Let today mark the start of March Madness over here at the good old dank tank. What does this mean? Well, as the balls start slammin wood, shit is gonna get real brutal over the next few weeks, both on and off the court. Yep, with the NCAA tournament just around the corner, it's time to pull out your favorite team jersey and have mommy pair it with your best pair of skinny jeans, snapback cap, slip-on Vans, and BSDM-worthy plugs. Oh, please don't forget to sweep those bangs all the way over, as this shit is dank! So, get your cheeto-encrusted asses out of your fart-scented, mesh-back chairs, and prepare for some real, earthquake-inducing slams of both the ears and the net. Go Gonzaga!
If you joined us at all over the past few weeks, you'll know that we took a trip back to a time when 'slam' was the thing your dad did to your mom's posterior in the back of his parent's volvo. We learned where this shit came from, and which bands were crucial to the development of our weird little micro-genre. In the process of this reflection, ultimately, we learned a little about ourselves. Yeah, shit got deep… "so deep, put her ass to sleep" (in the immortal words of the all-knowing, all-seeing Ice Cube).
Anyway, for a change of pace, we are gonna bring things back to the here and now. To kick-off the March Madness celebrations here at Dank, we've got a couple of killer debut slams for ya. Let's do this, fuckers!
SARCOIDOSIS – SURGICAL HOMICIDE (2017)
For those of you who regularly subscribe to this kickass column – or those who pay attention to killer new slams – you will likely recognize the name Samantha Smith. Way back in October of last year we covered Sam (and her Fight The Demiurge project) as part of our We Slam Alone installment of Dank Slams. We were immediately struck by Sam's seemingly inherent talent for all things slam, with FTD coming across as an incredibly unique BSDM project with focus on melodic and hypnotic atmospherics. We also can't forget to mention Sam's vocal performance, where she lays down some of the sickest gutturals we've heard in a long, long time (think Demilich-like consistency and prowess).
Well, Sam is back with more quality slam, and this time she has brought along a few friends – each of whom commit vocal homicide in her brand new project Sarcoidosis, and their debut EP Surgical Homicide. This thing reads like a who's who of slam, which includes the likes of Mike Majewski (ex-Devourment, Kill Everything), Tony Davis (Gutfucked, Guttural Slug), and rapper Mage Mortician (Freewill). Surgical Homicide is a murderous romp through the stuff of medical nightmares. Just as the title implies, we get to follow one doctor through the hell that is his 9-5 existence. Creepy, disgusting, brutal stuff.
Surgical Homicide is expected to drop digitally on April 25th via iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, and other music sites. It will also be available through the official Sarcoidosis Bandcamp. The single, "Subdermal Parasitic Infestation", is currently available for free download, both individually, and with a pre-order of the album through Bandcamp.
In the meantime, check out the exclusive stream of "Subdermal Parasitic Infestation" here on Dank Slams – a joint effort made possible by our good friends over at Slam Worldwide.
OPPOSITE EXTREMITIES – CHAPTER (2017)
With a name taken from the last track of Disavowed's debut album Perceptive Deception, released in 2001, it's immediately clear that the joint Denmark/Australian duo of Opposite Extremities is a band with great taste. Not to be confused as straight-up slam dudes, Marcel Senesi (guitars) and Lasse Lund (vocals) take shit waaaay back, with influences as expansive and time-honored as Death, Gorguts, Suffocation, Obituary, Pestilence, Cynic, Cannibal Corpse, Sepultura, and Pantera – to name but a few. It was with these influences that the construction of their debut full-length release, the humbly titled Chapter, began.
Digging a little deeper into the origins of this project, one might be surprised to learn that Marcel's musical talent runs deep. In fact, after ingesting – and then digesting – the above-mentioned bands as a youngster, Marcel abandoned the brutality to study jazz guitar, and then later diving into classical and modern music composition at a conservatory and university. It was during this time that he composed pieces for various classical instruments (excluding guitar), as well as composing a few soundtracks for movies.
With more than a little hesitation, Marcel once again returned his focus to his beloved heroes of metal. At first, he was genuinely worried about the quality of composition and musicality in metal – an understandable concern for someone with an understanding of the complexity of composition. To his surprise, his heroes did not fail him, and their timeless music proved to be flawless. It was within the metal classics of his youth that he could now hear the similarities of his classical heroes in Bach, Beethoven, and Bartok.
Reinvigorated, Marcel jumped right back into things and, with the help of ToonTrack drumming software, he started putting together conceptually strong compositions of the music that he loves most – death metal, technical progressive death metal, and brutal death metal. It was here that he came across a newer breed of death metal classics, bands such as Origin, Omnihility, and Nile, who strive for the same gold standard and benchmark of quality found in his heroes of both metal and classical.
With Marcel now in full-on Opposite Extremities mode, he then reached out to his future cohort in vocalist Lasse Lund. Within two hours of hearing Marcel's hard-hitting, forward-thinking compositions, Lasse was ready to hit the record button for Opposite Extremities. For Lasse, the approach from the beginning was to make the most brutal and honest record they possibly could, while at the same time attempting to achieve this without too many compromises and fancy, new death metal cliches.
Lasse's approach, as it relates to the album's lyrical and narrative themes, was one that explored the 2012 supernatural horror film Sinister. In fact, each chapter found on the album correlates to a scene in the movie. Going even further, there are places that – if you play the movie while listening to the album – you can actually follow the story-line.
You can experience this beautifully brutal insanity for yourself, as we have partnered – once again – with our friends over at Slam Worldwide to bring you the entirety of Chapters in full-on Youtube stream mode! Check it out…
