Listen to: WHAMMER

In an effort to look beyond the digital promo pile, I recently put out a call on social media for any bands or labels that were interested in coverage to get in touch.  I mostly heard crickets, but I was also lucky enough to hear from Whammer, a new “blackened crust grind” band from Colorado, who sound lean, mean and pissed the fuck off on the demo tracks they graciously sent me to check out.

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Prelude to Year End Madness: 5 Honorable Mentions

THKD’s year end extravaganza will be published on Monday, December 17th at midnight both here and over at the THKD YouTube channel.  But as a prelude to the madness that’s about to be unleashed, I’ve decided to list out five noteworthy albums that were just a hair shy of making the cut.  So without further ado and in no particular order…

Oodles of Brutals IX: Slammath, Bloody Slammath

Has it really only been a month and a half since I last posted one of these?  That’s got to be a new record.  Whatever the case, we’ve got a lot of crucial slamz and mandatory brutality to cover this time around, from the nearby Bay Area all the way to the Land Down Under, so without further ado, let’s dig in…

Ye Goat-Herd Gods – Ashes Shall Be Made of Them (self-released, 2018)

Good melodic death metal is in painfully short supply these days.  Sure, there are a small handful of stalwart bands that continue to soldier on, but to say that the subgenre could stand to be infused with some fresh blood is an understatement.  Fortunately, Ye Goat-Herd Gods have emerged from the frozen Canadian wastes to rescue us from the dearth of new and interesting melodeath sounds with their mighty second album, Ashes Shall Be Made of Them.

Are you tired of me talking about Danzig yet? Well, too bad!

I’ve had almost a week now to reflect on last Sunday’s Danzig show.  This was only my second time seeing my favorite musician in the universe after being a fan for twenty-five years (ok, third time if you count Samhain), so yes, it was a big fucking deal.  It might not have been quite as meaningful as the first time I saw him, but it was still pretty goddamn exhilarating to hear songs I’ve been listening to since junior high played live.

The Black Sorcery – …And the Beast Spake Death from Above (Hammer of Damnation, 2018)

Hailing from Edmonton Alberta, Canada, The Black Sorcery play a pummeling brand of bestial black death metal that keeps with their home country’s unrivaled tradition of bringing the pain when it comes to the style (see also: Blasphemy, Revenge, Conqueror, etc), yet they also do a great deal to differentiate themselves from the hordes of bands that owe their careers to the seemingly bottomless well of inspiration that is Fallen Angel of Doom.

Oodles of Brutals VIII: Season of the Slams

After another lengthy hiatus, Oodles of Brutals returns! To these ears, there hasn’t been a ton of noteworthy brutal death metal and slam released this year, but I’ve managed to dig up a few new releases and crucial reissues that I think you’ll enjoy. So without further ado, let’s dive headfirst into the gore.