[ aquarius records catalogue

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Showing results 2251 through 2300 of 3006.

The short, one sentence review: it's the debut solo album from keyboard player from AQ fave Goblinesque math rock duo Zombi, and if you like Zombi, you'll probably really like this! More details, if necessary... Well, a little tizzy of controversy got started here at Aquarius when we scoped the sticker that Relapse stuck on the front of these cds. To quote, "The Henge is a huge, psychedelic, symphonic affair with Moore's patented cinematic brand of keyboard driven horror score virtuosity. For fans of Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom, Black Ice, Brian Eno, Ash Ra Tempel, Robert Fripp's 'Frippertronics', Heldon". No denying that this sounds quite a bit like all of that, it describes this pretty well. But we must take exception to the use of the word "patented"! Did Heldon, Goblin, John Carpenter et.al. all forget to contact the government, and then wily Steve Moore slipped in and got the patent!? Huh. Poor choice of words, "patented". But we know what they meant. It's the sound that Zombi is known for (being infuenced by) and they do it really well, and that's what this sounds like, basically Zombi without the drummer, if anything more '70s and cinematic sounding, also really sci-fi cosmic. To his credit, Moore doesn't overtly pull out the ol' "imaginary soundtrack" concept, but he sure could have. In fact some of the more bombastic moments it seems like he's just waiting for Hollywood to come knockin', to score their next horror blockbuster. Elsewhere, at the very least this could be the most sinister soundtrack to a PBS documentary ever! Alternatively, we might describe this as New Age nightmare music. Moore's minimal-wave soundscapes, full of nervous rhythms, ominous drones, & electronic symphonics, are tense yet often deceptively pleasant. It's paranoid, menacing Muzak that hypnotizes like an unholy mix of A.R.& Machines and Dave Borden's Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co., plus all the other names dropped in the blurb quoted above. A fine follow up to Surface To Air, even thought it's not technically a Zombi album!

MPEG stream: Cepheid
MPEG stream: The Henge/Ascension

Almost like a teaser for the forthcoming Zombi full length, Escape Velocity, comes this killer two track 12" from one half of Zombi, Steve Moore, whose solo recordings are (thankfully) not all that far removed from the Zombi mothership. It's easy to be dismissive at this point of this sound, cuz there are just soooo many folks doing it, sci-fi soundtracks, eighties straight to video B movies, John Carpenter, Goblin, but Zombi were there first, and still do it better than most, and hearing Moore's latest blast of cosmic disco sci-fi nu-age techno synthscapery it's easy to see why he and his two man crew inspired such a legion of similarly sonically obsessed sci-fi minions. The title track here is a fantastic chunk of outer space sci-fi synth drift, the robotic pulse underscores sweeping swells of moody melody, pappered with occasional bits of percussive bloopery, the rhythms muted and minimal, the pulsing synths driving the proceedings more than the beats, but the beats are still there, adding texture, and eventually a skittery skeletal framework for Moore's cinematic synthesized cosmic drift. The flipside begins all washed out and woozy, lush, layered synth swirls, a slow moving outer space shimmer, but soon, the synth low end begins to percolate right below the surface, not quite disrupting the new age vibe, but adding a bit of momentum and propulsion. Eventually the beat comes in, but it's not so much a beat, as a pulse, a single house-y kick drum, but the result is perfect, adding just the slightest bit of groove, allowing the rest of the track to swirl and whirl and drift, all hazy and dreamily druggy and spaced out, the sound building to a driving and dramatic crescendo, before slipping away in a soft hazy swirl of slow fading synth shimmer. So good! Needless to say, absolutely required listening for fans of Umberto, Zombi, Xander Harris, John Carpenter, Goblin, Blizaro, Applehead, Gatekeeper, Expo 70, Roll The Dice, Nightsatan, Twins and all the rest. Packaged in a plain black disco style big hole 12"s sleeve.

MPEG stream: Frigia
MPEG stream: Zero-Point Field

Not sure what else to say about these two guys that we haven't already. Together in the group Zombi, and on their own, they are the modern masters of the not so modern art of John Carpenter / Goblin style psychedelic space synth futuristic-retro faux soundtrackery, and here both get to share a record and do what they do best. Moore offers up 4 tracks of THAT sound, one we can't seem to get enough of, and apparently neither can most of you: swirling sci-fi synths, pulsing rhythms, tense and cinematic, the occasional stretch of swooshy new age shimmer, but heavy on the eighties soundtrack vibe, and rife with some darkly dirgey drama, a mini-song cycle that definitely works as a whole. Which perfectly counters Majeure, who takes up the whole B side with a three part 20+ minute epic, ditching much of the synth-disco-kraut sound that so defined previous outings, or at least the disco part of the equation, instead building a hushed and ominous dronescape, super minimal, very soundtracky, the second movement finds the sound blossoming into something more Tangerine Dreamy, cosmic and psychedelic, before eventually, for the last few minutes, returning to a sort progged out kraut-disco coda to finish things off! Killer psychedelic sand-hand cover art. Include a download coupon as well!

