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Nashville heavy psych jam band Howling Giant take us on a new journey with their latest album, Crucible & Ruin.

I have been following along with Howling Giant for much of their ten-plus-year career. When they started out, they released a string of EPs, including Howling Giant (2015), Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 (2016), and Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 (2017). It was immediately prior to the pandemic that they released their first long-player, The Space Between Worlds (2019). The march forward continued as they shared space with Sergeant Thunderhoof on a Ripple Music split in 2020, then released the instrumental EP the following year known as Alteration, and their best-received album to date, Glass Future (2023). Which direction will they take next? We find out with their latest album, Crucible & Ruin. The band is Zach Wheeler (drums, vocals), Tom Polzine (guitar, vocals), Sebastian Baltes (bass, vocals), and Adrian Lee Zambrano (guitar, synths).

The music on the new album is a bit heavier than what we have heard recently from the band, and that is good for me. There are ten tracks, starting with “Canyons,” a catchy prog pounder with an urgent pulse. “Hunter’s Mark” has a chug, too, even as it measures up more on the ethereal plane. “Archon” is loud and urgent with a mild middle passage and creative guitar expressions thereafter. “Lesser Gods” is a contemplative interstitial leading to the first movement in the two-part suite, “Beholder I: Downfall.” This one is a rugged cranker that whets your appetite for the second part, but you have to wait until end for that.

On the flip we have “Archivist” first. The longest single song on the record, it is perhaps my favorite bit of music from the set, owing to its mystery and depth, driven by the incredible percussion and luring melody. “Scepter and Scythe” has you creeping through a field ever mindful of the large porcupine population, then “Melchor’s Bones” reveals previously unheard lore. “The Observatory” is an introduction to the closer, “Beholder II: Labyrinth.” The final song starts on a dooming foot, and from there progresses in manners both spritely and somber. I was already a fan of Howling Giant going into this album, and it has strengthened my allegiance as this record is exceptional. Highly recommended.

Crucible & Ruin is available through Magnetic Eye Records on Halloween. Listen and buy at the links below.

Band photo by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Howling Giant website, https://www.howlinggiant.com/

Bandcamp, https://howlinggiant.bandcamp.com/album/crucible-ruin

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/howlinggiant

Magnetic Eye Records, https://spkr.store/collections/magnetic-eye-records

© Wayne Edwards

Written by Kep

Metal and Halloween go together like blood and guts. In fact, there’s usually a flood of metal releases on 10/31 even when it falls on a non-standard release day, just because so many bands want to stay on brand. This year Halloween falls neatly onto a Friday, which means the date is packed to the bleeding edges with albums to check out. It’s a lot to get through, so I rounded up six that I highly recommend making the time for.

Pedestal for Leviathan – Enter: Vampyric Manifestation

Blackened symphonic melodic brutal death metal  
Brutal purple castle metal from the US

Kendrick Lemke has been a busy man in the ten months or so since I named Pedestal for Leviathan’s debut Festering Apparition the best EP of 2024. The blackened skramz five-piece athousandangelsandseven in which he plays guitar dropped their first EP back in January, powerviolence quartet Fatalist put out an EP of their own in March, and his solo slam project Disgustingest debuted in June. Somewhere in there he found the time to cook up a Pedestal for Leviathan full-length: 23 tight minutes of symphonic blackened brutal death, dripping blood in shades of red in the shadow of a darkened castle. This is the good shit, folks. Imagine if Dimmu Borgir went harder and also slammed sometimes. There are passages of keyboard-centric atmosphere and absolute cascades of blast beats, throat-grinding vocals from the pits of hell and thick raw bands of ultra-active fretwork decorated by symphonic stabs. Plus it’s fucking fun: who could possible not love a song about werewolf Jesus with ass-whipping tremolos and ghoulish organ? Pedestal for Leviathan is the only band out there doing this, and it absolutely slays. 

Heteropsy – Embalming

Death/doom from Japan

Man, this satisfied a craving I didn’t even know I had. Mean old school death/doom out of Japan, emphasis on the old school: this shit sounds like it could be a lost recording from 1992. Featuring a monolithic helping of truly bonecrushing riffs played with maxed out HM-2 tone that can charitably be described as painfully harsh, in tandem with a kit that’s got those jangly cymbals and a hollow popping snare, Embalming is 44 minutes of agonizingly raw slow death that worships a certain era with lethal effectiveness. Strangled dissonance meshes with tortured guttural howls and gargantuan chugs, brutal and mournful all at once. With a lineup that includes two members of Frostvore—a band that you should absolutely check out it you haven’t—the songwriting is unsurprisingly strong, and the record steers firmly away from the common death/doom pitfall of becoming a slog where every song sounds the same. They kneel at the OSDM altar, but they’ve got some moody tricks up their sleeve; centerpiece “Memento Mori”, for example, with its extended opening stretch of beautifully sad picking and whispered growls.

