Does anyone care that Metallica won another Metal Performance Grammy last week? Yeah, didn’t think so. Then again why should you? It’s not like they give a shit — only Robert Trujillo showed up to accept it, and that was probably because he lives in L.A. I guess the rest of them had better things to do. Well, so do I — like assembling another evil assortment of new carnage and mayhem for this week’s Grindhouse. And the winners are:
Mario Lalli & The Rubber Snake Charmers | The Devil Waits For Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Desert rock collective Mario Lalli & The Rubber Snake Charmers unveil a new track taken from their upcoming debut album Folklore From The Other Desert Cities, due March 29. In addition to Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man), the band features Brant Bjork (Kyuss), Ryan Güt (Stöner) and desert poet Sean Wheeler. The foundation of Lalli’s grooving, heavy basslines and meditative themes — augmented by intuitive guitar work from Bjork and percussion from Güt — set the scene for Wheeler’s captivating spoken-word performances, capturing the dark and beautiful stories and images of life in the Mojave desert of Southerrn California.”
Cannibal Corpse | Vengeful Invasion
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Death metal icons Cannibal Corpse are pleased to unleash a video for Vengeful Invasion. The track comes by way of the band’s critically adored Chaos Horrific full-length, released last fall. The video was directed and edited by Zev Deans and shot by Brendan McGowan with SFX makeup by Nina Carelli, AI footage manipulation by KingCon2k11, and stars Actually Huizenga from the band Patriarchy. With Vengeful Invasion,” a human trafficking revenge tale spirals into grotesque phantasmagoria in the spirit of Japanese horror classics.”
Backstabber | Harvesting The Weak
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From the far reaches of Rouyn-Noranda in Northern Quebec, the brutal death metallers of Backstabber are set to dominate the metal scene with their latest EP Patterns of Domination, to be released this coming March as the followup to their 2019 debut album Conspiracy Theorist. The EP is loosely based on James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy, and the theory of four patterns that serve as conduits for manipulating someone else’s attention and energy. The heavy topic is matched by vicious blast beats, gritty gutturals, and groovy solos. The first single off this new offering, Harvesting The Weak, takes a look at The Intimidator, as the band explain: “It is the most brutal pattern; intimidation. It hits you right in the face while teabagging your knocked-out sack of bones in front of your friends. We’re talking Death metal from old-school riffs to slamming brutal death.”
Darkest Hour | Societal Bile
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “D.C. quintet Darkest Hour — Mike Schleibaum (guitar), John Henry (vocals), Aaron Deal (bass), Travis Orbin (drums) and Nico Santora (guitar) — recently announced their tenth album Perpetual | Terminal, out Feb, 23. Today they share the video for the song Societal Bile, directed by Chad Fjerstad. “This song is for survivors,” says Schleibaum. “While we all have our own special survival story, this song touches on the bile that immerses us as we navigate this modern life. It’s also an acknowledgment of the personal responsibility we all share to ourselves to reject all that attempts to consume us and fight each day to find our own space to exist in peace with a world at war. It’s dedicated to everyone who’s got that survivor’s disease and won’t ever give up.”
Týr | Axes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Faroe Islands Viking metal collective Týr will return with their ninth album Battle Ballads on April 12. The followup to the band’s 2019’s powerful progressive folk metal album Hel, Battle Ballads is aptly named. It offers a crushing, soaring, batch of classical embellished songs that conjure images of galloping steeds, clashing swords, and hard-fought victories. And, as if it needs to be stated, it has nothing in common with the lighter-raising songs of the 1980s. Today, Týr unveil the record’s first single Axes, and its accompanying video. They say: “Axes starts with a battle horn followed by a fast melodic and symphonic guitar riff introducing the progression and main theme of the song. Game Of Thrones-ish lyrics of gory and glorified hand-to-hand battle of Viking times, told from a first-person perspective. The verse is slow and heavy with a gritty, yet theatrical and melodic voice. The chorus is fast with a singalong choir, alternating vocally between intricate and brutally simple phrasings. It’s a short face-melting metal song based on a single melodic idea.”
Omnivide | Opulence
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Moncton’s Omnivide are a dynamic metal force formed in 2020 by members of the Sunbird project, and they are gearing up for the release of their debut album A Tale of Fire in March. Breaking away from paying homage to others to enter the realm of original music, Omnivide fuse progressive metal, death metal, and melodic symphonic metal into a grandiose, brutal, beautiful, dark, and melancholic sonic experience. Their latest single Opulence comes with a band playthrough video and is sure to draw in metal fans with a wide range of backgrounds. They say: “This song is one of the most in-your-face and brutal on the album, having much less of the orchestral elements present throughout most of the songs, as we wanted to have a song that stood in contrast to the rest of the album and provided variety in the pacing and sonic content of the tracks.”
Mindrazer | Suffer in Silence
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Get ready to headbang and sing along in your car with Mindrazer‘s latest video Suffer in Silence, in support of their debut album A Thing of Nightmares. The lyrics are simple and the melody is infectious. The band comment: “This is a bipolar anthem that has uplifting highs and brutal chugging lows. This one is about the toxic culture surrounding internet discourse.” Combining the anthemic melodies of traditional and power metal, the precise, aggressive attack of thrash, and twists of dark intensity borrowed from second-wave black metal, New Jersey’s Mindrazer play a style as familiar as it is fresh. A Thing of Nightmares is a bold, brutal, and diverse exploration of melodic thrash metal, which even before its official release, was igniting mosh pits at the band’s live shows. Now fans can delve into the depths of these tracks and experience them in all their glory.”
