Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of December 17th, 2021 through to the end of the year (31st, December). Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors. This will be the staff’s last report on upcoming releases for the year. Fear not! We’ll be back early 2022.
Age Of Athena: Gate to Oblivion
Genre: Symphonic Metal Label: Self-released
Agnes Vein: Deathcall
Genre: Black Metal / Doom / Post Metal Label: Venerate Industries
Behemoth: In Absentia Dei (LIVE)
Genre: Black Metal Label: Nuclear Blast
Charnel Altar: Abatement of the Sun
Genre: Death Metal / Thrash Metal Label: Blood Harvest Records
Che Noir: Food For Thought
Genre: Hip Hop Label: TRUST
Decerebration: Follow the Scars
Genre: Death Metal Label: Independent
Diablery: Candles
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal Label: Saturnal Records
Hiya. johnnyoftheWell here. A couple of weeks ago I found myself hospitalised, in severe pain and a 50/50 mix of unable and unwilling to listen to music. It sucked.
Here’s a Digbox about how I got out of that.
So, uh, welcome to a special edition of the Digbox. This is a little unorthodox and perhaps closer to straightforward diarism than anything I’d usually allow to be published about music under my name, but there are circumstances and pressures and maybe even a story behind it. So there: get your shovel.
Around mid-November I picked up inflammation under my wisdom tooth, which proceeded to turn into an abscess. I struggled through work and visited my dentist on the regular, but he didn’t pick up that my increasingly debilitated state pointed to an abscess until it was too late. Next thing I knew, the right side of my face was swollen to three times its usual size, my jaw was locked shut, and I was in a hospital bed with little to do but knuckle down and count the minutes between continuous rounds of painkillers and antibiotics. Up until the start date of this piece, I was only able to listen to music as a frayed-nerve distraction, which I stopped entirely once in hospital because I felt too washed out to process anything and the inflammation had spread to one of my ears anyway. So much for that end-of-year cram.
Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of current (and past) Staff by way of deep-diving casual-reading interview razzle, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Allow your jaw to drop as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you never acknowledged surpass your wildest expectations.
Today’s willing participant missed the Pokemon hype train, but is more than happy to help, guide or just speak to anyone that wants to do so… oh and has also found the time to write 594 reviews (So Far). Please welcome Sputnik Music’s nicest moderator, SowingSeason — in we go!
SowingSeason: Ready to Bare his Soul
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Good day, Mr. Sowing. How is your day?
It’s good! I’m settled in with a coffee and ready to bare my soul to sputnikmusic.com.
Nice, nice. What Pokemon would you be if you were a…Pokemon?
This may be heresy to some people, but I totally missed the Pokemon hype train. I remember it being huge when I was a kid – my friends all had Pokemon cards – but for whatever reason I simply didn’t care. Pikachu, I guess? That response is sort of “by default” because it’s the only one I know off the top of my head (thanks Mario Smash Bros.!)
[response lol!] And yet, you are not a Pokemon, you are a Moderator! Disregarding the vast amount of largely unseen administrative work that this role entails for one moment, could you comment on the following community…
An interview with Joseph Rabjohns & Lachlan R. Dale…
Hey guys and thanks for taking time out of your day to have a little chat. Although given the weather currently hitting Australia’s East Coast there’s a chance I’m just saving you from a family Monopoly game or that novel you keep putting off?
Lachlan: Man… we only just got out of a COVID lockdown of almost 4 months, so I’ve already taken the opportunity to finally read both Tolstoy’s War & Peace, and Dostoyevski’s Crime & Punishment (which was the last of his great novels I had left). I guess now I’m just practicing for my solo album launch, and for Hashshashin’s recording session just before Christmas.
Joe: We’ve been lucky here with minimal lockdowns and not many cases. I’m not much of a reader, I’m still going on the Hobbit from year 10 on high school. I’ve just finished teaching guitar at school for the year and am now practicing and transcribing string arrangements for my solo album launch, and writing with my other musical projects.
