Before we get started, I'd like to make a note that I am the first person who noticed the similarity between these two album covers:
...well, I made this connection as soon as I saw the ALTAR OF PLAGUES cover. Then I got mentioned in this review. Which is strange, because I told nobody that I noticed this.
Anyway. That's not important. What IS important though, is that this is one of the best new albums I've heard in a long fucking time. One of those records that you just play again once you reach the end. One of those records that you worry you'll "wear out" by listening to it too frequently.
ALTAR OF PLAGUES were already one of my favorite "black metal" bands. And I use quotes there, becase...well, what they do was never exactly black metal. It was very atmospheric, and had a lot of post-metal stylings, yet still had the traditional vocals and blastbeats of black metal. I thought "White Tomb" and "Tides" were pretty much perfect, with songs stretching above the 15-minute mark without feeling stale.
"Teethed Glory & Injury" is special because it pushes heaviness into unknown territory. They take their style and condense it into much shorter, harsher songs.
Here's one of my favorites - so bleak, so riffless! Seriously, I sing along to this song's guitar parts, but they're mostly just that one note. It's a goddamn minor 8th, so you better get used to that dissonance, since it's just a warmup for all the shit to come. That note cuts through layers of blastbeats, layers of growling!
"I watched my son die, buried."
And it only gets bleaker from there.