New Releases for Friday 2nd June 2023
We have a bumper week of new releases and reissues coming on Friday 2nd June, including the new Foo Fighters LP, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Wedding Present, De La Soul, 40 Watt Sun and some fantastic death-metal, black-metal inspired albums from bands such as Pig Destroyer, Cattle Decapitation, Five Finger Death Punch, Vomitory, Pupil Slicer, Nattehimmel & Phebotomized...to name but a few.
All availble to order now for collection or delivery on, or after 2nd June.
Foo Fighters - But Here We Are (Vinyl LP/CD)
But Here We Are is the new album from Foo Fighters, and marks the bands return after a year of staggering losses, personal introspection and bittersweet remembrances. A brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters have endured recently, But Here We Are is a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family. Courageous, damaged and unflinchingly authentic, the album opens with “Rescued,” the first of 10 songs that run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between.
But Here We Are is in nearly equal measure the 11th Foo Fighters album and the first chapter of the band’s new life. Sonically channeling the naivete of Foo Fighters’ 1995 debut, informed by decades of maturity and depth, But Here We Are is the sound of brothers finding refuge in the music that brought them together in the first place 28 years ago, a process that was as therapeutic as it was about a continuation of life
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Council Skies (Vinyl LP)
Council Skies is the highly anticipated fourth studio album from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. This 10 track album includes the new singles ‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Easy Now’
With 7" featuring "We’re Gonna Get There In The End" and Acoustic Version of "Pretty Boy".
De La Soul - Stakes Is High (Vinyl LP)
The De La Plugs created the D.A.I.S.Y. (Da Inna Sound, Y'all) philosophy on their brilliant and weird debut, Three Feet High and Rising (making them the first—and probably only—hip-hop act to appropriate a Johnny Cash song for their album title). Then they tried to kill the Daisy with their follow-up, De La Soul Is Dead and then tried to find their way through the aftermath of that unnecessary act on Buh-Loone Mind State. Finally, a full three albums from their first, De La finds their footing with Stakes Is High. Here, they're no longer so self-conscious and it's easy to remember why you liked them enough in the first place to stick with them through the hard times. With unfaltering lyrical dexterity, they get to ask the question, "Whatever happened to the Emcees?" ("Super-Emcees"), skewer the industry ("The Bizness," with some help from that super MC, Common), and even shout out to their birthplace, Long Island, twice (on "Long Island Degrees" and the break-down-funky "Wonce Again Long Island"). —Todd Levin.
The Wedding Present - Watusi (Vinyl LP)
Formed in 1985, the group rose to prominence as part of the so-called C86 scene (a free NME cassette that showcased new bands of the era), with their fast-paced jangle- pop and intelligent lyrics by founder and only band constant David Gedge.
The group built on the critical and commercial success of their debut album, George Best, and, in 1992, made headlines with their cunning ruse of issuing a single a month, all of which made the UK Top 40. Signing to Island Records, the group – at this point Gedge, guitarist Paul Dorrington, bassist Darren Belk and drummer Simon Smith – went to Seattle to record with producer/ engineer Steve Fisk, known then for his work with the fabled Sub- Pop label. As a result, Watusi is both razor sharp and slyly commercial, as typified by its singles Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah and It's A Gas. There is much to enjoy beyond – especially the tender confessional Big Rat and the reflective garden party drama Gazebo. Both underline John Peel's comment that Gedge had written "some of the best love songs of the rock'n'roll era." For lovers of grunge-based indie with generous dashes of melody, Watusi is a must-have. It is presented with scrupulous attention to the detail of the original UK first pressing.
Sophie Ellis Bextor - HANA (Vinyl LP)
Sophie Ellis-Bextor releases her seventh studio album Hana via Cooking Vinyl.
A pensive and spirited track with a euphoric chorus, ‘Breaking The Circle’ is the first introduction to Sophie’s new album She says; “Breaking The Circle is inspired by those late-night moments you have, where you question everything and feel a buzz of adrenaline about what tomorrow might bring. It’s urgent and dramatic and optimistic… the perfect introduction to the new album.”
