Category: Doom

Swedish death metal trio Crawl delivers some intense and rancid death metal. With an unforgiven sounds, grinding guitars and deep growls, this band pays homage to the glory days of Swedish death metal. Dismember comes to mind, and to me that is a good thing. The nine songs here are short but effective, little but fierce assault on your eardrums and neck muscles. My favorite is 'The Stench' but I'm damn sure that every self respecting death metal fan can easily appreciate this massively convincing old school sound. It comes in a wide variety of editions too so check it out.

Lurk - Fringe

doom / sludge metal

Finnish doomers Fringe do something very interesting with elements from sludge metal, atmospheric/funeral doom and death metal. On 'Fringe' they take the listener onto a dark and mysterious path which featured unheard sounds and unknown emotions. I think this album needs a few consecutive listens to fully understand and thus appreciate. Yet, once you're into this awes inspiring sound by Lurk, everything else seems to lose its importance. With masterful doom tracks like 'Reclaim' and 'Proteus Syndrome' these Fins are on their way to doom-stardom. Heads will be banged, no doubt about that.

Sathanas - Necrohymns

black metal / thrash

American black thrash metal legends Sathanas return with their tenth album, and what a monster it is. In eight furious tracks and with a filthy sound, Sathanas destroy pretty much everything in their path. There is nothing pretty, atmospheric or melodic to be found here, only filthy, dehumanizing and putrid blackened thrash metal, highlighting multiple times. 'Throne Of Satan' is my favorite track here, a neck muscles assaulting and exe wielding piece of extreme metal that is just too intense to be ignored. 'Harbinger Of Death' is an excellent second and all the others come in a good third place. Hailz!!!

Gaerea - Unsettling Whispers

black metal

These aren't all whispers but this is certainly an unsettling piece of work. Hailing from Portugal, Gaerea seems to become one of the most interesting acts in the current black metal scene. The music balances on the edge between a dark mind and outbursts of utter insanity. The overall atmosphere is bleak, bleaker than most bands on this planet deliver today. I guess that's quite the achievement. Opening with the soul crushing 'Svn' and followed by the magnificent 'Absent', this album maintains a high level of quality. For cathartic black metal fans, this is an absolute must have, no doubt about that.

Down Among The Dead Men - ...And You Will Obey Me

death metal / crust

Transcending Obscurity also brings people together. Members of Ursinne and Paganizer found each other on the label and decided to create a brutal blend of death metal and crust punk. The result is '...And You Will Obey Me' by Down Among The Dead Men, an album that will get every extreme party started. This already seems to be their third album and it's a fucking blast. Riffs that can saw your limbs of, drums that drill holes in your stomach and guttural growl that tear your soul apart, what else can an old school death metal adept possibly need? Be warned, this CD might devour the rest of your collection...

Sadistik Forest - Morbid Majesties

death metal

If any of your intestines are still intact after the previous death metal assault, be sure to check out Finnish horde Sadistik Forest and their unforgiving 'Morbid Majesties' album. Behind this alien and deadly cover art lies a vile world, occupied by flesh eating monstrosities and malignant viruses. This album truly is a smasher, coming at you in vintage Finnish tradition, which means speed, growls and pummeling drums. Here, 'The Hour Of Dread' is my personal favorite but again, every self respecting death metal fan should get his hands on a copy of this thing. Death is among us and it's blazing...

Nigredo - Flesh Torn - Spirit Pierced

black metal

From death to black, courtesy of Greece dissonant combo Nigredo and thier 'Flesh Torn - Spirit Pierced' album. Quite often driving on hyperspeed, this album crawls, gnarls and punches like a raging madman. Forget about atmosphere, forget about melodic passages. This is simply a machine gun to the face, one with extremely dark intentions. The suffocating 'Choronzon Possession' is my personal favorite on this record. Yet, I think these guys might truly rise at live performances. The music here is perfectly suited to impress and overwhelm audiences everywhere.

Arkheth - 12 Winter Moons Comes The Witches Brew

black metal

For a place that doesn't exist (*), Australia comes up with some highly interesting music. Take this album by black metal experimentalists Arkheth for example. With elements from all kinds of styles, ranging from krautrock to darkwave, jazz and black metal they managed to create a fantastic sound. This is musical ingenuity at its finest and most talented. Most of the stuff isn't even that extreme here but is sure is mystifying and mesmerizing. For me personally, Arketh might be one of the most interesting things in today's black metal business and perhaps way beyond that too.

(*) Apparently, flat earthers now claim that Australia is an elaborate hoax. (read)

De Profundis - The Blinding Light Of Faith

death metal

Formed in 2005 De Profundis have been carving out their own path in the death metal world with brutal conviction. This new album, their fifth to date, resembles and denounces the vile atrocities mankind has been indulging in over the ages. That obviously results in an intense but melodic and immersive death metal album, highlighting in songs like opener 'Obsidian Spires' and the fearsome 'Martyrs'. I think fans of De Profundis will easily appreciate this work but I also think that it will gain the band a whole bunch of new headbangers. Well deserved too because this album is a punisher.

