EP/Split/Single Roundup of 2024, Part 2

By Mystikus Hugebeard

Are you one of many who never listen to EPs? Or splits? Or any other kind of short-form release? It’s a tricky realm to enter, honestly. The EP, for many, represents a maligned category of pieces too short to be satisfying from bands we love. Or, in other cases, too crapshoot an endeavor for a band to step outside their bread ‘n’ butter to play with synths and non-metal and other things that don’t involve motorbikes, swords, or battle. Worse, in modern times, an ‘EP’ designation on streaming services could be a collection of singles from an upcoming work—a ploy to stay on new release radars and playlists.

Thankfully, we here at AMG have a knack for finding the things you should listen to. No, sorry Cassandra,1 that does not mean that I listened to AVOWD yet. And, no random commenter #457, we did not listen to that raw black demo or post-polkacore release with one supporter on Bandcamp or that split that your friend was on or any of the other things you will suggest in the comments section below. That is your home though, so suggest away! In fact, we have the word split in the title, but all of us were too busy building our top 10s or writing reviews2 to cover the tasty Atvm / Diskord jam or the slammin’ Matriphagy / Wretched Inferno morsel or the skramzy Massa Nera / Quiet Fear piece—we snagged a couple splits! Though no one covered Cypherium‘s jazzy and brooding monstrous single, either—what gives? Well, in any case, we did cover the below releases, so enjoy what we have to offer. In this world where shorter form releases can be more economically viable for these underground acts that we cherish, maybe we should pay more attention throughout the year—two pieces at the end just isn’t enough!

And big thanks to my buddy Mystikus Hugebeard for assisting in wrangling these blurbs and carrying the massive weight of the heavy metal underground on the shelf that is his amazingly chiseled and massive shoulders. Check part 1 if you missed it. – Dolph

Underneath // It Exists Between Us – Riding on the coattails of the ambitious and punishing From the Gut of Gaia earlier this year, Pittsburgh quintet Underneath trims the fat into a lean, mean, killing machine humming on gears of deathcore, beatdown, and grind. It Exists Between Us is a distinct release from its predecessor because it leans into grind while still maintaining the act’s signature dissonance and organicity. Ferocity is the name of the game, riffs pummeling with swagger and gusto (“Habsburg Jaw,” “It Exists Between Us”), deathcore chugs dragging listeners to the pits (“Finishing Reconstruction,” “It Dies Within Us”), unhinged attacks executed through obscene tempos (“Absurdist,” “A Gun the Size of a Building”), and ominous and blessedly short bursts of noise and ambiance and samples (“Democratic Peace Theory,” the conclusion of “Finishing Reconstruction”). Vocals bounce between hardcore fries and death growls with reckless abandon, while the drums’ organic and snappy tone commands the brig with ferocity. It’s not all mindless in its experimental elements, but they sure as hell will not give up kicking your teeth in. For those who did not like Knocked Loose this year, Underneath is a pretty suitable substitute. – Dear Hollow

Synestia & Disembodied Tyrant (Collaboration) // The Poetic Edda – Look, I get that everyone and their deathcore dog have wanted to be Lorna Shore since like 2021, and some have succeeded (A Wake in Providence) and many have failed (The Sign of the Swarm, Worm Shepherd). In essence, the deathcore collaboration between Minnesota/Finland duo Synestia and Missouri-based solo project Disembodied Tyrant is Will Ramos-core, but it succeeds in being so much more than that. Classical arrangements, orchestra, choirs, and organs belie the curb-stomping punishment underneath, with breakneck tempos, shifting rhythms, adding a sense of urgency atop the slight blackened frigidity. While “Death Empress” and “I, the Devourer” execute excellent symphonic deathcore in their own right, the title track rips the brutality into a whole ‘nother mythology, thanks to the crescendo that ends with the devastating guest appearance of Shadow of Intent’s Ben Duerr. This songwriting carries over into the punishing closer “Winter,” as startling heaviness and clever uses of tempos give it a likewise backbreaking blend of mammoth and breakneck. The Poetic Edda is deathcore that follows the trends, but it’s a better-than-usual breed indeed. – Dear Hollow