MPEG stream: Enhanced Humanoid
MPEG stream: Atlantis Purge

We were just raving recently about Thurston Moore's beautiful solo acoustic guitar meditations record released on VDSQ a little while back, and now he follows it up with an album some of his most intimate and inviting songs yet. Demolished Thoughts demonstrates a side of Moore's songwriting that is often blurred in the layers and velocity of his long running group Sonic Youth, but loosed from that noise and bombast, these songs are revealed as perhaps some of the dreamiest you will hear all year. If you are like us, and ever daydreamed about what an entire record filled with songs that sound like the first six minutes of "The Diamond Sea" would sound like, then this is one of those amazing moments when a wish gets granted, and exceeds that far fetched fantasy. With Samra Lubelski adding violin, Moore playing his acoustic with sensual perfection, and songs sprinkled with harp by Mary Lattimore, its an album that perfectly captures the drifting and pastoral side of Moore's musical vision, which has also been a more subtle part of his signature sound. Beck was at the helm of the production for this record, and we have to say we think we might be liking him more these days in that role than on his own records (check out Charlotte Gainsbourg's IRM, for more proof). In fact there are some elements of Demolished Thoughts, that echo Beck's downer masterpiece "Sea Change." What's so remarkable about this album is that alongside its elegance, Moore maintains his voice and vision to the core. Highly recommended!

MPEG stream: Benediction
MPEG stream: Illuminine
MPEG stream: Orchard Street
MPEG stream: January

A man of so many moods and modes, Thurston Moore continues to create all sorts of music and sounds, as wide in scope as the insane record collection we know he has. Earlier this year Sonic Youth gave us a fantastic, and very much pop minded album with Rather Ripped, so we had a feeling that Thurston might be itching to unleash his more experimental side. Flipped Out Bride features two long droning guitar pieces that show Thurston practicing restraint briefly before unleashing some intense guitar brutality. Once again proving himself to be a direct descendent of NY guitar legends like Glen Branca, Rhys Chatham and LaMonte Young. There is a focus, subtly and sharp vision to this recording that sometimes seems to be lacking in Moore's other experimental outings. We really like him in this drone-like setting a lot more than when he try's to get his free-jazz skronk on. Nice!

MPEG stream: Flipped Out Bride
MPEG stream: O Sweet Lanolin

For all the praise that's heaped on Thurston Moore whenever his name or his band Sonic Youth come up, it's sometimes easy to forget what an amazing and unique guitar player he really is. Sure he's in one of the coolest bands EVER, and he's proven to be an adventurous music maker in the avant-garde, and yeah he looks so rad when rocking out on stage, but beyond all that, is a truly spiritual connection to the guitar which he's been able to channel into creating some of the best music of the last quarter century. We were excited to discover that this album was just Moore playing acoustic guitar, as we really love to hear him play sans pedals and crazy effects, 'cause he manages to still conjure up incredible sounds, creating such sensual and pleasing results from just 12 steel strings. Recorded in loving memory of Jack Rose, these 12-string meditations are some of the most soulful and chilling tracks that Moore has ever recorded. It's so cool that even while playing acoustic, you can hear so many of the trademark guitar sounds and styles that have found their way into Sonic Youth songs over the years. We know that he puts out lots of one off solo recordings or collaborations and it can be hard to keep up sometimes, but do not sleep on this one, it's one of the finest recordings of his mind blowing career.

Whoa! Thurston sure knows how to keep himself occupied and totally balanced, if not bipolar. After releasing two of his prettiest and acoustic based solo records, the song based Demolished, and the self explanatory Solo Acoustic Vol. 5 - 12 String Meditations For Jack Rose, he goes the exact opposite route and releases one of his most fucked up and noisy solo guitar records ever. Suicide Notes For Acoustic Guitar, is in fact a cd-r filled with relentless blasts of electric guitar way in the red and filled with an urgency that never takes a breath. In fact it's got the same kind of crazy intensity and bleeding guitar sounds that can be found on records from folks like Mainliner, High Rise, Keiji Haino, Wolf Eyes, Skullflower etc. But within all this psychedelic noise you can still totally hear his patented approach to guitar playing lurking there all the time right beneath the crushing pace and voltage that blasts out of these tracks from start to finish. Who else in their early '50s can thrash and destroy with this much energy and passion on one record, while getting so dreamy and beautiful on another. The man is a legend for a reason! And while we found the title confusing, we now realize its true meaning, that these are the sorts of sounds that would drive an acoustic guitar to end it all!

MPEG stream: Black Hairs
MPEG stream: Stained Silk
MPEG stream: Soul

Unflaggingly familiar is The Best Day, the first solo record by Thurston Moore since the dissolution of Sonic Youth, if we and everyone else are not to consider Chelsea Light Moving a solo project of Moore's with a couple of likeminded avant-rock noiseniks. There's plenty of bad blood that Moore may need to overcome thanks to the refuse that spilled forth from the dissolution of his marriage with Kim Gordon; but it seems that via both Chelsea Light Moving and The Best Day, Moore is doing his a damn good job of overcoming all of that crap by making a couple of damn good records. It's been long known that the slipstream noise-pop jams that Moore wrote for Sonic Youth, with their Mack truck riffs balanced with avant-geek noodliness and craftsman-like ease, made for the strongest tunes in Sonic Youth's dense catalog. Even more so than the first solo 'pop' album for Moore, the languid Psychic Hearts from 1995, The Best Day recalls everything that we love about Sonic Youth. Those long-form post-pop passages of chiming guitars, his pleading vocal delivery that still has a youthful demeanor despite his elder statesman status, hypnotic unboringness of charmed motorik jangle, unconventional tunes providing occasionally strident overtones that are quelled with a beautifully turned chord change, and pretty much everything else you might love about a Sonic Youth song, well except for the obvious absence of Gordon and Lee Ranaldo. Moore did recruit the much under appreciated timekeeper Steve Shelley for drum duty and Deb Googe of My Bloody Valentine on bass. A jubilant record for sure, and one that is more than worthy of your attention!

