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Upcoming Albums/New Releases, 2021 Edition


FatherAlabaster

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/26/2021 at 3:19 AM, Sheol said:

1914 - Where fear and weapons meet October 22, presumably on Napalm Records.

"Blind leading the blind" was my favorite album of 2018 so I'm really looking forward to the follow up. For those unaware, 1914 is an Ukrainian black metal band (no Nazi) that mainly sing about WW1. They're not the rawest, nor the most commercial, but straddles that nice middle ground of being memorable while still being fucking intense.

1914 is the shit but I'll be the first to admit that I am completely biased toward Ukrainian bands anyway because I am Ukrainian-American. They really are putting out the best stuff in recent years over there. My favorite black metal band of all time is Nokturnal Mortum and it's because of them that I realized that Ukraine tends to put out the best stuff these days. Sadly I think Norway & Sweden's time under the moon is over and Ukraine, Russia, & Poland have picked up the torch. Granted I still love Emperor, Marduk, Immortal and whatnot but it just seems like Scandinavia's black metal time has largely passed and that's OK because that's what happens to scenes-- they only last for so long until people grow out of them and want to start making different sorts of music.

I think the reason that Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Russia, and a lot of Eastern Europe is producing so much amazing black metal now is because they were living under communist repression for so long where that sort of nonconformity wasn't allowed whatsoever, so you have generations of artists that had been holding it in for so long, both the older guys who experienced communism and the younger generations who lived in the aftermath of the collapse, when people had to go out and sell their possessions to be able to eat, created a lot of hatred, misanthropy, and general negativity that is perfect for making amazing black metal.

My buddy recently told me about 1914 and I'm going to be buying some of their stuff as soon as I can find it because they really are great and I like Marduk's WWII subject matter so a band that writes about WWI is pretty cool too, since WWI is the war that nobody ever really talks about when compared with WWII. Supposedly there's a band called Minenwerfer who writes a lot about WWI as well and I've heard great things about them, but I'd have to import their stuff from Osmose which costs an arm and a leg compared to Hell's Headbangers.

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Knife - Knife

Thrash/speed metal in the Germanic tradition.    Riffy and frantic with larynx shredding vocals.   Just what the doctor ordered.

 

 

Wraith - Undo the Chains

More Teutonic thrash.  OK but not as fun as knife.

 

 

 

Ravager - The Third Attack

More enjoyable if not exactly stand out thrash.

 

 

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