Succumb - XXI (2021)

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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.

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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)

Bootlicker - Bootlicker (2021)

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Bootlicker are Vancouver's contribution to the incredibly blown out and raucous federation. A frantic, albeit jangly, hodgepodge of d-beat, crust punk and hardcore thrown into the pot with a tinge of Oi! a la the Hard as Nails working class era of Close Shave. The guitar tones enter into some real nice territory on this one, down-stroked to hell and mired in a thick curtain of grease. Strong Boston Strangler presence on here with the choppiness of Arms Race and Violent Reaction.

Bootlicker - Bootlicker (bandcamp)

Cara Neir - III / IV (2019)

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This album has quickly worked its hooks into me; Discordant jangly guitars bounce around a cavern of technical drumming, weaving out odd time signatures with prickly rhythms against a barrage of shrieky growls. The combined method is bizarre, throwing everything in the blender from post-rock and math-rock to black-metal and D-beat. Something to that effect. It as a whole is actually really difficult to nail down, and it's brazen attempts to meld everything together is confusing, but it's refreshing, and I'm enjoying the experience of listening to its entirety. Which is the whole point, right?

Name your price on bandcamp. Enjoy, or don't.

Cara Neir - III / IV (bandcamp)

Cult Leader - A Patient Man (2018)

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Cult Leader have released something completely foul in way of A Patient Man; A stand out album in an ocean of louder and angrier than thou records released this year, punching way above its weight class with 50 minutes of untamed, mammalian minded sludge with its cruddy mitts in the vats of doom, grind, death, Crust, D-Beat and sadism. Cult Leader being formed from the husk of Gaza  carry the same overwhelming heft and dizzying structure and tone that Gaza were known and revered for. A Patient Man is crude in its blunt force attack, swinging back and forth from down-tempo glacial riffs and war drum like fodder to moments of frenetic, barbaric sounding crust, but that’s not to say its entirety is mammalian pound fit for Troglodytes hitting the barbells, nay, A Patient Man is intelligent and melodic when it needs to be and does well to counterweight and accent those extremely long bouts of ferocity through moments of plodding drone like doom and foaming atmosphere.

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I’ve said enough, A Patient Man is what most heavy albums aspire to be, and for this reason among others, don’t be surprised to see this album on many high-nosed, chin to the sky year end lists of 2018 from creeps like me.

Cult Leader - A Patient Man (bandcamp)

Torch Runner - Endless Nothing (2014)

A month has passed since my last post, but I'm dusting off the keyboard and getting back to this virtual pit I call Severed Heads Open Minds, which is, at times, a formidable commitment to be consistent with, but I'm trying dudes! * My hat is off to all the blogs that are far more consistent than this one *

A bevy of new releases have fallen onto my lap and into my ears recently, most of those worth dusting off the keyboard for, and as such, I will do just that… First up, Southern Lord's Torch Runner follow up their debut album 'Committed To The Ground' with 'Endless Nothing', a savage offering of filthy downbeat punk/hardcore infused grind distilled into 23 minutes of a supremely pissed-off and raucous audial assault.

I won't be posting a download link to this album as the flack I will inevitably receive is heavy, but the links are out there if you can't afford to buy the album with money.

Endless Nothing (bandcamp)

Seven Sisters of Sleep - Opium Morals (2013)

The only reason this wasn't posted on SHOM before now was only due to an uncharacteristic lack of personal time and slightly less motivation to do so, because Opium Morals is the tits, the cats meow, the beggars hand, the all seeing eye, and so on and so on…

Simply put, if you do not own this record digitally/physically/spiritually you are fucking the dog, as you are without some of the best sludge metal released in 2013. I would be naive to pigeonhole Opium Morals as sludge metal and sludge only, because clearly demonstrated are influences of doom, crust, and I'll go as far as saying some D-beat as well. Heavier than a fuel tanker truck filled with bison sperm, more immense than a mountain top housing blue whales, more garage rock fuzz and bile than Keith Richards' bong and at least 1000x better than listening to new Ensiferum (Unsung Heroes of epic generic suckiness).

• I'm going to continue posting albums from 2013 you may have missed if you were too busy watching Breaking Bad and or being useless in other shitty ways you know how to be •

I'm pretty into whatever A389 Recordings does, speaking of which, where do I get my grubby mits on the Like Rats self-titled?

Seven Sisters of Sleep Bandcamp (buy)

Seven Sisters of Sleep - Opium Morals (try)

Ramlord - Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom (2013)

Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom is an album I have been reveling in quietly for a while now, and it's high fucking time I spread the good word about Ramlord. Blackened crust is something that has reared its ugly head like a goddamn contagion, and I'm not complaining, but in a sea of "heard this before" you should probably stand out. Ramlord DO standout. Fusing elements of blackened crust, powerviolence, grimy punk, doom and D-beat into a cohesive and formidable beast. The production is tight and gritty, retaining the raw and dissonant nature while omitting that plasticky bullshit.

This release really should reap a little more credit. It's released on a small, forward thinking, DIY type label and offered up for pay what you want. These are the types of things SHOM is (mostly) about. I know some of you reading this have your own music blogs (some far better than my own), if you like this please do throw it up on your own blog as well. If not, well… It at least feels good to try man.

(Released by Hypaethral Records, which is an upcoming label just down the street from me in Toronto)

Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom

UNRU - Demo MMXIII

I've been digging into UNRU's demo quite a bit since I got my mucky hands on it - My first thought was 'This shit is the shit!', my second thought was 'I'll definitely offer this up to the SHOM scum'… unfortunately my third thought must've been 'First I'll eat a full bag of Doritos watch No Country For Old Men and put off posting this for a couple weeks'. Now if you were smart, you would be following Forever Cursed (which is infinitely better than my blog anyway), and you could have had this sucker a week ago among a bunch of other releases I think are really good but never got around to posting.

Amidst the furious pummeling of curdled d-beat and raw black metal Demo MMXIII is caked in a glorious crust with plenty of bell rides, ambient interludes, buried howls, cave stench and some radical riffs that at times remind me of Yellow Eyes.

(Below you will find descriptive words intended to entice you into listening and supporting this fucking stellar demo up for 'name your price' on Bandcamp.)

Godzilla, rampart, lobotomy, morass, guano, barbarity, minotaur, C.H.U.D., feral,

MMXIII (Bandcamp download)

The Secret - Agnus Dei (2012)

Xavier of France's The Great Old Ones , once told me his favorite discovery on SHOM was Solve Et Coagula by Italy's The Secret. A righteous find indeed. Well guess what Xavier, and the lot of you, The Secret are back to assail you with their noise-ridden blend of dark metallic hardcore, in the form of their newest release Agnus Dei. They dredge from many variants of influence, let's not get hung up on them all. It stomps, get it.

Agnus Dei (Zippyshare)