MPEG stream: Speak To The Wild
MPEG stream: Forevermore
MPEG stream: Detonation
MPEG stream: Germ Burns

On his first song based solo outing since 1995's Psychic Hearts, Thurston shows us that he's not afraid of the acoustic guitar or even super pretty melodies. With a great supporting cast at his side including J. Mascis, Samara Lubelski, Gown, Christina Carter, Leslie Keifer and his SY comrade Steve Shelley, Moore has made a superb rock record that shows off his great songwriting skills and his surprisingly dreamy touch. While Moore is usually thought of in regards to electricity and his fondness for noise, it's always been his sprawling guitar playing and ability to make rock songs that swoon with such dignity and grace that we think makes him so special. It should come as no surprise then that Trees Outside The Academy has a sound and feeling that is pretty reminiscent of recent Sonic Youth outings like Rather Ripped and Murray Street, but stripped down to their core with lush violin accompaniment on many of the tracks, and Moore's instantly recognizable guitar playing and vocals. Thurston continues shine, proving once again that he is never going to fade away, not with so many great songs still hidden up his sleeves!

MPEG stream: The Shape Is In A Trance
MPEG stream: Honest James
MPEG stream: Trees Outside The Academy

Now on lp, and not just a regular old lp, a super cool picture disc! On his first song based solo outing since 1995's Psychic Hearts, Thurston shows us that he's not afraid of the acoustic guitar or even super pretty melodies. With a great supporting cast at his side including J. Mascis, Samara Lubelski, Gown, Christina Carter, Leslie Keifer and his SY comrade Steve Shelley, Moore has made a superb rock record that shows off his great songwriting skills and his surprisingly dreamy touch. While Moore is usually thought of in regards to electricity and his fondness for noise, it's always been his sprawling guitar playing and ability to make rock songs that swoon with such dignity and grace that we think makes him so special. It should come as no surprise then that Trees Outside The Academy has a sound and feeling that is pretty reminiscent of recent Sonic Youth outings like Rather Ripped and Murray Street, but stripped down to their core with lush violin accompaniment on many of the tracks, and Moore's instantly recognizable guitar playing and vocals. Thurston continues shine, proving once again that he is never going to fade away, not with so many great songs still hidden up his sleeves!

MPEG stream: The Shape Is In A Trance
MPEG stream: Honest James
MPEG stream: Trees Outside The Academy

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This album makes me embarrassed for conceptual art. Thurston created ten short guitar improvisations, each just barely over a minute long. Fusinato completed a painting in the time that it took for Thurston to make his improvisation. While listening to

All we can say is we hope none of you were duped into buying the super limited lp version of this here record, at the very unfriendly cost of $100!!! What the fuck?!? Okay, sure it had an original piece of artwork, but that's a bit ridiculous, ESPECIALLY considering they are all coming out on cd. Anyway, this is the first in My Cat Is An Alien's series of limited lp / now cd collaborations with other band they dig and respect. Volume one sees the Italian psychspacefolk duo teaming up with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. Moore's track is, to be quite honest, super annoying. It may have morphed into something appropriately dreamy or soothing, but we didn't make it that far, the first half is an endlessly ear piercing plinking on the high keys of a piano. Brutal. The MCIAA track is much more appealing, a shimmery, blooping bleeping journey through outer space, instruments are rendered indistinct in crafting a soundscape of swooshes and whirs, dark and moody and expansive. Quite beautiful. Worth it for the MCIAA track alone. Perhaps the Moore track does merit further investigation, but it will have to be for one with ears made of stronger stuff.

MPEG stream: Brilliance In The Outer Space

While his outings this year have shown the gentler side of Thurston Moore's music making, those who love his noisy leanings need not fear. On this split with Talk Normal, the Sonic Youth guitarist shows he still loves to go as raw and in the red as possible. With three short blasts of guitar driven noise that hark back to his no-wave roots. So it makes sense that on the flipside are Talk Normal, who are very much influenced by that same early '80s damaged New York scene that Moore was a part of. Their song is a slow paced drugged out and dusty slab of fucked up glory. Nice to know Moore and his offspring still know how to keep things weird.

A new recording of improvisational soundpieces arranged by bassist/cellist Walter Prati. Joining Prati is Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore (on guitar/electronics) and Italian trombonist Giancarlo Schiaffini. Most prevalent in these pieces is Schiaffini's horn,

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Guitar/percussion/more percussion trio.

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SORRY. First non-kiwi release from Bruce Russell's label. Surgal drums for the Rudolph Grey's Blue Humans. You know what Moore does. From the press sheet: "Recorded live in early 1995 at the Cooler in NYC, this audience recording is one of those rare examples of an audio verite document that's actually worth having even if you weren't there at the time... The soul of the listener is transported to another planet." (Oh for crying out loud.)

