And it’s Hard… to Hold Back the Hate …
Welcome to another week of pre-Yuletide Worm Gear-osity! If you’re looking for weapons to combat the holiday hollowness, we’ve got the arsenal for you, with a variety of quality upcoming releases covered (Denouncement Pyre!) and best of all, an interview with blackened folk metal band Finsterforst giving us the skinny on their latest, Rastlos, and the German Black Forest that gave them their name. We have plenty here to prepare you for the Solstice, so without further ado, post your playlists/comments and get to eye-banging!
Jim Clifton:
Agalloch – Of Stone, Wind, and Pillor
Necros Christos – Triune Impurity Rites
Sepultura – Arise
Overkill – Taking Over
Bathory – The Return
Panopticon – Kentucky
Pentagram – Turn to Stone
Trouble – S/T
Maveth – Coils of the Black Earth
Emperor – Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Marty Rytkonen:
Venom – Black Metal
Venom – Welcome to Hell
Horrendous – The Chills (this rules… A Van Drunen reminiscent vocalist, but the songs just slay!)
Finsterforst – Rastlos
Funeral – S/T (Eric Cutler from Autopsy is a twisted death/doom overlord!)
Fortid – Pagan Prophecies
Desolate Shrine – The Sanctum of Human Darkness
Denouncement Pyre – Almighty Arcanum
Fall of the Leafe – Evanescent, Everfading
Rotting Christ – Triarchy of the Lost Lovers
Worm Gear 
That Panopticon record is fantastic. Thinking I may have to try that Finsterforst record, been hearing tons of great things about it.
My playlist is almost all things I missed in 2012 or revisiting albums from this year.
Skin Like Iron – Arrival
Aura Noir – Out To Die
Wodensthrone – Curse
Martyrdöd – Paranoia
Autolatry – Of The Land
Royal Thunder – CVI
Early Graves – Red Horses
Witch Mountain – Cauldron of the Wild
Dawnbringer – Into the Lair of the Sun God
Hot Water Music – Exister
Morning Gents:
Good reviews. I’ll be checking out those bands today at the office. Stoked to hear the Ataraxy.
My playlist:
Witchcraft – Legend
Monolithe – III (fucking WOW!!!!!!!!!)
Rest is the same as last week.
On Nocturnal Poisoning – imagine a dissonant minor key version of the Swan Song by Zeppelin, yet with minimalist percussion, more reverb and atmosphere and you kinda have this record. I have listened to it about 3 times. I like it a lot. It is very introspective, a ton of noodling (but good so far), non-engaging, with melodies that take time to soak in. This has dark and very bright excellent sounding 12 string guitars. I have been told that Scott doesn’t play 12 strings on here, but i 100% don’t believe that. They damn sure our 12 strings, and on every song. Every song has multiple guitar tracks in stereo. So there is a lot of shit going on, layered with the tambourine and simple very effective percussion. This is a very unique record. I recommend it. Not for the die hard horse-blinder metal-heads.
Thanks for the write-up on the Nocturnal Poisoning, sounds like quite the intriguing listen. And I’ll be sure to check out the Monolithe and get back to you with thoughts on that! -Jim
I loved ‘Kentucky’, glad you’re digging it. You’ve listed some albums that I’m considering to be on my EOY 2012 list. Dawnbringer’s ‘Into the Lair of the Sun God’, and Wodensthrone’s ‘Curse’ are both extremely well done records. And who can resist the mighty Aura Noir? Black Thrash ATTACK! -Jim
Weapons To Hunt – Blessed In Sin (neckbreaker!)
Camel – Moonmadness
Camel – The Snow Goose
Drudkh – Autumn Aurora
Demolition Hammer – Epidemic of Violence
Control Denied – The Fragile Art Of Existence
Riot – Fire Down Under
Okay, whoever mentioned Cemetary’s ‘An Evil Shade of Grey’ is a genius because I am finally listening to this, and it fucking rocks my swedish wannabe cock. this reminds me of Grotesque, Entombed and Tiamat all mixed in one .Fucking good shit. Thanks whoever that was…I love it when great stuff surfaces for me decades later.
My additional list this past week has been rather band catalog focused….
Destroyer 666 – Unchain the Wolves
Destroyer 666 – Phoenix Rising (a black death, anthemic masterpiece)
Destroyer 666 – Cold Steel for an Iron Age
Destroyer 666 – Terror Abraxis
Destroyer 666 – To the Devil His Due LP
Edge of Sanity are quite possibly one of my favorite Swedish bands. So unique and crushing.
Edge of Sanity – Crimson
Edge of Sanity – Crimson 2
Edge of Sanity – Nothing But Death Remains
Edge of Sanity – Unorthodox
Edge of Sanity – Purgatory Afterglow
Edge of Sanity – The Spectral Sorrows
Will get to the rest of their catalog later this weekend! But yeah…. Definitely 2 bands that have delivered an amazing body of work. My job has been a lot more enjoyable this week spinning all this stuff…. not to mention all the funny looks from fellow employees due to all the random air guitaring going on….
Patrick…. Glad you liked Cemetary. Their debut is amazing, but with their 2nd (Godless Beauty) , they kind of adopted more of a weird dry, gothic thrash vibe. It works and I still really enjoy that album, but for their third and last few albums, they went even further down the gothic side and finally became like a heavy goth rock band. Again… it’s memorable enough stuff to fully enjoy if you’re in that mood, but it is a complete departure from the greatness that is An Evil Shade of Grey.
Kevin…. Aura Noir – Out to Die…. I liked it as that band is always enjoyable, BUT I think Hades Rise was too damn impressive to be topped. Flawless from beginning to end.
Overkill again (or still?): Under The Influence!!!
Kylesa – From The Vaults Vol. 1: I hope there’s going to be a Vol. 2 as well because these ‘rarities’ certainly aren’t leftovers. They do an awesome cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’.
Still discovering and totally digging Vile’s discography. Great band, and refreshing to hear some islam bashing instead of the usual slaughter of christians (on their album ‘The New Age Of Chaos’). Which brings to mind Weapon’s ‘Remnants Of A Burnt Mosque’… \m/
Speaking of slaughtering christians; right now ‘Vanquish In Vengeance’ by Incantation is pummeling my speakers (and the ears of the neighbors too hehehe). Crushing. Relentless. Pitch black. Suffocating. In fact; eat this, Suffocation!!!
I haven’t heard Hades Rises yet. Gonna have to track that down now.
me too on the hades rises