Sons of Tonatiuh
In our monthly round-up of all things metal, Getintothis’ Mark Greenwood takes the dogs for a ghost walk with one hell of a soundtrack courtesy of The Black Dahlia Murder and a pair of incredible split releases.
This week I’ve been babysitting a couple of dogs who reside pretty much slap bang in the middle of Liverpool. Boo-boo and Spud are fearsome beasts, especially when they’re roaming around the Anglican Cathedral and chasing squirrels. My forays around Rodney Street, adequately armed with heavy duty headphones and dosed on high quality pot, effect a kind of postmodern gothic adventure, where the essences of malevolent spirits can be detected in shadowy corners and uncultivated back alleys littered with an array of withered objects and black confetti. The sibling dogs respond to these eerie, mysterious spaces with appropriate stares and the occasional growl.
There are plenty of animalistic grunts and squeals emanating from The Black Dahlia Murder’s soon to be released album Abysmal. The record contains a number of intensely angry episodes – a devilish template for any aspiring poltergeist hoping to inflict fear through a succinct alchemy of death metal and frantic thrash. As a follow up to 2013’s Everblack, the record feels dynamic and fresh with complex explosions of pure violence and gothic mono-slabs that threaten to crush the skull. It’s quite a journey and I’d recommend it as an appropriate audio guide while meandering gravestones and throwing sticks greased on dog spit.
Apparently, at the top of Hardman Street, there’s a banshee who appears to unfortunate drunken souls emerging from the Philharmonic pub. Her appearance is a bad omen, prompting the death of familiar relations. It seems relevant to circle this quarter of the city while listening to Grey Widow (U.K) whose latest split E.P with Sons Of Tonatiuh (U.S) is one of the darkest and nastiest releases of the year. Describing themselves as ‘nihilistic putrid fuckin hatred’ the band like to adorn gasmasks while decapitating mammals and bathing in piss. Turgid and hopelessly heavy, their music is quite delightful and we look forward to meeting them when both bands appear in Liverpool at the end of September.
This release is currently streaming in full at Cvltnation
Another split release of note is the latest from Nomad and Wort, a collaboration that spans both sides of the dark Pennines. The artwork for this release is especially impressive with a depiction of dark paganism and strange chimeric skulls that are soon to be tattooed on my forehead. Spawned from ‘the festering wounds of Manchester’, Nomad are divine in their sludgy heaviness and are experts in dodgy lobotomies. I’d especially recommend Decay of Autonomy for those seeking putrid Sabbath riffs soaked in sewerage.
Hailing from Huddersfield, Wort have built a reputation for amazing live shows and appear to be grafting hard at the minute. The demented Yorkshire lads deliver three exceptional tracks to pound your genitals, each spanning well over seven minutes each. Check out Lord Leach for a fine dose of primordial doom. We hope to catch them live very soon.
So there we go. The dogs are knackered and filling the room with some very strange and odious concoctions…I’m off to get my gas mask.
