Well, well, well Devil’s Night is upon us once again. What better way to celebrate than with the Devil’s music?
We’ve got a good week’s worth of metal here for you today. The latest from a death metal legend, some gothic death-doom lurking in the shadows, and a Swedish black metal veteran creating those shadows. A grand soundtrack for a weekend of horror movies, falling leaves, and falling spirits.
—
Carcass – Despicable
Carcass mounted one of the most glorious comebacks in metal history with 2013’s Surgical Steel, mixing the best of Necroticism and Heartwork into the ultimate feast of butchery. If you enjoyed that synthesis and want to hear more music in that style, with a couple small tweaks and turns at the margins, then the Despicable EP should be at the top of your playlist.
Stream: Apple Music
—
Draconian – Under a Godless Veil
Like walking through a rain-swept forest in mid-November, filled with grief and uncertainty about the future, the excellent goth metal on Draconian’s latest album pulls you down in the most beautiful ways. The album comes pack with strong riffs and synths, but the real power comes through the melodies sang by Heike Langhans. Dark, thoughtful and endlessly haunting, these songs stay with you, and you want them to.
Stream: Apple Music
—
Kyrios – Saturnal Chambers
Raw black metal, but not exactly in the candles, vampires and castles sense of the term, Kyrios brings the weird on Saturnal Chambers. The band keeps a foot planted in standard second-wave black metal while stretching the other one to more dissonant and angular territory. Like being seasick, but like, in space.
—
Nothing – The Great Dismal
And now for something completely different. The latest from Philadelphia’s Nothing shows them effectively honing their sound, a curious blend of several layers of 90s worship: shoegaze, indie rock, a slight touch of grunge perhaps, all with hefty rhythms and trippy melodies.
Stream: Apple Music
—
Svartsyn – Requiem
Into the swirling void we go. Requiem marks the return of Ornias’ Svartsyn, a band we’ve covered here in the past as one of many under-recognized bands from Sweden’s fertile 90s black metal scene. The sound? I think Ornias describes it best: “The album is a written as a Requiem. It is a spiritual journey through the destruction of the western civilization and the rise of Antichrist and his eternal kingdom. It is dark and it is nightmarish.”
Stream: Apple Music
