A little more than a month ago, Acheron issued their latest work, entitled Kult des Hasses. I finally got my hands on a copy and for now I can only tell you that, as could be expected, it delivers good old fashioned Satanic death metal, in my opinion unmistakably superior to that of their fellow countrymen Vital Remains or Deicide. I only listened to the album once actually, so I still need to digest it properly. One thing is certain, though: it fucking pleases the Horned One down below, Perpetual Ruler of the Blazing Netherworld.
Here's a sample I found in Youtube, the final track "Devil's Black Blood".
Exciting
tidings from the cold underworld. ColdWorld has announced in its official Facebook
page that a new full length is in the making. In the aftermath of the launching
of Melancholie2, a superb
masterpiece and a majestic monument to wintry dejection, ColdWorld has been
able to secure a steady base of support in the nether reaches of the black
metal universe. I’ve been a fan of ColdWorld ever since the EP The Stars are Dead Now, and, like many
others, I have eagerly awaited a new effort from this German one-man act. Meanwhile, we may always revisit Melancholie2,while holding our breath and tightening the rope around our necks,
for your expectations aren’t likely to be frustrated.
Taking some time to share this experimental/avant-garde/drone gem from the brazillian bemônio. I have to say I was a bit skeptical as I approached the album - whose title literally translates to "tears of blood and feces" - but I was pleasantly surprised. It helps that I was specifically looking into some reading music, so it felt really proper, and it prompted this fast review to grant the album some deserved exposition.
A very interesting, introspective and thought-inducing piece, which I highly recommend. You can stream it below:
Rancho Relaxo is one of those strangely obscure fuzz-gaze "kinda droney" that one comes across when browsing the web. I say strangely obscure because, in my mind, this kinda stuff should appeal to a whole lot of people. Just saying.
EITHER WAY, they have a new album coming out and here's a song from it. It's more pop than what they usually do but it kinda brings me back to that late eighties - early nineties kinda grunge kinda pop rock kinda shoegaze thing that bands had back then. It's a bit of a nostalgia trip - even though I was around 4 at the time, so what do I know - and even if it isn't, it's still a fucking great song, come on:
Many exciting news for today. First of
all, we’re sharing Den Saakaldte’s official video of “Destinasjon
Helvete”, the track featuring in their recent split with Horna.
Take a ride on the train to Hell!
Secondly, there’s the advance track
from the debut EP of Autumn’s Dawn, due to come out in the 21st
of April. A must-have for Austere fans.
I know I’ve been quite inactive in this blogging affair
since last week. My necromantic evocations and self-mutilation rites have kept
my hands awfully busy (and bloody). Be it as it may, today I bring you the
latest single from Vanhelga, which is set to feature on their third full length,
Längtan, whose release is scheduled
for the 28th of April. I’ve mentioned in previous posts how saturated
the whole “DSBM” thing currently is, with literally thousands of bands all
around the globe releasing demos and LP’s on a monthly basis, mimicking uncritically
the formulae established by their notorious predecessors, without contributing
with anything new to the genre. Actually, truth be told, they didn’t even had
to do anything outlandishly original; they simply had to compose something remotely
able of transmitting any sort of sentiment other than boredom. Anyhow, in every
ten bands or so within this musical niche there’s one or two which are worthwhile
checking out. Vanhelga definitely belong to the latter. It’s difficult not to
be reminded of Lifelover when listening to their despondently sick stuff. I’ll
be looking forward for their forthcoming opus, which I expect to be at least as
good as the preceding Höst, which you
can also hear and buy at their Bandcamp.
Fresh from the upcoming release of Rebirths, an album set to re-release some thisquietarmy songs, that have been re-recorded with a new coat of varnish. Fantastic stuff that Î couldn't recommend enough, this release shouldn't be high up there in the wishlist for those already acquainted with the band, thought it might prove a worthy listen for those unfamiliar with the band and concept.
Slated to release on April the 16th, here is the costumary bandcamp link:
La Blogothèque should not be a stranger to anyone who wanders the web looking for good music, but for those who aren't aware it is a great source for interesting work done by interesting artists in interesting settings. This snippet format, where musicians play select songs in unconventional places and/or with a special connection to a public - this Beirut concert springs to mind - is usually successful in conveying a situated perspective on music-making, which comes across both as an experience that is shared, collectively, and as something we are all - both artists and listeners - a part of. It takes us there, and I find myself both appreciating the music and its context, realizing that such performances are unique - as is every single one of them - while the underlying resonance, a human experience, is the glue that draws and binds all of this specificity.
