We tracked this down for those of you who really liked the first band on that recent Tokyo Flashback 5 compilation, or who, failing that, end up intrigued by the following description... We're talking about a Japanese trio called Aural Fit. We'd never heard of 'em before, but we were impressed by their cut "Behind 20, Beyond 20k" on that comp, which we described as "a very heavy, doomy, dirgey track that fans of Boris and Earth will dig, cacophonic and dense". Turns out they'd recently released a full-length cd entitled Livestock that's equally dirgey. Five tracks, 33'36" of unrelentingly creepy, cavernous, noisy, plodding improv psych. This is the dark, moody, hypnotic, rumbling music of rock n' roll void-dwellers, with crashing drums, harsh blasts of feedback guitar, and anguished vocals buried in the mix. Chances are they're fans of Fushitsusha and Skullflower...
(We've actually only got 11 copies of this, hopefully we can get some more, but please be patient if we run out.)
NB. the band put this out themselves, so Slant Eye Archives is their own label, something that anyone offended by the name might want to know!
The first we heard from French black metal crew Aurvandil was on a recent split with the Weakling worshipping Dead As Dreams, we described them as sounding very Norwegian, very Burzumic, drum machined buzzy midtempo blackness, and we were definitely primed to hear more, which brings us to this, the latest from Aurvandil, released on the same label as the Murmuure raved about elsewhere on this list, Aurvandil is not nearly as twisted or bizarre, but still totally slays. After a lengthy folky almost Viking sounding intro, all lilting acoustic guitar and programmed drum machine, the band burst into a buzzing electrified version of the same song, an odd way to kick off your record, especially considering that the next track EXPLODES in a frenzy of impossibly blasting frantic blackness, the programmed drums so fast they almost become a drone, the guitars frenetically riffing along, totally trancelike, a series of swells, beyond the furious buzz and black blast, it's mesmerizing and hypnotic and relentless, even when the track shifts gears, it's to another strangely frenzied blast, but it's not that simple, the guitars are still buzzing madly, but beneath the guitar a melancholic synth drifts and shimmers, and then the drums and vokills come back in, and it's a weird, hard to describe black metal that is impossibly intense, but also washed out and dreamy, a totally strange combo, that could not work, but instead, transforms this into some sort of ambient blackness, that still buzzes and blasts, but without shattering the strange spellbinding energy the songs invoke. There are strings, and cellos, and mysterious voices, the arrangements seem simple, but they are definitely simple in unexpected ways. The record finishes off with another weirdly folky chunk of blasting blackness, but the three songs in between those folky bookends, nearly 30 minutes, are an incredible suite of psychedelic avant trancelike black metal dronemusic, that would probably be ranking first in our new black metal obsessions, if it weren't for that Murmuure, but hell, it's a seriously close second!
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, these are the last of these we'll ever see...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We've been wanting to review anything from either of these bands for ages, one from Australia, the other from the UK, both trafficking in ultra depressive, hauntingly beautiful suicidal doom-ed black metal, but each with a distinctly different approach.
Austere are the Aussies, and have a black metal pedigree like you wouldn't believe (Funeral Mourning, Pestilential Shadows, Kinstrife & Blood, Nazxul to name a few). In their Austere incarnation, the duo of Sorrow and Desolate craft a dark swirling abyss of midtempo blackness, a mournful stretch of clean guitars and loping drums create a haunting moodiness, which morphs into something much more blackened and blown out, but no less ethereal and, well, austere. But it's the vocals that transcend here, an insane high pitched shriek, drifting in a cloud of reverb and delay, inhuman to say the least, occasionally growing into something much more growling and aggressive, but just as quickly becoming a disembodied wraith like shriek. All the while the music beneath drifts and lilts, reminding us of a way more washed out Katatonia, minor key and brooding, but strangely epic and expansive, and most definitely miserable and melancholy and darkly depressive.
The UK's Lyrinx are a good match, their sound equally grim and sorrowful, but the drums are much more of a presence, the guitars too are less ethereal and more buzzy and raw, the arrangements are very post rocky, loping and meandering, very reminiscent of Slint, and by extension Ved Buens Ende. The vocals here too are harsh and anguished, but like the rest of the sound, more abrasive, more caustic and raw, weirdly complimenting the hypnotic churning drift beneath. And unlike the monochromatic crawl of Austere, Lyrinx definitely mix it up, slipping into frenzied black metal blast, the drums exploding in tangles of wild octopoidal fury, before slipping into haunting half time breakdowns, all lingering minor key chords and abstract rhythms, a resulting sound both woozy and weary and sorrowful, as well as intense and chaotic.
Essential for the suicidal black metal hordes out there: Make A Change Kill Yourself, Hypothermia, Lutomysl, Silencer, I Shalt Become, Happy Days, Nortt, Holmgang, might as well add Lyrinx and Austere to the list...
