sacred bones records

Album Review: Khanate — “To Be Cruel”

D MorrisLeave a comment

Few things carry as much anticipation and dread as the words “band reunites.” At this point, band reunions are less a question of “will it happen?” and more “when does it happen?”.  These reunions tend to be preceded by a lot of PR, followed by album and tour announcements building that anticipation and dread. In the year of our Lord 2023 though, Khanate surprise released a new album, To Be Cruel. This is the first album since 2009 from the doom metal supergroup comprising OLD’s James Plotkin and Alan Dubin, Sunn O)))‘s Stephen O’Malley, and Blind Idiot God’s Tim Wyskida. No build up. No PR blitz. To Be Cruel is only available digitally at the moment, and both the tour and physical releases will come. For now though, this is four people getting together to make truly exciting minimalist doom music.

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CANTO: Lamb of God, Oceanlord, Erdve, and More

CoreyLeave a comment


Two more cantos until Ireland (counting this one)!

  • Lamb of God announced some headlining dates in August (and one in September) that are going to be absolutely wild. The lineup is stacked, featuring Ice Nine Kills, The Black Dahlia Murder, Suicide Silence, and more, and tickets can be found through Live Nation starting Friday.
  • Boris and Uniform are releasing a collaborative album on June 16 through Sacred Bones Records, titled Bright New Disease. “You Are The Beginning” is the first sample taken from that effort, and you can give it a listen here.
  • Next up, out of Season of Mist we have new stuff from Erdve. The experimental sludge outfit dropped a new single and video, titled “Neigti”, material that follows 2021’s Savigalia.
  • And we’ll close with the latest from Oceanlord. The music video for “Kingdom” can be found below, the final single taken from Kingdom Cold. That album is slated for a May 26 release through Magnetic Eye Records. Four is enough for today – I’ve got stuff to do. Bye!

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

Album Review: Thou – “Magus”

Vincent2 Comments

Thou - Magus

Love them or hate them, Thou have been one of the most recognizable faces in underground metal since the band’s inception in the early aughts.  Whether you’re a fan of their “punk by way of doom metal” musical stylings, the starkly confrontational anarchist lyrical themes the band employs, or the irreverent humor they employ across social media platforms (and occasionally printed on merchandise), there is no other band that carries themselves the way Thou has, and their commitment has earned them devotees by the score.  We all know what happens when well established and well loved acts have a pivoting moment, though.  This moment comes for Thou on their newest full-length Magus, which may surprise long time fans of the band, but for those with open minds, shows Thou at their most powerful and affecting. Continue reading →

Initial Descent: August 26 – September 1, 2018

JoshLeave a comment

Thou
Thou

Took part in a BMW performance experience last week in which I got to drive several different ‘M’ models extremely fast (you know, drive it like you stole it) which gave me great pleasure. And over the course of this half day excursion the top four albums below were my soundtrack. Tons of fun was had, you had to be there. Anyway, what’s out this week in the world of metal? Read on…

First up is NOLA’s favorite sons, Thou, with their magnificent take on sludge and doom but with Magus they really reach into progressive territory and it rules – if you dig this band and their recent trio of EP’s you will love this. Ken Mode are back with Loved which is a jagged pill of brutalicious noise rock that, no shocker here, also rules. In the midst of death/black/sludge/prog/djent tagsploitation it’s a nice change of pace to hear a fist pumping, adrenalizing, straight forward heavy metal album such as U.D.O.’s sixteenth full length Steelfactory – old guard or no, this is just a ridiculously fun album. Rounding out the top slots is Australia’s Descent on Towers of Grandiosity which is like pouring death metal, grindcore and crusty old hardcore punk into a vat of acid and watching it explode into a mass of blood red particles.

Now you know of four and there’s so much more…high hat please…anyway, stick around for the rest. Continue reading →