YOUWRETCH - Sympathy of Wolves (2012)

YOU fucking WRETCH. The musical equivalent to a pack of wolverines.

Zippyshare
Bandcamp (name your price)

Demos / EPs / Splits: Best of 2012 (pt. 1)

(NIGH) 

This year, I decided I was going to do a separate post for the best Demos/Eps/Splits out this year. I am splitting these up into parts, so there is no reason to become overwhelmed and not give these a chance.

Vattnet Viskar - S/T

This is it, this is the one. If I had to pick one EP, demo or split that did it the most for me it would have to be Vattnet Viskar. The high warlord among them all, I pondered sneaking this into my 2012 year end list… Though the crop this year is rich and bountiful, so it's place is here, among all the other great demos, EPs and splits this year. (Download) + (Support)

Tempest - Solace

I have none other than Haxan over at Forever Cursed to thank for this shrewd beast. Two songs spanning 10 minutes of dark and crusty hardcore weaving in an out of other influences at an incredibly furious pace. It's emotionally charges and handled with an undeniable sense of genuine ferocity and passion. I wouldn't overlook this one douchebag. (Free Download)

Yellow Eyes / Monument (Split)

Yellow Eyes coast through warm and fuzzy black metal with a sound that is bleak yet homely. A fell distant searching shriek accompanies dizzying and ominous soundscapes that will lure you in. // Monument is an appropriate counterpart for this split as they to go about their own blend of whirring black metal caked in a warm fuzzy haze, arguably with a bit more of that 'nekro sound' than Yellow Eyes. This is one of my favorite splits this year, don't even scroll down until you get it. (Bandcamp/name your price)

Muknal - S/T

A cavernous offering on the sacrificial altar of 2012, archaic occult death metal that bears that hollow recorded in a chasm sound, echoing its decaying insanity, sounding like being chased through a dank corridor by a hulking beast. (Mediafire)

 Adversarial / Antediluvian - Initiated In Impiety As Mysteries (Split)

Two Canadian death/black juggernauts get together to meld a concept into a single syncretic expression, something almost entirely lost on split albums. The concept is a complex one, synthesizing and contrasting the symbol of Leviathan with that of Lucifer. Hard to wrap the skull around it without further rote, but musically expect to hear swirling and crumbling archaic death metal, some of the heaviest and burliest of the year. (Zippyshare) + (Purchase 25% off)

Vales - Clarity

Vales, formerly "Veils" (went through a name change shortly after this EP) play a melodically charged blend of hardcore with a strong nod to early screamo that basks in a poignant infectious zeal! I'll say it now, this has to be one of my most played out EP's of the year, I still can't get enough of it's genuine emotion and power. This is what music sounds like when you leave everything else behind, emotionally charged and brimming with genuine energy. (Zippyshare) + (Support)

Unsacred - Where The Light Dims

 

Found this over on Equivoke some time ago, and I seem to have gone back to it time and time again throughout the year. Chaotically wrapped up crusty blackened hardcore. It is caustic, speedy and wears proudly the temperament of a fenced in wild boar, fucking pissed. It doesn't offer much fresh air per se, but it will kick your head in senseless for the better part of 15 minutes. (Mediafire) + (Support)

•  •  •

A big thanks to those that contributed suggestions (Valis and Orcus especially), I will gladly take more recommendations for the upcoming Part II. If this blog were a machine, it would be a mechanism run by my free-time and the activity of its viewers. I pay attention to those that take part in this metal/hardcore circle-jerk, if you are a presence around SHOM, chime in every now and then.

There is a similar post to this one over at "Celebutards, Dystopian Landscapes and Pseudo-Scientifi... Morons....", give it a look, some very good things going on over there!

Elysian Blaze - Blood Geometry (2012)

I've been a fan of Elysian Blaze ever since I bought Levitating The Carnal back in 2009 (it came out in 2006), I bought it on a whim thinking it was going to be a colossal heap of black metal from the land down under. Turns out I was right…

Elysian Blaze is a one man band from Australia that set out to display a hollow churning void of black metal with halting funeral doom pace and a lightly ambient overtone. It stands firmly between a minimalist approach with a very dreary vibe, its bleak energy belongs echoing in empty halls. It seems that all that is good is meant to be purged from the listener, an easy listen it is not. If you hearken its entirety, thy blackness is strong.

2012 sees Blood Geometry on a lot of year end list I presume. I almost forgot to mention, it's in two parts, spanning for over 2 hours… Of emotionally draining black metal. Good luck.

Blood Geometry (part I)
Blood Geometry (part II)

The Secret - Agnus Dei (2012)

Xavier of France's The Great Old Ones , once told me his favorite discovery on SHOM was Solve Et Coagula by Italy's The Secret. A righteous find indeed. Well guess what Xavier, and the lot of you, The Secret are back to assail you with their noise-ridden blend of dark metallic hardcore, in the form of their newest release Agnus Dei. They dredge from many variants of influence, let's not get hung up on them all. It stomps, get it.

Agnus Dei (Zippyshare)

Von Drakus - The End (2012)

The End is really just the fucking beginning. Von Drakus of Germany set out to play agile and pissed of jams in the form of hardcore that dips its hands in the cauldron of black metal, punk, crust and some other shit, interpret it as you will! It's pretty short, That is why we have a repeat button on just about everything. Use it. I listened to it 4 times in a row and my room looks like downtown Syria, okay I lied, I didn't mosh around in my room. But my room is a fucking sty right now, I should probably clean that up, you know what they say… 'busy environment, busy mind'. You know what else is messy? This album, chock full of noise enshrouded in a sea of filthy vibes.