This is probably gonna sound like total sacrilege. And it is, we know it is, but it's all we can think when we're listening to these guys, quite possibly our favorite drum machine driven duo, is that yeah, they sound like Big Black, the super distorted guitar chug, the sung spoken vox, the thick floor shaking bass, the fucked up and funny lyrics, it's like Big Black, bit kind of, well, you know, BETTER.
There we said it. And before you get your hate mail machine in motion, realize, that we revere Big Black, every single song, a fucking misanthropic masterpiece, but if you were to ask us, what could make BB better? Well, we would have said, let's see, you could make it heavier, make the songs more complex, add tons more dynamics, fuck it, the Austerity Program is just that, like a super charged, ultra heavy, way more complex Big Black, but they are so much more, they have taken that sound, that classic, timeless (to us at least) sound, and made it all their own.
The super tense slow build of "Song 25", with its sprawling guitar buzz, and hushed spoken vocals, gradually growing more and more intense, the drum machine and buzzing bass soon joining in, a churning low slung dirge, the guitar doesn't even show up until a minute left in the song, but suddenly the track is transformed into a lurching metal machine prog blow out, with some awesomely weirdly clipped rhythms, chugging guitar, it's the sort of part most bands would (and should) stretch out for minutes, but the AP make it last seconds, cuz they know, they have way more up their sleeves.
"Song 26" explodes in a throbbing downtuned crush, stopping, starting, stuttering, hiccupping, until things bliss out, and suddenly it's a shimmery whispered drift, only to lurch into a grinding metallic robotic pound, finally finishing off with more churn and crunch. "Song 27" starts off all distorted strum and more clipped drum machine, droney and tense and hypnotic, before splintering into a stop start stutter, that explodes into what sounds like "Jordan, Minnesota" at triple speed, and then back again, a fucking epic proto prog metal jam with some MIT worthy drum machine programming, and anguished ultra pissed vox.
"Track 29" might be the weirdest, and perhaps the coolest of the bunch, a cloud of soaring guitars, a chugging bass, and another robotic looped rhythm, but the vocals are sung, sweetly, a lovely melodic counterpoint to the churn and chug beneath it, taking some subtle detours throughout, but always returning to that relentless crunch, another track, that seems way too brief at 5:30, epic and melodic and majestic and heavy and fucking awesome.
We've listened to these 4 songs about 20 times, and we're bound to go 20 more, but they've got us really hoping there's a full length around the corner. And yeah, that means buy it, it RULES.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This latest chunk of mechanized Big Black-ian post metal crush from aQ faves is not only available as a super limited test pressing / needle cleaning kit version elsewhere on this list, it is now also available as this even more limited data dvd-r, which contains 24 bit .wav files of song mixdowns and all the seperate instrument tracks, as well as instructions and artwork files. Why you ask? Well, so you can customize the record how ever you want, ditch the vocals, crank the vocals, blow out the drums, remix it, add sitar, tuba, sing along yourself, you've got the parts, use 'em to make your very own and utterly unique version of Backsliders And Apostates Will Burn! Oh, and you can always still just listen to it, and you should, cuz it rules...
This is probably gonna sound like total sacrilege. And it is, we know it is, but it's all we can think when we're listening to these guys, quite possibly our favorite drum machine driven duo, is that yeah, they sound like Big Black, the super distorted guitar chug, the sung spoken vox, the thick floor shaking bass, the fucked up and funny lyrics, it's like Big Black, bit kind of, well, you know, BETTER.
There we said it. And before you get your hate mail machine in motion, realize, that we revere Big Black, every single song, a fucking misanthropic masterpiece, but if you were to ask us, what could make BB better? Well, we would have said, let's see, you could make it heavier, make the songs more complex, add tons more dynamics, fuck it, the Austerity Program is just that, like a super charged, ultra heavy, way more complex Big Black, but they are so much more, they have taken that sound, that classic, timeless (to us at least) sound, and made it all their own.
The super tense slow build of "Song 25", with its sprawling guitar buzz, and hushed spoken vocals, gradually growing more and more intense, the drum machine and buzzing bass soon joining in, a churning low slung dirge, the guitar doesn't even show up until a minute left in the song, but suddenly the track is transformed into a lurching metal machine prog blow out, with some awesomely weirdly clipped rhythms, chugging guitar, it's the sort of part most bands would (and should) stretch out for minutes, but the AP make it last seconds, cuz they know, they have way more up their sleeves.
"Song 26" explodes in a throbbing downtuned crush, stopping, starting, stuttering, hiccupping, until things bliss out, and suddenly it's a shimmery whispered drift, only to lurch into a grinding metallic robotic pound, finally finishing off with more churn and crunch. "Song 27" starts off all distorted strum and more clipped drum machine, droney and tense and hypnotic, before splintering into a stop start stutter, that explodes into what sounds like "Jordan, Minnesota" at triple speed, and then back again, a fucking epic proto prog metal jam with some MIT worthy drum machine programming, and anguished ultra pissed vox.
