Spanish brutal death metal band Wormed have thrown their new demo/promo CD out on the internet for you to hear. If you are unfamiliar with the band, their style of brutal death is very distinct. The guitar work on the first album Planisphaerium was muddied in the mix, while Phlegeton’s crazy angry frog vocals slurred away against a solid rhythm section. The brutality achieved by the band was purposeful and didn’t feel forced. The debut full length had a few unexpected sections, such as a very post-rock section in the song “Geodesic Dome”. All the riffs were masterfully constructed with a odd timing and sound. This bizarre sound is continued on the demo Quasineutrality with a early Immolation sounding structure. Peep the new songs “Uncolored Plasma Orifices Transported” and “Undeciphering the Inquantificability” on their myspazzzzz.

-MW

Bongripper, a Chigago, IL based doom band knoWn for being lOng, sludgy, harsh, and even stRaight up noise muSic are getting ready to put out tHeir new full length album tItled Satan Worshipping Doom. The album will contain 4 songs and will clock in at over an hour of SATAN. The track listing is as follows. I’m Pretty excited.

1.  Hail
2.  Satan
3.  Worship
4.  Doom

No joke either. TheSe guys Are seriously good and I wanT to see how they pull off slightly more trAditioNal and cheesy early doom. If you haven’t heard their material before, I suggest the releases Hippie Killer, The Great Barrier Reefer. The band are still looking for a label or some distribution for the new album, so if you can provide that for them, provide that.

-MW

The new album from highly recognized black metal band Darkthrone is all up on the tubes. If you’re not familiar with Darkthrone, their early material is 2nd wave bm which was at the forefront of the movement. Their more recent work, however, is a throw back to 1st wave with the huge punk and thrash influences. Peep this awesome stuff.

-MW

A.J. Lewandowski, previous bassist and youtube song cover celebrity was kicked from the “technical blackenedcore” band Enfold Darkness to make room for a new guitarist. The old guitarist was going to be pushed over to bass duties to make room for the new guitarist. I’m irked about this personally since the band isn’t very good in the first place, and losing a crazy talented member isn’t really something they should be striving for.

A.J. Lewandowski is a good e-friend of mine, and I wish him the best of luck in his search for a new paycheck.

This is him covering some really crazy shit by ear. Fuck Brain Drill as a band, but Jeff Hughell’s bass parts are insane.

-MW

Right now I’m going to compose a list of what I believe to be criminally underrated or underground metal albums/bands. Not that you care.

Suffocation – Effigy of the Forgotten (Suffocation as a whole are underrated but this album is probably the best death metal album ever and it needs more appreciation.)

Wormed – Planisphaerium

The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Down Amongst the Dead Men and Traveller

Morpheus Descends – Ritual of Infinity

Defeated Sanity – Psalms of the Moribund and Prelude to the Tragedy

Immolation – Dawn of Possession and Here in After

Possessed – Seven Churches

Psychobolia – Fisting You All

Cormorant – Metazoa

Fleurety – Min Tid Skal Komme

Ved Buens Ende – Written in Waters

Wastelander – Wardrive

Solefald – Discography

Skinless – Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead

Demilich – Nespithe

Thorr’s Hammer – Dommedagsnatt

Warning – Watching From a Distance

!T.O.O.H.! – Rad a Trest

Mortician – Discography

Incantation – Discography

Malignancy – Intrauterine Cannibalism

Lymphatic Phlegm – Show-off Cadavers – The Anatomy of Self Display

Lair of the Minotaur – The Ultimate Destroyer and War Metal Battle Master

Darkthrone – Sardonic Wrath

Grayceon – Grayceon (Giant Squid just slightly more interesting, imo)

Fuck… I’m Dead – Bring on the Dead

Eternal Suffering – Drowning in Tragedy (One of the best slam albums ever, imo. Really defies the stereotypes.)

Dot[.] – Discography

Cyaegha – Steps of Descent

Coffins – Discography

Capricorns – Ruder Forms Survive

Bongripper – The Great Barrier Reefer

…and Oceans – A.M.G.O.D.

Reverend Bizarre – Discography

Panopticon – Collapse and Panopticon

There are more, but I don’t want it to stretch on any longer considering most people won’t give half these a chance. I love you if you at least try them though. I understand some stuff isn’t for everybody as extreme metal is a weird and harsh genre that shouldn’t be discounted of its art because of bad stereotypes it receives. Why the hell am I talking about this here and now? Just listen to this stuff and buy their stuff.

-MW

In an interview, found at this link, a member of the Finnish folk metal band Finntroll called Trollhorn (ugh, really? that’s how you know he’s a tool) said “Eurovision song contest is to music what Kentucky Fried Chicken is to food. Black Metal = no compromise. If KoK wants to penetrate some unexplored areas in the homosexual community, I feel no harm done, yet we leave our crowd raped by other means than participating in vain and futile contests on something we consider a blasphemy of an Art anyway.” when asked about Keep of Kalessin entering the Eurovision song contest and if they would ever do something similar.

What a trite piece of shit; seriously. What in the name of god would you guys know about black metal or art, and “no compromise” in it? The contest might be really dumb but Keep of Kalessin are still making more worth while music (and trver blakk metal than thou) than you ever will even if they are “trying to penetrate the homosexual community” you jackasses. What a piss poor attitude from a piss poor musician. I did get a good laugh out of Finntroll bashing other people though, at least.

-MW

The highly anticipated return from ambient black metal master Varg Vikernes has hit the tubes before it drops in stores on March 8, 2010

Get it, unless you’re false.

