When it comes to new releases from prominent and exciting bands, it’s going to be hard for 2020 to beat this week. Enslaved fans, ready the longboats! Gorephilia fans, get read to OUGH! Lamp of Murmuur fans, descend from the castle lair. Anaal Nathrakh fans … brace for impact?
In a year packed with enough history to cover the next century, it’s good to have a strong soundtrack to go along with it.
And don’t forget, today is Bandcamp Friday, in which Bandcamp waives its revenue share to help you get even more money into the hands of the artists you depend on for the jams. So if you wanted a great day to kick them out, today’s the day.
Sidenote: If you want even more great tunes to rage to, and you want to support a great cause, check out this compilation benefiting the Soroka family. The compilation features tracks from Äkth Gánahëth, Esoteric, Këkht Aräkh, Krieg, Lamp of Murmuur, Mare Cognitum, Panopticon, Woe more (as if that wasn’t enough).
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Anaal Nathrakh – Endarkenment
If you know, you know. But if you don’t, you’re in for a real treat if you like skull-splitting brutality mixed with melodic grandeur. Anaal Nathrakh brilliantly mixes black metal and grindcore into a pulverizing sound all their own, along with almost operatic clean vocals that give the choruses an extra hook that’s often missing from other acts.
Stream: Apple Music
Enslaved – Utgard
Enslaved is Viking metal in the best sense of the term. They’re a band that formed a unique and exciting form of black metal back in the early 90s, and since then have taking their dragon boat into far away lands of progressive metal. Utgard is yet another conquest for the band, showcasing all of the atmosphere of the early years with the innovative spirit they’ve embodied since 2001’s Monumension.
Stream: Apple Music
Gorephilia – In the Eye of Nothing
If you know anything about Dark Descent, you know what you’re getting yourself into with the latest from Finland’s Gorephilia: straightforward, dark, crushing death metal. If that’s all you’re looking for, and you want it done by some of the best in the scene, this is your ticket to the bloody underworld.
Lamp of Murmuur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
One of this year’s most anticipated releases from one of the most buzzed-about bands in the new wave of raw black metal. Lamp of Murmuur blends everything you could want from melancholic riffing, to scorching vocals and eerie synths, and wraps it into a grim package of gloom. Even more exciting is when Mr. Lamp lets his deathrock and goth influences shine through, like on the supremely dance-able title track.
Sarcoptes – Plague Hymns EP
A fitting title for a release in 2020 you might say. Sacramento’s Sarcoptes blends thrashing, ripping black metal with shades of blue-cover black metal of Dissection, Sacramentum and the rest of the gang. The EP only gives you two tracks, but you could always just hit replay. Hopefully we get another full-length soon.
