Holy crap, what a week! This time around we’ve got a mechanical triceratops-named band called Bionatops singing about a crazed hillbilly, awesome new music from both The Black Dahlia Murder and Gwar, the long-awaited comeback of Through The Eyes Of The Dead, and Shadows Fall vocalist Brian Fair returning to the mic with Downpour.
Let’s listen.
Bionatops – “Voices”
Let’s kick this week off with something that sounds like if Primus were a death metal band, yeah?
Bionatops is the extremely strange and ridiculously catchy group featuring multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Joseph Spiller (ex-System Divide, Caricature, The Binary Code, Too Late The Hero), as well as drummer Jeff Willet (ex-Black Crown Initiate). The project is meant to be a simultaneous descent into a fun version of insanity, and a break from all the crazy shit that’s going on in the world today… and Bionatops nails it.
Not to mention the music is incredibly well-executed, the vocals are super diverse, and the heavy parts are not even considering fooling around for one single second. Fun? Yes, but that doesn’t mean this duo isn’t putting 110% into it.
Pre-order Voices here before its September 22 release date.
The Black Dahlia Murder – “Nightbringers”
The Black Dahlia Murder has always been solid, but in 2011 the band released the churning, disgusting, guttural sounds of Ritual. That album front to back has a plodding, absolutely menacing tone to it that the band never quite had before it and never quite got to again.
Until the new song “Nightbringers.” This song is just perfect – the guitar riffs are just slow enough to where every single note counts, the bass sounds like it was just exhumed from the grave, and vocalist Trevor Strnad is just as demonic as ever. If Nightbringers is as good as its title track, then The Black Dahlia Murder may very well release its best album to date this year.
Throw money at Nightbringers here.
Gwar – “Fuck This Place”
Man, it’s weird to be excited about new Gwar. It’s the band’s fourteenth album since 1988, but it’s also the first-ever Gwar release without vocalist David “Oderus Urungus” Brockie. Brockie passed away in 2014, and has since been replaced by new vocalist “Mike “Blothar” Bishop.
It’s worth noting that Bishop played bass and did some vocals on the first four Gwar albums, which explains why “Fuck This Place” sounds like some seriously old-school Gwar punk jams… and also like Matt Pike from High On Fire. Tragedy aside, this is a damn good song, and if the rest of the album is up to snuff with this single, it might be one of Gwar‘s best.
Pre-order The Blood Of Gods before its October 20 release date here.
Through The Eyes Of The Dead – “Hate The Living”
We had been promised a new Through The Eyes Of The Dead EP since 2014, and that never quite came to fruition. There were demo tracks, there were instrumental songs, but the full release just never materialized. Which wouldn’t have been the biggest deal if Through The Eyes Of The Dead had done anything more recent than 2010’s Skepsis.
Now with guitarist Steven Funderburk (Wretched, Lillake) in the band, Through The Eyes Of The Dead has announced it’ll release its long-awaited album Disomus on October 13 via eOne. The new song “Hate The Living” is exactly the pummeling, technical barrage of riffs you’d hope for from the band, meaning seven years later Through The Eyes Of The Dead hasn’t lost a single step.
Pre-order Disomus here.
Fleshkiller – “Warfare”
Let’s be real here. Extol‘s 2013 self-titled album was phenomenal, and now Fleshkiller‘s forthcoming debut album Awaken seems like it’s going to be on par with that, if not heavier. Extol vocalist and guitarist Ole Børud heads up Fleshkiller just as he has Extol, leading us to the only logical conclusion – Børud is unstoppable lately. It’s also worth noting that Børud is such a master of his craft that no matter the band’s name, his style of riff-writing and vocals is instantly recognizable.
Fleshkiller is rounded out by Shining‘s bassist Ole Vistnes (the Norwegian Shining), The Burial guitarist and vocalist Elisha Mullins, and Umpfel drummer Andreas Skorpe Sjøen, and will release Awaken on September 15.
Once you’ve got all that head banging out of your system due to “Warfare,” and pending you can still see straight, grab yourself a pre-order here.
Downpour – “Without The Fear”
We’re currently five years out from Shadows Fall‘s potentially final album, which means we’re also five years out from kickass Brian Fair vocals. Fortunately Downpour, the band featuring Fair, guitarist Matt Lebreton (Frozen, Cannae), bassist Pete Gelles (Birch Hill Dam, Sorrowseed), and drummer Derek Kerswill (ex-Unearth, Seemless) has reactivated and is releasing singles fairly regularly.
No word on what Downpour‘s plan is for an actual release in the future, but I’m really hoping for a full-length. Sure, Fair’s vocals are always great, but the music behind the vocals is just genuinely interesting.
Keep up with Downpour on Facebook in the meantime, and check out their YouTube channel for some additional music.
Thy Art Is Murder – “Puppet Master”
If you think you’ve got Thy Art Is Murder pinned as some boring deathcore band that only plays breakdowns, you’re about to have your head taken clean off.
Thy Art Is Murder stepped up its game in an absolutely monolithic way with its new album Dear Desolation, with death metal riffing, tons and tons of blasting, face-destroying guitar solos, and vocals that never leave the red in terms of being insanely pissed off. As is customary, please hit play on “Puppet Master” and obliterate your speakers with it.
Dear Desolation is out now, and you’re going to want to get it.
