A big week for big sounds and bigger narratives. Let’s fire up the feels machine and get to it.
WHAT TO HEAR: Leading us off this week is the first new music from Boston post-sludge legends Cave In, Final Transmission (Hyrdra Head), in over eight years. While cause for celebration, the circumstances surrounding the release are not, with Final Transmission chronicling Cave In’s final demo session with bassist Caleb Scofield before his death in a car accident in March of last year. The nine-track collection of roughly recorded but predictably wonderful songs offers an incredible and intimate snapshot of one of the Northeast metal scene’s favorite humans and is worth it on that merit alone (to say nothing of the incredible hooks, melodies, and riffs that bloom here in their rawest form.) If you’re new to Cave In, start here and work your way backward. Trust us when we say, it’s gonna be a wild ride.
After that, check out Pelican’s Nighttime Stories (Southern Lord), another album both long overdue and born out of tragedy. Originally a title and concept proposed for Pelican grind spinoff Tusk, Nightime Stories was ported to Pelican’s instrumetal world following the passing of Tusk vocalist Jody Minnoch from an undiagnosed heart condition in 2014. The result is one of Pelican’s darkest, heaviest albums to date ebbing from claustrophobic snarl to agoraphobic sprawl across its nine distortion-drenched tracks. Both a fitting tribute to Minnoch and a masterclass in progressive songwriting, Nighttime Stories can be heard in full via NPR.
If you need a bit of pick me up after those lead-heavy offerings, I don’t blame you, and upstart death/doom crew Fetid are happy to oblige with their debut full length Sleeping Corporeal Mess (20 Buck Spin). A toxic ooze of amplifier-nuking gain, cavernous cavernous low-end, and gurgled vocals, Fetid combine old-school riffs with new-school gross for a killer combination. Grab your hazmat suit and check it out.
If you prefer your flesh charred to within an inch of ash, meanwhile, make sure to check out Consummation’s The Great Solar Hunter (Profound Lore), a sunbaked slab of deathened black metal from Down Under (Australia, not you know where). If that doesn’t sate the bloodlust, then perhaps Cold Black Suns (Season of Mist), the long-gestating new full length from black metal vets Enthroned will do the trick. Together they make one hell of a gruesome twosome, so don’t sleep.
Finally, the releases drift off this week with Faerie Ring’s debut LP, The Clearing (King Volume Records), an enchanted forest blooming with stoner doom goodies, from swaggering blues riffs to the interstellar vox plucked straight from the Sleep playbook. It’s not the usual kind of thing we gravitate towards around these parts, but it makes for a perfect bookend to a long week.
WHAT TO SEE: In the weird, wild world of shows, things start strong tonight with Sin City at Blackthorn 51, Coheed & Cambria/Mastodon at the Coney Island Boardwalk, Grim Streaker at The Meatlocker, Monochromatic Black at Amityville Music Hall, Limp Wrist at Brooklyn Bazaar, Ideal at Saint Vitus, and Alexisonfire at Terminal 5 (poor Alex). On Saturday get out there for Solace/Eternal Black at Lucky 13 Saloon, Sick of it All/Snapcase at Irving Plaza, Underdog at The Kingsland, Huntsmen at Gold Sounds, a Supine matinee at Vitus followed by Cavity AD in primetime, hologram Dio at the Paramount Theater, Chained to the Dead at The Meatlocker, more Alexisonfire at T5, Blue Oyster Cult at the Westbury Theater (hopefully playing “Godzilla” on loop), and Noisem at El Cortez.
Sunday slows down a bit with Antidote at Niagara, Noisem/Organ Dealer at Cianfano’s, Godmaker/YATRA/Somnuri at Sunnyvale, and But Pyrite at El Cortez, while Monday welcomes Wolfmother to Irving Plaza. Tuesday picks back up with Spirit Adrift at Saint Vitus, Ozzy/Megadeth at MSG, and Creeping Death at Gold Sounds, before Wednesday rolls around with Wreath of Tongues at Amityville Music Hall, Wooter at Our Wicked Lady, Howard Jones at Asbury Lanes, and I Am at Saint Vitus. Thursday wraps things up once more with Nails/Misery Index at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Howard Jones at Playstation Theater, and Droneflower (the side project of Marissa Nadler and Mutoid Man/Cave In’s Steven Brodsky) at Vitus.
WHAT THE FUCK: I don’t have much in the left in the tank, but it appears there’s a new Wormed tune making it’s way around the interweb this week, which is very good news indeed. Stream it below and brace yourself for their new cosmic skronk storm, Metaportal, set to drop July 19th.