For Those About to Squawk: Waldo’s Pecks of the Week

Every other Friday, Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases.
Get yo perch on, if you know what I mean. Waldo here, and I’m going to be cracking seeds and skulls on some upcoming releases for you.

First up is ALESTORM, with Back Through Time, and although one may think your fine feathered friend may like this because of the whole pirate/parrot thing, I don’t. This thing has your obligatory “pirate-type samples,” and references to well, pirate stuff. If you aren’t familiar with Alestorm, imagine folk-type metal pumped through a pirate filter, with goofy lyrics and themes. If this is your squawking thing, then more feathers to you; however, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney is tougher, and more fun, than this. Check out Running Wild if you want the OGs of pirate metal. 3 FUCKING PECKS

The ever-classic and recently reunited VOIVOD are releasing Warriors of Ice, a live record. This isn’t a nest-ecary release, but it’s pretty preening cool. If you’ve never gotten to see this band live, this is a definite, culled from recent shows after the death of guitarist Denis “Piggy” D’Amour. Replacement Daniel Mongrain does a squawking amazing job. A classic band doing an incredible job of just fucking slaying their material. Check out the new song assembled from various riffs from the Piggy era. 7 FUCKING PECKS.

Ahhh, the much-debated, much-disputed AMORPHIS. Remember when they were death metal? Well, not a lot of people do—it was really only one record—but anyway… not too stoked. The Beginning of Times: maybe there’s like a time theme that your old boy Waldo is unaware of—hell, them and the aforementioned Alestorm. The Beginning of Times doesn’t mark a huge departure for later-era Amorphis. The production, although clean and crisp, doesn’t really lend to the barely metal songs on this. Clean vocals, pianos, flutes, etc. litter this record. Sounds like they are trying to grab some of the attention that HIM has. At least there is an egg on the cover. A gothic piece of birdshit. 4 FUCKING PECKS.

Finally, here’s a nod to some completely old-school obscure stuff that I’m going to start working in. Check out ZOMBIFIED PREACHERS OF GORE. Contemporaries of Repulsion. Good luck finding any of it, but there are some demo/studio tracks on YouTube. That’s it, fools. I’ll beak back in a couple of weeks…