Tell us a bit about the collaborative album. How and why did you guys decide to do a split like this? I understand you guys were doing some shows for Kodiak Empire and Hashshashin around 2016?
Lachlan: Split releases were a big part of me growing up in the extreme metal and hardcore punk scenes. I hadn’t realised that outside of those genres a split record is an anomaly.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of December 10th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: December 10, 2021 –
Aeon Station: Observatory
Genre: Alt Rock / Indie Rock Label: Sub Pop
Alicia Keys: Keys
Genre: Soul Label: RCA
Atlas: Ukko
Genre: Metalcore Label: Long Branch Records
Canibus: Kaiju
Genre: Hip Hop Label: Afimi Music
Dziarma: Dziarma
Genre: Hip Hop Label: 2020
Ethereal Shroud: Trisagion
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal Label: Northern Silence Records / Throne Records
Funeral: Praesentialis in Aeternum
Genre: Death Metal / Doom Label: Season of Mist
Jeff Parker: Forfolks
Genre: Jazz / Soul / Ambient / Experimental Label: International Anthem
Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of current (and past) Staff by way of deep-diving casual-reading interview razzle, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Allow your jaw to drop as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you never acknowledged surpass your wildest expectations.
Today’s willing participant hates writing reviews but has written 256 of them. Please welcome Sputnik Music’s three-time Emeritus-awarded writer, Xenophanes — in we go!
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Good day, Xenophanes. Who are you and what is your story?
Hello! I’m a 32 year old guy living in the Midwest. I’m a mid-level corporate hack by day and artist by night.
I started lurking around Sputnik around 2008. A girl I was interested in had a Dir En Grey tattoo (red flag emoji) so through research I found my way here.
Flash forward to now and I have a husband and hate Dir En Grey.
You share your username with an ancient Greek philosopher – what about the original Xenophanes inspired you so?
I was sitting in a classics class circa 2009 and whatever my original original name was wasn’t jiving with me any longer. I think I remember digging his views on religion which seems so cring-y and basic to me now but oh well.
I read your username as xe-no-thanes as in Skyrim and the OG as xe-no-phan-ees as in ancient Greek. Is this okay?
Welcome to the fourth and final installment of our 2021 quarterly playlist! It’s been another quarter of quality music, and we look forward to sharing some of our personal favorites with you. Please play or shuffle the Spotify list at your leisure. Our staff writers have also taken a few minutes to jot down some thoughts on each track. We hope you enjoy it, and feel free to share additional music worth checking out in the comments!
To view the historical content of these playlists, visit the bottom of this page.
Tracklist:
1914 – “FN .380 ACP#19074”
1914 is not your average blackened death metal band; these guys have done an amazing job in researching their material, and that shows in their lyrics. “FN .380 ACP#19074” is a song about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, and the symphonic elements, that may bring to your mind Septicflesh, fit the atmosphere of the song perfectly. — manosg
Aesop Rock x Blockhead – “That is Not a Wizard”
“Could you please share some more Aesop Rock quotes with us all?” asked nobody.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of December 3rd, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: December 3rd, 2021 –
Aquilus: Bellum I
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal Label: Blood Music
ATONEMENT (swe): Merciless Blasphemy
Genre: Black metal / Death metal Label: Helter Skelter / Regain Records
Bog Wizard: Miasmic Purple Smoke
Genre: Doom Metal / Dungeons and Dragons / Fantasy / Sludge Label: Dregs Records CUTTERRED FLESH: Sharing is Caring
Genre: Brutal Death Metal Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Dead Space Chamber Music: The Black Hours
Genre: Ritual / Ambient / Doom Label: Independent
Doodswens: Lichtvrees
Genre: Black Metal Label: Svart Records
Genocide Pact: Genocide Pact
Genre: Death Metal Label: Relapse Records King Buffalo: Acheron
Genre: Desert Rock / Stoner Label: Self-Released
Manimal: Armageddon
Genre: Heavy Metal Label: AFM
OFERMOD (swe): Mysterium Iniquitatis
Genre: Blackened Death Metal Label: Shadow Records / Regain Records
Pantheïst: Closer To God
Genre: Symphonic Metal / Doom Label: Melancholic Realm Productions
Raibard: Dark Realm of the Daylight
Genre: Folk Rock Label: Self Released Redemptor: Agonia
Genre: Death Metal Label: Selfmadegod
Rift: To Quench The Thirst Of Wolves
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal Label: Seance Records
Sell Yourself Short: The Lowest Standard
Genre: Punk Label: Self-Released
So Hideous: None But A Pure Heart Can Sing
Genre: Post Rock / Emo/ Black Metal Label: Silent Pendulum Records
Volbeat: Servant Of The Mind
Genre: Hard Rock / Blues Label: EMI
Weedpecker: IV: The Stream Of Forgotten Thoughts
Genre: Stoner Rock / Psychedelic Label: Stickman Records
Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of current Staff by way of deep-diving casual-reading interview razzle, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Allow your jaw to drop as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you never acknowledged surpass your wildest expectations.
