Hailing from Minneapolis MN, Void Rot
are devoted to constructing massive and soul-consuming dirges of
monstrous death-doom that is influenced by the glorious progenitors of
majestic, atmospheric, and slow moving death metal like Winter,
Rippikoulu, Disembowelment, early Paradise Lost, Incantation, etc.
With their debut MLP Consumed by Oblivion Void
Rot unravel 15+ minis of earth-shaking and telluric death-doom that
erupts from the depths of hades and pulverizes into the cosmos, weaving
ancestral death metal and atmospheric doom into a dismal and
soul-crushing deluge of riffs to construct a sonic colossus of unseen
enormity, which will be sure to please all fans of bands like Spectral
Voice, Anhedonist, Inverloch, Indesinence, Krypts.
Within their imposing compositions Void Rot weave light and darkness seamlessly and with unseen mastery, evoking atmospheres of unparalleled vastness that alternate majestically between sidereal and contemplative psychedelia, and visceral and bludgeoning heaviness. Consumed by Oblivion is an iconic and proud example of true american death-doom as seen at its finest hour as it masterfully distills the void of space and the loneliness of the cosmos and bends them to impact the crushing misery of our earthly reality. The end result is a seismic monolith of spine-breaking riffs and warped atmospheres that while glorifying death-doom’s most distinctive traits also elevates the genre to an entire new level.
Officially released on January 9 2019, the LP will come as an etched, single sided black record housed in a custom black heavy cardstock cover + insert silkscreened with Pantone metallic bronze ink, and can now be pre-ordered at our store or Bandcamp. An EU version will be released with copper metallic ink through Italy’s Everlasting Spew Records.
Consumed by Oblivion has been acclaimed by critics with many outlets like CVLT Nation, Last Rites, No Clean Singing, Toilet ov Hell, Nine Hertz and many more hailing it as one of the best death doom moments of 2018, and CVLT Nation listing it ints top 10 best death doom records of 2018.
Today, dark heavy metal band VENOMOUS MAXIMUS stream the entirety of their highly anticipated new album, No Warning. Recorded at Portland, Oregon’s Falcon Studios and produced by Toxic Holocaust’s Joel Grind (Sunn 0))), Midnight), the LP is the follow-up to the band’s celebrated sophomore album, Firewalker, praised by Invisible Oranges as a record that “strikes the John Carpenter creepy-cool balance.” Set for international release today via Shadow Kingdom Records, hear VENOMOUS MAXIMUS’ No Warning in its entirety.
“‘Our new LP, No Warning points a magnifying glass directly towards this band’s biggest strengths,” comments VENOMOUS MAXIMUS vocalist / guitarist Gregg Higgins. “The guts of these songs were formed during many weeks on the road with our friends in High on Fire and Pallbearer are a razor-sharp representation of what this band does best. Prepare for riff after riff on top of riffs.”
The 2015 release of Firewalker thrust VENOMOUS MAXIMUS into the higher reaches of the international hard-and-heavy music scene. Upon its issue, the record was hailed as “music of contrasts and conflict” by the Houston Press, while MetalSucks proclaimed that the group rocked “like a super-metal David Bowie.” NPR named the band as one of its artists to discover at SXSW, and the quartet followed the release of the LP with the aforementioned U.S. tour alongside High on Fire and Pallbearer.
Now, with No Warning, VENOMOUS MAXIMUS delivers an arsenal of the attributes that have earned the band three-peat title honors as Houston’s Best Metal Band: heaving heaviness, uncanny catchiness, haunting melodicism, and red-blooded swagger. While some have looked to tag the band’s high-powered sound as “occult rock,” the album hosts a clutch of anthems that prove powerful songwriting wins out over stylistic classification every time. Two years in the making, No Warning is a fiery collection of songs that solidifies VENOMOUS MAXIMUS’ place as pacesetters of today’s heavy music landscape and the embodiment of American style doom rock
Tracklisting:
1.) I
2.) Spellbound
3.) Pray for Me
4.) Return of the Witch
5.) All of My Dreams
6.) II
7.) No Warning
8.) Blood for Blood
9.) Endless
10.) Sea of Sleep
In addition to Gregg Higgins, VENOMOUS MAXIMUS features Christian Larson (guitar),Trevi Biles (bass) and Bongo (drums).
