Category Archives: New Releases

Coming Soon: Fen Wrapping Up Work on Third Album

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So here’s some more exciting news coming from Italian label Code666 Records: the final details are coming together for a forthcoming release by UK progressive/atmospheric black metal band Fen, which the band just finished working on — this will be their third full-length album, and also their third release through Code666.

Not only that, but Fen have also renewed their contract with the label for another three album deal!

 
Frontman The Watcher stated:

We have been happy with the way we’ve been treated by Code666 in respect of the first three albums, and were impressed by the enthusiasm that the label has always shown for Fen and the faith they have placed in us, so it was logical for us to continue a relationship that was obviously working well.

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Coming Soon: Saille Working on Sophomore Album

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Hey, folks. Here’s some interesting Monday afternoon reading for you — there have been some new developments in the world of Belgian melodic black metal band Saille, which I will gladly share with you now.

First and foremost, the band announced that they’ve been working in Aartrijke (Belgium)’s Shumcot Studios, alongside producer Reinier Schenk, recording their second album — the follow-up to 2011’s Irreversible Decay.

Keyboardist Dries Gaerdelen commented,

When creating our new album, I did research on and was inspired by several ancient destruction rituals. The new songs are therefore darker, faster, more aggressive and create a feeling of unease.

The lyrics, written by frontman Dennie Grondelaers, explore the history of those death rites. With the drums being recorded a while ago, we’ve all got a “recording state of mind” and have a feeling we’re creating more than just songs. We’re looking forward to unleashing our creations on the audience, both on cd and live!

 
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Kosher Komp Vol. 3 – FREE MUSIC!

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Good morning, folks! If you ever feel sluggish and unmotivated during the day, it’s probably because you didn’t start things out right — every morning routine should always start out with plenty of loud music to help the blood start flowing and the brain to start thinking.

Internet radio station Kosher Metal knows this is true, and so they’ve helpfully assembled another collection of some of the great underground music they play.

You might remember I told you about their second compilation earlier this year. That had some great stuff on it, and a few bands (Mouth of the Serpent, Sangre) that I ended up writing more about later.

Well, as of midnight last night, Kosher Komp Vol. 3 has been released and is now free for you to download!

 
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Wizard Smoke – The Tickler EP (Free Download / On Vinyl Soon)

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Wizard Smoke – The Tickler (self-released, 28 September 2012)

 
In a world that often feels overrun by generic stoner/psychedelic metal bands, where you can hardly turn around without running into another group of hirsute Big-Muff-pedal-stompers, who use more drug references per song than an entire Cheech and Chong movie that co-stars Bill Hicks, and who often get complimented on the cool fog machine effects during their shows when in fact they don’t even use one…

I think you get the idea. Anyway, in spite of all of that, Atlanta, Georgia’s Wizard Smoke have always stood out among the crowd, to me; their output easily meeting the standards set by some of their more famous fellow southern U.S. contemporaries, as well as that of any of the similarly-named bands you might think of, either across the country or across the pond.

My deep appreciation for this group began the very first time I heard one of their songs — that being the opening track from 2009’s Live Rock in Hell, the confusingly titled “II”. The rest of that album and the 2011 follow-up The Speed of Smoke both maintain a pretty consistently high quality of material, but “II” remains among my absolute favorites across the entire genre.

I guess the point I’m trying to drive home is, if you are a fan of all things fuzzy and sludgy, and you also enjoy harsh vocals that often veer into blackened territory, you really ought to be familiar with the Wizard Smoke catalog. Lucky for you, I’ll have some helpful links later on.

But first, I want to say a few words about The Tickler, the new EP they just made available about a week and a half ago. Like everything else the band has done so far, it’s good stuff — and also like everything else they’ve released, you can download it totally free!

 
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Another Mortal Music DR Coming Soon: Monsterworks

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Well holy shit, check this out.  It’s just like they say: speak of the devil and he appears at your elbow.

In this case, “the devil” is Mortal Music‘s Digital Releases — their little gift packages containing a few tracks at a time from a particular band, and made available for free download for a limited time, eventually leading up to a full-length album from that band.