Depravity - Evil Upheaval

death metal

Today, death metal can be pretty much everything, from keyboard loaded symphonic versions to groovy death 'n roll tunes over progressive experiments. Not so with Australian horde Depravity. For them, death metal should be a punishment for the senses (possibly for being wrong all the time), not a pleasurable thing to listen to. So they recorded 'Evil Upheaval' a nine track album that wants to bath in your blood, feed on your growing insanity and defecate in your pretty little lifestyle. With a massive fuck-you attitude, Depravity created a mass murderer, and you'll fucking love it...

Greytomb - Monumental Microcosm

black metal

Issuing a massive and intense sound, Australian horde Greytomb is about to become a new star on today's blackened firmament. Their music is an immersive and haunting blend of bleak black metal and atmosphere post rock with elements from doom and death metal often being welcomed. The result is a three track album that feels like a tremendously emotional inner journey. Expect lengthy depressive passages, a bunch of saturating blastbeats and a wide array of vocals, screams and grunts. Once again, I think this stuff is best suited for live performances, although some of the audience members might leave the gig in a white van...

Jupiterian - Terraforming

doom / sludge metal

Right, time to take it a bit slower and on Transcending Obscurity that immediately takes me to Brazilian doomers Jupiterian. With riffs and soundscapes so thick you can float on them, these guys deliver a masterful album. This is just as heavy as it's psychedelic, which again makes me want to experience this stuff live. The title track featured Maurice from Gnaw Their Tongues, which is nice but Jupiterian doesn't need guests to convince, all they need is tunes like 'Unearthly Glow' or 'Sol' and an audience to overwhelm. If you're a fan of sludge doom, you need this. Believe me...

Warcrab - Scars of Aeons

sludge / death metal

Combining the torpid speed and riffing of sludge metal with the deadly drums and growling vocals of death metal, Warcrab delivers a tank resembling album. I hear elements from Crowbar, Bolt Thrower, Fear Factory and Dopethrone but most of all I heard a massive blast of destructive energy coming from my speakers. 'Destroyer Of Worlds' is my personal favorite but the huge 'Scars Of Aeons' is definitely a live favorite. In all, this is a crushing album, one that will roll over you until every fibre in your body is pressed into the floor. And once again, I'm sure you will enjoy the abuse.

Norse - The Divine Light Of A New Sun

black metal

Norse returns with another slab of "ugly music". In my previous review for these Australians, I wrote about the harshness and dissonant approach of 'Pest' (read) and, believe it or not, they managed to take that sound to new level. Norse does not deliver normal, usual or common black metal. Nope, their style is unique, loaded with unusual hooks and riffs. This is both a challenge to listen to and a masterpiece of avant garde music. There is not one single non-highlight to be found here, only pain, desolation, discomfort and isolation. In short: what an album, un-fucking-believable.

Somnium Nox - Terra Inanis

black metal

And we finish this special with a glorious return from black metal horde Somnium Nox. They appeared on Brieviews 6 and now come back with an absolute stunner. Three tracks, loaded with skin crawling riffs, eerie screams and a bleak, downbeating atmosphere, this album should lift these guys to the absolute top of the blackened scene. Somehow Somnium Nox have managed to complete and evolve their particular blend of post-black metal to absolute perfection. I am incredibly impressed by this effort and I'm sure many of musical extremists will be as well. So, get your hands on this thing now.

Serge

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Raum Kingdom - Everything & Nothing

30/5/2018

post metal

While the heatwave in Belgium continues, I'm constantly reminded of this year's edition of Dunk! festival. I'm walking around in my apartment, doing the usual household shores. There is music playing, all kinds of different styles, flowing on in a constantly varying shuffle. Quite often a post rock, post metal or doom band appears and most of the times that album teleports me back to Zottegem. Then I wonder how awesome that band would have been on one of these stages. Since I'm a doom and post rock fan, in my imagination all of them are pretty impressive but I know, for now I'll have to do with the recorded versions of the music.

Good thing that I have big ass Magnat speakers to blast the volume to festival levels.

Two and a half years after their highly acclaimed split with Belgian sludge mongers All We Expected, Dublin based Raum Kingdom returns with a full-length. Still sailing on the oceans of post metal and sludge doom, this quartet brings a pulsating and immersive version of their preferred genre. With seven songs, Raum Kingdom attempts to make their mark on the hungry and demanding scene. And, in the same effort, they simply steamroll that scene to shreds, aided by a monolithic sound, the intensity of a rhino stampede and riffs as effective as a guillotine.

But, it's not all heavy and brutal. For starters, loyal to the style, pretty much everything here is slow. Then, in between the punishing sludge metal assaults, you can find elaborate post rock passages. What I personally like the most, is the wide variety of vocals. From clean, melodic verses to harsh and uncompromising screams, they all add the necessary level of variation to the whole thing. 'Winter', featuring Mia Govoni, is my favorite track in that aspect. Possibly also because it's one of those brilliant and huge post-whatever journeys.

