Chromium-plated, boiling metal, brighter than a thousand suns
Back into the fray with five reviews, the Worm Gear crew returns amidst 2014’s much-discussed wintry winds to bring you our views on the latest in harrowing musical extremity. Yes, we’ve survived heart-attack-inducing snow shoveling to bring you the best in that which you (mostly) need to hear. This week, Cliftonium discusses the PA disciples of Asphyx/Bolt Thrower worship TrenchRot, the sharp thrash/death of the aptly named Thunderwar, and the soul-wrenching Germanic blackness of Waldgeflüster. Marty brings you coverage of not one but two Drudkh releases; the first, a split 12” with Winterfylleth and the second a compilation including ‘Thousands of Moons Ago’ and other nuggets. Thank you for checking out our End of Year lists last week and posting your own; we enjoyed reading your comments and your own submissions into extreme music’s great unhallowed halls. Post those playlists, people! I’ll need something to peruse as I hit a Lake Michigan beach (we make it into the balmy 30 degree range on Saturday!)
Marty Rytkonen Playlist
Voivod – Rrroooaaarrr
Voivod – Target Earth
Gamma Ray – Heading for Tomorrow
Squash Bowels – Grindcoholism
Thou Art Lord – The Regal Pulse of Lucifer
Ashes of Ares – S/T
Waldgeflüster – Meine Fesseln
Masochist – History
Drudkh – Eastern Frontier in Flames
Wodensthrone – Loss
Jim Clifton Playlist
Tribulation – The Formulas of Death
Summoning – Stronghold/Old Morning’s Dawn
Inquisition – Obscure Verses for the Multiverse
Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales
Endlichkeit – I & II
Moon – The Nine Gates
Burzum – Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Imperium Dekadenz – Meadows of Nostalgia
Lvcifyre – Svn Eater
Arnaut Pavle – s/t
Vex – Memorious
Worm Gear 
Didn’t know about the Drudkh/Winterfylleth split. Looking forward to that. I can’t wait for that new Waldgeflüster. Bindrune is getting the yeah off to a hell of a start.
Fen – Dustwalker
Netherbird – The Ferocious Tides of Fate
The Sword – Age of Winters
Cnoc An Tursa – The Giants of Auld
Agrimonia – Rites of Separation
The Sword – The Veil of Isis
When Bitter Spring Sleeps – Coven of the Wolves
Waldgeflüster – Femundsmarka – Eine Reise in Drei Kapiteln
Panopticon – Kentucky
Frank Turner – Tape Deck Heart
Billy Bragg – Tooth & Nail
Immortal Bird – Akrasia
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult – Nocturnal March
Watain – The Wild Hunt
Argyle Goolsby – Under the Witness Stars EP
Twilight of the Gods – Fire on the Mountain
Propagandhi – Failed States
Red City Radio – Titles
Oathbreakers – Eros|Anteros
Ellesmere – Bail City
The Flatliners – Dead Language
Cannabis Corpse/Ghoul – Splatterhash Split
Dutch Nuggets – Nervous Wreck
Adrenalized – Tales From the Last Generation
Allison Weiss – Say What You Mean
Jason Isbell – Southeastern
Nothington – Lost Along the Way
Mandolin Orange – This Side of Jordan
Kevin… you wont have to wait for Waldgefluster much longer as it is available tomorrow. Packing up pre-orders tonight.
Those were all very interesting reviews! Sadly my empty pockets are suffering the post-holiday-season blues… Time to start a want list for 2014.
Listening:
Way to End – Various Shades of Black (this one keeps growing, deserves a Wormgear review!)
Way to End – Desecrating Internal Journey
Furia – Grudzien Za Grudniem
Furia – Marzannie, Krolowej Polski
Masachist – Death March Fury
Thou Art Lord – DV8
Thou Art Lord – Orgia Daemonicum
Embrace of Thorns – Praying for Absolution
Blut Aus Nord – 777: Cosmosophy
Blut Aus Nord – 777: The Desanctification
Pact – The Dragon Lineage of Satan (very excellent!)
Thrall – Aokigahara Jukai
Cannibal Corpse – Eaten Back Alive
sunn o))) – OO Void
sunn o))) – Flight of the Behemoth
…and now playing:
Bolt Thrower – Waaarrr Maaa Steeeerrrr!!!
Man…can’t say I’ve written out a playlist for at least 10 years, but you guys make it seem so fun. The last version of me who did it won’t recognize anything of the current incarnation. Hell, even last year’s me wouldn’t have guessed half this playlist if he had a million retarded monkeys scouring Encyclopedia Metallum for clues.
Certainly some of these are trials, and not rotation-worthy picks (yet). Nevertheless, I heard them, and I’m not utterly ashamed of that fact.
SATAN’S HOST — Celebration: For the Love of Satan
SATAN’S HOST — Virgin Sails
JUDAS PRIEST — Stained Class
OVERKILL — Feel the Fire
OMEN — Battle Cry
SUMMONING — Old Mornings Dawn
CIRITH UNGOL — King of the Dead
MONSTROSITY — In Dark Purity
AGENT STEEL — Skeptics Apocalypse
SAVAGE GRACE — Master of Disguise
SAVAGE GRACE — After the Fall from Grace
VERBAL ABUSE — Just an American Band
DIO — The Last in Line
DARKIFIED — A Dance on the Grave
MENACE RUINE — Alight in Ashes
You got some classic stuff there Neil! Good to see Cirith Ungol mentioned here, love that band. And Agent Steel; I’ve been listening to their post-reunion stuff today (Order of the Illuminati & Omega Conspiracy wich is playing now) which I think is really good. And then Overkill, Priest and the almighty Dio… I know what I’m gonna listen to next! \m/
Good choices with Overkill and Omen Neil! See… you remember how it’s done! Also that Darkified kicks ass. DIRTY Swedish death.
