Rising
To Solemn Ash
Exile On Mainstream

Yes, Rising’s To Solemn Ash was released last year overseas, but since this here is its North American release, I don’t feel tardy in telling you all about its sludgy goodness, dig? Following a four-song EP in 2009 and a 7″ single in 2010, To Solemn Ash finds the Danish trio finally putting a massive effort into a full-length, and oh what a monumental design it be. As though guardians of some Copenhagen castle, gargoyles perched high in the blackest of skies, Rising preside over the kingdom of heavy with a stony, melodic glare. The swirling storm that is To Solemn Ash swells with opener “Mausoleum,” its dark, corpse-painted intro-riffing eerily akin to Behemoth’s “Ov Fire and the Void,” but as the album thunders on, it comes to pass that Rising were not born of the extreme black, but that they are, in fact, doomed descendants of the Baroness bloodline. So they carry themselves accordingly throughout, beset by beasts both basilisk and sharp-toothed hound, themselves grotesque creatures commanding a thick rush of temper-metal weather and spreading brutally fancy dread.

Listen to “Through The Eyes of Catalysis” from To Solemn Ash!

Untimely Demise
City of Steel
Sonic Unyon Metal

City of Steel, the full-length debut from Saskatoon thrashers Untimely Demise, was self-released by the band last year, but has been given a killer re-release courtesy of Sonic Unyon Metal, so let’s pretend this dynamite piece of soul fucking metal is new and bask in its ripping glory like whores presenting themselves at the Goat’s altar, shall we? Untimely Demise’s complex, brutal, and demonizing approach to slashing your gut and watching your innards drop out into the snow is made all the more vile by Matt Cuthbertson’s venomous snarl, a foamy gush of putrid vocals that couldn’t sound more perfect if they were puking out of the festering mouth of a zombie German drill sergeant. Add to that an insane — and by that I mean plenty and crazy — amount of tempo destruction, bat shit solos, and melodic hooks, and City of Steel becomes seven tracks of heavy metal mastery that ought to be universally regarded by fans of Kreator, Death, et al. (hell, Children of Bodom fans take note of the title track’s chorus) as pure evil, speed dealin’ pandemonium. Most everyone will hate you for playing this, which is exactly why it rules so damn hard, and why you should play it loud all the time.

Listen to “Virtue in Death” from City of Steel!

Omega Massif
Karpatia
Denovali Records

The moment you begin listening to an Omega Massif album, there’s not a heavier, darker moment occurring anywhere else in the world; it was true of their 2006 debut EP Kalt, it was true of their 2007 debut full-length Geisterstadt, and now the same can be said for their latest album, Karpatia. Knowing the kind of power Omega Massif is capable of harnessing, I feared putting the headphones anywhere near their desired mark lest my skull succumb to the inevitable decibel rape and cave in upon first riff impact. To say the German instrumental band is crushing is an understatement. Many will label ‘em drone sludge, post-metal, or atmospheric doom, but each of those are just rusty links in the thick chain tied to the ten ton anchor that is their sound, which rests in the deepest part of the ocean’s black crevices, a place still and breathless, a place untouched by humanity. Whether drenched in feedback, antagonizing you with its gentler, swelling passages, or unleashing a resounding and brutal assault of monolithic proportions, Karpatia is stone cold terror. You might want to think about finding a happy place with strong walls before you drop the needle on this one, man.

Listen to “Wölfe” from Karpatia!