Ærekær - Avindskjold (2019)

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I can't recall if I have already posted about these guys back when they released their first full-length back in 2018—Blowing right passed the process of writing and recording a demo or EP this Danish duo launched themselves into the sonic stratosphere via a full-length album rife with atmosphere and tonality through a musical cloth woven from early 90's black metal and soundscapes that traverse the entire range within dungeon synth.

Ærekær's sound is the perfect amalgamation between something that sounds both abrasive and pleasant—An abstruse combination of compelling synth arrangements that feel entangled in some other realm backed up against a barrage of caustic and raw black metal.

This is one of those instances where words feel like they fall flat… I can throw a slew of adjectives into this paragraph but it feels like it doesn't matter. Simply put, if you're a fan of densely atmospheric, ambient black metal there isn't a single reason I can conceive why you wouldn't like this. Listen through!

Ærekær - Avindskjold (bandcamp)

Skáphe & Wormlust - Kosmískur Hryllingur (2019)

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An apt follow up to the Mannveira post is this collaboration album Skáphe and Wormlust put out back in 2019 through Mystískaos and its a cosmic heavy hitter by two enigmatic giants in the genre of forward-thinking metal. If you were to look at the roster that is backing up every sonic decision on this album you would quickly glean that this union might be among the undergrounds most prolific and accomplished assemblage of members—Being comprised by a venerable cast including Misþyrming, Chaos Moon, Naðra, Triumvir Foul, Martoð, Ljáin, Dagger Lust, Almyrkvi, Sinmara, Guðveiki, Momentum (Ask any musician in Iceland and they will remember this band), this is only naming a few…

I'm still amazed this album exists, I can only imagine the writing process was something strange considering members don't all live in the same country let alone city. This is a monolithic two-track album of downward spiralling black/death metal heavy on ambient soundscapes of cosmic psychedelia and the esoteric. A musical equivalent to a family vacation on the abyssal plains. 

"Name your price" on Bandcamp, you can't really go wrong here.

Skáphe & Wormlust - Kosmískur Hryllingur (bandcamp)

Imperial Cult - Spasm of Light (2019)

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Been listening to the new Mork album a decent amount, on top of a handful of other releases that will soon get their brief moment in the spotlight over here at SHOM soon enough, until then, satiate your need for raw and unrelenting black metal via Holland's Imperial Cult—Spasm of Light is a highlight of 2019 to be sure—Something about the current looming dread has caused me to have returned to it quite a bit as of late, and just assumed you might want to as well… and if not, that's just bent, man. One 35-minute track of downward spiralling black metal heavily entrenched in a wall of sound and atmospheric armageddon served on a brass platter next to the goats heads soup. No inner peace.

Imperial Cult - Spasm of Light (bandcamp)

Fetid - Steeping Corporeal Mess (2019)

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This record to me stood out most last year, not to say it was my favourite release in 2019, but without a shadow of a doubt one of them anyway, it stood out for how swept under the rug this release was. Why? Erstwhile Blood Incantation and Tomb Mold lap up the hungry attention from hordes of mouth frothing neanderthals. Both those bands released great records, so thats cool, but what Fetid released was better wasn't it? Churning death metal that managed to dip its greasy paws into every primordial soup the genre has to offer with uncanny poise and precision, sounding like weathered vets rather than a three-piece releasing a debut album.

I can go on at length as to why this is such a good album, but rather than reading some carefully chosen adjectives that have been thrown around (here especially) a thousand times before I'll just say this in lieu of all that, if you have a penchant for death metal, listen to this and see why this monolithic albums towers over almost everything else. I've got to give credit to how good this whole album sounds too, drums are perfect. Immaculate even. Sounds so much heftier than the sum of its parts. Okay, I'm rambling and fumbling and my second coffee is starting to dance around in my soul and I'm starting to pass off my opinions as fact…

Fetid - Steeping Corporeal Mess (bandcamp)

Teitanblood - The Baneful Choir (2019)

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I've been waiting a long time for Teitanblood to unearth another full-length album. I don't know, is 5 years a long time? I guess so.