"Track 29" might be the weirdest, and perhaps the coolest of the bunch, a cloud of soaring guitars, a chugging bass, and another robotic looped rhythm, but the vocals are sung, sweetly, a lovely melodic counterpoint to the churn and chug beneath it, taking some subtle detours throughout, but always returning to that relentless crunch, another track, that seems way too brief at 5:30, epic and melodic and majestic and heavy and fucking awesome.
We've listened to these 4 songs about 20 times, and we're bound to go 20 more, but they've got us really hoping there's a full length around the corner. And yeah, that means buy it, it RULES.
For as much as we love this band, we had never seen them play live until a few weeks ago, and our minds were blown big time. Not only did they have an entire music store's worth of gear, so many speakers it required renting a U-haul to get them to the club, and also required setting up on the floor since they wouldn't fit on the stage, they also sounded incredible. Two super unassuming guys, kicking out the sort of rib cage rattling heavy jams that would make most 'proper' metal bands seriously envious. All that, and they were funny as fuck too, playing to a strange backing track, that not only included their drum machine, but also a strange robotic woman, who sort of narrated, explaining the different songs, pimping out merchandise, and even arguing with the band members between songs. So genius. And it's no small feat to be funny, and not be a joke band. But these guys have it nailed. If you've ever seen their hilarious non-music videos, you'll know what we're talking about. But none of that would matter if they didn't rule, and they most certainly do. Definitely heavily beholden to the late great Big Black, with churning, super distorted bass lines, impossibly down tuned guitar chug, the sound angular, thick and corrosive, tranced out and HEAVY as fuck, then there's guitarist Justin Foley's hilarious vocals, that slip easily from sardonic spoken word, to wild bellowed yowl and back again. And if anything, not only is this new record heavier, and more focused, it's also way more melodic, with a much bigger focus on actual songcraft, not to mention some seriously tripped out production and unlikely sounds throughout. That crazy catchiness surfaces in the most unlikely places, the songs themselves, complex and intricate and downright proggy, a dense, relentless crushingly heavy, impossibly hooky noise-pop, industrial metal-prog that is so goddamn good, it baffles the mind that these guys were always the unsung / less popular weirdos on the Hydra Head roster.
But hopefully, now that they've struck out on their own, this being the first release on their own label, folks will wake up and dig the crazy heaviness, and warped weirdo poppiness, these guys have (not so) quietly mastered over the last however many years. And yeah, it's definitely their best record yet. And no it's not all the same note (fuck you Justin). Definite contender for record of the year, so leave a space on that list, you won't be sorry...
Available on cd, vinyl, and as a 1/4" reel to reel tape, for the super music mega nerds out there (the band, also uber nerds, suggest that version, as it sounds the best haha)!
It's hard to know exactly what to say about these guys, we have to fight our urge to just gush madly, and as you all probably realize by now, we can only put up so much of a fight... the last Austerity Program record was a bombastic homage to the drum machine fueled acerbic brutality of the late great Big Black, which we absolutely loved. But this record somehow manages to retain that sound (how could it not at least a little, especially considering the lineup is guitar, bass and drum machine?) while taking it so much further. Sure Big Black were amazing, as were the legion of drum machine driven behemoths that followed, but the Austerity Program are way more than the sum of their parts. Especially the drum machine part, which seems to define most bands that utilize one... The drum machine here doesn't always sound like a machine at all, which is the key, it's super tight, and precise, but could maybe be an actual drummer. Occasionally the band do take advantage of the machine's super human abilities, but for the most part, the drumming while crushing and brutal is also weirdly deft and subtle. The vocals also can't help but give a nod to Albini and Big Black, it's not a hellish howl or a guttural growl, it's more of an angry nerdy wail, a hyper literate, snarky rant delivered in a sung / spoken, regular guy shout. But the vocals are generally few and far between, which means it's mostly all about the bass and guitar...