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SORRY. Two new discs, one studio (Pillow Wand) and one live, both recorded on the same day, of these two guitarists making beautiful music together. Thurston you all know from his day job in Sonic Youth, Nels is the new lead guitarist for the Geraldine Fibbers and has had his own jazz/rock Trio for some time now.

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Here's yet another Robert Pollard project! Personally we've lost count, but we're sure all of you die-hard GBV and Pollard fans haven't. And you'll be pleased to find that regardless of his chosen moniker, Pollard continues to follow his often rambunctious, occasionally whimsical indie pop muse. Six songs.

MPEG stream: Beaten By The Target
MPEG stream: Lightninghead To Coffeepot

We might normally scoff at a release limited to only 37 copies, but when you see the handmade miniature collage covers and hand painted tapes, you'll understand. Each one is hand made, a surreal landscape of humans with animal heads, fragments of buildings, mysterious shapes and figures, all done, tiny, to fit in a cassette. Folks who picked up the other releases on Custodian, Color Zoo Containers, will know what we're talking about. One had a cover, that was an intricate cut out insect, the other hand painted, each on folded transparencies. But it's not just the packaging that gets a lot of attention, the music inside is appropriately skewed and mysterious. This one is by a duo called The ( ) Moppers (space and parentheses required), half of which is the man responsible for C,CZC and the incredible packaging. This is the document of a live show recorded back in 2004, and while it's difficult to pick out exactly what instruments are used, the result is a gloriously buzzy, crackly rhythmic soundscape, lots of glitchy crunch, throbbing distorted low end, soft chordal drones, some simple drumming, all super lo-fi and blown out, parts of this almost sound like a lo-fi noise rock Aluk Todolo, the same sort of abstract rhythmic mystery, but here, it's much more intimate, lots of little sonic events going on, what sound like music boxes, simple strummed guitar melodies, even some piano, but the various elements are distorted and woven into a loping field of thump and thud, of crunch and clunk, that seems to sprawl and drift, sometimes billowing into thick buzzing swells or harsh grinding distortion, but more often, meandering minimally. Fans of Avarus and Uton and other Finnish sonic experimentalists will dig, as folks into minimal lowercase soundwork. Cool stuff. And remember. Limited to 37 copies, each one individually hand mad and numbered, we got more than half, but those won't last long...

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Psychedelic pioneers in their home country, The Mops (great name!) were one of the originators of the Japanese GS (Group Sounds) scene. They were among the first in Japan to experiment with psychedelic studio effects like flanging and phasing, as well as with

RealAudio clip: track 1
RealAudio clip: I'm Just A Mops
RealAudio clip: track 7

Earache's classic vinyl reissue campaign marches on, now hitting us with Morbid Angel's amazing 1989 debut album, "Altars Of Madness". David Vincent's Satanic growl, Pete "Commando" Sandoval's drum artillery, and the squiggly guitar "lava" of bloody Trey Azagthoth and Pete Brunelle: the might of these eventual kings of death metal was on full display here, with some highlights being "Maze of Torment", "Lord of All Fevers And Plague", and "Chapel of Ghouls". Evil Florida death metal, ah those were the days! (But, this this was only their "A" album, they're at "G" in the alphabet now and still going strong.) Reissued on heavy, colored wax, by the way, like the rest of this Earache vinyl series, which is definitely reminding us of how incredible a roster this record label boasted in its prime. Again, those were the days... (CDs still available, of course.)

Deluxe cd reissue of Morbid Angel's classic second helping of death metal mastery, their "B" album (coming between "Altars Of Madness" and "Covenant"). With Pete "Commando" Sandoval's blasting drum artillery, Dave Vincent's aggro growl, and Trey Azagthoth's unhinged squiggly guitar leads, these Floridians made death metal for Satan that was bloodier and blacker than anything outta Norway before or since. Their whole catalog is crucial death metal but "Blessed Are The Sick" holds a special place in our hearts. Here their sick, Slayer to the power of Slayer speed collided with classically-inspired keyboard ambience and doomy dirges, taking death metal to a significant high point of both ridiculous excess and truly affecting evil atmosphere. The original thanks lists in the cd booklet really says it all. Trey Azagthoth says, in part: "I hail to you Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is to you I dedicate all my works of past present and future. May they outshine the shadowing voices of this other factor of psychic we share existance with. You are the greatest composer of us all. Hail to you O Ancient Ones, Absu Mummu Tiamat, Kutulu, Pazuzu, Humwawa, Xaztur, Hubbur, Kingu, Baxaxaxa Baxaxaxa, The Arylia of Mummu Tiamat, The churning seas of Nar Mattaru, Yog Sothoth, and the ever bubbly bubblies of Shub Niggurath..." Basically, if you're even a dabbler in "extreme metal" you need to have this disc in your collection, and better late that never, especially as it now comes packaged in a cardboard slipcase, with a Quicktime video for the title track (done all MTV-style) included on the disc, liner notes from Trey, and lotsa photos. MPEG Download: "Fall From Grace" [/audio/morbidangelfall.mp3]

MPEG stream: Fall From Grace

Flordian death metal champs' first album without longtime controversial frontman David Vincent. Brilliantly brutal, with obscure lyrics making reference to ancient Sumerian deities that somehow combine the cosmic mythos of HP Lovecraft with the self-help teachings of Tony Robbins! There's also many strange instrumental interludes and even a tribal drum computer exercise. Morbid Angel did not fall off, and this is one of the few new releases in the death metal arena that I'd wholeheartedly recommend.