Olde Throne & Paisaunt (Split) // Cearwylm & Misneachd – This split sees New Zealand’s Olde Throne team up with their former bandmate, Zannibal (also ex-Marrasmieli), in his guise as Paisaunt, to deliver a tantalizing sliver of raw, medieval black metal, with heavy folk influences. Paisaunt occupies the first half of the split, majoring in stripped-back, very lo-fi battery. He shifts between something that could easily be an early demo for Spectral Lore-side project Mystras (“Cearwylm”), screaming, screeching, yet eerily melodic, black metal, like Ancient Mastery played through a 90s games console (“Killicrankie,” a cover from Olde Throne’s very good In the Land of Ghosts), and something completely different. The something completely different is the highlight of the whole split: “Bjørgvin” sees all percussion ditched, leaving only picked guitars, mountains of distortion and croaking vocals to create something truly haunting and curiously beautiful. On their half, Olde Throne carry on from where they left off on In the Land of Ghosts, delivering folk-infused, harsh fare, with Harrison McKenzie’s razor-wire shrieks leading the charge. Their frenzied cover of Paisaunt’s “Nigh is Time,” amps up the folk instruments to great effect, while percussion-free folk ditty “Causantín mac Áeda,” ditches all vocals save for sparse female cleans that add an ethereal note to it. – Carcharodon

Daxma // There Will Come Tomorrow – Daxma’s Ruins upon Ruins, which was my first ever TYMHM here,3 was a starkly beautiful slab of post-doom and, since discovering it, I’ve been a bit of a Daxma fanboi. There Will Come Tomorrow is probably closer in tone to Ruins, than their last LP, Unmarked Boxes. Almost entirely instrumental, there is so much space on There Will Come Tomorrow, that it feels like you’re wandering across a vast desert beneath the stars. It’s not empty though, Jessica T.’s violin laps around you like the wind, while Isaac R. and Forrest H.’s guitars rise and swell like towering dunes. The drumming (Thomas I.) fades in and out, only shifting out of first gear occasionally, like on “Wings to Andromeda,” the back end of which raises the tempo and intensity as if a sandstorm is blowing in. The only vocals are the harmonized cleans (Isaac and Jessica) in the background of “Tower of Silence,” which, with the keys, give the closer an air of resigned finality. This stands at odds with the rest of the EP, which gives off a faint sense of hope and light, set against brooding skies. – Carcharodon

New Money // Dinero Nuevo – Groove is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes, and New Money has arrested my booty-shakin gaze with their debut EP, Dinero Nuevo. But despite their moniker of inexperience, both Christian Bonnesen (LLNN) and Niclas Sauffaus (Elitest) have grown from their underground grindcore Piss Vortex roots to reunite again in New Money, an amalgamation of furious Danish hardcore colliding with Meshuggah-toned noise rock groove. The steady lockstep of syncopating kick and fuzzed-out bass stomps maintains a pace through these seventeen minutes as if all eight tracks were one long, twanged-out head-bobber. In its perpetual stew of slinky shuffles and amp-shaking breakdowns, New Money finds standout moments in extra bass-loaded pit-churners (“Nithing Pole (Olé Olé),” “Performancer”), Pronged assaults on sanity (“Perpetual Stew,” “Hamleb”), and a fitting Doug Moore (Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores) guest spot that waves heavy the modern KEN mode flag. I’m not a bettin’ man, but I’d venture to say New Money is on the verge of wrecking necks with a grand scheme on a horizon rapidly approaching. Listen thrice and then some. It pays. – Dolphin Whisperer

PISSSHITTER // Human Toilet Garbage Piss – Just about every day the crowded halls of Bandcamp new releases brings forth untold potential for nuggets of enjoyment. At the same time, the pipeline finds clog in the warped bolus of meme-addled, sub-demo quality bedroom trash. However, at this intersection of flowing sound and crumpled talent, certain expressions, particularly those of the lower-brow kind like goregrind and slam, can find a smooth enough contraction to pass to those who need it. And, last January when Human Toilet Garbage Piss emerged, I needed it. This January again, I need it. After the extended push of list season, every writer needs to decompress in some way. For me, the constant toilet-sloshing gurgle, the incessant chromatic chuggery, and the programmed peristaltic rhythms that adorn the fifteen-minute filth that PISSSHITTER has chewed and churned brings an untold level of thought-free joy. And particularly in a short release, that’s all anyone really needs. Sometimes you piss, sometimes you shit.4 – Dolphin Whisperer

