[ aquarius records — Metal Black Metal ]

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Showing results 1801 through 1850 of 2429.

Saros, featuring the (amazing, need we say?) drummer from the legendary Weakling, is one of San Francisco's up and coming heavy metal outfits, playing a blend of thrash, black and speed metal that takes no prisoners live (and now, on record). Saros are all about old school rippage mixed with weird black metal epic experimentation... On their debut full-length Five Pointed Tongue you get a fierce lesson in modern metal melding, the band both galloping and trudging (depending) through five fairly long tracks (43 minutes total) that mix up blackened rasps, clean vocal melodies, some acoustic guitar, prog-rock song structures, widdly solos, and plenty of traditional Bay Area 'banging. No matter the twists and turns, in one of Saros' songs you're never far from a blast of icy riffage. And quite a beating when it comes to the drums! Requisite obscure metal nerd reference: I wonder if these guys are at all familiar with French Canadian tech metallers Obliveon? I think they'd like them.

MPEG stream: F Sub Zero
MPEG stream: Collapse Of The Tower

For whatever reason, we never really paid too much attention to Satan's Host, in the fine tradition of book cover judging, we sort of assumed they would be just another generic boring Satanic black metal band, and apparently they were at some point, and it makes sense, the band name, the cheesy (but cool) cover art, they're on Moribund, but this is maybe their 8th record or something, so we checked it out, and wow, not boring black metal, instead some strange sort of Satanic blackened power metal, led by the powerful soaring clean vocals of their original vocalist Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin, he also of the mighty Jag Panzer, and it's a pretty potent combination for sure, total epic TRUE metal vocals, nestled in some crushing, melodic, heavy as hell hybrid of classic metal and buzzing blackness, pretty tough to resist, especially if you love black metal, but tire of the raspy shrieks, or love metal, but find true metal and power metal a little to wimpy, well, then, this is for you. And to top it off, they do an amazing/ridiculous/dumb/brilliant cover of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood", appropriately metallized (and damn it sounds good all buzzy and blasty), but even better, they rewrote the lyrics, so now it's about burning churches, "Norwegian Wood", get it?! Anyway, some seriously melodic blackened satanic power metal heaviness that the metalheads around here have been digging like crazy, and thus comes way recommended it you're of a similar stripe...

MPEG stream: By The Hands Of The Devil
MPEG stream: Shades Of The Unlight
MPEG stream: Norwegian Wood

Remember that guy who used to play bass for UK psychedelic doomlords Electric Wizard? You know the one, the fellow with tattoos all over his face, and that Satanic thousand yard stare? Well he actually left EW to try his hand at something more evil, and more Satanic, which is precisely what he's come up with in Satan's Wrath, his new duo, in which he handles everything but guitar, the band's sound a combination of old school thrash, Venom-ous black metal, and classic NWOBHM-isms, which Galloping Blasphemy has in spades. Opener, the oddly named "Leonard Rising - Night Of The Whip" is indeed a killer slab of classic galloping old school metal, right down to the shredding, dueling leads, and the chugging almost proggy outro. The second track "Between Belial And Satan" are where things get truly thrashy, after a killer doomy intro, rife with woozy psychedelic solos, the track explodes into some metal thrashing madness, that will probably have readers of the aQ list reminded of Denver thrashers Speedwolf, who are definitely drawing from the same sonic/Satanic well. Raw riffing, dive bombing leads, furious drumming, some serious retro satanic chugging and Possessed style shreddery going on, old school blackened primitivism, but with a fierce, modern production, over the course of the record SW display their influences at every turn: Venom, Bathory, Beherit, Possessed, Maiden, even Slayer, and while the classic NWOBHM-isms surface throughout, be sure and stick around for the closing track, holy shit, total classic seventies hard rock heaviness, the main riff a near rip off of Black Sabbath's "Country Girl", the only thing that keeps this from being classic seventies metal is the raspy Satanic vokills, there's some awesome harmony guitars, and a killer old school classic metal lead over a wild metallic gallop, the sound slipping into total Maiden worship constantly, we almost wish the whole record sounded like this, but at the same time, the mix of wild speed metal thrashing, and classic melodic metal make for a pretty good combo as well...

MPEG stream: Leonard Rising - Night Of The Whip
MPEG stream: Satan's Wrath
MPEG stream: Between Belial And Satan
MPEG stream: One Thousand Goats In Sodom

Do you ever wish classic hardcore was more, well, you know... Satanic? Well, then this is for you. A tribute/homage to legendary straight edge hardcore heroes Minor Threat, with those short/sharp paeans to punk purity reimagined as something much more sinister, transformed into blasts of blurred sonic blasphemy, but really, as usual, we were sold before we heard a single note. The original black sheep / Out Of Step cover art, here features the black sheep as an evil black ram with glowing red eyes, retitled In To Hell, with a printed sticker price of $6.66 (of course), and song titles like "Guilty Of Hating Christ" (original: "Guilty Of Being White"), "Satanic Threat", "Small God, Big Cross" (original: "Small Man, Big Mouth"), "Cursing At The Cross" (original: "Screaming At A Wall"), you get the drift. The back cover is also adorned with a super metal looking Jesus, tongue out, flashing the devil horns, upside down cross in hand, stigmata dripping blood, what's not to love? But don't be expecting super metallized version of hardcore songs, other than the new lyrics, the sound here is straight up old school hardcore, furious and frenzied pissed off and punk as fuck, yowled vox over blasting, galloping hardcore heaviness, just way less positive, and WAY MORE EVIL! The super short album proper is filled out by a live show, with mostly the same songs, this time including ST's version of "Steppin' Stone" (which Monor Threat also famously covered), as well as some pretty hilarious stage banter, and plenty of excellent heckling!

MPEG stream: Guilty Of Hating Christ
MPEG stream: He's On The Cross
MPEG stream: I Ain't Gotta Worship

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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.

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MPEG stream: The Vampiric Tyrant
MPEG stream: Carelian Satanist Madness