I also dig the fact that there are a few shorter tracks on the album, perfect for a five or six minutes headbanging workout session before going back to the daily tasks. Obviously, tracks like 'Dig' and 'Hidden Pain' can easily become live favorites. Most audience members will go wild on these tunes while I prefer the Tool inspired 'Rebuilding the Page' or the eleven minuter 'Struggle'. Oh well, that's the thing with preferences, they differ. However, after listening to this gem, I'm confident that Raum Kingdom are aiming for the thrones of Amenra, Cult Of Luna and Neurosis. Time will tell if that will ever happen but I predict an overwhelming Dunk! festival appearance in the near future.

Serge

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Brieviews 44

30/5/2018

An Evening With Knives - Serrated

post-metal / doom / alternative rock

"Dutch three-piece band jumps on post-metal bandwagon", that would be the most negative way to describe this album by An Evening With Knives. But that would also be a bit lazy. I mean, everything Tool and Amenra inspired is popular these days and thus many musicians give it a shot. In this case, the result is an interesting set of songs, slow, doomy, fuzzy, somewhat psychedelic and bloody intense. I'm sure that fans of the aforementioned bands will appreciate these guys, even though I think they yet have to reach their best possible sound. An interesting future might lay ahead for them.

Autger - God Kissing Carrion

dark jazz / ambient / experimental / trip hop

Russian one man act Autger returns with a new full-length, a personal story based on Dante's 'Inferno'. With a captivating mix of dark jazz, trip hop and what feels like ritual dark ambient, this album is something quite unique within the dark jazz world. The music here seems to come from a completely different dimension, even though that old "sax player under a bridge" atmosphere is still present. My advice? I urge everyone who is into strange, unusual and mostly electronic music to give this a shot. I bet you have never heard anything like this before. This definitely nudges the bizarre, and that's a good thing.

Lamirāl - This EP Has No Name And It's Alright

hardcore

Right, time for extremities, courtesy of Belgian hardcore combo Lamirāl. On this EP, they catapult six heavy rocking hardcore tunes to your face, stuffed with broken glass, needles, sulphuric acid and bile. The overall tempo is suffocating, the riffs feel like sounds from behind the gates of hell and if that vocalist stands in front of you, you have exactly six seconds left to live. So if you want your miserable life crushed by the sheer intensity of music, this EP is an absolute must have. This is about as intense as a concrete boot to the teeth...

Gray Dog - The Deal

acoustic blues

Now I need something to calm down and relax a bit. This five track EP by Belarus/Poland duo Gray Dog. Their music is a mix of blues and southern rock, brought to you in a minimal, acoustic setting. The result is an interesting late night bonfire soundtrack, best to be consumed with a cold beer. By the way, the fact that this is acoustic music doesn't mean that it lacks power. 'Why Did You Fuck Me And Leave?", for example is a damn heavy tune. Fans of everything between Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash and Pearl Jam can easily appreciate this. My favorite? 'The Pray Of Hangover'.

Paulie Jan - Yukio (A Brief Sonic Evocation)

dark ambient / noise

Composed as a tribute to Japanese writer Y. Mishima, 'Yukio (A Brief Sonic Evocation)' by French act Paulie Jan is a gloomy, haunting and often remorseless dark ambient release. These are deep sonic introspections, arranged by eerie soundscapes, deep but slow beats and a fearsome atmosphere. At first, I found it hard to get into this music but gradually the whole thing grew on me like only the best dark ambient anthems actually do. Now I can't get enough of these noisy skincrawlers. My favorite remains opener 'Kimitake' with title track 'Yukio' being a brilliant second. Recommended stuff!!!

Lachrymose - The Unseen

doom / occult metal

Hailing from Greece, Lachrymose delivers an occult driven version of female fronted melodic doom metal. With influences from bands like Moonspell, Paradise Lost and Avatarium, these Greeks dwell in a dark and almost operatic region of the doom metal scene. Besides, 'This Sickness' rocks like hell and is a definite fan favorite. In all, this might best be compared to a heavy metal version of Inkubus Sukkubus or a female fronted version of Lacrimosa perhaps. All I know is that this is pretty interesting, mainly because it isn't overwhelmed with bombastic symphonic elements. This is raw gothic doom!

Disowning - Battle of Neverness

death metal

Xenocorp

I don't often pick out death metal albums to review so when I do something special must be going on. On this EP by French combo Disowning I'm extremely impressed by the old school sound and the by the vocals. I hear elements from some of my favorite bands from back in the day, including Suffocation, Dying Fetus and Carcass, but mostly I hear those awesome growls over a punishing array of drums and riffs. Opener and title track 'Battle Of Neverness is a massive kick in the cojones and my personal favorite 'Inner Emptiness' doubles the torment. So, old school death metallers, I think you need this.

Gravecoven - Coughing Blood

black metal / doom / death metal

Gods Ov War

Some more vicious torment comes from Californian duo Gravecoven and their aptly titled EP 'Coughing Blood'. On this EP you will find four eerie and fearsome blackened death/doom metal tracks, mostly coming at high speeds and with a gruesome atmosphere. Personally, I would categorize this under black metal, especially the chaotic, occult driven version. I mean, with songs like 'Furious Fires' and 'The Ecstasy Of Hatred' leading the way, the path is one of total annihilation and utter destruction. So yeah, this is a massive, chaotic and punishing EP that deserves a place in every extreme collection.

