Tag Archives: California

RIP Jeff Hanneman (1964 – 2013)

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Jeff_Hanneman_SlayerThe first time I heard/saw Slayer was on Headbanger’s Ball.  It was either the video for the atmospheric yet pummeling “Seasons in the Abyss” or the flat-out face-fucking bulldozer that is “War Ensemble.”  I was just starting to get into heavy metal in those days, and Slayer blew me away with their intensity and darkness; they seemed way more evil than Megadeth or Metallica, which I was already quite familiar with, and in those days, especially being confined to Catholic school for seven hours a day, the more evil, the better.  It was love at first sight.  From there, I slowly started buying up Slayer’s back catalog with my meager allowance money, reveling in the Satanic-sounding, speed-demonomania that was their early career.
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Vhöl – s/t (Profound Lore, 2013)

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VHOL cover artGiven the players involved and the label putting it out, it’s quite surprising that there hasn’t been more hype surrounding the release of Vhöl’s self-titled debut album.  I mean, we’re talking about a band that includes current/former members of the likes of Hammers of Misfortune, Ludicra, YOB and Agalloch on the goddamn mighty Profound Lore for chrissakes; if ever there was a modern band that should be having the term supergroup lobbed at its feet, it’s surely Vhöl.  And while I (fortunately) haven’t seen too many folks chucking the dreaded “s word” about in reference to this quartet of West Coast killas, their opening salvo is nonetheless pretty gosh darn super.
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Ash Borer – Bloodlands (Gilead Media, 2013)

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relic47-pvviiHot on the heels of last year’s excellent Cold of Ages (review HERE), California black metallers Ash Borer are back with Bloodlands, an EP set to be released by everyone’s favorite vinyl porn purveyors, Gilead Media.  The quintet have already proven themselves to be among the finest of the current crop of young upstart USBM bands, and Bloodlands not only cements their position but continues to build upon the impressive foundation they’ve assembled for themselves across a handful of splits, demos and full lengths.
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Oodles of Brutals: A descent into the putrid bowels of technical, brutal and slam death metal.

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JACKETTechnical death metal, brutal death metal, slam death metal… it’s all sort of one big subgenre mish-mash to me; bands classified as one of these often have elements of one or both of the other two in their sound. It’s not a type of death metal I listen to often; I nearly tech deathed and brutal deathed myself to uh, death during college (did they even have slam death metal back then?), when I was knee-deep in bands like Atheist, Anata, Gorguts, Suffocation, Psycroptic, Necrophagist, Aborted, Devourment, etc, and as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to appreciate simplicity and primitivism over flashy guitar-work and five-million-mile-per-hour blast beats (which is probably why I listen to way more black metal than death metal these days). But every so often I can’t help but get a hankering for this crazy shit, so I have little choice but to dive in headfirst and see what the fuck the kidz are listening to these days…

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Palace of Worms / Mastery – split (Flenser, 2012)

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The Flenser - Palace of Worms-Mastery - coverFlenser Records continues to be a haven for the latest and greatest in Bay Area black metal with this rad split cassette between Palace of Worms and Mastery, also available for free download from the label’s Bandcamp page. Both bands are one man affairs; California seems to be quite the fertile breeding ground for solitary black metal entities (see also: Xasthur, Leviathan, Crebain, Draugar, et al.) and Palace of Worms and Mastery uphold the level excellence that’s come to be expected from the Golden State’s corpse painted isolationist contingent.

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Early Graves – Red Horse (No Sleep Records, 2012)

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If you were to listen to Early Graves’ Red Horse without knowing anything about the band’s history, you’d probably never guess that this is a band that has risen from the ashes of tragedy.  This is not a band that sounds broken down or beaten; this is a band that sounds lean, mean and hungry, ready to raise Hell and rip some fucking heads off.  It is a testament to Early Graves’ intestinal fortitude that they were not only able to recover from losing their original vocalist in a horrible accident, but to write, record and release their definitive album (so far) in the process.
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Fiends at Feast – Towards the Baphomet’s Throne (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions, 2012)

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Regular THKD readers may recall me championing the living shit out of Santa Cruz’s Fiends at Feast last year after they sent me a copy of their stellar Shadows of Extinction EP (here and here).  At the time, the band were self-releasing their material, which was only available at shows.  A lot can change in just a year; Fiends at Feast now have label backing from the up-and-coming Horror Pain Gore Death Productions and as a result have released a brutalizing debut album in the form of Towards the Baphomet’s Throne, a recording which sees the quintet pushing their music to even more malevolent extremes.
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Early Graves @ Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA 10/21/12

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The last time I wrote about Early Graves, it was with a heavy heart. A planned review of their 2010 album Goner became a lamentation of vocalist Makh Daniels, whose life had been taken in a van accident while the band was out on tour. I assumed it was to be the first and last time I would write about the devastating young quintet who had shown so much promise. However, the remaining members of Early Graves regrouped, making the undoubtedly difficult decision to soldier on with new screamer John Strachan (also of The Funeral Pyre) at the helm, proving the old cliche that you just can’t keep a good band down. The result is Red Horse, a snorting, stomping, snarling beast of a recording that’s beyond a shadow of a doubt the San Franciscans’ most potent statement to date. The album isn’t out until October 30th, but Early Graves are already hitting the road hard, bringing their patented brand of pure Hell to the stage.

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Ash Borer – Cold of Ages (Profound Lore, 2012)

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As American black metal continues to assert its dominance, so to does California continue to be a breeding ground for some of the best bands the genre has to offer.  Having visited the state on several occasions and even lived there for half a year (I was a PR intern for Metal Blade Records during college), it’s hard to imagine such bleak, harrowing music emanating from such a sunny, pleasant environment. But even the most pleasant places have filthy, pitch-black underbellies that the casual observer (such as myself) may never ever see.  If the Golden State possesses such an underbelly, then the mysterious quintet known as Ash Borer was undoubtedly born in the deepest, darkest recesses of that forsaken place, as their latest album, the devastating Cold of Ages attests.
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Crebain releases “Vienna” single

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I first discovered Bay Area black metal band Crebain via a split CD he did w/ Leviathan back in 2004, instantly becoming enamored with multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/mastermind Ancalagon the Black’s abrasive yet catchy take on traditional black metal.  Whereas so many USBM bands are all about atmosphere, Crebain is all about THE RIFF; just listen to ”Cold Black Heart” from the aforementioned Leviathan split or “Darkness Be My Bride” from the equally awesome Night of Stormcrow demo for proof of Ancalagon’s mastery of scathing six-string malignance.  Moribund Cult’s website stated that they were set to release a Crebain full length, and I patiently waited…
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