Operant - Harnessed To Flesh
Berlin based duo Operant delivers an EP that immediately made me twist the volume knob to blast-levels. It opens with an impending piece of electronic dark ambient before entering the realm of rhythmic noise in 'Be A Boy'. Side A ends with a pounding harsh ambient piece, 'Chancellory'. Side B invites you to the heavy and dark dancefloor, blending noise with techno, resulting in the infectious 'The Sacrifice Of Meaning Power' and the chaotic frenzy of closer 'Dead Realities VII'. Fans of everything between Contagious Orgasm and Imminent can easily appreciate this. (S.)
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Wild Mighty Freaks - Guns 'n Cookies
French weirdos Wild Mighty Freaks come up with a fusion between hip hop and metal. Personally, I would just throw this in the nu-metal genre, as I do with all rap metal. I don't mean that as a bad thing, on the contrary. This is a highly infectious EP, well executed and with plenty of groovy riffs. Furthermore, I bloody love the ragga-induced 'Freaks' and the dark and angry 'Empty Skies' is one of the best hip hop tracks I've heard in the past nine years or so. Nah, for real, this shit is surprisingly good. I wouldn't mind of Wild Mighty Freak become the next big thing in the nu-scene. (S.)
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Bongthrower - Demo
Now available for your wicked stoner parties: Bongthrower, another band that has weed fanatics' favorite tablewear in the bandname. Much like Bongzilla and Bongripper Bongthrower delve in the world of stoner doom and sludge metal. These Germans deliver thick doom riffs, crusty vocals and sheer power, combined with a low, sluggish tempo. This surely is something for fans of bands like Conan, Dopethrone, Yob and so on. My personal favorite here is 'Bongthrower', which also shows a bit of the psychedelic side of this band, but rest assured, if you love stoner doom, you will absolutely love these guys. (S.)
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Ecloss - Diluvienne
Diluvienne, released on January 26 by French atmospheric black metal project Ecloss, is a magnificent, surreal and thoroughly terrific EP, that has on the quintessential structure of its omniscient sensibility the vehemently overlooking serenity upon which its melodies rejuvenate so ostensibly the peaceful eternity that dwells around the flexible frontiers of its everlasting and magnanimous eloquence, that seems to revolve around a sleeping conscience, that fully comprehends the mortifying exasperations of human transience. With beautiful and exceedingly poetic melodies, that virtually has all the necessary predispositions to expand the sonorous
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Valiant - A Timeworn Oath
An amazingly fantastic EP, that understands and penetrates deeply into the realm of atmospheric black metal, A Timeworn Oath is a thoroughly poetic, charming, serene and philosophic state of the art work, with pervasively dense and beautiful melancholic ballads, where an eternal winter sorrow dilapidates into the heart of the listener the despondent rumors of prominently defying silent whispers, that revolves around an increasingly tense, but peaceful interior darkness. With five tracks – As Echoes of Dreams, Distant Lands, Oath to Destiny, Forlorn Shadow and In the Midst of Worlds –,
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Tides of Emptiness - Tides of Emptiness
A greatly devised work, Tides of Emptiness, an EP released by the eponymous American project from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 31, is a formidably marvelous exemplar of a sound that preserves tradition, expanding its formula to a groundbreaking level of subtly genuine aggression, but without renouncing to a modest degree of delusional atmospheric tension. A little more than thirty six minutes long, the album has three very extensive tracks: Her Body in Ashes, the homonymous Tides of Emptiness and Finality of Existence. With rough guitar lines and a conspicuous brutality that dilapidate each and every furious stigma of its hostile harmonious
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Vindorn - Perdition
A fabulous record released by German black metal act Vindorn, Perdition has seven tracks: Masquerade, Ansiktet, Panie Diable, Rozhodnutí osudu? Trest, Eros hemlighet, Vanmakt and Vládcové. With a sonorous fury and a convulsive energy perfectly able to suppress all the nefarious vicissitudes of the general melodic limitations usually heard in the genre, the dark and rude authenticity of the artist showcases a creative domain that not only enables him to perfectly devise a very singular style, but also infuse its own sagacious elements of aggressive dissonance within the introspective sensibility of the music.
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Obscure - Zero Dawn
Finnish stoner metal quintet Obscure deliver a riff-loaded debut EP with three groovy and heavy songs. They seem to blend metal with stoner rock, which rarely is a bad combination. Opener 'Zero Dawn' is a hard hitter, reminding me of something between Channel Zero and Mastodon. 'Low Low Down' takes on a more vintage hard rock oriented approach. Closer 'River' seems to combine the two. Not a bad debut but one that shows a few challenges for this band. For me, there are a bit too much vocals which sometimes overrule the great hard rock riffs. Like some say, "less is more". Less vocals leaves more
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Ossian Smith - Sleepless Town
Ossian Smith is a young Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist, influenced by everything between David Bowie and Soundgarden. He and his band deliver a five track EP with highly enjoyable rock tunes. In fact, the whole thing just puts a smile on my face as a big part of my youth seems to flow by. Bands that come to mind include The Scabs, Lemonheads, R.E.M... My favorite track is 'Jimmy Roux' and my least favorite is 'Rainmaker', but even that one is a pleasure to listen to. Just good old fashioned rock 'n roll with loads of energy and a very bright future if you ask me. (S.)
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Servants Of The Apocalyptic Goat Rave - Queen Of Darkness
I have to let my sister-in-law listen to this. She is a hardcore techno fan. You know, Neophyte, Angerfist, Drokz... that kind of stuff. Her six years old son is slowly becoming interested in what they call 'Yeng-yeng music' after hearing Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' on the radio. A few weeks ago I played Therapy? for him and he loved it. Next step is black metal, just for fun. Then, they can both listen to this bizarre and turbulent release from Servants Of The Apocalyptic Goat Rave, a project by Jason Köhnen & Jurgen Desmet with vocals by Baseck. Hardcore techno and breakcore mixed with chaotic black metal,
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Babalith - Gramatique du Ciel
Portuguese Ritualist ambient act Babalith returns to Sombre Soniks with a dark, droning album which is loaded with voices. The result is a strange and somewhat alienating epos that speaks to you in many different tongues. Fact is, sound gave birth to communication, even way before languages have been developed. That is probably why this amalgamation of vocal efforts is so fascinating. It takes you on a odd trip through history, through the occult and through your own DNA. This comes highly recommended for fans of Diamanda Galas and dark ambient aficionados alike. Check it out, it's something unique... (S.)
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Dark Archive - Cultivate Our Blood in Aeon
Dark Archive is a satanic black metal band from Finland, founded in 2016. The duo wanted to bring something fresh into the scene but their path was rough and full of setbacks. However, stubbornly the original members continued their blackened journey which leads to this jawdropping piece of work. I don't know if it is really fresh and renewing but the music here is massively varied and highly impressive. In fact, bands that have come to mind while listening to this include Immortal, Cradle Of Filth, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Mörk Gryning and Limbonic Art. And with that, I do actually mean all the best parts
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Limbs - Body Without
Euhm, wait. Is Limbs four bands combined? These guys, hailing from Manila, Philippines, throws a wicked piece of work on the bamboozled market. Their music certainly don't fit one box. It's shoegaze, it's screamo, it's post punk, it's math rock and it's black metal, and that is just the first song. The only constant seems to be the energy blasting out of these complex and intense songs. 'Fever Fawns' is my personal favorite on this album but I'm sure fans of outrageous music can easily enjoy everything Limbs create. Besides, the EP is free for download, so there is absolutely no reason not to check it out. You'll be pleasantly surprise, I promise you. (S.)
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