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8 Found Dead is the new slasher thriller from director Travis Greene (short films include Ten Essentials and Cookie Monsters). As two couples head out for a weekend partying at an remote, yet cosy, cabin in the desert they discover that the current occupants aren’t exactly all too up for leaving. What starts as an awkward altercation slowly becomes something more sinister, and as the bodies begin to pile up a pair of local cops are eager to solve this heinous crime.
Born In Waves is the debut album from this Estonia-born modern classical composer It’s a nine-track affair, which highlights the composer's ability to create compelling work that seesaws between discord & harmony, tautness & flow, and sourness & sweetness.
With a title like Meatcleaver Massacre, you might be expecting either a Texas chainsaw rip-off, or maybe a low-grade/ cheap 80’s (possible) SOV slasher. But instead, this mid 70’s film is a blend of psychic revenge horror, cop investigating mystery, and occult thriller….oh, and it features a (brief) appearance of none other than horror legend Mr Christoper Lee. Here from 101 Films is a Blu-Ray release of this slice of 1970s occultic-fed grindhouse fare- taking in two cuts of the film, and a few interviews.
Some Songs/Bandagen is a CD reissue of a 1989 C60 cassette. It finds this Mick Hobbs(Half Japanese) fronted project dipping its sonic toes into the waters of wavering indie rock-pop, off-kilter singer-songwriter fare, wonky folk, & off-kilter easy listening/ children’s music.
Fishes is album number five from the French experimental duo Geins't Naït. First released in the year 1989- the album is a strange ‘n’ heady mix of industrial-to-electro fired beats ‘n’ tones, dada-focused soundscaping, and cryptic-to-unsettling field recordings/samples
Released in the year 2000 the original Ginger Snaps was somewhat of a game changer- in both werewolf films and teen coming-of-age horror dramas. It centred around two death-obsessed teen sisters- who one night encounter lycanthrope, with one of them coming out the worse for wear. The film cleverly blended gore, dark humour, and teen movie satire- with moments of brutality and touching emotionality. In 2004 it was followed by two sequels Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning- which featured returning cast members, and unlike many horror sequels are fairly well thought-of. Here from Second Slight Films is a new Ltd edition Blu-ray box set of the trilogy- featuring a great selection of new and archive extras, a one hundred and twelve-page inlay booklet & five art cards- all packaged in a ridged slipcase.
The Night Of The Devils is an early 70’s euro thriller/ horror film that starts off alive with both a keen sense of mystery & growing dread. Before later moving into moments of chilling unease, which are peppered with moments of pumping red & brutal gore. Here from ‎ Raro Video UK/ Radiance Films is a recent release of this lesser-seen Italian/ Spanish film- taking in a new scan of the film, a commentary track by Alan Jones and Kim Newman, and a good selection of archive extras.
From the early 1970s, and boasting three horror film stars Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing. Scream And Scream Again is a decidedly unpredictable blend of serial killer mystery, medical thriller, and totalitarian drama- all edged with light touches of horror & gore. So, it’s certainly a rather distinctive creation- which it’s not wholly successful- but it has its moments. Here from Radiance Films is a Blu-Ray release of this difficult-to pigeonhole film- taking in an HD scan of the film, a new audio commentary, and a few extras- be they new or archived.
Jane Doe is a single-track release from this new wall noise project from Heede, Germany. The digital release features a thirty-one-minute wall, which sits between unsettling ANW & textured noise side of the walled noise genre.
From Tucson, Arizona’s Ennaytch here’s a two-track release that blends detailed textured noise with brooding to uneasy ambience. It’s a release that has more than a whiff of dark ‘n’ dystopian sci-fi about both its tracks, and artwork.
Split is a two-track affair that brings together two respected figures from within the walled noise genre- Julien Skrobek ( Ghost, Sumbru, Gesis, etc), and Damien De Coene( Charles Razeur). With each offering up an around ten-minute wall.
Defamiliarizing one’s surroundings is one of many tasks well suited to the field recordist: paying acute attention to an environment and revealing the inherent otherness of its sonic character. This approach helps to contextualize the French composer, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, who is driven by a desire to render his most intimate milieu – the Loire valley, where he lives and works – into an experience of something altogether “exotic” (his words, not mine). Leaving aside the library-sized secondary literature on the problematics of the term “exotic”, Geoffroy constructs two long tracks out of field recordings with little or no extra sonic material or processing.
Hungarian experimental folk rock/metal group Thy Catafalque are veterans of the scene by now, iterating through many ambitious forms and styles between their black metal debut and this, their 12th full-length, released in 2023, titled Alföld.