"The earth was created in 6 days… so to, shall it be destroyed!"

Download free via Bandcamp! (how nice of them!)

Purchase the awesome looking vinyl!

Blut Aus Nord - 777: Cosmosophy (2012)

So many new releases, so little time. Behold, this one is fresh off the leaked belt, so you can feel extra scummy for picking it up early. Just fucking kidding, it's guilt free because I say so. Download it, put the music in your ears, if you like it, you have the right to decide on acquiring it from the band if you so choose.

Cosmosophy (LINK REMOVED DUE TO COMPLAINT)

LOGN - Í Fráhvarfi Ljóss, Myrkrið Lifnar Við (In depth review)

I recently did a review for my pal Birkir over at Halifax Collect, I went in-depth on Logn's "Í Fráhvarfi Ljóss, Myrkrið Lifnar Við"… below is a small except from it, I suggest grabbing the album, enjoying it, and reading the words on your screen.


- This young (albeit mature in sound) band hailing from Iceland's capital, Reykjavík, set out to assail your auditory meatus with a cornucopia of musical influences. Audible throughout the unpronounceable album Í fráhvarfi ljóss, myrkrið lifnar við (say that 5 times fast - Icelanders, you can't play) is a palatable blend of crust, grind, hardcore, d-beat and nuances of death metal and sludge that take form in a muddied, non-polished aesthetic. A grizzly host of dark and pissed off tracks that seamlessly teeter in an out of pace, one moment being lulled into a foreboding melancholy that suddenly shifts the calm of the storm and your back on your ass being barraged by a flurry of blasts, pummelling riffs and shattering screams. The tone that permeates throughout the entire album gives everything a very woeful personality further enforcing its grittiness - it's presentation is decorated with subtleties that help it escape the clutches of "heard this before"... (click here for full article)

•  •  •

To head to the bands bandcamp, click this fucker. (name your price buckos!)
To waste your time, click here.

Hungry Lungs - Hungry Lungs EP (2011)

Darkened hardcore in the vein of bands like Baptists/Loather/Rise and Fall. To avoid a pigeon hole, there is strong influence of power violence, crust, punk, and d-beat within a sometimes mathcore structure. it's 6 minutes, just get it.

Grab if you like: Baptists, Loather, Oathbreaker

EP

CALVAIIRE - Rigorisme EP (2012)

Here is another submission I was delighted to find in my email inbox. The dudes at Throatruiner Records have already sent me a plethora of awesome shit to promote, including Bone Dance // Divider // Plebeian Grandstand and The Rodeo Idiot Engine ,which already have found their way onto this blog. These guys seem to ride under the same banners of belief as SHOM; share what is good and pump some green blood into what we enjoy. These dudes offer hard work for free in hopes  that those who like what they hear may purchase and or spread the word. 

•  •  •

'CALVAIIRE is an intense and angry dark hardcore/crust band from Laval (France), with members of Birds In Row and As We Draw. Amaury Sauvé (producer/sound engineer for Birds In Row, Comity, As We Draw) recorded this first EP in one take on last January. Nothing else to offer but salutary violence.'

It's short, but it punches you in the internal auditory meatus like a motherfucker and delivers an insane amount of intensity over 9 minutes. Watch out for these Frenchmen.

 Here you will find everything you need to download or purchase the EP + shirts

Portal

Dude, fucking Portal. From Australia comes this band and they play a blend of Death Metal that you probably haven't really heard before. In a genre so vast and often blamed for being watered down, this is a welcome.

They will make you feel uncomfortable through heavily distorted guitars, murky atmosphere, odd structuring, and their overall obscured facade. Vocals are done by "The Curator" and he is the driving force behind the genius through dark menacing gutturals. Obviously fans for the theatrical, they dress up in costume, only adding to the sinister disposition behind the music. The Curator has changed his costume for each record that has been released, and each of them have been fucking brilliant.

Portal won't be news to many of you out there, but for those of you who haven't yet heard, here is Portal, and they will eat you. Every song will make you feel uneasy, learn to like it douche.

Portal - Swarth (2009)
Portal - Outre (2007)
Portal - Seepia (2001)

My grandmothers favorite song:

Cebren-Khal - A Mass of Despair (2010)

Cebren-Khal concocts a debut album that is quite interesting and convincing, my ears approve. These folks from France were thinking outside the box, as they nod to more than a couple different styles on this debut album. I will let the tags below tell you what to expect. Laziness? Preposterous! Okay, well maybe. But at least I provide to internet scum across the globe.

While listening to A Mass of Despair there seemed to be a lot of times where the song would really grab my attention and get the voice in my head saying "fuck yeah!". The aforementioned is a good thing. I have actually only listened to this album fully through twice, but oh yeah, I acquired it 2 hours ago. The last song on the CD actually has about 5 plays already, only because I had to keep listening to the last 3 minutes of it. Get it.

Click me. (sorry for calling you scum earlier.)

Neun Welten - Destrunken (2009)

Primarily Instrumental, this group from Germany paint a myriad of visuals with their latest release "Destrunken". The visuals conjure up dark, melancholic, nature-esque type imagery. Kinda sounds like a bunch of drunken ancient druids sat on some tree stumps in the woods and started jamming.

This makes for some great study, reading, tea drinking, contemplation, music. Fuck, its just good. Here let me show you:

 

download.