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Chasma is a Portland, Oregon based black metal band with a slew of releases in the band’s six years of existence. Omega Theorian is the band’s third full-length and first to be released on Candlelight Records.
It’s a monumental feat to try and create sounds that personify the themes of decay, rebirth and transformation; more so to do it without any lyrical accompaniment. Germanys Nebelung has successfully intertwined these ideals with their latest release Palingenesis. The musicians involved Stefan Otto, Thomas List and Katharina Hoffmann have constructed wordless, soulful and strikingly gentle songs that evoke a emotions and regeneration of the human spirit.
Invertia hails from New England brandishing their mix of industrial black metal on their latest release, Another Scheme of the Wicked. Invertia is the creation of guitarist and vocalist, Dave Coppola with programmer and drummer Tim Winson. Lots of influences are heard here from Godflesh to Immortal, DHG, Aborym and Mysticum. Another Scheme of the Wicked is the follow up to their 2013 self titled debut album.
Here is a stylishly packaged cdr on Ink Runs Recordings - the resurgent label run by Charlotte and Julien Skrobek. Starkly minimal and beautifully designed, the words and imagery are printed on transparent paper and textured paper (respectively): very simple, unadorned and effective. Flesh Clocks offer one track, exactly twenty minutes long, called “Columns Of Blood (For Adriana Varejao)”. The back cover of the cdr tells us that the Skrobeks have divided their roles in the simplest manner: Charlotte is responsible for the low frequencies, and Julien the high. As if to emphasise this, the first five minutes are low frequencies alone; before the high frequencies jump in exactly on the five minute mark.
Frequencies (a / fragments) presents the listener with a lengthy slice of minimal sine wave based electro acoustic soundscaping, which is focused around a series of tuning forks. The release comes in the form of CD on Los Angles based minimal sound work/audio installation themed label Line, which is of course is run by respected electro-acoustic minimalist Richard Chartier.
Nibiru are a three piece project from Turin Italy who create a jammed-out, roughly ritual tinged, & often psychedelic brew of Sludge/Drone/Doom Metal. Netrayoni is the projects second release, and it comes in the form of a double CD album which the band have put out as a self released/yet pro-pressed edition of 300 copies.
Vlad is a c30 tape that offers up two fifteen minute slices of dense, dark, yet damn entrancing walled noise from this highly mysterious project. This project started in October 2012, and I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything they’ve put out thus far( I’ve heard five of their 13 releases)- and I’m happy to report this fairly recent tape is up to the quality of the projects past work.
This CDR release from early summer 2013 presents the listener with a single slice of taut ‘n’ tense wall noise brutality from this Kansas City based project. This release was put out by Uk based HNW label Static Wall Recordings, in a edition of just 17 copies.
Italian death metallers Electrocution popped onto radars in 1993 with their debut, Into the Unreal. After a split and EP the following year and a second EP in 1997, they disbanded. Two of them were in another flash band, Idols Are Dead, and guitarist Alex Guadagnoli auditioned to replace Max Cavalera in Sepultura. Other than that, they all but disappeared. Italian label Goregorecords never forgot them, though, and re-released their debut in a 20th anniversary edition two years ago. This must've been the kick in the meatballs they needed to reunite, because Electrocution is back with their long awaited follow up, Metaphysincarnation.
Annea Lockwood's "Sound Map of the Housatonic River" is one of many such high definition nature recordings the New Zealand born sound collector has released. From the title, I expected a field recording album with a lot of faintly lapping water and bugs chirping. What I did not expect is that it would be absolutely beautiful, listenable and mesmerizing, likely the single greatest field recording album I've heard.
Ink Runs Recordings presents Alt Er Vel, the debut release by Velfaerd. Velfaerd is a new project hailing from Denmark. The mysterious individual behind the project is also responsible for Tavshed.
Circle Of Shit is the second release from this atmospheric filthy ‘n’ crackling walled noise project of Frenchmen Julien Skrobek (The Killer Came From The Bronx ,Ghost, The Sandman Wears A Mask, Ruine, Butch Bag, Gasp). This CDR features three twenty minute slices of gritty sub-bass focused wall- making, which is inspired by the worked of perverse French writer Marquis De Sade, French surrealist poet & writer Annie Le Brun, and Italian director/ philosopher Pier Paolo Pasolini
Wormreich spews forth their second dark ritual to the Horned One with the release of Wormcult Revelations, an EP boasting a massive 36 minute run-time. Wormreich is new to me, not surprising given how little I follow the USBM scene. Though the press release for this EP hails this band a continuation of Blood Stained Dusk, the bands only share one member, drummer Profana, and I don’t hear too many similarities between the two bands. No, instead of opting for Emperor-worship like BSD, Wormreich aims to emulate orthodox black metal purveyors Deathspell Omega with this piece of black metal mayhem, though they do take cues from various symphonic black metal bands.
Prolific free jazz pianist Peter Lemer released but a single LP with his Peter Lemer Quintet in 1968, titled "Local Colour". This quintet, according to the liner notes, was but one of many ensembles Lemer had at the time, and certainly, there is a hasty impromptu spirit that can be felt throughout the music.
I was into thrash and death metal as a teen, but strangely it was my mid-twenties before I properly got into Celtic Frost - partly, I imagine, due to my early metal explorations coinciding with their ill-judged “Cold Lake” period… I still listen to those first three albums now and they still stand up. I was aware that Thomas Gabriel Fischer (singer and guitarist) was still pursuing projects, but I admit I had to look into Triptykon’s background a little, to establish what they were. (I initially had them confused with Apollyon Sun, Fischer’s first post-Frost group.) In Fischer’s words, “Triptykon will sound as close to Celtic Frost as is humanly possible”; in this respect, the listener has to salute and conclude: mission accomplished.
Tribute is a pretty funny thing.While everyone likes honoring their favorites (maybe?), they get sorta weirded out when someone else does it. Sometimes, these tributes are just close enough to one's area where they can be enjoyed, but still looked upon scornfully. While I'm totally guilty of being a hypocritical douchebag, I expect better from you folk. Whatever, really, because people like what they like and shouldn't care what anyone else thinks....even if they're handsome and brilliant like me. Nightsatan pretty much sums this up for me. The 80's movie synth attack hearkens back to memorable movie scores by Goblin, John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, and Claudio Simonetti (yeah, I know he was in Goblin). I'm totally all for this, it's the second half of Nightsatan and the Loops of Doom that has me mentally over a barrel.
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy(aka Texas born ‘n’ bred Norman Carl Odam) stands as one of the more early artist’s to be labelled with the ‘Outsider Music’ tag. And he’s also credited with helping define the Psychobilly genre( a mix between punk rock & Rockabilly, with often horror Sci-Fi themed lyrics & themes). This 2011(reissued in 2013) doubled CD set releases takes in a selection of the work from this quirky ‘n’ distinctive artists 40 + years career.
Wreck sees this electro-fired-grindcore, come cut-up noise, come avant noisy jazz, come electro acoustic noise project focusing in on slight more lengthy & dense sonic attacks.
Along with Dissection, Sacramentum, and Vinterland, Dawn is one of the finest Swedish melodic black metal bands out there. Despite releasing just two full-length albums before splitting up, the band and its material have become quite popular, making all of the band’s releases extremely expensive and hard to come by. A quick look at Discogs will tell you that a ’94 press of Nær Sólen Gar Niþer For Evogher will set you back about sixty bucks. Enter Century Media. It’s about time that someone got around torereleasing their albums!
Relapse Records' latest release is an EP by an apparently new grindcore band, The Drip, who have created 6 songs for this release, totalling 15 minutes of absolutely unrelenting aggression. This may seem short, but fans of grindcore will be familiar with the format, and most who hears this album will likely concur that any more than 15 minutes of this style would be exhausting.
Bored Bear Recordings presents History is Written by the Handsome, a split CD-R from Sleep of Ages and Where is This. Sleep of Ages is the prolific harsh noise, industrial project by Elias C from São Paulo, Brazil. Elias also does HNW under the Carrion Black Pit moniker and, more recently, industrial/power electronics as EXU. While I enjoy all his projects, Sleep of Ages certainly sticks out as my favorite. Elias’s ability to seamlessly fuse various aspects of harsh electronics with brushes of sci-fi flair and even melodic elements is always an engaging experience to digest. Where is This is a project I’m less familiar with, despite having amassed a respectable sized back catalog since 2009. WIT is the noise project of one Mark Ward, based out of Dublin, Ireland.
Potential Psycho offers up a single near on hour long slice of brain melting ‘n’ teeth grinding walled noise from this Louisiana based project. The release comes in the form of a CDR on Irelands Bored Bear Recordings, in an edition of just 12 copies.
The rather wonderfully entitled Vomit In The Shallows finds Lethe(Cory Stand’s hopeless & bleak drone/HNW/death ambience project) offering up two very lengthy journeys into stark & unwell drone matter.
Here’s an ungainly package: a cdr in a slim dvd case, held in a little plastic sack punctured with burn holes - you won’t be filing this elegantly in your neat collection! The black and white artwork alludes to black metal, but has a much more “design” (almost cartoonish) feel to it. The cdr contains two tracks, both untitled, amounting to over thirty-six minutes of wall noise.