For sure guys. I was stuck in a death metal ghetto forever and I’m finally reaching back to find everything I originally left behind or never picked up. It’s really rekindled metal for me. It’s a vast, vast landscape yet unexplored.
Which isn’t to say I don’t enjoy my DM when the chance is there, obviously!
Cheers
Dysmorphic – A Notion of Causality
Mgla – Mdlosci & Further Down The Nest
Paragon Impure – To Gaius (for the Delivery of Agrippina)
Lvcifyre – Svn Eater
Weregoat – Slave Bitch… EP
Torture Chain – Mutilating Astral Entities
Rhinocervs – all
Archgoat – The Light-Devouring Darkness
Besieged – Victims Beyond All Help
Horrendous – The Chills
In League with Satan/Satanik Goat Ritual split
Irkallian Oracle – Grave Ekstasis
Ketzer – Satan’s Boundaries Unchained
Ritual Chamber – The Pits of Tentacled Screams demo
Dolorvotre – S/T CD
Jim – The Moon album is really something huh? I can’t say any particular song has distinction over others, but its extremely hypnotic. I have put that album on with headphones and just dozed off several times, like in meditation. I guess that is its inherent weakness, but I am fairly certain that was the artists intention, and it works for me.
List:
Evoken – Atra Mors
Burzum – Sol Austan, Mani Vestan
Esoteric – The Maniacal Vale
Portal – Vexovoid
Kever – Eon of Cycling Death
Ruins of Beaverass – Rain on the Impure
Krahnholm – Demo
Tenhi – Maaaet
Gigan – Multi-Dimensional Fractal Sorcery and Super Sciene
Thanks for reminding me of Moon, that review here was intriguing. Gotta check that one.
Got my first copy of Chips n Beer yesterday. Good zine, a lot of fune ! My first print zine in my hands in over nearly 20 years. Felt like a kid again. Loving it. Also ordered me a copy of Slowly We Rot. Anyone have that?
Nice reviews this week. A lot of meat ‘n potatoes metal for me lately
Kreator – Pleasure to Kill
Kreator – Flag of Hate
Kreator – Terrible Certainty
Vomitory – Raped In Their Own Blood
Vomitory – Redemption
Demolition Hammer – Epidemic of Violence
Dissection – Storm of the Light’s Bane
Feast Eternal – Forward Through Blood
Craven Idol – Toward Eschaton
Slowly We Rot Zine – Good? Decent? Anyone?
Never read it …
Completely agree on Moon; I zone out when listening to it. Since all the songs flow into one another nicely, it’s a great fit if you just want to clear your head with some dark sounds. Glad you’re into it \m/
Speaking of which, how about a topic to discuss:
Soundtracks – your favorite and why?
I’ve been getting into soundtracks again lately.
I don’t own any, but I do think these John Carpenter releases are a cool idea. I love The Thing, Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China etc and his music as a tone-setter greatly contributes to each film’s vibe.
“Call me Snake.”
The Nine Gates is something I can listen to over and over, esp. late at night or early in the morning. It is very relaxing. Speaking of really cool slabs of music, I’ve listened to this damn thing three times today:
http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Praise_the_Flame/Profane_Cult/367889
UA – RE: Profane Cult – yeah, I have seen that and heard a few times over the last year. Believe there is a re-release of it via Memento Mori maybe? I remember it being super aggressive tight Morbid Angel old school type of aggression. Need to hear that again.
Jim – Lately I have been listening to a lot of the Big Trouble and Prince of Darkness. I think 20BuckSpin actually released ‘The Fog’ on vinyl but I don’t know that soundtrack so well. Believe it or not, the Big Trouble in Little China soundtrack is hard to find. I ended up actually buying a vinyl version from a dude in Germany. Why? Cause, why the fuck not. The CD version is nearly non-existent.
Dudes at Chips N Beer recommended the soundtrack to ‘The Dunwitch Horror’ and ‘Black Sabbath’, both of which are on Netflix, so I am gonna check out those two. Also, the black and white Call of Cthulhu movie is on Netflix as well. That is just soundtrack and subtitles. Its really really good! I might pick that up.
Take heed for this upcoming 12″ out of TotheDeathRecords:
http://tothedeathrecords.bandcamp.com/album/lie-in-wait-for-blood-12-lp
Excellent Black Metal!!!
Some favorite soundtracks (Pardon misspellings.):
Goblin’s Profondo Rosson & Zombi & Nonhosonno & Patrick
Wojeich Kilar’s Dracula
Fabio Frizzi The Beyond
Ennio Morricone’s Navajo Joe
Daft Punk Tron Legacy
Oblivion
Blade Runner
Escape from New York
De Angelis Brothers’ Il Cittadino Si Ribella
And here’s an AMAZING song from Walter Rizatti’s soundtrack 1990 War in the Bronx. :
I’m not huge into listening to soundtracks other then when watching the movie, but I do really like the first Terminator soundtrack. Love the dark 80’s synth sound.
Wow, that is an excellent song from ‘Learning to Die’. Really really good. Thanks Zahler. I watched The Dunwich Horror last night. Can’t say I heard anything of serious interest.
Glad you enjoyed it. For the record, the story The Dunwich Horror is one of the best stories ever written, my #1 favorite Lovecraft tale, but I can’t imagine it being a good movie.
The movie is decent for what it is, a 70’s cheese horror flick. : )
Nice title this week; been digging on classic ‘Priest a lot lately. Lotsa good memories tied to those old JP records, although we both know what memories can bring 😉
Finally ordered the new Seidr from Bindrune a day or two ago.
Glad you caught that, Nightsblood! Painkiller continues to be a pinnacle for me, even after 24 years. Never gets old \m/