HMTB Radio Episode 1

So we here at HMTB decided to do a little "radio show" and upload it for you all to hear. Don't worry there's no talk. All music, all the time for about 1 hour. I'll be doing this once a month. Episode 1 contains some of my favorite tracks from releases on my year end list. Check it out to hear tracks from Toxik Death, Black Magic, Swallowed, Nunslaughter, Eternal Khan, Mortuary Drape, Acid Witch, Innsmouth, Young and In The Way, Funeral Presence and Owl's Blood.

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Fork Tongue's Top Albums of 2014

2014 was a decent year for me but one in which I didn't get to spend enough time listening to tons of music. Working 70 hours a week will do that to your free time. That being said, I still liked plenty of stuff this year but I didn't get to revisit as much of it as I would have liked. Enough about me lets get to why you're here.

HONORABLE MENTION'S

ACxDC - Antichrist Demoncore
Battle Roar - Blood of Legends
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III - Saturnian Poetry
Churchburn - The Awaiting Coffins
Coffinworm - IV.I.VIII
Cormorant - Earth Diver
Eternal Khan - A Poisoned Psalm
Funeral Presence - The Archer Takes Aim
Nunslaughter - Angelic Dread
Occultation - Silence In The Ancestral House
Rude - Soul Recall
Salem's Pot - Lurar Ut Dig På Prärien
Sempiternal Dusk - Sempiternal Dusk
Skull Fist - Chasing The Dream
Sun Worship - Elder Giants
Vanhelgd - Relics Of Sulphur Salvation

BEST SPLIT

Acid Witch/Nunslaughter - Spooky Tales

BEST EP'S

Bolzer - Soma
Gatecreeper - Gatecreeper
Gnosis Of The Witch - Daudr Burdr Prysvar
Hungry Wolf - Sounds From The Grave
Necros Christos - Nine Graves
Ranger - Shock Skull
Demon Head - Winterland

BEST DEMO'S

Demon Head - Demon Head
Khthoniik Cerviiks - Heptaedrone
Predatory Light - MMXIV
Stone Dagger - The Siege of Jerusalem

11-20

20. Satanic Warmaster - Fimbulwinter
19. Emptiness - Nothing But The Whole
18. Innsmouth - Consumed By Elder Sign
17. Diocletian - Gesundrian
16. Teitanblood - Death
15. Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen
14. Swallowed - Lunarterial
13. Midnight - No Mercy For Mayhem
12. Horrendous - Ecdysis
11. Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

10. OWL'S BLOOD COLD NIGHT OF MEDITATION

Black Metal from Spain that is pure black Norwegian in execution. Melodic, raw, icy and as razor sharp as the ice pick in your freezer.

9. YOUNG AND IN THE WAY WHEN LIFE COMES TO DEATH

A rager in every respect, the album is as menacing as the album cover. Only difference is you won't see the knife when they sneak up from behind you and cut your throat out.





8. TÖXIK DEATH  SPEED METAL HELL

TÖXIK DEATH eat Retro-Thrash posers for breakfast and puke them up uncontrollably to swim in their remains.





7. FORESEEN HELSINKI SAVAGERY

A Crossover Thrash masterpiece that hits you like a Redbull and Meth speedball.

6. CIRCLE OF OUROBORUS KUUHUN KAHLITTU

Less folksy and more mean weirdo Black Metal from CoB.

5. ANGUISH MOUNTAIN

Even bigger and better Candlemass style riffs than on their great debut from a couple years ago and improved Quorthon style vocals also. This is the kind of stuff people are going to look back on in 10 years and realize they made a classic. Two classics as a matter of fact.

4. MORTUARY DRAPE SPIRITUAL INDEPENDENCE

Forget Italian cuisine, this is Italy's best import. This band has been around nearly 30 years with a decade long break since their last album. My hopes were not high. But holy shit, if this isn't their best album it's right up their with their first 3 albums. A late comer to my top 10.