Vandal Moon - Wild Insane

post punk / synth pop

Also hailing from California but residing in a whole different musical universe is synthpop duo Vandal Moon. If you love acts like The Human League, Modern English or the synth pop escapades by The Cure, you have to check out this album. Eighties synths, romantic themes and a new wave breathing guitar, everything you love about the gloomy eighties dancefloors is here. My personal favorite is 'Computer Love' but I'm sure that every old goth, new waver and synthpop adept can easily add this album to his collection. This truly is as close as it gets and comes highly recommended for blackdressers

Sense Fracture - In My Escape I look For A Weapon

breakcore / industrial

Haunter Records

Still completely electronic but from a copletely different level comes this little gem. Haunter Records co- founder, DJ, producer and writer Francesco Birsa Alessandri delivers a mindblowing EP in which "unpredictability" is a keyword. With harsh electronic beats, uncategorizable noises and eerie samples Sense Fracture creates a unique sonic universe, inspired by dark ambient, industrial, noise and breakcore. The five tracks on this 12" are relentless, harsh and abrasive. They remind me of something between Author & Punisher and Bong-Ra. Recommended? Only if you get stand musical insanity.

Richard James Simpson - Sweet Birds Of Youth

alternative rock / blues

... or dare we call them the bitter-sweet birds of youth? On his debut album, a compilation of older and more recent work, American guitarist and singer Richard James Simpson collaborates with friends (Joey Burns, Dustin Boyer and Theo Welch). He kicks the listener back in time to their wonder years, where one day you feel like an adult in a child's body and the other day things are vice versa. The variety in musical styles reflects this unsteady period; the majority of the songs has a stingy bluesrock feel but there's also a fantastic shoegaze track, some haunting dark ambient, some post-neofolk, experimentality in the

style of Tool and quite a bit of grunge - vocals that remind of Cobain included. So go buy this one if you appreciate something that refuses to fit into one box.

Nhung Nguyen – Oblivion

ambient / experimental

Pany Rosas Discos

And we finish this edition of brieviews with a one-track EP by experimentalist Nhung Nguyen. In this twelve minutes lasting track, Nhung Nguyen explores everything from ambient soundscapes and loops over field recordings and found objects to weird electronics and noise. Needless to say then perhaps, but this composition is a complex and mesmerizing sonic journey. Don't expect sweet and comforting ambient, much like the real world, this track is full of grittiness and strange elements. So, this comes highly recommended but only for seasoned ambient experimentalists.

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Cloud - Deus Ex Machina

22/5/2018

stoner rock / doom

Deus Ex Machina is an album to be released on May 25, by American stoner rock act Cloud. Forty two minutes long, the record has six tracks: Part One: Before The Fall, Part Two: Ruin Of Man, Deus Ex Machina, Our Darkest Hour, As The Dust Settles and Neogenesis. As a calm and deeply serene incursion into a more transient and stagnating sound, Deus Ex Machina seems like the everlasting dust to be moved by winds of obliteration throughout the edges of eternity. With a style quite imperative, consistent and constant, Cloud features exceedingly strong guitar lines, that secures a hazardous and deeply precise creative line of melodies for their work, that implodes over the dissonances of its own itinerant harmonies the lucid impositions of its own gregarious peculiarities.

Although the record departs from very simple sonorous premises, the sobriety of its nature marvelously delineates the incisive allegories touched by the horizon of its creative devices. The constant rhythm that crafts a highly energetic wall of sound on its profuse celebration of cohesiveness, breaks the boundaries of its own harmonious anatomy, despite the fact that ably maintains intact the vivacity of the surreal molecules that seems to live at the twilight of its concentrated style; nevertheless, there is a sincere splendor that is subtlety dissipated throughout the labyrinth of sentiments highlighted by the singularity of its notes, that ostensibly insinuates the dynamic of its robust inventiveness, which remains quite diffuse on the boundaries of the melodies.

Despite the fact that Deus Ex Machina does keep aligned to its ingenious frivolity an irreplaceable degree of predictability, the album is not monotonous at all, and displays a highly lucid, and well distributed degree of creativity, that keeps its extraordinary calmness intelligently preserved at the gracious viability of its amazingly technical proficiency.

A very competent and skilled work, Deus Ex Machina is a very good exemplar of a modern stoner rock, that concentrates on the synergy of its style the essence of the genre, but doesn’t have any fears of displaying a marvelously intuitive and sincere level of authenticity on its work, unraveling a decent, but genuine formula of delivering high quality music, that certainly deserves the highest appreciation from the enthusiasts of the scene.

Wagner

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Brieviews 43

21/5/2018

White Hills & Der Blutharsch And The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand - Desire

krautrock / psychedelic

White Hills

Here is an interesting cooperation to kick off this edition of Brieviews. Two interesting psychedelic music acts got together for a jam session and created this immersive summer meditation, a five track trip towards the gloomy site of the psychedelic sixties. I like the level of variation that this cooperation has generated. There is blues, shoegaze and - naturally - a big dose of psychedelic krautrock, all combined into songs that make every post-goth and neo-hippy happy. My favorite is 'Desire' but I'm sure that all of these tunes will end up in my day-to-day playlist. I suggest you do the same.

