doom metal

Caronte (or Charon) is the ferryman transporting the souls across the rivers separating the realm of the living and the dead. It is also the name of a record by Italian progressive rock band The Trip from 1971. Furthermore, Furthermore, Caronte is the name of another Italian band playing an appealing form of NWOBHM-influenced doom metal which just recently released a new album called “Wolves of Thelema” through Ván Records.

When researching the ideas behind the record you very quickly descend into the world of mysticism (not paganism!), into the works of Aleister Crowley, into the idea of an inner will to control human life which is called ‘thelema’ in some ancient texts including the Bible and also in the works of Crowley, who even called his Italian commune in Cefalù the Abbey of Thelema. The word is originally nothing less than a synonym for the will of God guiding and controlling human life – in Crowley’s work it is transported into the center of his idea of a man-controlled form of our own future, a humanization of the original God-centered idea. 

Why am I writing all this? Well, one will not understand Caronte’s record without having a small knowledge of this background: the band has a very occult understanding of the world around us and this record, their fourth since 2014, also deals with Aleister Crowley’s work (like the ones before, but they were much more centered on his works and not on one part alone). But behold, we are not talking about some weirdos spraying pentagrams on other people’s houses or on public buildings, they are talking about it seriously (also noticeable in some of the titles, for example “Quantum Ecclesia”) - as the title of their record “Wolves of Thelema” indicates, they are actively trying to impose the idea of Thelema onto their lives and their music.

Musically, the album is influenced by Judas Priest and you can hear that the new members and participants gave the band some fresh ideas, the songs are heavy but also play with a darkness enlightened by lots of candles in the form of 60s-style synths giving them some ecclesiastical-like notions. The bands has progressed and improved in their songwriting, sometimes even being able to give us a pop-like chorus but never sounding cheesy (listen to “Queen of the Sabbath” or “Hypnopyre”). If there is one thing that might be criticized, then it’s the vocal performance, sometimes the leads could be a bit more original and less 80s-like while at the same times, the backgrounds might be a bit more noticeable. 

Nevertheless, it should be remarked that the album is definitely a grower and a very good start of the new year for those of us who have an open ear for occult metal which a strong, sometimes proggy 70s feel!


Thorsten

progressive / alternative / rock / metal

Originality in the music business nowadays is very rare. Almost every band likes to say that they are pushing the boundaries of what they are producing but in reality what transpires is more of the same but with maybe a small twist. Step forward anonymous collective Sleep Token. The band say they worship a deity with an unpronounceable name, but for the purposes of their music, it's pronounced Sleep. 

They burst onto the scene a few years ago with their debut EP 'one' which sounded like nothing else at the time. The mix of dreamy pop with the incredible voice of front man Vessel mixed with downright obscene heavy breakdowns was a breath of fresh air and instantly got the attention of music lovers everywhere. Over the two EP's they seemed to accumulate more acclaim each week. In fact, the only criticism of them it seemed, was that they were a bit of a one trick pony. Would there debut album be more of the same or would they be able to produce something else? Well, the answer to that question is that they have produced something incredible.

The album starts off with the dream like 'The night does not belong to god' which does a brilliant job of accentuating Vessels sublime vocal skills. He sings with such emotions that at times, it sounds like he is close to tears. This segues into 'The Offering' which is an absolute highlight and one of the heavier tracks on the album. The disgustingly good breakdown is glorious and it's at this point you start to realise that not one single note is out of place on this album, the musicianship of the whole band is first class but special mention must be made to the drummer who although anonymous is absolutely at the top of his game. 

The next couple of songs showcase Vessels talents again and reign in the heavier side of the group but this does nothing to diminish the impact of the songs, which vear from catchy dreamy pop into lush guitar driven passages so beautifully you'd think that this kind of thing was easy, it's not, far from it, in fact it's bloody difficult getting something that sounds this natural to be anything other than a mess, and they nail it, completely. The two song combination of 'Give' leading into 'Gods' sounds like it shouldn't work with the former songs deftly building gorgeous arrangements butting up against the latter songs immense heaviness, but again, it does work. 