And fuck if these aren't some of the heaviest, and thickest guitar sounds ever. It helps that the riffs totally destroy, super catchy, weirdly melodic, soaring and epic as often as they are metallic and pummeling. Sometimes super affected, but just as often a straight forward chest caving crunch, the bass throbbing and pulsing right along, often offering up some super unlikely melodic counterpoint, never content to just be a low end presence, the bass grinds and growls as intensely as the guitars.�
The overall sound ends up being some strange hybrid of Big Black (obviously), Harvey Milk, Jesu, a little bit of Fugazi and some hints here and there of black metal buzz, all tightly wound into an utterly intense crushing blast of beautiful brutality. From the first track, you'll be pretty much knocked the fuck out. It's a super complex mathy metallic workout, the guitars, swirl and soar, slither and shimmer, all the while pounding out some of the most bad ass riffs ever, and it's super dynamic, with the drums and guitar locked tight, stopping to emit little squalls of corrosive feedback before spiraling back into walls and washes of furious buzz. All the tracks are impossibly gorgeous and melodic, as well as being super ultra tight and clinical,�guitars are massive, roiling and thick, the riffs warm and dense, but jagged and razor sharp, and the arrangements are mindblowing, super complex, but not to the point of destroying the flow of the songs, just perfectly obtuse and tangled, so much so that it sounds like one of these guys must have gotten some sort of calculus degree just to program the drum machine. But it's not all pound and crush,�some tracks are slow and brooding, the guitars building and building, a haunting groovy�Fugazi like percussive chug, that eventually builds to a completely catchy, massive grinding guitar / pummeling percussion battle that manages to take the shape of a crazy catchy song at the same time.�
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the fact that these guys are also really fucking funny too. But in that all to rare way, where the music is absolutely NOT funny, the humor is subtle, and clever, and just a bit snarky, but it's all over the place, EVEN in the music, but subtly so. From the sticker and obi text on the outside, to the lyrics (especially the part where they scream�"Here is my favorite part" before, well, what just might be their favorite part), to some of the clever arrangements, some of the strangely almost recognizable melodies, right down to the WTF liner notes, a chunk of pseudo-scientific data analyzing the various songs on the album, based on things like "distinct drum patterns", "average tempo", "vocal references to death", "abrupt pauses" and more. There are graphs and charts, and lengthy descriptions of how the "Divergence Index Value" of each song was calculated. Even the cover art, various swaths of old lady plastic flowers... these guys just totally rule. They're heavy and ultra brutal, but don't take themselves too seriously, they're funny, but the music is not, the humor is smart and funny, and somehow perfectly compliments the sheer epic intensity of the music...
They also had a contest celebrating the release of their new record with the grand prize being your very own customized song, and as if that weren't enough, have a peek at this amazing Austerity Program infomercial:
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=1WcsV7hQ1V4
As if it weren't already painfully obvious, absolutely essential, totally recommended, one of our favorite new records, and a no brainer for record of the week!
Last list we reviewed a dvd from a 'group' called Author & Punisher, a one man industrial doom band, whose sole member, Tristan Shone, designed and fabricated an incredible array of massive sound generators: a 300 pound spinning metal disc, a huge hydraulic handled chain driven (and seriously physical) drum machine, a motorized handled bass generator, a headgear with a multi mic'd mask, to transform vocals into different sounds and rhythms... We were mesmerized by the footage, the sound was amazing, heavy and crushing, totally intense, but watching this guy, physically create and trigger the sounds, is what sealed the deal, an brutal and exhausting 'performance', a sweat soaked, instrumental work out, way more interesting than the legion of boring floorcore laptoppers and effects jockeys. That said, most of us tend to not re-watch videos, whereas records we'll spin over and over again. So we figured it would definitely be worthwhile to track down a proper record from A&P, and here it is.
The title says it all, Drone Machines, not to mention the front cover image of A&P maestro Shone, hunched over the huge spinning metal disc. So if you picked up the dvd, you know what sort of crushing sonic punishment you're in for, and if you missed out on that dvd completely somehow, then this is your chance to get introduced to A&P's churning, chugging, pummeling low end industrial doom crush.
Purely sonically, these sounds could have been played by a band, or created on a computer, but just realizing that it's one guy, and his army of sound generators, definitely adds something to the listening experience. Plus there's also plenty of weird sonic manipulation that could NOT be played by a band, thick bass tones slow down like someone pressing their finger down on a record while it's playing, that would be that massive disc, the booming percussion, involves a slamming of the huge chain driven hydraulic handle, hearing this, picturing that, makes it sound that much heavier, but screw it, taken on music alone, the sound of Drone Machines is classic post industrial metal crunch, but twisted and a little warped, a more robotic and machine-like Godflesh maybe, the tone and timbre definitely owes much to Broadrick's industrial beast. But then the record will offer up some weird buzzing almost synthy sounding bass, and weird high end tangles, strange haunting melodies swirling around, a totally tripped out psychedelic swirl, and we're in some far out sonic sci-fi universe, before it gives way to another stretch of lurching lumbering Teutonic pound. The vocals, when there are vocals, are gruff and howled, again harkening back to Broadrick, and add some serious menace to the already sonically menacing proceedings.