Today’s willing participant is our reformed meanie-head and connoisseur of podcasts, Trebor. Please give him a hero’s welcome; in we go!
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Good afternoon, Trebor. How is your day?
Every day I have to find the motivation to keep going and that usually takes about an hour or so, so I’ll let you know in an hour.
Literally everyone knows who you are, but you’re gonna have to reintroduce yourself to save me writing a bad mini-bio.
I’ve only been banned once, I’ve almost always had a Redlettermedia avatar, I used to be a meaniehead to a lot of newer users, and 90% of my friends no longer use the site.
Red Letter Media. Click the photo for videos.
What kind of role does music play in your life compared to when you first started on Sputnik?
When I first started posting I had a broken knee and foot and couldn’t walk or do much of anything for a month, so I mostly just listened to new albums I found on Sputnik all day and posted about them. Now I can walk and go on hikes so I don’t need…
After taking a year off thanks to some asshole bats, the SMA’s have returned to provide you with coverage of 2021 in the world of music. It is here – not Pitchfork or some other cheap imitation – that you will learn what the best and worst albums of the year were. Honestly, I’m not even sure what you all did in 2020…did you trust Spotify’s most-streamed or something? I feel terrible that I left such a large void in your collective understanding of music last year, not to mention your 2020 holiday dinner table talks, so I’m going to attempt to make up for it by making this the best SMA’s ever!!! With a record TEN award categories, this just might be the most memorable online, music-related, year-end, blog-formatted, categorized, award-ceremony-styled thing that you read this November/December!
Alright, alright. I know this is a very exciting development for everyone, so let’s pause and take a moment to rein in your excitement, collect yourself, and continue reading. I completely understand if this might take a while, so to help you catch your breath let’s review all previous SMA Album of the Year winners:
2014 - Low Roar: 0
2015 - Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell
2016 - Yellowcard: Yellowcard
*2017 - Manchester Orchestra: A Black Mile to the Surface
Photo by Andy Ford: http://andyfordphotography.co.uk/
Author’s note: This interview was conducted in April; however, due to personal reasons, it fell by the wayside until now. Because of this, a few questions and answers may be slightly outdated.
Please enjoy the interview.
UK upstarts Pupil Slicer are one of the most promising acts in modern mathcore. They may have only released one studio album so far, but that record has already received a great deal of critical praise and a rapidly growing fanbase. In this interview, I sat down with vocalist/guitarist Katie Davies and bassist/backing vocalist Luke Fabian to discuss everything from the creation of their debut album Mirrors, to how they signed with Prosthetic Records, to their future touring and recording plans, and much more.
Regarding the reception of Mirrors: this thing has been blowing up! How’s it felt for you? I couldn’t imagine how overwhelming that would be.