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Now reissued and available again, this is the very very first black metal record (!) that I (Andee) ever bought, along with Cradle Of Filth's The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, and upon my very first listen was immediately converted to the dark side. The circumstances of my introduction certainly helped. There are plenty of ways to be introduced to new music, getting a mix tape, having a friend play it for you, hearing it on the radio, whatever, but my introduction to black metal was a little different. And a whole lot better if you ask me. There was a cool punk rock collective record store here in SF years ago (Epicenter, now long gone). I used to work at the thrift store downstairs, so like any self respecting record nerd, I spent all my free time upstairs listening, browsing, shopping, hanging out. There was a woman who worked there who was a punk rock / metalhead dream come true. Super tall, lots of spikes and leather and denim, waist length dyed dreadlocks, earrings, noserings, huge black boots, tattoos, and on top of all that she was totally drop dead gorgeous. Almost like a super model dressed up as a metalhead. And as you might imagine she seemed absolutely and totally unapproachable. Well, one day, she started talking to me, handed me this disc and the Cradle Of Filth and insisted that I'd dig 'em. Not sure why she thought I would or how she may have known, but it hardly mattered, she was talking to me, and there was no way I was not going to walk up to the counter with her and leave proudly clutching those discs. Thankfully, I did in fact love both of them, and like I mentioned, I immediately became obsessed with black metal. My mysterious black metal angel drifted off and disappeared, but my love of black metal stuck. Hard to imagine not being blown away by this record, Satyricon's debut, a gloriously dense, snarling black buzz, with plenty of loping Viking flecked riffage, haunting folky acoustic breaks, blasting double kick, howled guttural vocals. Coming long before the super polished black tech of Satyricon's later records, this is raw and furious, the production is lo-fi but still super thick and heavy, lots of reverb, lots and lots of buzz and fuzz, perfectly situated between the ultra complex blasts of Emperor and Mayhem and the plodding hypnotic buzz of Burzum. It's plenty weird too, huge too-loud keyboard swells, haunting angelic vocals, buzzing sing songy riffs, but already even way back then, you could hear the hints of Satyricon's future as black metal masters, so heavy and strangely catchy, weird and warped, but totally grim and utterly black.

MPEG stream: Walk The Path Of Sorrow
MPEG stream: Dark Medieval Times

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SORRY. A four-song teaser to Rebel Extravaganza full-length. Much in the tradition of their Meggido ep, Norwegian black metal masters Satyricon veer off into left field a bit with a new song, a remix of an old song, a cover (a weirdly futuristic version of old school Brazilian thrashers Sarcafago's "INRI"), and an electronic-ambient experimental track.

Satyricon are one of the more advanced Norwegian black metal bands around, and this four song ep is a worthy addition to their catalog...you get a live recording, a re-recording, and a Motorhead (!) cover, but the highlight is the techno (!!) remix of "The Dawn Of A New Age" from their last masterpiece, the Nemesis Divina album. And it's not at all lame, in fact, it might be the way to introduce your friends in the baggy pants to the joy of corpsepaint.

Available on vinyl again! Here's our review of this Norwegian BM masterpiece from when we reviewed the cd version year and years ago: One of the best, most influential, most perfectly grim and black, most brutal, and most importantly one of our -favorite- black metal records EVER! Easily the band's finest moment. When anyone asks us to recommend the most essential black metal releases EVER, this record vies for the top spot along with Burzum's Filosefem, Emperor's In The Nightside Eclipse, Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Darkthrone's Transylvanian Hunger and Immortal's Blizzard Beasts. Pretty seriously daunting company for sure, but depending on our mood, a lot of the time Nemesis Divina easily bumps the others out of the top spot. From the all time classic "Mother North", quite possibly THE catchiest black metal songs ever, to the barely audible sscccching! of a sword being unsheathed about 3 minutes into the first song, to the fucking awesome band photos, this record is tough to beat. Any of the above mentioned records would be perfect introductions into the grim world of black metal, but somehow, Nemesis Divina seems like the perfect secret weapon, the record that even a non-metalhead would hear and be forced to bow down to the dark lord. So fucking great!

That title sounds like an advertising line. New, improved... now, diabolical! The weird thing is, Norwegian black metal originators Satyricon (thee big shots, along with Darkthrone, Emperor, Mayhem, Immortal and a handful of others) have ALWAYS been plenty diabolical. If they'd called the album Now, Rockin' that would maybe make more sense, as this disc takes the midtempo blackened rock sound of tracks like "Fuel For Hatred" from their previous effort Volcano even further into "I just burned down a church, but I want my MTV" territory. Maybe the title IS an advertising line, trying to reassure old school fans that they haven't lost their way on the left-hand path. Well, it's true that the relatively melodic, headbanging catchiness of many of these tracks isn't perhaps what people expect from grim Nordic black metal warriors like Satyricon -- but we're not complaining. Further curveballs include a horn section on one track, clean (guest) vocals on another. But rest assured, the Grover growl and Slayerizing guitar riffs of Satyr, as well as Frost's muscular drum battery, are also all in full effect, and Snorre Ruch of Thorns appears besides, so it's no drastic break from their past, though it's certainly Volcano to which this sounds the most akin. You can go listen to Frost's other (excellent) band 1349 if true, pure blazing blackened grimnity is all you desire, but we're enjoying Now, Diabolical's dire, gloomy rock n' roll apocalypse just fine at the moment!! Includes bonus track and (unfortunately, cheesy MTV style) video clip.

MPEG stream: Now, Diabolical
MPEG stream: K.I.N.G.

One of Norway's premier black metal bands shows even the likes of Emperor who's boss with this amazing new disc. Eschewing their previous sword-wielding medieval fixation for a focus on the grit and horror of modern urban nightmare, these guys have crafted a dizzyingly intense, heavy, and always surprising masterpiece. They hint at the industrial/electronica weirdness of label-mates Dodheimsgard (or contempories Ulver & Arcturus) without totally going that route - they keep it metal, they keep it black, they keep it Satyricon. But it's somehow more twisted and filthy than before (yes, filthy, as in the songs "Filthgrinder" and "Rhapsody In Filth"). Genius.

It's a tough call, but I think I can safely say that Satyricon is definitely our #1 favorite black metal band. Burzum's Filosefem or Emperor's In The Nightside Eclipse or Dissection's Storm Of The Light's Bane are certainly contenders for best black metal records ever, and there are hundreds of other mindblowing bands/records, but as far as consistancy and brutality and originality and forward thinkingness and sheer kick ass-ness, Satyricon leads the pack. After ten years and nary a false step, Satyricon continue to reign supreme. This commemorative box celebrates Satyricon's first decade in grand fashion compiling a greatest hits, with a song from their upcoming full length album Volcano to whet our appetites. Greatest hits are always a risk, and aren't always the way to go in terms of an introduction to a band, and Ten Horns is no different. If you were to buy only one Satyricon record, we would have to insist on the unsurpassed Nemesis Divina, a record that even non-metalheads here at AQ are proud to have in their collections. An frosty epic of grandiose, ultra complex and ultra brutal black metal. Melodies are pummelled with furious blast beats and walls of furious guitars. Two of that album's best tracks are included here including the classic "Mother North"! As are two tracks from their last record, the brilliantly titled Rebel Extravaganza, which is good enough to almost be Nemesis Divina pt. 2. Also included are some older tracks from their debut Dark Medieval Times and their less well known second record The Shadowthrone, more primitive and buzzing, but definitely hinting at the greatness to come. The big selling points though are the two exclusive tracks, "Serpent's Rise" exclusively for this compilation, and "Repined Bastard Nation" from their forthcoming Volcano record. The new direction is exciting, hinting at a slower doomier direction. We can't wait. Packaged in a fancy box, with an equally fancy digipak inside and a booklet of lyrics and exclusive photos past and present. As well as super cheesy centerfold of a dirty girl in a bikini, laying amidst all the Satyricon collectibles. Dumb! So if you're only ever gonna buy one Satyricon record, make it Nemesis Divina, but if you want a great overview of their recorded output, or you are a completist and need the exclusive track, or you can't wait and need a sneak peak of the new record, then you can't go wrong with this collection. SUPER LIMITED. So if you want one, ACT FAST!

