Ulver - Bergtatt: Et eeventyr I 5 capitler (1995)

 

Here is an album that would sound fucking perfect on vinyl, I have been searching for a vinyl copy for a little while myself (If you have one and you're stupid enough to let it go, I'll buy it )

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I'm thankful for the dudes who early on explored the possibilities within black metal and found elements they could blend perfectly within the camps of black metal. Instead of focusing on the occult and church burning nonsense, Ulver approached black metal with its roots imbedded deeply into folkore and archaic qualities.

I say Bergtatt: Et eeventyr I 5 capitler is the perfect album for vinyl because it has that warm textural you could almost feel, and it is deeply layered and raw.

Stay tuned, I'm actually going to start posting a lot of shit this coming week. 

Grab if you like: Drudkh, Walknut, Myrkgrav

WOLVES

Age of Taurus - In The Days of the Taurean Empire (2010)

Alright, you don't like me and I don't like you, but let's agree on one thing collectively. Age of Taurus fucking rule, right? Right.

Doom and gloom heavy metal commonly compared beside Candlemass, Reverend Bizarre, but uncommonly akin to Atlantean Kodex and Hour of 13 both of which I fucking love and have posted here before. Unfortunately both Mediafire links have been taken down, so I will go out and search the cyberspace to find new ones. (help accepted!)

A Tauren mid-swing about to chop the head off a praying knelt woman with his crude battleaxe, oh and fire and smoke. Yeah, that sums up this record. Just fucking get it.

Also, I take it back, I like you guys.


Grab if you like: Candlemass, Hour of 13, Atlantean Kodex

Age of Taurus

Aborted - Global Flatline (stream)

I'm going to go see these dudes tomorrow, so I'll probably be jamming this album for most of the night tonight while I try to get my head out of my ass and into my graphic design homework. Global Flatline fucking rules, here is the full album up on youtube.

 I'll upload a download link along with it if anyone wants it, just tell me to become un-lazy in the comment section and I'll rise to duty like a 60 year old limp dick on a Viagra bender.

Dead Lord - No Prayers Can Help You Now

Four Swedes hanging out having a blast, krieg as fuck. Fenriz has discovered them, now all they have to do is ride the wave of underground sensationalism, just ask Ghost.

Wodensthrone - Curse (2012)

Yet another release I couldn't wait to get my grubby paws on, just about as anxiously I was awaiting Lunar Aurora's Hoagascht and Proclamation's Nether Tombs of Abaddon, and so far neither have disappointed me.

The only problem is, I have only listened to it twice over, therefor the basis of my opinion isn't standing on a sturdy floor so to speak. The vocalist from the debut album Loss is no more, he departed Wodensthrone sometime in 2011. Which to me, is a sad loss. (fuck I'm clever) So now, vocal duties are shared amongst the rest of the band. Sounds a little sketchy, right? I'm left feeling indifferent, in many ways it works, but at times I feel it hamstrings the cold nature of the atmosphere.

From what I have gathered I have noticed this; A beefier sound, thick and well developed riffs, galloping drums that are more prominent and less tinny in sound (not always a good thing), it's more refined and developed, as it should be for a band releasing an album three years later, but I feel some of that frigid and raw atmosphere has been sacrificed. Let's go with the pretentious idiom that, it sounds less organic.

•  •  •

A fellow and loyal SHOM reader who bears the moniker 'The Swedish Metalhead 'once said in the comments section for Wodensthrone's Loss: "I'm probably gonna save this for a few months, and in the darkness of December, I'll listen to this deep in the night."
I don't know why, but the words resonated with me a bit, probably because I too shared the sentiment that the album is much more of a full experience in the cold, dark, depressing days of winter. Curse hauls ass, but so far doesn't bask in the cold raw natural atmospheric squalor that its predecessor did.


Curse is still very good, I know you probably left those last few paragraphs with no real enthusiasm to download it, but those words came from very high expectations. Who knows, maybe after a few more spins I will dig it even more than I did with Loss.

Grab if you like: Winterfylleth, Nàttsòl, Dragobrath

curse

The Great Old Ones - Al Azif (2012)

A release I have been awaiting for quite some time has surfaced from its bubbling cauldron of Lovecraft worship. I almost decided against posting this for a couple reasons:
For one, it's been posted on a couple of other stellar blogs with write-ups that will be far more detailed than my own.
For two, I feel more guilty than usual for posting up a free download link due to a personal understanding of how much time and effort the band has poured into this album. Though, this can be said about most bands posted here. The mindset still remains though, the links are already there for us to feed off of, I just create another portal to that money sucking link. The idea is that those who can afford it, will at least go their shows, buy merch and albums and continue to support the band.

•  •  •

Moving on… The Great Old Ones fucking kill this album. There isn't a single riff on this album that is dull or misplaced, there isn't a single slip up or mediocre fill on the pounding of skins, the vocals howl and echo in valleys of great walls while the atmosphere builds up into something that evokes a profound thought and a good headbang. The whole album is layered thickly, every detail thought out and exhausted meticulously and effectively.

I did an interview with TGOO a little while back, check that out here.

Grab if you like: Year of No Light, Altar of Plagues, Wolves In The Throne Room

Buy! Bandcamp
Grab Now via Zippyshare download! (While your signed digipack copy is in the mail right ;)?

Alda - Tahoma (2011)

Alright, so let's agree on something before I get started. Every now and then I go on these stints of disappearing acts, where the other realm I dwell in gets pushed behind (the pixelated world) so that my main realm (the high definition range world) can be maintained accordingly. Rather than bore you music seagulls about my personal life, (I have however officially made the transfer from small boring town where carrying a 12-pack of beer while riding your nephews stolen mountain bike is commonplace to the hustle and bustle of Toronto where the majority are soul-sucking try-hards with their chins pointed to the clouds like a prissy skyscraper) I'll just get started…

 •  •  •

Look up. What do you see? Correct, a righteous painting of what appears to be sturgeon wearing red sweaters their elder sturgeon grandmothers hand-knit for them gathering around a human skull in a valley of beauty. My sentences are allowed to ramble on incoherently for the next little while because I can blame it on my blog rust, and fuck you.

Replenish Records: "Formed in Washington during the fall of 2007, Alda is a four-piece band from Tacoma that plays a style of black metal that is considered to be of the Cascadian (Fuck the term, let's just say it has that dreamy metal gaze allure that is often hit or miss and teetering on pretentiousness) ilk. The band is a collective project that is dedicated to the reclamation of Lost Wisdom and the application of a lifestyle founded on respect and communication with the soils on which they dwell."

Their are unique incorporation's of elements that suit the feeling very well and drive that wild outdoors vibe. Examples can be heard throughout the album, the end of Shadow of the Mountain and Wandering Spirit have interesting soundscapes, musically this feeling can also be found in the beginning and middle of Tearing of the Weave as well as the opening track intro. What I am trying to say is, the overall effect gives the proper affect. (see what I did there? Magic.)

So, this concludes my first post in a little while, be sure to give me a motivational pat on the back in the comments and let me know if you are in the camp of liking or disliking Tahoma.

Grab if you like: Fell Voices, Panopticon, Drudkh

Bandcamp + 320 Download