Orm – Guld

Melodic black metal from Denmark

It’s been three years since Orm delivered their enormous masterpiece Intet • Altet, which I reviewed here and adored. While that 90-minute behemoth was a true concept album, here on Guld they take a more traditional approach with five extremely riffy tracks that span 44 minutes. This is a much more relentless experience, less atmospheric and more focused on carrying you off in an overwhelming wave of pounding rhythms; to that end, ferocious middle track “Rigdom” is a prime example of Orm’s prodigious abilities. They haven’t left melancholy and aching emotion behind entirely though, and so “Udskammet” is the real stunner here: walls of sound, melodies interwoven, giving way to the bittersweet calm of acoustic ruminance that ripples like a field of flowers in the breeze, before we’re jolted back to reality and swept away in an ever-shifting flood of intermingled anger, pain, and longing. It’s tremendous stuff, and Guld is another A+ entry in Orm’s catalogue. 

Barren Path – Grieving

Grindcore from Japan/US

If you know grindcore, you probably already know about Barren Path. This is the jawdropping new project from the non-John Chang members of the most recent edition of Gridlink—Takafumi Matsubara, Bryan Fajardo, Mauro Cordoba, and Rory Korbinza—plus Cordoba’s Shock Withdrawal bandmate Mitchell Luna on vocals. Unsurprisingly it’s pretty fucking great: relentless, chaotic, ultra-violent, and packed to the gills with the sort of breakneck wizardry we’ve come to expect from Matsubara, Fajardo, and company. It’s wild shit, an unrelenting barrage of razor wire and auto-firing nail guns in a tornado, calculated and executed for maximum deadliness. There’s an almost overwhelming amount of pandemonium packed into these 14 minutes, but Barren Path never feel out of control; this is designed, exacting destruction, maniacally precise and remarkably intricate. I’ve found myself latching onto new rhythms and licks with every listen, head spinning as I try to make sense of the tumultuous brilliance. Grieving is right up there with the best recent examples of grindcore, if you ask me. 

Burned in Effigy  – Tyrannus Aeternum

Melodic death metal from the US

I’ve been waiting for this damn record since pretty much the moment I published my review of Rex Mortem back in 2022. Despite a complete turnover of the guitar section—Brad Dose and Vito Bellino out, Steve Bacakos and Mike Hisson in—the Burned in Effigy boys are still doling out some damn fine melodic death, sparkling with technical flair and wicked speed. It’s crisp, polished, and full of wicked energy, and even though the “neo-classical” tag that was reasonably applied to their debut isn’t so applicable here, they still manage to weave in some pretty delightful nods to classical chord progressions and patterns (see my favorite track “Wage of Exile” for a particularly overt example). Tyrannus Aeternum is an evolution of their sound but not a departure, and the strong songwriting abilities and hummable riffs that marked them out as an act to watch three years ago are still their best feature. No sophomore slump here.

Stillbirth – Survival Protocol

Brutal death metal/deathcore from Germany

German brutal deathcorers Stillbirth are nine albums deep now and the brand is still strong: it’s silly, it’s heavy, and even though it never takes itself too seriously, it’s 100% worth banging your head senseless too. That’s not to say it’s stupid, though; these guys write actual quality riffs that showcase plenty of technical ability. An album like Survival Protocol is really the best of both worlds: sure, you’ve got goofball cowbell chug grooves, acoustic beach jams interrupted by manic machine-like blasting, and dumb pig squeal slams, but you’ve also got ultra-precise drumming, songs that never drag, and the sort of fretwork from guitarists Leonard Willi and Szymon Skiba that’s as catchy as it is heavy and acrobatic. If you’ve got 36 minutes to spare and want to go to mosh city, give this a spin; but if you’ve only got a few minutes to check them out, for my money “Throne of Bones” is one of the best tracks they’ve ever written. 

The post Halloween Bloodbath: 6(66) All Hallows Releases You Need to Hear appeared first on Noob Heavy.

As the air grows colder and the leaves dry into a husk of their former selves before decaying into the earth, the days grow closer to Halloween, the holiday many of us hold close to childhood memories of trick or treating. I can remember the excitement of Halloween infecting myself and everyone at my school like a virus, with talk of costumes and candy surrounding the hallways almost like stock traders discussing a wild market on the horizon. As the night approached, all the details were ironed out before finally getting to flaunt the costume you waited so long to show off. That is, until your mother forced you to wear a winter jacket because you’re in New England, and it’s thirty degrees outside.

Traversing the neighborhood with friends, all decked out in elaborate wardrobes nobody could recognize below the waist thanks to the oversized coat cramping your style, the night began from house to house. You’d start with a couple pieces of respectable candy until stumbling on that one house that either gave you a giant handful, or better yet, one of those full-sized candy bars. This was the equivalent of stumbling on a bar of solid gold at the time. A rare occurrence that would raise the stakes once it came to the trading floor later that night with your friends deciding who gets what.

