Leather Slave - Leather Slave S/T (2014)

 "…Then I'll cut off all of your fingers, and then I'll make you try on pairs of gloves… I'm going to pull a knife stunt. And then. I'll cut off both of your ears, so you can't hear what I'm going to do next. And the blood will just run out of your head, like two faucets… I'm going to pull a knife stunt." –  

Like any good serial killer or nefarious creature, nobody knows who Leather Slave is, they could be your weird neighbour, or your postman, or the rambling junkie on your street calling every passerby a "handjob and a half!", it's a veil of anonymity that may seem less crucial when compared to the likes of John Wayne Gacy but it is an essential component to the harrowing and seedy vibe of Leather Slave's sound.

A sound that is much less punk and much more looping. But it is still punk, sort of. It sounds like horror-punk because it is scary not because it's content is about b-grade horror movies and Alice Cooper worship. Leather Slave doesn't have a cover of "Monster Mash" and they never fucking will. I promise. This preamble is not a jab at The Misfits, (I like The Misfits more than I could ever love my own children), but it might shed some light on how something actually scary might sound. Unsettling would be the better word to describe it. Seedy and depraved even. Or for you fans of  multiple choice, all of the above.

It's impressive because I get the same vile feeling as I do with bands like Meth Drinker, The Body, Impetuous Ritual, or even Canada's beautifully repulsive Revenge would give me although Leather Face are far less abrasive (or extreme) at face value. Instead, the unsettling vibe is manifested through a series of looping sickly riffs and an equally poisoned to the bone style of drumming with singing that isn't singing so much as it is spoken, sounding more like threats and rambling through a telephone more than anything else.

I stumbled on this band via the incredibly good and highly recommended ONGAKUBAKA blog and I scored myself a download link to the album from somewhere else on the deep wide web, and you can too. Otherwise I'd highly suggest buying this fucker, so you can be that cool kid with an obscure record collection nobody will every really see but you wish they would.



Listen/Buy

Encoffination - Hear Me, O' Death (Sing Thy Wretched Choirs) (2014)

Hear Me, O Death (Sing Thy Wretched Choirs) is aptly named because this album sounds like a heinous funeral march, crawling and plodding much like death itself, scraping away years off your life with each listen. Encoffination have always been about lurching through tracks with a molasses like consistency, moving slower than old people fuck and hitting harder than a dull axe to the face, but this album is exceedingly slower than the rest…

The riffing is slow-cooked in delay and reverb and the vocals are of a brittle guttural secrete, basically gurgling and belching in an almost near death type phlegm coated whisper. It makes me want to clear my fucking throat and bang my head around like an abiding peon of the underdark.


Hear Me, O' Death (Sing Thy Wretched Choirs) on bandcamp

Raspberry Bulbs - Privacy (2014)

Dusting off the cobwebs on this fucker with Raspberry Bulbs newest release "Privacy". A begrimed mix of punk and black metal with plenty of that crusted cummy sewer grime and fuzz drench, all the cool kids are doing it these days, and I'm glad they are, because it's two separately good things combined into one good thing. It's done with great tact and hones in on the scummy punk vibe and grimly lit black metal sound very well… which doesn't stir much surprise as this band was unearthed by Marco "He Who Crushes Teeth" Del Rio of Bone Awl.

Thanks to Perception Through Dissonance for giving me a download link to steal.

Privacy (listen)
Privacy (Buy it)

Ggu:II - waan:hoon (2014)

This album was submitted to me via email a little while ago with the message: "Hi Chris, a few months ago I asked you for the Leucocis album. I really like it a lot and want to thank you for sending it to me. I'll be doing this in the most risky way possible... Sending you some recordings of my own band. Don't pay for them, if you like 'em I'll send 'em to you."


See, who's to say that spreading music around can't be a self-sustaining beneficiary to the underground movement? It can be, and this proves it fuckface.

