Five For Friday: April 14, 2023

Greetings, Decibel readers!

Ok, so as I type this I realize a good chunk of you are at this year’s Philadelphia edition of Decibel Metal and Beer Fest. But once you’ve recovered from your mosh-pit scars, detoxed from all the IPAs, and found your way back home, here’s some more tunes for you to enjoy.

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Deathgrave – It’s Only Midnight

God I love how unhinged this is. Those high-pitched screams absolutely tear the paint off the walls, and the balancing act with this and the clear Autopsy-worship is absolutely brilliant. It’s like you died and were buried by riffs.

Stream: Apple Music

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Dødheimsgard – Black Medium Current

Huh, the album title sort of sounds like an ice-cream flavor. Anyway, there’s a lot of sweet heaviness to savor here, along with the band’s signature industrial toppings (“That’s good!”).

Stream: Apple Music

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Jesus Piece – …So Unknown

A fellow music writer once characterized these guys as a “nu-metal” revivalist band. Something I continue to be totally baffled by. If anything, they’re much more a throwback to 2010 than 1998. Anyway, these guys crush it, expect big things from them this year. Here’s what Waldo had to say:

Let me start by saying if you haven’t heard them, they are metallic hardcore, or mosh core, or hardcore punk. The truth is, they are kinda all of the aforementioned and more. Vocalist Aaron Heard claims, “anything from brutal old-school death metal to straight up punk and hardcore” as influences.

Stream: Apple Music

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Overkill – Scorched

A reliable thrash metal institution returns once again. For the most part, I tend to agree with those turned off by Bobby’s voice in a lot of the band’s classic work (except for the first album, which is absolutely God-tier thrash). But honestly, I think he’s gotten better with age, as the last several records have seen him adapt it with age to give the delivery a new intensity. And you really can’t deny the guitar work here. The days of neo-thrash have come and gone, but Overkill remains eternally rotten to the core!

Stream: Apple Music

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VoidCeremony – Threads of Unknowing

A second full-length serving of excellence from the newest masters of progressive death metal. I especially love when they do the really precise palm-muting synced up with the blast-beats and low gutterals. And then they take those moments and blast them apart with cool off-kilter arrangements. Chuck would be proud of these guys. Also, damn Charles Koryn does live drums for a lot of bands. Hope he’s paid well, the fortunes of so many hang on his mighty shoulders!

Stream: Apple Music