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SORRY. These death metal gods' totally amazing release from last year, reissued with a bonus disc consisting entirely of Trey Azagthoth's insane squiggly guitar solos (28 of 'em, over 10 minutes worth) taken from the album sessions! Yes, stupid, but in a totally cool way. Who else would do this? Actually, if 'Love of Lava' were released separately, under some other, obscure (Japanese?) name, we're sure that lovers of out-guitar avant-skronk would be drooling all over it! Couple that with 'Formulas...', one of the best death metal releases of the last few years, and this is a must-have package. Plus, you also get an autographed guitar pick!

Bandleader/guitarist/Cthulhu worshipper Trey Azagthoth took a break from his favorite online first-person shooter computer games to craft this followup to Morbid Angel's 1997's death metal masterpiece, "Formulas Fatal To The Flesh", along with bandmates guitarist Eric Rutan, drum tornado Pete Sandoval, and vocalist/bassist Steve Tucker (he of "Cremaster 2" fame). More state-of-the-art death metal from these masters, full of Azagthoth's trademark baroque whammy-bar guitar leads, and (lyrically) the ancient philosophy of the Mesopotamians. Still the reigning kings.

Hail. Album number H from inimitable Morbid Angel. Featuring as always the squiggly guitar stylings and wacky philosophy of death metal maestro Trey Azagthoth, the inhuman drum performance of Pete "Commando" Sandoval, and the brutal barking and bass playing of Steve Tucker. This trio never disappoints, though some will remark that Heretic does not sport their best production job (which may have to do with recording at home with their sound guy at the helm, though this self-production does prevent any outsider from stifling any of their extreme eccentricity). As you might expect, Heretic is full of complex, staccato song constructs bursting with monstrous bpm levels, which can be simply mesmerizing -- and jaw-dropping. Amazing athletically, and intellectually. After all, someone has to compose and arrange this stuff! Plus, their usual selection of off-the-wall instrumentals includes one called "Drum Check" which demonstrates Pete Sandoval and Morbid Angel's sense of humor. Not to be outdone, Pete's insane drum solo is followed by an equally insane solo guitar piece from Mr. Azagthoth. And if, after that, you had any doubts that the man isn't totally demented and silly, be sure to check out his thanks list inside the cd booklet. The metal tradition of album-sleeve thanks lists has been taken to another absurd level of art by Morbid Angel, one of the many extremes to which these all-time-greats can lay claim. Hail. Also, currently we've got the version that comes with an extra bonus disc of crazy solos and outtakes, but we don't know how long it will be available!

MPEG stream: Enshrined By Grace
MPEG stream: Stricken Arise

In a review recently we made some comment about death metal appealing to the lowest common denominator, a comment based on years of experience attending death metal shows, and in the process managed to illicit a little backlash, so at the risk of garnering even more, let's start this review with this: DEATH METAL FANS ARE THE BIGGEST BABIES!! Okay, so by now, you HAVE to have heard how shitty the new Morbid Angel record is, it's techno, it's industrial, it's garbage, there's a song about cop killing, the lyrics are stupid, the song titles are embarrassing, and yeah, that's all actually pretty much true, but holy shit, we've never seen as much freaking out as we have from disappointed death metal fans. And in fact, disappointed barely begins to cover it. So many death metallers, tough, mean metal dudes, hysterical and angry and apoplectic, posting vitriolic videos on YouTube (where we swear it seemed like some of them were gonna cry), writing angry diatribes on blogs, posting some amazing reviews on Encyclopedia Metallum (average review score: 27 percent! Oof!), it's as if a band they loved never made a bad record before. And yeah, we know. First Morbid Angel record in 8 years or whatever, the return of David Vincent, but so what? Maybe it's because we're not OBSESSED with Morbid Angel, that Illud Divinum Insanus didn't cause us to have a breakdown, or it could be that actually, Illud Divinum Insanus is pretty fucking cool. In its own delusional and fucked up way. And no, we're not being contrary for the sake of contrariness, although at least one of the metalheads here continues to proclaim Illud Divinum Insanus an utter piece of shit, the other one (me, Andee!), actually digs the new weirdness. And the thing is, as much as we love Altars Of Madness and Blessed Are The Sick, we're pretty sure we'll probably end up listening to this one more, just cuz it's so weird (a subject that the above mentioned hater seemed to agree with oddly enough!). And it is weird. We had heard rumors about how it was all jungle and techno and industrial, and comparisons to the ill fated techno-meets-metal Spawn soundtrack, unfortunately, in all but a couple cases, it's not nearly that weird/bad, much of the record is straight up death metal, and most of the reviewers cop to that, more polished maybe, but those tracks definitely sound like Morbid Angel. But then there are tracks like "Too Extreme" (the title your first clue), which adds programmed industrial pound to death metal guitars, culminating in a ridiculous drill sound, that could have been plucked straight off a nineties Ministry record, and the song definitely has too much groove for death metal, bordering on nu-metal for sure, and the lyrics, that's where we'll agree with everybody, to appreciate even the questionable sounds, you have to tune out the inane lyrics, what the fuck was David Vincent thinking? And it's that nu-metal thing that most likely has most people bummed out, cuz even when there's nothing overtly offensive happening, the band do seem to tend toward a sort of Sepultura circa Roots style heaviness. But where it all goes wrong, where even we can't defend these guys, is on "Radikult", which does in fact sound like Ice-T's "Cop Killer" via nu-metal, fuzzy electronic bass buzz, programmed beats, one of those lurching stop start nu-metal grooves, with David Vincent whisper rapping "kill a cop cop kill a cop kill a kill a cop cop", all ominous nursery rhyme rap style, and then singing the verses in a gruff jock rock growl, some problematically funky basslines, and perhaps THEE worst lyrics EVER. And we mean EVER. So yeah, folks after more MA style death metal, will find only a little here to love, but folks who want to check out this surprisingly cool carwreck of a comeback album, and aren't afraid of a little nu-metal and some dated industrialisms, you might just end up digging this as much as some of us. Even Allan, who thinks it's crazy/embarrassing for Andee to like this, admits he'll probably listen to it as much or more than Morbid Angel's last couple of albums, just for the humor factor. (But listen to it more than Blessed Are The Sick? No. That's wrong even to suggest...)

