Hello, Decibel readers!
So last weekend me and my movie-night buddies watched Night of the Creeps, a fun horror flick from 1986 that involves leech-like alien creatures that turn people into zombies. And because it’s the 80s they’re attacking a college campus on the night of a formal event. I have to say, the writing and acting were way better than they had the right to be, which makes me wonder why the movie isn’t held in higher esteem or on more lists of horror essentials. Go check it out if you haven’t already.
In the mean time, listen to the albums below. They’ll easily answer the demand: “Thrill me.”
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Deathfiend – Dark Rising
Deathfiend does a cool thing with its mix of influences, it draws inspiration from simple and straightforward sounds but layers on thick and powerful production to give the rawness a big boost. Fundamentally, this album is all about the riffs, which play like a mix of Bolt Thrower and Unleashed but with the sensibility of early black metal. Also the band got Barney Greenway to guest on “Relive The Torment,” so that’s cool.
Stream: Apple Music
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Dungeon Crawl – Maze Controller
Here’s how I described the new album from Dungeon Crawl last month:
“San Jose’s Dungeon Crawl is back with a new song from their upcoming album, Maze Controller. The track, “+1 Mace,” showcases the band’s various influences from across the heavy metal player’s handbook, from thrash metal, death metal, power metal, and orchestral metal — all converging into an impressive homebrew sound all their own. The only thing I can really compare it to is VHS’s recent album, Quest for the Mighty Riff, albeit with a little less extreme metal in the mix. But regardless, the band is rolling with advantage in terms of musical prowess.”
Stream: Apple Music
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Esoctrilihum – Döth-Derniàlh
As the album description reads: “What happens when Asthâghul buys a 12-string acoustic guitar and combines its folk sound with a poignant nickelharpa and the typical metal instrumentation?” Anyone who wants to know the answer should listen to Döth-Derniàlh and judge for themselves. In terms of the project’s catalog, think of it as the album that emphasizes the atmospheric elements in a way analogous to how Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh emphasized the death metal influences.
Stream: Apple Music
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Glacial Tomb – Lightless Expanse
The guys in Glacial Tomb should give a master class on how to make sludge-influenced death metal that isn’t painfully boring. From the guitar tone, you can clearly tell the band wanted to keep some dirt and muck blended into the sound. But you can tell by the songwriting that they wanted people to actually enjoy listening to it. Anyway, this kicks ass.
Stream: Apple Music
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Unto Others – Never, Neverland
Ah, perfect, a new Unto Others album just in time for spooky season! This is the goth rock units fourth album, if you count the album they made as Idle Hands. I love the mix of post-punk, Danzig and Type O Negative the band has going on here, as it has the darkness, power and humor of all of these influences as well as their own unique energy. Damn, I need to get up on their other stuff now.
Stream: Apple Music