The two song EP titled 'waan:hoon' is a warm-sounding collection of sludgy doom with tinges of post-metal riffing and drone atmospherics. The two songs plod along earnestly and fester within whirring guitars and slogging drum patterns that build up to these moments where you want the sledgehammer to be dropped only to be teased by more gnawing doom/drone. I'm please to know the member of this band is a fan of Leucosis too, because few bands of that ilk have impressed me as much as Leucosis has with their venerable and modest catalogue. They are masters at creating palpable tension that finally spawns into a very satisfying peek, to understand this fully, listen to the song Taiga. If Ggu:II follows a similar path then I expect nothing but good things.

Ggu:II - waan:hoon (bandcamp)

(I will update and upload download links upon the bands accordance.)

Torch Runner - Endless Nothing (2014)

A month has passed since my last post, but I'm dusting off the keyboard and getting back to this virtual pit I call Severed Heads Open Minds, which is, at times, a formidable commitment to be consistent with, but I'm trying dudes! * My hat is off to all the blogs that are far more consistent than this one *

A bevy of new releases have fallen onto my lap and into my ears recently, most of those worth dusting off the keyboard for, and as such, I will do just that… First up, Southern Lord's Torch Runner follow up their debut album 'Committed To The Ground' with 'Endless Nothing', a savage offering of filthy downbeat punk/hardcore infused grind distilled into 23 minutes of a supremely pissed-off and raucous audial assault.

I won't be posting a download link to this album as the flack I will inevitably receive is heavy, but the links are out there if you can't afford to buy the album with money.

Endless Nothing (bandcamp)

Saor - Aura (2014)

Ahh man, it's been too long since an album has sincerely made me want to seek sojourn in the comfort and unpredictability of the woods, in nature among the trees, flora, fauna, grub, moss, leaves, rivers… Well shit, you know how forests work.

Saor's Aura is some of the most gripping and earnest takes on that atavistic type black metal that I like so much, you know the type, rife with that raw and endearing naturalistic potency that lends so much life to the soundscape you can practically feel a fucking pulse. It possesses that arcane ability which seems to speak a whole other language, an elemental language lost and neglected by time. That's deep I know… Let it sink in.

I'm reminded of bands like Myrkgrav, Falls of Rauros, Alda, Kroda, Falkenbach, Wodensthrone and Panopticon, which all have that authentic outdoor presence to them, even though that's brought out in different ways by each of those bands… It feels like a gimme listing Panopticon as an example, since the entirety of the drumming on Aura is provided by none other than Austin Lunn of Panopticon, and to his credit the drumming is notably very well handled, sounding like distant gunfire and cannon fodder spewing out of the Scottish highlands.

Eric Marshall is the lad behind the one-man band and as a solo effort it's quite alright to enlist the talents of guest musicians, and on Aura, he does just that by getting help with the strings, viola, bodhrán and Gaelic female vocals. The dude clearly has a keen sense of Celtic melody and that shines through on Aura with the beauty of the melodies contrasting nicely against Eric's shrill howls, which range from what seem like resonant conversations amongst gods and wartorn distant battle-cries.

It's been a while since an album of this ilk has really galvanized an atmospheric black metal post on SHOM, so enjoy.

Here is that album on Bandcamp

Khuda - Molasses Constricts The Clinostat (2014)

Khuda play a super honed in take on psychedelic post-rock with elements of math-rock, post-hardcore and shoegaze. It has the atmosphere of Kokomo, the quirky time signatures of Khann, and a more atmospheric, slightly funky take on something Cloudkicker would dredge up with the slightly bleak, yet uplifting elements of Explosions In The Sky.



As per usual, if you would like to listen to it but can afford the price on Bandcamp, email me and I'll get it to you as soon as I can.

Khuda Bandcamp

Bad Energy - Dead Magic EP (2014)

Bad Energy brings the good energy. Dead Magic brings the living magic. Hailing from where cheese steaks are best (Philadelphia, dummy), one can obtain the grittiness you get when you live in the asshole of the United States, surrounded by abandoned heaps of wood that once stood proudly as somebody's home. I guess I'm really describing where chicken wings are made best (Buffalo, idiot). Though Pennsylvania is pretty gritty as well man. Whatever. This EP is good, listen to it and dig it if you are into punk/hardcore.

