Crawl - Damned (2023) 🇺🇸 | Profound Lore Records

•  †  •

Crawl exists in the arena of doom metal as a one-man force of bone gnashing atmospherics that move around with the same agility and haste as old people fucking—It’s lugubrious and dismal and mired in cavernous noise, dank and crumbling. You’ve heard this before, many times actually, but maybe not exactly in this way. The use of ambient passages in Lurker of Chalice comes to mind. Or the stoney abrasive heaviness of Rorcal, distilled all the way down to the molasses paced heft of Világvége.

Tonally, Crawl is solitary confinement.

I’ve read Michael A. Engle word it as such: “Crawl is basically my attempt to put you in a space like a dungeon, where you’re slowly exploring the environment. Every step is very cautious, and every corner has a ton of anxiety. You’re afraid to take that next step or afraid to open a door.” It’s an apt descriptor for the sound he manifests.

•  Ω  •

Admittedly, I haven’t spent enough time with this record to absorb everything about it, my likes and dislikes are ambiguous, but as a reflex I am drawn to how it sounds. It sounds unique, despite not being wholly inventive, though I believe the execution and technique is rather unique to the genre.

Crawl - Damned (bandcamp)

Demon Bitch - Hellfriends (2016) 🇺🇸 | Skol Records

•  †  •

‘Hellfriends’ is spastic and raw plummet through the obsidian archways of early heavy metal, albeit completely jagged with a very limited reverence for conventional structure, sounding something between early Slough Feg in need of a Ritalin shot and a sloppier Mercyful Fate in full chain mail. There's a resounding energy flowing through every song, as if it were floor recorded and off the cuff. It's a stark and welcomed contrast to the overly produced and mechanically prepared acoustics typical within newer heavy metal…

Despite Fenriz shouting these guys out every chance he gets, the 530 Monthly Spotify listeners is no indication of the galactic supremacy they very well deserve… hopefully after this post it will go up to 532 monthly Spotify listeners?

“There are no words, just rock n' roll.
Keeping me stranger, and keeping me loud!”

Demon Bitch - Hellfriends (bandcamp)

Chasm Shroud - Manna From Heaven (2022)

•  †  •

You peer into the void. You see nothing, but hear faint sounds in the distance emanating from the yawning maw of black space…

Manna From Heaven came out of nowhere, suddenly appearing (no demos or EP’s prior) and carrying with it some of the most intriguing black metal I’ve heard all year—It’s hard to pin down exactly, but a strange energy circulates here, like it’s been ritually charged and imbued with unknown intent.

The above statement might feel hyperbolic or even trite, but the overall sense is something palpable—An ominous portent of oblique black metal soundscapes reverberating around hypnotic dirges in a hallucinatory haze of frenetic dissonance. NAME YOUR PRICE, don't be a knucklehead!

Chasm Shroud - Manna From Heaven (bandcamp)

Leucosis - Leucosis (2013)

•  †  •

This is a record that's been put up on here before but it's high-time for a re-up since it's been buried by a swath of posts that have come after. Leucosis' self-titled output from 2013 is the bands pivotal release, in my opinion—Its heft hasn't been dulled by the years one fucking bit! It remains a force of brute and murky doom metal flanked by a raw and oppressive black metal, unpolished to the point of practically having a veneer of patina over every track.

Albums are often over-credited with being monolithic without actually having an over-bearing power or stature. Leucosis' self-titled is a towering monolith, with a running time of something like 75 minutes. It's a weighty vestige to second-wave black metal with a backbone of doom, often serpentining throughout itself with pure dirge, crawling and atmospherically devastating.

This whole album is exemplary but its shining achievements are what puts it above its contemporaries. Those being the way is was produced and mastered—raw and gritty. Moreover, the way the drums sound in particular is unlike anything I've heard before. It sounds improvisational and the timbre of the kick sounds burly and under-produced… which results into something completely unconventional. SOUNDS LIKE A HAMMER FROM HELL!

Leucosis - Leucosis (bandcamp)

Negative Plane - The Pact [Single] (2022)

•  †  •

This is a big one! A new Negative Plane release announced and committed to wax is something to be hopeful about—A full decade and one extra trip around the sun later of muted silence, New York's esoteric black metal sweethearts of the underground are back and just as infallible as ever… But I'm rolling my eyes into the back of my skull by all these eager underground zealots professing it to be the album of the decade after a single track has dropped. I'm not immune to conflated statements but it's okay to dial it back a bit.

Negative Plane's vaporous cathedral sound is one of antiquity, drawing from the wells of soundscapes that could be heard from early Mercyful Fate, Mortuary Drape or Cirith Ungol but it's also a sound of something new bubbling and taking shape in the cauldron of metal, and that innovative energy is palpable and exciting to those of us who are looking to latch onto something forward-thinking.

