, EF burnish their noise with an almost psychedelic flourish, leavening the clatter of clanging, post-rock axes with mellifluous dream sequence choruses and a faint air of the bucolic which may set you thinking of Sid Barrett‘s sixties tenure in Pink Floyd if you are so minded.

Standout track Muraille, with it’s chiming guitar fugues in the intro and choir-like vocal layering even had this decrepit old scribe thinking about Brit guitar rock pioneers Wishbone Ash, but for all the remembrances of times past Endless Flood prompt, however their timeless melodies spiral off into a half-forgotten ether, you keep coming back to the fact that their music is also very much of today, and also of the fact that they manage to wield all those sounds and fragments into something that actually doesn’t sound very much like anything else currently doing the rounds. Simultaneously harnessing the comfort of the familiar with the excitement and freshness of the new – now there’s a talent worth having…

POD PEOPLE
Pod People Morsels
Back to Australia for our final band this episode – legendary doom exponents Pod People.

The band have put themselves through the wringer creating new album Oblivion, and still don’t have a final release date that we can pass on, but we couldn’t let the emergence of new music from the band go unheralded and so here for the delectation of your naked, steaming ears is a track from the album, God Help You.

It’s a perky, coquettish little number… who am I kidding? If you know the Pods you know what to expect, although God Help You’s low slung groove is a little more up front thatn we’ve come to expect. And if you haven’t heard the band – what are you doing still reading? click the link, tune in, turn on – and rock out. Oh, and buy the t-shirt that’s on offer if you can, too… as ever MMM asks you support all the artists we feature!

That’s it for episode twenty – as ever, I hope you’ve enjoyed the results of our excavations. See you all next time!