Velothian // Path of the Incarnate – Epic black metal can be a difficult thing to pull off, but that hasn’t stopped Velothian from debuting with one of the coolest pieces of epic black metal I’ve heard in a long while, Path of the Incarnate. It’s mid-tempo, highly accessible black metal with big chords, big melodies, and a shockingly pleasant, clean mix that breathes life into the layers of Velothian’s atmosphere. Just shy of 30 minutes spread across five songs, the Morrowind-inspired Path of the Incarnate explores an impossibly wide array of moods and tones, from the solemn determination of “Outlander” to the lonesome riffs and mournful wails of the lead guitars of “The Mire.” The slower pace, solid riffs, and focus on atmosphere both highlights and strengthens the music’s moodiness, and the brief moments of blistering aggression land all the stronger for their infrequence. This is a genuine musical journey that envelops and becomes you; the atmospheric layers and expansive melodies may speak of far-off mountains and slumbering gods, but the intimacy within the riffs of songs like “Outlander,” “Eye of Night,” and “Nomadic” grounds the music in a very tactile way—an epic journey this may be, but one that respects the ground you must tread to arrive at journey’s end. Fine by me, but Dagoth-Ur better have some sick loot. – Mystikus Hugebeard

Sedimentum // Derrière les Portes d’une Arcane Transcendante – With a third logo and sporting artwork looking like it was pulled from a forgotten ’90s Finnish death release, Sedimentum announce another subtle change in sound. Derrière les Portes d’une Arcane Transcendante replaces the anvil-heaving crush of their debut with a much slimier, grease-coated presentation. Drenched in vintage-sounding synths, the mood of “Vilénie” channels a ghastly, creeping abomination crawling out of your speakers, leaving ectoplasm and filth wherever its tendrils touch. But fret not, Sedimentum still know how to bring the pain, with monstrous chugging sections in “Le labyrinthe sempiternel” and “Inhumation céleste (Au carillon mordoré)” invoking the Incantation and worshiping at the Malignant Altar without sacrificing an ounce of the sinister atmosphere. Some might miss the teeth-to-powder assault of previous releases, but if Derrière les Portes d’une Arcane Transcendante is a signal for the future of Sedimentum, we might be in for a grotesque horror indeed. – Alekhines Gun

#2024 #BlackMetal #BlackenedFolkMetal #BlogPost #BrutalDeathMetal #CearwylmMisneachd #Daxma #DeathMetal #Deathcore #DerrièreLesPortesDUneArcaneTranscendante #DineroNuevo #DisembodiedTyrant #DoomMetal #epicBlackMetal #Goregrind #Hardcore #HumanToiletGarbagePiss #ItExistsBetweenUs #Mathcore #NewMoney #OldThrone #Paisaunt #PathOfTheIncarnate #PISSSHITTER #PostMetal #Sedimentum #Slam #SymphonicDeathcore #Synestia #ThePoeticEdda #ThereWillComeTomorrow #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024 #Underneath #Velothian

Dear Hollow’s Mathcore Madness [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]

By Dear Hollow

The equation above is AMG’s freakishly rigid and completely objective algorithm for scoring albums and determining quality. We incorporate statistics and abstract algebra, which I understand are very complicated maths, in order to get you the highest quality extreme music this side of the Hudson or Atlantic or Yangtze or wherever the hell you are. The trouble is, you bastards don’t listen to math (i.e. “hurr durr, Wilderun is so much better than this shit.”).1 So I listen to math because I’m a contributing citizen and patriot – I listen to mathcore for you. I wade through the cesspools of skronk and sass – RYM and Reddit – for the best of the best. I do it for the, like, three of you who dig it and the, like, eight billion of you who tell teens to turn it off before shuffling back inside for a bowl of Great Grains. What I do is super mathematical so you know it’s super serious. Mathcore is about as unlistenable and scathing as it is a total sellout – so you can offend nearly everyone who hears it. Random rhythms, migraine-inducing tempo shifts, painful squeals, no sense of melody or counting, vocals a la cheese grater to the throat – it’s skronk. So enjoy my bounties, you three. The rest of you can fuck right off.

Commence panic chords!!

