Welcome to Apotheosis
Also Including the Best Metal Albums from August 2020
Welcome friends, fiends, old gods and slightly less wizened deities to Apotheosis, an independent newsletter focused on underrecognized metal and all the gory hunks of joy that it adds to our world. As this is the first ever edition of this newsletter, I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to anyone who is currently reading this. It means a lot that a bunch of fellow weirdos, metalheads and misfits want to read any part of something I’d type. It’s my sincere promise that no other iteration of this newsletter will be this self-focused or treacly.
MOVING INTO THE GUTS! The goal of this newsletter is, in short, to deliver the best burps and belches that the world of metal can retch up into your inbox on a weekly basis. What this should look like in a practical sense is four-fold. Each week you can expect to receive the following:
One album highlight
One metal-merch item that was just too cool or odd to ignore
A label you should be paying attention to
A list of albums that managed to hit my coveted 80/100 score
Sure in some way the last item is just ripping off Pitchfork’s 8.0+ review page but it’s a good way to highlight quality work. If it ain’t broke I’m not going to be the one to fix it.
In addition to those items, you can also expect the occasional non-metal merch item to slip it’s way into this letter. You are all fully formed humans with your own thoughts and opinions that extend beyond the world of metal. If I can put you onto a cool electronic or indie artist, then that’s all the better. This is just a form where us weirdos can take a closer look at some of the stuff that has caught our eye lately, and sometimes that’s a comic book based off the post-apocalyptic anti-capitalist outlaw-country album SOUND & FURY by Sturgill Simpson (we’ll dig into this in a later letter).
Each month will also provide one additional newsletter (for a total of five per month) that will tie a nice little bow on the best metal albums of the month. These will contain a more detailed breakdown of why each album is good and what the albums do to deserve your attention and consideration beyond just exist.
This first newsletter is, in fact, going to be just that. At the end I’ll give a little recommended reading and other things to sign up for if you want a more comprehensive list of metal that has come out. But for now let’s dig into what (I found) were the best metal records from a relatively light August.
Best Metal of August 2020
Duma - Duma
Not content to fit into the trappings of any traditional genre, Duma blends elements of tribal music, musique concrete, various forms of metal and harsh noise into a single dissonant package. The final result is one of the most appalling things to be released this year. While other metal albums may fill people with rage, sadness, passion or excitement, Duma strikes listeners with a heavy dose of fear that is slow to release its hold.
Year of the Knife - Internal Incarceration
Born out of the newly revitalized metalcore movement, Year of the Knife distills the genre to its purest form. Every second of each track is either a full blown breakdown or the moment leading to one. The lyrics, while not readily understandable for those without a penchant for harsh vocals, are surprisingly solid for a straight edge band though I know you’re here for the 10-ton brick breakdowns.
Kaatayra - Toda Historia pela Frente
Releasing an album for the second time this year, Kaatayra has managed to outdo themselves yet again with the near flawless Toda Historia pela Frente. The group, which already showed themselves capable of blending their local Brazilian music with black/post-metal on Só Quem Viu o Relâmpago à Sua Direita Sabe, does it even more effectively on this record. The riffs are slicker, the solos faster and the blend of styles is tear-jerking and jaw-dropping in equal measure.
Titans to Tachyons - Cactides
Yet another album in the wave of avant-garde death metal, Cactides represents an exciting middle ground for listeners who found the sounds of Defeated Sanity and Afterbirth to be a bit too much. By entirely forgoing vocals and tightening up the production, Titans to Tachyons crafts a far more accessible record than either of the aforementioned groups without giving up on the pursuit of cutting edge compositions and structures.
Special Thanks and Housekeeping
Thank you very much to those who have stuck around. I look forward to delivering more metal content to you each week and eagerly await the chance to bicker about which album is best with many of you.
If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter then there are two others you absolutely must subscribe to.
The first is the ever excellent Whitney Moore. Her current newsletter is a highlight of my inbox and she’s got far more access to the world of celebrity than I could ever hope to attain. She provided a lot of inspiration for the structure of this newsletter as well.
Also necessary for anyone looking to get a comprehensive view of metal that is currently coming out is To The Teeth. TTT delivers a weekly injection of everything that is coming out in the world of underground and popular metal. I have no idea how he is able to dig so deeply but if his newsletter didn’t show up in my inbox, my newsletter wouldn’t be showing up in yours.
Lastly I want to give a big shout out to Matt Brown of Extra Points for spending his valuable time talking with me about how this newsletter could work and for giving me the much needed kick in the pants to finally send this. It has nothing to do with metal but his newsletter is also excellent if you love college football.
Okay, you’ve endured enough, I sincerely promise that none of the other newsletter will be this demanding and will be spent entirely “delivering the goods” so to speak.
Until then, rot in pieces you unascended scum.