Greetings, Decibel readers!
You’ll find we have a lot of dense and thought-provoking music to share this week. The new releases from Artificial Brain and Cult of Luna are particularly rewarding to explorers and repeat listeners. And I mean, hey, you need something to do while checking if Outlook is still down.
—
Artificial Brain – Antilla
Artificial Brain remains, as a collective, one of the modern masters of technically brilliant dissonant death metal. And while their chops remain as impressive as ever on Antilla, the way they bring everything together strikes me as way more atmospheric than before. In fact, some of the guitar arrangements even remind me of Blut Aus Nord and Krallice. Think of those bands getting together with Gorguts and Ulcerate and you’ll have a good idea of what this album brings to the table.
Stream: Apple Music
—
Cerebral Curse – Abominant Incarnations of Sepulchral Depths
Bonus points for sampling Timothy Dalton in License to Kill yelling “Switch the bloody machine off!” It’s perhaps the only Bond movie that’s grisly and violent enough to be sampled in a death-doom release. But anyway, we at Decibel are strong advocates for punishing, dark and unrelenting music like this. Abominant Incarnations of Sepulchral Depths is the band’s debut album, a promising entry in the wider canon of bands like Spectral Voice, Mortiferum, Evoken and many others.
—
Cult of Luna – In the Shadow of Your Shadow
It’s a little crazy to realize how long Cult of Luna has been around, and how long they’ve been a mainstay of the post-metal sound. The band’s latest album shows their continued exploration of all things cinematic, disorienting and mysterious. I especially like the energetic ripper “The Rift.”
Stream: Apple Music
—
Temple of Bones – Walk The Winds
Classic, raw, thrashy death metal featuring former members of Ripping Corpse and Dim Mak. The band’s particular mix of sounds feels like a blend of Obituary‘s no-nonsense death metal and Sodom‘s uncompromising thrash metal assault — with perhaps a faint reminder of Celtic Frost in some of the vocals and rhythms.
Stream: Apple Music
—
Wraith – Descent Into Darkness
The black-thrash speed-metalers in Wraith return with Descent Into Darkness, their fifth album. It’s a fitting capstone to 10 years of riffs and reapers, and provides all the power needed for listeners who just want nonstop rippers! I’m partial to “Misery and Malice” myself, as it’s hard to resist the classic “most part” that gets the pit going.
Stream: Apple Music
