Screen shot 2013-06-13 at 10.59.44 AM

Power Trip – Manifest Decimation

Stream: Power Trip – Manifest Decimation

It’s all-out thrash warfare on this new Power Trip album, Manifest Decimation. The LP is out now, and it’s the band’s first album. It certainly feels like it, too; every track on here is relentless and punk-infused. It really sounds like the band has something to prove! Hit the link above for a full stream of the album, and enjoy!

FEET

Xibalba- Hasta La Muerte

Southern California’s Xibalba drags listeners down to the “place of fear” the band’s name references, combining the heaviness of doom and sludge with the aggression of hardcore punk and even metalcore. Sunn O)))’s Greg Anderson shows up on a few tracks, too.

WATCH THE REVIEW

FEET

OILTANKER- “Ignorant Bastards”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

OILTANKER is a Hartford d-beat punk band with a loud, aggressive, and crusty reputation. Their guitar tones are a bit thicker than one would expect from a band in this style, which made their latest album, the Shadow of Greed, worth reissue status on Southern Lord Records.

This new incarnation of the Shadow incorporates tracks from the band’s recent Crusades 7″ as well. If unreasonably fierce and atonal hardcore is what you’ve been using to replace your morning coffee, this is the real deal.

“Ignorant Bastards” starts off like a standard d-beat track should, but OILTANKER works to whip the chords, drum fills, and obscured vocals into a tortured and chaotic frenzy.

Listen to some more material from the band on, uh, MySpace…

feet

Black Breath- Sentenced To Life

On the band’s sophomore album, Black Breath combines various strains of punk and metal for one of the most abrasive headbanging experiences of 2012.

WATCH THE REVIEW

feet

Black Breath- “Mother Abyss”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3

Black Breath is a Seattle band I fell quickly in and out of love with in ’09 and ’10. The adrenaline-pumping riffs on the band’s debut EP on Southern Lord were satisfying, but the band didn’t bring much in the way of momentum or raw energy to its full-length debut, Heavy Breathing. The speed and volume was there, but it just wasn’t doing much for me.

What tracks I’ve heard so far from the outfit’s latest album, Sentenced to Life, are way more appealing. For example, “Mother’s Abyss” features a guitar tone that’s as thick as it is metallic. All the speed, heaviness, and syncopated riffs on the hook actually remind me of Southern Lord labelmates Nails–though Black Breath does stop just short of bringing a clear grindcore influence into their tracks.

Instead, Black Breath works with a more traditional song structure, and finds ways to keep this high level of intensity engaging for just over two minutes.

EARTH ANGELS OF DARKNESS II

Earth- Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II

February 14th / Southern Lord

feat

Wolves In the Throne Room- “Woodland Cathedral”

On September 13th, black metal experimentalists Wolves In the Throne room will be dropping a new album via Southern Lord: Celestial Lineage. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna be looking to this one. I wasn’t a fan of the band’s output since 2008′s Two Hunters, and it’s mostly because the band had drained its sound of the atmospheric textures that made it so interesting in the first place. What makes the situation funniest is WITTR seemed to be jumping off the atmospheric black metal wagon as loads of unknown bands were jumping on.

But on the first track to drop from this forthcoming album, “Woodland Cathedral,” I’m glad to see a lot of those ethereal elements are coming back. The female vocals that have been in use in previous tracks are coming out stronger on this song as well.