MPEG stream: Too Extreme!
MPEG stream: Existo Vulgore
MPEG stream: I Am Morbid
MPEG stream: Radikult

We rarely get hate mail, but when we do, it's usually pretty good. And our positive review of Morbid Angel's most recent record, Illud Divinum Insanus, elicited some of the best hate mail ever. We were accused, among other things, of being poseurs, of being the whole problem with San Francisco, and why no one wants to live here, and of liking that Morbid Angel record ironically (all somehow connected). We'd like to believe none of that is true, especially the part about our ironic love of that Morbid Angel album. As long time readers of the aQ list must certainly know by now, we tend to love lots of ridiculous, crazy, stupid, demented shit, and if anything qualified as all of those, it was Illud Divinum Insanus. Have a look at that review if you missed it the first time, and you can see what all the hubbub was about. Sure that record had some classic death metal, but it also had some weird nineties style industrialisms, and some (sort of) rapping. Even the folks here that hated that record, were perversely obsessed with it. And the folks who loved it were also perversely obsessed with it, and even THOSE folks found at least one of the tracks nearly impossible to like. So really, it came as no surprise that the whole record was due for a double disc remix, with all the tracks redone, remixed, reimagined and reworked by all manner of industrial / techno musicians / producers. And again, the haters were appalled, but strangely intrigued, and the rest of us, well, we were pushing it for Record Of The Week, cuz really, this is some Judgement Night style shit, a maybe bad idea pushed about as far as it could go, and in the process, becoming something strangely cool, and surprisingly listenable (for some of us, at least). So yeah, the vestiges of the originals are nearly wiped completely away on most of these tracks, and what's left is usually just a riff, or only the vocals, the originals totally transformed into pounding gabber, or martial industrial, or creepy electronica, or glitched out weirdness, the sound definitely heavily nineties, hard to avoid when the core of the sound is electronica/industrial crossed with metal guitars, the Ministry vibe looms large, but somehow, these songs work better as nineties industrial metal jams than death metal, especially the more problematic tracks like "Too Extreme". No matter what, or how much, we write, most haters will not be swayed, which is totally fine, but for folks into the WAY weirder/demented side of metal, or who dig nineties industrial metal, or even folks just into the whole traffic accident can't look away vibe of this ridiculous release, this is pretty fucking cool/weird. And if it wasn't actually a Morbid Angel record, and was instead just some super fucked up comp of metal industrial, we imagine lots of folks might be a little obsessed. Cuz lots of this is really fucking cool. Igorrr (1/2 of aQ faves Whourkr) turn their track into a dizzying chopped up, head spinning collage of stuttering guitars and processed riffs, the sound blenderized and junglized and blasted into a squall of fractured melodies and skittery beats, a track then sounds like it could have come off the Igorrr record proper. The Laibach remix is incredible, adding harpsichord, flutes, swooping backwards guitars, and the vox from the original into a dizzying psychedelic Teutonic pound that KILLS. cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy takes his track and adds a tolling bell, chanted vox, squiggly sci-fi effects, and transforms it into a weirdly cinematic string laden dirge. Tek-One adds thick rib cage rattling bass warble for a bad ass death metaldubstep mash-up, DJ Ruffneck goes full on gabber, pounding and relentless, laced with shards of guitar solos from the original, Black Lung takes the original and blurs it into a murky smear, and spreads that out beneath a heavy house music churn, while Mondkopf buries the original in squelches and low end buzz, turning it into a lurching low end creep, Scott Brown turns his track into full on HI-NRG rave, which is hilarious, but kind of awesome, Fixhead offers up another crazy head spinning heavy dubstep workout, we could go on and on, but they're all pretty great, and weird, and while some are dumb and fun, others are dark and fucked up and fierce, others still tripped out and confusional. Folks who hated the original, and who were offended by our UN-ironic love of that record (we're not poseurs dude - we're TOO EXTREME!!) will most definitely want to steer WELL clear of this monstrosity, but for everyone else, we have to say, we've been listening to this like crazy, nonstop, and that shows no sign of changing any time soon, which always the real measure of a record. In fact, folks who hated Illud Divinum Insanus for being a mockery of a Morbid Angel album, might be able to like this, since it's not even pretending to be death metal. Includes a download coupon for even MORE remixes, not included on the discs proper.