After a lot of back and forth – I finally had a chance to talk to the guys in Loss this week – in case you do not know these guys pretty much made the “doom album of the year” with “Horizonless” now go read this interview and learn something new
* First off guys congrats on the new album , what was it like to work with Billy Anderson?
Tim Lewis- Thank you and I can say with Billy you will witness a lot of caffeine consumption.
That mixed along-side of making a slow record actually turned out incredibly well. Overall, we knew we were writing a more dynamic record this time around and Billy helped accentuate various dynamic moments throughout the record. He allowed our creative flow to take the reins, to be honest. It was by far the most productive and sane experience for us in the studio. He is a great producer to work alongside of and has a “one liner” for every sentence spoken in the room.
Billy took one look at the gear list and was sold on moving
forward
* How did Billy take to Nashville – if I am not mistaken doesn’t he have his own studio in the Pacific Northwest? What was the decision on bringing him there as opposed to you guys recording at his home base?
TL- Yes, Billy’s studio is located in Portland, OR.
We recorded the album at Welcome to 1979 here in Nashville and the name says it all when it comes to the gear at the studio. Billy took one look at the gear list and was sold on moving forward with doing the album here.
* Billy is known for recording bands live – is this how you guys prefer to record or is it something you guys were totally comfortable with?
John Anderson- All of our songs are written, arranged, and repeatedly performed in our
rehearsal space live, so recording them live is a natural step. That said, hearing everybody that’s standing around you in headphones, while their amps are isolated in various locations throughout the building, can take some adjustment, but we’d done it before.
The live scene has exploded here lately
* Nashville isn’t really known for its metal scene – is there even one there these days?
JA- Nashville, as a whole, is growing at an alarming rate these days, so every scene is growing right now, along with the population. We’ve become the “It City,” according to various publications, so the live scene has exploded here lately, with almost too many options on a daily basis. And, yes, that has brought us some metal shows and tours that would never have happened here five years ago.
* The band has been going for about 12-13 years now right? What’s the trick for longevity? Especially when most bands don’t last 5 years?
TL- First I would say it’s not a trick at all. It’s honoring what this band stands for. We have
always said that “if any member of LOSS were to leave for whatever reason, LOSS would be finished”. The course in which we compose and arrange these songs helps reflect the musical aesthetic of our very different personalities. We are true to what LOSS is. LOSS is four men telling various truths of what we see in ourselves and the world around us.
We feel free to ignore the rules
and allow the songs to take sharp turns
* It’s actually really hard to play so slow and still be interesting – what’s the secret to doing so?
JA- Dynamics are the key to remaining interesting, for us. Rather than adhere to any prescribed formula for what “this type of music” is supposed to sound like, we feel free to ignore the rules and allow the songs to take sharp turns, if that feels right to us. We’re actually not slow all the time, which I think helps us to stand out, or at least not bore ourselves. There is also an emphasis on melody in this band. There has to be feeling behind the slow passages, or they will lack atmosphere.
* You guys singing a lot on death and dying? What’s the closest you have come to death so far?
TL – For myself I have had my life threatened by disease and have moved forward from it, for now. Most of us in life have all had close calls or threats. How one chooses to acknowledge the weight of what death truly is, in my opinion, can define whether the mental wielding of death is actually a proven truth or simply an illusion.