If you want good punk from Buffalo though, Brown Sugar and Bad People are killing it.

EP is up for "name your price" on bandcamp, which is pretty much the best thing to happen to music since The Mojomatics introduced a harmonica to their music. If you can't afford anything, input 0$ and enjoy sucker!

Dead Magic

Maveth & Embrace of Thorns - A Plague Through The Heavens [split] (2014)

I was initially going to challenge myself by reviewing Noia's new album Obstinate Sacrifice while trying not to talk about how much it sounds like a cleaned up version of Venom playing Nuclear Assault songs or how the lyrics should be swapped out for pseudo-human grunts, belches, growls and farts… But I decided against it because I'm already going to be reviewing Midnight's No Mercy For Mayhem for favorite Icelandic human Birkir and his blog Halifax Collect later this week.

•  •  •

Instead, I give you filth. I give you death. I give to you a split that is actually worth checking out, A Plague Through The Heavens released by Dark Descent Records. Two bands that aren't new to the game, Maveth from Finland and Embrace of Thorns from Greece band together to bludgeon you senseless with their dragged through the muck and fecal decay of the sewers take on black/death metal. I'm sure this is best listened to in the dark, sitting in a pentagram drawn with goats semen but I'm sitting on a park bench withe the sun beaming down on my fucking forehead, and it's still pretty sweet man.

  

A Plague Through The Heavens (Buy + bandcamp)

Wöes // Wölvefröst Split (2014)

Hmm shit… How do I start one of these things again? This split is heavy, you should listen to it.
Nah, that won't do.

Yeah dudes, I know, it's been a really long time since I've updated anything at all, and frankly my fingertip muscles are rusty, which is a major bummer because my inbox has never been more full of new and exciting shit to post up on here for your sorry ass eyes. I wish I had a really sweet excuse as to why I have been so removed from SHOM, like I was kidnapped by a pack of wolves, dragged into the Taiga forest to learn and hunt with the wolf-pack and howl at the moon all while the opening riff to Wolfchant's "A Pagan Storm" appropriately played in the background, but no man the boring truth is due to a broken "e" on my keyboard. I wouldn't lie to you, the "e" letter key on my keyboard stopped working and I just couldn't be asked to fix it right away. Do you know how many letters have the fucking letter "e" in them? Basically every goddamn shit sucking letter in the English language!

Anyway, I have a lot of catching up to do, and I will do just that with this mega bestial, dragged through the shitter, crusty black metal split from Wöes & Wölvefröst. Both bands bring a blistering paced handful of songs to the split. all of them raw, cloaked in noise, and unrelenting, encompassing a simplified punk-like aesthetic to the structure, but still very much black metal with the crust turned way up.

haha check out that opening riff to the Wöes song "Tyrant King", sloppier than a baby eating mashed potatoes, but it is great, because we are stone cold rebels. My favorite track on the split is by Wöes and it is called "Martyr With A Serpents Tongue".  Here is that track;

Full album streaming over at Cvlt Nation!
Preorder it here at Orc Tusk!

Cosmic Wheels - Cosmic Wheels (Full Demo)

Judd Madden - Everything In Waves (2014)

Judd Madden is a person. And, Judd Madden is a one man band. His impressive ant colony like work ethic is made apparent through the discography of the band; 7 full-length albums in the span of 5 years, and all of his releases are available for free download on the bandcamp page, what a gentleman! I bet you he donates to beneficial charities and helps old women cross the street too.

Instrumental sludge/doom at it's center, with some post-rock and THC soaked riffing to bang thy skull to. The guitar tone is washy and hypnotic but remains mega crunchy and those drums sound like fucking hells cannon fodder. Listening to this album makes you want to shotgun beers while riding on a woolly mammoths tusk into a snowstorm. It has cool artwork as well.

