Five For Friday: May 22, 2020

I greet you.

I come bearing gifts.

By gifts I mean new releases to listen to.

By new releases I mean links to hear and purchase said releases.

I did not buy them for you.

Seriously, I don’t even know you.

Who are you, anyway?

Where was I? Oh right, here’s five great new releases for you to check out this week!

Cauldron Black Ram – Slaver

Albert covered these guys earlier this week, and as he said, this project consists of current and former members of Mournful Congregation taking the low and crushing spirit of their main gig and dousing it in war paint. Barbaric, wrath-fueled hatred drips from every growl and riff, including the raucous “Whore To War” streaming below.

Stream: Apple Music

Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog

There’s a lot of black metal (and some death metal) that sounds like this nowadays, but none that go as hard and as weird as this. Listening to Asthâghul do his thing is the sonic equivalent of being on a roller-coaster for the first time, but you suddenly get knocked loose and go flying, and then a portal opens up to a new dimension. Or maybe you died, and life was just a dream and now you’re actually awake. What I’m saying is, this is what “experimental” and “dissonant” black metal sounds like at its best.

Henry Kane – Age of the Idiot

A righteous blend of melodic death metal, crust and grindcore, Henry Kane is one of the many side projects of Wombbath’s Johnny Petrersson. The project does a lot of things very well, managing to maintain death metal’s riff-driven hooks, the ferocity and force of grindcore, and the iconoclasm of crust, all nicely woven together.

On Sight – Cause of Pain

This actually came out on April 24, but I don’t care, because it’s SO DAMN GOOD. There is so much hardcore out there, a Warriors-esque turf-war of different factions: beat-down, bands jocking the 90s alternative-influenced sound, 82′-style retreads, and bands still trying to out-do Satisfaction is the Death of Desire (you can’t do it, I’m sorry). But there are few bands that manage to take a straightforward sound and drive right down the middle of it all without sounding generic. New Jersey’s On Sight finds the middle path and runs those riffs and breakdowns straight to the end-zone.

Stream: Apple Music

Zatyr – Ornament of Proposition

When you look at the album cover for Zatyr’s latest EP, what do you think of? You’re thinking what I first thought aren’t you? Looks like something akin to Dead Congregation, right? WRONG! Turns out these Swedes sound a lot more like death-influenced version of Angel Witch and Mercyful Fate than anything even close to Incantation or Immolation. And it’s pretty rad! The vocal approach is well-balanced, and there’s fun and heroic riffs for days!

Stream: Apple Music