Good afternoon, readers!

Just a quick shout to let you all know about this brand-new split record that came out last Friday — half of which is by a doom troupe from Montpellier France, whose 2016 album we had written about back when it came out; the other half features a sludge trio from Seattle whose 2017 album really caught my attention at that time but somehow I never got around to writing about that one, an oversight which is being rectified right now…

Old Iron – Lupus Metallorum (Good to Die Records, 18 August 2017)

Old Iron / Verdun – Split (Satanik Royalty Records, 25 February 2022)

On Lupus Metallorum (another name for the poisonous metallic element Antimony), Old Iron‘s brand of metal is markedly sludge/doom-tinged, although some of the guitar tones here and the solos that pop up occasionally tend to exhibit a bit more of a traditional heavy metal flavor.

Progressing through the ten tracks here, the listener will find that some of the later entries take on a bit more of a blackened style (such as “Valerian”) or introduce more of a death-sludge element (see “Nightmare Tooth”).

But particularly notable are the vocals — coming across sounding like a legion of demons howling from deep within the center of hell, frozen solid within its icy core.

In their two songs released on last week’s split, Old Iron come across a little more atmospheric, dark and dismal, slow and doomy; but here the vocals as terrifying as ever — if not even more so!

On the flip side, our old friends Verdun use more of a hoarse hardcore shouted vocal style, but otherwise a very similar dark, doomy metal — a very appropriate pairing to be combined on one record. One of their two contributions is a cover of Morbid Angel‘s “Dawn of the Angry” (from their “D” album), a fairly faithful interpretation except for the absence of continual double-kick drums throughout and the screamed vocals in place of the characteristic death-growl/gargle.

Grab a copy of Lupus Metallorum here (digital/vinyl) or here (digital/cassette/vinyl).
 
The split record can be ordered right now, here (digital/vinyl) or here (digital/vinyl). Downloads are available immediately, while the 12″ vinyl edition is expected to ship in about a month, from either place.
 

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http://www.oldironband.com
http://oldiron.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/Old_Iron_Band
http://verduntheband.com
http://verdun.bandcamp.com
 
http://www.goodtodierecords.com
http://www.satanikroyaltyrecords.com
http://satanikroyaltyrecords.bandcamp.com