3. BLACK MAGIC WIZARD'S SPELL

I almost didn't put this on my list because the back half of the album is all old material in the 1st wave Black metal style but screw it that stuff is good too. Otherwise this is good ol' Maiden style NWOBHM and they tick all the right boxes but still sound like their own entity.

2. LORD MANTIS DEATH MASK

This bands debut made my list a couple years ago but to me they sounded like a poor man's version of Coffinworm. This time, they added some different elements and now truly have their own sound. There's only one Lord Mantis.

1. JOHN GALLOW VIOLET DREAMS

What happens when you take a guy who is smitten with Italy's Death SS, Paul Chain's improvisation and Doom Metal? You get Fork Tongue's # 1 album of the year, that's what. I like his Blizaro stuff too but I really hope he continues along this path. Incredible stuff.

50 Albums From 2014 That You Need To Hear (Pt. 1 of 5)

Well, here we are halfway through 2014 and here I am once again expounding my metalness upon the masses. It's been a solid , if not spectacular year for new music. Obviously being a list of 50, not everything is going to blow your socks off but that isn't my aim. Precious few of these will maintain my attention throughout the year but all are worth a lesson by any metalhead looking for a diamond in the rough.

 [DEATH] ACID WITCH/NUNSLAUGHTER - SPOOKY (SPLIT EP)

This is what I want out of Acid Witch. Massive Death/Doom riffs and pronounced, spooky keyboards. The vocals are also better here. Not sure if there's a new vocalists or he's just mixed better but I hope the new Acid Witch LP sounds like this. As far as Nunslaughter goes, I've never given them much of a shot but that changed after hearing this EP. I'll go a little more in depth about Nunslaughter at a later date but needless to say I loved it.

 [HARDCORE/BLACK/CRUST] YOUNG AND IN THE WAY - WHEN LIFE COMES TO DEATH

Young and In The Way are a band I've had an eye on for a couple years and I feel like they came into their own on this one. The hybridization of Hardcore, Black Metal and Crust has become something of an underground trend but YITH are the best of the bunch. If you want raw and aggressive, this is the album for you.

[SLUDGE] EYEHATEGOD - EYEHATEGOD

Eyehategod's classic albums are about as grimy as it gets. You feel like you need a shower after listening. They're like an episode of Intervention set to southern sludge metal. While every bit as filthy as past albums, something seems a bit more mature. I guess that will happen when you don't put out an album in 14 years. In this case maturity does not mean boring as this is right up there with their best work.

[BLACK] FUNEREAL PRESENCE - THE ARCHER TAKES AIM

A Negative Plane side project has much to live up to. While Funereal Presence keeps that Negative Plane vibe with the keyboards and riff style, this is still much more straight forward Black Metal. It does throw some curve balls at you though and they all fit perfectly. The songs are a bit long winded with 3 of the 4 going 10 minutes plus but this is still my favorite Black Metal album this year. A little trimming and this could have been a classic.

[DEATH] INNSMOUTH - CONSUMED BY ELDER SIGN

Think Bolthrower doing songs based on Lovecraft rather than war. Need I say more?

Stay tuned Monday for Part 2...

Thursday Throwdown

  
 BAND: Young and In The Way

ALBUM: I Am What I Am

YEAR: 2011

GENRE: Blackened Crust

 Lots of bands these days are doing Crust Punk/Hardcore with Black Metal aesthetics but none are doing it as well an Young and In The Way. Angry, dark and something I must own. The biggest compliment I can give it is that unlike most music of this ilk it never dissolves into feeling like just a bunch of noise. There are plenty of great shifts in tempo, short ambient patches and some good vocal samples. Speaking of vocals I LOVE the vocals here. Raspy, forceful and completely understandable This is something you'll walk away from remembering.

VERSUS

 

 

BAND: Red Fang

ALBUM: Murder The Mountains

YEAR: 2011

GENRE:Stoner Metal

I like Stoner stuff. I hate Red Fang. Fuck their shitty music.

FINAL VERDICT:

 

Support YOUNG AND IN THE WAY! Go to their Bandcamp and buy stuff! Forget Red Fang exists!