The best parts for us are the parts where the sound sources become obvious, or at least where you can tell something weird and special is going on, the swooping low end, constantly changing pitch, the various sounds becoming clipped or cut off, the grinding rumbling low end speeding up then slowing down, it makes the whole experience that much more warped and tripped out and psychedelic. The music becomes more than a chunk of industrial metal, it becomes a heaving metallic monster MADE from industrial metal, the various gears and servos emitting strange buzzes and whirrs, its thunderous footsteps the booming beat, the speaker rattling low end it's guttural growl, and the howling vox, the man that commands this beast, and instructs it to do his bidding, a futuristic steampunk, post industrial robotic doom metal dirge, that we just can't get enough of!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We really weren't sure what to expect from a band called Author & Punisher, or why they would merit a dvd (actually dvd-r) release. The label sent us a clip from the dvd, and we immediately understood. Author & Punisher is a guy called Tristan Shone, an engineer/artist who fabricates incredible noise making machines, huge metal MACHINES, gorgeous in their construction, a massive 300 pound rotating disc, a strange handheld chain driven slider, a control panel with big airplane like controllers, all of which do more than look impressive, they control sounds. HEAVY SOUNDS. The massive disc spins, and Shone, using both hands, changes the speed of the disc and thus the tone of the bass; the handle, with the chain, slides along two metal cylinders, and controls the rhythms, a super primitive, yet ultra advanced drum controller. The handles control yet MORE low end, with motors built into the handles so when Shone is pulling the levers, to trigger the bass, the harder he pulls, the more the levers resist, in order to FEEL the bass. And the thing is, it doesn't just LOOK cool, it sounds amazing, like some sort of SUNNO))) / Godflesh dirge, but more alien, the way the bass can be controlled, stuttering, slowing down almost like a turntable, and the rhythms, crushing and massive, when Shone locks into a groove, it out-heavies even the heaviest of proper-instrumented bands. Not to mention, that after seeing this guy with the giant disc and the weird tank-like chained handle, regular old guitars and amps, will just look and sound wimpy in comparison. It's hard to describe just how amazing this stuff is to see and hear, but if you're anything like us, you'll watch 30 seconds of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blXgFQxpTkc
and be totally sold. So goddamn incredible. And it's not just the machines and the sound they make, it's that Shone uses them like a one-man band to make doom-drone pieces as good as any from our favorite full bands in the genre.
There's a chance, A&P might be coming to San Francisco, in which case you can expect some serious sonic Author & Punisher punishment right here in the shop, but until then, grab one of these while you can. Limited to 50 copies. Each one numbered, we have a dozen or so, they come in super swank dvd styled, printed chipboard fold over sleeves, with printed vellum inserts (and if for some reason dvds aren't your thing, we'll be getting some A&P cds one of these days as well!).
We first discovered Author & Punisher via a super limited dvd, cuz really, as good as the music is, and it is amazing, you sort of have to see the music being made to understand just how fucking nuts this stuff, and this guy really is. A&P is one man, Tristan Shone, who builds his own instruments, which in and of itself is nothing new, but we're not talking cobbled together rickety speakers and Amps For Christ style plywood soundmachines (although we love that stuff), we're talking gorgeous, precision machined instruments, that look like modern art, huge smooth steel drums, strange handles that slide along metal rails, bizarre triggers and stainless steel mouthpieces fitted with multiple microphones, Author & Punisher's setup looks like some post modern Rube Goldbergian sonic mousetrap, all glimmering metals and smooth expanses of perfectly fitted machines, the live performance as physical as any normal instrumentalist if not more so, Shone spinning the huge metal; drum creating thick swells of rib cage rattling low end, slamming the strange handles along the steel rails producing booming bursts of percussion, the strange Cylon like microphone producing an inhuman alien bellow. Even sans sound, the performance is riveting. Mesmerizing. We were lucky enough to host an Author & Punisher instore, and besides being incredible to see up close, the sounds produced shook the old wooden building that houses aQ so hard, that our upstairs neighbors came down in a panic, explaining that the whole hose was vibrating, and things were falling off shelves and tables.
Now imagine that sort of physical energy, converted into sound, but not just any sound, but totally mesmerizingly epic, crushing buzz drenched post industrial heaviness. A sound that falls somewhere between the industrial crush of Godflesh, and the blown out electronic buzz and glitch of Digital Hardcore, but all blurred into a sort of abject blackened industrial doom. All manner of low end pulsing and buzzing, rumbling and whirring, the beats skittery and stuttery one second, pounding and Teutonic the next, and then there's the bass generator, which we assume comes from that huge metal disc, cuz a sound that thick and intense should really come from a massive 300 pound hunk of spinning metal, that impossibly dense low end, weirdly woozy and almost liquid, the tones being adjusted on the fly, so much so that it sounds like the speed of the recording is being messed with, the sound warbly and woozy, warped and darkly damaged and druggy. While at the same time being heavy as fuck, and pretty much WAY more brutal that bands with real drummer and a phalanx of guitarists in front of rows of amps.
It's amazing how much of the physicality is captured on the record, more so here than on past recordings, the sound managing the delicate balance between blown out amp destroying crush, and tightly wound, barely controlled chaos. The songs slipping from lumbering doomic lurch, to swoonsome skittery abstract dronemusic, from noisy metallic pummel, thick, sinewy digidub, and from thick almost metalgaze drift, to super spare haunting minimal skitter.
Ursus Americanus is definitely the culmination of past recordings and live performances, managing the seemingly impossible task of creating something that stands on its own musically, but that captures a soundmaking method that you're unlikely to experience from anyone else. Totally incredible. And obviously, if you get the chance, see A&P live, and have your mind (and ears) blown.
