The New Music Thread : The Fallen Edition
US drone metal duo The Body have just released a new collaboration album with German post-industrial solo artist Dis Fig entitled "Orchards of a Futile Heaven". I've had mixed experiences with The Body over the years but thoroughly enjoyed their more recent 2021 album "I've Seen All I Need to See" to this could be worth a look at some point. I've admittedly never heard of Dis Fig though.
I too have had mixed reactions to The Body, I really liked their 2016 album No One Deserves Happiness, but hated I've Seen All I Need to See because I just don't get the whole power electronics thing. I will probably check it out, but won't be going into it with very high expectations.
A new My Dying Bride album is in the offering, with it's release slated for April 19th on Nuclear Blast. There are several ratings on RYM, so I don't know if it has been leaked early, but only one track, Thornwyck Hymn, is available on Bandcamp so far. That track sounds pretty decent, with the ingredients you would expect from classic MDB all present and correct. Nice cover too.
I hope it's something a little new. MDB have been essentially doing the same thing every album for the last few releases.
The new full-length from Chicago drone outfit Locrian (entitled "End Terrain") is due to hit the shelves on 5th April. I really dug 2010's "The Crystal World" album so I may just need to partake in some of this fine audio.
I haven't listened to Locrian before, so will have to check this one out.
Saturnalia Temple - Paradigm Call
Released 1st March on Listenable Records
Saturnalia Temple are a swedish doom metal trio led by guitarist / vocalist and founding member Tommy Eriksson and featuring a revolving door of bassists and drummers, the most recent of whom, bassist Gottfrid Åhman and drummer Pelle Åhman were long-time members of In Solitude (Pelle as vocalist). The band play a real fundamentalist style of doom metal which uses simple and repetetive, highly distorted stoner doom riffs taken straight from the Wino playbook, bolstered by a forceful bass presence which deliver a strong hypnotic effect upon the listener. The hypnotic riffs are usually accompanied at some point during each track by psych-tinged guitar solos of varying lengths which very much feeds in to a trippy, stoner atmosphere and which should really be accompanied by huge clouds of sweet-smelling herb smoke. All is not hippy-trippy love all round though as Tommy's vocals are derived from black metal tradition with a harsh, cracked, croaking style that is completely at odds with the hypnotic feeling derived from the instrumentation.
And that really is all there is to Paradigm Call. This is not sophisticated stuff, if you want convoluted songwriting, technical showmanship or musical experimentation then look elsewhere because this is for people who know exactly what ST are about and want to partake of that particular bong hit. Everything except the solos is real basic stuff, the production is quite raw and the band's intent to mesmerise the listener into a blissed-out state is obvious from the get-go. I'm all in with this and love the album's effect of blanketing the listener in huge waves of sound, which I find exceedingly relaxing. My only real bugbear is with the numerous fade-outs, a trope I am never a big fan of, much preferring bands to end their tracks properly, but overall it's a big thumbs-up from me.
4/5
5th April looks like a good day for us doom and stoner doom fans with new albums from Friends of Hell (God Damned You to Hell), Acid Mammoth (Supersonic Megafauna Collision), Temple of the Fuzz Witch (Apotheosis) and Destroyer of Light (Degradation Years).
Ufomammut have their tenth album due for release on 17th May.
New track "Leeched" is pretty damn good, so should be another terrific album from the Italians.
The new My Dying Bride album "A Mortal Binding" is coming out on 19th April. I don't think I've checked out anything they've done since 2011's "The Barghest O' Whitby" E.P. but they've obviously been a big band in my life so there's every chance I'll check it out at some point.
The brand new Melvins album "Tarantula Heart" comes out on 19th April. I haven't checked out anything they've done since 2012's "Scion A/V Presents: The Bulls & the Bees" E.P. but have been really digging their early 90's material of late so perhaps I'll give this one a spin.
The brand new High of Fire ninth album "Cometh the Storm" is being released on 19th April. I absolutely love their 2012 "De vermis mysteriis" record but haven't really given them a lot more time over the years. Perhaps this is my chance.
Quite a loaded slate for Fallen releases this week:
Super-heavy, psychedelic stoner doom Greeks, Acid Mammoth, are back with album #4 on Friday 5th April. Looking forward to this one.
Trad Doom Texans, Destroyer of Light, also have a new one out on the 5th.
Detroit's blackened doomsters, Temple of the Fuzz Witch, also release their third full-length on Friday.
And finally, Albert Witchfinder's Friends of Hell have their sophomore out, again on Friday.
So here's my top ten list of Fallen releases for 2024, so far, which is covering the first three months of the year:
1. Mourning Dawn - The Foam of Despair
2. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos
3. Saturnalia Temple - Paradigm Call
4. Hamferð - Men guðs hond er sterk
5. Grey Skies Fallen - Molded by Broken Hands
6. The Obsessed - Gilded Sorrow
7. Acid Mammoth - Supersonic Megafauna Collision
8. Stygian Crown - Funeral for a King
9. Lair - The Hidden Shiv
10. Monovoth - Pleroma Mortem Est
A brand new live album from Japan's Boris which was recorded back in 1994 entitled "And 2 Years Later". I’ve seen Boris live & can attest to the fact that they’re a wonderful live act to experience. Plus, their “Rock Dream” live album is one of my all-time favourites so I can’t see how this won’t rule, particularly given it’s from their earlier days.
English heavy psych masters Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats have a brand new record coming out next month entitled "Nell' ora blu". I quite enjoyed their highly acclaimed 2011 sophomore album "Blood Lust" so might give this one an airing at some stage too although from what I've read the band seen to have drifted away from the more metallic sound of their early days.
Woh! There's a brand new live album from New York doom/death legends Winter entitled "Live in Brooklyn NY". I'll be all over this one at some point as I absolutely die for their sole 1990 full-length "Into Darkness".
Good call, Daniel. It's a bit late here now, but I'll be all over this tomorrow. Looking at the track listing on Spotify, it's a straight run through of the Into Darkness album.
US doom/death solo act Tzompantli has his sophomore album coming out on 17th May. It's entitled "Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force" & I'll definitely be checking it out after really enjoying his 2022 debut album "Tlazcaltiliztli" when we featured it here a while back.
US doom metallers Pallbearer have their brand new fifth album "Mind Burns Alive" hitting the shelves on 17th May & I know Sonny will be all over this one. I quite liked their 2012 debut album "Sorrow & Extinction" but can't say that I've investigated anything they've done since. Perhaps now is the time.
Here's the cover artwork for the new Ufomammut album "Hidden" that Sonny mentioned above. I strangely haven't kept in contact with these guys for the last decade or so after being a big fan of them up until that point I regard records like 2010's "Eve" & their "Supernaturals - Record One" collaboration album with Lento as being genuine classics so it's been more of an oversight than anything intentional. I really should find the time to catch up a bit though. Boy, they were awesome when I saw them live at Hellfest 2012 too.
US doom metallers Pallbearer have their brand new fifth album "Mind Burns Alive" hitting the shelves on 17th May & I know Sonny will be all over this one. I quite liked their 2012 debut album "Sorrow & Extinction" but can't say that I've investigated anything they've done since. Perhaps now is the time.
I was a huge fan of their debut too, but they have been progressively watering their sound down with more shoegazey elements, to the point where I kind of lost patience with them. The preview of this latest album represented the nadir for me and left me questioning whether I will even be listening to it at all. I suppose I will at some point, but it will be well down my list of priorities.