OK, so a bit of a weird week overall, but don’t blame the messenger. I just write about this shit.
WHAT TO HEAR: Kicking things off in fittingly caustic fashion is Generation Coward (Willowtip Records), the latest batch of ruthless political grind from Orange County legends Phobia. A direct response to the horror of being alive online, Generation Coward dolls out 13 tracks of modern misanthropy in about the same amount of time it took me to write that sentence. It comes off a little bit like an old guy shouting at the kids to get off his lawn at times, but given the decades they’ve spent schralping alongside the likes of Napalm Death and Dropdead, GC is worth of the benefit of the doubt for now.
What do we have here? In however many years I’ve been doing this section (lost count, doesn’t matter) I don’t think we’ve ever been graced by the presence of, well, Slipknot. The Iowa nu-metal masquerade are back from a long layoff today with their sixth studio full-length, We Are Not Your Kind (Roadrunner). Apart from sounding like the scrapped title of some Nails bro-down, WANYK sees the Knot adopting that creepy Catholic vibe that’s made bands like Ghost and Batushka so successful in recent years, pairing gilded backdrops, flowing robes, and the occasional choir flourish with Corey Taylor’s radio rock pipes and their usual hard-clipping, atonal grooves. If you’re morbidly curious or curiously morbid, given it a listen wherever albums are streamed.
If that’s not enough downtuned burp for you, don’t worry, because Portland death metal unit Lord Gore are serving up a hell feast of splatter, gristle, chunk, and chew on their nasty new LP, Scalpels For Blind Surgeons (Everlasting Spew). That said, if song titles like “Million Maggot March” and “Attack of the Stem Cell Junkies” aren’t revving your engines, then perhaps Lord Gore aren’t for you.
After that trio, wrap up this week’s five spot with Our Bones (eOne), the new EP from progressive metal masterminds The Contortionist—featuring three twisting, emotive new originals and a Smashing Pumpkins cover—and the new collaborative LP between Many Blessings (the noise project of Primitive Man’s Ethan McCarthy) and Pulsatile Tinnitus (the noise project of Bleed the Pigs’ Kayla Phillips). Spanning five tracks and a full hour of harsh noise and power electronics, this one is the most punishing listen on offer this week, so what are you waiting for?
WHAT TO SEE: Meanwhile, the off-off-off Broadway shows go on tonight with Wizzerd at Lucky 13 Saloon, Baring Teeth at Clash Bar, Slim Jim Phantom Trio at Brooklyn Bazaar, Papa Roach at Stone Pony Summer Stage, Auras at the Kingsland, and Fister/Sea of Bones/Pyrrhon at Saint Vitus in the early slot and a Hardcore Hell After Party led by Iron Age, Red Death, and Candy screening at 11pm. On Saturday, False and Vile Creature hit the Greenpoint staple at 8pm and Exit Order (another HH after show) do the same at 11:30, while Aztra wreck Blackthorn 51, Blood Feast feast on Revolution Bar, Baring Teeth devour Gold Sounds, Anaka pour into Coney Island Brewery, and Blanks 77 rage on at The Kingsland, before Sundays brings the weekend crumbling down with an Iron Age matinee at Vitus (followed by a Self-Defense Family live album recording at 7), Ashbringer at Brooklyn Bazaar, Skarhead at The Kingsland, August Burns Red at PlayStation Theater, and the almighty Neurosis at Brooklyn Steel with Deafkids and Bell Witch.
Monday doesn’t take a breather, with Black Flag at Brooklyn Bazaar and Murphy’s Law aboard a Rocks Off! River Cruise providing plenty of entertainment for the punk set. Tuesday brings the Bullet Boys to The Kingsland and The Anchor to Gold Sounds, while Wednesday is headlined by Molotov at Sony Hall and Kiss at the Prudential Center. Finally, put a pin in things on Thursday with The Lewd at Saint Vitus, The Obsessed at The Kingsland, and Alice Cooper at PNC Bank Arts Center.
WHAT THE FUCK: Kind of a depressing week in the metalverse. We got an absolutely brutal reminder that you really have to be using your fucking brain out there and judging people by who they are and not how woke their backpatches are and we also collectively and conveniently forgot that Maynard James Keenan is a big creep while tripping over ourselves to slobber all over a new Tool song that, surprise, surprise, sounds like every other Tool song.
But you know what helps with that? Gatecreeper finally announcing their sophomore full-length, Deserted, due October 4th on Relapse. If you’re still looking for a coping mechanism after this week’s sorry state of affairs, this should do the trick: