[ aquarius records — Metal Black Metal ]

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

SORRY.

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

SORRY. In addition to the eagerly awaited new Agalloch full-length on Profound Lore that we're listing this week, a few copies of this ultra-limited new Agalloch 7" just walked in the door, too - originally only available at their album release shows in Portland and Seattle! The two tracks here are to be considered as missing material from The Serpent & The Sphere. Get it while you can, we're told it's already on eBay for crazy dollars. Pressed on clear wax and limited to a hand numbered 500 copies!

Herein we find some early, early material by Portland's grim forest lurkers, the artistic, atmospheric black metal entity known as Agalloch. Eight songs taken from limited edition demo tapes circa 1996-1998, recorded before they got a record deal. Only a couple of the songs, meant for a 7", were later released on a limited cdep now also long gone. And listening to this, you can hear why they eventually got signed (and went on to develop the cult following they have today). These songs are both heavy and depressive, and metallically, melancholically melodic, coming off way more Iron Maiden-y than some black metal for sure, with extra folkiness that makes us think of early Abigor. And definitely fans of old Opeth should investigate this (you'll like the 11 and 13 minute long songs). Coming as no surprise to anyone whose heard their later material, Agalloch's demo archives incorporate rasping anguished vokills, jaunty folk-like melodies, trance-inducing battery, buzzing guitars, and calm, near-ambient interludes. One song is all acoustic strum and woodfires burning. If you're already into this band, you'll want this. And it's also as good a starting point as any (considering these songs were THEIR starting point). Actually some of us here who hadn't really gotten into Agalloch before are finding this to be a bit of a treat, and realize we should pay more attention to what they've been up to lately, as well.

MPEG stream: The Wilderness
MPEG stream: Of Stone, Wind, And Pillor

It's full length number five from Agalloch, and after releasing undoubtedly the most critically acclaimed metal record of 2010 (not to mention an equally well received EP in 2012) we find these titans of earthen blackened folk metal undeniably at the height of their powers. The Serpent & The Sphere greets the listener first with sparse solitary folk guitar, the minimal plucking of strings, like the last dying embers of a bonfire - before a doom dirge erupts, layered with enormous thunderous toms and shimmering clean guitar. It's a sound that verges on funeral doom, only a few steps away from Asunder. And then things drop down again into a folky acoustic strum, before morphing into a melodic doom plod accentuated by epic harmonized guitar leads and cryptic rasped vokills. And this organic doominess seems to color much of this album. Agalloch draw not just from classic Norwegian black metal here (we always thought early Ulver was a pretty good reference point for these guys), but also from the organic expanse of latter day Neurosis and even the melodic death doom of bands like Shape Of Despair. There's a progressive flair too, some of the guitar leads bringing to mind newer Enslaved, while the hints of acoustic psych folk recall '90s Opeth. The focus on doomier plods and more midpaced driving rhythms over blastbeats or hectic time signatures really allow the melodies space to take center stage, resulting in a more streamlined and immediate Agalloch record, not to mention maybe their most headbangingly heavy metal yet! Note, we also got a super limited new Agalloch 7" too, kind of a companion to this full-length, see our listing nearby...

MPEG stream: The Birth And Death Of The Pillars Of Creation
MPEG stream: Celestial Effigy
MPEG stream: Plateau Of The Ages

Majestic, gothic, vampiric black metal from Germany in the vein (open and bleeding) of Cradle of Filth.

More UNBLACK metal from the seemingly infallible E.E.E. label, home to some of the most amazing black metal we've heard in ages, which all just so happens to be not so black, as in white, as in Christian! And we're not talking Stryper here, this stuff is as fierce and furious and fucked up and black as any of your Striborgs or Lugubrums.� As far as we can tell, although we're not entirely sure, Agathothodion seems to be the work of the same man behind massive AQ faves Light Shall Prevail, who is also a member of Glaciial, an unblack metal supergroup, as well as the man who runs the E.E.E. label and seems to be single handedly spreading the unblack gospel. When does this man do anything but spew thick torrents of glorious black buzz?! Who cares as long as we're continually treated to music this gorgeously bleak and intense, this buzz-drenched and brutal, and even if it's not the same guy, whoever this mysterious black mystic is, the music he conjures up is both majestic and epic as well as dark and buzzing.� Kan Guds Gjort is split into two looooooong tracks, one twenty minutes and one more than a half an hour, both sprawling and expansive, the perfect form for drone-y buzzy black metal, allowed to stretch out to trance-like proportions. Mostly midtempo, a loping relentless rhythm, the guitars buzzing and swirling, the riffs circular and hypnotically repetitive, the drums going from simple pound to furious blast, but as is often the case with E.E.E. bands it's the utterly distinctive vocals that make it, here it's a guttural growl, that howls in a truly creepy raspy way, buried in the mix, so it's just sort of a fuzzed out wash of distorted ggggrrrrrrrowl on top of the layers of buzz and hiss. The other cool thing is the songs work up to a fever pitch, and suddenly it's a super dramatic Godspeed style crescendo, but rendered in soaring sheets of buzzing blackness and dense tangles of thrashing drums and anguished wails. Here and there, the tracks smooth out into extended almost math rock jams, with jangly guitars buried under a wash of layered guitar, the drums simple and solid, those are the parts that are truly mesmerizing, a doomy depressive drone drenched blackened post rock that oozes into the more traditional blackness around it.� As�always super limited, we got a bunch but E.E.E. stuff flies out of here and we usually can't get any more...

MPEG stream: By The Sea
MPEG stream: Man Born Blind

BACK IN STOCK! We're beginning to think EEE is our new favorite black metal label. After last list's brilliant Light Shall Prevail, and now this disc from Agathothodion (with tons more still to review). We're ready to convert! Convert? Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, this is WHITE metal, as in the opposite of black metal. Un-black metal. This is not satanic or hateful, instead it's hopeful and holy. But you'd never know it from listening. Agathothodion is bizarre and creepy and dark and, well, very very black sounding. And the thing is, while some of us have problems with religion being so dogmatic, this particular sonic representation of Christianity is anything but dogmatic. In fact it points out just how cookie cutter the majority of black metal really is. What we're getting at here, is this is some totally demented, freaked out, blissed out and drone-y, haunting and hypnotic ambient experimental black metal. They list their influences as GOD, JESUS CHRIST, Xasthur, Burzum, Leviathan, Isis, but they might as well have also listed Benighted Leams, Urfaust, Dead Reptile Shrine... you get what we're talking about. This stuff is fucking amazing! Traum Von Gott collects two long out of print eps, Stavkirke and Telos, and adds a bonus track) So what the hell does it sound like? A buzzing blackness that's spread out into a thick loping wash of blurry buzz, super dreamy, fuzzy warm midtempo black metal, soft swirls of midtempo trudge, totally hypnotic and drone-y, but it's the vocals that had us. Some sort of ancient sounding ghostlike falsetto croon. Drenched in reverb, not singing lyrics so much as just sort of moaning, and groaning. It almost sounds like the guy from Urfaust when he's 100 years old, his wheelchair pushed up to the mic, as a reedy disembodied voice drifts from his parched lips. Totally intense and creepy, definitely some of the most unique vocals we've heard. And while at first they sound completely bizarre, after a while, you really can't imagine the vocals sounding any other way. But that's not all that's strange about this band. They also break their song down into strange little post rock interludes with weird bloopy underwater bass, almost like a black metal Three Mile Pilot. But it really is the vocals, a nearly hysterical sounding completely chilling tortured cry spreading over the proceedings like a blood red fog. Almost like the sound you could imagine coming from behind a locked door in an insane asylum, that strange inmate who has been sitting in the corner for 20 years, mouth and eyes covered, but who continues to wail at all hours of the day. Man, this is so great, pretty much all we've been listening to. We were all ready to proclaim the Light Shall Prevail record as our new favorite black metal record (the same guy behind that band too we think) but now we're not so sure. Might just be easier to begin singing the praises of white metal and proclaim EEE our new favorite label...

MPEG stream: Endless Snowfall
MPEG stream: Deep Midwinter
MPEG stream: Parabole
MPEG stream: Telos

An awesome 4 band pile up, the state of modern black noise, or blackened noise rock, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. This stuff is fierce and heavy and demented and so great. From the same label that brought us the primitive black metal of Malkuth (reviewed elsewhere on this list), the raw black fury of Bone Awl, those killer Akitsa reissues and a recent MB reissue, comes this killer 4 band anvil to the head. Up first is the Vegas Martyrs, featuring Hospital head honcho and Prurient mastermind Dom Fernow, and just like the recently reviewed lp, it's another gloriously blown out and beautiful slab of blackened pop flecked noise rock. In the red and on the verge of destroying your speakers, VM offer up a killer Maiden-like riff over super distorted drums, garbled FX drenched vocals, super hypnotic and repetitive, all wrapped up in a crumbling stereo killing production, finishing off with several minutes of glitchy grinding murky noise... Up next is Air Conditioning, who sculpt their noise into something sorta pretty, huge swaths of blown out buzz over blurred buried melodies, layer upon layer upon layer, all shifting and shimmering, it almost sounds like a super charged noiserock Tim Hecker. Abrasive but surprisingly lovely. Up third is The New Flesh, show kick out the jams, ultra lo-fi style, a noisy practice space sounding garage rock sludge jam, all downtuned guitars, distorted trash can drums, and a weirdly deep voiced vocalist, who occasionally let's loose with a glass gargling screech. Dirgey, grimey, almost like some long lost Swans rehearsal tape. Finally, finishing things up are the Coughs, who weave some strange drone-y dirge with skronky sax and buzzy bass, fuzz guitar, all in short sharp bursts, creating a weirdly spacious plod, looped and cyclical, until the wild female vocals come in, and suddenly the Coughs sound like they're channeling old school Riot Grrl through new school noise. Out of nowhere comes a blast of spastic drum freakout before returning to that gorgeously relentless sludge-y pulse... LIMITED TO 400 COPIES. Packaged in a thick black on green paper sleeve, printed inside and out, pressed on clear green vinyl.

Pounding Finnish black metal hell. Super heavy. But also simple and melodic, with swirling keyboard textures and vocals alternating between harsh screeching and clean sort-of-chanting. (Courtesy of the singer from Amorphis, apparently relishing this

RealAudio clip: Yhdeksas
RealAudio clip: Verivalta

Tyhjyys (whatever that means?) is this Finnish black metal band's third album. Getting no argument from Ajattara's fans at AQ, they haven't strayed from their successful formula of dark, midtempo, heaviness -- adorned with eerie keys and underpined by pounding drums. And they still 'sing' in Finnish. Although a crushing proposition overall, some melody emerges amid the guitar riffs and vocal rasps. It's bouncy death march music for industrial goblins.

MPEG stream: Harhojen Renki
MPEG stream: Langennut

Calling all crusty black metal punx: We have something new and filthy for you! We submit for your approval this debut demo courtesy of Oakland, California's very own Akatharsia - a supergroup of sorts, all slathered in slime & grit, featuring members of aQ faves Lycus, Negative Standards and Fell Voices - and taking an equal amount of inspiration from Burzum as they do Amebix! Here we have eight short sharp shocks of driving lo-fi black metal thrashing wildly back and forth between dizzying blasting, primitive d-beat and fist-pumping black & roll - the riffing simple, catchy and direct; the vocals hoarse and agonized. There are moments of quieter ominous respite, but make no mistake, this is no frills, fist-in-the-face stuff - spiky, grisly, & hateful, and definitely recommended for fans of Bone Awl, Raspberry Bulbs, Tare and other like minded anarcho grimsters. Hand numbered to 250 copies!

Celebratum is the debut release from this mysterious ritualistic dark ambient outfit, the sounds here comprised of remixed, reworked and remastered songs and sounds from three super rare tapes originally the group released in the mid nineties. Presented here, these bleak, blackened rituals offer up a surprisingly lush sonic palette, the usual industrial/ambient tropes are most certainly present, militaristic percussion, lots of drones, and ominous low end rumbles, but the band incorporate horns (or what sound like horns), in fact the opening/intro is a haunting bit of regal sonic pageantry, echo drenched voices intoning ominously over muted percussion, and mournful horns, shimmering strings, the result very dramatic and cinematic, which is sort of what we were expecting the whole record to sound like, but the sound here are even more intense, the first track proper, the near 19 minute "Nos Dominari Noctus: The Dominions Of The Night", takes that dramatic, cinematic sound, pushes the vocals to the fore, two voices speaking the same words but quite differently, over blurts of brass, churning rhythms, swirling black drones, the vocals becoming vokills as the track progresses, the vibe blackening, building to a near frenzy, before settling into a long stretch of murky rumbles, and sinister whispers, mysterious mumbling undertones, and darkly processed shapes and sounds, blurred into a sprawling, ominous, black ambient creep. While much of the record plays out similarly, the sound is constantly shifting, a cloud of rainfall like hiss, drifts over a murky pulse, wreathed in a choir-like chorale, once again a backdrop for strange spoken vocals, mysterious incantations, that seem to slip from English into some unknown tongue and back again, the sounds drifting in and out, lush swells, bursts of crumbling noise, streaks of textured ambience, shards of melody, moaning and keening and rumbling and shimmering. Various bits of rhythm and percussion, offering a dark propulsion, from dirge-like throb, to strangely looped skitter, to warped, fractured anti-grooves, all woven into the bleak black fabric of Akhkaru's terrifying sonic rituals.

MPEG stream: Das Swartzen Orden Und Das Gesetzen
MPEG stream: Nos Dominari Noctus / The Dominions Of The Night
MPEG stream: Ave Calix Sanguinis (Praise Be The Blood)

For all the black metal bands, trafficking in raw, primitive, crusty, blackened d-beat driven minimal metal, few can touch mighty Canadian BM horde Akitsa. Active for over a decade, every record from Akitsa is a grim black testament, an unholy writ, rendered in greys and blacks and blood reds, a sonic assault equal parts frosty blast and thrashing crush, but infused with stray elements of pop and drone and classic metal, those elements subverted and transformed and absorbed into the bands twisted take on classic black metal. Feral like punk, buzzy like black metal, doused in noise, Au Crepuscule De L'Esperance might be the weirdest Akitsa yet, which makes perfect sense as it's their first for Hospital, run by the man behind Prurient and Ash Pool among others. Past Akitsa records were experimental, but subtly so, here the band digs deep, explores their sound in ways only hinted at before, so between bouts of blast and bash, there are long stretches of manipulated sound, of dark drones, and sculpted noise. The record begins with a brief nearly 3 minute stretch of crumbling distortion, of hiss and glitch, a swirling cloud of corrosive noise, but wrapped around a strange haunting melody, the sort of thing you might hear on a Prurient disc, but not normally on black metal records. But here it sounds perfect, a caustic blown out blacknoise intro, leading right into still more weirdness, a hazy melodic dirge, weirdly loping drums, soaring majestic riffing, what sounds like organ, a mysterious minor key slow burn, the harsh vokills hardly distracting from this blurred melodies and almost regal sounding crush. "Morsure" is really the first old school Akitsa jam, pounding, the guitars grinding and super distorted, the vocals a hellish bellow, the drums, a punkish pound, trancelike and repetitive, killer of course, but even more so set amidst all this fucked up far out experimentation. Then there's tracks like "Loyaute", dirgey and almost groovy, sorta like some Stooges-y garage rock coated in filth and slowed down, again way melodic, but still fierce and with weirdly whined almost glammy sounding vox, and a killer main riff, which explodes into the blown out drone drenched chugscape of "Cercueil National", with it's howled vocals, and looped tranced out riffage. The title track is another chunk of outsider black noise, or metal noise, totally in the red, meters pegged, layered drone, crumbling distortion, the various layers throbbing and pulsing, super hypnotic and noisy, but weirdly dreamy too, a sort of shoegazy melodic thrum, but super charged and blackened. The rest of the record plays out like a more traditional Akitsa record, blasting, pounding, thrashing, simple and stripped down, but WAY distorted, until the final song, which sounds like a Japanese Brainbombs, or something, an insanely distorted riff, seemingly assembled from white noise, a lumbering drum plod, and some awesome croaked, almost throat singing style vocals, super creepy and fucked up and GENIUS.

MPEG stream: Crematorium
MPEG stream: Les Sentinelles
MPEG stream: Morsure
MPEG stream: Loyaute

We've been dying to list some Akitsa for ages, one of our favorite purveyors of ultra filthy, simple stripped down buzz drenched black metal. But their records have been impossible to come by for ages, other than for way too much on eBay. Recently however, NYC's Hospital Records came to the rescue, and reissued two of our favorites, Sang Nordique and this one, Goetie. On the opening track, the sound is much like their Canadian brethren Malveillance, frosty and cold, fierce and fast, old school black metal. The riffs are blown out and buzz like swarms of tiny spiked insects, the drums, a seemingly relentless pound, the vocals a wild hysterical shriek. The D-beat influence is not so prevalent as in Malveillance, but the structure is quite similar, a single riff, pounded into submission, over and over and over, a blackbuzzmantra of the highest order. But Akitsa only spend a small amount of their time buzzing at breakneck speed. Much of the rest of the time they slow things way down, the high end buzz becoming murkier and more malevolent, complete with strange guitar harmonies, and croaked demonic vocals, resulting in what almost sounds like a black metal Brainbombs. And as with most of our favorite BM outfits, Akitsa are not at all afraid of melody, offering up some strangely lovely interludes where minor key melodies drift over loping drums and guitars jangle more than crunch, lots of melodic prettiness and droning shimmer.� On the track "Les Ruines De La Modernite", things slow down to an absolute crawl, a sludgy lurching plod, but somehow, the chord progression and the melodies end up sounding super pretty. It's almost like some slowcore track given a black metal makeover. Like Codeine covering Immortal. And most of the slow tracks sound like that, like pretty and poppy painted pitch black.� The intro and outro are also quite lovely, the intro a swaying repeated minor key guitar figure over a sea of static buzz, while above it all a voice croons hypnotically, while the outro is delicate and dreamy, like some soft focus eighties British pop music, simple chimes and a looped melody, all hovering over what sounds like something burning, a low level crackle and rumble. And everything in between is perfect, whether it's wild thrashing, slow plodding, mid tempo waltzes, whatever, every moment is infused with some super unlikely pop sensibilities and an arsenal of blackbuzz riffs to die for.

For metalheads like us, a new record from Canadian black metal duo Akitsa is a cause for serious celebration. They're a band that has remained mysterious, hewed to their own sonic blueprint, remaining willfully obstinate, and for the internet age, surprisingly off the radar for lots of folks, and it's all that, as well as their furious and fucked up sound, that has made them one of our favorite purveyors of raw black buzz. Grands Tyrans is their first full length in five years, and opener "Devoile" reminds us just why we love them so much, and just how much we missed their bleak, black threnodies. The guitars are simple and primitive, the sound raw and brittle, insectoid, occasionally splintering into weird scrabbling squiggles, a caveman approximation of leads perhaps, the drums almost a murky afterthought, more a pulse than a pound, all in support of the vokills, impossibly anguished and tortured, a hellish, primal screech, borderline hysterical, doused in reverb and drenched in echo, squeaking and cracking, wailing and shrieking. But there's another side to Akitsa, which is displayed on track two, "Le Feu De L'abime", a knuckle dragging primitive punk dirge, all churning downtuned riffage and Neanderthal drum pound, the guitars that were so brittle moments earlier, now chunky and fuzzy, the vocals too, transformed, into a snarly, sneering yawp. And actually, there are several other sonic sides the group explores on the rest of Grands Tyrans: a hellish buzzing black metal death march on "Naufrage Contemporain", a grinding, rumbling soundscape of staticky drones and haunting synth melodies on "Les Flots De L'Enfer", creepy synthy cinematic doom on the title track, where the vocals transform yet again into some twisted Ozzy-ish croon, before revisiting some of the previous sounds, delivered in varying degrees of fucked up and fractured production, and with their own sonic mutations, like the weirdo new wave vocals on the super blown out "Je N'y Serai Pas" or sing songy, surprisingly melodic punk pound of "Chimeres", or the frenzied ultra-lo-fi blackened stomp of "Faucon". Goddamn do we love this band!!! And it's so satisfying how amazingly confusional they remain after all these years. And how on a record that lurches from sound to sound, the production quality in constant flux, the vocals never the same twice, the guitar tone varying from meaty crunch to transistor radio tinniness, they can somehow craft these disparate sounds and songs into what is destined to be one of the best metal records (black and otherwise) of the year. Super swank packaging, a black and white digipak with debossed, metallic silver printing and a booklet filled with lyrics and stunning shots of a grim Canadian winter.

MPEG stream: Devoile
MPEG stream: Le Feu De L'abime
MPEG stream: Grands Tyrans

Another long overdue reissue from these French Canadian masters of stripped down black buzz. We reviewed their amazing 2001 debut, Goetie, a few lists back, and now we've got Sang Nordique originally released in 2002, it's just as black and buzzy, offkilter and strange. And as hard as it is to believe, maybe even better than the debut, certainly weirder! Beginning with a damaged super reverbed guitar intro, that sounds like some impossible cross between blackened surf music and a Morricone western score, featuring a gorgeously melancholy, super distorted guitar buzzing within a cloud of thick reverb, the band immediately launch into some gloriously relentless Darkthrone-ish pounding old school blackness, with looped riffage, killer blastbeats, and some super harsh hellish howls. But by the next track, they've switched gears, and are spitting out some weird sort of crusty punk rock, flecked with a little old school classic metal, sounding for the most part, minus the blackened vocals, like this could be Doom or Discharge or some missing D-beat band from the eighties. Track three, the title track, has them switching it up once again, with a strangely melodic midtempo groove, pounding out a garage-y sort of stomp, sounding not a little bit like the Brainbombs, filthy and blown out, in the red and dripping with crumbling distortion, lots of swagger and groove, but painted all sorts of black.� The next two tracks are straight ahead D-beat black thrash, furiously frenzied blasts of buzz and howl, veering from full on black metal, to more of that sort of blackened crusty punk. But then things get super strange... The second to last track, "La Nature De Mon Pans", begins as a loping swinging dirge, all demonic howl, caveman pound, and some super stripped down riffing, until the -other- vocals come in, a monotone Jandekian drawl, a slightly atonal croon, that suddenly gives this a Circle Of Ouroborus vibe, and the track is transformed into a lurching demented, seasick downer slab of doomy crust pop, complete with soaring minor key lead guitar. Whatthefuck?!? So goddamn good! It had us almost wishing the whole record sounded like this.� At least until the final track, a 10+ minute drone and buzzscape of rumbling low end glitches, distant reverbed drum pound and haunting vocals, like a black metal Whitehouse maybe, the whole track a grinding rumbling glacial dirge, with those creepy vocals drifting ghostlike over the machinelike murk. Another seriously amazing WTF moment on a record packed with 'em. Definitely one of our favorite weirdo black metal bands, and Sang Nordique is one of their best records for sure. We can hardly wait to get their most recent full length�La Grande Infamie (from 2006) reviewed and on the list! But until then, this should most certainly hold you over...

MPEG stream: Riposte
MPEG stream: Frontiere
MPEG stream: Sang Nordique

This long in the works split finally sees the light of day. Two sides of raw primitive blackness, one from Canadian outfit Akitsa, the other from Dominick Fernow's Ash Pool, just one of his many bands/guises/projects (Prurient, Cold Cave, Silent Servant, etc.) Akitsa have long been favorites around here, purveyors of a particular strain of primitive, blackened, D-beat driven black metal crush we can't ever seem to get enough of here. And little has changed on these four tracks, filthy fuzzy riffage, harsh howling guttural rasping vokills, and of course pounding drums. One thing that has changed, at that at least seams a little lot more pronounced, is a serious poppiness, which is established pretty much immediately on the opening track here, which sans vox, almost sounds like some Ramones outtake, hooky and heavy and super melodic, weirdly catchy too, but with a churning punk metal 'chorus', and of course generally more blackened all around. The second disc finds Akista in full on trance out mode, what is essentially buzzing black metal, but here slowed down to a crawl, the guitars are still buzzing and frantic, but the drums (or drum?) is just a static pulsing throb, while the guitar soar and swirl hauntingly above it. Akitsa enter the final stretch of their side with another weirdly catchy punk pop jam in grim black metal clothing, right down to clean reverby vox, the sound, minus the extreme buzz, some weird cold wave post punk jam, that KILLS. Fans of Soror Dolorosa and Grave Babies and the like maybe have found their black metal jam. That leads directly into a bit of mournful blackbuzzscaping, swirling soaring insectoid guitars over reverby Morricone like twang, space and darkly psychedelic, and finally, a sprawling closer that's equal parts post punk, classic metal, and gloom pop dirgery, a super repetitive tranced out churn, that almost sounds like krautrock at times, or at least like a black metal Circle, but still all wreathed in gloriously crusty production, that makes it appropriately murky AND blown out. Ash Pool start off with their own sort of weird pop / black metal hybrid, sounding like some mutant strain of very evil pop punk, a downright jaunty main melody and a galloping rhythm, but soon that splinters into full on furious chaotic black squall buzz, the drums relentless and dizzying, the vocals a raspy croak, the guitars swirling dervishes of sound, but then BAM, they slip right back into that opening poppiness, and so it goes back and forth, a seemingly impossibly hybrid, but it works, and sounds kind of amazing. All before a final black-psych blowout, replete with shredding head spinning guitar freakout. Most of the Ash Pool side remains firmly entrenched in pure grim black buzz territory, but throughout, they pepper the proceedings with super catchy melodies, lush textures, progged out arrangements, managing to keep things dense and brutal and furious, but also strangely catchy. And then they respond to that Akitsa track, by going full on black-pop gloom-buzz, clean vocals soaring over the mix, and again, minus the distortion, this would be some strange bit of dreamy downer pop, but when wedded to those frenetic guitars, it becomes a weirdly soaring sort of blackened postrock/post punk, before finally finishing off with a short blast of shrieking black crush. Amazing stuff from both bands, fans absolutely NEED, newbies, this could be the record that finally turns you on to both Akitsa and Ash Pool, you won't be sorry!

MPEG stream: Tour De Garde
MPEG stream: Ne Perdez Jamais Espoir
MPEG stream: Death Has No Mother
MPEG stream: De-Stoning The Ephesus House

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

SORRY.

MPEG stream: Cut Throat
MPEG stream: Death Moral

Metalheads are definitely a weird bunch, their likes and dislikes, what is considered true and cult, versus stuff labeled poser or false metal. In some cases it's definitely cut and dried, but in others, there's really no rhyme or reason. For instance, take Depeche Mode. Almost every metalhead we've ever met, loves Depeche Mode. Why? There seems to be no metal connection, other than a sort of darkness or gothiness. Yet, DM remain a fast favorite, with more than a few metal bands covering songs by them as well. Which brings us to Alcest. For the life of us, we can't figure out why these guys are so beloved by black metallers, even the ones who go on about frosty grim kvlt hordes and generally listen to only extreme buzzing blackness, they all seem to love Alcest. Not that there's not plenty to love, it's just Alcest are barely metal at all. Sure there's some harsh vocals now and again, some distorted guitar, even some blast beats but that's about it as far as it goes metalwise. And the thing is, even when Alcest do dip into some blasting blackness, it's more shoegazey and dreamy and washed out and melodic, which speaks to why we love this band so much, their ability to create this glimmering blown out dreampop using tropes usually reserved for musics much more harsh and heavy. This latest record finds the band perfecting their ever evolving formula, merging a sort of depressive melancholic black metal, with total blissed out shoegaze jangle pop. On Ecailles De Lune, even the heaviest moments are infused with an undeniable poppiness, a sort of ethereal dreaminess, that turns this into one of the least likely black metal records ever. The band can be perfectly summed up sonically in the nearly 20 minute two part opening salvo, jangly guitars, hushed vocals, explode into a sort of prismatic shoegaze post pop, all big chords, pounding drums, everything wrapped in a soft psychedelic haze, crooned sad boy vocals, way down in the mix, slow builds to Godspeed like crescendos, angelic female background vocals, lush harmonies, spidery tendrils of minor key guitar, finally within the last minute of the first part, slipping into a buzzing blast, but as mentioned above, it's not so black and grim as if is epic and effulgent and soaring and majestic and beautiful. The second part opens with spare chiming guitars, before some almost actual black metal erupts, a woozy descending minor key melody that quickly shifts into something much more moody with harsh vocals showing up for the first time. It's frenzied and buzzy, but still more dreamy and druggy than black, and then just as quickly as it started, the blackness fades, leaving a loping rhythm, sweet chiming clean guitars, and then the rhythm drops out too, and the song plays out with just a soft tangle of reverby guitar notes and ethereal female vocals. "Percees de Lumiere" begins all Lifelover-y, with swoonsome soaring shoegaze pop and harsh vox, only to splinter into prismatic dreampop partway through, dreamy female vocals over softly churning chords underneath, so nice. "Solar Song" is some sort of Slowdive / Swervedriver / My Bloody Valentine hybrid, warm lush chords, soaring vocal harmonies, a killer main melody, total classic pop wreathed in layers of washed out fuzz and swirling sonic gauze, maybe the 'hit' here if there was gonna be one. An 8+ minute closer might have you expecting a blasting metallic finale, but instead, we're treated to a smoldering sprawl of soft strummed, chiming gloom pop, no drums, just layers of glistening guitars, warm lush vocals, a slow burning chunk or rainy day post-metal dreamfolk balladry. woozy, washed out, hazy, dreamlike and utterly gorgeous. While they last, we've got the limited digi-book packaging version of this fine album.

MPEG stream: Ecailles De Lune - Part 1
MPEG stream: Percees De Lumiere
MPEG stream: Solar Song

Long before melodic post black metal or blackened shoegaze metal, or whatever you want to call it, became the flavor of the month (a flavor we continue to find delicious by the way), Alcest's 2 song debut came out of nowhere and blew minds. Not just ours, although ours were indeed sufficiently blown, but the metal world at large, the BLACK metal world, notoriously averse to innovation, especially of the poppy and melodic variety, with pretty much everyone freaking out over this French one man band, whose sound was a blend of Slinty post rock, spidery, shimmery shoegaze, and buzzing black metal. Since then, hundreds of bands have taken on the mantle of blackened jangle buzz pop, from Amesoeurs to Les Discrets, Deafheaven to Lantlos, but few releases, even later Alcest records, have managed to capture the same energy and intensity as these 2 songs. The opening track "Le Secret", began long stretches of crystalline reverbed guitars, that goes on and on, 3+ minutes before the song proper begins, but then the guitars come buzzing in, thick, and crumbling, wrapped around an impossibly poppy melody, and then the vocals drift in, vocals which we initially thought were female, hazy, and washed out, high and softly plaintive, the track slipping easily from pounding blast, to loping midtempo, but always warm and washed out, softly buzzy and so divinely dreamy. Black metal perhaps, but smooth out some of the metallisms and you'd have a Lovesliescrushing tune, strip away the distortion and it might sound like Cocteau Twins. The second track might be even better. "Elevation" begins with another long intro, this one all woozy shimmery synths, and when the 'band' launches into it proper, it's definitely buzzy and blackened, but again, infused with impossibly catchy melodies, and the vocals here are more black metal rasp, but somehow, the combination works perfectly, the riffs seeming to grow ever more epic and majestic, the pounding beats, blurring into another layer of pulsing buzzing sound. The sound does shift, from folky, clean guitar interlude, to lumbering midtempo chug and churn, which is when Alcest is at 'their' most metal, but the song drifts back toward the soaring majesty of the first half, droned out and hypnotic, buzzy and melodic and just about as sweetly warm and lush as black metal can get. Even six years later, after hearing a million different bands employ this same strategy, these two tracks sound so fresh, so impossibly heavy and simultaneously so infectiously hooky, total fuzzpop blackbuzz dreamgaze bliss. For this long awaited reissue, both songs have been rerecorded, these new version accompanying the originals, the liner notes explaining that Alcest mainman Neige was always unhappy with the sound, and the two new versions do sound a bit different, not necessarily better, but in some ways more lush and warm, less brittle and buzzy, even a bit more expansive and rich, although the originals were pretty dang perfect to begin with. Hard to say which versions we like more, but the fact that very little was changed besides the actual recording quality, means it almost doesn't matter!

MPEG stream: Le Secret
MPEG stream: Elevation

Really, what can we say at this point about French shoegaze / post black metallers Alcest, that hasn't already been said, by us, and pretty much everybody else? Alcest are pretty much the gold standard when it comes to soaring emotional melodic shoegaze black metal (along with Amesoeurs, but they're both fronted by the same guy anyway), and with every record they move further and further away from actual buzzing blackness, but at the same time, they keep getting better and better (production, arrangement, songwriting) and in the process, their ability to blend their dreamy jangle and black buzz far surpasses any of the other groups out there trying for the same effect. There's no jarring shift from crystalline shimmer, and hazy dreamy drift to blasting buzz, it's totally organic, and sure, in the process, perhaps the black and the buzz becomes muted and less, well, buzzy and black, but the strange thing is, no one is complaining. Even the grimmest of metalheads seems to love Alcest (and Amesoeurs). It's the Depeche Mode principle again, like Depeche Mode, all metalheads love Alcest. Not that we can blame them, what's not to love? Especially here, on what is arguably the group's masterpiece, so epic, and melodic, and sweeping and soaring, lush and textured, alternatingly heavy and majestic, dreamy and drifty, heavy on the post rock and the jangle, with the black metallisims making up a relatively small part of the sound, and when the band do get into some buzzy blackness, the infuse it with an impossible melodic sense, and the fact that the sound is so lush and the record is so well produced, it makes it sound heavier than most proper black metal bands, not brittle and buzzy, or chaotic and furious, but epic and crushing and MASSIVE. It can only really be a matter of time before non metalheads catch on. There's plenty here that would not sound at all out of place alongside Explosions In The Sky and Godspeed You Black Emperor and M83 and Mogwai and all the rest, and we wouldn't be at all surprised if this had come out on Temporary Residence, or even Matador. Maybe that's in the cards, but for now, we can all continue to bathe in Alcest's glorious sonic glow, while they still remain, at least tenuously, in the underground. At this point, this can't really be a contender for black metal record of the year, cuz it's finally just too far removed, but it's still so goddamn good, we're having a hard time imagining very many records this year, metal or otherwise, will top it.

MPEG stream: Autre Temps
MPEG stream: La Ou Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles
MPEG stream: Les Voyages De L'Ame

Sweater not included.

We've been gushing over French black metal outfit Ameseours for a while now. Their amazing blend of buzzing blackness and indie jangle. Like nothing we'd heard really, but was exactly what we always wanted, nay needed to hear, just didn't know it. As we mentioned in our review of their record, various members of that group also do time in the much more black metal Peste Noire, whose most recent record FolkFuck Folie we also reviewed recently, and in both reviews we lamented the fact that we were never able to get the ep by yet another related band, the even less metal, more blissy Alcest. And while that 2 song disc does in fact seem to be out of print, this here is the brand new full length, and besides being amazing, and one of the prettiest records of the year, it's absolutely and entirely not the least bit metal. AT ALL.� Which is in no way a bad thing, it's just perplexing that black metal folks have been touting this as one of the best metal records of the year, even ever. Much like Ameseours, Alcest is all about indie jangle, and blissed out shoegazey pop, but where Ameseours, mixes that sound with a more traditional buzz and blast, resulting in some strange blackened hybrid, a sort of indie jangle black metal, Alcest, jettison the metal entirely, leaving nothing but gorgeous, dramatic, epic, blissful pop perfection. And this is simply that, perfect pop. The guitars are still distorted and slightly heavy, and there is some double kick drum action, but that stuff is so wrapped up in dense smears of glistening chordal thrum and breathy emotional vocals, simple acoustic guitar picking and buzzing fuzzed out grooves, that it just sort of gets absorbed into Alcest's divine dreamy drift.� We talked about Justin Broadrick channeling the spirit of early nineties shoegaze pop in Jesu, but Alcest sound like they were transported directly from that era, yanked from a field of similarly minded sonic explorers like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, Swervedriver, Chapterhouse, and the like. It almost seems pointless to mention anything about the band's black metal pedigree, since if you were going on sound alone, you would be hard pressed to not imagine this was some legendary college rock record from 1992, each track glorious and glistening, the guitars�soaring, epic and majestic, all�major key, a walls of sound, rich and thick and lustrous, the�bass mirroring the guitar, simple subtle harmonies, everything tangled into lilting bliss pop epics, while over the top drift�soft fuzzy vocals, both male and female, that almost even more than the music recall that specific musical era. Absolutely the finest slab of blissed out, post My Bloody Valentine dreampop indie jangle drift we've heard in forever. Just listen to the sound samples and we think you'll be just as smitten as we are...�

MPEG stream: Printemps Emeraude
MPEG stream: Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
MPEG stream: Les Iris

This should have been a highlight, but check out the price. Oof! Apparently Northerh Silence pressed up 3000 cds, but Alcest's new label forced them to destroy ALL but 500. Not sure what the problem was, but they only allowed NS to keep the 500 in order to recoup some of the money already spent on the now destroyed cds. Thus, NO copies of this were sold wholesale, as the label needed to make as much money back as it could. Thus we got a handful. The label let us have 10, but they were expensive, and figure in the exchange rate, and the shipping, and well, there ya go. $39. It is fantastic though, many of you bought the lp version. This is the cd version. We have 10 copies, that's it. SOrry, but at least a handful of you will get a copy, even if you have to cough up nearly forty bones. Here's our review of the lp version when we first listed it: Folks have been chomping at the bit for this one and now it's finally here. A collection of older demo material from French black metal horde Angmar and AQ faves, and current black-metal-bliss darlings Alcest. And after the most recent Alcest full length, the barely metal�Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde, and with the first ep being out of print and unavailable, a new Alcest record, even if it's an -old- new record, is enough to get the AQ black metal faithful, all in a frenzy... Angmar, who we have yet to feature on the AQ list but who we most definitely dig, offer up a handful of demos and rehearsals spanning the years 1998-2003. All the usual adjectives apply, this was long before the band streamlined their sound, so these tracks find the band raw and grim and frosty. Cold buzzing riffage, blast beats and some seriously creepy atmospheres. Every track a relentless burst of black fury, primitive and lo-fi, but all the more intense and blackened for it. The tracks are sprinkled with gorgeous bits of lilting folkiness, short stretches of dark ambience, one whole track of creepy shimmer, a gloomy piano / guitar duet, but it's the blasting buzz that define these guys, and they do it well, burning a black mark on the pale flesh of all that is holy with their beastly racket. Awesome stuff.� But Alcest is really the reason everyone wants this so bad, and rightfully so. Neige might not be a household name, unless you live with a bunch of black metalheads in France, but it sure should be, and probably will be soon, as Neige is the man behind Alcest, the equally brilliant Ameseours, as well as a member of weirdo black buzzers Peste Noire. The Alcest lp half of this split double, is one sided and features a 2001 demo in its entirety. And for those of you whose only exposure to Alcest is�Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde, you just might be shocked to discover that Alcest were indeed a real buzzing black metal outfit at one time. This demo definitely proves it. It also demonstrates, that even way back then, Neige had a melodic flair that could just not bee denied. The insane thing is that all of this music was written when Neige was all of 15 years old. Holy shit. What were we doing at 15? Definitely not composing legendary slabs of grim melodic black metal. But that's precisely what this is, an epic slab of buzzing blackness, run through with irresistible pop melodies, streaks of jangle and shoegazey bliss, but all merely as filigree for a seriously intense black metal buzz. Howled vocals, furious blasting rhythms, jagged black riffs, all woven into long stretches of midtempo moodiness, epic and minor key, and grim grim grim. But amazingly, without ever losing that mysterious melodiousness that would come to define Alcest's constantly evolving sound.

MPEG stream: Tristesse Hivernale
MPEG stream: Les Songs De L'Hiver

The latest addition to the ever expanding "Cascadian black metal" scene comes via Tacoma Washington's Alda (who apparently are not, as we had been hoping, named for Alan Alda). This is their 2009 debut, and delivers pretty much everything you'd want from a band like this or say, Wolves In the Throne Room, or Fauna, or Echtra, but give that sound their own twist. The record opens with a dark, haunting acoustic number, aching crooned vocals, spare finger picked guitars, the sound building to an urgent strum, the vocals too soaring dramatically, it's definitely effective in setting the mood, and leads directly into the slow, and distinctly melodic opening to the first proper metal track, "Fimbulwinter" - a plodding doomic death march, melancholic minor key guitar melodies, over simple plodding drums. We actually would have been perfectly happy had they kept it at this tempo, and unfurled a massive smoldering slo-mo blackened doom creep that filled up the whole rest of the record, but instead, they do eventually slip into some proper black riffing, and don't explode into a blast so much as a midtempo lope, an interesting choice for sure, giving the whole track a super laid back vibe, which is quickly scuttled when the guitar splinters into some super cool angular mathiness, and the harsh vokills swoop in. The song never fully explodes into blasting blackness, but in its own way, it sort of makes it less predictable and more interesting, the rest of the track rife with memorable melodies and shifting blackened textures. But fear not, the following track finds the band in full black/buzz/blast mode, furious and frantic, at least for the first minute or so, the song soon shifts into something much more mathy and midtempo, before they lurch right back into it again. And so it goes, there's some cello that pops up here, giving the sound some moodiness, and the acoustic guitars return, giving the proceedings a bit of a neo-folk feel, and leading directly into the next track which finds the band again unfurling some midtempo melodic blackness. It definitely seems obvious that Alda are more comfortable at a generally more midtempo clip, and it certainly suits them, the heavier slower parts get almost Neurosis-y, and the blasting parts add some definite dynamics, the vibe throughout moody and melancholy, and in its own way darkly psychedelic. While these guys might not be as epic and intense as WITTR, it also doesn't seem like that's what they're going for, their sound much slower and moodier, less majestic and more personal, and the neo-folk elements too are super distinctive, the cello is a nice touch as well. For fans of that 'Cascadian' sound, these guys definitely do it well. And there's a second Alda record too, released more recently, so curious to see how Alda have pushed their sound in the two years since they recorded this one. Regardless, we're digging this one a lot!

MPEG stream: Scattered On The Wind
MPEG stream: Fimbulwinter
MPEG stream: The Seed And The Hailstone

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

SORRY. The long overdue return of these Belgian musical miscreants, whose last release, the super limited tape and then not so limited cd Luizig, was a huge favorite around these parts, and why the hell not, a blown out blackened smear of in the red doom dirge weirdness, that we compared to folks like Ash Pool and Akitsa and Ancestors. But that had a lot more to do with the quality of the sound, the timbre and tone, the brutally lo-fi recording, the music itself was much more twisted and blurred and tangled and whatthefuck. For this two song follow up, Alkerdeel change gears pretty dramatically, opening up with nearly 4 minutes of super spare stripped down doom. The guitar distorted, but surprisingly clean by Alkerdeel standards, the drums a simple funereal plod, until finally the vocals swoop in, a hellish shriek, WAY up in the mix, before just as quickly drifting off, leaving the same skeletal doom, but this time, the guitar explores a bit more, more melody, more sprawling ambience, and again, the vocals come in and the track shifts gear into a pounding lo-fi midtempo dirge, all buzzy guitar, stumbly drumming, growled howled vocals, even a stretch of buzzing blastbeat blackness, before fracturing into something more mathy and woozy and off kilter, and for the remainder of the track (a long one at 13 minutes) slipping from super dirgey atonal crawl, to furious frenzy of chaotic buzz, to blurred washed out blackness. Pretty awesome stuff. This time we might add to the above mentioned bands outfits like Moss and Bunkur and the like, much doomier this go round. But then band go and follow up with an Ildjarn cover, total raw and primitive buzz drenched black metal d-beat pound. As crusty and punk rock as it is kvlt and grim, simple pounding drums, hypnotic almost looped sounding riffage, even a sort of double time more punk rock second half, the whole thing laced with perfectly yowled whiskey soaked crusty vokills. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! We managed to get the last 20, it's already out of print, so once these are gone, they are gone forever. Packaged in a cool mini 3" dvd style plastic clamshell case, full color insert, each one hand numbered of course.

MPEG stream: De Bollaf!
MPEG stream: Natt Og Take - Nattens Ledestjerne (Ildjarn)

Brand new record from these blackened Belgian weirdoes, whose sound has changed dramatically from our first exposure to these guys, the grim noisy Luizig cassette, releases on Silvester Anfang's Funeral Folk label, which seemed apt at the time, a raw grim lo-fi sort of abstract black metal, along the lines of the blown out primitive fury of groups like Bone Awl and Akitsa, everything in-the-red, blown out and utterly chaotic and noise drenched. Not sure if you can just chalk it up to the natural progress of a band, but the now out of print 3" cd-r on Universal Tongue found the band shifting their sound considerably, tighter, not so distorted or damaged, yet they managed to make this shift and remain as head cavingly baffling as ever. Which thankfully remains the case here, three new loooong tracks of stripped down trancelike minimal black metal, that sounds almost more like some sort of noiserock or noisy krautrock. The band lock in a riff, and a blasting beat, and just pound away on it, over and over and over, the sound gloriously murky and muddy and blown out, the only things that really change are the vocals, which howl and mewl and shriek, occasionally becoming engulfed in reverb or delay (dub style) and spinning into a swirling cloud or processed voices, and the drums which shift from minimal pound, to super sizzly cymbal driven cacophony, the opening track finds the band spending most of their time pounding away relentlessly, only to shift gears about halfway through, get a little doomy, and then shift gears again and get all abstract and spaced out, sounding more like some weird sort of underground post punk band that any sort of black metal band. They do of course return to the murky muddy pound that started things off, only to stumble and collapse into heap of feedback and black buzz. The second track is a super stripped down, minimal chunk of slowcore, abstract, doomy, but not heavy, just simple drumming, and skeletal guitars, it does eventually lurch into something more heavy, filthy and crusty, with sick vomited vokills and super distorted downtuned crunch, but it quickly slips right back into that doomy dirge complete with Sabbath style basslines, eventually exploding into a weirdly proggy almost Voivod sounding black metal workout, with long stretches of woozy bass driven doomy drift, and some super dense blowouts of churning riffage that is more dronelike than metal-like. The final track is a 29 minute juggernaut, which begins with a cloud of grinding low end blackness, the drums eventually coming in, creating some sort of motorik hypnorock blackmetal dronedirge, which splinters into something way more frenzied and chaotic, and from there, the track is constantly shifting, long stretches of cinematic strings and mysterious samples, Khanate like ultradoom, more meandering downtuned metallic post rock, super spaced out minimal sludge, laced with ethereal vocals, and weirdly melancholy melodies, bursts of bass heavy prog, some Burzumic black metal, and finally a blast of frantic almost D-beat sounding blackened fury that finishes things off. Another fantastic and fucked up batch of damaged doom and abstract avant black metal weirdness, needless to say this is the kind of shit that we live for. WAY recommended.

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MPEG stream: II

We realized recently, that although we were huge fans of the black metal label Kunsthauch, and the metalheads around here have collections filled with Kunsthauch releases, we had for some reason, never actually reviewed ANYthing on the label. To address that oversight, we got in touch with Kunsthauch directly and are now beginning a campaign to shine some aQ light on some of our favorite Kunsthauch releases, new and old, beginning with this, a compilation from Russian outfit All The Cold, released in 2009 and collecting the group's earliest demos, tracks from various splits as well as a few unreleased songs as well. One Year Of Cold is actually the only proper sort-of-full-length the band has, their catalog being made up entirely otherwise of demos and splits. All it should take is a couple minutes of opener "Last Winter" for you to fall under ATC's wintery spell, trafficking as they do in a sort of cold, frosty ambient black metal, a la Paysage D'Hiver, Alrakis and other aQ faves, and while the band seem to drift and drone and lumber doomily more than actually thrash and blast, it's precisely that slow temp and atmospheric focus that makes these tracks so mesmerizing. "Last Winter" unfurls a blurred hazy blackened dreamscape, that could go on forever, and really, is only barely black metal, before disappearing in a squall of whipping winter winds, only to have some proper black buzz emerge, creeping, a haunting doomy trudge, the melodies wistful and melancholy, floating above a field of washed out warm buzzing thrum, loping and melancholy, and again almost more dark dreampop that black metal, the music box like melody sounds almost like Burzum's "Rundgang Um Die Transzendentale Saule Der Singularitat" if it were in fact an actual black metal jam. "Through The Dead World" offers up more of the same, beginning with some plaintive harpsichord melody, before the guitars come in, all jagged and buzzy and chuggy, and while there seems to be potential for chaotic blackness, the sound instead sprawls and oozes and transforms into a thick black cloud of warm buzz, of pounding slo-mo drum damage, some seriously super distorted demonik vokills, and more of those plaintive melodies. Occasionally the tempo does get cranked up, and in come the blast beats, but weirdly enough, those moments are even LESS heavy, the sound growing more ethereal and washed out, only those wicked vox keeping the sound from floating into some sort of 4AD bliss out dreampop (albeit with blast beats!). And so it goes, wintery and haunting and dreamy, stretches of grim gorgeous blackened buzz interspersed with long expanses of gauzy ambience, and peppered with bits of classical sounding composition, creepy cinematic synthscapery, grim industrial dronemusic, and lovely winter-sun dappled chamber music, all woven into a fantastically frosty and phantasmagoric blackened songsuite. WAY recommended!

MPEG stream: Last Winter
MPEG stream: Through The Dead World
MPEG stream: Coldly To Heart

Alrakis are a little like a German Darkspace, the same sort of epic cosmic blackness, the same obsession with the cosmos, the stars and space and the galaxies around us, but instead of a blown out hypersonic blur, Alrakis conjure their spaced out blackness from something much more depressive and dismal, a mournful blackbuzz dirge that creeps and lumbers, the music melodic and melancholy, wreathed in a warm gauze of blurred buzz, the vocals an anguished wail, the drums a skeletal plod, buried in the mix, all epic and emotional, repetitive and cyclical, heaving and majestic, a loping sprawl of buzzing black mesmer, slipping dreamily from churning black trudge, to hazy celestial shimmer, all droned out and atmospheric, long stretches of contemplative hush, which gradually supernova into another burst of cosmic buzz, and the more we listen to this, the more the Darkspace comparison seems somewhat apt, if you assume that Alrakis does sound like Darkspace just at 16rpm. Which makes sense, the idea of these sounds floating weightless, a black buzz drifting against a glimmering starfield of distant flicker. Ultimately, the cosmic/celestial focus is invoked by the music's lonely vibe, it conjures up the feeling of being lost in an inky black endless sky, of drifting alone, forever and ever, it's definitely a sad record, and based on the subject matter, we can only assume that it is the imaginary soundtrack for the final journey, whether a literal trip to the farthest reaches of the universe, or the more metaphoric great unknown, this is the perfect score, haunting and harrowing, a grim black depressive missive that is easily one of the coolest depressive black metal records we've heard, with much more going on that just buzz and plod and pound, the sounds are lush and layered, even folks not that into black metal could be lured in by some of these tracks, sounding a bit like a slightly blacker Nadja, the same sort of minimal dronedoomdirge, and many of the tracks are completely ambient, unfurling a sort of grim kosmiche shimmer that seems to drift endlessly into the endless comsos. Way recommended for sure, one of our favorite new black metal discoveries. Comes in a super swank oversized A5 style digibook, adorned with, of course, images of space and stars...

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MPEG stream: Gas Und Staub Zwischen Den Sternen

When you imagine a tribute to Austrian apocalyptic industrial / militaristic folk legends Der Blutharsch, you might not imagine it being black metal by way of Italy and the Netherlands, but that's precisely what transpired way back in 2005, when Italian black metallers Altar of Perversion and Dutch BM horde Mordaehoth each offered up their own sonic homage to DB, each taking up a side of the record with their own twisted take on DB's already twisted blackened sounds. While that slab of vinyl disappeared before we could manage to get a single copy, it's now been released on cd, with the original tracks from the 10", but with the added bonus of SEVEN Der Blutharsch tracks, over thirty minutes of grim grey sonics, the sounds which ostensibly inspired these blackened reworkings. Altar of Perversion are up first, with a sprawling 11 plus minute epic, that blurs the line between lurching doomic creep, and frenzied black blast, the sound raw and lo-fi, the guitars murky and droney, the track a lumbering dirge for the first little bit, melancholic and depressive, the sounds seem to bleed and ooze, sometimes slipping into killer droned out stretches of blurred buzz, before slipping back into that doomy trudge. It's not really until maybe half way through that things get really black and buzzy, but even then, the production is so warped, brittle and weirdly spare, that it retains that doomy energy of the first half, while wedding it to blasting beats and soaring fast picked majestic melodies. Eventually the sound does explode into a more standard blasting blackness, still, the sound retains a sort of seasick lurch that lurks just below the surface. Hard to say if it's a cover, or just a song dedicated to the mighty DB, but either way, it definitely exudes the same sort of black energy. Mordaehoth take up three tracks, starting off with what sounds like some wartime radio recordings, only to launch right into it, weaving pagan flute like melodies into an almost punky sounding crush, clean vocals add to the pagan vibe, lulling us into thinking there won't be much blackness until the song darkens considerable, the vocals transformed into a sinister demonic croak, the music following suit, blasting and buzzing, only to return to that opening lilting shuffling blackened folk. The second track is a bit more dirgey, and simultaneously more majestic, soaring melodies, over crumbling distorted riffage, buried lo-fi drumming, but it's the third track where the Der Blutharsch homage becomes way less subtle, after starting out with a blast of growled buzzing blackness, the song slips into a more folky buzzy sort of cadence, which is soon joined by a distorted voice, sounding like some sort of militaristic sloganeering, over loudspeakers, before the band explodes into some serious churning black buzz, still accompanied by those voices, transforming the black metal into an almost military sounding march, and then the metal is peeled away leaving, some old scratchy military propaganda record spinning, then what sounds like some super dramatic footage from a war film, all ominous horns and more mysterious voices. Pretty goddamn great. easy to imagine this is what DB might sound like if they were black metal. But then come the DB tracks, worth it for the price of admission alone even if you're not into black metal, unclear if these tracks are exclusive, but they are fantastic, brooding and dramatic, haunting and cinematic, deep spoken vocals, all manner of samples, martial snares, woozy ominous strings, warped swirling black ambience, wheezing industrial crunch, blurred blackened melodies, darkly rhythmic apocalyptic folk, Caretaker-like fuzzy, faded atmospheric drift, mysteriously cinematic soundscapes, raga like drones, and of course plenty of military marches, snippets of propaganda films, all woven into DB's gorgeous, barren, blackened soundworld. Gorgeous packaging too, all black on black and extremely subtle. LIMITED TO 999 COPIES.

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Record number two from these Irish heavies, who blend murky blasting black metal with slow build epic post rock, their songs sprawling epics that flit from frantic riffing to soaring churning majesty, guitars slipping easily from super distorted buzz to chiming jangle, and back again, the sounds alternatingly droney and trancelike, rhythmic and meandery. AoP at their finest when they lock into a single part and the whole band hammer away, building tension, a dense repetitive sonic throb, the sound of the instruments blurred into a single epic swell, growing more and more intense, until finally splintering apart and resuming its frenetic buzz and pound. The black metal here is definitely of the soaring, epic and transcendental variety, reminding us of Wolves In The Throne Room and other outfits of a similar sonic stripe, but AoP don't shy away from ditching the heaviness for long stretches, instead weaving lush minimal drifts, the guitars clean and warm, the drums muted and subtly rhythmic, and again those prettier, calmer moments balance the heavier blacker passages, the cool thing being when the melodies from the mellow parts find their ways into the heavy bits, transforming chugging black riffs into something strangely pretty, and way more atmospheric. All of the songs here are intense and lengthy sonic journeys, and to be fully appreciated, require close listening, parts by themselves don't necessarily have the same impact on their own, you may experience a roiling bit of drum heavy churn, only to have a surprising melody overtake the menacing minor key vibe, other parts are all about the repetition, building into a trance inducing mesmer, a quick glance hardly registering, but letting yourself get lost in the sound makes all the difference. We saw these guys live, and for some reason it seemed a little bit boring, but then there are lots of distractions in a rock club, people talking drinking at the bar, all the sort of stuff that detracts from the sort of experience these guys strive to conjure, but strap on some headphones, close your eyes, and it's a whole different story...

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The phrase "post black metal" gets bandied around quite a bit these days. It's seemingly become a catch-all for any BM-leaning band that doesn't wear corpse paint and/or spikes and doesn't shriek about Satan and/or Odin, and when there's so much rampant experimentation going on in a genre it can create a certain desensitization. Nothing's shocking anymore! That's why it's all the more rare nowadays for a band to emerge from the black metal scene that could truly be considered challenging and progressive, but Ireland's Altar of Plagues are most certainly one of those bands. Teethed Glory and Injury is, first and foremost, massive. An enormously modern rebuttal to metal's often backwards-looking tendencies. The album shifts seamlessly from immersive instrumental drone to frantic blurring blast beats with a surgical precision. The decayed buzz of the ambient passages (which make up a pretty big portion of the record) perfectly compliment the more "metal" tracks without ever feeling like filler. Instead they feel just as essential, giving the record a sense of patience and an ebb/flow not often found in this sort of band. The effect is oddly hypnotic and peaceful, even if at the same time the album is often undeniably crushing and unnerving. When it isn't lulling you into a false sense of security with its more spacious moments, it's absolutely pummeling you with an overwhelming aural assault of hyper blasts, chilling frigid vokillz and calculated mesmerizing riffs, like crackling transmissions relayed from an alternate future where the decomposing urban desolation of early Godflesh and Swans have replaced the usual Bathory/Darkthrone blueprint as the primary black metal template. The result is singular and thrilling - a brief and terrifying glimpse at the ruined dystopic landscape black metal will one day become. But first we'll have to wait for all of those other bands to catch up!

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Not sure what it was about Altar Shadows that intrigued us more, the fact that they're from Lithuania, or that their record is called Speckledy Falcons. Probably a little of both, but the two taken together, well, they were virtually irresistible to the aQ weirdo black metal obsessives. And rightfully so. Altar Shadows offer up a blend of majestic Viking tinged black metal, midtempo Burzumic buzz, traditional Lithuanian folk music, black ambience and some field recordings, burbling brooks, birdsong and other sounds of nature. A strange combination, but the band are pretty deft at assembling them into something cohesive and compelling, black and heavy, melodic and mysterious. Many of the songs start off with field recordings, invoking the spirit of the forest, of the wilderness, which is carried through to the music, even with the riffs are buzzing blackly, they are underpinned by strummed acoustic guitars, mournful melodies, woozy waltz like tempos, often breaking down into a sort of lilting folk interlude, peppered with guitar leads, before swooping back into full buzz. One track eschews the buzz completely, instead offering up dark brooding acoustic folk, clean crooned vocals, glistening acoustic guitars, melancholy melodies, while another blends the two, turning a folk song into a strange lurching loping blackened jam, with strange staccato drumming, and super emotive melodies, soaring leads, and growled guttural vocals. Their version of a traditional Lithuanian folk song follows a similar pattern, the guitars spread out in long streaks of downtuned buzz, the vocals a demonlike roar, but woven into a strange folky framework, big drums pounding out a rhythm over harmonized melodies, and some simple strumming, strange but quite cool. But don't let all the folk throw you off, Altar Shadows are indeed a black metal band, who offer up some gorgeously grim black buzz, blast beats, furious riffing, it's just that their black buzz is infused with the spirit of the past, and informed by the folk music of their ancestors, which more than anything, makes their blackness all the more unique, and their sound something special. Plus, SPECKLEDY FALCONS!!!

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For months now, we've been trying to list a cd from a local one man black metal band called Wikkid. And the way we know it's a one man black metal band is it says so right on the front of the cd, along with the location "Bay Area California". It's a damaged chunk of extremely weird outsider blackness, that we really want to share with you all, but the man behind the band is extremely elusive. When he initially showed up here, in a 49ers jersey, a big black straw hat, and smoking a cigar in a cigarette holder, we weren't expecting the cds he wanted to consign to be anything like Wikkid. And before you knew it, they were gone. So we pestered him for more, instead he brought in some Wikkid T-shirts that he had printed at home with spray paint. So we kept pestering him, but this time, instead of Wikkid cds, or more spray painted shirts, he brought in THIS, the first release from his "black metal influenced organ/keyboard instrumental" project. We were intrigued, not knowing at all what to expect, and while there is definitely some sort of sonic thread tying the two together, Alturaz is a whole different beast, in fact without the above backstory, this could definitely pass as some modern minimalism or spaced out psychedelic kosmische. The first track is just church organ, the chords unfurling ominously, over whirring organ drones, haunting and liturgical, sounding a bit like a black metal intro stretched out into a song proper, we're reminded of Jacula too, sinister and ritualistic, haunting and darkly cinematic, super simple for sure, but really, it's more about mood and vibe, and the sound has plenty of both to spare. The second track is even more minimal, a super spare sprawl of processed organ blurts, rumbling low end thrum, fragmented melodic swirls, lots and lots of space, creepy and soundtracky and very abstract. It's on track three, "Split Demonic Versonalities" that things get cosmic, the organs now wreathed in space-y FX, the sound swirling and shimmering, sounding like a planetarium show composed by John Carpenter, pulsing and sinister, swirling and ominously cinematic. And then finally, another super hushed, ultra minimal, barely there coda, all low end pulsations and super subtle colorations, like black billowing ripples in a sonic pond, tranquil and hypnotic, but like the rest of the record, infused with a strange ineffable dread. Recommended for fans of psychedelic space synth, and abstract kosmische, as well as creepy soundtrack music, and it just might hold us over until we can finally get us, and you some WIKKID!

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It seems many moons ago now that a mysterious man sporting a black cowboy hat with a cigar (in a cigar holder!) perched upon his lips first strode into the aQ shopfront to thrust upon us some of the weirdest, most damaged outsider black metal we have ever heard, under his one-man solo project Wikkid, and since then we've had further unexpected visits where we've been blessed with weird home made spray painted t-shirts along with cut and paste printed cassettes and cds by Alturaz, this same mystery man's "black metal influenced instrumental organ" outfit. And now here we have a split between those two projects - Wikkid and Alturaz (a split between two one man projects that both feature the same one man! How amazing of a concept is that??), and it's just as fucked up as we'd hoped. Not only in the music disarmingly bizarre, but even the little details are bewildering. The album cover simply features the same cover art from both previous Wikkid and Alturaz releases, but squashed together so they'll both fit on one cd sleeve (but make no mistake, this is all new music!). The track names at first seem to be delineated by Roman numerals, except when you get past "III" they just become "IIII", "IIIII", etc.! The beauty of these bizarre Easter eggs is it's truly impossible to determine whether this is totally calculated, or just genuine weirdness on the creator's part (but personally, we're betting on the latter.) As for the music, Alturaz starts off this strange journey with "In the Name of Self", a full 37 seconds of genuinely creepy horror movie ambient reverb accompanied by some truly bizarre pitch-shifted echo chamber death growls. The second track "Forbidden" (and second Alturaz track) is literally just three minutes of desolate Arctic tundra winds. It's not until track three where Wikkid first emerges and the weirdness truly begins. "Worship of Fire" kicks off with some guitar work (the word "riff" doesn't really apply here) that sounds like someone chewing on metal, before the song dizzily tumbles into some crazy d-beat drumming, constantly drifting in and out of time. The vocals exist on some other audial plane, like a nervous muttering goblin having a panic attack. The affect is a bit like Hellhammer crossed with The Shaggs (Shagghammer??), or as one aQer puts it: Wikkid make Striborg sound like Steely Dan. With the next Wikkid track, the sound quality totally changes (a real trademark of this split - things like levels have no meaning here!), getting way louder with much more low end. "The Unreleased One" is an instrumental mid paced plod, all chugging guitars and intermittent double bass that seems to start and stop with little regard for the song's timing. And then there's this sudden abrupt high pitched beep, way way louder than anything else in the mix, like something's being censored, and suddenly "Putting The Black Birds Blood In Your Veins" (what a title!) bursts forth with some truly demented blast beats and tinfoil tremolo guitar, before Alturaz returns to close out the proceeding with more lonely howling winds and creepy instrumental clean guitar. Needless to say, if you're interested in the shadowy fringe areas of black metal, you need to check this out, but really, we'd recommend this to anyone truly fascinated by those strange outsider records that seem to exist free of any genre constraints, and any petty earthly concerns like "listenable" or "musicality." Utterly weird, utterly fascinating, and totally amateurish but all the better for it. How could we not love it??

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It's been two long years we've been waiting for this, another mysterious rhythmic communique from French blackened post krautrock alchemists Aluk Todolo. But it's not like they've been idle. Since 2007's Descension, two thirds of Aluk Todolo have recorded a record and toured the world as Gunslingers, and all of Aluk Todolo do double duty in French black metallers Diamatregon, who recently released a new full length on tUMULt called Crossroad. But as much as we love those other two bands, and we do, there will always be something magical about the strange sonic world Aluk Todolo are able to conjure up. Especially considering they're a three piece, a power trio, drums, guitar, bass. Nothing else, no synths, no strings, just the basic rock band instruments. It's testament to the power these three wield, that they can do so much with so little. Or more accurately, so little with so little. As the music of Aluk Todolo, is disarmingly simple, subtle and minimal, but in its minimalism, lies its power. The power of rhythm, of texture, of mood, these five long pieces are so evocative, so expressive and strangely emotional. Even at its most spare and skeletal, the sound is palpable, almost a physical presence, which is surprising again considering just how stripped down Finsternis actually is. Descension, Aluk Todolo's debut, was heavy and space-y and rhythmic, we described it as a buzz-less black metal, some of the songs were thick and caustic, others were loping and motorik, but on Finsternis, it's as if the band decided to strip away all the extraneous sounds, leaving just the core, the root, the heart of the music, and that heart beats out a simple, hypnotic rhythm. The record is split into 4 parts, with a brief interlude, but those four parts are split into two distinct movements. The first, which comprises the first two parts, is much of what we described above, simple skeletal rhythms, surrounded by minimal guitar whir, bursts of grinding distortion, fragmented jangle, keening feedback, but it's all about the rhythm. After a brief burst of mathy chaos, the track reverts to its initial rhythm, this time the bass more prominent, fuzzy, distorted, woozy and mesmerizing, the band locked in tight, the bass and drums solid and unwavering, while the guitar sings in the background, moaning and keening and howling, giving the track an ominous otherworldly vibe, a trudge across some hostile alien landscape, a weary, washed out deathmarch. Then the interlude, a haunting abstract percussive sprawl, simple percussive thuds set amidst a sea of warped distorted low end, bits of glitch and hiss, and grinding shards of industrial clatter, which gives way to the second, noisier movement, the drums transformed into a simple machinelike pound, snare and cymbal crashing over and over and over, the guitars whipped into a frenzy of blurred buzz and warped swirling blackened chaos, what at first sounds noisy and harsh, soon reveals itself as strangely textural, and as hypnotic as the more stripped down first movement, the guitars slip from monochromatic whir, to insectoid black metal riffing, constantly swirling around the motorik pound and pummel, the final track finds the guitars slipping into ever higher registers, blissing out, laced with feedback, smoothing out into warm smears and blurs, before a brief deconstruction, and a surprisingly tranquil last few minutes, the drums back to a woozy lope, the guitar offering up warm swells and shimmering thrum, the bass throbbing beneath, eventually stumbling to a halt in a cloud of creaking metals and static-like tape hiss. Woah. Just like Descension, Finsternis is an intense and emotional journey through sound, a haunting and hard to describe exploration of rhythm, mood and texture, a slow shifting otherworld defined by This Heat, Geronimo, Laddio Bolocko, Can, Faust, accessible only via the three shadowy figures that make up Aluk Todolo, whose magic and mystery has been rendered in these glorious black rhythms. Housed in a multi panel jacket with super striking original artwork by Stephen Kasner, on the always impressive Utech label (whose other two new releases, from Gog and Olivier Dumont, we'll review on the next list, although we do have both in stock if you want 'em, and we're fairly sure you do!).

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Third album from French post black metal instrumental kraut-psych occult rock trio Aluk Todolo, and third time Record Of The Week! We've just resigned ourselves to the fact, that every record from these guys is gonna blow our minds, and by extension, we imagine, yours as well. In the musical math that makes up many of the bands we love, the convoluted equation that resulted in Aluk Todolo is tough to beat. Featuring members of black metal horde Diamatregon (whose last two records were released on Andee's tUMULt label) and psych rock outfit Gunslingers, AT takes some elements from both of those groups, but also This Heat, Faust, Can, the Necks, Circle, Hawkwind, and Taj Mahal Travellers... They are most definitely sonic alchemists, as we've described them in every review so far, distilling all of these disparate sounds and influences into something all their own, and something that obviously pushes all our buttons. This latest double disc takes everything we dug about them before, and somehow makes those things more, and better, given the space to stretch out, the songs become MORE epic, MORE intense, MORE tranced out, MORE heavy. There's 8 songs over 2 discs/lps and 2+ hours. Imagine a super charged Necks or Circle fused to the blaring psychedelic heaviosity of Psychic Paramount, and the furious grim buzz of some obscure black metal horde, the sounds repetitive and cyclical, hypnotic and mesmerizing, the opener here displaying their black metal roots, and just how those roots can be sculpted into something trance-y and droned out, while remaining pretty goddamn grim and blackened. Launching immediately into a fierce frenzied blast, all tremelo picking and blast beats, a churning, roiling single riff, overlaid with soaring minor key melodies, slipping easily from classic black metal blast to dense static mesmer and back again, until almost 4 minutes in when everything is swallowed up in a blast of whit noise, before the frenetic riffing tapers off, leaving just the bass and drums to churn frantically, beneath thick swirls of effects, only to gradually build back up, and during the last three minutes, unleash the sort of dense, brutal, buzzing black metal, most proper BM bands can barely pull off. If that opening track is sort of the shot across the bow, the second track is when things get serious, slowing things down to a super distorted post-rock lope, the drums driving and the guitars thick and distorted, keening melodies, the Slint vibe looms large, before the band dial it down, and lock into a totally mesmerizing, dizzyingly dense roiling 'groove', that sounds like amped up Circle, grinding away hypnotically, peppered with occasional bursts of metallic crunch, and near black metal blowouts, always slipping right back into that mesmeric churn, the guitars impossibly distorted and fuzzed out, the bass super melodic, the sort of track you never want to end, slipping easily from progged out psychedelic buzz drenched tangle to warped noise rock minimalism and back again. The rest of disc one finds AT dialing back the buzz and crunch, and weaving lush landscapes of woozy melody, and darkly driving hypnorock, the songs wreathed in keening feedback, moaning melodies, lush layered guitars, swaths of melodic jangle, of shimmering chiming harmonics, the sound drifting from minimal chugging dirge to loping psych rock meander, and from wild krautpsych blowout to swoonsome Slintish slither. Disc two offers up 4 more sonic invocations, heavy on the noise rock, but dipping into super minimal minor key mesmer, low slung almost gothic sounding dirgery, the seriously Circle-like seventh track, that takes the sound of our favorite Finns, and douses it in clouds of shimmering noise, and freaked out freeform psychedelic shimmer, and finally, the record finishes off with an epic doom jam, the band pounding away malevolently, the bass distorted and blown out, shards of feedback everywhere, noisy and psychedelic and a bit chaotic, but all anchored to the unwavering rhythm section, the song gradually losing momentum, slowing way down, getting doomier and doomier and dirgier and dirgier, transformed into a slo-mo tarpit crawl, the riffing bleeding into long droned out tones, the sort of doom-noise creep that folks into Bunkur and Monarch and the like will flip over, but here it's more atmospheric, a heady doomic coda, the sound seeming to decay naturally, shedding layers along the way, until finally the drums go too, the record continuing to fade away, to drift heavenward, eventually dissolving into a cloud of feedback. Like past Aluk Todolo releases, the sounds and songs here are so intense and hypnotic, heavy and heady, it's the rare sort of record that somehow appeals to metalheads and post rockers as much as experimentalists and avant gardists, a sound transcendent and tranced out, dense and sinister and somehow still strangely beautiful, and obviously well worth Record Of The Week honors for sure. And then some.

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Finally, the long awaited return of these mysterious French audio alchemists, whose sound is a strange amalgamation of black metal buzz, krautrock mesmer, and psychedelic ambience. And the aforementioned mystery lies not with the group itself, whose lineup features members of black metal outfit Diamatregon and psychedelic rockers Gunslingers, both big time aQ faves, but rather in their sound, and how a sound so minimal and spare, how seemingly reductive on the surface, manages to transcend, to exist as something wholly other, a band who at times can sound like other bands that came before, but only fleetingly, those sounds subsumed and reimagined, and spit back out in a shape that is distinctly Aluk Todolo. This ritual is not a new recording, but in fact archival material recorded at the same time as their Descension record, and is a This single track, spread out over both sides of a 10", and begins with a loping dirgey rhythm, pounding through clouds of swirling cacophony, shards of jagged guitarnoise and layers of chordal shimmer, an electrified field that seems to crackle around the groups core pulse/groove, the surrounding noise, not so much just noisy as haunting and ominous and textural. A brief bit of super creepy, deep garbled vocals intone what must be some sort of warning, as the sound continues to drift, mesmerizing and hypnotic, dense but at the same time almost ethereal, seasawing between noisy and chaotic, washed out and woozy, until eventually the noise recedes, leaving just long streaks of hiss and glitch and static, all wreathed in a blurred melodic haze. Finally an even slower, more spare rhythm begins, this one plodding along through a black haze, pelted by squalls of super distorted buzz, quick blasts of blown out crunch, those blasts themselves strangely melodic, as if they were spaced out notes to some other, mysterious melody, the sound eventually building to a much more rocking final blast, organ like whirs underpinning muddy riffage and still more explosive bits of grinding guitar crunch. The flipside is much more relentless and abrasive, the dynamics ditched in lieu of something more textural, a wall of buzz and crumbling crunch, the drums an anchor, buried in the murk and mire, the noise surprisingly nuanced, textural one minute, caustic the next, blurred and melodic, but also hissy and harsh, creating all sorts of constantly shifting and evolving textures and overtones. A washed out spate of abrasive guitardrone fashioned into something almost riff-like, wrapped around that constant motorik beat, that krauty rhythm that definitely reminds us of German Oak, albeit way noisier and more blackened, the track pounds and drones and buzzes away before finally finishing off with a surprisingly woozy, buzzy, drifty dramatic outro. Wow. As always, super striking packaging, pressed on heavy vinyl, and yeah, most likely very very limited.

The latest from aQ beloved occult rockers Aluk Todolo begins sounding like a black metal This Heat, and it only gets better from there. These metallic minimalists from France are masters at maximizing their instrumental guitar/bass/drums assault, taking what most bands uses to make some regular old rock and roll, and instead weave lush, elaborate rhythmscapes, unleash throbbing sprawls of textured and nuanced noise, create math-metal in the guise of dark psych, and conjure psychedelic krautrock in the form of barely harnessed black buzz. Like on previous releases, the music here is less about songs and more about movements, and movement - fiendishly deft arrangements of sound, like miniature black symphonies. It's hard to articulate just what Aluk Todolo do, cuz honestly it's kind of difficult to even understand it. From a purely sonic standpoint, all analysis and deep digging set to the side, the music is pure, organic, and emotional. It's dark, but not theatrically, or even introspectively, so. It's a constantly shapeshifting musical chimera, seemingly always more than what it seems, moody and mesmeric, melodic and measured, unhinged and chaotic, heavy and hellish, delicate and abstract, jazzy and atmospheric. The drums are just as often used to create textures as they are rhythms, while moments surface throughout that sound like some lost Goblin soundtrack, sometimes morphing into a brief moment of almost Van Halen worthy riffery, other times blurring into tension filled stretches of blackened mesmer. Some tracks sound like Australian jazz minimalists the Necks covering Motorhead, some sound like Godspeed You Black Emperor tripping on acid and amphetamines, the moody broodiness of that group whipped up into a cloud of pulsing, chaotic black energy. This record in particular is their least metal so far, and maybe the jazziest, the drums are in constant motion, with frenzied skitter giving way to abstract shuffles, the bass too, no simple basslines, dense tangle and knots of sound, the rhythm section somehow impossibly, inhumanly tight, yet totally loose at the same time, balancing on a razor thin line between composition and collapse, and it's the constant push and pull that makes every moment fraught with energy and emotion, passion and pathos. And that's not to say there is no metal, the band effortlessly rip into jagged shards of downtuned crush, and furious frenzied riffing without batting an eye, but contextually, those moments seem to be more about evoking a certain feeling, or reaching a certain musical destination, but with the idea that this whole record, and arguably this whole band, is entirely and utterly about the journey. Every song here could be stretched out forever, and as a listener, we would not hesitate to let ourselves get sucked in, and LISTEN forever. And ever. The energy of Aluk Todolo is transcendental, a concept that if removed from sound would seemingly exist beyond human comprehension, but here, delivered as pure, instrumental, sonic energy, it takes on a form we understand, and fundamentally enjoy, a sound that touches on many other sounds near and dear to our hearts, and souls, but it's the arrangement, the composition, the delivery, the power, the depth, the ineffable otherworldliness that transforms this divine musical message from the great beyond, into something that speaks directly to us, in a language we all understand.

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Holy fuck, this record is amazing! You'd never guess it, but Aluk Todolo is the occult trance rock side project of French black metallers Diamatregon. OK, maybe it doesn't seem that off the wall, Diamatregon definitely dabbled in strange rhythms and distinctly non-black metal sound forms. But this is definitely something else altogether. Ominous krautrock rhythms over Einsterzende style industrial clatter, some lost seventies psych rock holy grail channeled through modern post rock. Dreamy and dark and mesmerizing. Hypnotic guitar lines and simple shuffling rhythms that build into clattery propulsive jams, all clanging angular riffs and dense tangled drumming. VERY This Heat like, and reminiscent of the late great Laddio Bolocko. Some sort of dangerous and mysterious postrock / krautrock hybrid, lo-fi but thick and dense and amazingly heavy. Gorgeous packaging, white and silver on black, a fold out die cut sleeve with a Japanese style obi, and a cover image that manages to be totally familiar ('got yer nose') but somehow creepy as hell.

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

SORRY.

Reissue of the debut cd from this atmospheric local group, that uses classical chamber music instrumentation to create dark, beautiful sounds akin to a black metal Rachel's. Black metal? Well, this was originally released this by Elfenblut, an imprint of now defunct British label Misanthropy, famous as the home of Burzum! And, for further "heavy" credentials, we should mention that band leader Kris Force has played with both Neurosis and the Swans. This was previously only an import, and now boasts three bonus tracks exclusive to this new version!

We had sort of given up on ever getting this in stock, which was killing us. One of our favorite records of last year (one of Andee's top 10), a record some of us listened to EVERY DAY, over and over. Heavy and buzzy, but so beautiful and relentlessly catchy. Sure we've had black metal records in the past that were 'pretty'. Catchy too. But those records took their hooks and their soaring melodies and wrapped them all up in spiky blackness, subtly catching our ear beneath all the buzz, the prettiness more a byproduct than a reason for being. But Amesoeurs are completely different. It's almost like some shoegazey, indie druggy drone rock band decided their blissed out indie jangle needed more, well, BLACKNESS, and thus enlisted a corpsepainted frontman, with a demonic banshee shriek, to wail and gnash his teeth over the band's nearly perfect buzzing pop. From the first notes of the opener "Bonheur Ampute" you're hooked. If you didn't know what was playing, you'd probably be thinking it was some lost Swervedriver track, or some modern band channeling My Bloody Valentine and Ride. The music is that gorgeous. The guitars are thick and heavy, a little buzzy, but they glisten and sparkle, and well, jangle. The opening riff is so impossibly catchy, sort of minor key, but only barely, this is simply perfect pop music wrapped in a thin layer of buzzing blackness. There's no denying it. A loping riff, underpinned by strummed acoustic guitar, while over the top guitars keen and soar, melodies intertwine, harmonies drift and shimmer, even the black metal shriek starts to transform into something less evil becoming more just another element of the blissy poppy buzz. Near the end of the first track, all the other instruments drop out leaving just the acoustic guitar, and when the band kicks back in, they go for it, transforming the track into some otherworldy buzzpop, that original riff ringing out, but over the top some gorgeously melodic underwater, blooping Pinback like bass lines and soaring angular guitar melodies. The second track begins with a haunting spidery Slinty guitar line, minor key and skeletal, hovering in a wide open expanse of dark shimmer, when the band lurches into action, the main riff sounds like some classic Maiden hook, transformed into a loping pop song, the band eventually ramp it up, the drums becoming a double kicking blast, the vocals shrieking, but the main melody remains and the song becomes a haunting emotional minor key buzz drenched slab of shoegazer black metal, complete with acoustic breakdowns and a mysterious percussive coda. The final track opens up with another gorgeous tangled bit of clean guitar, that turns into straight up clean ringing indie jangle, but surprises us with ethereal female vocals, which transform it into some nineties sounding dark pop like Velocity Girl or something. Eventually, a buzzing guitar joins the fray, and by the end, it's another swirling blackened slab of blissed out buzz. So fucking awesome. Black metal record of the year! Of forever! And that's assuming that this even counts as black metal... Either way, this is absolutely essential. Black metalheads don't be put off by the prettiness, we love us some Antaeus and Katharsis and Darkthrone and all that, but this is just so goddamn good. And all you indie rock mix tape makers, try blowing somebody's mind by slipping one of these tracks into your next mix, right there between Spoon and Pavement. The perfect black metal gateway drug... (And be sure to check out -- if you can find 'em -- Amesoeurs mainman Neige's other bands, Alcest, who take the blissed out pop thing even further, and Peste Noire, a more black, but equally strange and pretty outfit. We'll try to track them down for the store, but who knows...)