MPEG stream: I Am Morbid
MPEG stream: Omnidead
MPEG stream: Remix Morbidou
MPEG stream: 10 More Dead
MPEG stream: I Am Morbid

We're happy to report that the internet has not (entirely) killed the 'zine. Blogs and websites are great, but can't really replace a good old fashioned b&w stapled xeroxed 'zine! They do seem old fashioned, though. And that vintage quality is fully embraced by this metal 'zine out of Canada, Morbid Tales, since the subject matter covered is pretty old school too. Some of the bands here are new, but they carry the torch of '80s underground metal (thrash, doom, death and NWOBHM) high. '90s cult black metal and '70s psych and prog is also not outside Morbid Tales' purview. While all 'zines are labors of love, editor Annick "Satannick" Grioux REALLY is a maniac for this music. Her enthusiasm really captures the spirit of 'zines back in the old pre-internet tape-trading days. Interviewees, among others, include Darkthrone, Portrait, Master's Hammer, Voivod, Pagan Altar, Cauldron, The Lamp Of Thoth, Elixir, Soothsayer, and, get this, Flower Travellin' Band (who get asked about the naked chopper riding cover photo of their debut LP)!! Plus there's reviews of obscure releases and demos, metal tourist shopping guides to London, Paris, Montreal, and Prague, show reports, and other interesting tidbits, including a brief guide to "Purple Metal" aka Italian Horror Metal like Black Hole and Paul Chain. This is Morbid Tales' biggest issue yet, 117 full size pages, plus flip it over and then there's another 13 page bonus zine all about heavy metal cooking tips entitled Hell Bent For Cooking (soon to be expanded into a book to be published by Bazillion Points we're told)! Recipes contributed by members of Anvil, Exciter, Cauldron, Trouble, The Gates Of Slumber, Countess, Ogre, Piledriver, and others. Such delicious dishes as: The Stew Of True Doom. Tomato-Garlic Hellfire Chicken. Black Pudding And Squid In It's Own Ink, With A Hashish Garnish. And then by the last few pages, the recipes have turned into drink mixes, these being metalheads after all... Morbid Tales #6 (+ Hell Bent For Cooking) is an impressively thick tome of metal obsessiveness all in all. We only got a handful of copies (8) and won't be able to get any more, as it's SOLD OUT, so act fast if you want one.

We've actually been meaning to review this for a while now, the debut full length from Swedish death metal weirdoes Morbus Chron, who obviously, being from Sweden, and playing death metal, are following in a grand tradition, but rather than rehashing what came before, these guys take that classic sound and twist it all up. The garish psychedelic cover art is your first clue that this is not your dimwitted big brother's death metal. It's more like your deformed-evil-twin-that-you-keep-locked-up-in-the-attic-dosed-on-hallucinogens-to-keep-him-docile's death metal. Right from the get go, Morbus Chron spew an unholy concoction of tangled atonal psychedelic melodies, ominous cinematic ambience, churning downtuned heaviness, occasionally laced with wah wah guitars, and driven by bellowed gruff vokills, the riffs are fantastically slippery and loose, the drumming too, a punkish gallop that seems right on the edge of the drummer's ability, which is most definitely a good thing, the band tight as fuck, but sounding constantly on the verge of collapse, the sound more lurching and lumbering than blasting, the vibe murky and muddy, old school heaviness infused with some warped avant garde experimentation, and executed like a horde of knuckle dragging zombie metalheads. Plus who can argue with a band who names one of their songs "Creepy Creeping Creep"? Yet for all the weirdness and psychedelic-ness, Sleepers In the Rift is still death metal, and sorta classic sounding (to a degree) DM to boot, so all you dabblers who don't actually dig old school death metal, this might not be QUITE weird enough for you. They're no Portal after all, but what they are, is modern masters of some damaged DNA strain of classic Swedish death metal, beholden hugely to the greats, but all warped and twisted and fucked up, and transformed into something sorta new, but seriously ruling.

MPEG stream: Through The Gaping Gate / Coughing In A Coffin
MPEG stream: Creepy Creeping Creep
MPEG stream: Hymns To A Stiff

Sleepers In The Rift, the full length debut from Swedish death metallers Morbus Chron, was a fantastically gnarled collection of murky, muddy, old school, with a decidedly outsider/avant bent, one that seemed barely kept in check throughout that record. But on Sweven, it seems like those avant tendencies have taken over, and it's clear from the very first few seconds, that what's in store is most definitely not more of the same. Backwards effected guitar swoops, give way to a loping, clean guitar figure, mildly melancholic and simplisitc, which is soon joined by some shimmery filigree, and when the song kicks in proper, it's not a blast of thrashing blackness, instead, it's some almost Godspeed sounding flourishes, all haunting shimmer, and slow build smolder, and even when again, it seems like the song will explode into death metal pound, it just sort of blossoms further into some sort of post metal epicry. Now to be fair, it is essentially an intro, but even the first 'proper' song starts out similarly, all shuffle and strum and shimmer, sort of mathy and proggy; and even when it does explode into metal, it's more Voivod than death metal, the vibe and sound sort of sci-fi prog, technical, but super melodic, the only real nod to proper death metal are the raspy anguished vokills, which sound even stranger, when paired with the group's new more polished sound. But it's a pretty excellent combination, one that gives the sound a more psychedelic and prog metal cast. It's not really until the third track, that anything resembling proper death metal comes into play, but then, as another reviewer stated, it seems these guys just don't give a fuck, cuz here, and really every time the sound nears death metal, they do something to subvert it, and they transform it into something else entirely. For a death metal record, there are lots of mellow parts, tons of clean guitars, and again, even the 'death metal' parts, sound to these ears not much like the death metal that came before, or even the death metal these guys used to play! Instead, Sweven is a twisted, futuristic, next level post-death, sci-fi-prog metal masterpiece, that should have fans of avant psychedelic metal, math metal, and future-tech, progged out metallic weirdness wondering just how high in their year end top ten to put this record. We're guessing pretty close to the top...

