Weekly Digest September 13 — 19
This week we can bluster about Carcass, showcasing their class, Maori traditions in thrash / groove metal by Alien Weaponry, metallic hardcore by Employed To Serve, as well as punk, blackened death metal, dad-rock, sludge and technical slamming brutal deathcore – and this all, as usual, is in our Weekly Digest!
Alien Weaponry – Tangaroa
Alien Weaponry was formed in Auckland, New Zealand in 2010 by the guitarist and vocalist Lewis de Jong and the drummer Henry de Jong, who were only 8 and 10 years old, respectively. From the beginning, Alien Weaponry was almost a family business: two brothers play, the father, an experienced rock musician and recording engineer, manages the band, and the mother is in charge of advertising and booking. And so in 2018 they gained success – their first full-length album "Tū" debuted at number five in New Zealand album charts, winning the title of the most popular album of the week in the country. Combining elements of thrash and groove metal with lyrics in the native language of indigenous peoples, te reo Māori, Alien Weaponry attracted a crowd of fans around the world, not without media support, who admired exoticism of the band. Indeed, the band's goal is worthy – to preserve the language and culture of indigenous peoples while playing metal.
bandcamp | spotify | apple music | youtube music
Carcass – Torn Arteries
Carcass added a bit of rock’n’roll, d-beat and even some cow bell to their tune and made such a top-tier album that my jaw just dropped! Of course, their EP "Despicable" was able to whet the appetite of already hungry (after a very successful album in 2013, "Surgical Steel") fans and "Torn Arteries" absolutely meets all expectations. It’s a banger, from the very start and to the end.
bandcamp | spotify | apple music | youtube music
Employed To Serve – Conquering
The British metallic hardcore band Employed To Serve has set itself the task to conquer, and seems to achieve it very confidently. The band’s frontwoman Justine Jones says: "Conquering is about rising above adversity and self-doubt. We're really excited to share our latest album, I feel it's our best work to date. We wanted to go a more metal orientated direction with this album and see how far we could push our musical capabilities."
bandcamp | spotify | apple music | youtube music
Knowledge Through Suffering – Concealment
Suffocating, terrifying and otherworldly, the album of Italian Knowledge Through Suffering combines dissonant and demonic black metal with 90’s death metal, delivering a pure sonic havoc. Those who would like something like Behemoth, but without Nergal’s ego, I highly recommend this record to you.
spotify | apple music | youtube music
Koma – Internment Failure
The Leeds/London band Koma delivers with their debut LP "Internment Failure": 12 tracks of brutal, unrelenting, constantly contorting and mutating hardcore – perfectly encapsulating desperation of living final generations of a failed state, watching the life of the planet ebb away. Raw recording, but that's how this band should sound, the main thing here is electricity and pressure.
spotify | apple music | youtube music
LURK – Around The Sun
Adventurous punks from Chicago, LURK, release their debut full-length. LURK are coming into the sound that is truly theirs, with a whirlwind blend of proto-punk eccentricity, new wave swagger, and hardcore ferocity. That's as unique as it is instantly appealing: if you want to sing along with the song you hear for the first time – it's a success.
bandcamp | spotify | apple music | youtube music
MONO – Pilgrimage of the Soul
"Pilgrimage of the Soul" is the 11th studio album in the 22-year career of Japanese experimental rock legends MONO. Recorded and mixed "cautiously, anxiously, yet optimistically" during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in summer of 2020, "Pilgrimage of the Soul" is aptly named as it depicts their long and steady journey to this time and place.
bandcamp | spotify | apple music | youtube music
Taser – Filthcrawl
The Finnish sludgecore band Taser has mastered the art of slow and viscous metal, which, in combination with specific vocals, makes you think about the eternal. This music is for those who are not having that much fun so to say.
spotify | apple music | youtube music
Vandallus – 4
Dad-rock from Ohio. Groove, melodies, bright solos, and skilled vocals, Vandallus play hard rock for long journeys, beautiful scenery and a can of cold beer at the sunset after a hard but productive day.
spotify | apple music | youtube music
Vulvodynia – Praenuntius Infiniti
"Looking in a medical textbook will tell you the following: Vulvodynia is a chronic, severe vaginal pain with no identifiable cause. While the severe part is dead on, what a medical textbook won’t tell you is that Vulvodynia is also the pioneer in what is rapidly becoming South Africa’s most eviscerating export: Technical Slamming Brutal Deathcore", – written on the Bandcamp page of the Unique Leader Records label without any modesty.
bandcamp | spotify | apple music | youtube music
More Weekly Digest here.