RealAudio clip: Mother North
RealAudio clip: Serpent's Rise
RealAudio clip: Repined Bastrad Nation

All hail! Here's the 2009 release from the band who, along with Emperor, Immortal, Darkthrone, Mayhem and very few others, basically established the template/threw down the gauntlet for a vast majority of all the black metal we've raved about over the years. This Norwegian duo - frontman Satyr and drumgod Faust - have earned their rep as black metal legends. Yet they still keep pushing to get bigger and better... bigger at any rate. Their last couple of albums (Volcano and Now, Diabolical) saw them developing in a more commercial, or at least more mainstream metal, ROCK direction. While they didn't pull a Metallica, they definitely moved out of the underground. More power to 'em, even though they don't boast the best corpsepainted band photos in the biz anymore... Now, with The Age Of Nero, we hear a Satyricon comfortable with their new, MTV-ready "black n' roll" status, but who also stand ready to remind their old fans just how grim and blasting and blackened they can be. With extra help from their old pal Snorre Ruch of the very cult Thorns, they've crafted a bombastic attack that's truly grim yet grooving, mostly midtempo and exceedingly tight. And quite catchy, a quality certainly not limited only to this disc's designated "hit single" / video clip "Black Crow On A Tombstone". (By the way, we dig that song, but sorry, the video is too funny, the slicked-back Satyr especially ridiculous, check it out on YouTube sometime...!) But if you only -hear- the song, it'll knock you on your ass. A massive, pounding "hit" indeed. While some bemoan the overall "slowdown" of their sound, some of our favorite moments here are those more atmospheric ones, like the moody breaks in the midst of "The Wolfpack" for instance. And they can still grind you to dust beneath the lashing brutality of their distorted guitars, seasick riffage, and (when it kicks in) blazing battery. One of the album's other highlights is the epic closer, "Den Siste", which sees the return of the horn section that appeared on Now, Diabolical but also is sung/rasped entirely in Satyr's native Norwegian, old school style. Horns in black metal have always been all right with us, actually, from Potentiam to Sear Bliss to Den Saakaldte. While we wonder if this band will every really surprise us again, that's ok. They can bring this brand of heaviness on album after album and we'll be happy!

MPEG stream: Black Crow On A Tombstone
MPEG stream: The Wolfpack
MPEG stream: Die By My Hand

Not sure why but Satyricon's second allbum, The Shadowthrone, originally released in 1994, is the one Satyricon record that always seems to be overlooked, which is a shame as it is most definitely one of the defining moments in Norwegian black metal. It could very well be that it was the transitional record, the sophmore slump, following hot on the heels of Dark Medieval Times, Satyricon's amazing debut, and right before Nemesis Divina, arguably one of the best black metal records ever. Thus positioned it's easy to overlook, but at the same time, it's the record where Satyricon were shifting from raw grim blackness, to a whole 'nother level. So in some ways it's the most interesting, a confusional mix of the ultra raw brutality of their debut and the dense complexity that was to come. The Shadowthrone is classic Norwegian black metal, buzzing and thrashing, mostly a seasick midtempo lurch, but occasionaly bursting into a buzzing lightning fast blur. The production is still thick and fuzzy, the riffs hover in a thick morass of reverb, with vocals that are totally grim and demonic as well as insane drumming courtesy of Frost who was already a fucking monster behind the kit. Like the records released on either side of it, The Shadowthrone is full of killer riffs, strangely catchy hooks, droney folky interludes, and some of the best black metal songs ever. Satyricon at this point were still drifting sonically betwixt the buzz and drone of Burzum and the technical blackness of Emperor (definitely not a bad place to be), but the Shadowthrone took them one step closer to their epochal release, 1996's Nemesis Divina. And even though Nemesis Divina is most definitely the bands defining moment, it would be a shame to let that record's reputation overshadow what is, on its own merits, a totally amazing and absolute classic black metal record. The Shadowthrone also boasts some killer cover art as well as the best barcode ever (you'll just have to buy it to see!).

MPEG stream: In The Mist By The Hills
RealAudio clip: Hvite Krists Dod

Yes! The new Satyricon! Black metal fans rejoice! Satyr and Frost are back with another slab of cold twisted grimness to rock you. Actually, we've had copies of this import disc for several weeks now, but held off on listing it 'cause we were hoping that a domestic release was imminent. But, alas, that does not seem to be the case. Now that these Norwegian gods are on a big major label over in Europe, there's some corporate bullshit preventing an indie from putting out "Volcano" over here. So, it's only available as an expensive import for the foreseeable future. However, we assure you that it's well worth the extra $$$ you'll pay! Satyricon have long been one of our favorite Nordic metal bands, maybe our number one fave, and "Volcano" only builds upon the artistry of their previous masterpiece "Rebel Extravaganza". This doomy, dark and violent disc is full of the usual Satyricon surprises. Voivod-dense, industrial prog-metal soundscapes built upon Frost's brutal drum battery and Satyr's throat-torn vox, precise and massive guitar riffing, and sci-fi synths. The totally rockin', almost Killing Joke-ish punk headbanger "Fuel For Hatred". Guest vocals on several tracks from Bjork-esque Norwegian electronica diva Anja Garbarek. A disc-closing, fourteen-minute epic of heaviness called "Black Lava" which boasts the amazing line: "Autumn in the air, the smell of black metal 1990-95"! Aside from the somewhat un-thrilling cover art (a snake's head), and that they allowed the label to change the album's title from the eccentric spelling "Vulcano" to the mundane "Volcano", these guys can do no wrong. NB. we've only got five of these, and it might be a while before we can get more, so please don't cry if we tell you they're all gone already...