* What’s was the doom band that really turned you on to the Genre? I remember buying Cathedral’s Forest of Equilibrium, so slow and so crushing. That did it for me
TL- For myself and everyone in LOSS, Black Sabbath will always be such a huge influence on the feel of what later grew into the doom genre but, the first record that I bought that really opened me up to the specific genre of “doom metal” was when I purchased Candlemass’ Nightfall on cassette at the ripe age of 16. So many people at that time hated the record because it wasn’t speed or thrash metal and I was absolutely obsessed with it. It was like listening to magic.
JA- For me, I would cite My Dying Bride as the band that first sparked my interest.
* I would imagine the “talent pool” for doom metal musicians in Nashville compared to Country musicians – how did you guys find each other?
TL – I had moved to Nashville from Dallas and met Mike through the underground metal radio show he had at the time. He was already friends with John and Jay. Mike, John and myself started discussing the possibility of a band and developing its structure through our past and current struggles. After less than a week of discussing it, they introduced me to Jay for the first time as well as asking his interest in forming this doomed assembly.
If you’re going to visit Nashville, don’t go to Broadway or 2nd Avenue
* Do you guys play much locally? Last time I was in Nashville it was a Tuesday night and all the bars downtown had world class bands playing in every bar but they were all country! Is it hard to get gigs locally?
JA- We prefer not to wear out our welcome with local shows. Playing locally every weekend, or even every month, sets a lot of bands up for diminishing returns. People get burned out, they take your appearances for granted, or they start to feel like it’s more of an obligation than an event. By all means, if your crowds keep growing, go for it, but with us, we play a very specific kind of music, made for a very specific mood. We don’t make a very good weekend party band. And, if you’re going to visit Nashville, don’t go to Broadway or 2nd Avenue unless you want to see country bands. That area is paid-for and marketed-to the tourists, who you can easily identify by their cowboy hats.
* Speaking to locals in Nashville, they said the city is rapidly transforming with so many people relocating there from all over the country. Can you see Loss staying in Nashville or has the band ever talked about relocating?
TL – I love to travel and explore so I would never say “never.”
Either to a major city or somewhere more remote?
TL – Remote
You couldn’t help but feel
everything in that room
* You guys are not one of these bands that lives on the road – but what’s been your favorite gig played to date and why?
TL- I would say in Berlin with Worship. That gig was insane and so many great people and the overall gut nature to it. Mike and Daniel (Doommonger) doing vocals together was sick.
JA- Yes, that final show of our European tour (in Berlin) sticks out for me as well, and it goes to show that the best concerts are not always the ones in the biggest venues. Everything was right in our face that night, and the place was crowded with maniacs. You couldn’t help but feel everything in that room, like there was no barrier between band and audience. That said, our show a few years ago at Maryland Death Fest was also amazing, to look out on such a vast ocean of faces.
* What more can we expect from you guys in 2017?
JA- Holy Mountain is about to issue some new shirts for us, which will be available in their web store soon. Profound Lore did a really cool longsleeve of the album artwork, and to answer a popular question, yes, there will be a short sleeve version of that same design, as well as some others that have yet to be revealed. We currently have some shows lined up for the fall, and we’re working on what will happen after that.
Today, doom-death titans Temple of Void premiere the new track “Graven Desires”. The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Lords of Death, set for international release on July 28th via Shadow Kingdom Records.
Ever aptly titled, Lords of Death is an insanely, irrevocably MASSIVE slab of doom-DEATH, and the album by which Temple of Void will rightfully take their seat at the throne. Nearly three years in the making, Lords of Death is an experience like no other, and will surely go down as one of the top metal albums of 2017.
Temple of Void is an uncompromising collaboration from the depths of Detroit, Michigan. Comprising five musicians who have put in decades of time in the Detroit underground, Temple of Void entered this world with singular focus and methodical execution from the start. Temple of Void harkens back to the somber sound of early European doom, while channeling the energy and devastation of old-school American death metal. But Temple of Void is far more than the sum of its parts: Temple of Void destroys.
