It has been a weird week for metal. There were a lot of metal-adjacent releases – some good, some, well, I’ll leave that up to you to decide for yourself. “Metal-adjacent” is pretty commonplace these days. With all the divisions and revisions in the ever-widening world of subgenre, it’s nice to just hear some old school thrashing every so often.
So, fortunately, in a week that saw Michael Sweet release a tortured-but-tame collection of pseudo-hymns and Jarboe put out an album on which she didn’t shriek a single time, there were some actual head bangers out there.
Nervosa’s Slave Machine is awesome on first listen, but I need to go back to see if the initial adrenaline rush sustains through repeated spins. Green Carnation’s follow-up to A Dark Poem should please fans who like the more melodic side of Scandinavian metal.
Three new metal singles for your headbanging pleasure
For my money, the best of metal this week came in the form of three singles, representing old school and new wave equally well.
“You Bastard” by Monolord
The first single dropped from the Swedes’ upcoming Neverending album (due out 5/29) finds the trio exploring even more melodious song structures while retaining the sludgy fuzz they have bathed in for the past decade. Thomas V. Jager sounds almost like Brad Delp here, but Mika Hakki’s surging bass keeps this grounded in a world of doom.
“Asleep on the Killing Floor” by Corrosion of Conformity
This is the best full-length metal album that dropped last week. And the new single shows off the North Carolina veterans at their best. Frontman Pepper Keenan gives us a bit of his swampy bayou roots as he launches into the tale, but soon he’s back to shouting.
He has to be at his best to keep up with Stanton Moore’s syncopated drum blasts. All four members are smoking on this track, and the rest of the albums maintain the energy – if not necessarily the pace.
“Vanilla Latte” by the Barbarians of California
And this is the best overall metal release of the first week of April. AWOLNATION’s Aaron Bruno indulges his metal side in this downright glorious EP. Four songs – each one pounds hard. Unlike what you'll find in a lot of metal bands, the varied influences of Bruce and producer Eric Stenman keep this from being redundant.
“Modern Fashion” is heavy Beastie Boys. “Bomb to a Knife Fight” is heavy … fill in whichever hard rock band you want … I’ll say Foo Fighters for now. Keith Buckley drops in to sing the sensationally titled “PSEUDO INTELLECTUALS ARE HATING ON MY BAND!!!.” After the briefest of sweet intros, it begins with some hardcore thrashing, downshifting rhythms at practically every measure.
As great as those three songs are, the standout, soon-to-be-classic, is the first single drop -- “Vanilla Latte.” Not only does it contain one of my all-time favorite metal lyrics …
“Kombucha is for snitches…”
It also hammers away with an undeniable message in its chorus …
“You don’t believe in the devil
But the devil believes in you”
As for the music, it’s simply awesome. Once again, the Barbarians never meet a time signature they can’t blow up within a measure or two. Listening to “Vanilla Latte” convinces me that among all the myriad influences Bruno has cited, Captain Beefheart has to be one of them.
I don’t think the Barbarians of California sound all that much like Melvins, but they have to share some DNA. And that reminds me that next week, an expanded edition of Melvins’ collab with Napalm Death, Savage Imperial Death March, is on its way. My capsule review is that it will be great, but I suppose I should sit down and listen to it in one session before committing.
Fortunately, I have heard all of the Barbarians' new EP – as well as singles from two other top-flight metal outfits – and can say unequivocally that they are worth your time.