Radiation Sickness is an eleven-track live album from New York thrashers/ crossover band Nuclear Assault. It takes in the bands Hammersmith Odeon show from 1987- when they first toured Europe, with Agent Steel, Onslaught and Atomkraft.
Black Circle aka Svart Cirkel is a 2018 Mexican/ Swedish horror movie directed by Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Night of the Wolf, Here Comes the Devil and Come Play with Me). The film stars the legendary Christina Lindberg (Thriller: A Cruel Picture, Sex and Fury and Maid in Sweden), Felice Jankell (Young Sophie Bell, The Bunker Game and Tak för Senast), Inger Nilsson (Pippi Longstocking, Pippi in the South Seas and Pippi on the Run), and two new up and coming talents, who have very bright futures, the Midfjäll sisters Erica and Hanna.
Live At Plus-Etage Volume 1 is a three-CD set taking three different improv line-ups/ sets. The release appears on Belgium’s A New Wave Of Jazz label- so everything here is on the more abstract, difficult, and at times fiery end of the improv genre. Though as we’ve come to expect from the label the quality of the material is very high- with the players going off down all manner of rewarding sonic avenues- be they jarring, seared, or generally creative.
Electronic musician and producer Tom Thiel has been an active part of the Berlin scene since the 1980's, so it' s surprising that Album is only his second solo outing (with his first being Tom Thiel in 2011). Despite the small discography, Thiel's work shows his commitment to the craft and keen understanding of electronic music, arrangement, and structure. Coming at this release with both serious and playful angles, Album gives the audience much to chew on, whether song by song or following the album themes as a whole.
From the mid-1990s Vampires and Other Stereotypes is a SOV film- which is best described as low-budget Men In Black meets Evil Dead 2, with slight twists of the first Phantasm. Largely set in a few storage rooms- the film features some neat, at points fairly clever effects set-up, wacky not quite sure what will happen next logic and a fair bit of entertainment. From Visual Vengeance is a Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a new scan of the film, and over seven hour’s worth of extras.
Theatre Of Death sits somewhere between a murder mystery & horror film- with subtle giallo undertones. The late 1960s is set around Paris’s Grand Guignol theatre- where new director Phillipe Darvas (Christopher Lee) has just started working- and a series of murders are being carried out around the city, with the bodies being drained of their blood. Here from Cheezy Movie is a DVD release of the film.
Released at the tail-end of the 1960s The Rape Of The Vampire was the first feature film from French euro-cult director Jean Rollin, who is most known for his erotic & arty horror output. The film very much comes from an art house/avant-grade place. Sure there is a gothic/ horror edge, and a fair bit of female nudity- but the structure/ unfold of the film is often confused, puzzling, and at times frankly pretentious. Here from Powerhouse is a recent release of the film- coming as either a UHD or Blu-Ray disc. Taking in a 4k scan of the film, as well as a good selection of extras.
A luminary of the industrial music scene that includes Coil, Current 93 and Nurse with Wound, Diana Rogerson has been making groundbreaking music for the best part of forty years. Recording under alias Chrystal Belle Scrodd, Rogerson released her debut The Inevitable Chrystal Belle Scrodd Record in 1985 on the United Diaries’ experimental label, followed by Belle de Jour a year later. Since then, she has spent a sizeable chunk of time working with NWW’s Steve Stapleton (her partner for a time) both with the band and solo; and as one half of Fistfuck – the all-female duo famed for their noise and BDSM aesthetic. Her last solo outing was 2007’s The Lights Are on but No-One’s Home and now following a hiatus of nearly two decades, Rogerson has released Bluebottle In A Jam Jar – an intriguing musical take on the life of a trapped insect.
His Haunted Humming is a new wall noise project from the mind behind Poland’s Sado Rituals. And Scriptures is its fourth release- offering up two around twenty-minute tracks, which are created by utilizing just one chain of pedals.
Preservation is a two-track affair from this Cincinnati, Ohio-based wall-making project. Both tracks here have a decidedly rushing grainy ‘n’ gritty tone, and each slides in at the around fifteen-minute mark.
Along with Crass and Conflict, Subhumans is one of the key/influential bands of the late ’70s/ early 80’s Anarcho-punk movement. The band’s sound blended anger and punchiness, with touches of subtle humour- their song craft offered up moments of both rapidity, melody, and darts of moodiness- all wrapped up in a haphazard charm. Silence Is No Reaction: Forty Years of Subhumans is a truly huge six hundred-plus page tome- beginning before the band formed, charting their first/initial break-up in 1985, their brief reunions in the ’90s, and the band fully getting back together in early 2004.