The upward trajectory of this band is something special indeed. If a group can lure in fans from cross genres then they are onto a recipe for success, I would not be at all surprised that if you went to see them live, you would be just as likely to bump into some wearing a Meshuggah t-shirt as you would someone in a Sam Smith or Florence and the Machine top. I cannot recommend this album enough and you really should give it a listen if you are interested in music that moves you.


Simon

stoner rock / metal

Earthshine is an album released in October 18, by Italian stoner rock group The Whirlings. A relatively concise musical effort — only thirty-eight minutes long —, the record has five tracks: 1) Vacuum; 2) Reverence; 3) #6; 4) Good For Health, Bad For Education; 5) Lost In Without; with a powerful musical vitality, a cohesive internal sonorous consistency, and a gracious ability to explore the genre on its more inhospitable layouts, Earthshine manages to be a very pleasant and magnificent experience. Despite the exceedingly conventional beginnings, the band soon manages to take a more genuine and authorial turn, and from the first track onwards, the album reveals itself as a magnificent musical journey, that all lovers of stoner rock will undoubtedly appreciate, with ardent enthusiasm. 

The vast majority of the rhythms are inadvertently cautious and slow; nevertheless, they are so majestically conceived, they overflow with such an organic consistency, that the exceedingly superb technical competence and attention to detail displayed by the band easily makes the listener fall in love with this album. But the qualities don't stop there. As if that were not enough,   the guitar lines and the general pace of the harmonies are so fantastically exceptional and rapturous, that its impossible not to be immediately attracted to the absurdly abrasive melodies that fluctuates above the horizon of the dense and delightful harmonies showcased by the band's creative and lurid style, that openly reveals the desire to conceive something entirely new, from the good old influences they all had absorbed as musicians. 

Sincerely, I couldn't find anything negative to be written about this magnificent album. With a powerfully afflictive, but at the same time moderate and restrained style — that never exaggerates nor repeats itself —, Earthshine reveals itself as a carefully conceived and wisely elaborated musical masterpiece, whose sensational degree of originality deserves to be praised by the underground. With a deeply sagacious creativity and a sober degree of audacity, that knows precisely where the genre needs improvement, The Whirlings certainly can be classified as a major act of contemporary stoner rock. Undoubtedly, if they continue to demonstrate this formidable level of boldness, sensibility and competence, they are destined to become undisputed references in the history of the genre. 

With a majestic degree of excellence that I personally haven't heard in the genre before, Earthshine, by The Whirlings — in its glorious entirety, from start to finish —, proves to be a spectacular, impeccable and unexpected album. While the band display the general strucuture and the ordinary elements of stoner rock, their rereading and personal rendering of the genre is absolutely extraordinary. With no homogeneity, no repetitive features, no obsolete techniques, no generic or formulaic passages, the majestic grandiosity of this fabulous album deserves to be recognized as a landmark in the history of the genre's development, as Earthshine definitely designs new melodic and stylistic possibilities for the underground music, with a refreshing, vivid and authentic creative nature, that heralds a future of splendor for stoner rock. 


Wagner

alternative / doom / metal

bandcamp

Faith-Faith is an album released by Russian musician Artem Pervykh, under the alias Faith, on September 30. Atmospheric metal with profusely melancholic and symphonic dissonances, this magnificent album is a relentless and formidable masterpiece. Almost fifty-two minutes long, the album has only four long tracks:
1) In the Ocean of My Tears; 2) Clouds On Your Sides; 3) Faith; 4) Oblivion; the first one, a beautiful anthem of serene majesty, the deeply resounding and harmonious cosmogony that emerges from the melodies are exceedingly proverbial rhapsodies of ostensible splendor, that reveals the absolutely graceful artistic competence of Artem Pervykh. 

His musicality has extraordinary features, most prominently the atmosphere upon which marvelously gracious and flexible melodies float, converting a dense horizon of disruptive harmonies into an everlasting sculpture of sonorous virtues. Despite the fact that some songs are indeed very extensive — the third track, Faith, is almost twenty minutes long —, the fantastic cohesiveness displayed by the music, as well as its generally beautiful and exceptionally wonderful tonalities exhibits a superb and incomparable degree of original creative proficiency, perfectly aligned to a sensational level of technical knowledge, that makes this album a very pleasant and delightful experience.  