This is particularly evident in Matana Roberts's bit in And We Made The Room Shine (AWMTRS), a "post-rockumentary" (as they claim it to be at their facebook page) done by La Blogothèque with Constellation artists in a tour around Vienna. Her role here as a musician and performer is evidently reliant on the public, on communication and the musicality that is in everyone - a chorus that feed into her music-playing. This is of course nothing unheard of, as Gospel choirs spring to mind immediatly during her performance, the idea of collective singing being an integral part of traditional music all around the world; but the artifice of contemporary performance does have a history of forgetting that there's no concert without a public, no message without a dialogue.
Which is not to say that every musician should do what she does, of course. In fact, no other artist in AWMTRS is going down that route. But from the street concert of Do Make Say Think to Elfin Saddle's water glass music, or Hangedup's steel pipe drums, there's a sense of placement that makes apparent both the intention of La Blogothèque situated music films and the artists' involvement with the surrounding environment. A stark contrast with Mike Moya and Eric Chenaux's solitary performances, but again these were contextualized: Eric Chenaux is at the stage playing for an empty audience, Mike Moya playing at what looks like an abandoned hall or basement; in both, the context relating to the introspective nature of the music being played.
All the while, AWMTRS is pulling it off through wordless movement. If anything, therein lies its flaw - that throughout the journey, there's always an eerie sense that we are mere spectators, voyeurs into the brilliant lives of these artists and the fortunate people that may experience their performance. This may be because even though it's the documentary's intention to bring us into the experience, the fact is that, well, we're not there. So I'm torn between the ambitious representation in AWMTRS and the simpler, more straight-to-the-point structure of, say, Blood, Sweat and Vynil. They both share the "band showcase" type of cadence - though AWMTRS is obviously more focused on the concerts themselves, while BSV is more interested in fan service - and they both seem to make a point of singling out the connection between artist and context as a driving force for the respective bands/musicians. But in BSV that is an explicit argument, while in AWMTRS it comes through interpretation and oftenly it becomes unclear whether it wants to go through with it, or whether that was its intention to begin with. It may just as well be the case that I'm reading into a non-intentional message that squeezed out between the lines.
The idea that AWMTRS "loses itself" by burying too deep on its own representation is an extremely subjective one and certainly not any reason to frown on the film itself, though. Taken at face value, you have an assortment of great artists pulling great performance. The filming is great and envelopping enough; the whole thing is marvellous work.
I highly recommend you spend the 45 minutes of your time as I'm sure anyone can enjoy the experience. The situated performance of music is something I believe needs much more thought and effort by us, or we stand to lose ourselves in the rattle of everyday consumerism. For that alone, I appreciate the very intention behind AWMTRS. The fact that the artists are great and the filming/setting is well thought out, makes this an excellent film.
Lately, I’ve been listening quite often to Alastor’s LP From the Hellish Abyss,
released last year by Hoth Records. Alastor is one of the side-projects of JA,
the mastermind behind Decayed, one of the most influential black metal bands hailing
from Portugal. We can easily relate Alastor with Decayed, mainly through the
borrowings from first-wave black metal bands and good ol’ times rock’n’roll, the latter being the primal root whence all heavy music rose, notwithstanding the unawareness
of this fact by many in the scene nowadays. We’re streaming here From the Hellish Abyss, but Alastor's entire
discography is available for listening and download at their Bandcamp.
We continue roaming through the lightless paths of French
black metal, and bring to you an advance track from Sühnopfer’s second opus “Offertoire”, whose release is scheduled for this month. In contrast with the more degenerate breed of
black metal evoked by his fellow countrymen previously appraised here in The Brainlesser, Ardraos’ solo project sports a melodic brand of metal noire, striking us with a certain
epic ambience. The song is further enriched by the contribution of Peste Noire’s
infamous Famine. Check it out below.
Tomorrow is the International Women's Day and that's as good an excuse as any to share what are probably my favourite female vocals in sludge. Overmars are of course giants in the scene, and the kind of music they achieve in this album is just too fucking brilliant. What a great follow-up to the monolith that was Affliction, Endocrine... Vertigo, which was already a testimony of the best that sludge has to offer - and how devastating it can be.
Born Again drags the listener further into the depths, and where it loses in the anger that was characteristic of Affliction, it gains in doomy weight. Down is the way to go. I like that Born Again does not try to repeat the formula of its predecessor, and instead it carves its own path without losing the destructiveness of Overmars - in some ways, it's more of a different perspective.
Born Again came out in 2007 and you can stream it at the Overmars official bandcamp below. You can also browse it for other albums from that band.