From the first track alone, we can glean Negative Plane are doubling-down on their particular blend of oblique black metal with an ardent zeal, offering that well-honed esoteric sound of reverberating guitars that seem to be wailing from a cavernous depth or from some infernal place of worship. Each tonal flair carries with it the weight and ambiguity of the occult, leaning into a hypnotic atmosphere fit for gothic cathedrals whirling in incense smoke and the sound of the 80's—A faint bell rings in the distance…

Negative Plane - The Pact (bandcamp)

Druid Lord - Relics of the Dead (2022)

•  †  •

I've been meaning to have this new Druid Lord album up on here since it came out in late January but got distracted somewhere along the way. Relics of the Dead is a perfectly executed pastiche of old school death metal a la Immolation with the mid-tempo execution of Disma flanked by the THC soaked doom of Acid Witch with less vintage horror campiness, albeit Relics of the Dead leans into the retro horror atmospherics with just the right amount of profanation—A small example of this can be heard 03:05 into  'Mangled as the Hideous Feed' as that 2-cent Casio chord of gothic organ emanate around a heavily down-tuned and slow doom section breaks through for the remainder of the track.

This album is at it's strongest when it's moving around between this incredibly drooling mid tempo churn to the almost dead-stop dirge, sounding like an impersonation of Ahab playing Bolt Thrower songs at half speed—I see a lot of comparisons to Hooded Menace being thrown around, but unlike Hooded Menace's last album, Druid Lord got the production right. Absolutely nailed down. I'd say it's more in line with Disma's pace, the grime and mire of Coffins, the horror drenched wooziness of Acid Witch with moments of occasionally dipping into the molasses paced territory of Encoffination… Fuck those guys are slow!

°  Ω  °

This comes highly recommended, so get listening. "This album is going to make a big splash in the year-end lists this year." —Nostradamus

Druid Lord - Relics of the Dead (bandcamp)

Qaalm - Resilience & Despair (2022)

•  †  •

I've been sitting on my hands patiently for Qaalm's debut album ever since Hypaethral Records announced it and then benevolently dropped me an early listening link—The small perks of being a sonic traveller is that you can use tact and guile to convince people to send you unreleased records in exchange that you might put together a few (positive) words to promote a record.

Qaalm's aptly named debut 'Resilience & Despair' needs no promotion beyond its sonic achievements. This album is an uncontested aural monolith of doom and sludge coalescing into four towering tracks drenched in dour semi-funeral doom tonnage rife with crumbling sludgy guitars and plodding drums as former Harassor overlord Pete Majors lays waste through that uncanny vocal rasp of his which bears more resemblance to coughing up blood and spewing bile than it does "singing"… totally charged and feral—A similar comparison can definitely be made with doom/sludge zealots as Baton Rouge's Thou and Chicago's Indian in terms of range and grit. 

'Resilience & Despair' is an "Abandon All Hope" sign aimed at everyone. It’s like being sucked into the nether, a slow and heavy trip into the abyss filled with down-tuned guitars and a pummelling energy. That being said, I’d be remiss not to point out the success that this album has when it segues into lighter territory, trading chopping block heaviness for compelling melodies and floating passages—It's the sonic equivalent of sour and spicy. A force meant to awaken and bolster its counterpart, which is done with aplomb here by Qaalm. Devastating heaviness coalescing into something purely atmospherical with a tonne of weight behind it! Abandon all hope.

°  Ω  °

Fans of Mizmor, Thou, Ahab, Convocation, Grief and Burning Witch will find plenty to like within the 1-hour+ runtime of this heavy hitter. 

Hypaethral Records (in connection with the esteemed Trepanation Recordings) was incredibly cool to send me 10 free download links for readers (and takers) of Severed Heads Open Minds on a first come first served basis… So big thanks to those guys! Drop a comment here or send me a message through Instagram to claim your download link ya heathens & GET THIS BILLOWOUS DOOM IN YOUR EAR CANALS.

Qaalm - Resilience & Despair (bandcamp)

Qaalm - Resilience & Despair (download link)

Dead Last - Where Do We Go From Here? (2022)

•  †  •

I haven't been overly hyped on a wide range of hardcore releases so far this year but this debut 7" by New York's Dead Last has been an obstinate ear-worm for me. Harkening back to the halcyon days of earnest straight edge hardcore with a valleys worth of potency and energy behind it, mining from the same vein as Mental, Unified Right, Righteous Jams, Mil-Spec, Youth of Today, etc.

