Failure Ritual - Apathy (2015)

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Everything that has been put out under the umbrella of Failure Ritual has been great, hypnotizing and plodding ambient black metal that utilizes space and repetition to drive the listener into a state of hypnosis or induced psychosis. It's drone is long and consistent and sounds like a sonic form of mania through a winding channel of muffled screams against a wall of dense mollifying guitars as war drums beat in the distance. It's hefty and haunting but somehow manages to be catchy in its rhythmic way, and it often feels as though you have turned the same corner over and over with only the faintest difference to set it apart.

And to add even more layers to its already enigmatic presence, It's mostly unknown as to who is behind Failure Ritual, but I have read speculations that it might be Adam Kalmbach of Jute Gyte. I have nothing in common with somebody who can't get behind this, as the Swedish people say, PURE FUCKING ARMAGEDDON!

Apathy (bandcamp)

God's Bastard - Last Standing Village (2020)

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I try to keep my ears planted to the ground when it comes to anything released by I, Voidhanger Records if not for how consistent they are with really good releases for the consistency in pushing the barriers of metal and chewing up new soils in sound and forward-thinking song structure. God's Bastard is such a release. Comprised of two members, one of which is prolific in the sonic arena, being a member of Krallice, Coral Cross (very good), Woe, Anicon and a handful of other bands whose sound have never entered it into my atmosphere.

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Say what you will about anyone who tinkers with puritan black metal, when experimentation falls into the right hands it can be a breath of fresh air in a stale environment of a genre that sometimes takes itself too seriously… and let's call a spade a spade here, sometimes purist black metal is also bad. ThisGod's Bastard is charged and found guilty of tinkering, but at least there are a lot of good things happening here on Last Village Standing and I"m going to keep listening to it on the merits that Coral Cross is really good and Krallice and Woe have done a lot of good things as well.

Last Village Standing (bandcamp)

Spirit Possession - Spirit Possession (2020)

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Here's another album flying under the venerable Profound Lore Records label, a well-oiled machine run by Chris Bruni who always seems to be ahead of the curve, and it's another album that will be heavily listened to by yours truly – The sound and production is exactly what I'm looking for right now, albeit I have only listened to the only two tracks released, I am staunch in knowing that this album nails down primitive sounding black metal.

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A sound that harkens back to the cold and primeval sounds of 90's black metal, with angular riffs, shrill atmosphere, ghostly production at its centre, and on the sonic periphery a torrent of influences takes shape in the form of heavy metal that borrows perfectly from early hardcore, in the same way that Razor did back in the late 80's during the festering metal scene of Toronto until they unfortunately and unceremoniously faded away into obscurity… It was a perfect. This to me is everything going right for forward thinking black metal. Imagine fusing together the best elements that make up Hellhammer, Mercyful Fate, Negative Plane, Razor, mid Darkthrone and Finland's (underrated and under appreciated) Swallowed and you will come up with a sound that is comparable to Spirit Possession's impressive, maybe immaculate, self-titled debut. What a release!

It's also worth noting that the vocalist/guitarist in Spirit Possession is the same vocalist/guitarist that makes up the band KNEEL, of which I posted about a few days ago and another release I think is basically perfect. Some accounting for taste for sure.

Spirit Possession (bandcamp)

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

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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)

KNEEL - Infinite Worship, Slaves Eternal EP (2020)

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Probably one of the finest EP's cut from the cloth of black metal I've heard this year, and if it were instead a full-length I'd probably say it was up there with one of my favourite releases of the year so far by virtue of it's sheer ferocity and unyielding production.

KNEEL offer up their first musical output on the sacrificial altar, and it's in the form of absolutely nailed-down raw black metal with a clear influence in ethos and sound from the more caustic aspects of punk. Not in the same vain as Raspberry Bulbs or Okkultokrati, where emphasis and structure is more simplified and unison but more akin to Morbid Insulter or Bone Awl who have traded the affects of simplicity for intensity and are built around a thicker viscosity, with more layers and dimensions floating around the bones of the songs.

Musically Infinite Worship, Slaves Eternal charges through 3-songs of densely layered black metal that pulls heavily from elements of bestial death metal a la bands like Swallowed, Teitanblood and Triumvir Foul so sonically and atmospherically everything is bloated and caked in grime and the vocals lurch between schizophrenic howls, belches and grunts which is something if not recorded and executed right it just sounds like a mess, but this is spot on. Everything is spot on!

