Everybody Came Back This Week
Been a minute. I’m not going to dress it up: the site went quiet for a couple weeks, and now we’re back. Good Friday to come back on, too, because Anthrax finally turned in a record they started writing in 2019, and a doom band from my own city put out something that goes toe to toe with it.
#1 — Anthrax — Cursum Perficio (Megaforce / Nuclear Blast) | Thrash
Ten years. For All Kings came out in 2016, and this thing has been sitting on most-anticipated lists since 2019, which is long enough that plenty of people quietly stopped waiting. It opens on “Persistence Of Memory,” a nod to Persistence Of Time, then drops into “The Long Goodbye” with Belladonna sounding like he has something to prove. The title translates to “my journey has come to an end,” and the band has gone out of its way to say it isn’t the last one. Believe that or don’t, this is the best argument any of the Big Four has made in a while.
#2 — Early Moods — Ready For The Grave (RidingEasy) | Doom
Third album from an LA band, produced by Toshi Kasai, who has Melvins and Tool on his resume, and you can hear where he pushed them. The title track runs at doom pace with a thrash pulse under it, Budgie and Dehumanizer in the same breath. “Inquisition” is the one that matters: bassist Elix Felciano says it came out of the ICE raids here, their version of “Run To The Hills,” and it hits harder knowing that. Closer “Ashes Of The Damned” goes almost eight minutes and earns every one.
#3 — Cenobia — Lethal Devotion EP (Fearless) | Metalcore
An anonymous solo artist in Sydney whose entire public bio reads “she writes music for him, he will never hear it,” signed worldwide to Fearless off six songs, and the mystery act would be insufferable if the songs didn’t back it up.
#4 — Kai Hansen — Born With A Hammer (earMUSIC) | Power Metal
The guy who started Helloween and Gamma Ray, first solo record in ten years, Dan Wilding of Carcass on drums, and a track called “I.D.G.A.F.” that tells you exactly how seriously he’s taking it.
#5 — Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats — Shapes Of Midnight (Killer Candy) | Doom
Seventh record, cut live to tape at Abbey Road in three days on 1960s EMI gear, which is a very Uncle Acid way to make a Poe concept album about a plague party.
Five records, one Friday, and the lights are back on. Go listen.