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Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based slamming brutal death metal unit Disfigured Depravity premieres his new single titled "Monarch of Putrefaction", streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below. The song sees Marvin Ruiz (Devourment, Stabbing, Nephalim Grinder) handling the instrumentals, with Josh Welshman (Defeated Sanity) delivering a guest… Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com

Album Review: Hulder – Verbolgen

Reviewed by Oli Gonzalez

Black metal. Many of the great bands around begin life in the same way. One creative genius begins project. Project gathers momentum and said creative genius trusts others to share in their vision. Before you know it, what started as an idea eventually becomes a live band! Take Saor, Thy Light, Blackbraid, or even Gallowbraid after their headline performance at this year’s Fortress Festival. A sentence once thought impossible to write. North America’s Hulder follows this pattern, but is anything but cookie cutter nor cliche! Beginning life in the heartlands of Belgium, the project was conceived and crafted by multi-instrumentalist Marz, blending traditional black metal with haunting Pagan mysticism and harrowing medieval melody. Attendees at this year’s Samhain Antwerp (read about it here) would have bore witness to the blistering force that is Hulder’s live ritual! Now Hulder are ready to share “Verbolgen”, the next stage in their evolution.

The album opens with a little instrumental in the shape of ‘Drie Raven’. With the austere strings and woodwind playing over the pulsating percussive foundations, this was designed to be as ominous as it is eerie. Hulder have prided themselves on creating a darkened medieval vibe within their music, and they have this in absolute bucket loads here! Within this darkness, there’s something oddly relaxing about this. Yet you can’t get too comfortable as we’re launched into the meat and potatoes of the album, beginning with ‘The Crowning’. Like a snake, the song slithers and bends through a slower more gradual opening. Despite the slower pace, the densely layered wall of sound and infernal atmosphere are impossible to ignore. It feels as though they’re holding back, building to something greater. Then like a viper, they strike! The pace quickens sharply and the wall of sound becomes much thicker, hellish, underpinned by an avalanche of blast beats! The vocals of Marz holding the venom and bite though in a concoction of absolutely fierce shrieks and growls!

Hulder seem comfortable and composed, staying in this pattern for the next few songs. Something is brewing, slowly coming to temperature. It’s really during ‘…And We Shall Sing’ when we see things coming to the boil. The intensity raised, the pace dynamic, yet there’s still a delightfully warm undertone and aesthetic quality to the sound. This is driven largely by the guitars which are given more license to roam whilst the drums and bass hold down the poisoned heartbeat of the band.

The band lean more into their medieval folk roots during the outset to ‘In Blood And In Earth’, before the song is packed out with more guitar driven anthems. No silly effects or overreliance on synths. Just warm distorted riffs provided a traditional feel but with modern production. The best of both worlds, right? If the guitars were given license to roam before, they can unleash unmitigated hell during a stupendous solo during ‘Den Nacht Zijn Lied’…honestly, you’ll be rewinding and re-listening to this many many times!

Now for something very different! ‘Zonnesteen’. They may have leaned into their medieval folk roots earlier. Here, they fully embrace them in a ballad that’s more of a ritual and ode to their ancestors! Characterised by the rich intertwining melodies from the primitive percussion instruments, acoustic strings, and contrasting vocal harmonies, this is a song that would seem at home on a Wardruna or Heilung album, yet feels completely on brand for Hulder.

It’s hard to stand out in the vast vast world of black metal. Where many fail to sound different whilst remaining authentic, Hulder revel in this task in an effort that feels as genuine as it is believable. “Verbolgen” is a statement. Hulder are a sleeping giant soon to wake up and lay waste to the world of black metal!

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

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EP Review: Suffer – Soul From Flesh

Reviewed by Oli Gonzalez

It’s safe to say that the UK underground metal scene is in a healthy state. Especially when you examine Suffer, the bruising deathcore force from Wolverhampton! Beginning life in 2018, they’ve toured extensively in their home country, citing seasoned acts such as Decapitated and Signs Of The Swarm as bands they’ve supported. They’re no strangers to the European circuit either, and will continue to spread their wings across the continent this summer with their names on festival posters in Germany and Belgium. They’ll return to Europe riding the momentum of their latest 5 track opus “Soul From Flesh”. Let me tell you, Europe better be ready!

We got a taste of their latest EP when they released unmitigated levels of carnage with the devastating ‘Pendulum Of Vengeance’ earlier this year! We’ve never doubted their ability to drop the hammer and unleash wave after wave of brutality. Though this track – and the rest of the EP – demonstrates their ability to blend crushing heaviness with refined technicality and more sophisticated compositional skills than the genre would normally dictate. Some bands fall into the trap of throwing slam after slam at you hodge-podge style without any consideration for build and progression, and try to slap the label of ‘heavy’ on it.

