New Music Report – August 14, 2020
I only have a couple of albums to talk about this week, unfortunately, but somehow, they’re two of the heaviest albums I’ve ever heard in my life. And the juxtaposition of the two creates a very interesting dichotomy of heavy music as a whole. One is basically kawaii-core from Slovenia, and the other is disgusting quarter time doom metal. So yeah, it’s been a good week.
Within Destruction – I don’t even know where to start with this one. Within Destruction is a Slovenian deathcore band with absolutely cringe-worthy lyrics, some of the most brutal deathcore breakdowns I’ve ever heard, anime samples, and influences from… J-pop? You know when people say, “How can you understand what they’re saying? It’s just screaming.” In this case, that’s a good thing. But to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t matter how dumb the lyrics are cause this album is absolutely bonkers. It’s so god damn heavy; you can hear some solid influences from bands like Crystal Lake and such (there’s actually a guest feature from Ryo), but there’s just so much of this album that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. And honestly, the most puzzling thing about it is that I love it. So much. You really just have to check this out for yourself, cause on paper this album is just nonsense, but the execution is surprisingly cohesive. I mean, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t like, a deep, revolutionary moment in the progression of deathcore. But it certainly is a fun, disgustingly heavy album that isn’t afraid to try something new or look a little bit silly. And for that alone, I love it.
Primitive Man – Sticking with the soul-crushingly heavy theme we’ve got going this week but coming from a completely different end of the spectrum, this is the most jarring, abrasive, and heavy sludge/doom metal I’ve ever heard in my life. This isn’t the kind of doom metal that just sounds like a bunch of dudes that smoke too much weed and listen to too much Sabbath found B-tuning on their guitars. This is HEAVY. Have you ever taken an album and played it at like, quarter speed and it sounds absolutely sinister? That’s what Primitive Man is like, full stop. With a foundation of dissonant noise setting an unrelenting tone throughout the album, the riffs on top are hefty, sludgy beatdown to break apart the grating undertones and compliment the vocals that sound like they’re straight out of a horror movie. And these elements combine into a supremely discomforting drone that’s laden with an absolutely incredible attention to detail and nuance that make this not only the heaviest album in recent memory, but also incredibly deep and captivating to listen to. To put it bluntly, it’s magnificent.