Let’s see, what did you miss this week? We’ve got Black Label Society punching out a pirate, Toothgrinder writing a song that may or may not be about getting some ghost lovin’, Periphery‘s frontman finally rolling out his solo Endur project, and Angel Vivaldi dancing like a damn madman.
So yeah, you missed a lot. Great job.
Toothgrinder – “Phantom Amour”
Toothgrinder‘s debut album Nocturnal Masquerade captured the attention of the progressive metal world in 2016, and it seems like the band’s followup is going to be a bit of a departure from that sound.
The title track to Toothgrinder‘s new album Phantom Amour is a big, spacey rock track that features some oddly-fitting rap bits in the middle. If anything can be accurately said about Toothgrinder at this juncture, it’s that the band seems to be constantly looking for ways to expand upon its sound in very fitting ways.
Phantom Amour is out November 10.
Endur – “Death Angel”
Periphery frontman Spencer Sotelo introduced the world to Endur in 2011 with the debut single “Skin Deep,” and then proceeded to do basically nothing with the project. There were demos and the occasional single here and there, but Endur is finally happening for absolute real in 2017.
Endur has announced its debut album American Parasite on October 27, and the project is very, very clearly inspired heavily by Nine Inch Nails and maybe a touch of Marilyn Manson. Basically if you like “Parade Of Ashes” written by Sotelo for Periphery‘s 2014 EP Clear, but wish there were more keys, this one’s for you.
Angel Vivaldi – “Serotonin”
Angel Vivaldi is one of those rare guitar-centric instrumental artists that can actually write a song that’s catchy instead of just shredding all over the place and calling it a song. Vivaldi’s new track “Serotonin” is another one of those crazy catchy tracks because what else did you expect, though with a killer guest solo from Alice Cooper guitarist Nita Strauss.
Angel Vivaldi just released Synapse today, and you can grab a copy here. I also suggest you snag his album Universal Language, because it’s basically the perfect instrumental EP as far as guitar playing goes.
Black Label Society – “Room Of Nightmares”
It’s been four years since we last heard from Black Label Society, but now one Zakk Wylde solo album later, Black Label Society has returned! The band’s return seems to be a fairly straightforward one as well, as “Room Of Nightmares” follows a very similar song structure to the majority of Zakk Wylde’s solo stuff. Which isn’t a bad thing – get to the point and make every pit stop along the way as interesting as humanly possible.
“Room Of Nightmares” mainly deserves your attention for two reasons. For one, the guitar solo is completely insane and sounds like a demonic harmonica (which would also be an amazing band name that I 100% claim right now), and two is that the video is entertaining as fuck.
Grimmest Hits is out January 19, and you can pre-order it here.
Cavalera Conspiracy – “Insane”
The Cavalera brothers made their name in Sepultura, and ever since their departure have put out some pretty good music. Their releases post-Sepultura have been a little hit or miss, though Cavalera Conspiracy‘s new album Psychosis seems like it’ll be more hit than miss.
The new song “Insane” sounds like it could’ve been an old Sepultura cut, and pretty much just deals riff after riff without ever once backing down or getting boring. Psychosis is out November 17 and seems like it’ll be worth picking up.
Sinsaenum – “Ashes”
I still think Sinsaenum has potential. The band consists of drummer Joey Jordison (ex-Slipknot, Vimic), guitarists Frederic Leclercq (Dragonforce) and Stephane Buriez (Loudblast), vocalists Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Sunn O)))) and Sean Zatorsky (ex-Chimaira, ex-Daath), and bassist Heimoth (Seth), and dropped its debut album Echoes of the Tortured in 2016.
Echoes of the Tortured wasn’t a bad album, but what killed it for me was that it was 22 tracks. Yes, 22 tracks because in between every single song was a one minute-ish instrumental, except for between tracks #10 and #11. So that means 10 full on tracks of pretty much nothing but filler, effectively killing the flow of the album.
Well, Sinsaenum is back with an EP called Ashes. The EP is three new tracks, two Japanese bonus tracks previous released, one remix, and seemingly no fillery instrumentals… which is good news, because the title track is a crusher. If Sinsaenum can crank out an album of songs like “Ashes” next and forgo all the instrumentals, dudes would have a great one on their hands.
Ashes is out November 10.
The Black Dahlia Murder – “Kings Of The Nightworld”
Every single The Black Dahlia Murder drops off its coming album Nightbringers makes me think that it’ll be by far one of the band’s best albums, and “Kings Of The Nightworld” only reinforces that assumption. We’ve gotten singles that were sludgy and disgusting and ones that’ll straight up rip your head off, and this one is just downright old school thrash with a serious death metal tinge.
Plus I’d venture to say that every single riff in the entirety of “Kings Of The Nightworld” is extremely memorable, which seems to be a rare breed these days in the endless deluge of metal. If you’re reading this, it means that Nightbringers has hit stores, and I’m really not sure what you’re waiting for. If you’re lazy, you can always grab yourself a copy online like I absolutely did.
Veil Of Maya – “Doublespeak”
Veil Of Maya‘s 2015 album Matriarch was a massive departure from the band’s previous efforts, considering it was the first with clean vocals. The music seemed to divert as well and concentrated on riffs that had less teeth, but it worked well for that album. Now the band is dropping singles off its upcoming album False Idol and those teeth are back in a big way.
Seriously, “Doublespeak” instrumentally could’ve been off [ID] or Eclipse, and you already know what to expect with the vocals. False Idol is out October 20.
