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Melpomene at Seward Cafe, 11/5/26
Happy Friday! It's a great day in American, as Craig Ferguson used to say on his late-night show. We collectively rose up and told the GOP to shove their bullshit back up their asses, and there's some great new music out today! That's enough for me to declare today great, but if you need one more reason, Godzilla Minus Zero is out widely in theaters today, too. Anyway, into the pit!
Let's start with the biggest release of the week. Cult of Luna's In The Shadow Of Your Shadow drops today, and like all Cult of Luna albums, it's a massive slab of post metal heaviness. I liked all of the singles from this album well enough, but it works even better as a complete album. Read my full review here.
Last night, I went to see Melpomene at the Seward Cafe in South Minneapolis on the eve of their new EP release. New Queer Cinema is a single 10-minute track of blackened post metal jazz fusion that explores the idea of a young queer person moving from a small town to a larger city with a more expansive and welcoming artistic community. I had a great conversation with Xochi and Lynn before their excellent live set, and I'll be running that interview on Monday.
Inhabit, the new album from Italy's Bosco Sacro, is the prettiest and most relaxing album on this list this week, combining ambient and shoegaze elements with doom and clean female vocals. Comparisons to Messa are not unwarranted. Read my review here.
Want some noise rock or arty punk? Sure you do. The new Coilguns album, Everything We Love, We Destroy, has you covered. I have a couple friends who are going to be mad at me for saying this, but the vocals don't always work for me on this record. Fortunately, the furious noise always does. It's a creative and politically charged album, so it's easy to recommend.
One of the downsides of being a one-man operation is that sometimes you can't get to everything you want to. Case in point, the new album by Stricken, From Dark Dimensions An Unspeakable Presence Awakens. I really, really like this album, which sounds like The Word As Law-era Neurosis making 21st Century Neurosis album. I wanted to review it but just couldn't fit it into the schedule. I was, however, able to talk to Stricken drummer Chris Wozniak, and you can watch a video of that conversation here.
Atlanta's Cloak have a new album coming this February, and the first single, "Nigredo - Initium" dropped this week. As with everything Cloak does, it's a cool little slice of "black and roll" with some atmospheric gothic flourishes. I've enjoyed all of Cloak's albums thus far, so I'm looking forward to checking out more of the new one in the months to come.
Sometimes the algorithm gets it right! The new single by British Columbia's Daggered came up on shuffle this week, and I dig this a lot. The two-piece sludgy punk band is going to certainly draw comparisons to Chat Pile thanks to their noisy sound and shouted vocals. Looks like these guys only have a handful of singles so far. I'm very excited to hear more from them!
Thief is gothic electronic music from Dylan Neal of the black metal band Botanist. Like the previous singles from the upcoming album, Sermons from the Pit, the new track "Violent Bloom" is perfect for a Halloween dance party playlist. Not to early to start planning for next year, I guess!
Finally, here's some atmospheric folk/black metal from Scotland's Saor. As I've written about many times before (probably too many), I like black metal best when it is mixed with other elements, so naturally Soar's use of Celtic instrumentation in their arrangements is working with me. I once went to a Panopticon show with Saor and Wayfarer opening, and wound up missing Saor's set entirely. After Wayfarer's set, I went into the bar side of the venue and ran into a coworker of mine who was alone and so profoundly drunk that I felt that it was legitimately dangerous to leave him alone. I convinced him to call an Uber and I waited with him until it arrived, hearing all about some "interesting" life choices as we waited. I missed every single second of Saor's set, but he got home safe. What's the lesson here? Never be nice, so you don't miss a band (please actually be nice).
Have a great weekend, all!