Lord Mantis - Death mask (2014)

Death mask is the third full lenght from Chicago's "death sludge" dealers Lord Mantis. i'd been impressed by their previous album Pervertor and am pleased to say that Death mask is of the same caliber. sounds completely filthy and drenched in pain. it features some old school death metal elements but we could say that overall it's sludge (heavy and slow parts, noisy and dirty guitar sound), but a very black sludge, closer to death metal than to punk hardcore, with even some "industrial" elements (for exemple some effects on the vocals reinforcing their inhuman sound) adding to the cold and bleak atmosphere. add to that the very strong songwriting, with well crafted epic moments and some few but good nasty melodies, and you have another excellent piece of sludgy death audio nihilism from Lord Mantis. highly recommended!

listen to Death mask on Profound lore Bandcamp.

Brain corruption - Artifacts of humanity (EP 2013)

Brain corruption is a duo from Bremen (Germany) and their EP  Artifacts of humanity is pure grind played the way it should during its twelve minutes. A powerful sound but not too clean. Relentless blast beats and grindpunk beats. A dual (crust and death metal) vocal delivery. Some grind / crust / trash riffing. And the job is done. And well done. Good stuff!

Their Bandcamp

Parasight - Munden Fuld Af Løgn, Lommen Fuld Af Profit (2014)

Discovered this danish band completely by chance but I'm very pleased I did because it's really one of the best crust / d-beat band i've heard in a while. their first 12'' album (after a good EP two years ago) called Munden Fuld Af Løgn, Lommen Fuld Af Profit and released this year is an excellent exercise in that style. Parasight really masters the formula, keeping an excellent balance between neo-cust melodic elements and the relentless attack. their excellent songwriting make them able to sound fresh while sticking to the basic elements of neo-crust / d-beat. they just do it in the best way.

their bandcamp

Serpentine path - Emanations (2014)

I really liked Serpentine path's (a band with Ryan Lipinsky and Tim Bagshaw)  first album released in 2012 (read my review HERE) but I think I like the new one, Emanations, even more. they kept the crushingly heavy death-doom elements and the sinister mood but added more creepy weirdness with more guitar leads and melodies. probably this has something to do with the addition of a second guitarist (Stephen Flam who played in Winter, so now it looks like an all-star band even more, but it's far from their main argument, just listen to it and you'll realise it quickly). so Emanations is a good move forward from an already very good band. recommended!

The BC page

Carousel - Jeweler's daughter (2013)

Classy cover art for a classy album. Carousel is a young band from Philadelphia, and their excellent debut album Jeweler's daughter was released last summer by the also excellent Tee pee records. I wonder why it seems that few people noticed it because it really would have deserved more attention. it has everything you love in classic heavy metal. think Judas priest, Iron maiden and Black sabbath, fused with a touch of Thin lizzy and some heavy rock boogie. faultless balance of rocking vibe and hooks. a smooth and sharp guitar sound, cool leads, excellent vocals and most importantly excellent songs. nearly each one is a heavy metal hit. they doesn't reinveint the wheel at all but their classical heavy metal sounds fresher and better than most retro bands.

you can stream it from this The obelisk (recommended blog by the way) post.

Rapturous grief - Ficcion corporativa (2014)

Rapturous grief is a guitar / drums duo from Atlanta and they play a dark  and aggressive hardcore that we could call "blackened poweriolence", hardcore staight forward agression with some nasty metallic riffing and blast beats. The new release is a 7'' called Ficcion corporativa (yes it's sung in spanish). 10 songs in less than then minutes. really straight to the point and "catchy" in it's hardcore way. if you're into powerviolence, fastcore, grindpunk and the like I highly recommend you listen to it. And to learn more about the band you can read at this location the interview we did two years ago on the occasion of the release of their self titled 7''.

Their Bandcamp

The Body - I shall die here (2014)

On this album, I shall die in here, The terrific drone doom duo called The Body is teaming with the guy releasing dark ambient music as The Haxan cloak. and it's a good move because I shall die in here is excellent. the additions from The Haxan cloak are subtle, it's close to previous The Body works (for ex read HERE my review of Christ reedeemers), but it still bring some few but "nice" changes to the music of the duo with some industrial / dubstep beats and sounds adding to the coldness and bleakness of the songs. it offers an interesting variation of their sound while keeping it as heavy, noisy and nihilistic as usual.

The Bandcamp page