40 Watt Sun - Wider Than The Sky (Vinyl LP)
Wider than the Sky comprises of six beautiful songs that speak to the very essence of humanity and delves below the surface of relationships and sadness and loss. The weight of Wider than the Sky is executed in a different way than it would have been in Walker's previous band, Warning. Where the electric buzz of the guitar or the crunchiness of the bass would have created the atmosphere for the seminal doom band, 40 Watt Sun use words and experience to create an aura of loss, yet, there's pale hope etched across the songs on this record. It's true that the words echo with melancholy, but the beats in "Another Room" hold a little brightness and while the resonant guitars in "Pictures" spin walls of sentiment, Walker's voice is lifted from its previous lows to allow subtle moments of optimism to filter through. Wider than the Sky is a record that will stay with you long after the closing chords of "Marazion" ring out. It's an affecting listen and one that can appeal to fans of doom and "singer/songwriter" types alike. It's a much sparser, stripped back affair compared to The Inside Room, but 40 Watt Sun lose none of their command. Instead, Patrick's voice is pushed to the forefront and his scars are bared for all to hear and to experience. It's a record that will speak to anyone who has suffered heartbreak and while you may finish the album in tears, it's a necessary catharsis. Wider than the Sky is a beautiful presentation of honesty, dreams, sadness and passion, and 40 Watt Sun are a band to be engulfed by. The vibe and atmosphere this creation provides is very solemn and thought provoking which instantly makes you feel a connection to the music as it effortlessly absorbs into your bloodstream. Despite the guitars being particularly restrained and unassuming they are still very vibrant and provide an expressive accompaniment to the melancholy vocal sentiments.
Come - Near Life Experience (Vinyl LP)
Originally released in 1996, Come’s third album Near Life Experience was the sound of a band heading into new territory, refining their dense mix of hypnotic noise-rock, blues and rock’n’roll song-writing. Lovingly remastered, this new version features three incredible bonus tracks ‘Prize’, ‘Strike’, ‘Hurricane II’ stemming from the same era, additional liner notes and photographs.
After Come's seminal 1994 release Don't Ask Don't Tell, bassist Sean O'Brien and drummer Arthur Johnson left the band to pursue other careers. Remaining members Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zedek recorded Near Life Experience with two different rhythm sections: one half of the album was recorded with drummer Mac McNeilly of the Jesus Lizard and Bundy K. Brown of Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol, the other half recorded with Kevin Coultas and Tara Jane O'Neil of Rodan and The Sonora Pine. Other contributors to the album included Edward Yazijian from Kustomized and Jeff Goddard from Karate, both rock bands hailing from Boston, MA.
The title of the album resulted from "a slip of the tongue, as Zedek states, she "was telling someone [she had] had a 'near life experience,' but meant to say near death experience. Chris [Brokaw] was cracking up at the imagery of that. Thus, the phrase was chosen as the album's title.
Band Of Holy Joy - Fated Beautiful Mistakes (Vinyl LP)
Early Band Of Holy Joy existed somewhere on the cut-up side of proto-industrial music, resting between Marc Stewart & Maffia, Sonic Youth, and Current 93, and proponents of a more romantic musical language - Virginia Astley, Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins among them - all artists whose work BPHJ's music sat comfortably alongside across on a stream of lowbudget vinyl and cassette compilations after the start of the eighties. A great leap in polish led to a deal with Rough Trade and several early '90s albums which flirted with the mainstream, with BOHJ almost an odder, less obvious cousin to Dexys Midnight Runners. When these releases failed to take off as hoped, lost years followed on smaller labels and self-released projects, until the renewed urgency of the 2016 Brutalism Begins At Home EP and increasingly majestic albums on which saw leader Johny Brown's lyricism enter a new phase.