RealAudio clip: Angstridden
RealAudio clip: Fuel For Hatred

One of the few remaining members of the Norwegian black metal old guard to still be swinging their rusted broadswords on the battlefield unscathed, Satyricon have returned after five years of silence with their eighth full length, and it's somewhat of a departure from their recent forays into more radio-ready mainstream metal, and it's also a record that a couple of us here at aQ HQ have found ourselves legitimately kind of obsessed with and enamored of. This new self titled record finds them settling into a much more regal and dignified sound. The record heaves and staggers like a world weary barbarian king, slumped upon his throne with nothing left to prove. It's fascinatingly minimal and dreamily hypnotic - shifting like tectonic plates between downtrodden black 'n' roll and desolate, almost jazzy clean guitar passages. It conjures up that same kind of timelost sadness as early Mortiis or Summoning but without any of the symphonic bombast, instead accentuating the simplicity of primitive yet melodic riffing and the occasional minimal keyboard accompaniment, recalling the lonely sparseness of Monotheist-era Celtic Frost or early Burzum. It's much more organic than Satyricon has sounded in a very long time and shows a patience and subtlety of songwriting not often seen in metal. Frost's drums sound like some steam powered machine, cold and martial, showing perfect restraint - his inhuman double bass fluttering like an overhead helicopter. At their most powerful the guitars call out like distant war trumpets, but elsewhere they seem to slump exhausted in the dirt like a doomed wanderer. Satyr's vocals vary from their usual authoritative emotionless growl to hushed deadpan spoken word, with the only major exception being "Phoenix" which features guest vocals cleanly sung by Sivert Hoyem of Norwegian rock band Madrugada, but even his vocals are tainted with a certain steely sadness - the sound of someone in their twilight years, who has done all there is to do in life, and now there is only the inevitable waiting. That feeling of dreadful inevitability is everywhere on this record in fact. A certain confidence intermingled with bittersweet nostalgia and a hint of regret. The production compliments this mood perfectly. The guitars are dry and surprisingly clean. The drums have virtually no reverb. Everything is stripped down and bare. It's a sound that's almost sterile but also possesses a strange warmth - like a shot of strong anesthetic into the gums. It's an album that rewards patience and attention, and while it may not be Satyricon's most immediate record, with every listen unveiling more and more subtle details, we wouldn't be surprised if history determines it to be one of their best.

MPEG stream: Voice Of Shadows
MPEG stream: Tro Og Kraft
MPEG stream: Nocturnal Flare
MPEG stream: Phoenix

This is the second full length from this German black metal horde, and like most black metal records, opens with an intro (or 'Prolog' here), but this intro had us immediately mesmerized, sounding like some strange organ driven seventies soundtrack, all Goblin-y and Carpenter-ish, creaking guitar strings simulating rusty old hinges, while the organ metes out a creepy ominous funereal dirge, all underpinned by an ominous low end fog horn like drone, we secretly found ourselves hoping the band weren't actually black metal, that despite the illegible logo and the grim black and white artwork and the corpse painted band members (who do look seriously bad ass to be fair), they were in fact ambient soundtrackers or experimental soundscapers, but our disappointment when discovering that they were indeed a black metal band, lasted about ten seconds, before we were totally won over, and sucked into their buzzing, howling, frosty maelstrom of grimbuzz and blackblast, a creepy almost atmospheric doomed out beginning, gives way to a furious frenetic black blowout, that again surprisingly switches gears and infuses their buzzing blackness with some classic metal style riffery, some weirdly hooky melody, and some killer almost punkish riffing, all of this delivered with a fury and intensity that is exactly why we love true grim black metal. There's nothing super experimental about this stuff, or more accurately fucked up or weird. There is definitely an experimental bent, but it's subtly woven into the fabric of these gloriously black missives, the opener alone is a dizzying epic, that flits from doomy churn, to pounding classic metal, to soaring majestic blackness, to gnarled grinding buzz, the guitars thick and caustic, the drumming an avalanche of blasts and pounds, and the vocals, a demonic rasp, that all adds up to some seriously classic modern blackness. The record finishes off with an outro that mirrors the Goblin/Carpenter aspirations of the intro, all operatic and mysterious, with a strange spoken word over circusy organs and soaring strings, clouds of ethereal angelic vox, perfectly bookending the black buzz that lies in between.

MPEG stream: Mal Der Schande
MPEG stream: Schwarze Brut
MPEG stream: Transzendenz

We've long been a fan of Encomiast, never tiring of his gorgeous drone explorations, so when we discovered that the man behind Encomiast also had a black metal band, it seemed like a no brainer, and indeed, the music of Schrei Aus Stein manages to fuse Encomiast's deep rumbling drone music, with a strangely washed out and hypnotic midtempo buzz drenched black metal, this is not blazing riffy thrashing black metal, no this is a murky sprawling blackened oozing blackness, the riffs super distorted to the point of almost becoming drones themselves, the vocals are buried in the mix, the drums are simple and skeletal, the buzz and black infused with haunting melodies, the songs heaving and lumbering, the overall sound very Burzumic, but also weirdly poppy and melodic, not glaringly so, but within the swirling black mass of sound, melodies creep out only to disappear again, a few of the tracks sound almost gothic, with a bit of a cold wave vibe, definitely some Joy Divisiony low end going on in the background. Another song starts out all high end Sunroof! style ur-drone, only to splinter into a loping depressive black metal pound, while another is all slow building and doomy, a little post rocky, with soaring riffs and simple motorik drumming, and the final track is all slow motion SUNNO))) dirge, which quickly gives way to something much more melodic and pretty, a sort of shoegazey soft doom, that slowly builds to a wall of blurred noise, only to finally explode in a frenzy of blasting flute flecked proggy black metal tangle, eventually blissing out into yet more shoegazey dreaminess, before fading into streaks of effected flute. Housed in a DVD case, with photocopied insert, and LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!

MPEG stream: Serac
MPEG stream: Lenticulars
MPEG stream: Crevasses

Subtitled, Another Suplex Prune Hittite Fantasy! But I think this needs a little more explanation. Argh. Ok, some of you will remember Steven Shultz for his remarkable "History of Vats" cd, or his more recent rap album, the "I Forgot To Get A Rap Name!" The four cds come packaged in a cardboard box, complete with a thick booklet providing you with the entire libretto, and more. Basically, this is the Conet Project of "comedy"! (that is, if you can consider this comedy...) This also features a special guest star, a certain local metal singer who wisely desires to remain anonymous (hint: he's on one of Andee's recent tUMULt releases), who, as a favor for Steve, played the role of Hulk Hogan! ...I also think I heard Bob Dylan on here... So, if you think pro wrestling characters from the '80s are amusing and that the slang term 'hella' is funny and you like Frank Zappa, or if you are simply a connoisseur of the idiotically ridiculous, this is for you!! Don't say we didn't warn you. Basically, if you can stand to listen to the entire thing, you've got problems. (See www.harmful.org/stalinclaus for more information, including a helpful flowchart explaining the, uh, plot. Or so we're told, we were too scared to go there.)

