Auspicium - We Will Raze the Firmament and All the Stars Therein

 If you've been a reader here long term, you know I started posting here due to Auspicium. I had wanted use blogspot to promote newer bands so they could get eyes on them, while someone was downloading an out-of-press record they didn't want to play $1000 bucks for one ebay. That definitely included my own bands, like Auspicium, but also newer bands that have since gotten pretty big or have become some of my favorites and friends. A world where I can't count Sangre Y Tierra and Most Holy Death among my friends is one I would not want to live in, and it's because of this blog.

Sappy ass shit aside, this is the first Auspicium album since "For the World that Was" and the first new music period since the Split with Sangre Y Tierra back in 2015. It's a lot darker than the previous records and is the first time ever Auspicium has been released on vinyl. Please buy a copy from fiadh.bandcamp.com

Corrughadh - S/T

 Hey all, posting this on behalf of Northern Hell Kult, a great label based out of Northern Maine.

CORRUGHADH is 8 tracks of guerrilla black metal from Maine. Raw black metal mixed with punk in a riff induced frenzy.

Towersong - Solitude as Devotion

Towersong is a new artist from Maine. Powerful and masterful black metal. I was lucky enough to assist him with recording this single and provided the vocals. An EP is coming soon (and you are going to want to hear this, it's gonna kick your ass), but until then let this song sate your thirst.

Dungavenhooter - Fucked Into Nonexistence

 Hey all, 

In lieu of a new Auspicium and/or Avulse record (both coming out by the end of the year), here is the debut record from my newest project, Dungavenhooter. "Fucked Into Nonexistence" is a throwback to the nasty old death metal and grindcore of the late 80s. Copies available from Fiadh Productions

Avulse - Justified (Promo 2024)

Hey freaks. Still nothing on the regular posting front. Life, lack of submissions, and the fall of the blogspot as a music aggregator are all contributing factors. 2024 is the 15th anniversary of Avulse forming. It's also been 12 since I put out anything new (Demagogue was last in 2012). However, that feeling has been stirring and thus far we have put out a new track for a benefit comp, have a new album ready to go before the end of the year ("I Will Unmake this World" on Fiadh Productions), and put out this two song promo yesterday. One new song and a Cock Sparrer cover (oi! to all my skinhead and SHARP brothers)

Wholy Failure - may he keep the world for his people

Hey all,
As you've probably noticed, Khaaos, Fleshy, and myself have not been posting regularly for a LONG time. I haven't been getting many submissions to post, and I don't have any time to post any that I do. Also, I'm still angry that I ever gave Ghost Bath's fake-chinese bullshit a platform (seriously, such a stupid fucking gimmick).

Anyways, here's a new Wholy Failure EP for you. 3 un/partially-released songs that were all recorded after Sand In Our Eyes. I haven't been writing much as of late, but I wanted to get this out. I like to think of this as the spiriutal successor to "Abortion Eurcharist", so if you enjoyed that record, you probably will like this. If you were hoping for Tree of Human Debris pt II (or anything remotely black metal), I'm sorry and feel well and free to skip this.

Dagger Lust - S/T (2016)

I don't know where to begin with this one, for a demo that clocks under 15 minutes this is more satisfying to listen than most full lengths out there. Depraved, raw and with a crisp dirty production, highly recommended ;) !

Dagger Lust - S/T (2016)

Field of Spears - And the Earth Soundly Slept

Hey everyone, I have an assload of some pretty good music to upload and I will try to be more regular! But there is a new Field of Spears record out now. Released by the always righteous Colloquial Sound Recordings, this is the fifth full-length we've done. More sparse than Heathen Youth , it aims to wind through your heart and mind and let you know where the holes are.

Grigax - Demo

"Grigax is named this to glorify a kid I went to school with named Adam Grigas, who 4 years after graduating, murdered his 40 year old girlfriend (his mom's best friend) with an Ax while under a psychotropic trance on halloween in 2008."

 When you blend a thematic statement like this with the music that's featured on this demo, its bound to entice weirdos like myself. Coming off as a varied mix of (the better acts of) depressive black metal, Dead Can Dance, and the darker Jarboe era SWANS, Grigax gives us a great and non-typical demo. AM's vocals mournfully flow through the darkness, a Hope Sandoval on heroin-esque performance over the bastard musical love child of Michael Gira and Codeine, all under the watchful eyes of Quorthon and Angelo Badalamenti. Other times seething with rage and bile, screaming towards none and all while guitars languish with malice and melancholy. Heartbreaking, scornful, devastating, enrapturing; a misanthropic voyage with great reward for undertaking. I can't wait to see what AM will do with her next recordings. Definite recommendation.

Sangre Y Tierra - En La Proxima Vida

Happy new year freaks. This came out New Year's Eve, but it definitely ranks as probably the best of last year, even after the few listens I've given it thus far. SYT was pretty quiet for the past year, with Marv focusing more on other musical endeavors, but is back with a vengeance. This is a culmination of everything we've loved about every SYT record, taken to the max. Marv screeches, growls, rasps, shouts, and even throat sings the deeply personal lyrics in Spanish, while powerfully and beautifully wrapping the music around and through the length of the record. The bass stands out in a way that few black metal acts have it do so. This was worth the wait, and the send off 2015 needed.

Field of Spears - You'll Always Find Me EP

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.

Wholy Failure - Sand In Our Eyes

A new Wholy Failure experiment to boggle the mind and fuck the ears. Almost an hour long noise/drone ritual.

Most Holy Death - Even in the Blossoms of My Sin EP

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

Mur - Athabasca

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.

Kormeth - Despond

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.

Rasha'im - An Invocation

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.

Wholy Failure/Most Holy Death - Split

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.

Zeugen der Leere - Seelenwanderer

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.

Endzeit - Years of Hunger

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.

Rival Youth Cults Emerge - Harp

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.