The Bollweevils - Essential (Vinyl LP)
The Bollweevils formed in Chicago back in 1989 and have released music with Dr. Strange, Hopeless, Underdog Records, and more. Fast forward to the present: we released a teaser single when the ‘Weevils were asked to play a recent Riot Fest, and now it’s time for the main course, the big kahuna, the whole hog...the full length! It’s been 14 years since their last album, so they’ve spent ages putting together their best new material.
Vulture Feather - Liminal Fields (Vinyl LP)
For fans of Wilderness, Ought, Shame, Protomartyr, Gold Class, Dry Cleaning, Fontaines DC, Unwound, Fugazi, Jawbox
Colin McCann didn’t pick up a guitar for nearly ten years. The Northern-California-based songwriter, previously performing under Long Dog Bird, had been creating music with longtime friend and collaborator Brian Gossman for much of their adult lives with early-00s Baltimore-based band Wilderness. So what would cause such a stagnant period? And how could McCann find his way back to the joy that music had once so easily conjured? The answer was to go back to the very beginning, where the kinetic forces that urged McCann to make music in the first place could emerge once again. But first, he had to make space in his internal world; a kind of silence where he could hear the exhale of his past, and the blossoming of a new song.
That blossoming would soon become the first songs for McCann’s latest project Vulture Feather. The band’s debut album Liminal Fields exists on an intangible plane: a crack in the concrete, a gauze between worlds. For as long as McCann can recall, he’s been using music as a vehicle to try and connect with an underlying, indescribable nature that only the sonic world seems to be able to reach. “There’s a feeling of ecstasy that comes when one merges with music,” he says. “It’s what calls us all back again and again to listen, to sing, and to play.” McCann had been striving to reach this outlying environment throughout his career, often stretching in ways that eventually came to negatively impact his life, and his health.
The wake up call came when McCann suffered a near-death experience, eerily predicted by a friend through a dream she had had almost a year earlier. Newly awoken to the beauty of being alive, McCann strove to slow down, to listen to the inherent nature in all living things, and to rediscover our mutual connectivity. He stopped playing and listening to music, and instead soaked himself in the cacophony of silence. Then without any epiphany or grand catalyst, something urged McCann to pick up a guitar again. Ideas flowed more naturally than ever, and he soon realized that the liminal space he had been searching for was there all along he only had to listen.
McCann tentatively reached out to Gossman to collaborate and the friends found themselves once again jamming together, in an off-grid quonset hut where they now practice. “It was like no time had passed,” McCann says. “That feeling of ecstatic joy, of forgetting your own name, came flooding back.” They were soon joined by another old friend, Eric Fiscus, who completed Vulture Feather on drums.
Eluvium - (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality (Vinyl LP)
The new studio album by iconic experimental ambient artist, Eluvium. The first Eluvium album to feature a full live orchestra.
(Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality is the new album by Eluvium – the renowned moniker of prolific modern composer, Matthew Robert Cooper. Taking initial inspirations from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Richard Brautigan’s All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, (Whirring Marvels) inherently deals both with humankind’s need for meaning, and the emergence of algorithms reflecting the feedback loops of humankind’s interactions with machines themselves. This complicated relationship that we have with technology, automations, and algorithms – and the influence they in turn have on shaping our image of the world – is the mechanized heart and soul of an album that almost instantly establishes itself as a peak in Eluvium’s inimitable catalog.
During the writing process for (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality, Cooper began experiencing shoulder and arm pain that rendered his left arm increasingly debilitated. This inspired new compositional methods that blended varying degrees of electronic automations with traditional songwriting. Lyrical themes were built using algorithms to cull content from a notebook filled with years of scribbled thoughts, poems, considerations, conspiracies, scientific notions, and notes on the spirit of existence. Employing musicians from all around the world – including members of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Golden Retriever, and the entire Budapest Scoring Orchestra – much of the music was conducted and recorded remotely via teleconference during the global COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. This approach to composing served as an unintended but serendipitous challenge for an album inspired by the complicated convenience of technology.
(Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality blends an ornate combination of ingredients to construct a narrative of our dynamic invention; technological advancement; loneliness and isolationism; and unchecked idealism in a world of never-ending growth. The resulting hope that somehow emerges is itself a marvel of innovation and inspiration.
Beach Fossils - Bunny (Vinyl LP)
Brooklyn bedroom-pop trailblazers Beach Fossils’ new album Bunny, is a triumphant return for one of the 2010s most influential NYC bands. Bunny is a precise blend of the luscious dream-pop atmospheres they notoriously honed on their earliest projects, the post-punk vigor expressed on Clash the Truth, and the warm, sophisticated songwriting of Somersault. Composer Dustin Payseur peppers the album equally with descriptions of the joy of fatherhood and the existential pleasure of smoking cigarettes out of a car window with friends - Bunny features Beach Fossils' most personal lyrics to-date. This is a collection of new favorite tracks for fans of every era of Beach Fossils. Releasing on Payseur and his partner Katie Garcia’s own label, Bayonet Records, Bunny proves to be the culmination of a decade's worth of growth and experience.
RVG - Brain Worms (Vinyl LP)
A pivotal record for contemporary times; bright, free, adamant, optimistic. Brain Worms is RVG’s fullest, most pristine album yet.
All throughout Brain Worms, it’s apparent that this is a band in very fine form. Album opener ‘Common Ground’ sets the tone for what’s to come; a shiny, thrilling, punch of an album, with all the beloved RVG hallmarks. Vager’s voice is unfiltered and commanding as ever when delivering her clever, not-quite-ironic lyrics. Here, though, those lyrics feel so much less resigned to yearning, and so much more defiant and joyous.
‘Tambourine’ is the only Covid song Vager wrote when “trying not to write Covid songs”, and it’s a painfully honest portrait of grieving mid-isolation. ‘Brain Worms’ tells the all-too-familiar story of a person falling down the internet rabbit hole and finding comfort in conspiracies. ‘Nothing Really Changes’ is a keys-heavy new wave-ish thing, while closer ‘Tropic of Cancer’ sparkles with Vager’s self-assured new manifesto: I know what I’m like, and I know how I get. If you think I’m strange, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Bloxham, Nolte, and Wallace are flawlessly adept in bringing Vager’s songwriting to life. Recorded in London at Snap Studios with James Trevascus (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, PJ Harvey), all ten tracks surge with lush sounds and clear intentions and the magic of an acoustic guitar once owned by Kate Bush, given to her by Tears for Fears (who, legend has it, wrote ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ on it).
Between the four bandmates lead singer and guitarist Vager, guitarist Reuben Bloxham, drummer Marc Nolte and bassist Isabele Wallace this is the most confident they’ve ever felt in RVG. They’ve moved past their influences, pushed themselves, and tried new things. And they have made a record they can, by all accounts, call their best.
“Brain Worms feels like the antithesis to what a post-pandemic record could easily be. For a band who were already writing music about being reclusive “we were depressed and not going outside on our first two albums” the enforced isolation and time to think gave Vager space to write about anything she wanted. And, it turned out, she was ready to write about acceptance.
