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Long awaited LP follow-up to 2012's Secular Hymns, Divergent Series unleashes Xiphoid Dementia's latest, Prison of Hope. Continually impossible to pigeonhole, Egan Budd (Existence Establishment, Headstone Brigade) rolls out the big guns for his full length return. Departing from and adding to his sound from his recent split with Bastard Noise, Xiphoid Dementia melds together cinematic grandeur, industrial urgency, bleak ambient, and almost pop sensibilities.
There are a huge number of styles of heavy music, each, in turn, are divided into even more sub-genres. But to me bands that play in the doom-metal style are some of the most creative and original. Perhaps this is facilitated by a fairly broad framework of style and the ability to realize the full musical and creative potential of musicians, as well as use fairly original musical instruments. Back, in the late nineties, I heard the album Lead And Aether by the Finnish funeral-doom band Skepticism. I was impressed by the original sound - the musicians using the organ as a keyboard instrument, and their general distinctive take on doom. Since then, I’ve closely followed the work of the band, which has become legendary. So it’s great to be able to talk about this reissue of the bands 2008 album Alloy.
Originally released in 1980, this was the follow up to the John Renbourn Group’s 1977 album A Maid in Bedlam and follows in much the same vein merging medieval and renaissance music with folk and Indian ragas. The band are top-notch and feature John’s Pentangle colleague and folk legend Jacqui McShee on vocals, Jazz legend Tony Roberts on woodwind, John Molineux on dulcimer, tabla player Keshav Sathe and Glen Tommy on snare drum.
Orbis Tractus is Sci-fi/ futuristic themed noise release, which moves from ambient & textured noise blends, and more searing & laser slicing harsh noise. The C40 tape appeared on Uk’s Void Singularity Recording late last year in an edition of twenty copies- and as of this review, the label still has some left for purchase.
From KV & GR Records here we have a pro pressed wall noise split, pulling together two slices of wall matter from US wall-makers- one is raging-yet- atmospheric, and other is dense yet more layer active. The CD release is presented in a DVD case- with black, red & grey cover artwork- colorful oriental art CD face, and color card inlay card featuring a reproduction of postcard of an oriental stream train- so a very nicely presented wall noise release.
Here’s we have the 7th Volume in the 'Gruesome' series from Germanys' Meat Hook Butchery label- and once again the release is a two CDR set offering up two full-length shots of walled noise. This time we get a disc from the at times progressive (though not for this disc) UK based Clive Henry, and Germans Cannibal Ritual offering up one of their most consistent releases in some time.
Deep Energy Orchestra is a supergroup formed by Indian percussion master Selvaganesh, King Crimson alum Trey Gunn and virtuoso fretless bassist / composer Jason Everett, among many others. The musical result is a fusion between Indian classical music and odd metered prog rock riffery. This is their 2nd recording, following 2018's live album Playing With Fire. It's a more orchestrated and layered album than their previous live recording by a mile, but the energy of this record is still that of a furious impromptu session.
Nona, Decima et Morta is abound with signifiers of occult thought, feeling and esoterica, an album that reaches for transcendent drone, wrapped in a title that references the Roman mythological ‘personifications of destiny’ and arriving with a press release that begins with a quote from William Blake.
Sunday In The Country is one of the lesser-seen rural set revenge thriller of the 1970’s- it’s a gritty, grimy, at times brutal-yet-well-shot film that takes the rather predictable plot scenarios of sleazy-criminal-on-the-run pictures, and shakes them up in a fairly original & distinctive manner. Here from French genre label Artus Films, as part of their Redneck Horror series, is a DVD/Blu Ray media book presentation of this film- offering up a great clean & crisp new print, a 65 page booklet, and a French tongued extras.
Death & Deceit is the firth in Powerhouses Hammer studios boxset. The four-disc set features pictures on the more adventure focused side of the studios' output, with the films featured moving between a fairly brutal and eventful pirate caper, a Colonial adventure, a British civil war set swashbuckler, and 60’s set Chinese set espionage thriller. So if you after the studios more celebrated horror out-put, this won’t be for you- but if like me you are generally curious about Hammer wider filmography you’ll find this set of much interest- and as we’ve come to expect from Powerhouse releases the sets crammed with new commentaries & features.
Terror In From the Universe is the next in the series of CD compilations culled from the basement grates of Lux Interior & Poison Ivy of rockabilly/ garage punk/ Gothabilly band The Cramps. And as it’s title suggests the focus this time is all things space-related and extraterrestrial- with sonic contents moving from 50’s space-bound easy listening, tripped-out & intergalactic jazz, tacky star fleck Rock & roll, bizarre-yet-mellow spoken word fare, & more experimental based electro lined orchestral music- with the whole comp dotted with cheesy Sci-fi film samples.
Founded by members of Cleveland's heavy hitters (Nunslaughter, Embalmer, Decrepit, to name a few), Kurnugia drops their first full length on April 27th. Following up two EPs over seven years, this LP was a long time coming, and very welcome. Influenced by classic death metal of the early 90's, Forlorn and Forsaken captures the grime and glory of that era and gives it the benefit of modern production and song writing. Complete with vile and awesome artwork by Mark Cooper, Kurnugia's debut LP is exactly what the doctor ordered for the quarantine blues.
Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death was written and directed by J.F. Lawton under the nom de plume J.D. Athens. Lawton is better known for his work as a screenwriter than his directorial work, having written scripts for both Under Siege films for Steven Seagal as well as the gigantic smash hit Pretty Woman starring Hollywood royalty Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. So, we can at least expect this to be a sharply scripted cheapo b-movie. Cannibal Women... stars Gene Simmons other half, Shannon Tweed in a role where she manages to keep her clothes on for a change, alongside Tweed are John Carpenter's favorite Adrienne Barbeau, and talk show legend Bill Maher in his first screen role. Here in the UK the film was originally released as Piranha Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, this was probably down to the BBFC taking issue with the word cannibal, anyway I’m digressing, so let’s get on with the review.
The Frog Opera is a prime slice of sonic quirkiness- with the single just shy of forty-minute track moving between warbling theatrical organ jaunt-ness & unhinged cartoon vocals, camp & soaring female operatics, jolly kids tunes slowly going wrong, weird vocoder jiving outs, loads of frog sounds and much more. This recent CD sees the return of Barry "Schwump" Schwam – a Musician/ DJ who was one of the early supporters/ collaborators with The Residents, and boy this is an oddly wonderful ride of an album.
Liquid Krell Metal severs up sixteen (largely) short slices of quirky, wonky-yet-moody & dark playful sonic fare that sits somewhere between electronica beat-scaping, avant electro atmospherics, and stripped back 'n' rudimentary electro-jazz
Here we have a double CD release of a classic 1970’s concert from the US kings of fusion Weather Report- the eighty-minute set finds the band offering up tracks from their classic Columbia albums- 1976’s Black Market, and 1977’s Heavy Weather, and it shows the then four-piece project on fine form- moving nicely between more atmospheric analog synth moments, and darting fretless bass & Sax sass-ness/ groove.
One-man black metal projects often create some of the more creative & daring takes on the genre, one such project is Italian based TITAAN, whose only member is Lalartu, whose also the vocalist of black metal band Diĝir Gidim. There’s not much info to be found about TITAAN- it presently has two albums to its name- 2016's debut Kadingir - an almost one hour and ten minutes of intense atmospheric Death / Black metal mixed with Dark Ambient moments, and this recently released album ITIMA- which like all the projects work is themed around ancient Sumerian mythology. The new album was released in the form of vinyl LP of two types - white and black, and a CD. These options, as well as the digital version of the album, are available for pre-order on the label's website and on its Bandcamp page.
2018’s Ladyworld is an oppressive, artily focused & claustrophobic thriller focusing in on a group of teenage girls seemingly trapped in a house after an earthquake- the film moves between been taut, vapid, and a little too stagy. Here on Cleopatra Entertainment/ MVD Visual is region free Blu Ray release of the film.
Now here’s a rarity- an effectively balanced, varied, and consistent three-way Harsh Noise split. This CD release appeared late last year on long-running Australian noise & experimental label Cipher Productions- it comes in a relatively large edition of 200 copies, so all been well you should still be able to score a copy of this CD.
David J Smith has been a purveyor of ambient progressive soundscapes for over 20 years, taking in his first project Guapo, a cross between math-rock, prog, and drone, as well as the art-rock/prog of the rather wonderfully monikered Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses whose debut album remains one of the truly wonderful oddities released under the Rise Above Records stable. Mirrors and Tides, Shivers and Voids was originally released on Utrecht Records in 2013, but this edition is a new reissue from the ever-interesting and prolific Zoharum Records.
Expansive, lush, and yet still minimal, Fabio R. Lattuca's latest album, Matter, is six tracks of open sonic experience. Playing like one long track, Matter is a wonderful soundtrack for nearly all occasions, as its open, liquidness allows it to fit the shape of any container. Based on a live set, this work was then fine tuned and deepened in the studio, creating the gorgeous recording that Midira has put out.
Schizophrenic Genius is the wall noise project of Swedish noise & ambient artists Jurko Haltuu- who’s other projects take in Död & Nils Dacke- he also runs of the DIY tape label Funeral Fog Records. The Schizophrenic Genius project has been active since 2014- though it’s not the most prolific of wall noise projects, only putting out two other releases than this one- and Burning is the projects first release in four years- it comes in the form of a C60, which offers up two side-long ‘walls’.
Mind Games is a late 80’s thriller that follows a sociopath latching onto a family on their US road trip- it’s an edgy, engaging if a relative tame film with a well-selected cast & some good enough twists & turns. From MVD's Rewind Collection here we have a region free Blu Ray of the film- bringing together some neat extras, a fold-out poster, and slip sleeve.
Lollipops, a three-disc CD set, is somewhat of a bits & bobs collection of works from celebrated & respected modern classic composer/ experimental artists John Cage. The set moves between his more instrumental formal work- though experimental compositions, onto his more quirky & experimental work, through to his works for tape, piano, and voice, and early/pioneering electronic sound. so, on the whole, the set does lack key focus, but you do get a good enough snapshot of his output between the 1930s and late 1950s