No Gimmicks Required
We missed the last couple of Fridays. No good excuse, sorry about that, we are back. Timing worked out, though, because this week the records worth your money are the ones not trying to sell you anything.
#1 — Temple of Dread — Dreadspawn Dominion (Testimony) | Death Metal
Despite the name, this one makes me happy. It is good old fashioned death metal, the kind people go back to when they just wanna listen to something like that. So much of modern metal is overproduced or has some sort of gimmick bolted onto it. These guys are just kinda old school that way. Sixth album, five dudes from Spiekeroog, a tiny island off the German coast, making exactly the record they want to make. It is fun to listen to. That is the review.
#2 — Hulder — Verbolgen (20 Buck Spin) | Black Metal
Kind of a similar vibe, but for black metal. Third album, and the one-woman project is officially a duo now that Necreon has stepped up full time. The cover was painted by Morrigan of Aeternus, her first album art in nearly thirty years, which tells you exactly what circle this record runs in. Interesting to listen to, and nothing about it sounds assembled.
#3 — Electric Callboy — TANZNEID (Century Media) | Metalcore
The biggest record of the week and the total opposite of everything else on this list, which is fine. Sometimes you want the party.
#4 — John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies — Cathedral (Sacred Bones) | Heavy Metal
We wrote this one up earlier in the week, so the short version: Carpenter calls it his first heavy metal album, it is the first thing he has cut with live drums, and “Lord of the Underground” is a straight thrash riff from a 78-year-old horror director.
#5 — Horrifier — Revelations of Gore (Personal Records) | Death Metal
Norwegians, second album, a concept record about a dying man who keeps feeding a monster bodies to buy himself more time. The label own copy says “no gimmicks, no mercy, only death,” and for once that is not marketing.
Five records. Two of them could have come out in 1991 and nobody would have blinked. Go listen.