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The Burton Greene Trio's "On Tour", with its beautifully psychedelic greyscale cover, was originally released on LP in 1968. It contains 4 improvised pieces, averaging 10 minutes in length. I was unfamiliar with Burton Greene prior to this, but after reading that this tour also included Sun Ra and Giuseppi Logan, I was expecting a spastic & forceful transportation to austere & unwelcoming dimensions.
Idiosyncratics label presents Cheval Ouvert the new album by the European avant-garde metal outfit known as Monno. They are not to be confused with the Japanese instrumental rock band Mono, though I admit I did do a double take before figuring out what I was reviewing. The quartet on this recording is: Marc Fantini (drums), Antoine Chessex (tenor sax), Gilles Aubry (electronics, synth), and Derek Shirley (bass).The four pieces that make up Cheval Ouvert were recorded in the waning days of 2012 by Roli Mossiman of Swans fame.
Purgatoried Torso is the 4th release from this old school sounding HNW & homicidally themed project from Frenchman Julien Skrobek(Ghost, The Sandman Wears A Mask, Ruine, Butch Bag, Gasp). The release comes in the form of a CDR on Julien’s on label Ink Runs Records, and it features two ‘walls’ which each last between the twenty to twenty five minute mark.
Sadistic Fall is another one of the more recent projects from prolific ‘n’ creative French HNW/ANW artists Julien Skrobek(The Killer Came From The Bronx ,Ghost, The Sandman Wears A Mask, Ruine, Butch Bag, Gasp). This CDR is the project first stand alone debut release (not sure if you’d call it a full length debut as it only features a single just over twenty minute track- so I guess you’d say it’s a debut ep), after an early split with Russian wall noise project Shifgrethor.
Here we are enveloped by, Ambient and Drone, created in a way that can mentally take us to another place, another time and another age. Mesketet was founded in the Netherlands in the year 2013. The creation of one Jornt Elzinga, it finds the listener been whisked away to a journey to the Netherworld. From Mesketets’ own press release, “The name ‘Mesektet’ comes from one of the two boats which the Egyptian solar deity Ra travelled in: Mandjet was his ‘morning boat’, and Mesektet the ‘evening boat’. Ra used Mesektet as a boat to travel back to the Netherworld from a long day of shining. The deity’s travels were an inspiration for the essence and rich sound of “Towards a Bleak Sun”.”
Not much is known about Canadian black metal band Thantifaxath, simply because the three-piece hasn’t released any information about the band members. There’s no lineup credited for either of the band’s two releases; there aren’t even aliases given like many bands often do. When the band plays live, the members play completely shrouded in black cloaks to conceal their identities. Very mysterious stuff indeed. Sacred White Noise is the first album I’ve heard from the band. I heard about the band’s self-titled EP when it was released back in 2011 by Dark Descent Records, but never got around to checking it out.
Simon Balestrazzi has been part of Italy's healthy electronic music scene for over three decades. His earliest releases were as part of the industrial rock band T.A.C. in the eighties, before joining Kirlian Camera in the nineties. After studying sound engineering in New York, he returned to Italy in 1998, settling in Cagliari where his output has increased and diversified into installations and theatre performance while also founding several bands and producing many collaborative and solo projects with a more improvised, experimental edge.
“Au Convent De Panthemont” is released on Altar Of Waste, which means another beautifully presented album in their house style. So, we get a smartly designed and printed inlay, in a dvd case; adorned with pictures of a nun (modelled by the artist’s partner, it would appear) somewhat forgetting her sacred vows… Wehrmacht Lombardo (which I hope and assume is a reference to Dave Lombardo, Slayer drummer) offers forth one long track, over an hour, of drone and noise - or rather drone and noises.
Desespoir is the 4th full length release from Cory Strand’s Les Legions Noire influenced blacked noise/ stark grey ambient project. For those unfamiliar with the French black metal underground scene- Les Legions Noire where a collective of black metal/ dark ambient projects that existed between 1993 & 1997, and they have built up have somewhat of a cult following due to ultra raw/unsettling nature of their releases.
In The Boundaries Of Nowhere presents the listener with two lengthy slices of taut ‘n’ tense walled noise from this Kansas City based project. The release comes in the form of a CDR on Frankfort, Indiana based dark noise/ambient label Occult Supremacy Productions.
NYC avant death metal band Pyrrhon released their debut album "An Excellent Servant..." in 2011, unbeknownst to me. Prominent metal label Relapse Records has just released their second album, "The Mother of Virtues", a dense, long playing document of technical metal that places Pyrrhon among the heaviest and most intense bands in the world, and makes a valiant effort to bring new intensity to a scene already jaded to the sound of Origin and Nile.