Temple of Void self-released their first demo in 2013. Four weeks later, they had signed to four different record labels to release Demo MMXIII and their imminent debut album across the world. The demo was met with staggering support from the underground, but just over a year later, Temple of Void unleashed their debut album, Of Terror and the Supernatural, via Saw Her Ghost Records for the double-LP vinyl version and on CD through Rain Without End Records. The day it was released, Shadow Kingdom contacted the band and requested dibs on re-releasing the album to a worldwide audience. Unleashed internationally in September 2015, the slab of barbarity otherwise known as Of Terror and the Supernatural quickly became a critically acclaimed cult hit amongst the press and those looking for the darkest, dirtiest doom-death.
But, with the bar set so high by that debut album, Temple of Void swagger forth to eclipse that achievement and soundly obliterate any comparisons with Lords of Death. A prescient title if there ever was one, Lords of Death casts Temple of Void in a slightly newer light: whilst unmistakably Temple of Void, this is the sound of the band shorn of any fat and fully representing the powerful, punishing experience of the band in a live setting. It’s still signature Temple of Void, to be sure, but Lords of Death emits an enviable amount of focus and forward momentum, with the band largely ditching the doomier tropes in favor of ones reflective of their all-consuming onstage power. Instead, Temple of Void emphasized the deathlier aspects of their debut, but pumped them full of addicting, headbanging energy. Put another way, whereas Of Terror and the Supernatural was doom with death metal, Lords of Death is death metal with doom. Fittingly, the production here is utterly CRUSHING, and once again recorded at Mount Doom in Detroit.
Completed by appropriately morbid artwork by Paolo Girardi, Lords of Death is that Rubicon-crossing moment where a band becomes masters. Recommended for fans of Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Grave, Asphyx, Edge of Sanity, Obituary, Hooded Menace, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, and the early works of Paradise Lost, Morbid Angel, and Opeth – behold the new lords of death, Temple of Void!
“An uncompromising record from the band that made one of the very best, if not THE best death/doom debut in last five years or so. Weighty death metal groove and suffocating, gloomy atmosphere in just the right mix together. Album-of-the-year material!” – Markus Makkonen (Hooded Menace / Sadistik Forest)
Tracklisting for Temple of Void’s Lords of Death
1. The Charnel Unearthing
2. Wretched Banquet
A Watery Internment
3. The Hidden Fiend
4. An Ominous Journey
5. The Gift
6. Graven Desires
7. Deceiver in the Shadows
BURY THE MACHINES has released the official video for “Beneath My Wrath,” a song from the recently released Wicked Covenant EP. In the words of Cvlt Nation: “The driving force behind ‘Beneath My Wrath’ is a soaring amount of heavy melodic sonics that is highly addictive.” Check out the video
BURY THE MACHINES released the Wicked Covenant EP, the follow-up to the 2016 full-length Barbwalker, on June 9. Featuring three new tracks, extreme multi-tasker John E. Bomher, Jr. (I KLATUS, ex-YAKUZA) explores the extent of his mechanical abilities and penchant for creating melodic, hypnotizing songs of depth and character. Seeing release on cassette, compact disc and digital formats, Wicked Covenant will see the dark of night through Long Beach, CA based label Midnite Collective. The EP will be available on CD, Cassette, and digital formats.
In a modern culture of do-it-yourself ethics, viral videos and unfettered access to an endless amount of knowledge, BURY THE MACHINES has sought to define a new niche in a body of people and artists hungry for fresh, unadulterated material. Mapping out the peaks and valleys of sonic waves, BURY THE MACHINES discover a rhythmic groove and unique beauty amidst the uncountable tumultuous echoes of today’s world wide web of noise. Breathing life into his machines, Chicago native John E. Bomher, Jr. (I KLATUS, ex-YAKUZA) masterfully conducts movements of immense weight acting as the heart to his cables, like veins, flowing with signals as blood pumping warmth and being into his body of mechanical, electronic appendages. Ultimately seeking to return the soul to machine-based music, John has created this project as a vessel of travel to take a listener from this world to one beyond, to where his ghosts and spirits rest, Buried with the Machines.