Der Blutharsch And The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand & Derniere Volonté

psychedelic rock / krautrock / neo folk

Derniere Volonte

Or how about this collaboration. Once upon a time, these two acts were genre-colleagues but gradually their sounds moved away from one-another. However, together they have recently released something pleasantly surprising. On this EP, they come up with four lo-fi songs, once again borrowing elements from krautrock, shoegaze and vintage electronica. This stuff immediately brought a big smile to my face, not because it's joyous music but because I am listening to pure and authentic jamming fun. 'L`Arc En Ciel' even flirts with synthpop, absolute brilliance. Recommended? Utterly!

Pink Cocoon - Alienation

doom / blues

website

We're not done psyching-out yet, we're just gonna add some doom blues to the mix, courtesy of Canadian trio Pink Cocoon. On the cover you can see a man worshiping an amp and that should tell you everything you need to know about this demo. The EP contains six songs, all hypnotic examples of heavy psychedelic music, complete with mind altering guitar solos, feedback, groovy riffs and trance inducing drum work. Pink Cocoon will get you levitating on massively immersive doom blues, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Fuck, I love this. This is going on repeat for a while and I'll do the rest later...

JK Flesh – Wasplike

techno

Inner Surface

There's no denying that Justin K Broadrick has had a massive influence on the world of music. Napalm Death, Godflesh, Jesu... They're classics in their respective genres. And then there was also Techno Animal and JK Flesh, Broadrick's dancefloor invitations. Well, with this 'Wasplike' EP, he no longer invites you, he drags you by the neck and lets the distorted beats punish you to extacy. This four track EP is a wild techno adventure, fueled with noise and drones but mostly pumping harsh and abrasive, especially in 'Mindprison'. So you have been warned, this thing will get you shaking your lazy ass...

Moloch - The Other Side

electronic / darkwave

Do you ever wonder what the next retro craze will be? We've had stoner rock revivals, psychedelic revivals, even new beat seems to be coming back. But as far as I'm concerned the next big craze is eighties horror soundtracks like this EP from Polish electronic act Moloch. Imagine the Knight Rider theme taking a dark turn and you'll get close to what this act delivers. Personally, I can 't get enough of this. If you are a sucker for eighties synths or old school EBM, you will absolutely adore this, I promise you. I also urge you to check out 'The Vatican Cellars', which brings you more of the same awesomeness. I'm a fan now...

Burning House - Tracer

shoegaze

This EP by British shoegazers Burning House is either an application for or a tribute to the legendary 4AD label. Just look at that cover and tell me it doesn't remind you of Dead Can Dance or Cocteau Twins? Musically, this brings everything that you used to love about shoegaze and dreampop into today's alternative rock scene. In four fantastic and intense tracks, this trio delivers pure reverb galore, complete with the high-octane drums and introvert vocals. The Jesus and Mary Chain often comes to mind and so does A Place To Bury Strangers. So yeah, this comes highly recommended...

Eye of the Destroyer - Violent By Design

death metal

To be released in the beginning of June, this two-track single by New Jersey death metal act Eye Of The Destroyer is the follow up to their full-length 'Starved and Hanging', released earlier this year. What I like about this EP is that it's not about speed. The two tracks here are slow. However, what they lack in tempo, they definitely make up in brutality. Although short, only three minutes long each, these monstrosities will undoubtedly get you headbanging and making weird hand gestures towards the sky. My personal favorite is the title track but rest assured, both these tunes will fuck you up hard...

Alexandre Navarro - Imaginations

ambient / downtempo / post rock

An interesting and original EP by French guitarist/soundscapist Alexandre Navarro, 'Imagination' brings me some much welcome chill-out tunes. I think this guy has been listening to Plaid and Boards Of Canada a lot, something I can only applaud, obviously. On these five tracks, I hear something similar; downtempo electronic music, calm and soothing but not too goody-goody. The level of variation is perfect, aided of course by a range of sounds and instruments. This really is nice stuff, stuff that makes me curious about future musical escapades by mister Navarro...

Valyria - Into the Dying of Time

death metal / power metal

Back to the heavies, this time with Canadian power death metalers Valyria and their latest EP. What to expect? Well, imagine the blend of everything in the history of melodic death metal since Children Of Bodom, Evergrey and Nevermore. The EP opens with an intro which leads way for a massive array of flashing guitars, pounding drums and a combination of power metal vocals and death growls. I guess it's needless to say that the bombast and energy blasts from the speakers and that the whole thing is a mesmerizing whirlpool of extreme metal galore. If you like your metal bombasic as fuck, you need this...

Anthony - Get Over U

americana / alternative rock / indie

On a somewhat calmer side of the musical spectrum we find Anthony, of Ceremony fame, and his four track EP 'Get Over U'. This might be one of the poppiest, cheesiest and most bittersweet things I have ever reviewed for this website. The songs here are lo-fi indie tunes about love and heartache, inspired by acoustic rock and post-punk. Somehow the Lemonheads and Blind Melon come to mind but also flashes of Pixies, Beatles and the entire jangling-guitar scene in England. Closer 'I Hope I Never See You Face' is my personal favorite here, and certainly a message towards some people...