The spectacular sonorous atmosphere created by the artist is a major point of sensitive highlight in the album. His astounding excellency upgrades the ethereal cosmogony that is a major musical feature within the wonderfully despondent symphonies that floats from the creative atmospheres of the soul. The genuine and intuitive groundbreaking qualities of the album find no match in the genre nowadays. The melodies are made of exceedingly extraordinary levels of beauty, upon which the essence of the album derives its colossal and virtuous strength. 

Faith-Faith is a magnificent, resonating, serene and deeply vivacious album, that not only revitalizes, but opens a new path of possibilities for the development of atmospheric metal as a genre by its own merits. With an exceptionally dynamic, but at the same time fugacious nature, all musical elements on this great album deliberately align, to deliver a wonderfully conceived masterpiece, that deserves to be classified as a milestone of the genre. 


​Wagner

industrial / post rock / metal / noise

Sometimes the seemingly impossible is possible. Leicester City wins the Premier League, some player not Messi or Ronaldo wins an important award, Guns’n’Roses reunite, Tom Warrior finishes his “Requiem” with an orchestra-supported performance at Roadburn. However, can a side-project achieve something as unique as the “main” project? Sometimes yes – think of S.O.D. who sometimes outshone Anthrax. 

Consumer is a side-project, and Have a Nice Life is its roots. Tim of HANL formed Consumer in 2017 together with the live-band that supports him and Dan on the road. However, it must be noted that this band is hopefully more than a once-off-project because their sound and approach are different to HANL. You can hear some proto-noise in Consumer’s sound even though it is coming from an opposite idea. If we take bands like the Melvins or Pere Ubu, it is clear that the foundation for their early work was always a guitar and the wish to do something unusual with it. Consumer also want to do something unusual, but their foundation is clearly much more focused on electronics and synths. The shared motif is distortion. Consumer distort their instruments (the aforementioned plus guitars and a regular rhythm section) and twist them around and around until everything contributes to a mantra-esque hard flow of ebb and tide. 

Sometimes the drums sound as if Einstuerzende Neubauten got the idea that self-made instruments are cool but their sound had to go through a broken vocoder to make the result even more uncomfortable just to lose a battle with a synth-driven melody that alludes to the end of a sinking ship on the open sea. Everything is in its right place, flows into one another on “In Computers” and even though the sound is hard to describe it must be clear that this band has a knack for ear candy. The sounds are unusual and sometimes harsh but they never disgust. 

The instrumental trilogy “In Computers Parts I – III” at the end is definitely HANL-like, of course as Tim is at work. The electronica in “Part II” can be seen as a little nod to Radiohead in their “Kid A/ Amnesiac”-period, not the worst of mental connections; some other parts sound like a very self-indulging and noise-less collab between Mogwai and Aphex Twin. Obviously, a lot of ideas, connections, comparisons come to mind when listening to Consumer’s full-length debut but one should note that this is a release which can take all of that scrutiny and needn’t be afraid of any of it for it is unique and self-sufficient. And maybe that is the best one can say for any side-project, right? 


​Thorsten

dark ambient

A gray cover shower the mouldy hands of a seemingly dead person – no one could live with hands a mixture of burnt to ashes and blown up by frostbite – hanging down in front of an old garment (with one bloody stain on the left arm) as if worn by a mummy from the 17th or 18th century. This cover
gets the listener into the right mood for what will follow in the next 37 minutes.

No sunshine can permeate through the stark, distorted canvas that Clavicvla – mastermind Ittiel has concocted for the follow-up to last year’s “Sermons”, only to show that the starkness of horror scores for the most evil movies, the most gruesome images, the most horrible slow-motions need some kind of eruption: a shriek, a shrill noise wandering from left to right, a slow verbal chant to exemplify the fear to be induced.