As a one-man solo incarnation, BURY THE MACHINES has performed alongside Helen Money (Thrill Jockey), Glaare (ft. ex-Ancestors and current Buried At Sea, Deth Crux, Black Mare members), Endon and Spell (Canada). Readily available to engulf viewers in its sinister soundscapes, BURY THE MACHINES is prepared for offers including local, touring support and one-off festival appearances
Today, Svart Records sets August 25th as the international release date for Morbid Evils’ highly anticipated second album, Deceases.
A counterpart of sorts to vocalist Keijo Niinimaa’s older group Rotten Sound, Morbid Evils have become known for exploring slower tempos and the lower end of the sonic spectrum, all topped with a fascination with the morbid realities of our hopeless existence. Having so far survived touring with Voivod and the impending global eco-catastrophe, Morbid Evils spent the best part of 2016 hidden in sweaty underground conditions perfecting their craft, working on the follow-up to their 2015 album In Hate With The Burning World. Comments Niinimaa, “When producing these tracks, I paid special attention on making things as heavy and suffocating as possible, to emphasize the deadly seriousness of the world this music is taking us to.”
Come 2017, the band emerges from the pit with a paean to death, split in six sections, each examining the subject from various positions. Titled Deceases, the album takes a bold leap from their sludge-death metalish origins and towards a more original, minimalist approach. The air hangs heavy as droning, buzzing walls of downtuned guitars grind against punishingly pummeling drums in slow motion and everything around us seems to be another step closer to death. While wallowing in the unpleasantries of life, Morbid Evils manage to churn out something wholly original in the congested sludge metal genre – if a grind/drone hybrid existed, it might sound like this. With their downtuned slo-mo aesthetics, nasty black metal-ish buzzsaw guitar harmonies, and a drone metal-like sense of space in music, Morbid Evils are on a path of their own.
Adorning the album cover is the painting “Tukala Pietari” by Jerker Ramberg. Sounds on the album were captured on tape and mixed by Keijo Niinimaa, with mastering duties handled by Pelle Henricsson of Tonteknik. The album will be released by Svart Records on CD, LP, and digital formats on August 25th, if the world doesn’t end sooner. Until that time inevitably comes, hear “Murder” – the first track to be revealed from Deceases – at Svart’s Soundcloud .
The aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Morbid Evils’ Deceases
1. Case I – Murder
2. Case II – Dead Weight
3. Case III – Evaporate
4. Case IV – Tumour
5. Case V – Death Breat
6. Case VI – Abacinated and Blind
Today, Canadian earth-movers Seer premiere the new track “They Used Dark Forces” below. The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void, set for international release on July 7th via Art of Propaganda.
Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Seer was formed in the fall of 2014 as the days drew short and a chill set in the air. Very much a product of their environment, the band draws inspiration from the natural power of the Pacific Northwest and harnesses it into epic, expansive doom-sludge. Amid the region’s awe-inspiring mountains, serene temperate rainforests, and immense Pacific Ocean, Seer’s backyard is occupied by lakes, rivers, evergreens and abundant wildlife. Such a proximity and affinity to the local natural world has kindled a deep and ever-present connection to nature for Seer, resonating in an authentic and organic approach to their music. This combined with a true rock ‘n’ roll spirit and inclination toward fantasy, science fiction, and the occult make up the foundation on which Seer lays its colossal riffs and Cascadian atmospherics, all of which overflowed across the vast vistas of their debut album, Vol. 1 & 2 – released early last year by Art of Propaganda to widespread critical acclaim – and which overflow even further across the even vaster follow-up, Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void.