Eyes on the Machine - Eyes on the Machine

stoner metal

Polderrecords

Et voila, another Belgian band enters the already immense stoner rock scene. Eyes On the Machine is a band from Aalter, inspired by the likes of Tool, Mastodon and "Mike Patton's Crazy Bands". The stuff on this EP sure is crazy. It's also quite unpredictable but for the most part, this rocks the fuzz out of your underpants. With groovy riffs, a drummer that possibly wants to strangle you and a vocalist who swallowed a hydrogen bomb, Eyes On The Machine make stoner blues metal sexy again. There will be a lot of ass shaking and headbanging going on in Belgium this summer and I can' be happier about it...

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Urfaust - The Constellatory Practice

7/5/2018

black metal / doom

The Constellatory Practice is a formidably great, unique and excellent masterpiece, released by Dutch black metal act Urfaust. Almost fifty four minutes long, the album has only six very extensive tracks: Doctrine of Spirit Obsession, Behind the Veil of the Trance Sleep, A Course in Cosmic Meditation, False Sensorial Impressions, Trail Of The Conscience of the Dead and Eradication Through Hypnotic Suggestions. With slow, transient and agonizing harmonies, the sound of Urfaust is a deeply afflictive, but sincere journey throughout the most overwhelmingly dissolute abysses of the human nature. In a tempestuous darkness that slowly filters and comprehends the organic labors of a sensitive obscurity, their sound ostensibly translates at the vicinities of its cohesion the sordid precipices of existence, in a labyrinth of inextricable volatilities that surround the epicenter of its own perdition.

With slow, disdainful and anxiously monolithic guitar lines, that composes a sonorous wall of passionate splendor, the style of Urfaust is a hyperbolic, but profoundly coherent symphony, intonated to the inheritance of nothingness, compressed in an everlasting corrosion of splendor, designed to replicate its everlasting frivolities in palaces made entirely of human flesh. With a deeply ethereal musicality that displays an absolute precision that communicates directly with the soul, The Constellatory Practice is a formidably vast and intricate anthem to infinity, where everything sidelined with the empire of its consciousness tend to evoke the exhilaration of a conspiracy diagram of unorthodox sensibility.

A black metal album thoroughly consecrated by the convolutions of doom metal elements – despite the fact that the work persistently maintains ardently recognizable black metal features, although its consistent funereal slowness is preponderant all the way through – The Constellatory Practice is almost a literal journey throughout the entire vastness of the universe. With a dense musical paradigm, whose impeccable structure never collides with its incessantly harmonious abysmal predispositions, the record is a very primordial exemplar of the more insinuating, sinister and atmospheric subgenre of black metal it represents.

About the songs that impressed me the most, the second track, Behind The Veil Of The Trance Sleep – filled with a rich texture that aggregates to its linear anatomy the perennial quest of a sentiment that grows lethargic underneath its soul, with somber guitar lines that insert in the deleterious darkness of its mystery the pervasive singularity of its own ubiquitous lamentations –, is a fundamental milestone of this consistently grotesque, but insinuatingly perverse crossover between distinct styles, whose audacious creativity certainly deserves to be highlighted, by virtue of its greatest symmetric artistry. Trail Of The Conscience Of The Dead is also a track that deserves to be hailed as major song, as well. A major symphony that aligns the omnipresent silence of an unexpected eternity to the insecure voice that desperately screams inside the darkness of our despondencies, this track probably is the best in this album, and replicates in an echo of druidic allegiances the monumental courage that remains forgotten in the shadows of time.

A greatly designed and formidably executed album, that ordinary words can’t honestly describe, fulfilled with the greatest qualities the genre has ever presented, The Constellatory Practice is a magnificent state of the art work, exceedingly original and amazingly unique. Undoubtedly, deserves to be forever in the spotlight as one of the best slow-rhythm albums in dark metal history, as the vigorous achievement this extraordinary masterpiece truly revealed itself to be.

Wagner

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Dylan Carlson - Conquistador

24/4/2018

drone / Americana / doom

Norman Records

More instrumental drone rock and again from a renowned and well respected artist. Dylan Carson, of Earth-fame, releases his new solo album, 'Conquistador' and it's one for the books. With this new album, Carson has been inspired by the history of the natives in Texas and the effect of white settlers from Europe on those people's lives.

The result is a monumental album that evokes visions of a gigantic desert and the absolute solitude that it brings. Somewhere in that desert, a man is playing guitar. His loops and fuzzed-out drones roll over the desert and its violent history.

The album opens with the title track 'Conquistador'. With this track, Carson immediately sets the tone. Blues and American rock meet in a guitar-only frenzy of drones and riffs. Of course, Earth immediately comes to mind, along with thier colleagues from Om. Driving on a lingering guitar riff, this songs drags you out into the aforementioned desert. The rest is pure enjoyment for drone doom fans, a wild and heavy trip.

From then one, the album ripples on like one psychedelic big jam session. Here and there, the music bangs on the walls of the noise scene but as an accomplished drone artist, Carson continuously maintains his grip on the listener with intense and piercing riffs. My favorite track is 'Scorpions In Their Minds' but I'm sure that every fan of drone, doom and especially Earth, will undoubtedly embrace this new effort. So yes, this one comes highly recommended.