Imperial Triumphant | Swaming Opulence (Redux 1924)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On May 3, New York’s Imperial Triumphant will release a new version of 2018’s Vile Luxury, remixed and remastered by longtime contributor Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts). Upon its initial release, the album set a new standard for the possibilities of extreme music; now, the trio returns with a fresh approach to this seminal record — often considered Imperial Triumphant at their most accessible — allowing stygian dimensions and monolithic intents to seep through. For a first preview, the redubbed video for Swarming Opulence (Redux 1924) can be seen now. Steve Blanco (bass) comments: “The future, like everything else, is not quite what it used to be. From 2018 to 1924, timeless vision extends. Behold the single which truly pushed Imperial Triumphant into the spotlight of the new roaring ’20s. Swarming Opulence: That which never stops consuming.”
Comeback Kid | Disruption
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Canadian hardcore punk rock heavyweights Comeback Kid are sharing Disruption, the second single from their anticipated forthcoming EP Trouble, due March 15. Poised to be a festival singalong favourite with its driving rhythms and addictive melodies, Disruption follows the dynamic, infectious, tongue-in-cheek lead single Trouble In The Winner’s Circle. Speaking about the new track, lead vocalist Andrew Neufeld shares, “Disruption serves as our call-to-arms type song. The continuous rhythm pounding throughout the track that never really gives in, we met with a pace of urgency. Early AFI influences popped out as we were writing this, and we embraced that!. It’s about just getting through the next day, or the next step because it could all come crashing down at any given moment.”
Kill The Lights | Sleep With The Devil
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Kill The Lights, which features former members of Bullet For My Valentine, Throw The Fight, Threat Signal and Still Remains, have announced their sophomore album Death Melodies. It will be released on March 8. Today, the band shared the video for the new single Sleep With The Devil. Singer James Clark says, “Sleep With The Devil, lyrically, deals with the struggle of addiction and the daily fight to stay sober. Every day you wake up, you are in a constant battle, with the inner voices and demons that tell you that you are not good enough, and you should give up. Simply looking at yourself in the mirror is a reminder of how you’ve let yourself, your family, and friends down. It’s a constant negative cycle that fuels your desire to mask the pain and disappointment by abusing yourself.”
Foetal Juice | Two Bongs Don’t Make A Right
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After unleashing their latest album Grotesque this past November, U.K. death grinders Foetal Juice have a new guitar playthrough for you to plough and brutalise the shred. The fifth track on their latest full-length, Two Bongs Don’t Make A Right is a minute-and-a-half grind designed to be a good ending to side A of the band’s vinyl version. The band add: “This is the shortest song on the album. The most grindy song we have too. This kind of song always goes down really well live as well as on the record. It’s heavily influenced by Insect Warfare or Wormrot. The riff in the middle is also, in my opinion, one of the best riffs on the album. So, it’s a great one to watch for guitarists.”
Borknagar | Moon
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Norway’s pioneers of avant-garde progressive black metal, Borknagar are releasing their monumental 12th studio album Fall later this month. Today, a third single off the album is being released. Øystein G. Brun commented on behalf of Borknagar: “Moon is written by ICS Vortex and adds yet another step to our always-evolving musical adventure. As with Up North, we are thrilled to be able to work with our friend Costin Chioreanu / Twilight 13 Media once again for a profound and sophisticated visual completion of the song. We sincerely hope you enjoy the song/video as much as we do! We truly love it!”
Hashtronaut | Cough It Up
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Denver stoner doom newcomers Hashtronaut unleash their intoxicating new single Cough It Up, from their upcoming debut album No Return. Red-eyed at the crossroads of thunderous stoner sludge and towering doom, Hashtronaut are more than ready to daze and inebriate the riff-obsessed masses on this planet and beyond. No Return is a resiny slab in the grand tradition of weed-fiend odysseys from Sleep, Weedeater and Bongzilla — an intoxicating and pummeling trip with a lungful of potent hook-doom and strikingly anthemic vocals that will enthrall fans of Monolord, Windhand and Dopelord.”
Per Wiberg | Follow The Unknown
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swedish rock multi-instrumentalist Per Wiberg (ex-Opeth, Spiritual Beggars, Candlemass) presents the third single from his new solo album The Serpent’s Here, to be issued March 15. As an unrivaled musical alchemist, his work has illuminated an array of now-classic albums over 30 years from Opeth, Spiritual Beggars and Candlemass as well as Clutch / The Bakerton Group, Switchblade and Kamchatka. However, it’s his solo conjurings that serve as the zenith of his musical voyages. On The Serpent’s Here, he is joined by drummer Tor Sjödén (Viagra Boys), who played drums on the previous EP, as well as bassist Mikael Tuominen (Kungens Män). Basic live tracks (drums, basses, grand piano) were recorded at Studio Gröndahl by David Castillo and, as with previous releases, the record was mixed and mastered by Jonas Kjellgren at Blacklounge Studios.”
If These Trees Could Talk | Trail Of Whispering Giants
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Acclaimed instrumental post-rock band If These Trees Could Talk are back with a new single, Trail of Whispering Giants, the group’s first new music in eight years. It marks the anticipated return of the Akron lineup spearheaded by drummer Zack Kelly and his guitarist-brother Cody Kelly. ITTCT have been praised for uplifting post-rock that layers cascading guitars over tight drums with a deep emotional resonance, while the lineup’s last LP, 2016’s The Bones of a Dying World, was called a fluid-flowing masterpiece that builds upon complex, progressive dreamscapes.”
Royal Tusk | Hated
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Alberta rock trio Royal Tusk have released a new song Hated, from their third full-length album Altruistic, due Feb. 23. Spending nearly a year writing throughout the pandemic, the trio eventually hunkered down in Alberta’s Audio Department recording studio, where they self-produced Altruistic. In the midst of the process, Daniel Carriere wound up in the throes of a year-long battle to get healthy after suffering from a blood clot in his lung. He lost over 20lbs and could barely speak.”
