Pitchfork's Best Metal Albums of 2017 So Far

With their second full-length album “Infrared Horizon”, NY-based death metal band ARTIFICIAL BRAIN have created a sophomore release more advanced than their lauded debut album “Labyrinth Constellation”. By taking their brand of singular brutal guttural yet technical and ambient sci-fi death metal to a new galaxial plateau, “Infrared Horizon” sees the sonic architecture laid down by the band go further into the beyond and infinite. Conceived in 2011 by guitarist Dan Gargiulo (Revocation) and vocalist Will Smith (ex-Biolich), the band would be rounded out by bass player Samuel Smith (Luminous Vault), guitarist Jon Locastro, and drummer Keith Abrami. The band would align themselves with Profound Lore Records and drop their debut album “Labyrinth Constellation” in 2014 to wide praise within the circles of death metal that range from accolades from within technical, dark, guttural, and progressive death metal respectively. Along with decent touring around “Labyrinth Constellation”, the band would also have their music played and were even name dropped on multiple occasions in the popular CBS television shows Elementary and Limitless. Once again produced by Colin Marson (Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, Krallice) at The Thousand Caves, “Infrared Horizon” (featuring art by Adam Burke) sees ARTIFICIAL BRAIN traveling towards a sonic realm where the music has become more brutal and dissonant, technical, atmospheric, and just overall more otherworldly. Delving into the lyrics and themes of “Infrared Horizon”, themes such as dealing with the concept of a dystopian future in which robots and cyborgs have outlived human beings. Robots and Cyborgs who believe themselves to be not of creation of the long extinct humans but a more perfect evolution of them. The scenarios take place all over outer space and on unnamed planets (not necessarily Earth).

Maryland/Pennsylvania experimental death-noise band FULL OF HELL have embarked on quite the journey leading up to the impending release of their latest full-length album “Trumpeting Ecstasy”, an album which will see the band deliver their most punishing, virulent, and dynamic album to date. The embryonic beginnings of Full of Hell displayed their palette at it’s most primitive, d-beat and blast ridden hardcore punk with spats of noise and caustic rhythm, and within a few short years, they have bloomed into a true force to be reckoned with within the punk and metal communities. Since the release of their Profound Lore Records debut album “Full Of Hell & Merzbow” late 2014, their third full-length album, the band began to truly come into their own, combining elements of grindcore, death/black metal, punk and hardcore with a smattering of sonically laden power electronics and industrial pounding. It would also signal the band being at their most active and prolific ever since their inception in 2009. The band would tour endlessly non-stop in different parts of the world in places as far off as Japan, Australia (twice), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea etc.), along with several tour runs in Europe and many tour jaunts within the US, along with playing countless festivals and exclusive shows. The band would also add to their repertoire and discography as well during said timeframe releasing a direct collaboration album with The Body and several EPs, one of them being their most-recent split 7”EP with Nails (which debuts #2 on the Billboard Top 100 Singles Chart). With “Trumpeting Ecstasy”, FULL OF HELL build upon their progression since the Merzbow collaboration and the releases succeeding it. This time the band decided to go into God City Studios with Kurt Ballou at the production helm to help achieve the intended vision of “Trumpeting Ecstasy”. The result being the best and strongest sounding FULL OF HELL album along with it being their most towering release to date. Sky tearing and sonically cataclysmic, the aural deluge that is “Trumpeting Ecstasy” also features guest appearances by Aaron Turner (Sumac/Old Man Gloom/Mamiffer/Isis), Nate Newton (Converge/Old Man Gloom), Andrew Nolan (Column Of Heaven/The Endless Blockade), and Canadian singer/songwriter Nicole Dollanganger. Expect FULL OF HELL to tour relentlessly in support of “Trumpeting Ecstasy” as well.