Lloyd / Bean - Black Cat, Dark Horse (Vinyl LP)
Since we've known him, Robert Lloyd has made quite clear his enormous affection for the songs and sounds of Freakwater, the duo of Janet Beveridge-Bean and Catherine Irwin who've been wrongly denied their place as rightful and willful progenitors of alt-country's 'movement', which (frankly) is to their credit. Their genius in offering absolute authentic to the sound oldtime Appalachian folk music with a modern façade that in no way negates tradition (one of their albums is titled Feels Like The Third Time) is unparalleled within the genre, and Freakwater remain under-appreciated. After the start of Covid, Robert dared approach Janet with the idea of recording together. Over the course of the long pandemic, songs were bandied about for months, and when recording was finally practical, a band was assembled with dates set up for a recording session in Valencia, Spain. Robert and Janet were joined by Robert's long-time ally, Pete Byrchmore, the musical foil for Robert's solo album on Virgin and a former Nightingale, Mark Bedford, the bassist for Madness and Terry Edwards' Near Jazz Experience, and Pablo Roda, Spanish mystery drummer, couldn't have worked out more perfectly. Tracks were selected without regard for collective presentation, just the goal of walking out of the studio with an album of perfect gems. Forget Lee & Nancy or George & Tammy, Rob and Janet have an immediate chemistry that only sounds long-lived - and too uniquely them to merit any comparison.
Troller - Drain (Vinyl LP)
Austin power trio TROLLER fuse fuzz bass, heavy analog electronics, and cinematic sound design into a simmering eight-song exorcism on their full-length Relapse debut Drain. Led by bassist and singer Amber Star-Goers, the line-up includes synthesist and rhythm programmer Adam Jones (of S U R V I V E), and guitarist and engineer Justin Star-Goers channeling their heaviest and most haunted currents into damaged anthems of wounded grandeur.
Despite TROLLER’s electronic underpinning, Drain heaves with the texture and turmoil of live performance. Standouts “Out Back” and “Rat Nest” drift shadowy and liminal, like underworld torch songs, while “Lust In Us” and the title track tilt and teeter in downward purgatories of smeared synth, screwed drum machinery, and fractured guitar. Amber Star-Goers wields her voice like a sacred weapon, alternately cursed, ethereal, erotic, and demonic. Instrumentally, Jones cites an array of techniques to achieve their ceremonial sound – from chromatic scales to shifting keys to the sculpted low end of rap production – but it’s the integration of so many disparate composites that elevates the group to a tier unto themselves.
Drain is both the sound of end times, and new beginnings. A multi-dimensional amplifier worship tinged with the stains of witch house, gothic pop and industrial shoegaze
John Mayall 180g Reissues
Hailing from Macclesfeld, Cheshire, and growing up in Cheadle Hulme, John Mayall had already made a name for himself on the Manchester blues scene before relocating to London in 1963 at the urging of Alexis Korner
John Mayall - John Mayall Plays John Mayall (Vinyl LP)
After gaining a fearsome reputation on the live circuit, Mayall signed a contract with Decca who realised the band he had, The Blues Breakers – Roger Dean on guitar, Hughie Flint on drums and John McVie on bass – were red hot and they needed to be captured live. Recorded on December 7 1964 – and reproduced here in glorious mono – at Klooks Kleek, above the Railway Hotel in West Hampstead, John Mayall Plays John Mayall was a fne debut, capturing the blues in front of an enthusiastic audience.
John Mayall - Crusade (Vinyl LP)
Released in September 1967, Crusade introduced another guitar protégé to the world. The 18-year-old Mick Taylor had crossed Mayall's path a couple of years earlier at a show in Hatfeld: it was now time for him to join, as Peter Green had left Mayall to form his own group. The album was so titled as Mayall felt that he would forever be on a crusade to get the blues to the widest audience possible. Listen to the version of Albert King's Oh Pretty Woman that opens the album. It's amazing!
John Mayall - The Blues Alone (Vinyl LP)
John Mayall and Keef Hartley recorded The Blues Alone, in one day at Decca's studios in Broadhurst Gardens in May 1967. Completely self-written, Mayall plays everything bar drums and creates a densely atmospheric, singular take on the blues. It may lack the virtuoso soloing of the preceding albums, but makes up for it in feel, talent, and passion.
John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers - A Hard Road (Vinyl LP)
In the summer of 1966 Clapton left, partnering off with sometime Bluesbreaker Jack Bruce to form Cream. Mayall did not look back, re-employing East London guitarist Peter Green, who had previously flled in for Clapton. Undoubtedly equal to Clapton, with a marked difference in style, Green's signature sound enlivens 1967's A Hard Road. Hughie Flint had been replaced by Aynsley Dunbar on drums, and the trademark take on Chicago blues became heavier.