Better Lovers // Highly Irresponsible – Last year’s barnstormer debut EP God Made Me an Animal set one hell of a precedent for Buffalo’s Better Lovers, and their debut full-length does not disappoint. Yes, it’s a revenge album against Keith Buckley’s lesser rival project Many Eyes, but Highly Irresponsible is soooo much more than petty Every Time I Die drama. Amplifying every facet of their sound, you get more manic barks and charismatic croons from legendary former The Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato, more chunky riffage from Fit for an Autopsy’s Will Putney, and more of a southern fried good time from three-fifths of the defunct-and-dramatic Every Time I Die.2 While unafraid to embrace hooky rock sensibilities (“Deliver Us from Life,” “At), the punky, bluesy, and sleazy all-out assaults of tempo-abusing insanity (“A White Horse Covered in Blood,” “Love As An Act of Rebellion”) collide with fret-squealing riff fests of the highest caliber (“Lie Between the Lines,” “Future Myopia”) in an insanely catchy, dynamic, stupid heavy, and stupid fun album with legendary status awaiting.

Frontierer // The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like a Life Vest As the Night Wept – Look, I get that it’s a thirteen-minute EP released super late 2024, but, c’mon, it’s fucking Frontierer. Somehow seeming more punishing than usual across its four tracks, thick-ass slogs hit like sledgehammers to the temple – translating well across its more frantic moments and slower menace – while rhythms attack with the ferocity and doomed inevitability of a swarm of locusts and vocalist Chad Kapper spits blood, vitriol, and insanity into the mic. Channeling the glacial suffocation that coursed through Oxidized, it doesn’t matter if the tempo is more upbeat and energetic (“As the Night Wept”) or if it’s content sludging in its own muck (“Wearing Hell”), or indulging in both (“The Skull Burned”), the vibrant dissonance swirls in dizzyingly mechanical intensity and the down-tuned riffs smother with ruthless arrhythmic beatdown chugs. While comparable to Ion Dissonance, Car Bomb, and this year’s Weston Super Maim in emphasis on down-tuned mathcore punishment, Frontierer remains one of the genre frontrunners and trendsetters by a significant margin – in a short thirteen minutes.

The God Awful Truth // All That Dark & All That Cold – Denton, Texas’ The God Awful Truth is likely everything love or hate about mathcore. Dissonance spilling sloppily across its shaky breakdowns, deathcore gut-punches, vocal attacks as insane as the squawking panic chords that paint the background like Jackson Pollock on too much crack, and rhythms jolting about like a toddler on a go-cart. Alongside these traditional The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza-isms (“Hail Paimon,” “Street Rat”), there is a lighthearted banter guided by vocalist Jordan LaFerney’s cowboy vocals and resulting poppy rhythms, punky tempos, and loose grind-esque composition (“Symbology,” “Slicked Back,” “Bad Tooth”), though the menacing still manages to punch through when least expected (“The Rainmaker,” “Omelette du Fromage”). It’s brutal whiplash of an album, not a semblance of traditional melody to be found, with deathcore breakdowns acting more as the punchline of a song-long joke. You’ll get a headache, but you’ll have fun along the way.

meth. / See You Next Tuesday // Asymmetrics – Mathcore and noisecore have a lot in common, namely unlistenable blasting. Your favorite Michigan deathcore/mathcore darlings See You Next Tuesday teams up with Chicago noisemongers meth. for Asymmetrics, more a collaborative experiment than a split. Each band records three songs, then shares only the drum tracks with the other, who records another song over that drum track. Toss in guest spots from The Red Chord’s Guy Kozowyk and Memphis-based sludgecore act Nights Like These, and all elements practically topple under Asymmetrics’ blazing intensity and immense weight. CUNT’s influence in relentless blasters (“The First Steps of Suffering,” “Syntax Error”) and blasting deathcore chug-and-squeal-fests (“Breaking Under the Weight of the Heaviest Burden,” “Tomb of Woe”) collide with meth.’s more ominous slow burns (“Succumb,” “Guest,” “Willing Participant”) in a surprisingly well-rounded package, all wrapped up in a tidy – and fuckin’ noisy – twenty-seven minutes. It’s the best of both worlds!

Utopia // Shame – A breed of technical metal recalling the fretboard-frying abilities of The Human Abstract or Scale the Summit, this UK-based group (including prolific bassist Arran McSporran of Virvum) balances a jazzy warmth and lush atmosphere to balance out the Dillinger rhythmic attack and Psyopus-inspired shredding, made further vicious by vocalist Chris Reese’s attack of frantic fries, manic shrieks, and ghastly roars. From intense attacks of intensity and brutality (“Shame,” “Social Contracts”), wonkier exposes of dissonant motifs and jagged rhythms (“Never Argue With an Idiot,” “The Gift of Failure”), and lush vistas of warm fretless bass and jazzy chords (“Sun Damage,” “Zither,” “Moving Gently Towards the Grave”), the dark themes of shame and morbidity are offset by a truly transcendent atmosphere that ties Shame together into something beyond mathcore.