-MW

[Got an album leak to report? Send them over to heavyblognews(at)gmail(dot)com.]

Exivious have gotten attention in “underground circles” from their first demo, but with the release of their self titled full length “Exivious“, they’ve stirred up quite a controversy (or they did, since I’m a bit late on this). The band features Tymon Kruidenier of Cynic fame on guitars along with Michel Nienhuis, Stef Broks of Textures fame on drums, and Robin Zielhorst of Cynic/Blue Man Group fame on bass. Jazz fusion/metal is nothing new. Atheist, and Cynic really launched the style back in the 90’s Florida death metal scene. But since then the genre has changed. Bands like Planet X, Continuo Renacer, etc. have taken a different approach by making the metal/jazz fusion combination a lot more jazzy. Exivious continue along this line with their newest release. There are some heavy riffs here and there but don’t expect anything death metal worthy. The riffs are still very memorable though. The guitars also have a lot of defined jazz fusion soloing with lots of legato technique, and a smooth horn like tone. The fretless bass Robin lays down is absolutely exceptional. He does more than keep rhythm, he makes the music sway, makes it pulses, makes it smooth. I’m not a drummer so I can’t say much here, but he certainly is good and has some nice fills and sounds great. This album should go down in history imo. Shit is fantastic.

5/5

-MW

Metalcore giants Converge are launching a U.S. tour for their newly released album “Axe to Fall” for the year 2010. It will feature Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath, and Harvey Milk all juggling around appearance dates. Here are the dates so far.

04/30: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/01: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/02: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/03: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/04: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/05: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/06: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/06: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/07: Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop w/ Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/08: Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick w/ Lewd Acts, Black Breath, and more
05/09: Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge w/ Lewd Acts, Black Breath, and more
05/10: Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck w/ Coalesce, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/11: Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre w/ Coalesce, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/13: Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s w/ Coalesce, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/14: Portland, OR @ Satyricon w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/15: San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s w/ Coalesce, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/16: CA @ TBA w/ TBA
05/17: Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/18: Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/19: Tempe, AZ @ The Clubhouse w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/21: Austin, TX @ Emo’s w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/22: TX @ TBA w/ TBA
05/23: Tulsa, OK @ The Marquee w/ Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/25: Memphis, TN @ The Hi Tone w/ Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/26: Louisville, KY @ TBA w/ Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/27: Nashville, TN @ Rockettown w/ Harvey Milk, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/28: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade w/ Harvey Milk, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/29: North Carolina @ TBA w/ Harvey Milk, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath

It’ll probably be a blast to go to whether you like the bands or not. I don’t know if I’ll go because the only band I really like enough to see live is Gaza. idk man idk. Shit looks cool for you hxc kiddies though.

-MW

Previews for the new and highly anticipated Burzum album Belus are now available on Amazon as small clips for each song. I was pretty skeptical of it actually being Burzum at first, but you can look up the lyrics and they match with what Varg posted on burzum.org

Burzum Belus Preview

Shit is sounding cash money and I can’t wait.

-MW

New Cynic song, live unfortunately.

It’s even less metal than Traced in Air, but it’s fucking good.

-MW

But then again, did they ever? It’s a new song from Korn. Supposedly it’s not mixed yet, but who can tell? This shit is seriously awful even by their standards.

Terrible vocals, the bass isn’t bass, bad drum lines with no creativity, and mediocre riffs (though I like the guitar tone admittedly).

Eugh.

-MW

Spawning from Auburn, Californa Dismal Lapse are a technical death metal band who have just put out their first full length titled Eon Fragmentation. For the most part, it’s pretty straight forward technical death metal. If I had to describe their sound from other bands they’d be between Necrophagist and Severed Savior. There are some rare appearances by jazz influenced and clean sections here and there, but overall it’s just killer technical death metal to remember. The riffs don’t get lost in over-technicality and it’s quite head bangable if you catch my drift. Since this is a debut by a not so well known band, I figure some details are in order. The band is a three piece with Chris Banrum on drums/vocals, Jason Brehm on bass, and Evan Gravatt on guitar. A big sound for a three piece band. The guitar grinds, and the bass is fragile, smooth, yet still heavy. Chris Banrum blasts away keeping the album steady while delivering an excellent vocal performance. This album is just really solid material, and I’d listen to it any day before some shitty ass “prog” that’s really just wank in disguise.

3.5/5

http://www.myspace.com/dismallapse

-MW

One of my favorite brutal death/technical death bands Defeated Sanity has posted a track from their upcoming album Chapters of Repugnance on their myspace page. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but shit damn is it good.

The new album will be released April of this year, so get excited for that shit because it’s going to be beast mode engage.

Check the song Carnal Deliverance out here, at their myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/defeatedsanity

-MW

If you aren’t familiar with the band Aborted for some stupid reason, they were a generic death metal/goregrind band that put out some pretty good material in their early career (the albums Purity of Perversion and Engineering their dead mostly).  Their later work is just pseudo core metal on the edge of deathcore. Also known as, it’s terrible. I heard rumors their new EP Coronary Reconstruction was actually good. False as Mastodon’s Crack the Skye.

I’ve been waiting for Aborted to hopefully make a turn back to their old roots, and I was promised that with this.  It’s not even close, but I can see some hope in there still. It’s the same thing over and over, no memorable songs or riffs at all. The production is pretty damn crap too. This isn’t much of an in depth review, because this album doesn’t have enough depth to it to drown someone.  Eugh.

One decent band turned shitty, out of five.

-MW