![]() “Husk” is a shorter song that hulks open and gets fully aggressive right away, with punchy, punishing playing and melody presented in a really strange way. “Solar Barge” certainly feels spacey, and though it takes a little time to get going, once it does, it rips you through the stars with whirring soloing and technically astonishing playing. ![]() Despite it running near eight minutes, it never feels half as long because the journey is so intoxicating and fun to jump aboard. “Terse” is a short, violent burst of a song that is one of the most relentless tracks on the album, and that leads toward the mind-altering “Khaz’neh” that is guttural and gritty but also spacious and adventurous. The trio of bassist/vocalist Cale Schmidt, guitarist Lewis Fischer, and drummer Alan Cadman let things rip early with opening track “Mare,” a weird dose of death complete with gurgly growling, trudging melodies, and blistering drumming that sounds like a panicked soul rapidly pounding on a door for hopes of help avoiding total destruction. Their record is a really strong listen, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this album breaks them out to a larger amount of people. The trio is really well polished and machine-like, and their “Paramnesia” could excite people who like really techy death metal and stuff that sounds like it shot in from outer space aboard an asteroid from light years away. Both are perfect examples of remaining true to death’s past, but each band also has their quirks that separate them the rest of the pack (as well as from each other) and make them worth following going forward.Īltars, not to be confused with the Christian hardcore band by the same name, has been around since 2005 and have offered up a few split efforts and a demo before finally getting down to their debut long player. The other is Ensnared, a bizarre, punishing band from Gothenburg, Sweden, that keeps thing raw but also carves a bloody new path toward death metal’s future. One band is Altars, who hail from Australia and combine technical wizardry, off-balanced weirdness, and pure brutality on their first full-length effort “Paramnesia” that is a pretty mind-blowing document. Nuclear Winter have two new releases about to hit the market (actually, three, though one, Temple Nightside we’ll talk about in the future since Dark Descent will be releasing it domestically), and both maintain the label’s reputation of finding ugly, punishing, bone-crushing bands that keep real, true death metal pumping through heavy metal’s disgusting body. The Greek label has brought on some of the finest of underground black and death metal, including the awesome Cruciamentum, Trials, and Drawn and Quartered, and yes, when I was at the beach sifting through my promos I was planning to write about, it did put a bit of chill in my bones thinking about death and winter. Instead, we’re going to talk about a label whose name makes me think of that terribly freezing time with a side of Armageddon, that being Nuclear Winter Records. We’re not really going to talk about wintry music today, so sorry about that somewhat misleading intro. Winter is coming, as a certain television show has reminded us repeatedly, and while I actually kind of like that frigid, dead season that’s encased in ice and frigid temperatures, it doesn’t sound appealing in September. It’ll be chilly really soon, and just having returned from a week at the beach, that makes me kind of sad.
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