RealAudio clip: Kaos In My Beard
RealAudio clip: Allright, You Little Comatose Maniac!!
RealAudio clip: The Beard O Garchy (Down With It)
RealAudio clip: Orchestral Manouvres In The Prune

Debut ep from this Dutch atmospheric depressive black metal horde, named for an infamous forest in Japan infamous for its suicides, and like the recent double disc from long time aQ faves Happy Days, Sea Of Trees traffic in the same sort of lilting, sorrowful super melodic blackness, that sonically owes more to post rock and jangle pop really than black metal, the only real elements making this black metal, the buzz, although plenty of pop is rife with buzz, and the vocals, which are of the shrieking, hysterical, almost operatic bent, and it's those vocals, that may just relegate this to black metal fans. Which is a shame, cuz the music is gorgeous, lush acoustic guitars, swoonsome sad melodies, the arrangements simple, but hypnotic and heavy, the opening track slipping from folky and acoustic, to dirgey and doomy, to soaring and sorrowfully majestic, the guitars (of which there are THREE), unfurling melancholic laments over blurred crumbling distorted dirges, and then BAM, the band will explode into some serious buzzing, blasting black metal buzz, but even then, the sound remains impossibly melodic and miserable minor key, and then before too long, it shifts right back into a more midtempo pound, before finishing off in a squall of buzzy, shoegaze blackened pop. The vocals mostly shriek, but occasionally get super dramatic and crazily over the top, which somehow suits the sound. Fans of Lifelover, Happy Days of course, Urfaust and other similarly pop minded weirdo black metal outfits will dig big time. After a brief classical acoustic guitar interlude, the second proper track stumbles into action, a blurred, blackened dirge, much less poppy and melodic than the opener, but with plenty of classic metal-isms hidden among the shrieking dirgery, and when the track shifts gears a minute in, it does end up aligning itself closer to the dour poppiness of the opener, but here, the sound is distinctly darker and doomier, the guitars still epic and majestic, the classic metal vibe all but taking over in places, a whole record of tracks like this would have the true metal-heads worshipping at the altar of Sea Of Trees, but for now, we can revel in this brief bit of black pop / dirge doom / post-rock / black metal weirdness. Awesome packaging too, the disc itself a 3" embedded in a proper 5" cd sized plastic disc, the screen printing over the disc proper, but also designs printed on the clear portion of the disc. Quite striking!

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This Hungarian black metal act is perhaps best known for their use of the trombone -- not your everyday metal instrument, right? Of course trombone alone isn't enough to sustain a career (this is their sixth album) nor our interest for that matter (though it helps), and so it's also clearly to Sear Bliss' benefit that they have mastered the dark art of composing thunderously heavy, melodic yet grim black metal songs. The tootin' trombone just makes 'em all the more grand and majestic. Lesser bands would rely entirely upon synthesized keyboard coloration to create such moods. And while Sear Bliss do use keyboards, they also have folks playing violin, flute, euphonium, trumpet, and of course trombone, as well as sundry ethnic instruments with which we're not familiar, presumably of Hungarian origin. The folk-tinged results are slickly impressive, definitely dramatic, orchestrally progressive, yet still iron-fistedly metallic (with gruff vocals, blazing drums, and badass guitar shred). The music of Sear Bliss bears comparison to the atmospheric Viking prog of Norway's Enslaved and the eccentric cinematic symphonics of Japan's Sigh -- two AQ faves. When we can say that about a band, and there's trombone too, well that's an automatic thumbs up!

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MPEG stream: A Deathly Illusion
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An unusual and utterly unhinged black metal album from two of the members of Norway's Neetzach (whose debut cd we reviewed a couple lists ago), Vrangsinn and Dirge Rep. They call Secht "a musical piece of pure insanity". We'd agree, though some might take exception to the "musical" part. They go on to say that it was "composed under Satanic and Narcotic influence" which we do believe. Seriously though, this is certainly a cult concept: it's all one 37 minute track, starting off with drizzling rain-sounds and melancholic acoustic guitar, developing a disturbing, droning atmosphere with baby-like black metal mewlings before unleashing a full-on electric guitar and drums assault, building ever-heavier and more frenzied, with angular breakdowns and an overall extremely maniacal vibe. About twenty four minutes in, it returns to hissing ambience, a creeped-out chill-out in the forest before a final dose of chattering distortion ends the album. File with Abruptum, Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, Caacrinolas, Rakhim, and whatever other semi-improvised, soundscapey, single-tracked, non-standard black metal you can think of... And making this even more crazed and cult, since the Secht duo are such scenesters they were able to enlist such friends/fiends as Gaahl (Gorgoroth), Nattefrost (Carpathian Forest), and Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone) amongst others to provide additional screams n' sounds!

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We had never heard anything from these Italian blackgrind crustmetal crushers before, but holy shit is their Southern Lord debut a seriously fierce and ferocious slab of extreme brutality, crushing post metal sludge, insanely frantic metallic hardcore, blasting black metal buzz, crusty feedback drenched filth, gnarled downtuned grind all woven into a little over 34 minutes of skull caving, spine wrenching, ear destroying heaviness. The killer 'dripping black goat' Justin Bartlett cover art is the perfect visual accompaniment for Solve Et Coagula, although we did actually assume these guys were gonna be buzzing blasting true black metal, but the truth was better than we would have hoped for. The record opens with a long stretch of layered guitar buzz, droned out and hypnotic, tense and intense, gradually building, howled hellish vox buried just under the surface, like a blackened Sunroof! almost, or some Neurosis intro music, and then when the band kicks in, that's just what it sounds like, a plodding doomic lumber, epic and majestic, a sort of Neur-Isis-y post metal trudge, the vocals harsh, over tangled guitars, and then the song REALLY kicks in and gets even heavier, a massive churning chunk of post metal doom sludge, which barely prepares you for the next the next 8 tracks, averaging less than 2 minutes each, of furious blasting metallic pummel, grinding frenzied crunch giving way to crushing d-beat blast, giving way to squalls of punkmetal chaos, occasionally slipping back into something more sludgey, but never for long, always exploding again into caustic bursts of throat shredding vokills, impossibly dense drumming, super distorted guitars, and gnarled mathy arrangements. Until "Eve Of The Last Day", mirroring the opening track, with its soaring guitar buzz, its spaced out drum pound, a majestic epic, that finally slips into a seriously crushing chug heavy dirge. "War Desire" is the record's last bit of punk metal crunch, before the twisted finale, simple titled "1968", super mathy and complex, lots of lurching start stop arrangements, the guitars super tangled, before splintering into an awesomely psychedelic breakdown, all swirling FX freakout and abstract drum crush, the middle portion gets a bit melodic, and if possible, somehow even heavier, a lumbering, lurching groove, that spaces out into a tribal droney slow burn outro, eventually leaving just streaks of feedback, blurred high end drones, and a mysterious sampled voice. So fucking awesome. Heavy music obsessives of all stripes (black, doom, post, crust) should for sure check this out...

