It’s the middle of the year, so we’re taking a few days to round up all the metallic greatness we failed to cover in the past six months. As you can read above, this is Volume 2 of our annual Missing Pieces feature, and if you (ironically) missed the first two parts, you can find them here and also here.
FU MANCHU ‒ THE RETURN OF TOMORROW
released June 14; At The Dojo
It’s been six long years since one of our very favorite Palm Deserters, Fu Manchu, last blessed our ear canals with their signature brand of big-riffed / jumbo-spliffed bottom end strut. Well, The Return of Tomorrow makes up for that spun out lapse by offering a double album’s worth of material that proves the lads really haven’t lost much—actually, any—of their edge.
Sure, double albums often offer up more than a typical human surviving in the modern age can chew through in one sitting, but long player numero thirteen-o from the Manchus isn’t actually overly long (still a relatively tidy 49 minutes), instead embracing the spirit of the double album by splitting the load with two faces of the band that underscore slightly different moods. The first veneer, illustrated through tracks 1-7, showcases Fu Manchu’s penchant for the sort of stripped down in-your-face heaviness that’s best suited for pulling gazelle flips at your local skatepark (or, if you’re like me, watching from the sidelines with a Duff in hand). And the second, tracks 8-13, accentuates their fondness for a moderately dialed back approach that’s prepped and ready to accompany a pleasant session of couch surfing. Neither face goes too far in its specific direction, mind you, so the flow from front to back is as smooth and inviting as a majestic helping of twisted chocolate / vanilla soft serve on a blistering day.
So, yes, if you’ve felt the absence of Fu Manchu and find yourself eager for the full spectrum of FM tones, moods and tendencies, The Return of Tomorrow will do a magnificent job of welcoming all of the band’s faces into your life again.
Courtesy caution: The riff 2 minutes into “Roads of the Lowly” will absolutely break your back if you don’t lift with your knees. [CAPTAIN]
CHAPEL OF DISEASE ‒ ECHOES OF LIGHT
released February 9; Ván Records
Taking the flair and guitar heroics of hard rock icons like Thin Lizzy, UFO, Scorpions, and Blue Oyster Cult and filtering it through bone-dry progressive death/black metal by way of the sometimes terminally self-serious Van Records might seem like a recipe for disaster, but on album number four, Germany’s Chapel of Disease thread that very peculiar needle with a brash confidence that would be cloying if it weren’t so meticulously well-earned.
The primary vector of chapel disease here is mainman Laurent Teubl, who handles vocals, bass, keys, and – most notably – all lead guitar. The core of Chapel of Disease’s songwriting style is cut from the same cloth as fellow wanderers Tribulation, Morbus Chron/Sweven, Venenum, and perhaps even a bit of In Solitude circa Sister. Does this mean that Echoes of Light is just as well-suited to skulking around dilapidated city streets wearing eyeliner and a cape as it is to emerging from a wood-paneled van in a haze of bongwater and lava lamp glow? Mister, I sure wish you would quit your hypothetical jawing and just crank this sucker up. Tight tunes, tasty licks, and basically just the down-home dirty business of electric guitars making excellent sounds. [DAN OBSTKRIEG]
NIGHT VERSES ‒ EVERY SOUND HAS A COLOR IN THE VALLEY OF NIGHT
released March 15; Equal Vision
It’s sort of amazing how significant of an impact the tone, mix or production can make on an album. Every time Night Verses cuts into a more aggressive angular guitar part on Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night, the overall sound of it is so damn heavy. Whenever drummer Aric Improta rolls across the toms, it carries the weight of an oncoming stampede. Reilly Herrera’s bass is thick and elastic whether it’s supporting the guitar or leading the song. The most aggressive passages Night Verses craft are akin to a roid rage version of Cloud Kicker smashing your ears to a pulp. Hell, the opening to “Kharma Wheel” sounds like buildings collapsing.
Night Verses is just as adept, however, at creating space, plucking beautiful, clean notes, and letting songs soar toward the sky. It’s precisely this balance and ability to build tension that makes those vicious releases all the more potent. Noise fights clarity, cleanliness battles gritty heft, and somber beauty fights aggression.
The first seven songs here were released as a part one in September of last year, but we now have the full 14-track album. If the hour-plus runtime makes you nervous, take the album in as two separate halves. That said, once you start, you’ll likely find that the full album flies by, even if it is mostly instrumental [SPENCER HOTZ]
UNLEASH THE ARCHERS ‒ PHANTOMA
released May 10; Napalm
The decision to include this release in Missing Pieces was not a light one given the nature of the controversy surrounding it. AI’s disruption of the art world, in all its permutations, is a hot button, to some scalding. Unleash the Archers themselves have issued a statement regarding their use of AI in the creation of the “Green & Glass” video (as well as its central role in the album’s storyline) and our readers are welcome and encouraged to read it before, during or after their investigation of Phantoma. And investigate it you should, because regardless of your stance on AI this is a strong release, a confident and logical stride forward for a band already operating with an overclocked CPU.