Toss a buck or two, or if you're broke enter $0, it is to my understanding that the downloads through the bandcamp page still help support the artist.

Judd Madden bandcamp

Dephosphorus - Ravenous Solemnity (2014)

I don't know about you guys, but I fucking hate flip-flops, skateboarding in the wind, fluctuating weather patterns, weak handshakes, the aftertaste of coffee, people who don't find rape humorous, people that don't listen to Wormrot, timid sneezing, and the parents of those Mormon kids that go door to door on their spare time, fuck all those things and many other things… Fuck those as well.

I like the new Dephosphorus album "Ravenous Solemnity", though. I've seen this album slapped with every genre tag under the sun, black metal, hardcore, crust, sludge, noise, punk, deathened doom, and astrogrind? To hell with all of that. Most importantly, Dephosphorus sound like nobody else, the instrumentation is super tight and dynamic, and it will bang your goddamn skull. Those vocals make me happy.

I'm not sure this album is receiving the laurels and appreciation it deserves from other high-horsed interweb bloggers and "critics", and I'm too lazy to check, but if anyone knew anything, that someone would have this album, and listen to it, and like it, a lot.

It has been out for a few months, so if you don't have it, follow these words down and grab it. Update;  I was asked to take the link down right away, so put your email in the comments if you want it. Sharing tunes among friends can't be illegal.

Dephosphorus (Bandcamp)

Half Goon - TERRORIZER EP (2013)

Listening to TERRORIZER will be your personal reminder that you're fucking 10-ply bud. But don't worry, you can harden that over exfoliated sun sheltered skin just by listening to this album.


Half Goon play an infectious blend of noisy post-punk/hardcore with some other musical shit in there for you to nit-pick at. It's hard not to draw comparisons to acts such as METZ and Pissed Jeans for the almost industrial like noise drone, the gritty and THC soaked biker riffs of The Coltranes and the feral attack of old Ceremony – But Half Goon bring something entirely unique to their sound, a potent energy and a unabashed sense of experimentation.

It's short, spanning only 14 minutes over 7 songs, but it packs enough clenched-fist hate to justify using that repeat button. Stop being soft. I'll tell you what, I wouldn't dare fucking miss these dudes play if they came around to Toronto.

It would be righteous if you picked the EP on the bandcamp for a name your price option, but if you're a truly broke bastard just input an amount of $0.

TERRORIZER EP

Heresiarch - Wælwulf (2014)

Begrimed, soupy bestial death metal from New Zealand. I've been a fan of these Kiwi's since I bought their EP Hammers of Intransigence back in 2011 and have been impatiently waiting for a full-length release ever since, but instead another EP is released to sate my lust for destrvktion…

Also, thanks to New Zealand for Meth Drinker, Ulcerate, Witchrist, Diocletian, and Vassafor.

Wælwulf
Heresiarch Bandcamp (Buy Wælwulf $666 NZD)

Jumalhämärä - Resignaatio (2010) [Guest contribution]

Birkir Fjalar Viðarsson, my main man and the main man behind the impressively updated and super righteous blog Halifax Collect, which I've been invited to collaborate and write for currently and in the past. After all these years, the basterd has finally succumb to my nagging and has imparted us here on SHOM with a post of his own…  BK has been a real pal to me; getting me into sold-out shows in Toronto, getting me on board with The Reykjavík Grapevine people, giving me a place to stay in Iceland, countless reach-arounds and introducing me to some really radical human beings that have humbled me down to ground level.