Death/Black Metal Vinyl LP Releases
Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite (Vinyl LP)
Long-running San Diego, California deathgrind outfit Cattle Decapitation will release their tenth studio album, Terrasite, May 12th via Metal Blade Records. The band's follow-up to 2019's critically adored Death Atlas full-length was again produced by Dave Otero (Allegaeon, Khemmis, Archspire) with startling new artwork by longtime collaborator Wes Benscoter (Vader, Kreator, Bloodbath, Hypocrisy). Comments vocalist Travis Ryan, "We've all heard the old saying about how the cockroach is so pervasive... so invasive... so insidious... that they could survive a nuclear war... Our previous album, Death Atlas, left the world blackened and lifeless.. or so we thought. It turns out that the carbon-encrusted bodies that adorned the album's layout and music video (and that resemble the victims of Pompeii that were frozen in time by the Mt. Vesuvius disaster of 79 A.D.) were actually more of a cocoon stage for something much more vicious to come: Humanity 2.0. "On the cover we see the terrasite, aka 'earth-eater,' moulting from its ootheca. Having lived the tortuous existence of being a human, they have now re-emerged into a new world... saddened... confused... pissed; rebirthed as a new variant of human disease, now adapted to continue and finish the utter ravaging of its home planet, Earth."
Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer (Vinyl LP)
Pig Destroyer's frighteningly compelling mix of metal, grind, thrash and punk rock seethes with an intensity that will unnerve the unprepared. Pig Destroyer's deranged, vicious attack envelops the listener in a cocoon of grisly nihilism. Terrifyer features 32 minutes of Pig Destroyer's finest music to date as well as the 37 minute audio DVD track Natasha, mixed in glorious 5.1 Surround Sound.
Pupil Slicer - Blossom (Vinyl LP)
This time two years ago, Pupil Slicer were preparing for the release of their debut album, Mirrors, with zero expectations of where it could take them. The breakneck speed with which Pupil Slicer were not only accepted but celebrated by the metal scene - both at home and abroad - took the band by surprise. As 2023 starts to unfold, it is a more mature, more considered version of Pupil Slicer that stands before us brandishing their sophomore album: Blossom. Blossom is a hard science fiction/cosmic horror concept album with central themes of abject despair, reincarnation and a fascination of hell. An intense month in the studio with producer Lewis Johns has led to a cohesive and confident sounding album that embraces ethereal singing, electronic breakdowns, and bold experimentation - without ever losing sight of their core tenets. Drawing from influences as diverse as Nine Inch Nails, Deafheaven, Radiohead, and Deftones, Pupil Slicer have moulded an album that is effervescent with passion but doesn't shy away from a good hook and a catchy chorus. Through darkness and despair, there is always - at the very least - a glimmer of light in all that they do. Blossom is an album that benefits from being digested as a whole, but within this body of work there are gems that stand out, demonstrating that the future is extremely bright for Pupil Slicer. They're only just getting started.
