Your Thanksgiving travel playlist—presumably enough to get you to familial hell and back—starts here. Dig in, huddled metal masses.
WHAT TO HEAR: Kicking things off in fittingly caustic fashion are the one and only Godflesh, who return today with their second post-comeback LP, Post Self (Avalanche Recordings). Dwelling in the dark side of the human psyche, Post Self is said to explore the “less metal” (Broadrick’s words, not mine) inclinations of Godflesh, drawing influence from turn-of-the-80s post-punk and industrial, but a quick listen to the self-titled opener should help to ease your concerns. Godflesh still groove and grind with the best of them, a finely oiled, fire-breathing machine that fits the nihilistic, apocalyptic times like a fucking lug wrench. Check it out via their bandcamp.
Keeping things nice and abrasive are Northless and their scathing new full-length, Last Bastion of Cowardice (Gilead Media). A fusion of rusted-out Midwest sludge and aching funeral doom, Northless conjure the contrasting extremes of slow at the same damn time, seamlessly morphing from the hideousness of Primitive Man to the catatonic depression of Low before you’re even able to adjust your dosage. Erik Stenglein’s vocals remain some of the unnerving and effective in the genre, and delivered immaculately here on the back of some left-field, but in-your-face, production. If you’re just looking for straight up one of the best doom records of the year to pair with that tryptophan OD, then you can’t go wrong with Last Bastion of Cowardice, now streaming at Metal Injection.
It just wouldn’t be late November without some killer atmospheric black metal to get all wispy to, however, and thankfully Chaos Moon oblige this week with Eschaton Mémoire (Blood Music). A faithful reproduction of the TRUE second wave sound—leave those Memory Mans at home, kids—packed with enough harmonic maximalism to give you an inner ear infection, Chaos Moon more than live up to the half of their moniker at least. Sure it’s dense—of the five songs, four are two-part movements—but if you can survive the onslaught, the reward is pure sensory overload. Check it out via CVLT Nation.
Speaking of sensory overload, Aosoth’s V: The Inside Scriptures (Agonia Records) has it in spades, churning out chaotic black/death in the vein of Behexen and Blut Aus Nord. The project of Antaeus founder MkM, this one has some serious underground pedigree and it shows, thrumming with unfathomable density/intensity throughout. The narrative conclusion of Aosoth’s long-running musical concept, The Inside Scriptures is very likely the band’s swan song, but if that does turn out to be true, we can’t think of better way to go out.
Finally, let’s wrap this week’s slightly curtailed release slate with Atoll’s irradiated slam-a-thon, Fallout Frenzy (Gore House Productions)—beaming to the pit straight from the heart of the desert (or Decibel)—and a brand-new split from tetanus-stricken St. Louis sludge connoisseurs Fister and NorCal funeral doom mourners CHRCH. Brutality is the name of the game here, but then again, around these parts, it usually is.
WHAT TO SEE: Meanwhile, for obvious poultry-related reasons, it’s a slower week on the show front, but everything gets going tonight regardless with Kore Rozzik at Blackthorn 51, Mad Diesel at Silent Barn, Carbon Leaf at Gramercy Theatre, Nihiloceros at H0L0, Unsane/Cherubs at Saint Vitus, and Belus/Somnuri/Anicon/Insect Ark at Matchless. On Saturday, meanwhile, check out Horna at The Paper Box, Deteriorot at The Kingsland, The Mob at Generation Records, Pissed Jeans at Market Hotel, Vantafrost at Backroom Studios, Grade at Saint Vitus, Dream Theater at the Paramount Theatre, Revolting Cocks at Gramercy Theatre, Captain We’re Sinking at The Kingsland, and NAILS/Woe/Coach Slut at Knitting Factory. After that, wrap up the weekend with Born Without Bones at The Kingsland, Ramallah at Lucky 13 Saloon, Traitors at Dingbatz, and Seven)Suns at Saint Vitus.
Monday gets the work week started with Affliction at Debonair Music Hall and Bleachers at Terminal 5, while Tuesday brings them across the river to Brooklyn Steel and welcomes God Tiny to Saint Vitus and The Story So Far/Turnstile to Revolution Bar. The annual night-before-thanksgiving hangover then gets underway with Circuitry at Dingbatz, In Hearts Wake at Gramercy Theatre, and finally Ne Obliviscaris at (le) Poisson Rouge, which leads us to Thursday, when, mercifully, nobody was dumb enough to book anything.
WHAT THE FUCK: If you’re looking for some metallic Thanksgiving travel jams, that list begins and ends with Iron Maiden. Horns ups, folks.