Black Cobra
Invernal
Southern Lord

Invernal, the fourth full-length from Bay Area duo Black Cobra,  is every bit the cracked teeth, world swallowing, gaping Hell mouth I expected it to be, but the urgency and desire with which I have embraced its festering lips and drank in its putrid stench has surprised even me. The visceral battery of sludge Rafa Martinez (drums) and Jason Landrian (guitar and vocals) unleash sounds like Matt Pike taking a rusty-chained whipping from Kerry King and Tom Araya — and there’s only two of ‘em! Whether it’s Kurt Ballou’s production work or the band’s overwhelming desire to harness the force of charging thunder into suffocating black riffs, Invernal pounds out eight cuts of unrelenting rotten roll much braver, louder, and nastier than any Black Cobra album that’s come before. This here is proof that sludge doesn’t have to be prosaic, that it can attack you like a zombie ape and bite your fucking head off.

Listen to “Avalanche” from Invernal!

Toxic Holocaust
Conjure and Command
Relapse

Metal fans are so particular that Toxic Holocaust’s seemingly innocuous change in logo and cover art (opting for black and white this time around instead of the usual radioactive neon of covers past) nearly started a rash of hangings by bullet belt across the whole of the thrash world, an overreaction not experienced since Metallica took a trip to the barber shop (although something has to explain the music that followed, I suppose). Add to that the fact that Mr. Toxic Holocaust himself, Joel Grind, brought a full band into the studio to help pull off what he usually does alone, and you can pretty much taste the vile panic. But one spin ’round the ol’ graveyard gravel pit and it’s abundantly clear that Toxic Holocaust are as evil and furious as ever before, so I’d urge anyone with any doubts as to Conjure and Command‘s integrity and legitimacy to take their skullets out of the noose, crush a million fucking beer, and mosh their neurotic aggression into oblivion. Every one of the 10 songs here drip with toxicity and disease, a battery of riffs as sharp as wolves’ teeth, and will send you straight into Hell, all clenched fists and burning eyes, on a mission to desecrate the underworld. And don’t worry if you’ve got an old logo patch on your denim jacket when you do, that will just earn you extra desecration cred with the souls of the damned .

Listen to “Bitch” from Conjure and Command!

Trigger Effect
Versitis Maximus
Turbo Machine Enterprises

Trigger Effect is a cyclone of punk n’ roll danger, all spit and teeth and shirtless fury, and because of that they’ve been one of my favourite bands of the last few years. Their debut, Dare to Ride the Heliocraft, was anarchic brilliance, a razor-sharp combine of venom, mayhem, disaster, and juvenile antics. So, in some ways, I felt sorry for their new album, Versitis Maximus, even before I heard it because I knew it was going to have one hell of a time blasting its way out of that dark and bloody shadow. Well, it seems I was worried for nothing because the Montreal quintet doesn’t seem to know any other gear than full fucking throttle, and Versitis Maximus finds the band flying high through desperate skies on wings of barbed wire once more. With the exception of the attention paid to crafting catchier songs, and a stronger emphasis on gang vocals, it still sounds like Trigger Effect lives off of a steady diet of turpentine and hate, tearing through all 11 songs in under 23 minutes as if they’re late to a party they intend to crash. The album also leans heavily on the ludicrous, as songs like “Leave Me Stallone ” (with lyrics made up entirely of Rambo quotes), “Sect Rat Hurries Dei” (sung in French), “300 Hairy Bears” (sung in a language that may or may not be Russian), and “Party ’til You Die Everyday ’til You’re Dead” (self-explanatory) prove that the band does not intend to turn off the Turbo Machine any time soon. And why should they? If the gutter fits, crawl in it.

Listen to “Ghostie De Tabarnak” from Versitis Maximus!