Infinite Worship, Slaves Eternal (bandcamp)

Hank Wood and the Hammerheads - Use Me 7" (2020)

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Hank Wood and the Hammerheads might be the last bastion of defence in the realms of sonic austerity, in the swirling ether of New York garage punk, amidst the grime of the sewage causeways and alleyways there is definitely a beating heart that still rides under a tattered and torn banner proclaiming rock and roll in all its authenticity, and Hank Wood and the Hammerheads have been a clear, albeit modest, part of that ticking heart.

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Use Me continues along with the bands progression in sound and explores some untrodden territory within its grooves and has moved even further away from the more feral and caustic sound of their earlier releases but what it gives up in speed and ferocity it hits back with equal force in musical heft and the hooks go so deep. If you're unfamiliar with the bands earlier releases and ignorant to the sound they helped pave, stop reading this now and go do a deep dive because it's absolutely worth it. This new record is still crass and charged full of jangling energy, but it's a different energy source, drawing from the well of The Stooges, Richard Hell, MC5, but with an attack plan that's more akin to Germany's Dean Dirg rather than the former studs. Still snotty and shooting out phlegm behind poignant if not potent words is Hank Wood and if you ever saw these guys play live you were enthralled, filled with vim and vigour and you wanted to do something about something… You just forgot what it was. Get into this, or forever accept defeat!

Use Me 7" (Bandcamp)

Warp Chamber - Implements of Excruciation (2020)

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Chris Bruni of Profound Lore Records has always had his hands on the pulse of death metal, feeling for signs of life and then giving that life existence on the planes of sonic annihilation. He's had a few misses during his tenure (my opinion) but other than that, Profound Lore Records is one of the most consistent record labels out in the abyss of all things metal or tied to that which is heavy.

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Warp Chamber come out swinging on their debut full-length, a full-bodied attack of churning and cavernous death metal with a predilection for fetid guitar tones, bloated vocals and a backdrop that sounds nothing short of putrid. You get the point I'm not so subtly making, yeah? implements of Excruciation isn't reinventing the wheel or anything, but the integrity and brute force in which they will pummel you for thirty straight minutes is a thing to behold. There isn't a single second of filler floating around in these caves of churning riffs and vocal belches, it's absolutely filthy, and the way the drumming manages to bob and weave its way around with adept blasts and fills restores a fragment of my faith within 2020's ability to impress upon me. One of the better releases of the year so far, and it's not even close.

Implements of Excruciation (bandcamp)

Spectral Lore / Mare Cognitum - Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine (2020) [split]

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This split is blowing so many releases out of the water – It's less of a split and more of a joined-collaborative of full-lengths between two gladiators in the arena of discordant black metal with a penchant for the esoteric and cosmic – Between the two of them, Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum are punching way over their weight on Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine with a total running time just shy of 2 hours. It's colossal in full sway of the word and It's a lot to digest in one sitting and though it might even be guilty of being lofty at times you should pay attention. If not, you're getting it all wrong.

Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine (bandcamp)

Black Curse - Endless Wound (2020)

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Black Curse seems to be something of an amalgamation from the bands Spectral Voice, Blood Incantation, Khemmis and Primitive Man, which is to say they are in no way strangers to the sonic equivalent to swamp water. This album is a heady trip down into the depths of death metal, raw and smouldering almost to the point of decay, guitars that sound like stuck pigs marinated in reverb and grime and vocals that stylistically remind me of a lot of the Spanish sounds of death metal – bands like Teitanblood, Proclamation, Wrathprayer and glimpses of the neurotic nature of Swallowed.

Black Curse - Endless Wound (bandcamp)

Nox Formulae - Drakon Darshan Satan (2020)

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Dark Descent Records is a label you can set your watch to quite consistently when it comes to digging into something that satiates that filthy hankering you may or may not often get for something putrid, something that exudes fumes of rot from a bloated corpse, with leaking bile and black candles of ceremony. Take that as you will, or as you won't, it's all the same really.

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I'm impatiently waiting for more releases as we're already in March and there's only one full length (almost out) to speak of thus far, and one phenomenal split release from Anhedonist and Spectral Voice. To come out at the end of March though, is this promising release from Nox Formulae. I've only heard the one song up on bandcamp but I can already say I'm fully bought in. All in on the pot, pre flop, as some might say. Take a listen for yourself and understand that form isn't always linear, and style isn't always cohesive, but chaos can be beautiful especially when its saturated in that cold sonic sound that often comes out of the scene in Greece.

Here's the thing though, (I feel like I get into this frame of mind every single year) we're approaching the first quarter of the new year and I have yet to be floored by any one release yet in the arena of metal. Which I only bring up because maybe I'm missing something? I mean my ears aren't constantly on the ground, so I hope I am. If anyone has any sources or recommendations please smack me upside the head with them. Forever grateful, Chris.

Nox Formulae - Drakon Darshan Satan (bandcamp)