It's difficult to review records by Author & Punisher, cuz as longtime readers of the aQ list know, the music is only part of the equation. A&P is in fact Tristan Shone, who builds some of the most beautiful musical 'instruments' we've ever seen. Instruments that look more like pieces of art, or the guts of some super advanced aircraft, massive steel drums, weird science fiction style triggers attached to tracks, that slide along steel strips like some futuristic weapon. He sings through a mask that looks a little like that weird mouthpiece Bane wears in the Batman movies. And the act of making this music is extremely physical. Watching Shone play, he's spinning that massive metal drum, and slamming those weird triggers, sliding pieces of steel into other pieces of steel, there are huge dials and knobs, and chains, and cords, it's like he's in the cockpit of some alien spaceship, the act of flying said spaceship just so happens to produce the music of Author & Punisher, at least, that's how we envision it. And it's these gorgeous machines that while integral to the sound are inherently not present on the record. So if you've never seen the machines, or seen A&P play, then it's all about the music. Thankfully, the music is fucking awesome. Granted, it's a lot better listening to this stuff, and imagining those huge machines grinding away and spewing out these sounds, but even sans the visuals, this stuff kills. At times it's like an even more blown out, more machine like Godflesh. Although this time around, there's a lot more melody, which gives some parts a sort of dark gloomy rock vibe. We hear a little Deftones weirdly enough, and some of the post Godflesh outfits (Jesu, JK Flesh), there's definitely a serious dub vibe going on too, the vocals doused in effects, and looped and layered, the drums too, pretty dubby, and the bass, holy shit, the low end on this A&P record is unlike anything you've ever heard, like the rib cage rattling wobble of dubstep, but times ten, even more blown out and cranked up, noisy and thick, subsonic, corrosive and caustic. The sound will be heavy and churning, when suddenly, the bass drops, and it's like someone snuck in and spun your bass knob to ten. And cranked up the volume too. We can vouch for the extreme bassiness. We were lucky enough to host an Author & Punisher instore a while back, and one song in, our upstairs neighbors came rushing downstairs to see what the hell was going on, as EVERYTHING in their apartments was shaking and vibrating and sliding off shelves. THAT part of the A&P sound is pretty accurately represented here, the sound MASSIVE, and thick, and dense, and utterly CRUSHING.
This time around Shone seems to have honed everything he was going for on past records. The production is huge, the bass is punishing, the arrangements are dense and intricate, the sound is equal parts dubbed out and electronic, super dynamic too, with long stretches of more skittery minimalism, the heaving slabs of skull smashing heaviness more spaced out, plenty of gothy and gloomy passages, the vocals slipping easily from effects heavy clean croon, to demonic distorted bellow, the beats flit from skittery to devastating pound and back again, the overall sound is more textural, more fully realized, heavy, and rhythmic, mesmerizing and seriously fucking brutal. Anyone into Godflesh, Necro Deathmort, JK Flesh, old Digital Hardcore, heavy dub, blown out beatscapery, and of course alien robotic metal-dub, this shit is unbeatable!
Cool small world aQ crossover postscript: Longtime readers of the aQ list are no doubt familiar with the comic Wuvable Oaf, we've reviewed several issues, and raved about it like crazy, our very own Andee even appeared in one issue, as did aQ, lots of big hairy dudes, cats, strange sex and plenty of METAL. Anyway, one of the imaginary bands featured in the comic, Ejaculoid, who is in fact a 'real' imaginary band (featuring some aQ beloved hardcore luminaries!), were given the 'real' remix treatment by a handful of actual real bands, one of which was Author & Punisher, whose Ejaculoid remix is included here!
First off, if you don't know the comic Wuvable Oaf, go track down whatever you can. Right now. There's a forthcoming compendium, which should gather up most everything, but the individual issues (some of which we still have in stock, just ask) come with all kinds of extras, hand drawn covers, scratch and sniff pages, guitar picks, stickers, paper dolls and even records! By the imaginary bands in the comic!! basically, it's all about a big hairy guy named Oaf, his failed attempts at finding love, his crazy cats, and his weirdo friends, the comic is silly, and funny, and clever, and hairy and pretty gay, and has lots of music stuff in it too (our own Andee is featured in one issue, as is "Aquarium Records"!!) One of the bands in the comic is the awesomely monikered Ejaculoid, and we're obviously not the only ones a little bit obsessed with Ejaculoid, as two aQ faves, LA black metal trio Harassor and mad scientist industrial metal instrument builder Author & Punisher, have stepped up to offer their own takes on the Ejaculoid classic "Fearce" (recorded by members of Limp Wrist!), which originally accompanied the Oafanthology collection, but now available on its own...
Author & Punisher transform it into what is essentially an A&P track, a churning industrial pound, processed vocals, thick, grinding rib cage rattling bass, sounding like some weird hybrid of Nine Inch Nails, Ministry and robotic gabber, but slowed down into something malevolent, maniacal and darkly doomy. While Harassor turn the track into a lo-fi grim blast of grunted black buzz, furious blast beats and insectoid riffing, laced with some weird electronic squiggles, and breaking down part way through into a swaggery doomic stomp. So rad!