Whenever the conversation of bestial death metal should come up, Teitanblood should be one of the first bands uttered, along with a choice few. Purging Tongues still might be one of my favourite EP's of all time (I put some words to it back in 2012) and everything else that has been put forth by the band has gallivanted with ferocious cadence over anything else riding under the same banner. There is a certain gravitational immensity behind the atmosphere, an elemental force that churns its way through each track with such barbarity that it invokes something palpable – I'm not talking the same animality that a band like Revenge or Irkallian Oracle emit – but something cut from the same cloth  with a similar signal stretching upward, it's all together crushing and it's energy is a necessary force in this world of polarities. It's no mistake as to why Fenriz and Nocturno put a Teitanblood patch on the album cover of Darkthrone's Circle The Wagons.

The Baneful Choir has solidified it's spot as one of the albums to be reckoned with this year, all whirlwind heat and spiralling death metal. This album will appear somewhere on my albums of the year.

Teitanblood - The Baneful Choir (bandcamp)

Kringa - Feast Upon The Gleam (2019)

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I've posted Kringa on here before and I'll continue to do so so long as they keep making forward thinking second-wave black metal like this. Severely underrated, underrepresented, understand? Probably not, but that's okay, because you're here now reading this and within a few choice and overused adjectives I'll force your hand into looking into Austria's underbelly gemstone, Kringa and their debut LP Feast Upon The Gleam.

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Okay so now for those choice adjectives. Cold as a witch tit.
That's one.

Secondly, despite each chord, snare pop, and shrill bellowed being coated in Austrian frost, the overall feeling is one of ennui and pandemonium which is only in emphasis by the raw way in which this was recorded and mastered, which we (I) here appreciate accordingly. It's raw but not at all flat in its dynamics, I don't know man, I didn't goto music class, but it sounds like a rock n' roll gas station! Listen to the middle of the track 'Eroding Passage' for the summated experience, riffs haphazardly clanging together while the most simple drum pattern somehow is more fitting than a typical blast beat, and Kringa knew that and so did Neil Young. The split vocal deliveries from Spectres and Teeth standout in that they run the gamut from a frail and flimsy howl to orator of an underground sewer cult. This album is full breadth and creativity within the arena of black metal.

Go forth and listen.

Kringa - Feast Upon The Gleam (bandcamp)

Regional Justice Center - Institution EP (2019)

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Here's a blazing quick EP for you to flash through in less time than it takes for one of those office fucks to place an overcomplicated Starbucks order. (Hint; Throw it on repeat a handful of times and it will play out like a short full-length.) Straight for the throat hardcore in the vain of Mind Eraser and early Harms Way, etc etc. It's easy to sink your teeth into and is 100% guaranteed to help you crank out a few extra reps the next time you're at the gym. Get into it, or don't. I won't ever care. Thanks!

Regional Justice Center - Institution (bandcamp)

Jorge Elbrecht - Coral Cross 002 (2019)

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Congratulations to August for being a month in where I didn't make a single contribution to SHOM. Evidentially all that August brings - The sun is singing, the birds are shining, the people are filled with sidewalks and parks are marinating in cheap lager - doesn't bode well for my writing commitments. But cut me some slack, I'm a one-man team, a single mother in the arena of bedroom bloggers and this whole things is and will always be a thankless gig. But I love it like a son (or daughter) and will carry on as best as I know how. I don't know how.

Starting September off will be the enigmatic Jorge Elbrecht and his newest offering to reverb-soaked black metal in all of its warm, lo-fi angular glory. Coral Cross 002 is something to be consumed slowly, with no distractions, probably with lots of cancer inducing incense burning so the nuances can be appreciated as a whole. Blink your ears and you just might miss it…

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I was turned onto Jorge Elbrecht by Harassor/Vorpal Sword/Moonknight/Pray For Snow music machine James Brown III aka Horus aka Roach (and mind behind the infallible Rising Beast label) during a slow burn interview him and I had over the course of July/August - The dude is well versed in the underground musical scene and we're all forever in his debt for his contribution to the international reverb society. * I'll be posting up that interview soon as well as digging a bit deeper into his other projects

Coral Cross 002 paints unknown landscapes, of worlds ethereal and dripping with a weird colourful muck, and a undecipherable stench pervades amidst the wonky wall of music. I am hard-pressed to pinpoint this to any specific genre nor would I like to. It sounds the way it sounds and you will either like it or hate it. As for me, I'm lapping up this weird soup.

Jorge Elbrecht - Coral Cross 002 (bandcamp)

Void Eater - IIII (2019)

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There's absolutely no surprise that Void Eater's EP IIII is right up my alley, as it's putrid to the bone black/death metal to the point of mummifying in it's own reverb and calcifying under the weight of itself. Too often adjectives are haphazardly thrown around and I am certainly not above it myself, but one would be out of their fucking skull if they were to try and describe Void Eater without using words like; Primeval war-stomp, barbaric body-slam, bestial blood-doner, antediluvian head-kick, troglodytic beat-down, etc, etc.

Everything about this downward spiral of black/death is impressive and far more oppressive than lesser forms mascaraing under the banner of bestial death metal.

Void Eater - IIII (bandcamp)

Heaume Mortal - Solstices (2019)

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Heaume Mortal release a debut record that as from as I have seen has been slapped with the tag of (second wave), and though it delves into this territory the many hands (only 3 pairs total) grab at many genres. Black metal? Sure alright, but there's a whole roundup of sludge abound on here and nuances of doom, death, and maybe even a thin veneer of the darker side of hardcore floating about – Which all makes sense as the guitarist comes from the really great French sludge band Eibon and the singer cut his teeth in the blackened sludge band, Cowards.

There's many ways to cut a watermelon so I'll save the boring details for the refrigerator repair man (not an actual adage) but simply to the point; What we have here on Solstices is a brooding atmosphere swaying to and fro through some really great riffs, really great sounding drums, vocals and all that other stuff that makes noise sound like music.

Heaume Mortal - Solstices (bandcamp)

Combust - The Void (2019)

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Very good tough guy New York hardcore. Heavyweight riffs and a kick drum that sounds like a 44 caliber round hitting a church bell all while neanderthal vocal incantations call the majority out for being kitten soft sheep. This is an easy listen if you're in the mood for a stomp or dumbbells are around.

Combust - The Void (bandcamp)

Krypts - Cadaver Circulation (2019)

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Krypts has been consistently releasing good records since their inception in mid 2000, but the latest, Cadaver Circulation might be them at their best, full stride death metal married with the plodding gait of doom, giving their songs a more thought-out heaviness over the atypical smash and grab heaviness that is standard fare for typical death metal. There's nothing typical about Krypts and no real missteps to take note of on Cadaver Circulation, and there's definitely nothing subjective about how good this is, if you don't like it for whatever reason, just know that you're wrong and your life is probably boring and you might be a dummy idiot. Finland remains relevant.

Krypts - Cadaver Circulation (bandcamp)

Contaminated / Kutabare Split (2019)

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I've been listening to Contaminated's debut album Final Man more than anything else in the last couple months, and though its release was in 2017 I can't find any reason that I missed it when it came out. I'm remiss. Everything within the wall of cavernous death metal is right where I want it, layers of begrimed tones stacked over a guttural churn that is often a troglodytic bellow cutting through super crunchy guitar tones, bloated and fetid while the drumming ranges from plodding dirges to a mirky standard death metal grooves with cymbals that somehow manage to sound really good cutting through the blanket of mire conjured on this begrimed beast from down under. Up there with my favourite death metal albums right now.

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Contaminated have also released a one-song split with Kutabare this year worth mentioning, even though it's only mere minutes both songs are worth a listen as they both managed to pack unequivocal ferocity into each track, respectively. I'm in.

Contaminated - Final Man (bandcamp)

Contaminated / Kutabare - Split (bandcamp)

Vulture - Ghastly Waves & Battered Graves (2019)

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If you're familiar with Vulture's denim dad past you'll know that they are the musical equivalent to microwaveable burritos, The Creep Show and stud laden leather vests all moving at the blurring speed of Satan. This amalgamation of heavy/speed metal with minces of old school thrash and hardcore are right up my alley, especially when it's executed with such Bavarian zeal as Vulture. I wish I went to house parties where the walls dripped sweat of cheap lager, the carpets stunk of cigarettes and Vulture's filth and sleaze was blasting through haggard speakers, and you should too.

Vulture - Ghastly Waves & Battered Graves (bandcamp)

Funereal Presence - Achatius (2019)

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A magnificently articulated sophomore album from the dude behind the skin kit in Negative Plan, aptly self-monikered Bestial Devotion, and he hit the hammer on the fucking nail one-hundred times over, in a musical pool that most don't wade in without drowning in their own shit. Achatius is going to stand out as one of those albums that should blow everyone away but probably won't because it won't reach most people, and I'm oddly at peace with that as a result.

Funereal Presence has managed to nail down a marriage between a myriad of genres; black, speed, heavy, occult, death, avant-garde, etc without coming off as contrived slop, which is often times the case when something tries to be too many things at once – Especially within the elitist walls of black metal – It's a fools errand to try and pigeon-hole this, so don't even try, or you'd sure as shit isn't always solid sound like a dick.

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There's nothing on Achatius I can find fault in, the production is spot on, which is big time important for something of this nature; the drums sound primitive, the guitar tones sound like the gurgling digestive tract of a primordial beast within cathedral walls and the vocals necrotic and have that old-school mix to them. The songs are monolithic both in length and experimentation, cruising through each obscurity with the speed of satan at its back, and not for one fucking second is it dull or tiresome, and those willing to wade through each fetid nuance will be rewarded with one of 2019's most successfully ambitious releases so far, absolutely keeping the underground lit with this blast from the past!

Funereal Presence - Achatius (bandcamp)

Inculter - Fatal Visions (2019)

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There's a lot to like about Inculter's 'Fatal Visions', predominantly among them being, it rips hell. No questions asked. Bridging the gap between thrash, speed, black metal and metal punk. Stop asking questions and just get behind this already or forever be a whore. So get into it.

Inculter - Fatal Visions (bandcamp)

Obscuring Veil - Fleshvoid to Naught (2019)

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This album has me floored currently. A monolithic slab of avant-garde black metal with a personality crisis and a gargantuan amount of enigma wafting around itself. Obscuring Veil is wholly comprised of venerable musicians from around Europe all cut from varying fabrics of musical cloth, and the musicianship is starkly reflected on each harrowingly twisting track. Obscuring Veil combined is the minds of Wormlust, Death Fetichist, Gnaw Their Tongues, Nattsol, Ævangelist, Ljáin, Craft, Chaos Moon, etc. etc. There is notably some accounting for taste to be made, and yet something created that is bigger than the sum of its parts.

I can throw a bunch of adjectives your way, but I'll distill it all down to this, Fleshvoid to Naught is suffocatingly abrasive, tragically heavy, magnificently eerie, devastatingly hard to digest and devoid of all commonality. I'm all in.

Obscuring Veil - Fleshvoid to Naught (bandcamp)

Fuming Mouth - The Grand Descent (2019)

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Fuming Mouth comes in swinging haymakers on their debut, The Grand Descent, and for the most part, most strikes are a critical blow in the arena of metal/crust/doom/hardcore. This is a sound you have heard before, a formula followed by many already with wistful flourishes of their own style - some much bolder than others - Fuming Mouth have landed somewhere in the middle, if not slightly on the more original side of things with The Grand Descent, and I appreciate the fervour in which this characteristic seeps through. This isn't heavy the same way Thou or Floor is heavy, it's heavy in its aggression and cadence. Think of Nails, Black Breath, Hooded Menace, Gatecreeper, etc.

Fuming Mouth - The Grand Descent (bandcamp)

Heresiarch - Incursions (2019)

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Heresiarch, man, pure filth. New Zealand's Heresiarch sticks its hand back in the pot of fetid death metal, and I care again, after what felt like a long pause between Death Metal that maintains my interest. It would be a be a bit preemptive of me to say that this is the best Heresiarch have sounded, but this is the best Heresiarch have sounded. Calloused riffs gestating in a cesspit of war-tuned drums and an antediluvian vocal belch that does nothing to diminish its ferocity. I'm still in the getting to know you phase of this album, but I have no doubts this one will garner plenty of spins.

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And then Jesus said "Let thee who doubt my turbulence wake up to moths devouring their only garb, let their words of blasphemy turn into dust in their mouths, let sustenance do nothing to satiate,  and please let night remain night until they beg for the sun to forgive them."

It's up for 1 Euro on bandcamp, so roll up your nickels and pay up.

Heresiarch - Incursions (bandcamp)

One Step Closer - From Me To You (2019)

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Evidently this month has turned up hardcore here on SHOM, and that's very much okay from my perspective and if you don't like it start your own music blog dinker. I bought a new Rega Planar turntable yesterday and I'm all diamond hard about it as I currently have my CPC Gangbangs record locked and loaded on it sounding like the perfect example of punk being more rock n' roll than 99% of rock n' roll.

But this post is about One Step Closer not CPC Gangbangs, and this short but emotionally charged album (EP?) of hardcore affected by the heart strings will do the trick if you're into listening to something that plays out like Have Heart, Bane, Verse and hues of Shai Hulud with a heart on the sleeve approach. Brings me back to my salad days.

One Step Closer - From Me To You (bandcamp)