Despite this albums short run time there's a definitive heft carried throughout 'Where Do We Go From Here' ushered in by the sheer magnitude of its sincerity and energy. Bang on! Very limited runs have been done through New York's Streets of Hate and the venerable Triple B Records. These will sellout, if you want one, get on it.

Dead Last - Where Do We Go From Here? (bandcamp)

Nocturnal Triumph - Nocturnal Triumph (2022)

•  †  •

Amor Fati is quickly becoming the primary spawning ground for consistently putting out spirit inducing black metal that is simultaneously straddling the fine line of traditional and forward-thinking—And within a genre as worn out and tired as black metal has become since the late 90's, its a welcomed effort. Not to imply that black metal has gotten worse since its stave church burning days, I think that would be fatalistic and lazy to say, but it absolutely has become an over-saturated genre that's tripping over its own feet trying to rip off early Mayhem riffs and chasing clout.

That being said, Nocturnal Triumph's newest album came out a few days ago and it's right on the fucking money—Rife with a reverberating energy and a whole fjords worth of cold as hell riffs against a barrage of tightly produced black metal drumming. Mixed exactly right. The overall mix isn't quite blown-out enough to be lo-fi, but it's raw and foaming with a war chest full of compelling riffs.

Nocturnal Triumph - Nocturnal Triumph (bandcamp)

Grinning Death's Head - Cataclysm (2021)

•  †  •

Youth Attack Records always has my attention. It's consistently putting out crude and bile filled records running the gamut of hardcore, punk and metal with rudimentary attempts to step outside the box. The box isn't important, only devastating bursts of ferocity count for something here—Mining the vein of anything and everything in between caustic and tameless.

This two-track EP by Grinning Death's Head made a big impact with very little last year, building upon what JW has already established over the years—something between hardcore and raw black metal. I don't know if I'm chomping at the bit yet, but I get it… It sounds like a cross between early Cobalt with healthy nods to acts like Bone Awl or Serum Dreg. I'm not convinced with the use of the synth in track-two but who am I to yuck your yum.

Grinning Death's Head - Cataclysm (bandcamp)

Direct Threat - Direct Threat (2021)

•  †  •

There was a decent crop of angry and demented hardcore that was released in 2021 (omitted from my best of list mostly due to the amount of good metal albums floating around last year and the length in which these albums ride under—10-15 minutes) and this self-titled (demo?) is among them. 10 minutes of righteously pissed off hardcore with a sound that is just as much raw punk. Chomp down on this!

Direct Threat - Direct Threat (bandcamp)

Vorpal Sword - Omens (2021) [Demo]

•  †  •

My comrade and crony for all things reverb soaked Dream pop/Shoegaze has released another gem of uncompromisingly raw black metal under the prolific umbrella of his label, Rising Beast—And not unlike everything else he puts out, it's right on the fucking money!

Omens musical landscape is one with sparse foliage or places of refuge amidst the expanding sprawl of heavily blown out black metal, that is in personality and ethos, equal parts raw and musing—But it's terrain isn't totally devoid of life, not at all, peppered throughout the hanging guitars and thick fog of noise are delicate ambient passages (created by the Korg Monotron?) which offer a brief respite from the proverbial sonic deluge. It's all very intentional and cohesive. Now without being pedantic, the love Horus has for dream/noise pop and shoegaze are on full display here, with absolute tact and grace. 

If you're unfamiliar with Vorpal Sword, check it out. And while you're at it, check out everything else under the banner of Rising Beast and toss in a few bucks into whatever strikes you down—Do your part in keeping the underground lit!

Vorpal Sword - Omens (bandcamp)

Succumb - XXI (2021)

•  †  •

SHOM has been keeping a finger on the pulse of San Fran's Succumb since their debut record in 2017 which (like this album) saw its release made possible from the consummate and enigmatic The Flenser—which in my books, is a breath of fresh air in a saturated world of music where sterility and originality are celebrated and touted.

I digress, XXI picks up right where it's 4-year old predecessor left off: Down a serpentining pit of crust, grind and death metal with a sound that encompasses a lurching energy which simultaneously feels unique and familiar—Not much parsing needs to be done to hear a broad musical soundscape that harkens back to Converge, Gorguts, Mitochondrion, Caustic Wound, with tinges of Disfear.

•  Ω  •

This album is going to end the year in high ranking with me… I think for all intents and purposes, this record is flawless. You've got to be bent to not get the appeal, brutish ferocity and whirling doom packed into 30+ minutes of abyssal death metal.