Sepulchral Blessing” is not a bad album per se, not that is not true, in the realm of Black Ambient
this band has definitely a strong footing and will even gather more followers with this album. It is
bleak, it got a lot of atmosphere, knows how to incorporate small disturbances into the sub-bass
horror bleakness without ruining the Hadean flow. However, those of us who do not regularly watch old horror movies turning off the sound and for those who cannot envision a dark spawn of John Carpenter and Bohren und der Club of Gore lying in the grave dug up by Mamiffer and A-Sun Amissa this will not do. A class of its own – for its own scene – in its own world. Enter if you may.

black metal

Swiss German is already a hell to understand for anybody who is not from the Northern part of
Switzerland, but turning it into the lingua franca for a black metal record seems even more absurd.
However, one thing becomes very clear when listening to Ateiggaer’s debut EP, to be released in
mid-November: These two guys (working under the monikers Fauth Temenkeel and Fauth Lantav)
make no sacrifices, they take no hostages, they are in it for themselves and for nobody else.

Associated with the up and coming Helvetic Underground Committee from Zurich, they are able to play a furious version of black metal that has long been associated with the second wave of black metal, stemming from Norway. They infuse their fundamental rage and well-shouted visions with short passages of intricate laid-back drum fills, guitar motifs and near-Gregorian chants that connect very well with the mysticism they are here to convey, just listen to “De Dämon us Levania” (the demon from Levania) – everything blends in nicely.

The world as we see it is not theirs, they talk about spheres and gods from another realm, always
able to surprise us with minuscule differences to the usual sound. Not even a year into their
existence, Ateiggaer already got a release by popular German black metal label Eisenton – no
surprise when listening to this EP which is hopefully not their last.

hardcore

When announcing this release of one of his numerous projects on iconic label Deathwish Inc.,
guitar player Aaron D.C. Edge said that this was a dream come true. Naturally, most any hardcore band dreams of releasing a record through Jacob Bannon’s label for several reasons – worldwide acclaim, lots of fans and, of course, the respect of the scene. However, the members of the band have already earned that respect over decades of contributing with so many bands (amongst them 
Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye or Lumbar), so that this should not be a major goal.


Nevertheless, one goal was surely to release a standout single which they did. The noisy, low-tuned shredding by Aaron, Brock Lowry’s tight drumming or Tim Singer’s brilliant vocals (his name speaks for itself, evidently) all give the listener a shiver-evoking experience. The opener “Lies > Truth” already shows all the strengths of the band and additionally marks a deeply sarcastic lyricist.
​
“I don’t want truth… just lie to me” - sometimes people want to be lied to because (maybe) the
truth is too hard to bear, right? Well, truth be told, you will have to try hard to find a better noisehardcore debut single this year. The dream has come true for these experienced musicians. 

"miserable bastard music" / alternative / indie

Burden Limbs debut EP can hit you straight in the face when you least expect it as it displays a rougher version of the kind of dark pop that Kayo Dot presented on their latest record. The darkness is not only shown musically in a synth-driven melodrama like the self-titled track “Burden Limbs” but even more in their lyrics which are pretty straight-forward: “I'm so tired of suffering these reminders of a world I can't abide / Why else would I carve out my hatred and dissatisfaction?” The little red-glowing dots on the dark horizons are not leading the way to new-found hope but rather to blood raining in slo-mo from the skies. Not a lot of songs demand repeat as urgently as this one.

Burden Limbs can also knock you out in ways that do not sound like a doom-version of The Cooper Temple Clause but much more immediate with songs that introduce themselves into your longtimememory by means of simply intriguing lyrics by Chad Murray but also through the combination of synths, drones and gently-interwoven electronica giving you the chance to discover a lot of details and something new each time you sit down to really listen. And listen you should – these Londonboys might be up to something. They provide a great soundtrack to an overdose of medicine you don’t want to take but that you just can’t stop yourself from.

doom / sludge / noise rock / metal

Astral Noize

Split releases – an interesting thing as most of us can name a few from the tip of our head, right? Isis and Aereogramme, Melt Banana and Fantomas, Battery and Ignite, The Ocean and Burst. Sometimes however, those with the unknown bands get you the most. Mid-November, Astral Noize will bring us one of the latter category, releasing a 7” by Kurokuma and Under. The combination is really striking, because both songs at first glance seem totally unrelated only sharing a certain weirdness.