Katie: Yeah, definitely! We never could have expected this. We’ve even had people saying “I don’t really like metal but I really like this album”!
Luke: To give you an example: literally about five minutes ago, I just looked on the Bandcamp page to see the sales of the second pressing of the album, of which we had 100 copies. And we had ten left… and we put those up yesterday! In Gojira numbers it’s not that much, but it’s still pretty mindblowing.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 26th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: November 26, 2021 –
Archgoat: Worship The Eternal Darkness
Genre: War Metal / Black Metal / Death Metal Label: Debemur Morti
Black Crucifixion: Triginta [Compilation]
Genre: Black Metal / DSBM Label: Seance Records
Black Label Society: Doom Crew Inc.
Genre: Groove Metal / Sludge Label: MNRK Heavy
Cynic: Ascension Codes
Genre: Progressive Metal Label: Season of Mist
David Bowie: Toy
Genre: Art Rock Label: Warner
Deep Purple: Turning To Crime
Genre: Hard Rock / Covers Label: earMUSIC
Fawns of Love: Innocence of Protection
Genre: Dream Pop Label: Sunday Records
Goatcraft: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Genre: Black Metal Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Hypocrisy: Worship
Genre: Melodic Death Metal Label: Nuclear Blast
Imminence: Heaven in Hiding
Genre: Post Hardcore / Metalcore Label: Arising Empire
Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of current Staff by way of deep-diving casual-reading interview razzle, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Allow your jaw to drop as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you never acknowledged surpass your wildest expectations.
Today’s willing participant is our dusky-winged angel of dark feels and industrial bops, DrGonzo1937. Please give him a hero’s welcome; in we go!
Hi Sir Gonz! Who are you?
A 34-year-old Brit that still loves The Backstreet Boys.
Name three things that spark joy in you.
Cats, music, and reading books.
New music vs. old music: discuss. Which occupies more of your time, and why?
I’d say it’s a healthy 50% 50% split. I feel like new music doesn’t get the credit it deserves; there’s plenty of derivative stuff out there (metal is the worst for that these days), but there’s still a lot of really innovative music out there that needs support, so I’m constantly on the lookout for that new music and talent, and I try my best to support it in any way I can.
Conversely, there’s still a lot of old music out there that I haven’t listened to yet, things which could shape my tastes for the better, so I keep my eye out for it and look to recommendations from users on Sputnikmusic.
What review are you most and least proud of from within the last year?
I’m terribly self-deprecating about my own work, so it’s hard…
Hello and welcome to our brand new hyperexciting interview series examining the nectarine banter and uncontrollable good looks of the Sputnik Staff roster.
For too long, you have watched from a distance as these Apolline sex paladins slave away on review quotas for okay-ish albums that none of you remember within a week. No more! It’s time to show Sputnik Staff at their true potential! Let your mind blow as impossible questions are posed and Staffers you were too intimidated to remember the existence of surpass your wildest expectations.
Our first entrant is a lazy place to start because he’s the One that all of you, tyrannous majority, have already acknowledged! Give it up for Staff writer and March Madness Champion, Dewinged!
Hi Dewi. Introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Dewi.
Why are you always so nice about music?
Well, I’m nice about everything else too, haha! (laughs alone, in the middle of the office) Aaaahhh…. I don’t know, really, it’s in my character I guess. I’ve been exposed to music since a very early age, my father was a complete maniac, he had thousands of LPs at home. Then later I started playing drums at 13, and being in bands since then, recording music yourself, it all gives you a slightly different perspective about what you’re hearing. I enjoy a lot of different genres, and I feel blessed about it.
You seem to spend roughly equal time keeping up with new music and combing through older material – an altogether too…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of November 19th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: November 19, 2021 –
Abscession: Rot Of Ages
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Adele: 30
Genre: Singer Songwriter / Pop / Hello?-core
Label: Columbia Records / Melted Stone
Aephanemer: A Dream Of Wilderness
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Napalm Records
Beach Fossils: The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads