Survey of January Releases (Part One)
New releases in January 2024 bringing heat in the midst of the howling winds of a chilling winter voidscape
In no particular order, here are some of my top picks from the January releases I’ve heard so far. Suffice it to say that we are getting some high-profile AOTY prospects out of the gate this year.
Darkcluster – Stellar Tomb
I am a sucker for good instrumental metal. I’m even more of a sucker for metal in a blender. This solo artist from Québec transcends all subgenre labels, tastefully delivering a fusion of death, thrash, and black metal, dominated by progressive virtuosity. There’s a sci-fi aesthetic to the album art and layers of spacy undertones communicate that harmoniously in the music. These are the sounds you might imagine hearing as your life flashes before your eyes while you’re being inhaled, to your inescapable death, by a yawning supermassive black hole. Everything about it is simultaneously beautiful, captivating, and terrifying. Stellar indeed!
Lord Dying – Clandestine Transcendence
My Spotify wrapped last year likened my musical tastes to someone from Portland, Oregon. That makes a lot of sense to me considering that that city is a hotbed for some of the best that sludge, doom, and stoner metal have to offer. Portland’s Lord Dying has evolved into a metal-in-a-blender band in the best kind of way. They have honed in on the best elements of their hometown metal scene and have added a shiny progressive veneer onto that affectionately scummy core. Solid riffs abound, and there’s plenty of interest via the various vocal stylings employed on this album. This has gotten, and will continue to get, repeat listens from me.
Khadga – The Three Gates
It’s melodic black metal from Indonesia and I need more of it. This is a very early favorite for the EP and short-form release of the year. Khadga has given the world four absolute bangers on The Three Gates.
Hexerei – Nihil i Celandum
Hoo boy! This is a psychedelic rollercoaster ride. Get on it and let it take you… wherever. These boys from Calgary will stampede your mind with sweet riffage, shakin’ boogies, bluesy progressions, soulful croons, and pulsating rhythms. This is psych rock gold, folks.
Krvna – The Rhythmus of Death Eternal
If you came here looking for atmospheric black metal, you came to the right place. Y’all already know that’s my jam. So here’s Australia’s Krvna serving it up in melodic, dark, and aggressive splendor.
Vemod – The Deepening
This album challenges the boundaries of atmospheric black metal. There’s a disproportionate amount of clean singing as the Norwegian trio channels energy from an ethereal plane, invisible yet audible. The bass is clean and crisp. The production value is through the roof. The guitar work explores more of a post-metal space than rote reliance on tremolo picking. The drums are “proggy” and manage to pretty up the music far more than the standard black metal blastbeats and pounding double bass. The tempos are atypically slow. All of these elements combined would seemingly prevent the band from fitting into the ABM mold, but they somehow melt it all down to make it work well and to stay true to the style. This album is high art through and through, and it will compete for AOTY.
Obsidian – Fathomless
I am reeling from this album. Upon first listen I didn’t know what I was hearing, but I loved it. Then, looking at how the artist describes the music, I realized why. This may be the most metal-in-a-blender act ever. Let’s go!!!! So it’s technical avant-garde (obviously), black metal, djent (which, I hear, is not a genre), mathcore, and progressive metal (obviously), with classical, blues, thrash, and film score influences. No wonder I’m reeling. But it makes for a happy journey as I spiral into the dark, fathomless oblivion.
Greg Puciato – FC5N
The man, the myth, the legend: it’s Greg Puciato. If you don’t give this EP the courtesy of a listen… I mean… what are you even doing here?
Ὁπλίτης – Παραμαινομένη
Just when you think it can’t get any weirder, Ὁπλίτης floats an eephus toward unsuspecting metalheads of the world who are looking for something to knock out of the park, only to get beaned in the ribcage by an annoying 32 mph pitch. I speak to Americans who are affectionately familiar with the nation’s pastime. However, this analogy breaks down quickly when you realize what’s coming at you is often being hurled at breakneck thrash speed. Eccentric doesn’t begin to describe this one. Somehow Παραμαινομένη exceeds last year’s (three!) Ὁπλίτης albums—Ψευδομένη, Τρωθησομένη, and Ἀντιτιμωρουμένη—in exhibiting peak avant-garde metal goodness. This is what happens when a ridiculously talented musician sprinkles frenetic clarinet on top of a smoldering bed of blackened prog. If you’re confused reading this feeble attempt at a review, wait until you listen to the album. It’s like listening to a Chinese guy who moved to France and speaks Greek all the time. Seriously (because that’s what it is).
Giant Crossman – Time Bending Mass
Low, slow, brown, diesel-powered, and HEAVY. There’s a song on this album entitled “Thomas the Void Engine” and I can’t fathom the depths of it without having to come up and chuff, chuff, chuff for air. These guys are tuned so low that hippopotamuses can’t even hear them. I don’t do science, so don’t question the facts I’m spitting. Just grab a beer, sit back, turn it up LOUD, and let the soundwaves make your liver quiver for the next hour and two minutes.
Resin Tomb – Cerebral Purgatory
Odds are a death metal band with the word “tomb” in its name is going to be good. Resin Tomb is no exception. This EP-length release from the land down under packs a punch as hard as a boxing kangaroo’s. I ordered it last in line here, hoping that you’ll listen to it on repeat until I post again. Trust me; you’re gonna wanna…
Note: I have found that Substack does not handle Greek text well, as it seems to wrap into line breaks in the middle of words. That’s lame. I’m glad I’m not here trying to parse LXX and NT Koine Greek biblical texts on a regular basis.