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Featuring one part Kentucky crusty black metallers Panopticon, and one part Kentucky blacknoise buzzers Wheels Within Wheels, one might not have expected something so melodic, but for all its melody, the debut from Seidr is also a crushingly heavy slab of doooooooooom. Laced liberally with post rock, shoegaze, blackdrone, and really pretty much anything else these guys felt like mixing in. The good news is that somehow, even with all of those disparate elements, the final sound is so much more than its constituent parts. The tracks are long, and they build slow, the guitars spidery and softly reverby, the drums tribal, eventually exploding into thick swaths of blackened doom, the guitars grinding and chugging, the drums pounding, the vocals a demonic bellow, but even once the heaviness ensues, those spidery guitar melodies keep right on, intertwining with the heavier chug and churn, transforming what would otherwise be more standard doom/sludge into something weirdly washed out and sort of pretty. And yeah, we know you're not supposed to describe stuff this heavy as pretty, but fuck it, we're pretty sure that's what these guys were going for, the perfect balance of extreme heaviness and delicate melody. The obvious comparisons will be Neurosis, Isis, Pelican, even Asunder and Agalloch, but Seidr's sound is way more black and way more doooooooomy, plus there's definitely plenty of Mogwai and Godspeed and Explosions In The Sky going on as well, which is fine with us. The sound is darkly emotional, heavy as fuck, and super melodic, even at its heaviest, the sound manages to exude emotion and melody, which is rare, especially without losing any of its heft, Seidr definitely seem like the oddball on Flenser, which has so far trafficked pretty much exclusively in black metal, but Seidr's sound is still pretty black, and hell, maybe this is the band that gets Flenser noticed beyond the grim kvlt underground. Although, that said, for all of Seidr's post rockisms, and melody, they're far from being anywhere close to mainstream, this is still some seriously twister, blackened postrock black doom heaviness, and we're digging it big time.

MPEG stream: A Vision From Hlidskjalf
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Epic crushing metallic industrial heaviness, the kind of thing we thought they just didn't make anymore, but this is total Swans / Godflesh / Cop Shoot Cop worship, pounding metallic percussion, soundscapes of whirring drills, blown out low slung bass, howled distorted vox, the whole thing so repetitive and mantric, thick slabs of distorted rumble wrapped around tons of damaged electronics, bleating horns buried beneath reverb drenched beats, some songs are full on walls of twisted electronic crunch, others are brooding, droning skeletal sprawls, laid over deep blurred basslines, and tribal rhythms, some are dense whorls of deeeeeep sinister black ambience, all darkly drifting layers, and distant bits of clang and shimmer. For a few moments here and there, the sound gets downright poppy, like some sort of washed out post industrial deathrock, but even then, it's shot through with a seriously menacing sonic undercurrent that seeps into every beat, and every note. Filthy, crusty, heavy, haunting, crushing and brutal, the perfect mix of old school industrial pound, and more modern bleak blackness. Fucking fierce and frightening, grim and punishing, and we're digging it like crazy.

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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.

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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.

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"Surreal Metal Dementia" as they call it, might not be an American Psychiatric Association approved diagnosis but it isn't a bad description of this American black metal band's somewhat unusual take on the genre. Rather than ape the droning, raw and primitive spikes n' corpsepaint stuff that seems to inspire so many USBM acts, these guys' condition seems related to a more, uh, advanced style of Norse metal, symptomatic of "666 International" Dodheimsgard and "Declaration of War" Mayhem for instance. That is, they throw lots of left-field electronik experimentation into their already choppy brew of black metal chaos. If you like stuttering sci-fi synth bleepage and think that would go well with twisting-turning song structures at 100 mph, then you might do well to check this out. This nine-track album is maybe kinda short at just 25 minutes, but they sure do cram a lot in!

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Latest from this mysterious 'alien black metal' duo whose sound definitely leans way more toward the alien than the black metal. We went pretty nuts for their Stratospheric Passenger record, a dizzying assemblage of psychedelic drones and outerspace black buzz, of dark drone metal and abstract otherworldly ambience. That record still ranks up there as one of our favorite slabs of outsider black metal weirdness, and then recently we got to see them play on THE BUS here in town, transforming an old city bus, parked under a highway overpass, into some sort of smoke filled, ear drum destroying, trance inducing sonic starship. So here's their latest batch of strange sounds, confusingly packaged in an eye popping almost cartoonish, full color geometric cover, sealed shut with a similarly printed little band-aid style sticker. But inside, it's the same twisted blackened psychedelia we were hoping for. Spidery minor key guitars, field recordings, raspy metallic drones, harsh vokills way off in the distance. Simultaneously meditative and hypnotic, harsh and caustic, abstract and blackened, a sort of post rock black metal drift, warped and washed out and weirdly not all that black metal at all. But that's just the first track. From there on out it's a series of strange soundscapes, analog electronics, treated textural drones, creaks and thrums and moans, wreathed in strange FX and smeared into abstract sounds and shapes, everything bleary and blurry and indistinct, haunting and ghostlike, snippets of samples(?) surfacing occasionally amidst the layered drifts of chordal thrum and soft black buzz. Slow motion melodies unfurl over clouds of shortwave static, ethereal billows of muted shimmer, and delicately swirling textures, malfunctioning machinery, and all sorts of other slowly decaying sonic ephemera, suspended in some sort of rusted out, gauzy dreamworld, bleak and beautiful, creepy and claustrophobic. LIMITED TO 80 COPIES!!! Each one hand numbered.

Another mysterious transmission from this alien black metal duo, whose black metal seems to get more and more alien with every release. This time around, the whole A side seems to recast SS's black metal as something much more abstract and indistinct, ultra lo-fi and darkly chaotic, a sprawl of murky free form drift, thick clouds of squiggly FX and gristly buzz, buried pulsing rhythms, heavily effected vokills, the vibe more black-drone-kosmische than black metal, the sound brittle and washed out, the opening track flowing directly into the follow up, which arranges the same ingredients but adds a bit more black buzz, to what sounds like blast beats, although they too are buried deep in the sonic murk, here too, everything blurred into a black psychedelic swirl. The flipside cranks up the fidelity a bit unleashing a wave of thick droned out guitar buzz, laced with space-y squiggles, the sounds smeared into a heaving dronescape, until a buried rhythm surfaces, eventually transforming the sound into something more black metal, but still washed out to the point that it's almost ambient, before finally shedding all the blackness and all the buzz, leaving just a shadowy stretch of brooding kosmische synth swirl. Pressed on super cool black smoke swirled clear vinyl!

NOW ON VINYL!!! Finally, another dark missive from this 'alien black metal duo', long time aQ faves Servile Sect, whose ritualist spacepsych dronescapes crackle with black energy, occasionally erupting into full on metallic blackness, but just as often slowly drifting and expanding into sprawling stretches of blurred low end mesmer, laced with chant like vocals and buried bits of melody, mutant otherworldly landscapes of hushed ominous drift and muted psychedelic black ragas. On past records, the black metal element seemed almost like an afterthought, the records way heavier on the drone and drift, but on Realms Of The Queen, right out of the gate, a blasting lo-fi drum machine rhythm sets the scene, while thick sheets of coruscating guitars and harsh shrieked vokills are laid over the top, but even then, the sound is not so much fierce and grim and sort of hazy and blackly psychedelic, like a black metal blurred into some sort of trancelike black raga, the guitars lush and layered, everything cloaked in a gauze of murky muted swirl. But soon after, the band dial back the buzz, leaving just the black, a crunchy, distorted almost Wolf Eyesian industrial dirgescape, all mechanical creaks and staticky hiss, but underneath, a mournful piano picks out a barely there lament, a swell of black buzz rises up from the murk, sheets of hiss, like super distorted vocals drift in, the result a haunting funereal industrial doom, that again is not so much heavy and crushing, and moody and atmospheric. The rest of the record follows a similar pattern, creating lush ritualistic landscapes of distant buzzing drones, SUNNO)))-like avalanches of crumbling distortion, hazy crystalline streaks of almost new age sounding drift, synthy soundtracky tranceouts that sound a little like Zombi or Majeure being played at 16rpm and being broadcast from speakers submerged in brackish water at the bottom of some giant cavern, there are even occasional vocals, deep dramatic croons, way down in the mix, adding a gorgeous dark pop element to certain tracks. Thick corrosive dins collide with shoegaze-y fuzz, murky avant blackness drifts into hushed minimal shimmer, gnarled black riffage gets tangled up into epic swirling blacknoise squalls, Sunroof!-like ur-drones settle into droned out blackness, culminating in the epic closer, "Universe And Self, Sender And Receiver", which sounds like a prettier fuzzier Wold, noisy and dense and black as pitch, but shot through with subtle melody, with rich layered textures, shifting constantly, a blurred murk that finally explodes into a surprisingly lush and lustrous dreampsych shoegaze softblack blowout that sounds almost like some sort of black metal dreampop, fuzzy and washed out, but still frenetic and fierce. So fucking incredible.