Kurokuma starts off with a cover song (well, that is not unusual for a split release) – reworking a theme song for a 20 year old Sega game classic called “Ecco the Dolphin: The Tides of Time” - fortunately, this is not a close cover but a free interpretation as they turn the whirling theme into a pretty clever doom track with a lot of atmosphere and a striking hihat use so that the listener asks himself afterwards if this might not have been the better theme for Ecco’s second adventure.

Then Under are up next with “Abysal Gigantism” and they definitely have some sense of humor, because their track starts with some field recordings from the seaside so that you hear that kind of stuff you would expect from our dolphin. Then they turn the song into an  eight minute epic somewhere between Crowhurst and Dillinger Escape Plan making clever use of vocoder, swirling guitars and waving drums all being held together by a strong rhythm section. 

In the end, this 7” leaves one impressed by the chutzpah of combining those two bands and the
clever way both complement each other turning this split into a more than welcome stray from the
path of regular splits.

black metal / noise rock / post metal

Sometimes, certain boundaries should not be crossed. For example combining Motown Soul and
Classic Hardcore – that just doesn’t work. Nevertheless, some unexpected combinations might
work, just remember Zeal and Ardor combining gospel and black metal. Witch Trail do something similar – they create their own unique blend of post-metal taking a lot from Sonic Youth and Thurston Moore’s solo work and combining it with pure post-metal. And once again, Belgium (more specifically Ghent) proves to be a brilliant soil for unique combinations as the trio is really able to provide a fresh start to a genre as trodden as post-metal.

They take the classic noise-licks and use them to replace the regular post-metal riffs. This way they also implement the pop-appeal of good noise-rock into their songs. How they start “Lucid” with a noisy take on a nearly surf-twang guitar riff and then build the shrieking vocals around it, always leaving those easy and pumping noise-rock elements at the core of the song and right in the middle of our ears – impressive! Sometimes you must think of the Beach Boys (“Stupor”), but sharing the record with Stiff Little Fingers and Discharge (“Sinking”); suddenly Kim Gordon and SY show up on your mental stage (“Silent Running”) - but interestingly all of the songs are not sung by any of those but by a guy like Fenriz. These 29 minutes full of twists and turns, of clean-distorted noisy-ness and of blastbeats, of infernal shrieks and a unique soundscape really captures any open ear. 

Thorsten

progressive / rock / metal

bandcamp

I'm normally not a big fan of instrumental metal, but I'll gladly make an exception for Apprentice Destroyer's "Permanent Climbing Monolith", which has been released on September 20th. Well, technically it's not instrumental, but since there's only some sparse vocals on two songs, let's not be too picky... 

Apprentice Destroyer is not a band but rather a project led by Steve Peacock (also member of Ulthar, Pandiscordian Necrogenesis, Pale Chalice and Mastery), who is assisted by a number of guitarists and a drummer. Having 4 guitarists might explain the incredibly dense guitar work.

Apprentice Destroyer released two other records in the past, but this is the first time I heard of them.

But how does it sound? Well, if you can imagine music as mathematics, riffs as squares, triangles, octagons, ... then you're pretty close. It sounds like musical Tetris, with riffs tumbling over each other, everything fitting perfectly together. Hmm, that didn't make sense, did it... Musically, it leans a bit towards Krautrock, infused with Liturgy. The songs are very repetitive and hypnotic, most of the time starting with one (dissonant) riff, and then building up with drums and additional guitars thrown in.

Expect no blast beats, this is solid mid-tempo work. A nice touch is the metallic guitar sound, which sometimes reminds me of Big Black (may they rest in peace). In any case, the production is crystal clear, which helps convey the power of the songs. There's also two short modular synth intermezzos, nice and fat, and slightly detuned, just like an analog synth should sound. This
obviously adds to the Krautrock-ish sound.

Even if I compared this music to mathematics, don't expect a cold or Djentish sound. "Permanent Climbing Monolith" is able to take me on an immersive emotional rollercoaster ride. My only complaint is that, even at 42 minutes, it's too short... and that's high praise.