Phlebotomized - Clouds Of Confussion (Vinyl LP)
Dutch progressive Death Metal legends Phlebotomized at the peak of their 30 year old career! Phlebotomized is among the oldest Death Metal bands from Holland and one of the first using violin and synthesizers in extreme metal. Their typical "Death Metal with a twist" caused a stir in the booming Dutch metal scene back in the early 90's. Formed in 1989, Phlebotomized started out as a Grindcore/Death Metal band, inspired by acts like Morbid Angel, Nocturnus and Paradise Lost. Later on, the band began to use keyboard and violin arrangements, resulting in their unique sound. Their "Devoted to God" demo (1992) was recognized as a classic one demo worldwide. In 1994 Phlebotomized released their seminal "Immense Intense Suspense" album which offered an intelligent blend of atmosphere and brutality. It took the Death Metal scene by storm, giving both the band and the album a legendary Cult status worldwide. The band played numerous shows but disbanded shortly after the release of their second full-length album "Skycontact" in 1997. After a hibernation of 16 years, Phlebotomized regrouped in 2013 upon the re-release of their classic albums. The band played several live-shows and started thinking of forging a new album. After some changes in line-up, their comeback album "Deformation of Humanity" was recorded and released by Hammerheart Records in 2019). This album received raving reviews and Phlebotomized played several (international) shows and festivals in 2019. In 2020 they hit the studio again to record their EP "Pain, Resistance, Suffering", released in 2021. Again a recording containing all elements that distinguishes Phlebotomized from the ordinary: wayward and exploring beyond the scopes of conventional paths in Death Metal. Forward to 2023 and "Clouds Of Confusion"! If you are a Death Metal fan that still craves for the 90's, you need "Clouds of Confusion". It does not get better than this if you love what Phlebotomized did in the past. If you need to bang your head check out "Clouds of Confusion " for some real Old School Death Metal. For those of you who need not mindlessly bang their head, who can allow things like atmosphere and intelligence to occasionally enter into your realm, you will really appreciate this just as well. But still, we would not justify what Phlebotomized delivers on this great album, because there is so much more to hear and discover. Something that is rare these days, an album that grows, an album that reveals something new with each spin. Perhaps it is again an album ahead of its time, although it is definitely looking back in time just as well.
Vomitory - All Heads Are Gonna Roll (Vinyl LP)
In any serious conversation about death metal the name Vomitory has to come up. Following their inception in 1989, between 1996 and 2011 they dropped eight of the most blistering albums the genre has spewed up, the quartet parting ways in 2013.
However, the band's retirement turned out to be short lived, returning to stages in 2019 to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, and now they drop their first new full-length in twelve years, the monstrous 'All Heads Are Gonna Roll'.
Boasting the classic Vomitory sound with a few new twists and turns, it is everything their faithful could have hoped for, the band having taken their time before committing to it rather than rushing in.
"We weren't feeling any pressure, it was rather about making a decision whether we should continue as a band, i.e. release new material, or simply put the band back in the grave again," explains drummer Tobias Gustafsson.
"We wrote a few songs first just for the fun of it, to see if we still ‘had it', before we made the final decision to continue and make a new full-length album."
Gloryhammer - Return To The Kingdom Of Fife (Vinyl LP)
Mighty warriors of the galaxy! The day has finally come to dive into the next galactic chapter of the remarkable GLORYHAMMER universe, as the pioneers of power metal will lift the starlit sky to unveil their brand new digital single, entitled "Fly Away", out April 28, 2022 via Napalm Records. After releasing their chart-breaking studio album, Legends From Beyond The Galactic Terrorvortex (DE #6, CH #8, AT #16, SC #25), in 2019, making numerous appearances at sold out venues as well as performing at all major metal festivals, GLORYHAMMER continues to conquer yet unexplored territories to infinity and beyond! The introductory vocal lines of Angus McFife, Crown Prince of Fife, in "Fly Away" set the tone for a captivating anthem with bombastic, sparkling keys kicking straight in with fast-driven guitars, topped by a storyline that tells of traversing the wide universe as the mighty battle calls. Don't miss this adventurous ride and first glimpse of everything that is to explore within this interstellar powerhouse! Single Blurb: Power metal warriors GLORYHAMMER lift the starlit sky to unveil a new digital single, "Fly Away". After releasing the chart-breaking Legends From Beyond The Galactic Terrorvortex (DE #6, CH #8, AT #16, SC #25) and performing at all major metal festivals, the unit sets off for another ride to traverse the universe. The song kicks in with a captivating storyline, sparkling keys and fast-driven guitars, granting a glimpse of everything that is to explore within this interstellar powerhouse!