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From the same label that brought us the amazing Gog records, Sounds Of Battle And Souvenir Collecting, comes this bizarre, and hauntingly beautiful slab of alien black metal. Not sure what else to call it, it's definitely black metal, but it's weirdly blissy and electronic sounding, more like Alcest or Amesoeurs than old school grimnity, but even then, it's still weirder, like it must have been played by robots or insects, or some massive black metal machine assembled beneath the surface of some mysterious moon. You can almost picture some mechanical monstrosity, pieces of human flesh, various organs, somehow built into the machine's inner workings, everything grinding and sparking all in a Herculean effort to produce this glorious droning buzzing blackness. A cloud of black buzz that will eventually drift through space and time swallowing any planets in its path, and extinguishing all life it encounters. Heck, even the cover of the record is the view from some sort of alien lander, looking out and the cold dead ground of some red planet, as if any minute some huge horrible black beast will lurch into view over the horizon, dashing all of our ideas about said planet being uninhabited. The sound of Servile Sect is epic, and majestic, the guitars glistening sheets of sound, the surface of that sound peppered with bits of electronic shimmer, causing the long drawn out riffery to reflect and refract, tiny little sonic events occurring every second, the surface alive and constantly squirming and changing color, but viewed from afar, it's simply a blown out undulating buzz. Those guitars are digitized and processed, spread into thick smears of warm glowing whir, the riffs barely discernible beneath the constant roar of Servile Sect's sonic swirl The vocals add just more buzz to the mix, howling and wailing, but stretched into streaks of sonic violence, and drums, assuming there are any, are buried, festering beneath layer after layer of crushing guitar fuzz, emitting noxious rhythms that don't so much blast or pound as they do explode into tiny squalls of still more buzz. Occasionally, the buzz abates, leaving the guitar to sway lazily, the notes ringing out, the guitars lurking in the distance, but it's never long before the lilting melody is engulfed by a colossal buzzing roar, and the band locks into another extended psychfuzzblackdrone. Another out of left field immediate AQ black bliss classic. Fans of the new wave of droned out dreamy metal, black and otherwise: Nadja, Angelic Process, Ameseours, Alcest, etc. will dig this, as will dronelords who like their drones heavy and loud and yeah, a bit metallic...

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The latest transmission from this alien psychedelic black metal duo, and when we first got this in, we were convinced we had already reviewed this before. And then realized that it was in fact, a vinyl reissue of the long out of print cassette that was originally released on Handmade Birds as a companion to Servile Sect's Trvth record, but it was something else, something more, and then it hit us, the new cover art was what was so similar, and then we realized, it's actually the EXACT same painting as the cover of the Lumerians' Transmallinia record. Doh! What can you do? It's obvious why both bands picked it, cuz it's a seriously bad ass painting by famous outsider artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, all cosmic and swirled greens and yellows, and in some weird way, it suits both bands. In the case of Servile Sect, it definitely taps into their weird alien vibe, and their subtle psychedelic undertones, both of which are present throughout Surrender. Here's what we had to say about the cassette version when we first reviewed it earlier this year: Released as a companion to the group's recent Trvth record, Svrrender acts perfectly as an extension of Trvth, building on the band's sprawling blackened psychedelia and scorched blackbuzz drones. The record opens with sheets of thick buzzing synths, and swirling electronics, all over strange murky pulses, and laced with strange disembodied voices, before launching into a full bore blast of traditional sounding black metal fury, huge thick squalls of barbed riffage, programmed beats blasting wildly through the murk, the vocals a sick, raspy demonic croak, a blur of chaotic blackness, that manages to meld traditional BM tropes to something much more mysterious and experimental, the group infusing the seemingly traditional sound with all manner of unlikely texture and subtle warped FX. Definitely grim enough for unadventurous metalheads, but as this is Servile Sect, the sound soon shifts to something much more spacey and droned out, total psychedelic cosmic drift, thick undulating swells of crumbling rumbles and sci-fi shimmer, wrapped around chantlike vox and smeared layers and textures, and over the course of the five songs on the A side, the sound veers from that droned out celestial thrum to furious churning black metal blasts and back again, the whole side a dizzying twisted black/drone juggernaut. The flipside is just as heavy, but in a completely different manner, taking the band's knack from blackened soundscaping, and applying it to a blurred, lumbering ultradoom, sort of SUNNO))) like in its slo-mo glacial heft, but the band's grim psychedelic dirgery somehow manages to take that sound and push it even further, the guitars grinding (or are they synths) and rumbling, streaks of spacey FX and glitched out electronics, not to mention heavily effected vox, swirl above whorls of feedback, and smeared synths, all anchored by a deathmarch ultradoom pound, a caveman creep wreathed in thick downtuned rumble and thrum, super hypnotic and heavy, but also caustic and abject and fucking massive sounding, not to mention somehow totally spacey and psychedelic. Easily some of the best stuff we've heard from these guys. And like the tape version, this vinyl is also limited to so grab one quick before they're gone!