Whereas Vol. 1 & 2 patiently built its walls of tectonic, sludge-strewn doom, right from the very beginning, Seer explode into Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void with an immediacy that’s startling to behold. In fact, with its preponderance of harmonic, instantly hummable riffage and more pronounced usage of clean vocals, one could be mistaken that this is almost a different band. But alas, it’s somewhere between the proverbial red herring and deceptive calling card, as Seer here brim with an infectious confidence that allows them to incorporate – anywhere, anytime, at will – more diverse (and more accessible) elements into their still-moltenly-overflowing sound. There’s more peaks and more valleys – and tons more rolling hills, whereby the band can charge forward with straight-up stoner and even grunge tropes – across Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void, and the manner in which Seer sew them altogether suggests an entity at the height of its powers. No one-dimensional, endlessly tedious chugging here: the paths are long and winding across this album, and the listener never quite knows where they’ll go next. And yet, Seer still put emphasis on the thematic and conceptual, and after the addicting rabble-rousing of its first half, the latter half of Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void goes into more spacious ‘n’ desolate territory, with a grandiose, almost gothic Americana aesthetic completing the album’s arc. It’s a fitting, fearless end for a young band who are just now becoming cognizant of their poignant power: this is Canada’s Seer anno 2017.
The next manifestation of that power can be felt exclusively HERE, courtesy of NoCleanSinging.com. Feel that power in visual form with the video for “They Used Dark Forces,” which can be seen/heard exclusively HERE at Art of Propaganda’s official YouTube channel. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Seer’s Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void
1. Ancient Sands (Rot Preacher)
2. Acid Sweat
3. They Used Dark Forces
4. Burnt Offerings
5. I: Tribe of Shuggnyth
6. II: Spirit River
7. III: Passage of Tears
8. संसार
Following their shows at both Desertfest editions in Berlin and London, SAINT VITUS are now ready to kick off their European tour at the Helvete Metal Club in Oberhausen Germany tomorrow, 2nd of May. The godfathers of American doom metal will be supported by Norwegian brothers in spirit, TOMBSTONES. The final curtain will fall at the Pokalen in Oslo, Norway on May 13th, but SAINT VITUS will return for a performance at the French Fall of Summer Festival in Torcy (close to Disneyland Paris) on the 8th of September.
SAINT VITUS tour
+TOMBSTONES
02 May 17 Oberhausen (DE) Helvete Metal Club
03 May 17 Wiesbaden (DE) Schlachthof
04 May 17 München (DE) Backstage
05 May 17 Schaffhausen (CH) Kammgarn
06 May 17 Tilburg (NL) Little Devil
07 May 17 Haarlem (NL) Patronaat
09 May 17 Osnabrück (DE) Bastard Club
10 May 17 Hamburg (DE) Hafenklang
11 May 17 Aarhus (DK) VoxHall
12 May 17 Karlstad (SW) Club Pebbles
13 May 17 Oslo (NO) Pokalen
SAINT VITUS Fall of Summer
08 Sep 17 Torcy (FR) Fall of Summer
Formed in 1979, SAINT VITUS were largely influenced by BLACK SABBATH, whose song “Saint Vitus Dance” obviously inspired the moniker. Since their debut album ‘Saint Vitus’ came out in 1984, the Americans have released seven more full-lengths and two EPs that are summarily considered to be classics of their genre.
‘Live Vol. 2’ will also be released as a special digipak edition containing a digisleeve as well as a triple gatefold vinyl, which are both strictly limited and will contain ‘Marbles in the Moshpit’. This live recording from Ontario, Canada in December 1984 was previously available as a bootleg and on limited vinyl, and features the line-up Dave Chandler, Mark Adams, original singer Scott Reagers, and late drummer Armando Acosta, who sadly passed away in 2010.
If you feel like you were born too late, are thirsty and miserable, and dying inside, then just look behind you, lean back and ride those white stallions on ‘Live Vol. 2’! SAINT VITUS will never be a waste of time!