Just this afternoon I was talking about the fact that Ion Vein is getting the details straightened out for their second DR, and I had literally just hit the “Publish” button on that article, when an email suddenly popped up in my in-box telling me that Monsterworks has announced details for the release of their second DR!

 
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Ion Vein: Another Digital Release is in Progress

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Hello again, good people who have subscribed to this blog or like it on Facebook and read my rambly words sometimes! I hope you all are having a pleasant Monday — except for whoever the fucker was that unliked my page today! That person probably won’t ever see this, but still, I hope they have the worst day ever, and then keep re-living it Groundhog Day style!

Haha, but not YOU, dear faithful reader who is currently reading this! In fact, to show my appreciation, I’ll let you in on a secret — for the second time today, I’ve got some information about a band we’ve talked about in the past, who plans on having some new material for us soon!

 
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Decaying: Currently Recording Their Next Album!

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Good morning!

I am pleased to pass along the news that Finnish deathstars Decaying are currently in the midst of recording tracks for their third album!

After their promising debut Devastate in early 2011, and the much-acclaimed Encirclement in January 2012 (reviewed here), this young trio is wasting no time putting together the follow-up, which they’ve titled The Last Days of War.

The record is set to feature eight tracks, expected to clock in at approximately 46 minutes, and will be due for release in early 2013 through Poland’s Hellthrasher Productions.

 
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The Sword: Details for New Album & Pre-Order Bundles On Sale Now

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Hey, here’s another bit of good news for you — since you’ve all been good boys and girls (as far as I know!)…

Texan stoner metal ensemble The Sword — who saw their career really take off with the inclusion of one of their early singles as part of the Guitar Hero II video game (at least, that’s when they first popped onto my radar screen) — are now just a few weeks away from releasing their fourth full-length album!

Apocryphon will hit store shelves (as well as the iTunes equivalent of shelves, whatever that may be) on Monday, the 22nd of October. And I’ve got the cover art and tracklisting right here, in addition to a whole plethora of pre-order bundles you can choose from! Also, there will be some tour dates further down, if you keep on reading.
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The Fat Dukes of Fuck – Honey from the Lips of an Angel

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The Fat Dukes of Fuck – Honey from the Lips of an Angel (self-released, 25 September 2012)

 
Hey there, fellow music afficianados.  I don’t know if you noticed, but it feels like all of a sudden, there have been all kinds of huge releases over the past couple of weeks!  Not in the sense that they’re bands who’ll appear on the cover of major magazines, or will hit the mainstream radio airwaves or anything like that, but significant to me, because I’d been looking forward to them for a long, long time!

Well, in any case, there have been a few that I’ve been excited about, and I’ve been listening to them and I definitely plan on publishing reviews for some of those in the very near future.  Don’t worry, we’ll get there.

Today, though, I feel compelled to share something with you, which was not one of those highly anticipated albums. Not because there’s anything wrong with it, I don’t want to give you that impression — but simply due to the fact that I’d never heard of this band before their new album came out last week, so obviously I wouldn’t have been able to look forward to it!

Yeah, the Las Vegas-based group called The Fat Dukes of Fuck, and their brand-new album Honey from the Lips of an Angel caught me completely by surprise. But I have to be honest, as soon as I heard the band’s name, I felt overcome by curiosity, and immediately knew this was something I needed to check out…

 

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Cultura Tres’ El Mal del Bien to be Released on CD!

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All I can say is, Hell Yeah! Devouter Records is putting out another winner of an album…

Venezuelan sludge-doom lords Cultura Tres‘ album El Mal del Bien was self-released back in 2011, and around the beginning of 2012 it became available worldwide on vinyl. It has also been available for digital download, but never has been released on CD — until now!

I discovered this album earlier this year (and wrote about it back in May), and Cultura Tres very quickly became one of my favorite South American exports. So I’m pretty excited about this, and I’ll be ordering a CD for myself very soon — see below for information on how you can get one too!

 

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