Hey, it’s 2018! I’m sure you’re planning on losing weight or doing whatever else people pledge to do when the calendar changes over, and that’s great. I’m banking on the weight loss bit though, because who doesn’t promise themselves that? Here’s some music for the gym that will either make you angry enough to lift way harder or put you to sleep.
Lucifer – “Faux Pharaoh”
Lucifer is ex-The Oath vocalist Johanna Sadonis, Entombed drummer Nicke Andersson on drums and guitars, and Saturn guitarist Robin Tidebrink, and more importantly is finally releasing Lucifer II. There’s no official release date for the album yet, but “Faux Pharaoh” is exactly the kind of song that makes me wish there was one. It’s the slugdy old school riffs that I loved so much about Lucifer I, and of course Sadonis’ voice is still as great as ever.
Nightmarer – “Skinner”
Nightmarer‘s debut 2016 EP Chasm lived up to its name with its swirling, murky, and sub-sonically tuned riffs, and it seems like the debut album is going to be exactly that as well. “Skinner” is an unrelenting destructive force whose mid-paced tempo and constantly pounding drums really work in tandem to create something that’s completely obliterating.
Cacophony Of Terror is out on March 23.
Pestilence – “Hypnotic Terror”
Man, Pestilence‘s new album Hadeon is really shaping up to a return to form. The band seems to be returning to its death metal roots with a touch of Cynic-esque progressiveness, which is exactly what’s hooking me on the new song “Hypnotic Terror.” It’s essentially a throwback to the early days of the genre with modern production, and more importantly, it’s Pestilence getting back to being Pestilence.
Hadeon is out March 5.
Ilsa – “Hikikomori”
We’re gonna close out the 2018 debut of Thank Satan It’s Friday with two slow songs, but not the kind you hope for at a school dance. Unless you went to an amazing school. Anyway! Ilsa is about to put out its first album in three years and the lead single “Hikikomori” should be more than enough to convince their fans that this is going to be another record in a line of records that completely crushes.
Corpse Fortress. March 2. Do it.
No Funeral – “Hyperalgesia”
Surprise! No Funeral closed out 2017 with a new EP called Mankind Is Carrion, Fit For Nothing, and it’s the hatefully sludgy closer the year deserved. As for “Hyperalgesia,” it’s No Funeral continuing to move at a snail’s pace and completely flatten everything and anything that dares get in its way.
Get Mankind Is Carrion, Fit For Nothing here.
