New Music: Ulcerate - Vermis

Album Score: 9/10

There may not be a more convincingly apocalyptic band than Ulcerate. Death metal groups constantly promote themselves as “brutal” or “heavy” or “crushing,” but this New Zealand trio has mastered the art of soul-withering songwriting by honing its craft on a deeper level. Fitting together layers of dissonance in a way that makes sense is a difficult task, since it often goes against established musical paradigms, but it’s what Ulcerate thrives on. Due to the fact that every line on Vermis builds off this foundation, the album is fundamentally saturated with intense emotions of utter dread and bitterness towards a crumbling world. Welcome to Ulcerate’s perfect musical hell.

Artist Highlight: Godspeed You! Black Emperor

GY!BE finally broke through into the
mainstreak with 2012's Allelujah!

Few bands have had such a wide-ranging impact and legacy on their music scene, and yet remained as relatively anonymous, as Canada’s Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Often considered one of the most important bands in post-rock along with Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, and Sigur Ros, the septet has been creating heart-wrenching soundscapes for almost 20 years now. Its sound is almost unclassifiable, as it ranges from samples of street preachers to impressions of Americana, unsettling portraits of crumbling dictatorships to soaring and uplifting anthems, and just about anything else worth taking the time to appreciate.

New Music: Scarred - Gaia/Medea

Album Score: 8.5/10

The waves are expected to reach up to ten meters high…the news gets worse: 343 is the confirmed death toll…a volcanic eruption in the east of the country has sent clouds of ash almost three kilometers high…witnesses described the ground shaking before a tremendous explosion…

The inherent risk in sticking close to your influences is that no matter what you create, fans will compare you to multiple bands that that have done it before, and done it better. Luxembourg death metal band Scarred lists Meshuggah, Gojira, and Machine Head as prime influences on its death/thrash hybrid sound, but anyone who is likely to stumble across the group’s second album Gaia/Medea could probably figure that out within about ten seconds of the opening song’s first riff. It just so happens that Scarred is a rare example of that band that not only does its antecedents justice, but often outclasses their corresponding latest efforts. Fans of L’enfant Sauvage may howl with derision and Unto the Locust’s proponents may beat their chest, but Gaia/Medea is a shot across the bow of the genre giants that places Scarred squarely on the tech-death podium. Despite the obvious technical proficiency of all involved, there are a number of compositional techniques and production values that make Gaia/Medea a breakthrough effort for the band.

Artist Highlight: Echoes of Eon

Echoes of Eon released their
debut, Immensity, on April 30.

Instrumental metal has arrived at something of a crossroads lately. A few bands have gained recognition as pioneers in the past – Pelican, Gordian Knot, and Buckethead come to mind – but several groups are beginning to lend credence to the idea that heavy music without vocals is not only a viable art form, but one with a bright future. Fans of the prog scene may recognize names such as Animals as Leaders, Scale the Summit, Behold…the Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, Cloudkicker, and Chimp Spanner; while these are perhaps the best prospects in the genre, there are plenty of other talented acts worldwide waiting to break through. This is where Echoes of Eon comes into play.

New Music: Sannhet - Known Flood

Album Rating: 8/10

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Sannhet has managed to brew up a following the hard way. As in business, initial investment pays dividends, and the post-black metal trio has parlayed an intense touring schedule and wicked live show into a growing fan base in only a few years. Sannhet’s debut album, Known Flood, distills all of this work into a 45-minute barrage that falls somewhere between early Isis and U.S. Black Metal acts like Krallice (whose guitarist Colin Marston recorded the album). Known Flood is about as spot-on as any title could be: the songs here ebb and flow from devastating metallic bursts to long periods of ambience and percussion-driven interludes. Early cut “Invisible Wounds” begins with a bizarre, spacey Sprechstimme piece that sounds like an incantation sung through a box fan, then transitions suddenly into pounding tom-toms and guitar distortion, in a fitting encapsulation of the album’s sound.

Artist Highlight: Wolves in the Throne Room

Key Release: Two Hunters (2007)

American black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room have come under some fire for shunning the cult roots of their genre, but really, their brand of black metal – played by firelight on vintage amps – isn’t so different from Emperor and Ulver’s pagan aesthetics. In fact, Wolves’ quartet of albums are about as black metal as it gets, as they blast and shriek through albums full of ten-minute epics about returning to nature, occult mythos, and stories of post-apocalyptic landscapes.