Abyss had an 80’s gleam that flickered in occasionally, like the rhythmic glow of streetlights in your cabin as you cruise down the thoroughfare to your TB Fourth Meal®. Phantoma ups the lumens even higher with comparatively leaner, tighter song structures and a streak of neon melodicism. Fret not, your expected UtA components are decidedly in play – heroic guitars, a pounding rhythm section, the gripping command of Brittney Slayes, but this time framed in a more cinematic 16:9 than their last few IMAX adventures. Take the ride, crank the jams and savor Phantoma’s 10 extra packets of Fire sauce. [ISAAC HAMS]
CIVEROUS – MAZE ENVY
released March 22; 20 Buck Spin
One of the game’s most consistent and respected labels right now, 20 Buck Spin, has continued its streak of releasing quality record after quality record in 2024. We’ve covered quite a few of them this time around the sun at Last Rites, including new albums courtesy of Witch Vomit, Hulder, Dissimulator, Slimelord, and Tzompantli. And there are some bangers on the horizon, most notably, for me at least, the new Fulci and Laceration records. Perhaps we’ll hear that new Worm LP soon, too. However, let’s talk about a 20 Buck Spin release we failed to review this year: Civerous’ gooey, doomy, death metal extravaganza, Maze Envy.
Let me be the first to take accountability for not giving this a proper review; it’s one of my favorite releases this year and a step up from their debut, Decrepit Flesh Relic (which I still thoroughly enjoy!). Everything from the production to the songwriting on Maze Envy is extremely well done. The seven tracks, clocking in at just about 42 minutes, is a disturbing journey, like an Ari Astir version of the classic film Labyrinth. From the moment “The Azure Eye” starts and sets the tone with some early ’90s horror- inspired sounds—think The Exorcist III—you’re submerged in a quicksand pit of wickedness. And once you’re halfway through “Shrouded in Crystals,” you’re past the point of no return—you’re along for the ride—whether you like it or not.
I cannot stress this enough: The record’s utter brutality and sinister beauty make it nearly impossible to turn your ear away. There’s more than enough on Maze Envy to sink your teeth into; however, beware—you might walk away with gnarly abscesses and rotting incisors from the atmosphere alone. Again, it’s a beautiful thing when splendid songwriting meets immaculate production. “Levitation Tomb” is a perfect example. The song’s final two minutes are guttural and primal, built upon layers of brooding riffs, synths, and tribal drum patterns.
Throughout the record, the riffs are heavy, the drums are bone-rattling, and the lead-playing adds such a beautiful dynamic. There’s even a pleasant little interlude with “Endless Symmetry.” But the true spectacle is the title track—nine-and-a-half minutes of absolute death-doom perfection. The band masters the pacing, ebbing and flowing between traditional doom configurations and modern death metal blasts. Hell, there are even some sprinkles of black metal thrown in there. If you’re a Hooded Menace or Worm fan, this is right up your alley.
Consider yourself a goof if you passed up on this one upon its release. But maybe that’s on me for not preaching the good word back in March. Whatever. Listen to Maze Envy ASAFP. [JOSH HEATH]
ACxDC – G.O.A.T.
released April 26; Prosthetic
Building off the subtly titled Satan Is King — the band’s second full-length, first for Prosthetic and their most high-profile offering at that point — G.O.A.T. sees this Los Angeles area “demoncore” outfit still firing on all cylinders, even as they’ve expanded the horizons around their raw and raucous raging a bit. Still very much built upon powerviolence and hardcore underpinnings, ACxDC’s churning, blistering bruising now adds nods to more metallic influences, balancing savagery against a noteworthy sense of beatdown groove, slowing down in select spots only to hit that much harder when the tempo shifts upwards into the red again.
Sergio Amalfitano shrieks and growls with throat-shredding fury, while the band beneath is coiled tight, blasting through seventeen songs in just over twenty minutes, short bursts of pure adrenaline like the bouncy floor-punch drive of “Boxed In,” or its follow-up, the punk-fueled “Clout Chaser,” with guest vocals from Elliot Morrow from Gulch. “Feed The Blade” slices and dices and thrashes and bashes, dropping into a near-death/doom trudge for a few seconds at the end (replete with a pinch squeal), while “Goatcore” rips through forty-seven seconds of unrelenting anger just after, in case you thought maybe they were going to stay in that lumbering gait.
G.O.A.T. is custom-made for moshpits and mayhem, another ripper from a band that keeps moving forward, two decades into their existence. [ANDREW EDMUNDS]
