Five For Friday: February 5, 2021

We didn’t do one of these last week, and that’s not a big deal. But that means we didn’t chat about the new Tribulation album. That is a big deal!

This also gives us a chance to rave about Cult of Luna and The Ruins of Beverast, heavy-duty stuff for you experimental listeners. But don’t sleep on Revulsion, that’s some glorious death metal right there.

Enjoy!

Cult of Luna – The Raging River

From our review of The Raging River:

What keeps COL so compelling after almost a quarter of a century are the experimental flourishes, be it the subtle organs on last year’s A Dawn to Fear or the frenzied chirps of Julie Christmas on 2013’s Mariner. Like the latter—which us geniuses recognized as one of the 100 best albums of the decade—The Raging River is a short (for them) form triumph: five songs in 38 minutes, again ceding the mic to an surprisingly perfect fit of a guest star, grunge grandpa Mark Lanegan (if only for one song).

Stream: Apple Music

Revulsion – Revulsion

Meaty, energetic Finnish death metal. The band performs a masterclass in catchiness on songs like “Last Echoes of Life” and “Wastelands,” with extracurricular courses in atmosphere on “Pyre” and “Mustaa Hiiltä.” This is an absolutely fantastic debut album from a band that’s been grinding away since 2005. They can look back on those long years with pride, as the riffs here are a testament to that endurance and dedication.

Stream: Apple Music

Sarin – You Can’t Go Back

Here’s how Toronto’s Sarin describes the creative process for You Can’t Go Back:

Piles of vintage amps were strung together and dubbed ‘tone mountain’, drum sets were tested and Frankenstein’d until each kick shook the walls, basses were reset for chest-blasting low end, and effect pedals were taken apart and re-wired for searing distortion. Necks were sprained, feedback was gained, eardrums literally burst.

I can confirm, Tone Mountain makes for a worthwhile journey, even in February.

Stream: Apple Music

The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires

From our premiere of The Thule Grimoires:

From the entrancing opening of “Ropes into Eden,” The Ruins of Beverast create living nightmares that creep with mystery and majesty. Snarls emerge from the mist before von Meilenwald’s sullen croon clears the fog. The icy shimmer of “The Tundra Shines” features some of the album’s most bewitching melodies while dissonance claws at the song’s subtle beauty. As “Kromlec’h Knell” unfolds it invokes the sun-speckled autumnal gloom of Type O Negative’s October Rust.

Stream: Apple Music

Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound

Sweden’s Tribulation has followed a well-worn path in the history of extreme metal: a band who starts out as pure death or black metal, but then undergoes a major evolution that takes the spirit of their early sound and channels it in new directions. Examples include legendary acts like Amorphis, Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Sentenced and many others who put Tribulation in good company. Where the Gloom Becomes Sound is the latest installment in the band’s corpus of gothic metal mastery, one which bears a heavier atmosphere of doom than the previous two. Decibel readers can learn more about the album in our latest issue, which features Tribulation as the cover story. (I still love The Horror, tho, record rips.)

Stream: Apple Music