Murder offers up three lengthy submersion into 70’s/80’s tinged bass bound synth horror, & (mostly) subtle noise tone fluctuations. The Dead End Street Band are a three piece project from North East of England, who have been active since 2011, and have so far released around 3 or 4 full length CDR’s, & a few split releases
Hard Rope & Silken Twine was the 12th & last album from this Psychedelic folk/world music/mixed genre project. It originally appeared back in March 1974, and it saw the band move it’s sound almost complete away from it’s creative ‘n’ quirky world music tinged psychedelic folk origins.
Death metal is home to some pretty silly names (I still can't get over Deathchain), and Fisthammer is no exception. However, this Philly trio distances themselves from their goofy name on their second release, Infallible. Although pretty new to the scene (release-wise, anyway), Fisthammer has made some pretty solid waves. One listen to their newest release and you'll understand why.
Important Records presents Radiator, the first proper full-length by Total Life. For those unfamiliar, Total Life is solo project of one Kevin Doria (Growing). I’ll have to admit I’ve been familiar with Growing for quite some time now, but I never really got around to giving them an earnest listen. They’ve been on my ever growing list of bands to eventually check out, but admittedly, I’ve fallen way behind the eight ball. I guess I’ll just have to work backwards exploring Doria’s solo work first. So here’s the specs on the album: Radiator was recorded and mixed at home during the Winter of 2012, “inspired by standing on the gas and pushing forward by any means necessary in a fog of high volume and hazy memories, true love and terminal velocity. Intended for high volume playback.” Woot!
I’m not very well versed in the Slovenian metal scene, so Bleeding Fist is new to me. The band has been active since 2004 and has been fairly prolific, with several EP’s, splits, and a full-length under their belts. Death’s Old Stench is a compilation of unreleased material the band recorded between 2011 and 2013. This is the first time I’ve come across this Slovenian horde, and it makes a good first impression.
My first impression of “These Walls Resemble Absence”, suggested it might be “dark ambient”, due to the grainy black and white cover photograph within its gatefold wallet. My initial glance at this, told my brain that it was the crumpled robes of an ancient statue, carved in stone. However, these robes were soon revealed to be simply detritus, piled against a brick wall. But that first “dark ambient” impression actually holds some weight, because, despite the lack of obvious nods to that genre, MUfi.re has created nothing if not a dark ambience.
Tanner Garza is a prolific ambient, drone & noise artist. Actually one of his earliest releases from 2012, "Earthtones" is self-described as an "earth based drone music album". The disclaimer skirts dangerously near cliche, stating "each track is named after a different mythological creature or spirit". Luckily, the trite new age-ism suggested by this description is nowhere to be found in the music.
A Handful Of Elements finds this highly respected percussionist, industrial pioneer, and sound artist offering up an albums worth of slightly seared ‘n’ unsettling dark/ psycho ambience.
Having taken some linguistics classes, I'm familiar with a glottal stop, but Glottalstop is a mystery. What I do know is that Woodsmoke is their/his/her debut and it comes in a very nice (although limited) edition from Tartaruga. Seeing the strange, lonely stone building on the cover gives one a clue to the vibe that Woodsmoke delivers. Creepy woods and near beehive tomb illustrations aren't just for Dungeons & Dragons books, y'know.
This 2013 four CD box set offers up a 2012 live recording of one of Morton Feldman’s most lengthy works. For those unfamiliar with Feldman, he is one of great and most (quietly) dramatic minimalist/modern classical composers of the 20th century. His sonic out put is often slow & quiet music, that’s built around steadily evolving asymmetric patterns. He deals in angular notation as well as moving and deeply sad harmonic dwells and patterns.
Falcon(Ex- Circle) is the new project from the minds behind Finish multi-genre lined locked rock groove project Circle. And with this new project(or new version of Circle?!), they focus in their love of all things synth-laden AOR/ 80’s cheesy rock based, into a debut album that captures the sonic vibe & spirit of the spandex lined & day-glow tipped pop metal/ anthemic brainless AOR.
Southern Lord presents another monster album of archival material from the legendary west coast hardcore outfit BL’AST. In the waning days in the year of our lord 2013 the band released Blood!, an album that contained tracks from the mid-80’s thought to be lost to the sands of time. Still hot off their heels from that release, the BL’AST resurgence continues with The Expression of Power. Released as both a CD (with a 28 page booklet) or a 3 x LP (with extra material), The Expression of Power contains a previously unreleased version of their original full-length The Power of Expression. For those unfamiliar, BL’AST hailed from Santa Cruz, CA and played caustic hardcore punk. They were highly influential, yet unfortunately are often overshadowed by other west coast mainstays like Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and the Dead Kennedys.
Mystifier is one of a number of bands that formed at the beginnings of black metal, just a few years after fellow Brazilian bands like Sarcófago, Holocausto, and Vulcano. Like their contemporaries, Mystifier played at a time where black metal wasn’t an established genre, and like the previously mentioned bands, they played an extreme blend of thrash/death and what is now considered black metal.