•  •  •

Words by Birkir Fjalar Viðarsson

It was around two years ago, me and Chris of Severed Heads Open Minds met for the first time… On a stormy day in Iceland, one of the first things we spoke of was Jumalhämärä, as I asked him if he knew the band… He didn't. Most people don't. I then went into an aimless and poorly articulated description of the album's opening track "Ecstasy In Blood - A Ballad." I tried to explain that the song's arrangement didn't make any sense, how the blast beat was a foundation for at least two guitars and a bass, all of whom play the same riff essentially but not aligned and synchronized. Which means, they all harbor the same notes but "start" (for a lack of a better term) at different junctions in the bar of riff they are playing, overlapping each other, yet never negating one another.
It's hard to explain, but this cacophony of chaos, this wall of sound is absolutely beautiful. We're not talking odd time signatures and technicality, but a cascading stream of melancholic aggression. And when the "second part" kicks in and all riffs are played in sensible unison, the power of it all is exhilarating. The song ends in a cathartic mess of yells, yelps and screaming, like in an apocalyptic ritual and there's no stopping this song. Like falling into a never ending abyss. Humongous floor toms plod along in the back like a giant's heart beat. Stunning.

Chris - "Who do they sound like?"
Me - "No one."

Is the following song similar? Not at all. What the hell is going on here? The Neurosis like opening would have you believe you are in a familiar territory (more on that here) but the slide guitar is an omen to be taken seriously: This song will also not behave. But it takes a while for it to go off the beaten track, thus "Storm Is Coming" is probably the song that will not scare anyone away, for the rest of the album is no fast food for the non-adventurous.
The impossibly perfect "Haul" kicks in with its "march onwards" snare drum and twangy guitar. Yes twangy! Something one isn't used to associate with black metal (not that these Fins can be lazily written off as black metal-anything). I had no idea what to expect when I heard this one the first time but when the noise-punk like drumming kicks in topped off with the black metal screaming and those irresistible twangy guitars I was incredible excited. This leads into a semblance of a chorus with howling and yelling men and a haunting single strong guitar melody that hasn't left my thoughts since I heard this album in the winter of 2010. This is magic time. You'll be on the edge of your seat awaiting an explosion, that never happens. Oh the tease! Leave them hanging, I say. Leave the audience salivating for more.

But again, the gears shift in "596" and even more melancholia and wistfulness takes the stage, like being slowly walked to one's death. The tone here befits a funeral. Keyboards, accordion, and a lead that is obviously improvised, so much so that the player performing it is testing frets as he goes, clumsily, but the effect is as charming as it is imperfect. This sounds like a terrible idea but it is not. It is incredibly refreshing and arresting.  Somehow this resonates with me strongly in an age of fix-jobs and perfection. These sort of moments are strewn all over Resignaatio. Another, more composed than earlier, choir enters the fray. I imagine a forsaken flock of men, abandoned in deep mines, awaiting death - longing for it. So yeah, this is music that stimulates the mind. Such a rare thing in metal these days.

The title track conjures more menace and when picked a part, all its movements would fit a more conventional black metal song but in the hands of Jumalhämärä, and this deep into the album, one anticipates something wild, untamed and unhinged around the corner… And that eventually happens in the album's closer "Of Enlightenment and Righteousness: Part II."
This review is nearing a track-by-track analysis. I’ll forgo that. When an album reaches heights and harmony while sounding utterly untamed, archaic, primal, tribal, loud, crashing, frantic and downright insane, you know something special happened.You know, every madman has moments of calm, serenity and beauty. That's Resignaatio for you. It's unique experience that will grow with you and haunt you for a long, long time.
… You're welcome.

  •  •  •

I've had a hell of a time trying to find this album for myself, but I've finally stumbled on a download link for you guys, so listen up. 

Resignaatio

Sun Worship - Elder Giants (2014)

Ever since Sun Worship got in touch with me to review their EP Surpass Eclipse I have been a huge fan, watching their every move, which consisted of a split with German country-mates UNRU, whom I'm also completely and unequivocally a fan of, obtain all their shit!

I digress, Sun Worship are one of my favorite bands circling this big blue ball we're stuck upon. What the fuck is there not to love? They play an incredibly poised blend of ambient black metal with notes of other musical subtleties that could range from shoegaze, drone, noise, to a post-rock atmosphere. They are independent and fuel their own music in a DIY way and they put their albums on bandcamp for a "name your price" option so you can pay what you can afford.

