Black Pyramid
Black Pyramid II
Meteorcity

Although it’s been kicking around for awhile now, Black Pyramid’s second full-length isn’t slated for an official release until the end of January, but I didn’t even think there was going to be a II given some of the band’s cryptic postings about their demise. Truth be told, I thought they were done, and I still don’t know what the real story is, but lo and behold the band lives, and it just turns out that singer/guitarist Andy Beresky is out, having been replaced by Darryl Shepard of Milligram, Hackman, and Blackwolfgoat fame. However, II‘s hollow steamroller is driven by the original line-up, so consider this your final chance to hear Beresky lead Black Pyramid’s doom machine right into the Earth’s crust and dust. Which is exactly what he does, as Black Pyramid’s signature, banner-flying, fuzzy charge storms the gates of Hades heads down and helmets first. Black Pyramid have always found a home in the fire, and II is certainly no exception; in fact, they appropriate it so damn well that they’ve grown confident enough to spread their blazing wings and fly uncommon patterns, especially on the folksy “Tanelorn” and the album’s two epics, “Dreams of the Dead” and “Into the Dawn.” While “Endless Agony,” “Mercy’s Bane,” “Night Queen,” “Sons of Chaos,” and “The Hidden Kingdom” deliver the familiar Sleep-on-speed thunder we’ve come to expect from Black Pyramid, the band does add a bunch of energized riffs, nasty solos, and tempered breakdowns into the mix, making this effort ambitious and quite successful. There sure is a shit ton of heavy coming out of Massachusetts these days, and only time will tell if Black Pyramid will continue to play a giant part in that with Shepard at the helm (there’s no reason to think they won’t). And what of Beresky? He’s too good to stay down for long, you can count on that.

Listen to “Mercy’s Bane” from Black Pyramid II!

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!

Hazzard’s Cure
Hazzard’s Cure
Self-Released

On their self-titled full-length debut, San Francisco’s Hazzard’s Cure bruise and belch their way through a fungal-covered forest on the backs of corpse boars, spears poised to strike the life from those they pursue. Their rabid, sporadic approach to the hunt is propelled by a steady stream of heavy metal buggery; bastard forms of sludge, hardcore, death, doom, speed, and thrash not only occupy the album as a whole but often appear within the same song, and the songs themselves (which range from three to ten minutes in length) run together like the warm blood of their prey. This kind of unfocused racket is often the battle cry of the drunk and stoned, and there’s no doubt that’s the case here, but while songs like “Meet Me at the Mountain” and “Great Dishonor” were born in the bottom of bongs and bottles, “Psilocybin” and “Wolves’ Banquet” are pure mosh pit fodder. But then there’s “Tossed and Dethroned,” “Clashing of Hordes,” and “Prayer of the Hunted,” all of which sound like Mastodon, Black Breath, and Viking Skull trading riffs inside a burning church, and you decide once and for all that there’s no use trying to figure it out because it’s just plain ol’ fucking metal.

Listen to Hazzard’s Cure right here!