So this is kind of a b-side from the new record (which is almost finished, hurrah for once), just didn't really fit with the vibe of what I've been coming up with. It does feel like it could have been on Cairns for the Lost.
A new Wholy Failure experiment to boggle the mind and fuck the ears. Almost an hour long noise/drone ritual.
A new day, a brand new record from our friend Most Holy Death. This just released EP focuses more on the noise/experimental side of MHD. A harsh, unyielding slab of noise that entices and destroys, as hypnotic and transfixing as anything on Forsake Your Blood, Death Knell, or the split with Wholy Failure
Wow. Not often do I find a band who can make the content or subject of their music feel as cohesive and alive as Mur has on his first release. Cam Sather is the artist known as Mur and from his Minnesota base he has created some of the best and most compelling black metal I have heard in a long while. Athabasca tells of the relation between the Grey Wolf and American Bison, and if you are going to tell an American story, you best have an american sound. Mur has that in spades, from a drone influence recalling Scenics' Aquatica (a very desolate southwestern drone sound, fitting for description of the great plains of the US), to banjo and acoustic guitar working together, to black metal sections that just sound like they were born between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Appalachia with Cascadia, none overwhelming the other. This is just top notch music here. Well done. Very well done.
This may be the worst guitar sound that I've heard in a long time. Sounds like it was played with a first act guitar through a 2 watt practice amp (the shitty solid state ones) and recorded with a computer mic. Its so thin and non-realistic and just noodles on pointlessly and tunelessly. Also the mixing seems to be an issue as well. If you are going to feature midi instruments, you want your music to either sound as good or the midi to sound as bad as your recording. This is just a mess of superclean synths and midi vox over said superthin guitars, bass that stands out (of the mix, and the song, but not in any sort of way you'd want) and surprisingly decent vocals. I get the feeling that this is supposed to be experimental but only the bass really succeeds in sounding put together, and ends up overplaying over everything else. The leads are just out of tune jazzy noodling. Its like getting your dick sucked by someone with a mouth full of bitting ants (or for a less fucky example like getting your dick sucked by a teenager with braces and no clue how to suck a cock). Yes, its still a blowjob, but its so bad and painful you'd have been better of just rubbing one out or learning how to fuck your own ass. This is kind of up its own ass, but going limp at the same time. A little more time to focus on songwriting, a lot more cohesiveness on the mixing, better guitar playing, and reign in the bass, and this project could improve a lot. Until then, pass the lube.
Like Murphy's Law, back with a bong! Rasha'im kicks us off with some basic ass demo of basic ass satanic black metal. Sounds like a single take rehearsal demo. Hopefully you like your snare drums with no snap and your bass drum played with a stuffed animal on a stick. Nothing too offensive, pretty much black metal 101 mixed with some doom metal elements. Actually the longer, doom-ier songs are more enjoyable and flow better. A pretty middle of the road, but enjoyable first release from these kvltists from Colorado.
I'm back (for now). I just wanted to make sure this release fell into your hands. WF drops the weird electronic beats, the post-punk flourishes, and electronic attitude that have become a hallmark of its sound as of late. In fact, there is no percussion anywhere on the WF songs. Just a latter/mid-period SWANS vibe run through a drone-y filter mixed with the dark noisy post rock that WF has played with before. Most Holy Death serve up two mammoth slabs of his suffocatingly beautiful blackened dronedoom, another monument on how to perfect the blending on those styles.
Big production "dark metal" from Germany. Sort of an Agalloch meets Katatonia via Woods of Ypres vibe going on. Well performed, well written, not super cheesy, most of the lyrics are in German so I can't tell what they are about. If you are a fan of the style, you probably will cream yourself over this. I think its pretty cool and will revisit it at a later point, for sure.
Apocalyptic raw black metal from Finland. It's definitely not the reinvention of the wheel, but godfuckingdamn, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Aside from a fucking goofy name, RYCE is a pretty neat band. This London, UK based one man project blends Post-black metal sounds with noise and drone, creating a compelling and entrancing listen. Plus, Alien references on at least two of the songs, possibly this entire release is about Ripley, but I don't know without the lyrics. I think this is a solid release despite a slightly uneven production throughout, and definitely worth checking out.
A gracious and delightful new year to you all. We start this year off with a project from the frost-bitten (from the cold and the meth) depths of Wyoming, the black/doom Natanas.
Eh, definitely not great, or good, or listenable for the majority of the run time. This sounds like if Lord Wherewolfe from Kill Violate Mutilate decided to stop worshiping at the altar of GG Allin/not legal teenage girls and started to write black/doom about quantum physics and demons and Gadsen flags, then decided his already shitty guitar tone wasn't shitty enough, so he cuts through the speaker on his 10w yamaha practice combo and then drinks another handle of whiskey before starting to record. Yeah. I won't say it's completely without its charms. The drums are usually doing their own thing and that thing is usually more interesting than the guitar/vocals (not "better", just more interesting), and the last song is kind of cool with a sort of Eastern European folk vibe going on via a mandolin mixed with a post punk vibe from the drums. Like I believe though, I'm not the king of good taste, so you should check this out yourself.
