Reveal! - Doppelherz (2021)

•  †  •

Here's an album that is absolutely refusing to be pigeon-holed by arm-chair bloggers and critics alike, a giant fuck you to those of us who feel a compulsion to tie everything down with one of our genre packages—Sweden's Reveal! are one of the rare groups impure and brazen enough to traverse a rarely contested musical swath of influences running the gamut of everything declared under the banner of "Extreme Metal".

Doppelherz is a colourful mosaic of sounds both old and new, borrowed and invented, frenetic and calculated.—Throughout its entirety, creaky cathedral chords reminiscent of Negative Plane and Funereal Presence can be heard, which is not entirely uncommon, but definitely dubious when it's pressed up against something that sounds like early speed/heavy metal a la Mercyful Fate or disoriented black metal and thrash riffs in the vein of Obliteration or Spirit Possession… But somehow these guys fucking pull it off with gusto!

•  Ω  •

I'll spare the multitude of comparisons and say this, it feels like this record shouldn't work. Like there's a little too much going on and too many things being pulled and implemented for it to even feel cohesive, but there's just enough structure and swagger to make it work. And I'll be the first to admit, not having this album in my last years top albums of 2021 was an impermissible misstep, but as it usually goes with very late releases in the year, I overlooked and under-appreciated Doppelherz when it dropped mid December.

Reveal! - Doppelherz (bandcamp)

Deathless Void - Deathless Void (2022)

•  †  •

In the endless sprawl of death metal, a new presence materializes out of The Netherlands thanks to the venerable Iron Bonehead—its form takes shape through a torrent of death metal and black metal which seems to mine from the same ore as bands like Aosoth, Bölzer, Abyssal and even Dephosphorus in the sense that it is as explorative and vacuous as it is frenetically delirious and crushing. 

From the singular track that exists through the Iron Bonehead bandcamp page we can easily take stock of the obtuse intensity that will come from the bands first album, and though I am carefully optimistic, I'm definitely looking forward to its whole release on February 04, 2022.

Deathless Void - Deathless Void (bandcamp)

Michael Beach - Dream Violence (2021)

•  †  •

Australia is an absolute uncontested hotbed in the realm of toothy rock and roll and Michael Beach is just yet another fish in the pond of energetic and woollen post-punk from Melbourne. Angular guitars pervade through a post-punk sentimentality that isn't at all afraid to traverse the sonic highways of a multitude of different genres and ideas, experimenting between tracks that harken to The Velvet Underground, Joy Division, Solid Space, Nick Cave and even a track in 'You Know Life Is Cheap' that sounds like something Timber Timbre would write with its wobbly bayou dirge. 

Michael Beach - Dream Violence (bandcamp)

DEFACEMENT - Defacement (2021)

•  †  •

This is one of those albums that drags you through the abyss—A serpentining downward spiral through cavernous death metal that is equal parts technical, murky and experimental. 'Defacement' touches upon black metal in more ways than one, notably drawing from the well of the second wave of black metal as its reach has almost become ubiquitous in the sphere of forward-thinking underground metal.

As is always the case with anything I, Voidhanger Records, their is an inherent energy to be found on 'Defacement', something completely ambitious and janky, with a structure that is far more freeform and gelatinous than it is formulaic. Atmospherically it is bestial and primitive with emphasis on dissonant churning guitars, cavernous vocals that don't pierce through the mix in a typically garish way and a drum sound that is mixed in just right and played with the velocity of a meteor shower. The inclusion of ambient passages isn't always an accepted accent in my palette, but on 'Defacement' its presence gives the album space and a sense of purpose beyond barbarity.  

Something between a cross of Mitochondrion, Chaos Moon, Yellow Eyes, Portal, Altarage, etc. 

DEFACEMENT - Defacement (bandcamp)

Crypto Order - Destructive Strategies for Sustainable Living (2021)

•  †  •

An album that at first glance would be way out of left field for Severed Heads Open Minds but upon further inspection into Crypto Order's sonic aggression in the arena of off-kilter industrial electronic and hallucinatory rave songs you could deduce a host of similarities to boundary acts like Gnaw Their Tongues, Daughters, Mamaleek, Jute Gyte, etc.

Much like Death Grips in the sense that there are perceived as well as sighted influences from a cornucopia of bands that revolve around feral energy like Revenge, The Doors, The Microphones, Lightning Bolt, The Jesus Lizard and things that feed off the dark and dismal. You will find much of the same energy on Crypto Order's Destructive Strategies for Sustainable Living.

Listen around on Italy's Democide Products page and those without a "strictly blast beats" mentality will find an arsenal of songs and albums worth your time.

Crypto Order - Destructive Strategies for Sustainable Living (bandcamp)

Failure Ritual - Total Weakness (2015)

•  †  •

A while back I posted 'Apathy' which is only 1 out of the 5 records the absolutely ambiguous Failure Ritual put out in 2015, this is just another one of the 5 records released suddenly by Failure Ritual on the 19th of October. 

•  Ω  •

A harrowing downward spiral of experimental black metal that places heavy emphasis on repetition and the exploration of aural space—weaving dense fogs of crude riffing and drumming overtop mesmerizing ambient passages that tread into weird territory, inducing a hallucinatory trance like state. I don't think I could put this side by side up against anything else and claim similarities, there's nothing that sounds like this. This comes highly recommended!

Failure Ritual - Total Weakness (bandcamp)

Amulets - Blooming (2021)

•  †  •

You know when you go out for sushi and you eat a fresh piece of ginger in-between your meal as the sort of palate cleanser to maximize the impact of flavours between bites? Blooming is the sonic equivalent to that practice. At least when it comes to the curation of this blog and what it is I choose to post in-between what. It can't just be a consistent deluge of black/death metal posts… you should take the palate cleanser.

•  Ω  •

What Blooming is is a floating audio piece comprised of mixing ambient drone, shoegaze, experimental electronic, tape loops—Utilizing the imperfections of analog tape to traverse a soundscape that leaves the listener quite open to its own interpretation. Whenever something is presented minimally, we will often use the empty space to fill in whatever emotion or thought we experience in that thing. The same could be said of Blooming—It's an open black room, and you're free to move around in it in anyway you see fit. Enjoy.

Amulets - Blooming (bandcamp)

Couch Slut - Take a Chance on Rock n' Roll (2020)

•  †  •

Couch Slut have been around for the last 6 years quietly making a lot of noise in the form of noise-rock mixed with a healthy amalgamation of influences and soundscapes running the gamut of punk, doom, sludge, hardcore and throwing in glimpses of anything else they can get their grubby mitts on – experimentation. Amidst the chaos, Couch Slut have managed to create a sound that is almost wholly unique in their delivery and I can't help but find myself reaching to hit the play button. If sonic aspects of Brainbombs, Indian, Jute Gyte, Converge and Iron Lung were distilled into a singular sound it might come out sounding like this.

Take a Chance on Rock n' Roll (bandcamp)

Jordablod - The Cabinet of Numinous Song (2020)

•  †  •

Here's a new one I've just landed on from the Iron Bonehead faction, I'll normally scour the new releases found there as the label has earned its way into my trusting arms (ears, whatever) thanks to a plethora of solid releases – How about that Blot & Bod album last year, a real crusher – So when I saw this new album by Jordablod, a motley trio from Sweden hellbent on pulling from sounds across a wide range of sonic landscapes, but still adamant about the bulk of sound being a mixture of doom, death and black metal. It works, and I'm compelled to enjoy the way in which the drums are recorded,  a thick rumbling, and at times plodding, kick drum, that positions itself between a layer of guitar fog which at times seems to float around old rock n' roll and psychedelia riffs. I might be doing a poor job of describing that, to be fair, I'm surviving off the fumes of a few hours of sleep and a undercurrent of a lingering hangover daze. Listen on, my wayward sons.

Jordablod - The Cabinet of Numinous Song (bandcamp)

Milk Music - Mystic 100's (2017)

•  †  •

"And you can smoke a mystic 100 with him..."are the last words that can be heard piercing through the reverb laden downward spiral of the intro song, sounding muddy and discordant as all hell, Coxen's vocals howling on like weird recounts from a bad trip... It's weird that this track flows into the second track 'Twists & Turns & Headtrips' because even through sheer contrast and complimentary juxtaposition it sounds like two different songs from two different albums from two different bands especially when the second song is jerked to start out of a sample of game show clapping... It's really weird and it shouldn't work. But it does. And I like it.

I only bring all that up to point out one thing. I have been almost completely bored with most music lately, in particular new music coming out this year. Continuously listening through Mystic 100's has been a temporary anecdote to my sonic banality. It's one of those rabbit hole listens, where the ending is nowhere close to the start, everything is wonky and your perspective hangs by a thread.

Milk Music are special. Not like special olympics special but unique special. Their musical cloth is woven from many threads; Weaving in late 60's psych rock, post-punk drone, a grimy edge from side alley punk and an undeniable ooze of catchy pop hooks. Sometimes sounding poignant and nostalgic like early Replacements or Royal Headache and non-sensical and punchy like Destruction Unit or early Pissed Jeans.

I don't know what it's all about and I like it.

Mystic 100's (bandcamp)

Cindy Lee - Act of Tenderness (2018)

•  †  •

Haunting. Forlorn. Beautiful. Cindy Lee's musical landscape has always been all of these things, a sonic network woven from a wrenching guitar tone, a bleak synth backdrop and an atmosphere soaking heavily in its own folly, stewing in its sadness, marinating in a maddening pond of dismal thoughts and past hurts. This is what it feels like, mostly. There is always this undeniable undertone of warmth and something comforting about it all though, like any good artist or any good fatalist, it's up to the author to conjure up a feeling of hope, even if it's wishful thinking. Nobody likes a total Nihilist.

Act of Tenderness is just that, tender, but it's also everything above and everything below the heart, sitting in the gut and living in the hippocampus. You didn't even know it was there until now, as you sip from your black coffee you realize that. Look at me now, one moment I was listening to Moonknight's Ligeia feeling absolutely nothing in-particular and now only two songs in on this album I'm my most primordial and pensive self. Form your own opinion and stop caring about what other people think, anyway.

Take a listen.

Act of Tenderness

Also definitely listening to her 2017 release, Malenkost. It's grim as black metal and soft as cashmere.

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.

Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence (2012)

Are you completely fucking hassled into liking BTBAM? Perhaps just exhausted of all the hype and praise they adorn? OR maybe you just miss the past, when they had a simpler (less pretentious?) approach… It's not as if they weren't always complex or musically talented, we knew that as soon as we heard their impressive floor recording (I can't find the evidence that backs this up) self titled.

BTBAM has never really been guilty of putting out anything bad, nor do they fall into the category of bland or uninspiring. They demand your full attention, some songs require many listens before they no longer feel blurry or a carbon copy of the previous.

•  •  •

Alas, a change has been made! The Parallax II: Future Sequence wears 12 tracks proudly, more than any other previous release. A perfect harmony of longer tracks, shorter tracks and ethereal interludes comprise the colossal beast that spans around 71 minutes. We enter the parallax chambers, which apparently is a cosmic rift of progressive metal with a penchant for theatrics and eccentrics. Gone are the days of the diverse unpolished archaic bellows of Tommy (listen to "More of Myself to Kill" 00:45 - 01:15) or the NWOBHM howls in "Aspirations" (02:35) and yes even the shrieks buried under noise (listen to "Lost Perfection: Anablephobia" 02:25) that are familiarly found within ambient black metal. It's gone, all gone.

The band has obviously found their niche and they have worked hard at creating a sound they can call their own. It's very much audible, every instrument can be heard clearly in a polished and refined production that has been becoming increasingly apparent since Alaska. Is this direction a good thing? It depends who you ask.

Get it here before the parasites inevitably take it down. (320Kbps) (taken down)

(Allow me to alleviate some guilt by saying, if you really like it, pick up the CD, they are usually reasonably priced. I know, I'm the parasite.)

The Body - All the Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood (in-depth)

Haunting [adj]; Remaining in the consciousness; not quickly forgotten. Why the  definition to the word 'haunting'? I'll explain, gather around the hearth children for I will tell the tale of how "All The Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood".

The year is 2010, a robust duo hailing from Rhode Island set out to create the soundtrack of nihilism. An album that is both harrowing and grim in all of its facets; sonically, atmospherically, lyrically, structurally, and yes even visually.

Lyrically outlining the failures of science, humankind, deities and just about everything else negative tinged and forlorn through shrieks that barely pierce through the ensuing chaos, as if the words are being swallowed up and buried under its own instrumentation.

The atmosphere is a swirling wind carrying negative vibes your way, causing an uneasiness through its entirety. The Body doesn't give a fuck about your fragile feelings, in fact, they intend to smash them along with your rather whimsical take on life. Structurally scattered adding to the foreboding nature of the beast, with riffs weaving in and out of the labyrinth of molasses paced drone/doom. The guitars are thick and glacial as the drums beat on in hypnotizing fashion, both seemingly recorded louder than the recording equipment could handle.

What you hear is entirely unique (as unique as something can be while still being influenced), which can be a rarity in todays day and age, but these two burly dudes deliver bizarre soundscapes through a bounty of interesting ways; The Body collaborated with "Assembly of Light" choir group to add their ethereal gospel like chant into a few songs, most notably the opener track  "A Body" where it is used brilliantly to create immense tension for a solid 7 minutes (Demanding patience) until a wall of noise comes crashing in.

There are a number of other oddities that take shape on "All The Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood", in the song "Empty Hearth" which features unusual throat singing and a ongoing nonsensical chant by a religious separatist movement woven throughout the dense sound of guitars and droning drums where its use is edited quite intriguingly. "Song of Sarin, The Brave"  has fragmented quotes from Charles Manson, a man who often goes on these (sometimes brilliant)nonsensical tangents that have manipulating power, it's a suitable voice for misanthropy.

I'll quickly dabble into the visual element, an album cover that only conjures up impenetrably eerie vibes and peculiar intrigue. The two members are shown standing in a barren scenery brandishing guns,… but here's the odd part, they are wearing outlandish garments (I read somewhere that it had something to do with traditional ceremonial wedding garb) that fester up an uneasiness that was surely intended.

Behold, an album that succeeds in just about every way it means to; Create the misanthropic funeral dirge of nihilism, buried in a devastatingly heavy sea of mid-tempo riffing, hypnotic drumming, and unsettling atmosphere through careful layering. The Body will reward patient listeners with fresh frissons of palpable tension and sonic vertigo. This is how all the waters of the earth will turn to blood.

Get it. (thanks to The Elementary Revolt for the download link)

Sunn O))) // Earth - Angel Coma split (2006)

Drone.

Grab if you like: Khanate, Teeth of Lions Rule The Divine, Boris

(((O)))