Welcome to your weekly reminder that the Brooklyn underground isn’t dead yet. Long live crust.
WHAT TO HEAR: First up this week the appropriately titled Nightmare Future (Relapse), the debut LP from grindcore supergroup Expulsion. Featuring former members of Repulsion, Exhumed, and more, this one sounds like Lightning Bolt if Lightning Bolt were reared on Napalm Death not Sonic Youth, sawing through seven tracks of splattery gristle in just about 14 minutes. Again—for the thousandth time—the wheel still rolls best when it’s round, so there’s no real need for Expulsion to reinvent it here. If you can come to terms with that—and can handle grind—then you’re going to really dig this one.
Also throwing their carcass into the pit this week are crossover hardcore pioneers Integrity and their 12th studio full length, Howling, For the Nightmare Shall Consume (Relapse). Like a lot of these aging crust icons, frontman Dwid Hellion’s incendiary antics haven’t aged too well by today’s societal standards, but there’s no doubting that metal is a better place when Integrity is kicking down the door, so grab copy of this sucker and turn it the fuck up.
After that sensory assault, a little cool down could do us all some good, so make sure to check out Dear (Sargent House), the latest technicolor smoke whisp from Japanese drone greats Boris. Continuing their career-long wire walk between Sunn O))) and My Bloody Valentine, Dear is a return to form for Boris after the somewhat impenetrable—even by their standards—collab with Merzbow. If you’re feeling the summer stress (this guy, wheee!), just throw this thing on via NPR and drift away.
Meanwhile, the catacombs of underground black metal turned into a rave scene straight outta Blade this week thanks to new releases from the likes of Jute Gyte and Akatharsia. The former—Oviri (Jeshimoth Entertainment)—is yet another swarm of prolific micro-tonal madness from one of the medium’s most prolific and challenging practitioners. If you’re looking to really push your boundaries this week, the buck stops here. The latter, No Generation Without Corruption (Psychic Violence), provides the perfect foil, meanwhile, turning in one of the rawest, most ferocious black metal experiences since Akitsa’s Grands Tyrans. Check ‘em both out, if you dare.
If you like flirting on that fringe-y doom territory, your also in luck this week, thanks to Wren‘s latest batch of post-rock-inflected sludge, Auburn Rule (Holy Roar Records), and Livid‘s droning stoner trance, Beneath This Shroud, The Earth Erodes (Prosthetic Records). Needless to say, slow and low has never sounded so damn diverse.
Finally, let’s wrap releases on a slightly more aggro note with One Master‘s Lyncanthrophic Burrowing (Eternal Death Records), a crusty blast of occult black metal from one of USBM’s longest tenured acts that’s currently streaming at Invisible Oranges, and Return to the Void (Metal Blade), the latest from dissonant Norwegian death metallers, Execration. If those don’t seal the deal, you’re in the wrong place.
WHAT TO SEE: As the weekend rolls around, so do the “metal” shows, starting tonight with Winter Nights at Metal Kingdom Record Store, Skum City at Lucky 13 Saloon, Doll Skin at Bad Sounds, Extended Hell at The Gateway, Sacred Oath at Saint Vitus, and Sleep at Pioneer Works as part of the Grand Ole Opera. Saturday keeps that spiked ball rolling with the second Sleep gig in as many nights, Taking Back Sunday/Every Time I Die at Webster Hall, Sunlord at Gussy’s, Spectral Voices at The Delancey, the best death metal bill I’ve seen in awhile—Horrendous, Undergang, Necrot, Siege Column—preceding a High-Functioning Flesh-headlined late show at Vitus.
If you survive all of that, check out Hollow Earth at Vitus on Sunday. Otherwise just sit tight until Monday, when Every Time I Die shove off for a Rocks Off River Cruise and Woodhead headline a free one at Vitus. On Tuesday, meanwhile, Ether/Beast Modulus hit Silent Barn, who have been dipping their toe into the metal pool of late (a move I am obviously fully backing). Finally wrap things up on Thursday with Eternal Black at Lucky 13 Saloon, Quantrill at Lovecraft Bar, Dragonforce at Highline Ballroom, and a killer black metal throwdown featuring Black Anvil, Antichrist, Cemetery Piss, and Funeral Leech at Knitting Factory. Good luck and God speed.
WHAT THE FUCK: This would normally be the point where I plot out the inverse relationship of how much real shit a given human has to worry about over the amount of virtual huffing and puffing they did about Kim Kardashian wearing a Morbid Angel t-shirt, but to be honest I’ve already spent more air on this topic in the past 100 words than it’s worth. Have a heavy week, everyone. See you next time.