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From late 2012, this two track CDR offers up two slices of taut ‘n’ tense creative noise making that falls somewhere between HNW & ANW. With the two lengthy tracks giving the listener a runtime of just shy of seventy seven mintues.
This is a promotional copy, so I have the barest of information; in fact, I just have the track titles and a probable front cover (an unenthralling, altered photo of a skeletal-faced figure playing the violin). The album has four pieces, two long, two shorter and all very much cut from the same cloth using the same tools. The key words here are “majestic”, “melancholy” and “drone”; combining acoustic instrumentation with processing. A neat, but crass, description might be a remixed Godspeed You Black Emperor.
This split CDR release brings together two half-an-hour plus slices of unforgiving walled noise. It consists of a track a piece from the following: German based Bone Grinder, which is one of the other projects cannibal & horror movie obsessed Ronald L (Cannibal Ritual, Bloodcraving & Werewolf Women Of The SS). And Russian based super prolific Sleep Column (the project has released around 200 releases since it started in 2011)
“Blind Dead” is the 11th full length release from this Louisiana based HNW project, which focuses most it’s output around old horror movies/ horror figures. This release comes in the form of a double CDR set, which offers up four ‘walls’ that run between fourteen mintues & just under an hour
Pittsburgh's David Graham has been recording and performing as Requiem since 1996. Provenance is Requiem's eighth release and the first release with ConSouling. Musically, the project fuses many genres from doom to neo-classical to noise, and does so in a very grand, movie score like fashion. Provenance has a little something for everyone, and lots for those that like it all.
Svart Records presents Our Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre by Sami Albert Hynninen’s March 15 project. Hynninen, best known for his work in such acts as: REVEREND BIZARRE, THE PURITAN, OPIUM WARLORDS, SPIRITUS MORTIS, AZRAEL RISING and TÄHTIPORTTI, has his roots in extreme noise and avant garde music and March 15 is his vessel for these sounds.
Grunt is the 'black industrial' or atmospheric power electronics project of Mikko Aspa, active since the early 90's with an extremely prolific release schedule (as is common within the noise genre). "Europe After Storm" was first released as a 4 track cassette in 1998, and finally saw this expanded re-issue in 2011 on Force Majeure Records.
When it comes to black metal, I wouldn’t consider myself a traditionalist by any means. As much as I love Emperor, Taake, and Dissection, I also really enjoy some of the bands that eschew the typical formula. From Sigh’s use of Saxophone to Necromantia using two bassists instead of guitarists, simply switching it up can be quite a draw. This hasn’t gone unnoticed, and there are plenty of bands that use gimmicky instruments to further their popularity. Italian black metallers Profezia are one of such bands.
This is the second of volume of tracks based around manipulated recordings of the charming & deadly US Serial killer Ted Bundy. And for the two tracks on offer here we’re squarely in greyed, hopeless, disturbing & stripped ambient territory.
“Medusa’s Bed” is a brooding ‘n’ dread filled mix of electro fed ambience, stark & nightmarish violin drift, and foreboding ‘n’ sinister female spoken word elements. This release brings together Vienna based Violinist & sound artist Mia Zabelka. Austria and Croatia based composer and multi-instrumentalist Zahra Mani, and New York based new wave legend, singer & poet Lydia Lunch.
At the risk of becoming a mouthpiece for its work - I recently wrote a glowing review of Richard Chartier’s “Recurrence” - here’s another incredible release from the Line label. Packaged in the house-style card wallet and adorned with digitally processed imagery, the cd contains six pieces of vocal-based constructions from AGF. AGF, or Antye Greie-Ripatti, is someone I’ve come across in the past with interest; but this is the first album I’ve actually heard: I haven’t been disappointed.
This seven disc box-set brings together the full studio out-put of Rush- from the between years 1989 & 2007. And the set shows the bands sound shifting from the prog tinged & synth heavy AOR of late 1980’s albums like Presto & Roll The Bones, through to the more guitar & rock driven sounds of early 1990’s to early 2000’s albums.
Self-Inflicted Violence is the depressive harsh noise project of Tomasz Piotrowicz, who also uses the alias I Am A Slut. While I've heard in passing of the man's work, I'd never listened to any of his output prior to hearing this latest CDr "Defeated". The album runs just under a half hour, and contains 6 tracks.
