Busy week around these parts but at least it was good and a little warmer. Almost got spring fever but who am I kidding? Cold is coming back, blah. Must enjoy it while it’s here and speaking of enjoyment, we’ve got plenty of it in this edition of Initial Descent. Starting things off is Down Below from Tribulation which has absolutely consumed me and just when I thought their brand of black tinged goth inspired metal / rock couldn’t get any better it did and impressively so. Next up is Australia’s ultra experimental death metal band Portal with their latest mind bender Ion, Abyssal Vacuum gives us three songs of extremely complex yet fully hypnotic black metal on MMXVII and Somali Yacht Club (love that name!) create an album’s worth of pure escape and bliss on The Sea, seriously, this band knows how to milk atmosphere and stretch out melodies. GREAT start but as usual we have so much more to explore so get comfy, grab a drink and hang with us for a while.
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Tribulation – Down Below (Century Media) – black / progressive metal [full review]
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Portal – Ion (Profound Lore) – death metal [full review]
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Abyssal Vacuum – MMXVII (Solar Asceticists Productions) – black metal [feature]
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Somali Yacht Club – The Sea (Robustfellow Productions) – progressive rock [full review]
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Also on tap:
Accuser – The Mastery (Metal Blade) – thrash metal
Agrimonia – Awaken (Southern Lord) – progressive / death metal [full review]
Alestorm – Captain Morgan’s Revenge – 10th Anniversary Edition (Napalm Records) – pirate metal
Anguish – Magna Est Vis Siugnah (High Roller Records) – doom metal
Apophys – Devoratis (Ultimate Massacre Productions) – death metal
Arcaeon – Balance, EP (Independent) – tech / prog / deathcore
Archaic Tomb – Congregations for Ancient Rituals (Caligari Records) – black / death
Atala – Labyrinth of Ashmedai (Salt of the Earth Records) – sludge / doom
Bind Torture Kill – Viscères (WOOAAARGH) – post-hardcore
Beldam – Pasung (Horror Pain Gore Death) – doom / sludge
Black Space Riders – Amoretum Vol. 1 (Black Space Records) – rock
Centuries – The Lights Of This Earth Are Blinding (Southern Lord) – hardcore punk
Communion – At the Announcement (Hells Headbangers / Sinister Flame) – heavy metal
Communion – The Communion (Hells Headbangers) – heavy metal
DateMonthYear – March, Single (Independent) – pop / rock
Dead River Runs Dry – Hierophants of the Storm (Static Tension Recordings) – black / death
Death Keepers – Rock This World (Fighter Records) – heavy metal
Ectoplasma – Cavern of Foul Beings (Memento Mori) – death metal
Faal – Desolate Grief (Ván Records) – black / death
Fallen Utopia – Disequilibrium (Cursed Records) – death metal
Grethor – Damnatio Memoriae (Edgewood Arsenal) – extreme metal
Hooded Menace – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed (Season of Mist) – death / doom
Howling Sycamore – S/T (Prosthetic Records) – progressive metal
Hundred Year Old Man – REI, EP (Wolves and Vibrancy Records) – post-metal / doom
Mammoth Grinder – Cosmic Crypt (Relapse Records) – death metal
Mary and the Ram – The Cross, Single (Anonymous Records) – americana
M.R. James – Casting the Runes (Cadabra Records) – horror / spoken word
Nebula – Let It Burn, Reissue (Heavy Psych Sounds) – psych rock
New Years Day – Diary of a Creep, EP (Century Media) – alternative
Orphaned Land – Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs (Century Media) progressive metal
Philip H Amselmo & The Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness as a Virtue (Housecore Records) – extreme metal
Primal Rite – Dirge of Escapism (Revelation) – hardcore / thrash
Rapture – Paroxysm of Hatred (Memento Mori) – death / thrash
Regnvm Animale – Brinna / Norn – Brenna (Bulvan Bolag) – black / crust
Rotheads – Sewer Fiends (Memento Mori) – death metal
Sanguine Moon – What Shadows Once Hid… (Folkvangr Records) – ambient black metal
Slow – V – Oceans (code666) – funeral doom
Storm of Particles – Gaea Hypothesis (Independent) – melodic death metal
The Dead Centuries – Race Against Time (Independent) – progressive metal
The Sleeper – Apparatus (ASTAT Entertainment) – post metal
Untervoid – S/T (Osmose Productions) – death metal
Vantablack Warship – Abrasive Pulmonic Speak (Independent) – blackened hardcore
Vargrav – Netherstorm (Werewolf Records) – black metal
Vinide – Reveal (Inverse Records) – symphonic metal
– Josh
Nine Circles 