Elder Giants is a giant itself, and one of the best this year. Climb out from under that rock and buy it.

Elder Giants on Bandcamp (name your price)
Here is the review for Surpass Eclipse

Vaguess - Drift Brain (2013)

I'm really fucking into the production on this Vaguess album, super raw and primitive in its approach to garage punk. The drums sound primordial, the guitars drowned out under a wave of fuzzy surf riffs, and the vocals are as varied and gruff as everything else on this beauty! Expect to hear some sweet synth dudes.

Give it a chance

Vaguess and Refryrecords Bandcamp

Culture Kids - Self Titled (2012)

Fast and catchy punk with doses of crust, surf, hardcore and a little something of its own. These San Franciscan punks haven't reinvented the wheel, but they do still hone in on a sound that is fresh and full of the snobby grit I like in my punk. Imagine a mix of Funerot, Hot Snakes, Hoax and earlier Ceremony. Nobody is really talking about these guys which is a shame, if you have the means, spread the good word.

Culture Kids S/T

The Body - I Shall Die Here (2014)

Last night I went to sleep listening to The Body's newest release 'I Shall Die Here', which is probably tantamount to watching a snuff film before going to bed. It fucks you up. It fucks your dreams up, and it ruins your sleep as well as the entire day thereafter.

I'm really digging the sounds on this new album though, which the band has said was meant to be wholly experimental. Thought it's not like The Body's catalogue isn't already entirely experimental in nature anyway. 'I Shall Die Here' is still heavy, terrifying, ominous and warped. Instead of The Assembly of Light Choir we've come to know and love throughout The Body discography, the band recruits The Haxan Cloak to contribute on 'I Shall Die Here', resulting in something more industrial, ambient and nearly cinematic in sound. I don't know why, but it fucking works man. I hope The Body and Death Grips collaborate on the next album. Friggin' rights.

Listen to this, the strongest track on the album… Yes, in my opinion.

I Shall Die Here.

Cape of Bats - Olcott Rites (2013)

Black metal and punk at its most raw have always dipped into qualities that are synonymous with one another; filthy productions, ramen noodle like budget recordings and a certain predilection for hating shit fiercely.

Cape of Bats have been busy these passed few years popping out short releases of relentlessly ugly black metal and punk, which they kindly give us for free or a "name your price" option. Power to them. Some of the riffs on these albums are too good, take the first song 'Stygian Depths" for example, 0:27 in is like a punkier Morbid Insulter (If you haven't yet picked up "Anti-Christ Blasphemies click the goddamn link) riff played a little slower, it's kind of charming in a B-horror movie kinda way.

Cape of Bats

Witch - Self Titled (2006)

 •  •  •

I hate earwigs man. They burrow in your ear space uninvited and lay goddamn eggs and piss and shit and fucking exist and give you ear-aches and probably send out postcards to their earwigs friends with heartwarming messages like "wish you were here" or "Greetings from inside Chris' ears" or some shit. I don't know… I've never actually had any experiences with earwigs, besides killing a lot of them throughout my life. A lot.

But, this album has been like an earwig invading my eardrums lately, and it fucking rules. I don't think it's really laying any eggs or anything, but I wouldn't even mind if it was ya know? It's really good. Crusty stoner metal with more Sabbath worship than a goddamn Sunday rolled up with psychedelic doom for good measure. Formed by the J. Mascis, guitarist of Dinosaur Jr.

Take a listen to it. If you like it and can't find a link or afford the beauty vinyl (sounds best on wax, no shit) email me and I can send it to you pal.

Doom on brothers.

- Chris

Youth Avoiders - Self Titled (2013)

Parisian punk fucks Youth Avoiders have been rad since their demo tape released in 2010, and remain rad with their debut self-titled LP! Fast and frantic punk that is so fucking twangy and trebly you'll think you've got Parkinson's disease. Filled with righteous hooks and melodies despite the raucous song structure, though some of the wicked over-the-top vocal melodies I loved on the demo are gone but I don't give a shit as long as that guitar tone sounds as groovy as it does.

