Hell Awaits is a column by Kim Kelly and Andy O'Connor that shines a light on extreme and underground metal. This week, Kim recommends new releases from New Zealand's Sabbatic Goat, Nashville's Act of Impalement, and more. Welcome to Hell.
Sabbatic Goat: “Flesh And Might”
I’ve been following Sabbatic Goat since the band first formed in 2011, so I'm immensely pleased to find that, three years later, they’ve finally released some new material. The Wellington, NZ quartet has returned with the four-track Imprecations of Black Chaos demo, out now on Vault of Dried Bones, and it’s a marked progression from 2011’s chaotic Promo. As good as Sabbatic Goat was then, they’re a thousand times better now. The raw, ragged black/death of their previous demo remains, but has been tightened up and weighted down with an even more pronounced pummeling death/doom influence. It’s a welcome addition, and it’s nice to see one of the bestial New Zealand hordes deviate from the usual war metal script and explore new dynamic territory. The Black Witchery cover doesn’t hurt their case, either. Lord help us all when they finally record a full-length...
Act of Impalement: “Echoes of War”
Act of Impalement’s list of influences is expansive: Autopsy, Discharge, Electric Wizard, Bathory, Brutal Truth. It sounds too good to be true, but incredibly enough, the Nashville troupe actually makes good on their promises. Many bands attempt to stitch together subgenres like this, and most fail miserably. But Act of Impalement is one of the most impressive new bands I’ve come across in a good long while. The band’s latest release, Echoes of Wrath, was recently released by Sadomatic Rites, and it deftly ties together brutish death, smoke-choked doom, primitive black metal, the perfect vintage Napalm Death guitar tone, and a little bit of the darkest, most relentlessly hopeless apocalyptic crust punk into one immensely compelling whole. It’s slow, menacing music that takes the ugliest castoff tropes of a multitude of genres and spins gold from offal.
Satanic Dystopia: “Double Denim Shotgun Massacre”
Satanic Dystopia belch out ripping black metalpunk riddled with bullets and bathed in cheap lager, and it’s safe to say these Lancashire lads do proper justice to the old chestnut “it’s grim up North” with their debut release. Midnight, Sodom, Venom, and Aura Noir are obvious touchpoints, which is never a bad thing when it comes to this style of crude, rude, thrashy rock’n’roll-infested nastiness. Well-placed B-movie samples (keep your ears open for a snippet from The Devil Rides Out) ramp up the sleaze, and Ravens Creed vocalist Osta’s throaty growl keeps things rough. There's even a cheeky Carcass riff or two chucked in. The band’s eight-song EP Double Denim Shotgun Massacre recently saw a 10” vinyl release via cult label Mordgrimm (the tape’s been out awhile on No Visible Scars) and a handful of tunes are streaming on Bandcamp for your listening displeasure. Get in.
Impetuous Ritual: “Womb of Acrimony”
Impetuous Ritual is a meeting of four of Australia’s finest extreme-metal minds, counting members of Portal, Grave Upheaval, and Mongrel’s Cross amongst its conspirators. As one might expect, their particular take on death metal draws from this poisonous well of inspiration but never drifts too far into familiar territory. Impetuous Ritual approaches death metal with less of an artistic eye than Portal and more finesse than Mongrel’s Cross, allying most closely with Grave Upheaval in their grim resolve to focus exclusively on the remorseless creation of chaos. Theirs is dense, deranged death metal fraught with tension and creeping dread. A cavernous atmosphere is de rigueur for the genre in 2014, but Impetuous Ritual delve even deeper into the abyss. Profound Lore will release the Australian foursome’s second album, Unholy Congregation of Hypocritical Ambivalence, on April 15, 2014. Jesus wept.
Bleed the Pigs: “Endless Void”
Between Act of Impalement, Alraune, and now Bleed the Pigs, I’m doing my best to avoid making a cheesy “golly, there must be somethin’ in the water down there in Nashville!” ...but it’s tough not to. Bleed the Pigs are a newer band with only one release to their name, but they work fast. Their Mortis Fatum EP has already sold out of its second pressing, and it’s no surprise why: It’s an absolute barnstormer of a debut and an excellent introduction to a band with limitless potential and a firm grasp on the aural savagery they’ve created. Their core sound of bottom-heavy powerviolence stumbles from cripplingly slow sludge to full-on whiplash spastic Botch territory, and they don’t stop there. Punishing grind, mean metallic hardcore, and an occasional foray into foreboding black metal atmosphere (see the serrated tremolo and haunting presence of “Endless Void”) round out this short release as scathing vocalist Kayla rips her throat to shreds in the service of evil. Recommended, obviously.
Secret Creation: “My Candle Fears It Won’t Be Burned”
“Prolific” isn’t the word for Colloquial Sound Recordings mastermind Damian Master— “possessed” is more like it. In addition to running one of extreme metal’s most intriguing boutique cassette labels, Master has a half dozen high quality musical projects going at any given time, including the HellAwaits-approved A Pregnant Light, Aksumite, Deathless Maranatha, Bound Bible, Ornamental Headpiece, and now, the manic lo-fi black metal stormblast that is Secret Creation. The man’s a machine (amazing what you get done when you haven’t got any bandmates to argue with!), and his latest venture may be one of his best efforts to date. At the very least it’s his most straightforward. Secret Creation’s debut Holding My Carrot offers a scant two songs but manages to shoehorn two decades’ worth of Scandinavian black metal hallmarks into under nine minutes. Harshly melodic and meticulously composed, the album trawls Finnish filth as often as it blasts through icy Swedish harmonic leads and leaves the listener cursing its creator for its brevity. More, please.