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Here’s an exquisitely packaged cassette from Andreas Brandal, on Tranquility Tapes; with effectively pointillistic artwork printed over the inlay and the blue tape. This visual element suggests a hidden magic - almost a Blakeian vision of the world; with the accompanying nine tracks, amounting to nearly forty minutes, marking out a similarly otherworldly space - albeit one very tied to the real world.
Tundra is an electro acoustic drone/ambient project from Gdañsk Poland- the project is a two piece affair & consists of Dawid Adrjanczyk and Krzysiek Joczyn. "Tajnie i G³êbie" ( English translation Mysteries and Depths)- is the bands full debut release, and it comes in the form of a six track CD.
From 2013 here’s a double CDR split that brings together a disc a piece from two US walled noise projects- and featured here are Kansas City based Abyzm, and Greeley Colorado based Toxic Bliss.
Leviatan finds Circle in a more mellow, laid-back & stripped back sonic mood. The albums nine tracks offer up a more kraut-rock focused acid folk vibe, with the whole thing been based mainly around acoustic instrumentation, taking in banks of strummed guitar, bouzouki, acoustic percussion, banjo, and dulcimer- all topped off with layers of moody Finish & English vocals, & subtle keyboard / organ traces.
Boston (!! WOOHOO !!) based technical death metal band is back with their sophomore effort, Evolutionary Miscarriage. Coming seven long years after their debut, No Lifeguard At the Gene Pool, one can assume that a lot of work went into this album. While tech to the gills, Pillory's latest suffers from some self indulgent noodling, but still manages to be a pretty enjoyable listen. Brutal when it needs to be and flighty when it wants, Evolutionary Miscarriage has enough balance to appeal to most of the metal community.
Scandinavian progressive power metal band Codex have just released this first album, an independent release titled "The Peace Paradox", available through bandcamp and elsewhere. All members of this band except the vocalist were previously in bands called Warchitect and Skeletor, about which little information can be found.
2014 found the latest release from French black metal band Mortifera. The band began back in 2001; it consists of Noktu on vocals (ex-Celestia, ex-Genocide Commando), A.E. on drums and Spektor on guitars and bass. Apparitia Recordings is a part of parent company Drakkar Productions (owned by Noktu).
Hissing Frames presents April Fools, a 3-way split CD-R from Werewolf Jerusalem, Robert Ridley-Shackleton, and She Walks Crooked. The prolific Werewolf Jerusalem is of course a staple and Scott Kinberg’s, She Walks Crooked, project has really been picking up steam. However, I’m unfamiliar with the UK-based Robert RIdley-Shackleton and his Hissing Frames label.
2015 marks the return of long-running Italian black metal outfit Abhor. Their second album with Moribund Records and fifth overall, Ritualia Stramonium is a fairly logical continuation from the band’s previous offerings. Abhor has being incorporating keyboards into their music since their first album, but it had previously been used as a backing instrument to supplement the guitars and slightly sinister atmosphere. The band’s most recent album, Ab Luna Lucenti, ab Noctua Protecti, saw an increased use of keyboards while still keeping the black metal foundation, and now with Ritualia Stramonium, the band has made them the center of attention.
Hard bop pianist Bud Powell was a renowned virtuoso in his time, who died an untimely death at age 42 from pneumonia after a life of heroin addiction. The liner notes self-deprecatingly state that by the time these concerts were recorded, late in Powell's life, his powers had waned somewhat in the eyes of the public, but I can't help but hear this as anything other than vital and unbelievably rich classic hard bop, with reams of subtle touches and details to be heard from each musician.
This cd comes in a digipak with oddly innocuous artwork: a cowboy lassoing horses on the front cover, with minimal shapes and patterns on the inside. All of which leaves the listener very unsure what to expect. The album has five tracks, with three around the eight minute mark and shorter/longer tracks at four and twelve minutes length.
From late 2014 here’s a rather splendid & wholly consistent compilation of quirky, odd, charming, and strange home studio work from Germany’s 1980 underground tape scene. The CD brings together twenty five tracks, and just shy of seventy two mintues playing time- all making one of the most fascinating & rewarding compilation I can think of in recent years.