Today's song is a promising track from a promising release by Pyrmide Noire's MEMNON SA. An ambient, droney, instrumental wandering that drew my attention for sure, let's see how the album plays out. Listen:
The French black metal scene has always been one of a
kind. During the nineties, we had the so-called “Légions Noires”, an
underground “organization” comprised of bands like Mütiilation or Vlad Tepes, the
French equivalent of Norway’s “Black Circle”. They were easily identified by
their decrepit, lo-fi, and drug-fuelled strain of vampyric black metal, by the
same time many of their notorious Scandinavian coreligionists were dead,
jailed, domesticated by the music industry or revelling in harmonious
orchestrations, singing paeans to their “native gods”, their “national culture”
and bullshit of the sort. But the Légions Noires didn’t thrive for long, as
Mütiilation was the only band surviving well into the 21st century.
Fortunately, there were others who took up the black torch and kept the flame
of putridness alive. Of course, we have renowned acts such as Hell Militia or
Peste Noire, who partially absorbed the rotten, sick sonority of their
predecessors. But these aren’t the ones to whom I devote these words.
I contemplate herein four Gallic bands which share a
set of specificities and the influence of an obscure musician known as Dunkel:
Sale Freux (formerly known as Saatkrähe), Voqkrre and Drakonhail. I’m not going
to delve into details concerning each one of these entities, since you can
evaluate their dreadful art by yourself through the samples embedded below. It
suffices to say that Sale Freux and Voqkrre display many common traits in their
sound, heavily influenced by the 1990’s wave of French black metal, with their
deranged vocals and the foul scent emanated by psychotic guitar riffs, while
Drakonhail lull us into the abyss with their ambient, slow and grievous
compositions.
These are some of the lesser known bands that make the
French black metal scene one of the most stimulating in the world. Here, the
genre has kept its primary murkiness and subversive attitude, keeping at bay
any commercial pressures whatsoever, although not becoming ridiculously ridden
with clichés or infected with the musical and aesthetical staleness conveyed by
many bands of the genre.
Sale Freux - "Edelweiss", from L'Exil (2012)
Voqkrre - "Monotone Funebre Orchestra", from Palans in Pestilens (2009)
Drakonhail - "Errance Monotone", from ...Des Ailes... (2011)
I've been reading an interesting book by Castro-supporter-turned-neoliberal Mario Vargas Llosa about what he calls the "Civilization of the Spectacle" (he reads an essay from the book here). Setting aside some glaring contradictions in the book - not the least of which being the gap between the author's political life and the book's main thesis - he paints a gloom picture of contemporary society: a world of acritical consumption, a global generation bent on destroying culture (high culture, he would point out) and reducing the heights of artistic achievement to the banality of everyday commodities. A state of affairs wherein price overtook value; form overtook content and representation overtook meaning.
In a society where Oprah dictates mass market trends in literature much more effectively than the whole body of academically informed literary critics in North America, we can understand why this might pose a problem. This crisis of meaning being replaced by its representation - the real being set aside in favour of the artificial - should not come as a surprise to anyone who has read Guy Debord (in fact, the book is not innocently named) or, for that matter, Marx. But Llosa's lament here is unique in that it reflects upon the soul of society and on a particular struggle - the artistic struggle - of mankind when facing its own smallness, its own mortality. Indeed, the Civilization of the Spectacle is not merely one who lost its way with its own entertainment, which replaces culture, it's one who lost its humanity, its life.
It's gazing at this collective drive to dystopia that I most appreciate the work of drone/doom bands like Earth and Sunn O))). In its own way, the abrazive, disharmonic sentiment of the drone act reflects to me the attempt to turn the toppling ship back on its track, to force meaning through the deafening white noise by disregarding musical form. The deep, low vibrations resonate with our very biological senses, in a way that's so real, it defies or even rejects explanation (which is one of the many reasons why I enjoy the absence of lyrics). At the same time, repetition is rebellion: if the repetitive motion of drone music is a sort of defining motif, it can also be seen as a resistance to a world of excess in stimuli, a call to reflection and pause when facing the constant barrage of commodities tailored to please, to amuse, to entertain.
Dissonance is bliss, and few do it so well and dig so deeply like Habsyll, our feature band for today. A first listen will rightly remind us of doom terrormancers Khanate, who have built a solid empire on this matter, but Habsyll stands on its own feet, a giant of heavy, powerful, destructive, bottom-of-the-well doom. If my textual pacing so far took us to understand "underground" metal as an artistic call-to-arms against the static of contemporary society - an argument, as it stands, that I've been making in my other blog posts -, Habsyll cranks it up to eleven with a blanket refusal of norm, pleasantry and harmony. NO-DOOM, anti-humanistic. To deny form is to enforce meaning. Here we are at the tipping point, where rejecting humanity is what makes us alive.