The end product being something void of real conviction. Instead, Suffer are able to release this primitive aggression slowly and in controlled bursts, demonstrating maturity and an understanding of human psychology. Additionally, they intelligently deploy synths and other background tracks to dictate the austere mood and sense of urgency. ‘Desolated Dreams’ provides perhaps the best example of this, taking a play from Lorna Shore’s books by creating a symphonic undertone to proceedings within a song that takes on a more fluid and non-canonical song structure. This is only enhanced with the dissonant and unsettling distorted guitar passages. All this creates tension that can finally be released in cathartic explosions, like in the climax to ‘Self Immolation’, with a breakdown so immense it could topple buildings!

Do the tracks run the risk of sounding a little too similar to one another? Perhaps. However, at only five tracks or twenty minutes (give or take), “Soul From Flesh” gives a bite size easy-to-ingest sample of their undeniable potential. Fans of Whitechapel and Lorna Shore will be more than satiated with this rather delicious offering!

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.

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But he remained quiet on the ongoing speculation

Source

Miss May I drop new single and announce album.

Banks Arcade tap into their dark side.

A malfunctioning cannon was to blame for the scary moment. Continue reading…

This week’s “Dark Wave” featured music by Soft Cell, Xmal Deutschland, Manufacture, Public Image Ltd., Ministry, Christian Death, Virgin Prunes, The Creatures and more.

The post Playlist: Sirius XM’s “Dark Wave” — hosted by Matt Sebastian (8/2/26) appeared first on Slicing Up Eyeballs.

The phrase “da capo” means “from the head” – and that’s exactly where Arthur Lee was coming from when he created Love’s second album, 1967’s Da Capo. We explored its progressive tendencies in 2018.

In September 1966, Love went into RCA Studios on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard to record the follow-up to their self-titled debut album. The LA group employed Dave Hassinger, the same engineer as the Rolling Stones, but the record that emerged was light years away from mainstream contemporary rock.

For Da Capo, lead singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Arthur Lee decided to sail uncharted territory. He confounded fans, record label Elektra and his own band in the process.

Lee expanded the line-up from five musicians to seven, bringing in Tjay Cantrelli on saxophone and Michael Stuart on drums. They sounded more like a small orchestra than a garage band.

Lead guitarist Johnny Echols had played with Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis, while rhythm guitarist and songwriter Bryan MacLean had learned everything he knew by association with The Byrds. It was a formidable crew.

Da Capo means ‘from the head’ and Lee’s was very much at the creative controls. 7 And 7 Is, already out on 7-inch, was a ferocious shot across the bows.

With its galloping pace, sustained drumming, harsh vocals and psychodramatic lyrics about Lee’s childhood, it tore up the book on what a hit single could be. The title is never heard during the song and its controlled chaos ends in a gunshot slowed down to sound like a bomb exploding.

Stephanie Knows Who begins with similar urgency but softens into a jazzy free-for-all as guitars, sax and electric harpsichord all collide. Lee’s aggression contradicts the dreamlike romanticism of Orange Skies, all Moody Blues-style flute and lyrics about carnivals and cotton candy.

Another ‘pretty’ acoustic guitar-dominated song, The Castle, inspired by the band’s communal residence, became the theme tune to BBC travel show Holiday. Perhaps it wasn’t that far a stretch of the imagination from Laurel Canyon debauchery to British teatime TV.

Side one’s finale, She Comes In Colors, is an exquisite, delicate piece of psychedelia (the Rolling Stones’ She’s A Rainbow, which also features the line ‘She comes in colours,’ came out the following year in 1967).

The Love song was covered by Malcolm Young’s pre-AC/DC band, the UK-based (but Aussie by birth) Velvet Underground, although it was released the year before Malcolm joined.

The most divisive aspect of Da Capo is Revelation, nearly 19 minutes long and taking up all of side two. The combination of electric harpsichord, John Lee Hooker-influenced blues jamming and a meandering melee of John Coltrane-style jazz honking inspired either devotion or derision. Only Bob Dylan and Frank Zappa had got away with anything similar.

The imaginative intensity of Da Capo set in motion a seismic shift from the rock’n’roll framework, incorporating jazz, Latin, baroque, enigmatic lyrics and peculiar tempos.

Most of Lee’s crew jumped ship soon after its release. Other musicians were watching from the shore, however, ready to undertake their own voyages of musical discovery.

Big Noter have announced a three date tour.