MPEG stream: Bonheur Ampute
MPEG stream: Ruines Humaines

Finally! After three, years, France's Amesoeurs release their debut full length. And it's pretty shocking when you think about all the fuss these guys (and gal) have stirred up, with only FOUR songs to their name. FOUR songs in THREE YEARS. And yet, people were obsessed with those four songs, ourselves included, but hell, those four songs were fantastic, magical, barely black metal to the point where we had trouble understanding why metalheads liked it at all, but that's the thing, it managed to transcend, the songwriting is amazing, the arrangements, the production, the riffs, and mood, the ambience, Amesoeurs really are something special. And it's not like they were doing nothing for the last three years, mainman Neige, managed to release records by his other bands, Peste Noire, Alcest, Forgotten Woods, Lantlos, in fact 3 of the four members of Amesoeurs also play in Peste Noire, but don't be expecting any of that gnarled raw black weirdness, no, Amesoeurs as most folks already know is all about melody, songcraft, it's more post rocky and shoegazey than buzzy and black, at least most of the time, and never more than on this new one. Vocalist and bassist Audrey Sylvain takes center stage here, singing most of the songs, helping Amesoeurs create a gorgeous lush sound that is so far removed from black metal, even blasts of buzz or furious riffing can't take away from its pure poppiness. Some of these songs sound like a band who should be on Slumberland not on Profound Lore. Anyway, Amesoeurs starts off with a blast, some Joy Division-y bass, some mathy angular post rocky guitar, simple stripped down drumming, very moody and tense, almost new wave sounding, distant strings swell, until the guitars explode and the whole track is infused with buzz, creating an impossible hybrid, gorgeously achingly melodic and epic, but so buzz drenched and blackened, if the whole record had played out like this nonstop, people would have been flipping their lids (even more than they already are), but then that would take away from what makes Amesoeurs baffling and brilliant. The second track, "Les Ruches Malades", shows no signs of blackness at all, the guitar has some bite, some crunch, but the main riff is more jangle than buzz, the bass throbs, the drums are super tight, and Audrey's vocals are front and center, this is one of those tracks that make it hard to believe metalheads get into this band at all. Then it's back to more epic emotional blackness, buzzing, thrashing, soaring, but still jam packed with melody and moodiness, suddenly shifting to some hard rocking shoegazey jangle pop, peppered with bursts of Katatonia-like groove, before slipping into more loping rainy day bliss pop. Musically, the follow up "Recueillement" is more of the same, but here Neige adds his own shrieked black metal vox, which sound really odd draped over the minor key jangle beneath, but it also sounds kind of cool, a bit jarring for sure, but in a good way. Blackened and emotional and intense. And so it goes, most of the record loping and jangling and shoegazing, occasionally offering up a bit of black buzz, and at least one track, "Trouble (Eveils Infames)" is pure blackness, all thrashing buzzing frenzied fury, no pop to be found, but that's the only real moment of grimninty to be found, the record is much more about melody and mood, the heaviest it gets is when Neige shrieks over some woozy melancholy jangle, and then there's the title track, that is SO new wave, straight up Cure worship, right down to the bass line and the chiming guitar parts, although Amesoeurs give it a cool twist at the end adding an awesomely jagged chugging riffy outro. The record closes with another Katatonia style chunk of melancholy doom pop, although again, Neige roughs it up a bit with his blackened vokills, and after a brief stretch of silence, the record closes with a secret track of distorted drum machined and blurred buried melody. Of course WE love it. C'mon! It's like if Black Tambourine were actually Black METAL Tambourine, plenty of Katatonia, Lifelover, all that off kilter blackened pop too, but it's obvious Neige and company are black metal masters (Alcest, Peste Noire, Forgotten Woods, Mortifera, right?) so even the poppiest moments are infused with a bit of blackness, no matter how subtle, and when the band do kick out the jams, like on the record opener, it's heavy and emotional in a way few other bands, black metal or otherwise, are capable of. It might take a few listens, for some folks here it still hasn't clicked, then again it might take just one, we were smitten halfway through the first song, but then that first ep is still probably one of our most listened to records of the last several years, and if you're really in need of some blasting blackness, obviously this might not be the place to look, thankfully you don't have to look far, Neige has at least one or two other bands that'll have you covered, but if you're looking for something, gorgeous and twisted and black and dreamy and poppy and heavy and mysterious, well then, this friends, is it.

MPEG stream: Gas In Veins
MPEG stream: Les Ruches Malades
MPEG stream: Recueillement
MPEG stream: Amesoeurs

Recently, we've been marveling at the fact, that otherwise troo, grim, cvlt metalheads, seem to be totally smitten with this new wave of blissed out dreamy, barely metal black metal. Most notably, Alcest, who are more My Bloody Valentine than Burzum, and Alcest mainman Neige's other not very metal project Amesoeurs. Sure that stuff is epic and sweeping and gorgeously gauzy, but it's barely metal, let alone BLACK metal. But here we are, anything from either of those outfits is like black gold to the black metalheads world wide. Well, if the most recent Alcest had you wondering about the above, then this single will definitely be the true test. We'd been waiting ages for a new Amesoeurs record, the last ep, was an all time favorite around here, still heavy, but also mathy, and post rocky, and pretty damn shoegazey all at once. Well this most recent single, one brand new song, jettisons all traces of metal entirely. The result is pretty great, but it's hard for us to imagine metalheads digging this much. More than metal, it sounds like nineties indie rock, college rock, the female vocals are way up in front, over a jangly guitar, and super sunshiney major key melodies, hard not to think of stuff like Jale, Helium and Scrawl, which is not a bad thing at all, just a not very metal thing. But it's a killer song, and back in the day, these guys would have been huge on Simple Machines or K or one of those labels. Can't wait to hear what they do with the next full length. The flipside features a band called Valfunde, which is essentially the exact same band, except with the addition of Peste Noire mainman Famine, and he brings a little bit of metal and a whole lot of what the fuck to the proceedings. The first Valfunde track begins much like the Amesoeurs track, strummed clean guitar, a bit of jangle, minor key, but over that, another guitar, super distorted and woozy, spills out a convoluted and stumbling sea sick melody, the sound is maniacal and druggy, almost like someone is constantly and randomly twisting the tuning pegs while the guitar is being played blindfolded. The result is a song that sounds a bit like a funhouse mirror sea shanty, dizzying and completely and awesomely fucked up. The second track is the only sort-of-metal thing going on here, with a midtempo Burzumy buzz, creepy haunted house organ, while the vocals are delivered in a raspy demonic shriek, eventually joined by soaring epic guitar leads, not as damaged as the first track, but still pretty freaky, in that distinctly Peste Noire way. Good stuff for sure, but metalheads be warned, everyone else, as long as you're up for some weird shit, this might just hit the spot...

The first thing that struck us about this debut release from Amocoma, a mysterious black metal horde from right here in San Francisco, was the cover art, a child-like pen and ink drawing of a pile of heads, but instead of being bloody or gory or horrific, they're sort of more cartoonish, like a whole slew of stick figures were decapitated, their heads tossed in a huge pile, beneath the scrawled band logo, wreathed in clouds of smeared ink. We were definitely intrigued. And�if anything, once inside, we were even moreso... Amocoma traffic in an ultra lo-fi, muddy murky blackness. It's definitely black metal, there is plenty of buzz and blast and howled vocals, but at the same time it's sort of stumbling and noise rocky, it's probably a little of both, but it's all rendered nearly indistinct by the incredibly FX drenched lo-fi production.� Beginning with dreamy swirls of soft focus harmonics and distant rumbles, it doesn't take long for the band to lurch into action, a simple hypnotic riff, looped over and�over, almost sounding more like a bass than a guitar, and not so heavy as it is trancelike. The drums are mechanical and repetitive, the vocals are howled and swathed in reverb, spread out over the proceedings like a black cloud, so much so that at times they just sound like another layer of buzz. And the more you listen, the more pretty it sounds, sure it's raw and harsh, but the melody is so hypnotic, and the swirling clouds of distortion and reverb give everything a sort of soft focus shimmer.� We're definitely reminded of WOLD, in the sense that these little fragmented pop songs, are rendered black and buzzy by the application of super saturated distortion, tape hiss and amp buzz, reverb and delay, so even at its heaviest, it's washed out and abstract, and downright dreamy. The drone element is through the roof, and it's impossible not to hear Tim Hecker or Machinefabriek or any one of those masters of smeary dreamlike sound. At some points things get super psychedelic, like halfway through "Small Dark Sea That Was A Body" where the guitar drops out, leaving just the drums, to sort of pulse and putter in a wide open expanse of soft swirl, while drifting above are all manner of glistening guitar harmonics, spacey FX sparkles, and warm warbly melodic hum.� Damaged and dreamy, freaked out and fucked, one of our new favorite slabs of black beauty for sure...�

MPEG stream: Cowards Live Forever
MPEG stream: Small Dark Sea That Was A Body
MPEG stream: These Are Your Chocies / ...Darkness

Another two songs from one man slow motion doom merchant Amort. We keep hoping for a full length, maybe even an lp or a cd, but there's something about this slow seep of Amort's miserablist music that just seems appropriate, the sound of some massive black beast painfully excreting each and every sound, captured on tape, which does in fact enhance the sound, this one especially, as some of the notes were so blown out, the tape so saturated, that it actually sort of made us dizzy listening to it on headphones. While past missives have focused on ambience, sounding more cinematic, riffs and stretched into long sprawling dirges, the sound here is much more primitive funereal doom, at least on the A side. The guitar massive and churning, the vocals as deep and demonic as possible, any more and it would just turn into a puddle of black sludge. The cinematic element is restrained to haunting little interludes, a creepy speech over a gurgling sea of hiss and electronic burble, the massive riff always poised just out of earshot, ready to crash down and swallow everything whole. The flipside begins with gently picked downtuned guitar, the low end cranked, a thick pulsing rumble, another guitar unfurling a plodding chug, another loosing little trills of high end shimmer into the blackness, the vocals again, a gurgling black cloud. But with a little flutter of clean guitar surfacing here and there, drifting through the throbbing black expanse. Transparent green cassettes in black and white covers, and with a black and white hand numbered insert. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!

This cassette just showed up in the mail one day, with a short note asking us if we wanted to sell it in the store. Hard to tell what it would sound like: band called Amort, two songs, cover image an oil painting of wild horses, very striking, but still no clear sonic picture. The tape came wrapped in a flyer, with the words "Slow end sonic destruction" printed in thick black letters across the top. Our first clue... So we threw it on, and were first greeted with the sound of lilting piano, notes hanging suspended in wide open expanses of near silence, but soon that piano was joined by a slow lava like flow of glacial riffing, a downtuned low end thob, a la SUNNO))), Earth, Corrupted, but draped over a delicate slowcore background, then in came some incredibly low, gurgling vocals, and suddenly all was revealed to us, gloriously hauntingly beautiful slowcore sludge. The massive riffing and monstrous vocals, drift in and out, often leaving just a lilting minor key guitar, to gently pick out the melody, hushed and minimal, like some sort of super abstract post rock, before the guitars pour back in and the vocals croak forth, but even at its heaviest and sludgiest, it's strangely pretty, the melody a minor key lament, the sound more murky and muddy than pummeling and heavy, like Corrupted covering Low maybe... The tempo gets upped a notch or two, sounding like the band might lurch into full on rocking, but instead, the riff just loops over and over, becoming more of a rhythmic drone than an any sort of actual rock riff, eventually fading to black. Side two creeps along similar ground, beginning with abstract minor key guitar figures, allowed to unfurl and drift through an empty space, joined by simple piano, before launching into a slow motion ambient doom, all burnt out guitar and reverb drenched vocals. Very reminiscent of the Tomb Of... cassette, a strange melding of abstract ambient piano and dirgey doom drenched sludge. The interesting thing about Amort is there are no drums, this is all just huge walls of guitar, harsh demonic vocals, and tinkling piano, on the second track, the guitar becomes weirdly harmonized, creating super tense harmonic melodies, like some displaced Iron Maiden lick, slowed down to 2 or 3 rpm. This track two sort of wanders back and forth between forlorn slow motion cabaret, just piano and undistorted guitar, and pummeling drone doom crush. But in the hands of Amort, they sound so perfect together. The ultimate post rock downer doom... LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!