Monthly Metal Mixtape: August 2021

What a difference a month makes, eh? In July we were all feeling good, things started feeling like we were shifting back to normal again, there wasn’t that overarching dread surrounding everything. A month later it kinda feels like we’re all starting all over again. Granted, we should have seen this coming – July 2021 was basically February 2020. So if you still need to hear it, wear a mask, get a vax, keep people safe in the decisions you make. Really, we all should have learned this by now. Stay safe out there.

Heavy Sentence – Bang to Rights (2021, Dying Victims Productions)

Heavy Sentence exists at the classic metal intersection of Iron Maiden and Motörhead. Classic metal is at least what I start calling it when a band like this seems to amorphously be pulling from everything in the NWOBHM playbook. Everything here has been done before, and sometimes that’s just what you want to hear. Catchy riffs, catchy leads, great songwriting, headbang-able, singalong-able. A Motörhead-like punk tinge comes through with the strained barking, shout-singing, and cathartic screams of G. Howells. His gruff vocals, delivered in a rough sort-of belting or with a hard rock swagger, are the glue that ties everything together here. You’ll be yelling “OOOOH MEDUSA” like him on the opener in no time. You’ll be screaming along to the fiery delivery of “MANIAC! MANIAC!” alongside the super hype start-stop riffing in “Age of Fire,” my personal favorite cut here. Come have a listen to one of the best, no-nonsense cuts of heavy metal this year. – Mike Tri

Like Rats – Like Rats (2012, A389 Recordings)

This album is total Hellhammer worship and I absolutely love it. Raw, stripped down, and sludgey; like me after another week with no air conditioning in my apartment. Whenever I hear Hellhammer worship I wonder why I bother listening to anything else. There are certain passages that sound like they belong on an Asphyx record; some guitar lines remind me of early Entombed as well. Despite the solid production, this album sounds like a total relic from the early 90s; like they borrowed so much from so many forgotten second tier bands from the time. When so many prominent bands moved towards groove metal and got impossibly famous, this album sounds like a band that went further underground. Throwing off the yoke of overt technicality and any pretense of commercial value, they made something truly ugly. This album moves from dirge-like sludge breakdowns to these chaotic runs and back again. I don’t know how to explain it but it evokes the feeling of running in terror and confusion from some unseen evil. “Fire” is easily my favorite song on this album. I was listening to this when I was on acid and I was overcome with this intense feeling of inner strength; like I could do anything, like I was indomitable. I imagined something ugly, something feral; some creature that never existed outside of perfect darkness. It’s dorky as hell but I felt like the devil. Put this album on when you want to punch god. – Cry Baby Hank

Oxygen Destroyer – Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind (2021, Redefining Darkness Records)

I’m not gonna pretend like I have the authority to speak much about the Godzilla theme. Honestly, I’m not even sure if I’ve seen any of the movies. I know I’ve checked them out from the library with the intention to watch them, but when you work at a library you grab a lot of things with the intention to do something with them, only to have them sit around for a couple months before finally remembering to take it back. What I can say, though, is I love it when bands have a unique theme (or shtick if you must) and stick to it (pun intended?) while making seriously kick-ass music. Such is the case with Seattle’s Oxygen Destroyer, who ply Godzilla and other monster movies for their inspiration. Sound clips abound and though the lyrics aren’t published, I think you can glean the messages, what with songs like “Enduring the Maternal Rage of the Amphibious Monstrosity” or “Merciless Embodiment of Everlasting Death,” let alone a title like Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind (especially with such an awesome cover!). We’re truly awful and this is what comes from our ‘unfathomable ignorance.’

Musically, Oxygen Destroyer land in that sweet spot when trash, death, and black metal were all kinda inter-mingling. There’s a lot of feels of the Teutonic thrash like Sodom or Kreator, and, just like from another band who borrowed their moniker from a famous film, Vader’s early death/thrash. There’s parts in tunes like “Merciless Embodiment of Everlasting Death” that evoke some Absu-esque black/thrash vibes. It’s all from that era where that stuff just contaminated each other as ‘extreme metal’. Vocalist Lord Kaiju’s bark shines, especially in songs like “Slaughtering the Guardian Monsters.” The riffs are absolutely wild, particularly in the shorter songs. Which is another strength here. A lot of bands end up with bloated songs, trying to cram too much into one song. Oxygen Destroyer are adept at the two-minute bruisers, like “The Plague Spreading Horror From 20,000 Fathoms” or “As Big as a Battleship.” That said, the six-minute closer, “Their Reign has Begun” is absolutely ominous and devastating and crushing (listen to those blast beats!), and a hell of a way to close out. At a half-hour, Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind never feels like its overstayed its welcome, and, as such, is a fresh listen each time. – SteveO