Failure Ritual - Total Weakness (2015)

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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. 

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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)

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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.

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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)

LLNN - Unmaker (2021)

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Danish post-hardcore and sludge outfit, LLNN, are trying to get back to what they accomplished on one of the better releases in 2018 (among good company) with their new full-length, Unmaker. LLNN draw from a wide well of musical influences, pulling from their ambient soundscapes that serve to maintain an atmosphere, almost lulling and mollifying the listener before an inevitable wave of crushing metallic hardcore (with a prominently post-hardcore angle) and sludge berate the ear canals. It's forward thinking, but not wholly unique, but it's a welcomed breath of fresh air in a overcrowded palette of other bands trying to do the same thing and falling short. We only have two songs to go by now, until it releases in September, but I remain optimistic. 

LLNN - Unmaker (bandcamp)

Rorcal & Earthflesh - Witch Coven (2021)

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Collaborations don't always pay off, and more often than not I find myself indifferent to the attempt, which maybe has more to do with how I am a fatalist contrarian with no cause and no guiding star rather than the material itself. In this case, I'm for it. Much like when Merzbow teamed up with Full of Hell a few years back, the absolutely raw and grating ambient soundscapes of Earthflesh lend an even thicker layer of density to Rorcal's already crushing mixture of Doom, sludge and post-hardcore. The output is a two-track release running 30 minutes in length and it's worth your time if you're looking for something to assault your auditory senses with great heft. 

Rorcal & Earthflesh - Witch Coven (bandcamp)

Death Fortress - Reign of the Unending (2018)

Here's your yearly reminder that this album is still out there in the ether somewhere, even if it's only on YouTube. We'll take what we can get. If you're following this blog and you can't get into this, then I don't know if I can help you. Forward thinking black/death metal in a genre pool of people trying hard and mostly failing. Dig in! 

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Cult of Thaumiel - Palaces of Iniquity (2021)

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Completely blown out and sonically malignant is Cult of Thaumiel's newest offering, it sounds rightfully evil and barely straddles that line of what most would consider to be "unlistenable", but we here at SHOM know ripe fruit when we see it. The pacing is at best frenetic and the structure is at worst crumbling, and I do mean these things to be taken as assets to the sound on Palaces of Iniquity, the entire backbone of the genre relied on the rebellion against a cleaned up and polished sound. Raw and absolutely abrasive, check it out and keep your ears to the ground on its full release on October 01, 2021. Hail motherfuckers!

Cult of Thaumiel - Palaces of Iniquity (bandcamp)

Ekulu - Unscrew My Head (2021)

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New York hardcore has a hype to it, there's no escaping that, and sometimes that hype is overhyped. In the case of NYHC's Ekulu there isn't a single fleck of flack that could be rightfully flung. It would all be flat air because Ekulu play with an obstinate sense of style and energy, and if that is somehow lost on you when you listen to Unscrew My Head, then I don't know what to tell you. BUST IT!

When Ekulu released their debut EP back in 2018 you knew these guys were poised to churn out a handful of great sounding hardcore releases barring the fickle pitfalls of limited run hardcore bands. Building off the foundations laid out in the 80's, Ekulu dip into the metallic brunt of hardcore like Merauder and Madball leaning into elements of thrash and going even as far as embracing subtleties from Show No Mercy era Slayer and early Accept. Much of the youth crew hardcore omitted these blatant influences and instead dug further into the punk raw power apparent in Youth of Today or Judge… Ekulu has taken some of that into their mix too and in totality the result is a ripper of an album. 

Ekulu - Unscrew My Head (bandcamp)

Odious Devotion - Ilmestys (2021)

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Here's a recent release from Finland. The album cover might confirm a few deductions right off the bat for you if you're the type of person who likes to read into things—Ilmestys is a well articulated barrage of cold, atmospheric black metal with a penchant for the raw, albeit not crude, soundscapes typical to its ilk. 

I am glad the Fins still know how to take a promo shot, too. 

The bulk of this album is constructed off the traditionally black metal sound typical to the Finnish exploration of the genre but splintered throughout this album are some excellent explorations that either bolster its heft and contribution to the black metal sound in a multitude of ways and I'm fully on board. Get on board and let me know what you think on your way out!

Odious Devotion - Ilmestys (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)

Mannveira - Vítahringur (2021)

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Iceland has earned an automatic grace with me—If I see an album under the canopy of black/death metal being put out from the windswept nation I will always direct some time and energy into listening to that thing, and you should too… They've earned it. The list of quality albums coming from that tiny island has got to be the highest per capita out of anywhere else?

I digress, musically Vítahringur is a melting pot of all those Icelandic sounds but with more poise. I see Mannveira slapped with a black metal tag everywhere, but not only is that lazy, it's not accurate. Without dipping into the overly formulaic and trite discussion of genres (and their sub-genres) its worth it (especially in this case) to acknowledge the myriad of nuance. 

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Its foundations are built mostly upon the Icelandic black metal sound of whirring and hypnotic guitar chords much like Naðra, Sinmara, Svartidauði and Misþyrming (etc.) albeit with a little more focus on the space around the chords and creating atmosphere through something more of a doom tinged approach of canyon like mid-tempo, which often features lofty guitars akin to post-metal more so than black metal. A standout difference to me is in the vocal mix, which favours a much bulkier sound than its counterparts, barely if ever dipping into anything of a shrill like scream that's become omnipotent in Icelandic black metal. Before I get to verbose I'll just say that Mannveira have achieved something dense and great here, as always, worth your time and energy!

Mannveira - Vítahringur (bandcamp)