How does he do it? R. Loren of Pyramids, Sailors With Wax Wings and White Moth launched his new vinyl only label mere months ago, and already has a catalog that puts most labels who have been up and running for years to shame, releases from Blut Aus Nord, Celestiial, His Name Is Alive, Key, Evan Caminiti, Der Blutharsch (reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), with forthcoming releases from Black Boned Angel, Blood Of The Black Owl, Circle Of Ouroborus, Human Quena Orchestra, Crooked Necks, Jasper TX, Our Love Will Destroy The World, Lovesliescrushing, Panopticon, Sutekh Hexen, Locrian, White Ring, Tenhornedbeast and TONS more, a mix of reissues and brand new records, and it wouldn't be so bad if everything wasn't so good, but if you're like us, you want them ALL. Including this, a brand new release from black metal psych drone duo Servile Sect, formerly of Arizona but now split up with one member in Humbolt, the other in NYC, but the distance doesn't seem to have made much of a difference, with TRVTH taking up right where their last full length left off, a sprawling expanse of drugged out blackened psychedelia, programmed rhythms, buzzing lumbering dirges, thick guitars blurred into washed out streaks, harsh vokills that seem to hover wraith like within ever swirling clouds of dark effects and slowed down riffage, the sound shifts from blurred murk, to smoldering black effulgence, from grinding churning crunch to hazy abstract drift, SS's version of black metal less about the blast and buzz, and more about the vibe, the sound, the tone, the texture, the ambience, the mood, the feel, the duo crouched behind their duct tape adorned synths, a holy mountain of gear, hiding these alchemists as they unfurl sprawling soundscapes equal part haunting blackness, and druggy dreamy shimmer, each grim missive a controlled chaos of black hole dopesmoke drift and blackened ritualistic ur-drone buzz. LIMITED TO 250 COPIES!!!

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We've always had a certain fascination with Eastern European black metal. Sure, there are some similarities to the hordes of Scandinavia, but there is just something about bands from places like Russia, Romania, and the Ukraine, home of Shadows Ground. At this point in black metal's long history, things are usually a little more raw, more bleak, and just a little more mysterious with bands from these places. Shadows Ground are very reminiscent, both sonically and lyrically of Old Wainds, who you might recognize as one of our favorite black metal bands of all time. Like Old Wainds, and to a similar degree OW-related project Nav, these guys give you a first hand glimpse into the cold wintry realms of their homeland. Depressing insectoid melodies buzz relentlessly over the non-stop blasts, and the vocals are a harsh demon croak spitting out classic black metal truths of darkness and despair. There are some nice pics of the band being irresponsible with knives and fire, and this certainly harkens back to the days when black metal still seemed like a threat, or at least something you would want to avoid in a graveyard. Even though there are plenty of other bands who may be doing things more unique in the way of instrumentation and presentation, sometimes you just don't want to fuck with classic formulas, and anyone who yearns for some Transylvanian Hunger styled madness will find plenty of reasons to rejoice with this.

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The first two discs from this Norwegian "deathjazz" unit, reissued together as a double cd package. Here's what we said about these two albums originally - first, In The Kingdom...: This Shining is not to be confused with the black metal Shining (who hail from Sweden). What be they, then, if not black metal? Hmm, let's listen...good grief, dunno the genre for this even...it's jazz we guess...of sorts. Powerful and freaky and technological. Lead by Jorgen Munkby (ex-Jaga Jazzist, as is the Shining's keyboardist) who plays everything from sax to accordion to church organ to guitar to mellotron to synths, and does drum programming too. But Shining is a five-piece band so as multi-instrumental as Jorgen is, he's doesn't have to do it all at once. And they leave the tubular bells to a guest musician. So, you get the idea that there's potentially a lot going on. The requisite Kim Hiorthoy cover art, which kinda looks like a blown-to-bits website, implies as much. The ten tracks here veer from booming bombast to melodic moodiness. Energetic ADD explosions of horns and percussion are calmed with weird wordless vocal parts, rhythmic frenzies give way to eerie grooves, and the players' jazz chops are chopped up. There's plenty of tension, and release, let's say! Just imagine some hotshot jazz guys gone on a dark, cinematic bender, unhealthily obsessed with Carl Stalling cartoon scores and arty prog rock and all possibilities of modern electronics. Your ears will feel fully exercised (and dare we say delighted) after a session with Shining. Very cool. And then, Grindstone: The previous Rune Grammofon album from Norwegian electronica/jazz outfit Shining we liked quite a bit - and sold quite a few copies of as well. But we don't remember it being quite as hard and heavy as this new disc! Some of this is almost industrial-metal, seriously. Herky-jerky rhythms one moment, sheer droning heaviness the next, with moody male and female vox amidst the instrumental/electronic onslaught. This has a sinister circusiness that makes you think that Mike Patton (Fantomas/Faith No More/etc.) must somehow be involved, though of course he's not. Doubtless he'd like how spunky, brassy, swirly, and dark this is, and that Shining haven't lost their any of their intense cinematic Morricone-ish sensibility.

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First record we've reviewed from this weirdo Romanian black metal duo, whose sound is a gloriously lo-fi folk flecked blackness, that manages to be surprisingly poppy and melodic, while remaining raw and lo-fi. The record opens with a short sort of intro, that is barely black metal at all, an almost post rock lope, all melancholic melodies, and shimmering, softly distorted guitar shimmer, the vocals a growling rasp, the only really blackened element, and even when the record proper kicks in, the drums galloping, the guitars buzzing, the vocals a monstrous bellow, the sound remains brittle and shimmery and melodic, the sound infused with serious melody, when the sound shifts into the bridge or chorus, it's almost like some lost indie rock record, again, the vocals really the only thing tethering it to the metal world at all, fans of the new wave of metal gaze will definitely feel right at home, the same sort of blessed out shoegazey vibe pervades much of the sound here, but there's plenty of other weirdness going on, like the almost disco beat on "Lesben Allo", beneath some chugging metal, and some twisted growly vocalizations, not to mention a trippy psychedelic breakdown part way through, complete with maniacal laughter! There are moments of more grim buzz, "Kozmikus Zuhanas" manages to crank up the black buzz and the sonic murk, but even then, the melody shines through, keeping the sound from slipping into pure black buzz, but the record is all the better for it, a sort of gloomy blackened pop, while elsewhere the sound slips into lurching blackened doom, but there too, laced with acoustic guitars, and haunting atmospherics, and lets not forget "Melankolikus Transzcendens" which add some bleating horns to the occasion, coupled with frantic double kick drumming, and weird monotone vokills, again, well removed from black metal, and instead, sounding, like some blackened noise rock, or gloom pop, but whatever you call it, we're digging it big time!

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MPEG stream: Melankolikus Transzcendens

Killer reissue of a long out of print 2006 ep from these raw Romanian black metallers. Their sound, then and now, is brittle and brutal, furious and frenzied, a mix of relentless black buzz and galloping classic metal. The Popeye-like rasped vokills ride atop smoldering slow build epicry, and on-the-verge-of-collapse chaos, the sound constantly surprising, being rooted in total old school grimnity, but displaying super ambitious soundscaping, stunning melodies, and an extremely high level of songcraft for the genre. A quick listen reveals all the buzzing blackness you could want, but deep listening is definitely rewarded with an emotional depth, and instrumental prowess, that in a different context could have turned into an entirely different record. As it is, Lelekosveny seems to capture the best of both, resulting in a dense, melodic black metal, rife with pathos, but pathos presented like a spiked gauntlet to the face. Includes two killer bonus tracks, both covers, by two bands we had never heard of: Angel Reaper and Fantom! Both will no doubt require further investigation.

MPEG stream: Osvenyek, Csillagok
MPEG stream: Eastern Smell of Death