Hour Of Penance Post Video For 'Reforging The Crowns'

Got videos out the wazoo! We've almost covered the four main types of videos as well today. Hour Of Penance bring int he storied side of things, with a video chock full of religious themes. The song is awesome and the video is well shot albeit a tad predictable. Still worth a watch though!

Super Massive Black Holes - Calculations Of The Ancients

Super Massive Black Holes is downright weird. In the absolute best possible way. There are a good number of bands out there that play with influences from other genres. Bands that mess with tempo and tonality to immerse the listener into soundscapes they might not have heard clashed together before. Bands that keep you guessing where the song you are currently listening to might take you and how the next song will flip that around and take your ears in a new direction. Super Massive Black Holes does all of this, and their debut full length album, Calculations Of The Ancients showcases all of their talents.

Band Of The Week: Hiss From The Moat

Italy is doing everything it can to create a giant presence in technical death metal. Between Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Hour Of Penance they've got two of the fastest and most intense bands in the genre, and most recently the drummer from Hour Of Penance, James Payne, went to join a side band called Hiss From The Moat, who combine elements of Technical Death Metal and Black Metal together into a demonic stew of blast beats, walls of riffs, and throaty screams.

Band Of The Week: Miseration

Miseration is one of a few bands fronted by vocalist Christian Älvestam, who's probably most famous for his time with Scar Symmetry (on their first three albums, which includes arguably their most famous LP Holographic Universe). Älvestam has also been a part of Solution .45, Solar Dawn, Torchbearer, and more as well as his own solo works. The point is the guy is incredibly busy and clearly loves this genre of music. Miseration is a personal favorite of mine, and their three albums are all great listens.

Beyond Creation - The Aura

In a genre chock full of more than capable musicians it is easy for a technical death metal band to blast your ears into oblivion with their immense technical proficiencies, but what makes a tech death band great is their ability to combine this raw talent with a greater sense of song writing aptitude.  This is why bands like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Gorod, and Obscura are at the forefront of the genre. They blend this technicality with more progressive elements and make the songs more than just raw talent.

Abriosis - Vessel

I can not really say that what Abriosis does with their instruments is anything new to technical death metal, but I do thoroughly enjoy the chaos they create with their music. They have always had a great sense of contrast in that they can combine all sorts of rhythms to make music that is incredibly layered and heavy.

Defining Human - Defining Human

Metal is a genre that really loves their labels. From heavy metal to slamming brutal death metal, we’ve got labels for bands that almost seem unnecessary at times even. Defining Human are a band who are most easily placed into the label of progressive deathcore, but I feel it doesn’t do justice to the heavy influences they take from the likes of say technical death metal.  Yes the clean vocals of metalcore are there, and the classic deathcore chugs are effortlessly found, but there are portions of the album that could easily be classified as Technical Death Metal, and they work really well with the progressive portions of the album.

Wretched - Son Of Perdition

Victory Records, much like Sumerian Records, are a label with an almost startling roster of bands under them. It's amazing to go from the likes of Jungle Rot, or Between The Buried And Me to the likes of The Royalty, and Silverstien. That's not an insult to any of those bands, it's just a bit a of a shock how wide a variety you can find under this label. On the heavier side of things lies Wretched, a band that seems to bend between a handful of metal sub-genres, but proclaims themselves as melodic death metal. Their latest outing Son Of Perdition, to me at least, sounds more like a blend of technical death metal with a splash of more melodic deathcore. (The album cover reminds me of a tech death album cover too.) However, labels don't really matter much, it's about about the quality of music right?

Derelict - Perpetuation

2011 was a fantastic year for metal and upon writing my year end list I found myself thinking that 2012 has some really big shoes to fill. However this year has already dropped some mammoth sized albums on us and is proving itself to be just as good as last year.

Vying for my top 15 list this year is Montreal based Tech Death  band Derelict’s latest album Perpetuation, and by vying I mean slaying it’s competition so far. This is the first album I’ve listened to this year that I immediately felt would make my top albums list. The year is early, but I have a good feeling about this one.

Anyhow let’s get on with the album. 

Derelict Posted 'Perpetuation'!

Derelict posted the title track for their upcoming album Perpetuation a few days ago! I'm a bit late on this, as I just noticed it after stumbling across through their facebook, but the new is exciting none the less! Check out the song, it's pretty awesome:

New Spawn Of Possession Song 'Bodiless Sleeper'!

It's a good week for Tech Death it would appear! As with Gorod, Spawn Of Possession have posted a track from their upcoming album Incurso, due out March 13th, entitled 'Bodiless Sleeper'. Check it out:

Hour Of Penance Making Of Video!

Hour Of Penance have posted a video showing the drum tracking for the new album Sedition. It also serves as a bit of a sneak peek into how the new album will sound, and from what I can tell, we should expect it to be awesome.

Hour Of Penance Announce 'Sedition'!

Great news! Italian technical death metal band Hour Of Penance announced today information about their new album! It's called Sedition, and has a really awesome album cover as you can see. The album is supposed to release on March 27th in North America, oddly a few days before Europe and the UK get it. Which is good for me, but sucks for others. they are also going to tour the US for the first time ever, which might be why they're pushing it here first. Unfortunately none of the tour stops are near me though.

Plundering The Depths Of Bandcamp! Covenants - World Of Augury

Here's to the first Bandcamp plunder this year! I spent about an hour pilfering through looking for something that sounded good and finally stumbled upon these guys' ep that sort of breaks my ep rule, but it's too good to pass up.

The album is called World Of Augury and it's by a technical metal band called Covenants. Covenants is currently unsigned, but they've toured with the likes of Volumes and Elitest, so they are getting some recognition pretty quickly, considering they aren't yet a year old. They seem to draw influence from a lot of different places, technical death metal, djent, and deathcore being pretty prevalent.

Anyhow, onto the ep right?

Oh And Deeds Of Flesh Are Working On An Album!

Los Osos, California based Tech Death band Deeds Of Flesh are in the studio! They have been for a bit, but I just somehow forgot to mention it.

Psycroptic Post 'Carriers Of The Plague'!

I'll say it again, I've been rather obsessed with Technical Death Metal lately (and Tech Deathcore for that matter. *cough*Halo Of Gunfire*cough*) It's a genre I hadn't explored enough, and it's chock full of awesome stuff. Psycroptic are a band I need to check out still, but their new song is a clear sign of the fact that their new album The Inherited Repression, which is due out February 7th, will be a great one. Hit the jump to hear the song!

Plundering The Depths Bandcamp! The Kennedy Veil - The Sentance Of Their Conqueror

Firstly, since I can't seem to be able to keep this as a weekly article, I'm not going to keep lying to you all and change the name to Plundering The Depths Of Bandcamp! I'll still try to keep it an recurring segment, but I'm just not making it time based.

Moving on, this time I found a band called The Kennedy Veil. They are a pretty fantastic sounding Technical Death Metal band (A genre that I have to admit I've been pretty obsessed with lately.) The album is called The Sentance Of Their Conqueror.

Hour Of Penance Finalizing A New Album!

As with my Oceano post, I'm a few days late on this one too, but good news is still good news no matter when you hear it. that being said, if you happened to be stumbling through bands facebooks and happened across Hour Of Penance's page you may have noticed this post:

Bandcamp Plunder Of The Week! Derelict - Unspoken Words

This weeks entry, Derelict, should be more popular. They play proggy technical death metal, and unfortunately they are relative unknowns at the moment, but they are gaining popularity. They are currently signed to Relapse Records and have Toured with the likes of Whitechapel, Job For A Cowboy, The Last Felony, Ion Dissonance, and many others.