MPEG stream: Berceuse
MPEG stream: Chains
MPEG stream: Towards A Dark Sky
MPEG stream: Terminus

We're huge fans of Brooklyn psych folk combo Woods, as well as the more garage rocking Babies, both bands featuring Kevin Morby. Morby played bass in Woods, but fronted the Babies alongside Vivian Girl Cassie Ramone. Now he's apparently relocated to Los Angeles, and made this, his first solo record. And while we were secretly maybe hoping for another Babies style record, Harlem River is pretty great anyway, much more aligned with the sun dappled pop-psych of Woods, laid back and stripped down, mostly just guitar, organ and drums, Morby's vocals more world weary, delicately dusted with reverb, the songs minor key and melancholic. The opener "Miles, Miles, Miles" sets the tone, the whir of the organ wrapping everything in its warm chordal shimmer, the guitars hushed and minimal, the vocals, a warm, comfortable croon, the arrangement pretty straight ahead, except for a cool, rhythmic shift, that's one of those cool little details that sort of MAKES the song. But for the most part, this is a pretty straight ahead psychedelic folk / garage pop record, leaning toward the slowcore side of the spectrum, a dour indie rock, moody and minimal, personal and introspective, we're definitely reminded of Kurt Vile, which is not a bad thing at all. Repeated listens reveal lots of subtle details, melodies and hooks that seems to come into focus, the textures surprisingly lush, even though the instrumentation is so simple, lovingly arranged, the recording rich and warm and organic. It's the kind of record you might curl up with on a rainy day, sitting by the window, watching the water run down the glass, reading and daydreaming, Morby's wistful songcraft the perfect soundtrack. With every listen we dig this more and more...

MPEG stream: Miles, Miles, Miles
MPEG stream: Wild Side (Oh The Places You'll Go)
MPEG stream: Sucker In the Void (The Lone Mile)

New Morcheeba album. Trip hop hooray.

Yay, more quality black metal from those connoisseurs of corpse-painted cultishness at the Southern Lord label! We and they are usually in excited agreement about the good stuff, as underground BM goes, and Polish (living in Norway) duo Mord are no exception. Fierce, brutal, and deathly, this one's for those who like the fast faster and more fasterer style of bands like Marduk, Gorgoroth and 1349. They're in such a hurry that they've dispensed with song titles, the tracks here are just labeled "Opus I" through "Opus IX" (skipping "Opus VIII" for some reason we don't know). And pretty much each one of these speedy paroxysms of christ-hating grimnity is adorned with a slightly WTF? guitar lick, pay-attention tempo change or electronic fx embellishment that will occasionally have you interrupting your headbanging frenzy to stare at your stereo and go "cool!". Also, something we mentioned a couple years back when Southern Lord put out a Mord 7": their drummer is named Necrolucas. We love that. The hypothetical AQ house black metal band will feature Necroandee, or maybe Necrocup, in tribute.

MPEG stream: Opus I
MPEG stream: Opus II

Necrolucas and the band he plays drums in, Mord, are back!! Dude not only boasts one of our favorite black metal monikers but his band smokes as well. If you've heard Mord's debut disc Christendom Perished, released on Southern Lord a few years ago, you know what to expect from these none-more-necro Norwegian speed demons. Fast, faster, and fasterer! Furious too. With occasional headbanging breakdowns to catch a breath. Necrosodomic Abyss is a thrill ride propelled by Necrolucas's blasting blizzard of drumbeats, but Mord founder guitarist/vocalist Nordra is crucial too, unleashing an abundance of remarkably rockin' riffs (remarkable for something this grim and raw, that is) as well as a suitably guttural growl. (The band here is rounded out by session bassist named Necrosodom, by the way.) To reference a couple other Aquarius faves, imagine if you will a cross between 1349 and Khold. This disc's eight tracks are simply titled "Opus I" through "Opus VIII" and are of course different from the identically titled Opuses (Opi) found on their previous album. Doesn't that get confusing for Mord when they make a set list? Maybe they don't play live anyway, many black metal bands don't... which would be a shame in this case, if a sweaty crowd never ever moshed to Mord! Listening at home, maybe you'll get some moshing in too.

MPEG stream: Opus I
MPEG stream: Opus II

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Brief blast of chillingly grim black metal brutality from Mord, who just happen to be members of black metal horde Zorn, and again, we have to wonder why people are compelled to start a new band that sounds EXACTLY like their other band. But no complaints when both bands spew gorgeously grim and bleak, buzzing and blazing black metal. VERY LIMITED, on red vinyl. Interesting aside: one of the band members name is Necrolucas. Makes you think. Necroandee? Necroelliott? Necrocup? Kinda like that.

[ aquarius records catalogue — M ]