On maroon/grey swirled vinyl, with bad ass Ed Luce artwork, includes a download!
A Word From Within is the debut from this Indiana duo, just drums, guitar and vocals, these two conjure up gorgeously tranced out black metal minimalism, lengthy tracks that drift from hushed near silent drifts of ethereal guitar shimmer, to pounding, lo-fi, noise drenched black metal dirgery, a cool fusion of abstract haunting slowcore and raw blackened primitivism. The near 13 minute opener spends its first few minutes in some sort of moody musical dreamstate, the guitar weightless, swaddled in near silence, minor key melodies unfurled over long stretches of hushed murmur, before exploding into a furious chaotic onslaught of pounding caveman drums and noisy buzzy guitars, and throat shredding shrieks, the vibe is a sort of raw noise rock meets old school black metal buzz, the whole thing peppered with surprising melodies, that hint at a poppiness in the shadows, the song returning to the more contemplative strum of the opening, but this time with some distorted almost industrial percussion, the sound murky and moody and brooding, and again surprisingly melodic, before finishing off in a blaze of buzzing black frenzy.
The other two 'proper' songs offer up more of the same, what ultimately sounds like black metal played by noise rockers, or hell even the other way around, but it's awesome, dense and intense, raw and urgent and passionate, the sound lo-fi for sure, but noisy and blown out and heavy, droney and tranced out in places, almost mathy and post rocky in others, there's a brief bit of dirgey shamanistic folk, which is far too short at just two minutes, but that bleeds into the 11 minute closer, which begins much like the first track, a brooding folk flecked creep, before exploding into another chaotic sprawl of wildly pummeling noisy raw black energy.
Probably super limited, as these things usually are, so grab one before they're gone for good...
The major label debut (after three AQ-recommended indie label releases) for these "you've got your emo chocolate in my heavy metal peanut butter" punk rock kids from SoCal. With their capable and practically seamless blend of soaring, melodic emo-styled vocal choruses, Sunset Strip cock rock swagger, slayin' metalcore breakdowns, and Maidenesque gallop (all flawlessly executed with tons of energy), Avenged Sevenfold certainly have their fans here at Aquarius! To be sure, we might have to lump 'em into the guilty pleasure catagory, 'specially with City Of Evil's big-leagues production polish. But if you're not afraid of a band whose vocalist unleashes a few heartfelt (if whiny) "Whoa-oh-oh-ohs" per song, then this album gets our recommendation for best Bad Religion-meets-Helloween record of the year, so far, for sure! Or is it Anthrax-meets-Faith No More? Or the Get Up Kids-meets-Bang Tango-meets-Metallica-meets-Alice In Chains-meets-The Offspring-meets-Yngwie Malmsteen-meets-Poison The Well-meets-Skid Row? Heck it's all of that and more. And even though they make it really easy to play games of "what's that part remind me of? and that part?" within each track, what's amazing is that their songs remain so dang catchy and definitely Avenged Sevenfold's when all's said and done. Reactions to A7X's cheese-to-crunch ratio (a lot of both, really, each drawn equally from their metal and punk influences, and that's ok with us) will assuredly vary according to one's individual taste -- we say yum!
We were totally blown away by this band when we got the ep precurser to this record and we've been super anxious for the full length and it's finally here. Avenged Sevenfold are kids from Southern California who play some of the most explosive metallic
We eagerly anticipated this second full-length from SoCal's Avenged Sevenfold, and now that it's here, it proves to be equally as impressive as their AQ-fave debut. If you haven't heard 'em before, these kids are sick experts at blenderizing LA metal/emo/hardcore/pop-punk into something that shouldn't really work but does. It's like Jimmy Eat World meets Iron Maiden meets Pantera meets Get Up Kids. Their blender is friggin' clogged with chunky, chugging guitar riffs, emo vocal choruses, Euro-bright leads, punishing drumming, lush piano interludes, Zakk Wylde pick squeals, Phil Anselmo growls, and MTV-ready pop hooks. It's a total you-got-your-peanut butter-in-my-chocolate kind of thing, and it totally works, crushing you with metallic brutality one moment, lifting you up and wringing your heart with vocal melody the next, bridging the gap between the two with soaring '80s metal guitar harmonies... Avenged Sevenfold might not appeal to people stuck at either extreme end of that spectrum, but the rest of us are lovin' it. There's other hardcore bands attempting to mix these genres, but we think Avenged Sevenfold are the most traditionally metal AND one of the most poppy. Oh, is it at all ironic? Let's just say you can enjoy it on many levels. Maybe they were being fun and ironic before, but now they've realized the commerical potential of their approach. Recommended.
Don't be fooled by the first track on this ep, a heartfelt piano ballad, complete with sentimental lyrics and an "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" style emotive guitar solo (the disc even contains an ultra cheesy video for this track as well -- is this song a joke?