GOL member Xavier Roux is better known by his alias, Ravi Shardja. This pseudonym isn't surprising considering Xavier's passion for Carnatic music. The combination of Indian and experimental music makes sense, too, given the heavy use of drone in both styles. In addition to his solo project and releases with GOL, Ravi keeps busy by scoring films and theatrical performances.
On “...between…”, Parmar & Colohan offer up 10 thought-provoking, sonic excursions. The tracks incorporate and meld various sounds and techniques, relying predominantly on field recordings, electro-acoustic manipulations, ambient drone, and some solid (though often subtle) instrumentation. This blending of techniques is exemplified by the opening track, “Hilltop, Surrounded by the City.” Beautifully played piano and an undefinable ambient sound, mingle with wildlife recordings, to create a track that is equally majestic and meditative.
What’s with French bands taking German names? If I had to guess, I’d wager it’s because German is just simply more metal than French. Anyway, this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of listening to Folge dem Wind, or “Follow the Wind” in English. They’ve been active since 2005 and until now, they’ve remained relatively underground despite releasing a demo, two full-length albums, and being signed by a reasonably well known label. Based on their stellar performance on To Summon Twilight, this is likely going to change.
I first heard of Vardan back in 2010 because of their split with Australia’s Striborg. It was a decent release but nothing special, so I was curious to see how Vardan had changed in the intervening four years. I like to get a little background on bands before I dig into their releases and the first thing I noticed about Vardan was that he had released four full-lengths in less than a year’s time. Maybe it’s unfair to judge a band based on something like that, but I do wonder about the quality of a band’s material when it’s pushed out so quickly. Wouldn’t it just be better to take a bit more time and fully develop ideas?
Inquisition really is one of those bands you either love or hate. Very few people feel apathetic about their music largely due to the, well, “unique” vocals that come attached. Yes, I’ll admit that I was one of the sad, sad people who actually disliked Inquisition the first time I heard them. “Why is the vocalist ruining this otherwise fantastic black metal with his Popeye impression?” I wondered when I first listened to Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm back in 2011. After a number of listens though, I found myself enjoying Ominous Doctrines more and more, and it even ended up on my best of 2011 list. With the release of Obscure Verses for the Multiverse I was interested if they’d managed to maintain the high quality of their previous album, and for the most part they have, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
The relationship between Sunn O))) and Ulver doesn’t feel like a new one, even though ‘Terrestrials’ is their first explicitly collaborative release.
Gasp is the new horror movie themed HNW project from Frenchman Julien Skrobek( Ghost, The Sandman Wears A Mask, Ruine, Butch Bag). And “In Hiding” is the projects first release- the CDR is themed around sleazy, bloody & disturbing 1980’s US slasher Maniac, which followed the exploits of fictional New York serial killer Frank Zito.
Here’s a cassette from the dependable Andreas Brandal, which, though leaning towards the lighter, less noisy side of things, is infused throughout with eerie dread. The cover has a hand-drawn tangle of isometric cubes, in three distinct, bold colours and thats what Brandal creates for us: bold little sound-works and drones, which reveal a multitude of tangles. The tape contains eight tracks, which drift and throb by for around forty minutes.
This C20 split offers up four slices of atmospheric & fairly creatively layered walled noise from this Los Angeles based project. Each side of tape takes in two tracks, and each track takes up around half a side of time- so as HNW goes these four tracks are fairly brief submersion in walled form.
From late September 2013, this CDR offers up a forty minute slice of unrelenting & brutalizing walled noise from this Japanese HNW project. Female Harakiri is one of the more elusive & erratic HNW projects- the project started in 2007/2008, but has only released around nine releases. This is quite small number of releases compared with the normally highly prolific HNW scene, where this likes of Dead Body Collection & Vomir have put out around a 100 plus releases- this is also meant to be the projects penultimate release.
“Cradle Of Blades“ is the second release from Frenchman Julien Strobe new label Ink Runs Recordings. Between 2010/ 2012 Skrobek was behind a strew of creative & often progressive HNW releases on his label Slow Death Records, where he was connected to projects such as Ghost, The Sand Man Wears A Mask, and Bones.