​Koen

heavy metal

Idylls of Woe is an album released in July 19, by old school heavy metal group Dogbane. With eight tracks — 1) The One I Was Warned Of; 2) Devil's Tramping Ground; 3) Blood in the Snow; 4) Riddle of Steel; 5) Land of Shadows; 6) Now You Know; 7) Winter of Man's Demise; 8) Sin Eater; — the album doesn't have anything that could qualify the work as superb, excellent or extraordinary, in any level whatsoever. Nevertheless, the record is relatively good, displays some intriguing, dynamic and ferocious harmonies, and definitely exhibits competently all the formidable features that were abundant in classical heavy metal, with a decent level of agility and virtuosity. 

Despite a certain lack of originality, Idylls of Woe has what it takes to be taken seriously, and the sound is efficiently diluted in a pool of dense and striking harmonies, whose diffusive savagery and proficient technique makes the group's style worthwhile listening. 
After some songs, though, the sound of the band resents itself of some terribly generic, exasperating and repetitive features; you really have to be passionate about the genre to be willing to listen to the album until the end. 

However, it is worth noting that the album has its qualities and virtues, though they may be frivolous to a limited extent. The fourth track — Riddle of Steel — is a marvelous and exceptionally good song, that not only defines perfectly the style of the band, but also showcases their most refined sonorous impetus, that on the edge of its dynamic ocean of abrasive restlessness, flirts a little with a modest degree of originality and authorial uneasiness. The sixth track, Now You Know, is also an incredibly fantastic song, whose lines closely follows the traditional path of a glorious anthem of old school classic hard rock.    

With marvelous, but sparse, guitar solos — that probably is Dogbane's most attractive quality — and a competent set of melodies, Idylls of Woe is, at best, a good, satisfactory album. Its not bad, but its not great either. With too much generic passages, and an unfortunate lack of originality, the record manages to be interesting, but in any moment achieves a remarkable or relevant degree of excellence. 


Wagner

noise / dark ambient / experimental

bandcamp

electronic

dSound In Silence

progressive / metal / black metal

heavy metal / thrash metal

downtempo / electronic / post rock / shoegaze

facebook

psychedelic / doom

sludge / black metal

ambient / modern classical / experimental

bandcamp

drone / doom / noise / experimental

ambient / electronic

noise rock

stoner rock / grunge / alternative rock

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​Serge

post hardcore / noise / sludge

The beautiful and so-called romantic country of France has given us a lot of surprising musical acts in the past several years. There seems to be a massive underground scene that is both loyal to their influences and innovative. As a result, heaps of bands appear and disappear, all with this odd atmosphere. In today's post-metal scene, this country has been throwing band after band into our mailbox. Not all of them are amazing, but once in a while something really interesting jumps up, something that takes the listener by the throat and brutally slashes them into tiny pieces. Or at least, that's what I expect this post hardcore monster to do a few times a week.

Let me start with a little confession: I'm not very wild about this album. However, I do know that a lot of readers here at Merchants Of Air will be, and for them, this is an absolute must-have. This quintet delivers massively intense post hardcore, laced with noise, post rock and sludge doom. The music is mainly slow, harsh and relentless and the vocals are usually fierce, except for the occasional clean ones. Personally, I'm not a fan of hardcore vocals, even though on this album they are truly gut piercing, but if you are into that kind of stuff, you will absolutely adore 'Espérer Sombrer'.

From the very beginning, Vesperine showcases a violent and unforgiving sound, one which fans of everything between Neurosis and Amenra will undoubtedly appreciate. Opener 'Clair-Obscur' is murderous, and it only lasts for a bit over a minute. After that, six more vicious tunes will put you on the brink of insanity, crawling over the floor in fetal position while wave after wave of sonic despair mercilessly rolls over your shivering corpse. 'Mille Couleurs' contains some awesome riffs, which probably makes this my favorite track. In fact, be careful with this one, it might damage your speakers.

Espérer Sombrer contains some cruel and tormenting tracks. In a way, it continues the path of the aforementioned bands, along with acts like Cult Of Luna, but perhaps Vesperine attempts to drag the violent nature of their music a bit further. There is very little time to breathe. Even the post-rockish passages are heavy and burdensome. The lengthy closer 'Celui Que L'Ombre Pénètre' is a perfect example of that little push forward into brutality and darkness. So no, this is nothing for me but it is definitely an album to be cherished by the seasoned post hardcore fan. If that's you, do not doubt, buy this slab of noise now!!!


​Serge