Recorded DIY between October 2016 and February 2017 “Scotland's King of the arcane mosh.” - Metal Hammer "[Coagulating Darkness] feels as much a homage as it does an original creation... which, given the backwards-facing tendencies of black, speed, and thrash metal, means he's nailed it." - Noisey "Old school metal as it was meant to be, Hellripper has crafted the album to beat this year. Fans of everything from Sabbat to Venom to Toxic Holocaust should be looking into this now, as this is authentic black/speed metal with all of the trimmings that make this style so great." - The Metal Observer

San Francisco's KING WOMAN unveil their debut full-length Created In The Image of Suffering, a profoundly crafted opus of brooding, ethereal doom-rock. Led by the hypnotic and breathy vocal dramatics of Kristina Esfandiari, KING WOMAN harness the elastic textures and temporality of drone and metallic shoegaze alongside the transcendental, melancholic power of doom. Recorded with engineer Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Wreck & Reference, Oathbreaker) at the Atomic Garden, Created In The Image of Suffering's seven compositions evoke rich, gloomy imagery with crumbling washes of blurred, billowing distortion densely layered atop hazy, psychedelic atmospheres that call to mind a surrealistic Black Sabbath fronted by Mazzy Star. Complete with deeply personal, introspective lyrics that serve as catharsis for years of religious and mental torment, KING WOMAN truly suffer to create their art.

for orders outside the US and/or wholesale orders, please order directly from AN OUT RECORDINGS at anout [dot] band camp [dot] com or by emailing [email protected]

VINYL RE-PRESSING BEING ANNOUNCED SOON! BLOOD HARVEST RECORDS is proud to present SUFFERING HOUR's highly anticipated debut album, In Passing Ascension. One of the most exciting new bands BLOOD HARVEST has had the pleasure of hearing, SUFFERING HOUR exhibit a power and maturity that exceeds their otherwise short existence. Theirs is a death metal that defies most modern paradigms, safely eluding prevailing trends whilst driving deep into the heart of timeless DEATH METAL art, evoking mysticism as surely as molten crush, songwriting class as surely as hideous chaos, with a serpentine flow like no other. As a title, In Passing Ascension is thus apt. There's something elusively transcendent about the sonic wormholes SUFFERING HOUR create here, something that sounds plucked effortlessly from the ether whilst being grounded in the dirt and grime and filth of the earth - and, surely, the foundation of death metal itself. It's a sensation of floating across suspended terra firma, as paradoxical as that may read on paper. For verily, SUFFERING HOUR have mastered the art of extremes: melodicism vs. miasma, space vs. swarm, tech vs. hypnosis, osmosis vs. disintegration, death metal as art vs. death metal as death metal. In Passing Ascension therefore is an experience in and of itself, a virtual world in which to roam (and perhaps get lost). With suitable (and suitably stirring) cover art created by Witchrist's Alexander Brown, In Passing Ascension shall soon be hailed as one of the year's mightiest death metal debuts. A statement from the band reads: "SUFFERING HOUR are proud to announce our allegiance with Swedish label BLOOD HARVEST. We will be releasing our debut album, In Passing Ascension, on CD and on black and colored wax. BLOOD HARVEST has done releases for some of our personal favorite bands, such as ALTARS, IMPETUOUS RITUAL, and ADVERSARIAL, just to name a few. We are extremely excited to be working with a label of this quality in every respect of the word, and we're 100% sure Rodrigo will be doing our album justice. In Passing Ascension is an album we have been working on since summer of 2014, and after years of hard work, we're ready to present the album to you all. The album is our take on cosmic blackened death metal, with themes deeply rooted in nihilism and cynicism. Some of the big influences on this album range from Inquisition and Mgla to The Chasm and Dead Congregation. There will be more news coming soon, so stay tuned."

Accursed and vile disarray form the second full-length offering of TRIUMVIR FOUL: Entitled Spiritual Bloodshed, it is set for international release via INVICTUS PRODUCTIONS, with the vinyl version being co-released by INVICTUS and VRASUBATLAT. A proclamation of wretch and continuation of hellish lust from their critically acclaimed debut album, TRIUMVIR FOUL's Spiritual Bloodshed delves into the perverse evolution of unhinged hedonism and carnal irreverence through the exploration of carnage in the spectral realm. Expanding beyond the themes of occultism and mythological allegories of the self-titled first album, Spiritual Bloodshed takes on a much more direct approach, clenching at the throat of one's putrid desires. Additionally, TRIUMVIR FOUL's return to their original two-man lineup has allowed them to create a more focused and raw sound, fusing the atmospheres of both their eponymous album and debut An Oath of Blood and Fire demo. Spiritual Bloodshed is the embodiment of the Vrasubatlatian rites – relish in the spectres of shame and disgust. Flies and filth... alone you are reborn to see I alone... to be sworn to disease Cries in vile hands and revolted in hate Lie upon and contort on your knees Die, alone and transpire in the haze Eyes consume every morsel of flesh Crying alone... you are born to see I alone... to be sworn to disease HAIL VRASUBATLAT