Five For Friday: November 18, 2022

Greetings, Decibel readers!

The year is winding down, the lists are coming out and our attention is drawn away to the holiday season and the coming new year of new releases. However! November and December are not simply a liminal space, a grey area of the editorial schedule where nothing happens. Great music keeps coming out every week, so we’re going to keep you up-to-date. Well, at least until I feel like publishing my black metal and death metal roundups instead. That’s how you’ll know it’s a REALLY slow week.

Anyway, enjoy!

Candlemass – Sweet Evil Sun

I had the great pleasure of seeing the Candlemass at this year’s installment of Decibel Metal and Beer Fest in Philadelphia, playing an excellent set of classics, including the entirety of Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. The first thought I had upon seeing them take the stage was: this is what aging gracefully looks like. Dignified, understated, but still heavy as all hell. And that’s what you can expect from this album, albeit with more of a hard rock flavor blended into their vintage doom metal sound.

Stream: Apple Music

Critical Extravasation – Order of Decadence

From our full album stream:

Critical Extravasation are strongly influenced by the likes of Death, Pestilence and Atheist, which is particularly heard on songs like “Devastating Virtue” and “Doctrine of Atrophy,” which push the technical thrash sound further into extreme territory. Despite its concise runtime, Order of Decadence packs so much metal into the seven songs on the album that you’re not left needing more when it ends.

Stream: Apple Music

Griefbringer – The Horrible Wilting

Mourning and resignation rendered into sound. Beneath the waves of doom and sludge, I can’t help but notice the slightest hint of Alice in Chains as well. That’s a good thing, by the way.

Marrasmieli – Rehearsal Live

I’m a big fan of Finland’s Marrasmieli, and have covered them multiple times here to that effect. The band specializes in epic and atmospheric black metal of the most heroic kind. This live rehearsal album renders them in dark, grim and raw hues, stripping the sound down to its purest essence. Honestly, this rules so hard, the next albums should sound like this as a matter of course.

Skythala – Boreal Despair

I, Voidhanger Records, the capital of metal’s weird side, delivered a few new releases this week. I decided to pick this one out of the hat. Then the hat screamed at me.