The darkest, filthiest alleys of old Philadelphia, DEVIL MASTER arise once more to corrupt the children of light. Between tours and festival appearances, the masters of devilry wrote their third full-length, Bloody Dreams. Punkier, with a psychedelic lean, yet festooned with a feral black metal aura, the album gleams from the abyss. Engineered by Davis M. Shubs and Grammy-nominated engineer Eric Bogacz, Bloody Dreams dances darkly.
Philadelphia’s Zorn returns with a new album for Sorry State, Return to Castle Death. While the two years since Endless Funeral have seen Zorn’s stage show grow increasingly surreal and elaborate (giant Kaiju-style monsters and oversized medieval weaponry are now regular features of their gigs), Return to Castle Death finds the band whittling things down musically, giving us a meaner, leaner, and more riff-focused Zorn than we’ve heard previously. But while these seven tracks feel more straightforward, the hallmarks of Zorn’s sound are still here in force: the blackened punk riffs, virtuosic drumming, touches of neoclassical melody, and vocals that can can move from a Sakevi-influenced gurgle to a banshee death howl in the space of a line. There are also a few new twists, like the warped organ solo at the climax of album-closer “Guest of the Mad Prince.” And make sure to pick up the physical version, because the vinyl features an exclusive bonus track: a cover of Annihilation Time’s modern classic “Bald Headed Woman” put through Zorn’s metal-punk meat grinder.