Greetings, Decibel readers!
Definitely have a mix of exciting releases to share with you this week. Behemoth‘s early catalog is getting a long-overdue overhaul and resurrection. Slam fanatics can rejoice at the release of some old Internal Bleeding demos. If you don’t like facial expressions, the second release on this list is tailored for your sensitivities. And finally, Eddie rides out into battle once again.
Enjoy!
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Behemoth – Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic) Reissue
It’s about damn time Behemoth’s early (and best) work was reissued. The band’s 1995 full-length debut represents the culmination of their demo material into a towering black metal masterwork. Yes, they’re better known today for their tech-death laden middle-era and their semi-black metal Satanist-themed work (along with the behavior of their frontman, which websites will never tire of mining for monetization), but in my mind they’ll never top the spirit they captured here. Let’s hope they do the same for Grom soon as well.
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Defacement – Defacement
The band is called Defacement, the album is called Defacement, and the album cover shows a gory image of an unfortunate soul who has been defaced. Literally. Can’t knock a band who knocks you over the head with their modus operandi. Musically, I’d call this atmospheric brutal death metal with black metal influences. That sounds like a word salad, but take a listen and you’ll see what I mean.
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Internal Bleeding – Heritage of Sickness II Reissue
Hold on to your sweatpants, friends, we’ve got another big reissue for this week. Most of the material is taken from the 1992 Invocation of Evil and the 1994 Perpetual Degradation demos, taking you back to the ground zero of that most gloriously obnoxious form of music: SLAM!!! CHNG, CHNG, CHNG, UUUUUUUURRRGGGHHHH!!!! You get the picture.
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Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
Up the Irons! A heavy metal institution puts out its latest series of directives to its metal warriors. Iron Maiden can always be relied on to carry on its core sound and continually finesse it with solid songwriting and hooks, but this latest release is definitely a late-era standout. The riffs and melodies have a distinct 1980s feeling to them, and it’s always cool to see what historical dives Bruce and company decide to take with their subject matter. It’s a great Iron Maiden album in 2021, let’s count ourselves eternally lucky.
Stream: Apple Music
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Portrait – At One With None
Our highly-discerning avian recently delivered his verdict on this one:
“These Swedes are releasing At One with None on Metal Blade in early September. In this, power metal/thrash is alive and well … There’s nothing shocking here, thrashy riffs with some operatic vocals and soaring solos. Apparently, this is what these guys are known for, and although I’m not crazy about this, they do it well. There’s got to be some “occult” sort of vibe here, but it doesn’t come across as “evil” or “dark.”
