HECATOMB, DARKTHRONE Among Gimme Metals Top Tracks of the Week

Gimme Metal Program Director Brian Turner delivers the week's top 5 office buzz-worthy tracks.

HECATOMB – Metal Maleficium

Insanely blistering/blustery black/thrash/death/pure evil eminations from Melbourne. Spiritual kin for sure of the bloody Sadistik Exekution are the duo of Rick Warkill and Maggressor, who have their handle on their filth most ably. The cassette release is called Horrid Invocations, but you can grab one digitally and name your price on Bandcamp. A grisly slice of the Down-Underworld of Metal.

SEPULCROS – Magno Caos

This is some real carcass-dragging, 16 rpm sludge here that even dares to make Abruptum look somewhat Jerry Lee Lewis in comparison. Thundering cymbal crashes punctuate fuzzified, sloth-like chord progressions through dirt-caked towers of amps, and vocals that sound like they're swirling into a black hole in the shape of a gigantic cosmic sewer. 'Vazio' is out soon on Transcending Obscurity, and once again we just have to remark: Portugal, man….

DARKTHRONE – Summer of the Diabolical Holocaust

A dip back to 1993 for this one with good reason: it's with great pleasure that Gimme Metal's Vinyl Club presents a new edition of this incredible record! Get yours while supplies last (LIMITED!) at our clubsite. And to celebrate, Grave Convulsions host Anthony Bartkewicz hosts 2 hours of grim-lo-fi madness on March 15th 3pm ET/12pm PT, looking at the album and some prime and off-the-road Darkthrone cuts, curated by both himself and Andee Connors from Battleflutes and Sideways Skulls! So, in other words, the best Darkthrone special ever! When Darkthrone entered a Norwegian studio to make their third LP 'Under A Funeral Moon' in 1992, the goal was to make their purest black metal record to date. What the world got was a shift in the approach to the very genre itself: an icy, completely lo-fi blast of fuzzified walls of sound, atmospheric, elusive and off-kilter sounding yet assaultive. What the trio of Fenriz, Nocturno Culto and Zephyrous did was confounding, even kind of revolting to some metal hordes, but it laid a blueprint for outsider black metal for years to come.

STEEL BEARING HAND – Command of the Infernal Exarch

Chad Gailey from Necrot's Carbonized label (hosting a Gimme special for the imprint on April 28th, mark your calendars) is continuing to throw some vicious sounds out into the void, Dallas TX's Steel Bearing Hand no exception. Totally pummeling death/thrash chaos slopping up your speakers, yet still with the penchant to stop on a dime for more claustrophobic effect. Savage stuff.

DUST LORD – Career Opportunities

Some Buzzoven-style party doom here from a trio letting loose some prime amp smolder for the most recent Bandcamp Friday. Sick vocals, crackling tube hiss and monolithic riffery prevails; stick around here for the other cuts from this shared release with Michigan's Bog Wizard who are pretty spectacular themselves.

Gimme Metal is the premier online radio station for metal fans around the world. It’s the first 24/7 metal music-focused community where listeners can tune in to hear world-class DJs like Dave Mustaine, Randy Blythe, Johan Hegg, Danny Lilker, Jessica Pimentel, Brian Posehn and many more play the sounds that you just don't hear anywhere else. Check it out for free at GimmeMetal.com. Also available for iOS and Android. Be sure to browse their store for killer selections.