New Spins: 5th October 2020

It's October already, and we're starting to receive some of the highly anticipated releases due out before the year ends that may well disrupt my already half-formed 'best of 2020' list. This weeks New Spins features two such records, and one which might well do on it's release next month.

Satan - Toutes Ces Horreurs

This is one of nine bands listed on Metal Archives as being called Satan, although I'm surprised it wasn't closer to 900. This particular Satan is the one from France that is listed as playing Grindcore/Black Metal, but that doesn't really do their experimental cocktail of sounds quite the justice it deserves. Released back in March of this year, the album opens with a spoken word piece backed by a free jazz composition that sounds like the soundtrack to a stroll through the Pompidou Centre's most abstract collections. The rest of this album is a flurry of intensity that manages to explore some of the deeper and more experimental corners of black metal's melodies whilst simultaneously retaining the kind of raw passion that the best grindcore bands create. Like when I listen to Krallice, I get a strangely restrained sense of awe from these tracks, something intangible and transcendent that makes this record thoroughly gratifying. Toutes Ces Horreurs is a fabulously addictive record, but it's also Satan's third full length album, and along with a whole host of splits, Satan have a discography I'll be sinking my teeth into for a while to come.

https://satan.bandcamp.com/album/toutes-ces-horreurs-2020 

Sumac - May You Be Held

Sumac are certainly one of the mos experimental and forward thinking band's in the realm of what could be called 'post-sludge', and their latest album May You Be Held is further proof of that. It was only released three days ago so I'm still getting my head around the whole thing, but I can already say that this is tremendous album that shows a band who are utterly fearless and prepared to take their music into whatever territory they want without thought for who may or may not appreciate it. This a deep and highly nuanced record that feels at times like a delve into an unconscious train of thought that at any point may veer off into a totally new direction. It's like listening to a dream that could just merge into a nightmare, and despite each track's unyielding density the album somehow keeps the listener focused and intrigued throughout. It's Sumac's best album yet, and if they needed a record to prove this band is no longer a mere side-project then this is it.

https://sumac.bandcamp.com/album/may-you-be-held 

Killer Be Killed - Deconstructing Self-Destruction

When Killer Be Killed announced their existence and creation back in 2013 it was one of the more exciting super-group announcements of recent years: Troy Sanders of Mastodon, Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dave Elitch of The Mars Volta and Max Cavalera... holy fuck what a line-up! I wouldn't say their debut album was disappointing, I certainly enjoyed it, but it didn't quite grab me as much as I'd expected it to. Perhaps it was because the sound they put together was pretty familiar at the time, and there wasn't enough on that album to really make it stand out beyond Greg Puciato's phenomenal vocals. Now though, with Dave Elitch departed and the equally ferocious Ben Koller of Converge behind the kit, they've released this new single ahead of their upcoming second album, due out next month, and it absolutely rips. With all three vocalists sounding incredible, taking the lead and harmonising together at various points throughout, this feels like everything I wanted their debut to be. It feels more creative and more like blend of it's four creators rather than the slightly patchwork form their debut album took. Since the kind of metalcore-without-obnoxious-breakdowns sound they purvey went somewhat out of fashion a few years ago, hearing it come back and done really well is awesome. Without a doubt I am looking forward to this new album, and hoping this super-group will fulfil it's phenomenal potential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PZOVkU6gAc