Serge

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Brieviews 41

15/4/2018

Ihä - Estructuras De Aire, Colonias De Soplo

ambient / drone

bandcamp

Chilean drone/ambient band Ihä return with a beautiful new four track album. Much like their previous release, 'Esperanza', this one focuses on minimal but atmospheric soundscapes. The result is a soothing yet immersive piece of work, something fans of everything between Brian Eno and Barn Owl can certainly appreciate. Furthermore, people with a hectic life, people who just want to ease down and relax for a moment, should also give this stuff a chance. Play it loud enough, not too loud, close your eyes and let this talented act guide you through the wonderful world of Ihä.

Spankraght - Spankraght EP

industrial / metal / drum & bass

Antwerp is a crowded city. One day a metalhead and a drum & bass producer slammed into each other in one of our many record stores. Their respective Channel Zero and Netsky vinyl albums smashed into pieces and fell to the floor. Instead of fighting each other, they bought some gear and locked themselves in a rehearsal studio. Now they released a nice piece of crossover with a pounding five track EP. Heavy guitars meet electronic beats and synths in a whirlpool of musical energy. It's Pendulum meets Combichrist meets ... let's say Rammstein, or Metallica. Most of all, it's bloody awesome, although I have no idea how to both dance and bang my head at the same time...

August Rosenbaum - Rasa

classical

Tambourhinoceros

Back in November 2017 August Rosenbaum released 'Vista'. Now, as a little extra, he offers a six track EP, containing the stripped down foundations of that album, plus one brand new track, 'Milo'. What can I say about this EP? It's a man playing a piano, nothing more, nothing less. That alone makes this one of the most beautiful things to listening to, especially if that man is a talented and experienced composer. So, if you're into calm, soothing and blissful smile evoking piano music, this EP is an absolutely must have, nothing more, nothing less.

Show Aniki - The Deep Blue Sessions

metal

website

The EP by French hard rockers Show Aniki compiles four singles. Throughout the years, the band has suffered several line-up changes but that didn't seem to harm the energy. Influenced by everything between Metallica, Anthrax, Disturbed and Alice In Chains these guys deliver four solid and groovy rock tracks. This is perfect stuff for a hot summer afternoon on some big ass rock festival where the older generation of headbangers will often point at the stage and tell the youngsters how metal should be done. So yeah, this is edgy metal with a heavy yet melodic approach. Great stuff.

The Human Race Is Filth - Liberate

grindcore / crust

Right, that was nice metal and all but for true mental torment you'd have to turn toward this cute and friendly American duo. Thrif delivers their second set of chaotic grindcore pummeling, once again with the intensity of an atomic blast. Fans of bands like Dismember and Napalm Death will undoubtedly get a hardon from this stuff (I don't need photographic proof of that!!!). In eight tracks, mostly short blast of ferocious crust/grind, Thrif effortlessly destroys everything in their path, including your sanity, but who needs sanity when you can have grindcore, right?

Misantronics vs Mint Narcosis - EPI

ambient / techno

Misantronics

Mint Narcosis

Ambient and dance beats mix quite well together. Just look at acts like early Biosphere or Psychic Warriors Of Gaia. In that aspect, it's almost weird that ambient act Misantronics and his EDM alter ego Mint Narcosis only now release a cooperative EP. On 'EPI' you can find four tracks, three of them delving deep into the world of ambient techno and one coming up with some breaks. 'Dragon' and 'Kepler' showcase the calm but danceable side of this EP while 'Kuba' is an hypnotic, trance inducing dance track. 'Unwasted Years' is the odd one here, a gloomy IDM track with haunting soundscapes. Certainly to be continued.

The Room in the Wood - Magical Thinking

new wave / alternative rock

Somewhere between the gloomy sound of new wave and the uplifting energy of alternative rock, we find Liverpool residents The Room In The Wood. Think acoustic music with a strong, distinct voice. In the title track the band shows an infectious blend between Leonard Cohen, Wall Of Voodoo and The Lemonheads. Yeps, that's possible. Johnny Cash fans will undoubtedly appreciate 'Baba Yaga' while The Doors lovers will pick out 'Dragonfly' as their favorite. My personal favorite is the opener. It's a track that makes me curious about their other work. I'll check that soon, but for now, this is good enough.

Twilight - Trident Death Rattle

black metal

To be released on May 1st, this three track EP by legendary American black metal band Twilight, is perhaps one of the most epic blackened releases from that continent. These tracks, which feature Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, are harsh, intense and chaotic songs. They showcase a massive sense of derangement and isolation. In fact, Opener 'This Road South' is currently one of my favorite black metal tracks. 'Weathered Flames' is a suffocating spiral of blackened nihilism and closer 'No Consequence' will haunt your dreams for decades to come. These are nightmares translated to music and I like that.