I don't post a whole lot of punk around here, but I am going to start posting more. I like punk, get over it.

I  gave a buck towards the "name your price" option on the bands bandcamp page, feel free to do whatever you feel is right or feel free to do nothing until I post a brutal space slam death metal album.

Youth Avoiders bandcamp

Coffinworm - IV.I.VIII (2014)

I don't have anything clever to say.
This album is heavier than Chris Farley's bloated corpse.
The blackness of this album is like the inside of a coffin on a moonless night.

Profound Lore though, man does Chris Bruni know hot to pick 'em. Avichi and Artificial Brain also put out albums in 2014 on Profound Lore Records (both are worth checking out), with Impetuous Ritual releasing their sophomore album "Unholy Congregation of Hypocritical Ambivalence". in April.

Grab this, turn it up loud and fuck your ears into early hearing loss.

IV.I.VIII (Took this link from Echoes of Demise)

Seven Sisters of Sleep - Opium Morals (2013)

The only reason this wasn't posted on SHOM before now was only due to an uncharacteristic lack of personal time and slightly less motivation to do so, because Opium Morals is the tits, the cats meow, the beggars hand, the all seeing eye, and so on and so on…

Simply put, if you do not own this record digitally/physically/spiritually you are fucking the dog, as you are without some of the best sludge metal released in 2013. I would be naive to pigeonhole Opium Morals as sludge metal and sludge only, because clearly demonstrated are influences of doom, crust, and I'll go as far as saying some D-beat as well. Heavier than a fuel tanker truck filled with bison sperm, more immense than a mountain top housing blue whales, more garage rock fuzz and bile than Keith Richards' bong and at least 1000x better than listening to new Ensiferum (Unsung Heroes of epic generic suckiness).

• I'm going to continue posting albums from 2013 you may have missed if you were too busy watching Breaking Bad and or being useless in other shitty ways you know how to be •

I'm pretty into whatever A389 Recordings does, speaking of which, where do I get my grubby mits on the Like Rats self-titled?

Seven Sisters of Sleep Bandcamp (buy)

Seven Sisters of Sleep - Opium Morals (try)

Lluvia - Premonicion De Guerra (2013)

Fallen Empire is a label that has both my attention and my respect as it is a DIY distro that focuses on unearthing black metal in all it's uncharted territory, keep your ear to the ground, I'm expecting/hoping that the label's catalogue increases with truly bleak black metal.

Lluvia released Premonicion De Guerra in late 2013, and it's likely that it has been flying under the goddamn radars ever since, why? Well it's definitely not because it doesn't hold true to black metal and all it's traditional idiosyncrasies…  Nay, this album will turn your veins black with its blistering nod to black metal, mega cold riffs, galloping drums, piercing anguished howls all swallowed up in a aphotic atmosphere. If you ever have valued my opinion, heed my advice and grab this album, whether you decide to buy the vinyl OR throw in a couple dollars at the bandcamp page under the 'name your price' option. Though if money is super tight, input $0 and download it for free and be sure to give a thank you to the dudes at Fallen Empire, don't be a thankless neanderthal, bad karma.

•  •  •

I have no doubts this shit sounds so cold and foggy on vinyl (Thumbs up for how Fallen Empire set's up their vinyl displays, it's the little things man…)

Go here to buy it on vinyl
Download on Bandcamp

Indian - From All Purity (2014)

Indian, from Chicago, Illinois, play an insanely robust and caustic blend of doom and sludge with the crumbling filth of crust thrown into the bubbling cauldron. This wall of noise is brought forth by swirling guitar and bass tones that are heavier than a dead dog, drums that pound and plod like a fucking migraine only to be occasionally pierced by crude and tortured vocals. Vocal duties are shared between the two guitarists, and they sound like hyenas… Hyenas that are actually wolverines… Wolverines that are rabid and starving, and possibly (probably) sexually frustrated. Pissed.

Indian on Bandcamp
From All Purity (try)