"Finnish Psychedelic Black Metal innovators ORANSSI PAZUZU are pleased to announce that their latest mutational meisterwerk, Muuntautuja (or Shapeshifter in English) is set to be released on October 11th, 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records. A boa constrictor of slithering, warping, interdimensional cosmic horror, the band's sixth full-length Muuntautuja is in a world of its own, seeping through the speakers like irradiated sand. Ever transmuting, unsettling chords that raise the hairs on the back of your head and then pummel it with nauseating rhythms that both transport and destroy you.
Drawing inspiration from eclectic sources ranging from Death Grips to Portishead, Nine Inch Nails (Downward Spiral era), Beherit and My Bloody Valentine, ORANSSI PAZUZU are a feast for those who dig deep, heavy and strange. With inhuman and biological sound, Muuntautuja is electronically charged, both organic and inorganic in origin." Source: Nuclearblast.com

"Whilst this particular mercurial incarnation summons the party dimensions from which we were first introduced to this band well over a decade ago, it also possesses no shortage of curveballs and curiosity. ‘One More Death’ and ‘Goatbrain’ are spectacular curtain-raisers, embodying a hedonistic spirit driven by incisive funk and possessed by merciless fuzz/wah-drenched guitar. Yet if these and the filthy, swaggering groove of ‘Dollar Bill’ mark familiar territory for Goat devotees of old, ‘Fools Journey’ is just the first of several journeys into the beyond - a blissful drifting meditation infused with free jazz and shamanic overtones which bears the hallmarks of their concurrent project Djinn.
True to the notion of this band effortlessly straddling past, present and future, ‘Frisco Beaver’ - another irresistible party-starter powered by insistent guitar filigree and percussion-driven trance-states - is a literal sequel to ‘Disco Fever’ from 2012’s World Music. Yet elsewhere Goat can happily look towards new horizons and come back with some of the most righteous vibrations they’ve yet delivered. The band’s love of hip hop is the fuel for both the rollicking ceremonial throwdown ‘Zombie’ and the end-credits-epic album closer ‘Ouroboros’ which marries infectious chant to breathless Lalo Schifrin-style breakbeat action. And which also means ultimately, like the titular oldest allegorical symbol in alchemy, we’re right back where we started." Source: Bandcamp

A harrowing document of life, death and transcendence, Do You Still Love Me? is the fifth album from Planes Mistaken for Stars (PMFS), the band’s second outing for Deathwish Records and first new music since 2016. It is also the first PMFS release since the death of frontman Gared O’Donnell, whose cancer diagnosis loomed heavily over the recording and whose ghost guided the mix. Chemo and radiation would not stop him from making this masterpiece, in which the band finds itself reeling from the gut-wrenching horrors of their leader’s unimaginable absence.
Written in Peoria amidst the forced isolation of a global pandemic and recorded by Sanford Parker in Chicago, these thirteen songs burn the ears to listen. Album opener “Matthew is Dead” wastes no time with niceties as Planes mourns the 2017 death of founding guitarist Matt Bellinger — Gared’s throat-shredded rasp seethes as if taunting himself: You’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead— guttural human screams unbottled and broken glass shattered as transcendental meditation and musical catharsis, for band and listener alike. These acute and raw moments are found throughout the record, audible wounds you can hear, see, taste and almost touch. We’ve only got the night, as Gared knew and preached and lived. Just one last drink, shall we begin? Do You Still Love Me? carries forward Planes’ natural evolution beyond post-hardcore and metal-tinged rock n’ roll, unveiling new layers with each listen. Intertwined vocals and infectious melodies simmer beneath the surface and occasionally boil over, shards of guitar strike like lightning as the rhythm section pounds its marching orders. Whether pummeling mercilessly or tenderly relenting, Do You Still Love Me? shows a band unafraid to lose itself in the musical maelstrom. I don’t have the shakes, the shakes have me — it’s not an easy listen, yet offers immense rewards with time, alchemizing a unique beauty from the pain and tragedy of its creation. It’s an emotional bloodletting for Planes and their extended family around the world, a collective primal scream of coping with life and last breaths, and eternal proof that death is truly not the end. Source: Bandcamp

“What we’re doing with Buñuel is to carve out a very specific glimpse… partly into hearts of darkness, but more specifically into the depth of our secrets. Secrets we keep from each other, ourselves and whatever futures we’ve imagined for ourselves. We are ultimately trying to communicate something direct and deadly about the human condition.” - Eugene Robinson

"Like the towering mounds of toxic waste from which it gets its namesake, the music of Oklahoma City noise rock quartet Chat Pile is a suffocating, grotesque embodiment of the existential anguish that has defined the 21st Century. It figures that a band with this abrasive, unrelenting, and outlandish of a sound has struck as strong of a chord as it has. Dread has replaced the American dream, and Chat Pile’s music is a poignant reminder of that shift – a portrait of an American rock band molded by a society defined by its cold and cruel power systems." Source: Bandcamp

While the members of AWOLNATION had already been sailing straight into their heavy-music past via new side project the Barbarians of California, they've now linked up with Snapcase vocalist Daryl Taberski to deliver their most whip-cracking thrasher yet. Today (June 6th), the band debuted their latest smoked-out single, "Far Out, Bro." Source: RevolverMag.com

“As we played together and revisited songs from our back catalog that meant so much to us, we were inspired to write a new song that channeled those feelings and that energy. We had an incredible time making our C.L.S.M. side project/offshoot album that was released last year, but ‘You Might Be Dead’ connects directly to the sound and trajectory we forged when we solidified our identity as a band throughout ‘House With A Curse’, ‘Sister Faith’ and ‘Anxiety’s Kiss’.” Bandcamp

"Contrasts such as those on display in "Funeral Dyke" are what make Contempt the engrossing, dynamic affair that it is. The band's foundation rests on the scorched earth between Unsane's pounding NYC hate-rock and Darkthrone's mournful metal, but Contempt is filled with surprises. The songs are peppered with odd instrumentation – the aforementioned saxophone and tambourine, as well as tuba, trombone, accordion, viola, and concert bells – and tend to begin on one path and end on another. A cold dirge erupts into a chugging thrashfest; a sludgy rocker slides into a wistful jam recalling Sonic Youth's more tender moments." Source: Bandcamp

On The Healer, the new full length from Northwest-based trio SUMAC, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner, bassist Brian Cook and drummer Nick Yacyshyn, the group deepens its multi-faceted exploration into the parallel experiences of creation and destruction. Over the course of 4 tracks in 76 minutes, SUMAC presents a sequence of shifting movements which undergo a constant process of expansion, contraction, corruption and regrowth.
This musical methodology reflects the thematic nature of the record - narratives of experiential wounding as gateways to empowerment and evolution, both individual and collective. The group's interpolation of melody, drone, improvisation, and complex riffing becomes a transmogrifying act embodying the depth of human experience. In its highest aspiration it mirrors our ability to endure mortal and spiritual challenges, through which we may emerge with an increased capacity for understanding, empathy, love of self and others. Dismal though the subterranean pits of “The Healer” may at first appear, from them can be felt the unwavering determination to embrace life, acknowledge interdependence, and honor the gift of existence. Source: Bandcamp

"THE MELVINS will release a new album, "Tarantula Heart", on April 19 via Ipecac Recordings. According to a press release, the LP is quite possibly the band's most unconventional, catchiest and imaginative work yet, continuing a legacy celebrated for its eccentric and extraordinary output." Source: Blabbermouth.net