Corpsehammer - Perversión

black metal

Morbid Skull

Speaking about musical nightmares, allow me to plug this ugly little filth monger from Swedish extremists Corpsehammer. This EP is the third part in their EP trilogy, released by Morbid Skull. If you are a fan of old school black metal, and I mean old school in the form of ancient 'World Domination' compilations, this undoubtedly is your thing. In three tracks, plus an outro, Corpsehammer delivers a rancid, hardcore punk influenced approach to extreme metal, often at ferocious speeds. There's nothing pretty about this EP, on the exact contrary. This is the musical equivalent of crawling to mud and faeces, mixed with needles. Awesomeness...

Grim - Requiem

classical / post rock / jazz

Equally awesome but in a completely different way comes this new EP by Belgian trio Grim. This band from Leuven turns classical music into post rock anthems with a gloomy jazz feel. This release is based on Frédéric Chopin, more specifically his Préludes and Marche Funèbre. the result is a cinematic and somewhat intimate sounding blend of post rock and dark jazz, something I'm pleasantly surprised by. I can imagine enjoying this in a small and intimate live setting, like a living room or a salon. However, it would also fit perfectly on a festival like Dunk!. Anyhow, this is pretty cool and certainly recommended.

Mhönos - LXXXVII

drone doom

This album by French ritual drone doom act Mhönos is a massive and epic undertaking. In a way, this is pure catharsis, driving on monolithic riffs, deranged vocals and a crushing atmosphere. What I like most about this, is that the band allow the music to take all the time it needs to grow and evolve. Although slow, I can certainly sense a punk attitude here, mostly in the vocal performance. That reminds me of acts like Winter and coincidentally also Phantom Winter. Yet, the music also reminds me of noise acts like MZ412 and Brighter Death Now. So yeah, this is a brilliant piece of work and it comes highly recommended.

Zero Theorem - Ataraxis

hard rock / metal

website

Some people are waiting for the new Tool album, others hope Disturbed will release their new record soon and still others are still going heavy on the latest Five Finger Death Punch or Papa Roach. All those people should turn their ears towards Los Angeles based metal band Zero Theorem. This six track EP easily draws comparisons with the aforementioned bands. All these songs are infectious modern day metal songs, with exactly the right doses of aggression, melody, riffing and electronics. It's been a while since I have been excited about anything nu-metal related but this EP definitely does the trick.

Vampillia - Happiness Brought By Endless Sorrow

black metal / noise

Temple Of Torturous

Legendary Japanese "brutal orchestra" Vampilia returns with a four track ep that will undoubtedly blast you into mental oblivion. With a furiously raging blend of black metal, grindcore, drone, post rock and noise, this ten piece smashes all competition. Obviously, that shouldn't be a surprise since this act has been on every extreme experimentalists favorites list for years. Although short, these tracks represent massive anthems and come laced with guitars, drums, violins, piano, screams, grunts and whatnot. This is absolute madness, in the best sense of the word.

The Orchestra Of Mirrored Reflections - Narrow Escape

dark jazz

And to conclude, let me introduce you to one of my favorite dark jazz bands and their latest single. I have been following this orchestra for quite some time now and I'm always pleasantly surprised by their output. This time they deliver a long track that might as well become one of my favorites in the while genre. It's an eight minutes lasting and lingering piece of dark jazz with delayed bass, lazy drums and a free floating saxophone solo. In other words, this is perfect for a Sunday evening with wine and cigarettes, courtesy of The Orchestra Of Mirrored Reflections.

Serge

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Messa - Feast For Water

2/4/2018

doom / experimental

Any doom fan knows that Italy is one of the places to be for dark, obscure and occult doom metal. There must something in the water over there because that country keeps on barking brilliant doom albums. So I guess it's no surprise that a band like Messa roams in the same deep waters and comes out with something unique and epic.
The band has been making a name for themselves since their inception in 2014. Their classical and occult doom metal puts them on the same cards as bands like Jex Thoth, Pentagram and Windhand but Messa likes to take things a bit further, right into the regions of jazz, shoegaze and noise. Is that good? Dûh.

The album opens with the usual intro, a two minutes lasting track that drones and noises before 'Snakeskin Drape' breaks loose, first gentle yet impending, then fully embracing the vintage doom metal feel. Personally, I'm already convinced but we're not done yet. Messa still has a lot of goodness to show. 'Leah' for example, which shows you how an antique jazz club would sound if it had today's distortion pedals. I love the jazz escapades on this track and I love how Sara's versatile and soulful voice fits in perfectly. Somehow she belongs on jazz stages, in shoegaze bands and hanging out with dark doomers. I'm happy she picked this band to showcase her talent.

Now, when I mentioned "vintage doom", I obviously also included the psychedelic aspect of that genre. Many of the passages and solos on this album feel like immense and immersive jam sessions, thriving on ancient riff worshiping and the freedom of improvisation. 'The Seer' is a beautiful example of that. But then again, so are pretty much all the other tracks. I'm not going into a track-by-track description here, especially not since you should already get the hint: this is a fantastic album and a perfectly succeeded experiment. There is not a dull moment to be found. This will be a constant in my day-to-day playlist from now on and if you're a fan of high quality and unique music, you might want to get your hands on this.

Serge

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Inabile Caos - 1.0

2/4/2018

drone / dark jazz