New Music Report – August 28, 2020
Still a few days behind on my new music posts, but there were some pretty gnarly albums that came out last week. Unlike last week, which was fairly diverse, these are all very dark, heavy, fairly sinister albums, but they’re all really, really excellent. And truthfully, while they’re all metal, that’s where the similarities end, so I definitely recommend checking out each of these.
Spook the Horses – These guys are really rad, I’m particularly proud of this find. I happened across these completely by chance a few years ago writing one of my very first weekly music update posts. I was light on things to talk about and found this band with a cool name and were labeled “atmospheric sludge metal”. And well, I was fucking sold with that one. And now here we are, several years and many new music posts down the road, and these guys are even better than when I found them. This new album sounds like a dirtier and more grating Cult of Luna, with a touch of black metal thrown in the mix, as well. In fact, the vocals even sound like a more chaotic and dissonant Johannes Persson. Which is very high praise, of course, cause I love Cult of Luna and garishly chaotic music in general. So, they definitely lived up to the “atmospheric sludge metal” label, and this new album is a great listen. It’s a stellar progression from their last album, which was a bit more melancholic, not to say it wasn’t dark or heavy, but this one really goes for it. There’s a lot more brute force and abrasive noise on this album and I really think it’s all the better for it. And even more importantly, I never got the feeling that they sacrificed any of the depth of this album to obtain some of the punchiness. There’s still a lot to unpack here and it’s going to take a few listens to really digest the whole, but I absolutely feel it’s worth the effort.
Pig Destroyer EP – This album is gnarly. But of course, that will come as no surprise to anybody that’s familiar with Pig Destroyer. What is interesting though, is how they approached this album, this isn’t your typical grind album with 15 tracks coming in at a runtime of 30 minutes. It’s actually, curiously enough, a 6 song EP, featuring an interlude track, and a nearly 12 minute long pulsing, almost industrial song. The whole album is incredibly discomforting and oppressive, but in two very distinct ways the act as a stark contrast to one another. There are the brutal grind tones of the first three tracks, followed up by the incredibly strange and eerie latter half made of up ambient field recordings, avant garde electronic noise, distorted vocals, and industrial grooves. The whole EP is a completely savage mindfuck, and I love it. Thematically, it’s as dark and brutal as you’d ever expect from Pig Destroyer, but this truly strange execution of those undertones is absolutely inspired.
Necrot – Death metal has been seeing a huge resurgence lately and honestly, I’m here for it. And the great part is there are tons of different flavors and reinterpretations of the classic sound that has set the foundation for heavy music for almost 40 years now. The hardcore kids are getting their hands on it, new school thrash bands are incorporating traditional death metal riffs into their songs, even black metal is getting involved. But sometimes you just want the real deal. Solid, classic death metal in its most genuine form. And for that, we have Necrot. A brilliant contemporary take on classic death metal; it sounds familiar, but still modern. Like, it sounds like it was supposed to sound like it was recorded in the guitarist’s basement in 1987, but it still sounds great and never ends up sounding like another half-baked Slayer rip off band. And I think it’s really important to have bands like Necrot pushing this genre forward. While there are other bands out there utilizing death metal elements, and there are tons of aging death metal acts still cranking out music, it’s incredibly important to have fresh, young acts like this pushing the genre forward in a genuine way; blazing a path forward so there is still something recognizable yet new to look forward to. And this new album is another spectacular step forward towards creating something great, and keeping this genre alive, young, and exciting.