Succumb - XXI (bandcamp)

Skourge - Hardcore Up Your Ass (2021) [EP]

•  †  •

New Skourge EP is right up my alley! Nothing new being invented here, in fact it's more of a regurgitation of things already out there  (I mean this in a positive way), because it is a mish-mash of all that good stuff in the early 90's—Exxxtremely heavy and up your ass hardcore with half a foot in the early metal scene of thrash. A pivot from the production of 'Spiritual Disrepair', trading in murkiness for a bit more bottom-end and heft? Make sense? Doesn't matter. 'Spiritual Disrepair' is very worth your time, to say the least.

I can't find a damn thing anywhere on this album except the album uploaded on YouTube.

Cerebral Rot - Excretion of Mortality (2021)

•  †  •

It should come as no surprise at all that I like Cerebral Rot. Death metal of this ilk, putrefying and almost garish, can sometimes be executed with such incredulity that it's totally bereft and unconvincing, and though Cerebral Rot isn't pushing boundaries in the same way that Irkallian Oracle or Funereal Presence might be, they are maintaining an old guard in the way that death metal is meant to sound. A sonic sentinel in the way of repugnant hymns—Excretion of Mortality is extremely foul and heavy death metal and though I haven't gotten around to overplaying it I will most definitely be revisiting it often (even though I can't stop listening to the new Antediluvian record) and I'm sure you will too.

Cerebral Rot - Excretion of Mortality (bandcamp)

SCALP - Domestic Extremity (2020)

•  †  •

Beatdown hardcore with it's hands dipping into the pots of influence in the way of metal, thrash, punk, death metal, power violence and the whole gamut of auditory assault. It's neanderthal in its DNA and over-indulgent from my perspective but it's executed well and does what it sets out to do very well. Imagine a mash between Mind Eraser, Foundation, Hoax, Primitive Blast and Harms Way. Preservation of sonic barbarity.

SCALP - Domestic Extremity (bandcamp)

Ancient Tome - Final Tomb (2021) [EP]

•  †  •

I'm really digging the way this album is coming across like a mixture between the murky sludge and drone saturated doom of Meth Drinker and Cult of Occult with major emphasis on hanging glacially paced riffs. The drums are burly as hell and the cymbal work is noteworthy for me, plodding along like a dirge without ever feeling stale nor exhaustingly repetitious. Haven't heard anything prior from these guys, but this EP is pointing in a promising direction for the sonic landscape of Ancient Tome.

Ancient Tome - Final Tomb (bandcamp)

Failure Ritual - Total Weakness (2015)

•  †  •

A while back I posted 'Apathy' which is only 1 out of the 5 records the absolutely ambiguous Failure Ritual put out in 2015, this is just another one of the 5 records released suddenly by Failure Ritual on the 19th of October. 

•  Ω  •

A harrowing downward spiral of experimental black metal that places heavy emphasis on repetition and the exploration of aural space—weaving dense fogs of crude riffing and drumming overtop mesmerizing ambient passages that tread into weird territory, inducing a hallucinatory trance like state. I don't think I could put this side by side up against anything else and claim similarities, there's nothing that sounds like this. This comes highly recommended!

Failure Ritual - Total Weakness (bandcamp)

Cult of Thaumiel - Palaces of Iniquity (2021)

•  †  •

Completely blown out and sonically malignant is Cult of Thaumiel's newest offering, it sounds rightfully evil and barely straddles that line of what most would consider to be "unlistenable", but we here at SHOM know ripe fruit when we see it. The pacing is at best frenetic and the structure is at worst crumbling, and I do mean these things to be taken as assets to the sound on Palaces of Iniquity, the entire backbone of the genre relied on the rebellion against a cleaned up and polished sound. Raw and absolutely abrasive, check it out and keep your ears to the ground on its full release on October 01, 2021. Hail motherfuckers!

Cult of Thaumiel - Palaces of Iniquity (bandcamp)

Ekulu - Unscrew My Head (2021)

•  †  •

New York hardcore has a hype to it, there's no escaping that, and sometimes that hype is overhyped. In the case of NYHC's Ekulu there isn't a single fleck of flack that could be rightfully flung. It would all be flat air because Ekulu play with an obstinate sense of style and energy, and if that is somehow lost on you when you listen to Unscrew My Head, then I don't know what to tell you. BUST IT!

When Ekulu released their debut EP back in 2018 you knew these guys were poised to churn out a handful of great sounding hardcore releases barring the fickle pitfalls of limited run hardcore bands. Building off the foundations laid out in the 80's, Ekulu dip into the metallic brunt of hardcore like Merauder and Madball leaning into elements of thrash and going even as far as embracing subtleties from Show No Mercy era Slayer and early Accept. Much of the youth crew hardcore omitted these blatant influences and instead dug further into the punk raw power apparent in Youth of Today or Judge… Ekulu has taken some of that into their mix too and in totality the result is a ripper of an album. 

Ekulu - Unscrew My Head (bandcamp)