Chlorophyll Labyrinth is a lengthy yet highly compelling mix of ANW, HNW, bleak ambient weaves, subtle shifting noise texturing & dark/slurred psychedelic drone mater. This cdr is a collaboration between highly prolific Russian HN/HNW project Light Collapse (aka Vitaliy Maklakov), and German HNW/ moody noise project Ego God.
Legendary industrial and experimental Cold Spring has put out another compilation of their current and forthcoming releases. Treatment of the Dead features tracks by high profile acts such as Merzbow, Skullflower, Iron Fist of the Sun, and Coil. While there's a little something for everyone on this disc, it's well put together and a pretty coherent compilation. Cold Spring has a nice price on it, and it's even being packaged with orders over £20! It's a good time to load up on Cold Spring titles and get a solid freebie in the process.
The Cobweb Hotel is a newish 3” CD-R by HNW duo Tales of the Bloody Bloody Killer. The release is part of Julien Skrobek’s Corpse-Grained Series, which may or may not have run it’s course (the website seems to be dead at the moment). I’m not sure what the theme of this particular series entails, as I couldn’t find much information on it, but each release appears to be: a 3” CD-R, in an envelope, and of the HNW variety. Some of the other artists that have appeared in the series are: Vormir, Nascitari, and some of Richard Ramirez’s projects.
You know those guys who think about moving to Scandinavia because the metal is so much better on the other side of the fence? Dødsfall is that guy. Originally from Mexico, guitarist Ishtar relocated to Norway to begin his black metal band. After a few full-lengths on Obsure Abhorrence and plenty of lineup changes, Dødsfall found its way onto Osmose Production’s rosters for its latest album, titled Kaosmakt.
This split tape arrives in a small cardboard box, with a stick-on, colour cover and insert. The orange cassette houses the work of two (apparently) swedish projects, Jurko Haltuu and Miljoner Doda; with two quite different sounds and approaches. Both contribute long tracks just over twenty minutes in length.
Exhumed has become one of the most legendary names in death metal, but that had to start somewhere. In 1998, Relapse Records released their debut, Gore Metal. If the name wasn't enough, the cover, consisting of a poorly phototshopped chainsaw massacre, was there to show you about the death powered gore slop that was inside. Fast, gross, and pummeling, Gore Metal quickly became a classic of the genre. Not content with the original production and having almost twenty years to stew on it, Exhumed re-recorded their punishing debut. Packaged along with the untouched original, this re-recording comes in a 2xCD set from Relapse Records.
As this releases title suggest it features purely field recordings made in & around metal objects. Over a five year period this Australian sound artists, field recordist, & designer visited various different places & environments around the world to capture the twelve tracks on offer here.
Obsidian Kingdom are a Barcelona based folksy/ethereal metal band that derives most of their ideas from Opeth, from the waltz-like heavier sections in 3 to the extended acoustic passages filled with chorused clean singing.
The almighty Cold Spring Records presents Nezumimochi, the new album from the one and only Merzbow. This new studio recording is presented in a picture disc LP and CD set. Each format contains their own tracks, so in other words, the CD is not just the same as the vinyl for sake of convenience.
The Wicked Warden is the second release from Julien Skrobek’s (The Killer Came From The Bronx ,Ghost, The Sandman Wears A Mask, Ruine, Butch Bag, Gasp, Ruine, etc) from 60’s & 70’s grind house themed walled noise project. This CDR on Dubuque Iowa based Breaching Static, takes in two lengthy slabs of raw walled noise.
Pig Shrapnel is one of the more bizarrely themed walled noise projects I can think of- all of their releases are themed around pork related cuts ‘n’ meat,and this full length CDR is themed around cutting a side of ham!.
With Sigh’s more recent albums it’s easy to forget that they too had their beginnings in black metal’s primitive second wave. But even among the host of black metal’s progenitors Sigh was unique. Where Mayhem and Darkthrone were naturally evolving out of the likes of Bathory, Venom, and Celtic Frost, Sigh was taking liberal influence from them and then throwing in a whole host of their own experimentation that would come to define their sound. Still, even with all of this experimentation there was enough of a black metal foundation to catch the eye of Euronymous and get the band’s first album released by the coveted Deathlike Silence. Then in 2014 Scorn Defeat was re-released by Hammerheart Records along with a host of bonus material.