Album Review: "The Tomb of All Things" by Un

The Tomb of All Things

Welcome to the world of the dying, Un.

Seattle, Washington's newest Funeral Doom Metal band is now releasing their debut album.

Another genre to talk about or to shake my fist angrily at the sky in defiance screaming we only need metal...but you know I'm  not going to do that.

In the past few years, there has been a fissure in the metal community. Until recently, metal has been focused on anger and rage. Dee Snider said as much when discussing why rap fans and metal fans don't have nearly the crossover they should.

But now, there's something else. Metal has found another negative emotion on which to base their songs. Sadness is just as powerful as the anger. Edgar Allen Poe knew this all too well....

Album Review: "You Lived, Now Die" by Diavolos

You Lived, Now Die

Personally...I consider myself old school.

Back in the day it was one of hundreds of nicknames my friend gave me and it was stenciled onto my bright red Ibanez Super Strat.

Of course, at the time I was 19 and anything but old school. I was too young and dumb to even know what old school was.

Today we're looking at an old school death  metal band, but we're not talking about early to mid 90's death metal, but even older than that.

The type of music contained herein was forged in hell before Chuck Schuldiner of Death ever released a note. This goes back to when death metal became something more than thrash  metal, but before the formula was created.

Album Review: "Final Days" by War Curse

Final Days

Who remembers those heady days when Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Exodus, and Testament were giving birth to the music that would later be called thrash metal?

I don't, because I was a touch too young, but I can tell you who's been affected by it?

War Curse.

Fun fact: Final Days is the strangely titled debut album from War Curse.

I dunno man, I don't think that's what I call my first record, but War Curse is like that I guess.

They've only been in existence for just about two years and they're already on their third bass player. I find that interesting. It's like the Spinal Tap rotation, but with bass players. Well, good luck Eric Payne. I hope you don't spontaneously combust.

Interview: Twingiant's Nikos Puts Up With My Inanity

Nikos Mixas, second from left.

For the past forever it would appear....

There has been this idea that decades of metal progression has been wrong and that something was lost in the translation from Black Sabbath's unholy teachings.

Most metal bands today bear no resemblance to them.

Though he is still a huge fan, I can hear nothing of Tony Iommi in James Hetfield's playing.

If you picture Black Sabbath in your mind, likely you will see the four of them, dressed in all black, wearing giant metal crosses, but that is their revisionist history of themselves.

Black Sabbath started out as hippies. They were as much acid rock as Jimi Hendrix, but so many bands took off, in their preconceived footsteps. Nowadays though, we have bands that have hit the reset button and brought back the wah wah into heavy metal.

So, I told you all of that so I can introduce you to Twingiant's Nikos Mixas.

Album Review: "Boroughs EP" by Boroughs

Boroughs

New band.

Old timey music.

Boroughs are a self described Americana roots musical collective from the sunny state of California. (Where else right?)

As we all know, nearly everything under the sun has been done and done many times over. What I'm seeing in the music world these days is a great many bands returning to the roots of music.

Be it 90's Death Metal, 50's Rock'n'Roll, Delta Blues, and so on and so forth, what's old is now new again. As it once was, it always will be.

So, let's check out our new friends. They've only been at this for a year.

Album Review: "Revocation of the Blood Elect" by Rex Shachath

Revocation of the Blood Elect

Is there anything more unifying than Death Metal?

There is nothing else I can think of that unifies the populace like this tiny genre of music.

Granted, about 98% of the entire world think it's terrible and horrible noise. It could be argued that those people are just wrong and don't know how to hear the music...

Then we get into some very real unification.

Today's band comes from Northern Ireland, UK.

This is the follow up to their debut EP, Sepulchral Torment. After the end of 2014, they have done little beyond working about this album. As I've not heard the first record....let's just dive into the second.

Album Review: "Chiaroscuro" by Vingulmork

Chiaroscuro

The double metal.

Vingulmork is a band that's too big for a single metal subgenre. Their music transcends the boundaries of death metal, thrash metal, and black metal to create a new thing.

Blackened Thrash, or Death Thrash, or whatever other permutation you can come up with.

I'm going with Death Thrash, because it just sounds so much cooler than blackened anything , besides chicken.

Perhaps I'm just being a silly writer, but damn it it's my space to write in.

Vingulmork have been at this a few  years and today's album is their first full length album, a follow up to their self released EP, The Long March, from 2013.

Album Review: "Malady" by Malady

Malady

One of the reasons I started this blog oh so long ago now, was because I no longer would allow myself to be closed off from new music.

In the three plus years of Glacially Musical, we've done what I'm about to do probably at least 30 times....

DEBUT ALUM!