The most curious part of Halloween was how it never resembled any of the other holidays in the sense that so much buildup climaxed with such a calm demeanor. Typically, with holidays like Christmas or even Thanksgiving, there was a lot of hype leading to a stressful event, followed by a sour sense of sadness and post-holiday depression afterward. That was never the case with Halloween, as many of us just enjoyed the night for what it was and moved on without a complaint in the air. Except, of course, perhaps one or two regarding the winter coat debacle, and the shitty candy still leftover that not even the family dog would eat.

Later on, into the teenage years, we grew out of those winter coats and into more trendy attire. Clothes that adhered strictly to the clique we belonged to within the hallowed halls of High School. A place where looks and lifestyles were built solely based upon who you hung around and what everyone decided to adopt as their collective persona. This meant that whenever Halloween rolled around, you were most likely abandoning the trick or treating for another event. Maybe a school dance, a party at a friend’s house, or even just hanging around at home watching scary movies. Definitely not perusing the neighborhood after dark in search of chaos in the shape of shaving cream, eggs, and toilet paper. That would most definitely be criminal activity, and highly frowned upon by all that is lawful.

All of these youthful years could linger on for an eternity at the time, yet they last in all but a blink once you get older. You look back and rearrange the details like dusty puzzle pieces, some harder to fit than others. It makes you wonder if you knew life was so good in the moment you were living it back then, and if you ever knew it would be so bittersweet to let it all go. That’s just one of the reasons you can embrace a holiday like Halloween with such love and compassion, because it shows us how innocent life can be. Free from all the stress we’re plagued with as adults, no bickering about politics, religion, morality. It was just pure, unabashed fun that we embraced with all we held close. A spirit that never truly disappears, but grows up with us, waiting every October to remind us that some things never change, they just change shape.

The post The Night We Never Truly Outgrew appeared first on Autumns Eyes.

Psychedelic post-metal trio Psychonaut bring more heady music to the masses with their latest album, World Maker.

Psychonaut is from Belgium. They started out in 2011, and have issued a steady stream of both short- and long-form recordings since then, including 24 Trips Around The Sun (2014), Ferocious Fellowman (2016), Unfold The God Man (2020), Emerald (split with Sâver, 2021), and Violate Consensus Reality (2022). Their music is usually described as “post-metal,” which I consider to be a catch-all category for a band that crosses genres. I think of their music as existing primarily in the psychedelic framework. The band is Stefan de Graef (guitar, vocals), Thomas Michiels (bass, vocals), and Harm Peters (drums).

Opening with the title song, “World Maker,” Psyochnaut opts for a gentle entry into the set. Quiet and mildly urging, the pressure does build as the music pulls along. The mood that is instilled, and what the music leaves you with, is a tentative unease. We are left to wonder what will come next? “Endless Currents” is the answer. Here the pace picks up and surges forward. On “You Are The Sky,” the tone is harder and darker, laying bare emotions that are difficult to experience. “Everything Else Is Just The Weather” sounds like an extended revelation that grows as the music soars, while “And You Came With Searing Light” is rather like a subdued power ballad that experiences eruptions.

On the second side, the journey continues, and it is similar. New takes and innovations abound, staying mainly in line with the established precedents of the opening songs. “Origins” introduces compelling percussion to go along with its somber melody and whirring guitar moments, “All In Time” is a slow driver with forceful intent, and “Stargazer,” one of the early release singles from the album, paddles on for nearly eight minutes, creating a terrifying space and at times allowing you to feel reassured within it. The final movement is the bridge piece “All Was Quiet” followed by the “Endless Erosion,” a sonnet of hopelessness set in the undeniable realm of eternity. This album will move you, if you allow it to. Recommended.

World Maker is out through Pelagic Records on the 24^th of October. Listen and buy at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://psychonautband.bandcamp.com/album/world-maker

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/psychonautband

Pelagic Records, https://pelagic-records.com/

© Wayne Edwards

BRIMSTONE COVEN:

I’ve only had this for a day, but it’s already one of my top few favorite albums of the year, and one of my favorites from this band.

Brimstone Coven are from West Virginia.  They are:

Corey Roth: Guitar, Vocals

Andrew D’Cagna: Bass, Vocals

Dave Trik: Drums, Vocals

BRIMSTONE COVEN:

I’ve only had this for a day, but it’s already one of my top few favorite albums of the year, and one of my favorites from this band.

Brimstone Coven are from West Virginia.  They are:

Corey Roth: Guitar, Vocals

Andrew D’Cagna: Bass, Vocals

Dave Trik: Drums, Vocals

Source

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