Too Heavy To Hug #691

To follow up THTH’s previous instalment, this one focuses more on the wintry albums that are so much colder than the freezing temperatures outside they’ll make you feel like you’re sitting in a desert when really, you’re sitting outside in your backyard with your mates smoking and drinking and listening to tunes without a fire pit or some type of gas heater.
The first obvious choice is Immortal’s At The Heart Of Winter. Immortal have the ability to make music into ice, or ice into music, either way the Norse snow and ice they blow through your speakers will make you feel as if the outside temperature is rather warm. Same goes with fellow Norwegians Satyricon and their classic album Nemesis Divina.
Typically, Tasmania is far colder than the mainland and unless you live in Ballarat, Tasmania is colder than Victoria. So, for those of you who live anywhere but Ballarat, check out Psycroptic, Tassie’s premier tech death metal act, and their abrasive Symbols Of Failure. While the production isn’t as cold as Immortal’s, the sheer ice cold steel this album pummels out of your speakers will make you think you’re sitting in a desert.
Quite possibly the only Melbourne band to make a record that is blisteringly colder than the cold of walking through the Melbourne grid and being blasted by the icy, antarctic winds are Destroyer 666 with their infamous Unchain The Wolves debut album. A Melbourne black metal band featuring snow on their album cover? Unheard of! That was until 1997 when the band featured a wolf in the snow eating a deer or something.
In other news
The Pantera set and Soulfly set from Dynamo 1998 will be released on Friday June 22.
Guns N’ Roses will release their massive Appetite For Destruction Locked N’ Loaded re-issue box set with a massive amount of extras on Friday June 29.
Immortal (without Abbath) will release their new album Northern Chaos Gods on Friday July 6.
Devildriver will release their new album Outlaws ‘Til The End, an album of country tracks done in the Devildriver style, on Friday July 6.
Deafheaven will release their new album Ordinary Corrupt Human Love on Friday July 13.
Machine Head will rock the Forum Theatre on Saturday July 21.
Psycroptic with special guests Archspite and Hadal Maw will be at Max Watts on Sunday August 18.
Satyricon will tear Max Watts to shreds on Thursday September 6.
The Sword will be at Max Matts on Saturday September 8.
Tesseract will play 170 Russell on Friday September 14.
Dimmu Borgir will headline their first ever Oz tour this October and their Melbourne show will be at 170 Russell on Wednesday October 17.
Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage and Thy Art Is Murder will play Margaret Court Arena on Friday November 2.
An Evening With Steven Wilson will take place at the Palais Theatre on Saturday November 10.
The Ocean will release their new album Phanerozoic in two parts, the first part to be released in October, and the second part to be released next year. Phanerozoic will pick up off where Precambrian left off some ten years ago.
If you have any news about local metal bands, shows or albums, let THTH know by emailing to [email protected] or get in touch via Twitter at @TooHeavyToHug
Paul S Taylor