Finland's Malady had a goal, they were going to write and record an album before the band members turned fifty. Well, a full score and 3 before reaching the half century mark, our new Finnish friends are releasing an album, this one.

When it comes to Finnish music, I think most of us are more familiar with bands like Children of Bodom and black metal in general, but Malady are quite far away from there.

Album Review: "Ain't We Brothers" by Sam Gleaves

Ain't We Brothers

Meet Sam Gleaves.

He hails from Appalachia.

It's not often that I do anything with people from this part of the country. They're not normally associated with my channels, but from time to time things happen, slip through, and here we are.

I can't say I normally listen to music with banjos.

I'm not really a KDHX listener, bluegrass doesn't tickle my fancy too much, but I stop and toss a few coins into the bucket when I see the old men at the local farmers' market playing...

Gleaves though isn't like the normal kinds of folks that most Americans would expect from this part of our country. He's gay and makes no bones about it.

Album Review: "The Peace of Solitude" by Arrant Saudade

The Peace of Solitude

Frankly, is there any better holiday than Halloween?

It starts off with the dreadful heat of St. Louis cooling into a brisk autumnal chill. Then we get to dress as anything we want without (much)  judgment.

Best of all, the veil is thin. There's more to that chill than just the drop in temperature....

But let's get on with what we've got shall we?

This one of those albums that the average person would call atmospheric, esoteric, mood music, and any and all other sorts of qualifiers to basically tell you that if you're looking for verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus...

Well you're just not going to find it here. It's nearly Halloween and let's pull back the veil.

Album Review: "Visions of Apocalypse" by Insanity

Visions of Apocalypse

BONUS REVIEW!

I decided to add an extra death metal review as a present to the month of All Hallow's Eve or Samhain if you're of the pagan bent.

It's the second best month of the year. So it deserves a little extra death metal. I hope the congressman trolling me on twitter sees this post, as Pink Floyd wasn't to his liking.

Insanity is a band that's come back from the void. They are proving that there is life after death metal, but old death metallers always come back.

They always thirst for more.

Visions of Apocalypse is the first album from Insanity since 1994. There have been nearly three complete presidential administrations since their last album. The Sega Saturn was still a going concern when this album came out....

Album Review: "All Is Left To See" by Moloken

All Is Left To See

Well, it's still October.

The chill is still in the air and the summer is still sometimes mounting a principled stand against beautiful weather from time to time, though we all complain about you now.

So, I suppose we're in Pumpkin Spice-Post Summer as opposed to proper autumn.

Well, that's a funny way of saying that I'm reviewing another post-(blank) album again.

In this particular instance, I didn't notice the genre listed when I went to spin it. I just looked it, the cover, and the title.

I then figured Moloken would do very well in my month long ode to Halloween, the fall, and everything that's good and holy in this world....and I was right about that!

Album Review: "Disciples of the Inferno" by Abysmal Lord

Disciples of the Inferno

It's October 27th and I'm closing out October with some more brutal death metal.

There will even be an added seriously scary metal album this week, because:

1) It's Halloween.

2) I love death  metal.

3) I took my daughter to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin that we can decorate like Darth Vader.

But enough about me....let's talk about Abysmal Lord for a bit shall we? They are releasing their full length debut on vinyl and digital and it comes as the follow up to last year's EP, Unholy Black Mass.

Album Review: "Shift and Shadow" by XIXA

Shift and Shadow

It's October 26th.

Who else is really thinking about Halloween? It's on the weekend at this point...after having a kid, I've only dressed up in a costume once!

Who cares.

It's still the best holiday there is. So, perhaps you've noticed that this month, I've been working a theme towards the big day. The day when the veil between the spirit world and the human world is thin...and perhaps that's why I read so much about Coheed and Cambria...

So, I've been trying to supply everybody with the perfect soundtrack for all the Elsas that will be  showing up at your doors trying not to scare you. Let's bring Halloween back! Frankly, this CD has been sitting on my desk for a few days now...I've held off.

Album Review: "The Hatred Inside" by Bleed

The Hatred Inside

It's always fun for me to take a look at where a band is from and see if I can hear that in their music.

Bleed is from Edmonton, AB Canada.

This is, obviously, the rich oil country of the Great White North. I've spoken a goodly deal of Albertans and they're a pretty happy lot.

When the oil industry is going well, they get checks from the government. They have NHL, WHL, AHL, and more kinds of hockey than you can shake a stick at.

This is their full length debut, so there's not much in the past I can base this on, so I'm going to assume that they're a bunch of happy go lucky Edmontonians who're more than happy to see Connor McJesus play for the Oil all year...let's look at their promo snap...