Teeth are figureheads in the US death metal scene - not only are they on the vanguard of forward thinking death metal, but guitarist Erol Ulug has produced some of the best bands to come out of SoCal in recent years. Their third album The Will of Hate is an impenetrable wall of blastbeats and dischordant riffs, exemplifying the band's philosophy that brevity and brutality go hand in hand.
Cleveland's Noxis are a Frankenstein built out of the best parts of the Roadrunner/Racer catalogue. Violence Inherent In The System (props to the Monty Python reference), combines thrashy riffs, slam parts, popping bass lines, and rhythmic trickery. [And to all the people who can't wait to tell me that Frankenstein was the name of the doctor, not the monster: You are an insufferable nerd and nobody likes you.]
In a sea of easily categorized imitators, Tokyo's Defiled remain iconoclasts who repel easy categorization. Their latest album Horror Beyond Horror skews death, thrash, and grind into an unrecognizable form, revelling in confounding rhythms and unpredictable arrangements.
Fulci have a pretty simple but alluring concept: Combining brutal death metal with the work of the Italian horror maestro who gave us Zombi and City of the Living Dead. Their latest album Duck Face Killings takes inspiration from the grindhouse classic New York Ripper, keeping the Eighties horror vibe by adding horror soundtrack synths to their slamming death metal - a surprisingly effective combination. Elsewhere, a guest appearance from Lord Goat of the hip hop group Non Phixion is sure to raise some eyebrows (and hackles), but we're due for a Nineties revival, and should probably just make peace with it.
The LA-based duo Heinous Exsanguination are set to be embraced by the world-wide brotherhood of slam with their first EP. The Stench of Decaying Flesh is everything that's sick/stupid/awesome about mosh bro death metal: vocals that gurgle like a backed up drain, pinch harmonics at every turn, and palm-muted breakdowns to make the kids run around in circles.
Indiana's Obscene will wreck your neck with their fantastic third album. Topped by Kyle Shaw's Tompa-esque howl, Agony & Wounds is a no-frills, unrelenting deathgrind platter in the Terrorizer/Lockup tradition, with no frills blasting broken up with Celtic Frost parts and mosh-ready thrashing hooks.
From their beginnings as a spunky death/thrash band, Bay Area quartet Laceration have eased into something much more streamlined and brutal. Their second album I Erode has plenty of nods to the fastest bands of the Morrisound era without falling into the trap of simping revivalism.
HERAKLEION definitely spent time at the Azagthoth school of convoluted riffing. Necroverse, the NOLA trio's second EP, recalls Morbid Angel, Pestilence, and mid-period Death to create a release that's simultaneously a tribute to the genre's originator, and a reminder that they were constantly in search of new sounds.
GLACIAL TOMB allows two members of the true doom practitioners Khemmis to explore their love of more extreme music. On their sophomore album Lightless Expanse, a conscious attempt to integrate a variety of influences, along with unpredictable arrangements, may explain why the band has been described as "kitchen sink death metal".
There's been no shortage of stellar progressive death metal releases lately, but Portland's Vile Rites have outdone themselves with their first full-length. Senescence continues where their debut EP The Ageless left off, by flexing their considerable chops through one blast-filled riff-fest after another, chock full of sweep picking and unpredictable arrangements.
With two albums out through Total Dissonance Worship, it's safe to assume that Defacement play death metal that veers into the avant. The Dutch band's third album Duality doesn't shy away from their experimental tendencies, combining blastfests with unsettling melodies, jarring riffs, and eerie interludes.
There are few things that will get your toes a-tapping and head a-banging like Demiser's blackened thrash attack. Their second album Slave to the Scythe rips like a coke-fueled motorbike ride through the night, tight as a noose and faster than the devil.
If French black metal is ever in danger of being overshadowed by its most avant and shoegazing cohort, the raw assault of Gravenoire may come as a surprise. Their first album Devant La Porte Des Etoiles yanks le metal noire back to recognizable second wave characteristics of speed, gravelly productions,
For those who want True Norwegian Black Metal straight from the source, KOLDBRANN keep the (church) fires burning. Their fourth album Ingen Skånsel is as pure and cold as anything that emerged during black metal's second wave - with lyrics in Norwegian for that extra bit of authenticity.
Veterans of Sweden's underground (among them, members of Birdflesh and Deranged) have come together for the whiskey-soaked madness that is HATCHEND. Their debut Summer Of '69 blends death, thrash, crust, and Motorhead-style speed-boogie for one hell of a death 'n' roll album. As the only person who remembers (and misses) the criminally overlooked Dellamorte, I heartily endorse this.
Andrew Lee has become one of the most prolific voices in metal, but Houkago Grind Time combines two things extremely close to his heart: Grindcore and anime. With a title that references no less than three landmarks of the genre, "Koncertos of Kawaiiness: Stealing Jon Chang's Ideas, A Book by Andrew Lee" is a loving tribute to all the weebs in Terrorizer shirts who prefer dubs over subs.
Somehow even with his work creating music for Cartoon Network and as a touring member of GWAR, Tommy Meehan managed to release a new Squid Pisser album this summer. Dreams Of Puke continues in the scene grind/chaotic hardcore style that these alien Squids are known for, with most songs coming in under the 2 minute mark. Call it "cephalopardcore".
I can honestly say I don't know if I've ever heard another band like Void Witch. Their first release Horripilating Presence certainly bears the influence of early Paradise Lost and the first wave of Finnish death metal (along with the encroaching psychedelic influences that came with it), but those influences are
Be advised, the forecast for Blind Monarch's second album calls for impenetrable gloom and falling cinderblocks. For four songs and over 40 minutes, The Dead Replenish The Earth drops one long oppressive chord after another, broken up with trudging riffs and the occasional austere acoustic interlude.
As any lit major will tell you, tragedy and epics were both invented in Greece - so it's natural that Athenians Föhn would excel at creating slow, drawn out compositions. Condescending is an ambitious debut, weaving saxophones, keyboards, and choral vocals into the band's maudlin funeral doom.
Amarok Resilience continues with chapters 10 to 13 of the band's black-inflected doom metal, building songs from leaden dirges to frantic blastfests and back again.
I've long been fascinated by the overlap between black metal and classical music (if they switched places, would Jon Nodtveidt have written Swan Lake and would Tchaikovsky be wearing corpse paint?); and it's a connection that's fleshed out by the neo classical project Hveile i Kaos. Lower Order Manifestations is the final release under the HiK name, and it replaces the usual blastbeats and trem picking with a cellos and frame drums, while still using the music as a vessel for esoteric knowledge and the occult.
Matt Gourley is probably best known as a producer and co-host on Conan O'Brien's podcast, as well as for espousing some questionable views on marriage. But he's also a skilled improviser, impressionist, and character actor - evidence of which can be found in his many podcast collaborations with Andy Daly and Paul F. Tompkins (which you may have snuck into a DoC Weekly Mixtape or two). He's also an adept musician, and under the alias Mutt Taylor, he's a member of fake country band The Journeymen. Their sole album Mount Us More is over a decade old at this point, but it still holds up as both comedy and country - especially since The Journeymen are the in-house band for the popular Bonanas for Bonanza podcast (also produced by Gourley). Let's go get a girlie drink and speculate.