Missouri Executive Order 44 // Salt Sermon – Absolutely unhinged mathgrind with a religious theme both belying and echoing their LDS missionary aesthetic (short-sleeved white button-ups, ties, shorts, and bicycle helmets) and ominous black masks, anonymous Independence collective Missouri Executive Order 44 approaches a morbid history of religious intolerance with the goal of utter annihilation. Cramming eleven songs into a mere sixteen minutes like blasters Sectioned or Fawn Limbs, you can expect it to hit hard and fast, complete with unhinged mathy meltdowns that spill across the face of concrete rhythm, meatheaded powerviolence chugs (“Christian Pornography,” “They Built a Bass Pro Shop in Our Zion”), surprisingly groovy riffs (“The Unbuckling,” “Seven is a Holy Number”), tied together with vocalist Jarom’s cult leader shrieks and sinner wails, alongside wickedly distorted Mormon spoken word and gospel samples. Posing no stance of their own aside from the dethroning of tyranny, Salt Sermon stands with all its tragedy and iconoclasm, both utterly devastating and utterly enticing.

Shiverboard // Hacksaw Morissette – Aside from the silly genius of the album name, New York’s Shiverboard eludes easy definition. Most consistently planted in grind, art-punk, screamo, and mathcore sensibilities, Hacksaw Morissette deals with fifteen tracks that feel like a shotgun blast. Punk is a common thread coursed through this tapestry of asininity, ranging from Sex Pistols-with-animalistic-snarls (“All Black Snoopy,” “Stain Remover”), complete collapses into noisecore (“Cryptic Bismuth,” “Chastity Jeans”), over-the-top deathcore blares (“Chainsaw Fruit Punch,” “Angelina Shit Ton”), math rock and Midwest emo musings straight outta Delta Sleep or American Football (title track, “Drug Test,” “The Garbage Stork,” “Vitamins of Darkness”), and complete grind and mathcore meltdowns (“If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power,” “Torrential Drencher”) – there’s something for everyone aboard Hacksaw Morissette. With just enough dynamic to keep things interesting but not too much experimentation to throw listeners (thanks to the tasteful brevity), Shiverboard could stand to throw some more my way.

Traveller // Broken Home – Sometimes bumping mathcore is just an excuse to include djent, and Germany’s Traveller falls into this category. Utilizing Erra’s Impulse-era formula, Architects’ melodic sensibilities, a touch of Northlane’s ethereal moments, and a DIY grit whose “loud and ouchy” weight is sure to be divisive. Guided by ferocious roars, sporadic cleans, and “thicc thiccly” breakdowns galore it often emulates that mid-2000s metalcore that recalls a djentier Feed Her to the Sharks (“Never Cared (2002),” “Mismatch,” “Limbo”). Other times, it incorporates a groove and technicality that recalls the shenanigans of last year’s MouthBreather, making it a curb-stomping affair with an edge of the menacing melodies and ethereal keys (“Acheron,” “Orpheus”). Traveller is more djent and less mathcore, sure, but (1) you’re getting a lot more with Broken Home and (2) that’s why it’s at the end of this list.

#2024 #AllThatDarkAllThatCold #AmericanFootball #Architects #BetterLovers #BrokenHome #DeltaSleep #Djent #Erra #EveryTimeIDie #FawnLimbs #FeedHerToTheSharks #FitForAnAutopsy #Frontierer #Grindcore #HacksawMorissette #HardcorePunk #HighlyIrresponsible #ManyEyes #Mathcore #Meth_ #MissouriExecutiveOrder44 #Mouthbreather #NightsLikeThese #Noisecore #Northlane #Psyopus #Punk #SaltSermon #ScaleTheSummit #Screamo #Sectioned #SeeYouNextTuesday #SexPistols #Shame #Shiverboard #TheDillingerEscapePlan #TheGodAwfulTruth #TheHumanAbstract #TheRedChord #TheSkullBurnedWearingHellLikeALifeVestAsTheSkyWept #TheTonyDanzaTapdanceExtravaganza #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024 #Traveller #TYMHM #Utopia #Virvum #Wilderun