Aves are an entirely new prospect to us here at aQ HQ. Here's a quick list of things we know about Aves: 1) Aves is from Virgina. End of list! Oh, and also Aves plays glorious coming-of-age sun-dappled blackened instrumental post-gaze-punk. Is that a thing?? Well, it is now! For the first two minutes of Feather's first track you'd be forgiven for thinking you were listening to some lost Smiths instrumental, all jangling reverbed guitar, uptempo "This Charming Man" swing, shuffling drums and walking bass. But then suddenly, and really without any warning, the song lurches into a glimmering black metal crescendo. The stormclouds of Transilvanian Hunger pseudo-blasts clashing with the sunset horizon of blissed out comfort blanket post rock. The easiest comparison here is early Alcest, but Aves have a tendency to genre hop much more, leaving the black metal tendencies completely behind for extended chunks of time, only for them to barge back in again when you'd almost forgotten they were ever there. "Nest" is all four-to-the-floor disco drums accompanied by the kind of bittersweet dancefloor sway you could easily imagine Bernard Sumner singing over. But four and a half minutes in, those hazy blastbeats muscle their way in, turning the song transcendent, before morphing into a punk rock bounce, nostalgic guitar leads swarming like transparent insects. Elsewhere, the minor key post punk swivel & pulsating anxious bass work of "Nightflight" recall classic Echo & The Bunnymen (not to mention sadly defunct Alcest spin off Amesours). "Somewhere" is the closest Feathers gets to black metal in any traditional sense (although it's still a little ways off!), its plodding mid paced beat throbbing under heartrending cascading fuzz sounding something like My Bloody Valentine covering Filosofem. While conversely, "Clouds" doesn't have even a hint of metal, channeling instead the all enveloping opiate warmth of Slowdive. We're used to hearing black metal flirt with other subgenres, but it's rare to hear black metal used so sparingly by an otherwise totally non-metal entity. It's a really intriguing and effective approach, and Aves is definitely something we'll be keeping our eyes on! Highly recommended for fans of the aforementioned Alcest and Amesours, as well as Deafheaven, Sleeping Peonies, Clouds Collide and all manner of life affirming post rock, post punk and shoegaze.
Record number two from this US black metal horde, masterminded by Nachtmystium member Andrew Marukszewski. While Nachtmystium seems to have gradually been moving away from black metal and toward a sound more distinctly psychedelic and progressive, in Avichi, Marukszewski hews closer to classic black metal, but within that framework, he manages to craft something definitely out of the ordinary, channeling the same sort of post black metalisms as Deathspell Omega, but with more of a classic metal vibe, the guitars cleaner, the riffing slightly less gnarled, with some extreme dynamics, and a killer not at all traditional sound, the drums especially, dry and HUGE (it was recorded at Albini's Electrical Audio after all), with the band often locking into these soaring majestic crescendos, that remind us of fellow USBM-ers Woe, a sort of indie/post rock sensibility informing the sounds, but in a much more subtle way here, but it IS there, and it definitely affects the vibe. And when the guitars and drums are locked tight, it's mesmerizing and trancelike.
It's during the slower parts (some of them at least) when the DSO comparisons seem especially apt, that sort of Slintiness, and Avichi take that sound even further in places, slipping to into post rock that most actual post rock bands would kill for, drum sound and all, but obviously heavier, and usually those moments are precursors to the song exploding into something more black and buzzy, although the band have mastered the art of melding those two extremes.
The final two part nearly twenty minute epic title track is where the band really lets their post rock flag fly, definitely risking alienating the true grim hordes, but, the band already were well removed from true kvlt black metal anyway, but on the second movement, the band do all sorts of cool crazy stuff, blasts of frenzied muted riffing, lurching start stop mathiness, peppered with wild guitar licks, and after a brief blast of more traditional black buzz, they slip right back into a killer stretch of mathy melody that we wish would go on forever, and does in fact play out to the very end of the record.
Fans of Woe, Wolves In The Throne Room, Deafheaven, Fell Voices, and other modern experimental / progressive black metal outfits would definitely do well to check these guys out...
Hail Sweden's own grim hate-mongers (among many), Avsky. This is a band not intimidated by fiercely calculated genre boundaries, proudly celebrating the intersection between old style black metal, blackened death metal (a la lo-fi Hypocrisy), and charred crust punk. This is their second full-length in general, but their first for Moribund, specifically. While some may feel that the relatively high production value somehow cheapens the album, those interested in music and not just being kvlt will here be rewarded. Simply soak in the maleficent hate vibes, and lose yourself in a trance. Crushing guitars, searing riffs, blasting double-bass, and tortured, howling vocals. From mid-tempo to blast beats, it's all here. The bases are covered. Think old Darkthrone demos, Bathory, and Nattefrost all laying prostrate before Baphomet's throne.
We're always on the lookout for more weird black metal. But sometimes it just finds us. We got an email from a mysterious band from Japan called Avsolutized. Like most black metal groups, they were exceedingly polite, and just very much wanted us to listen to their music. So we did, and holy shit did these guys blow us away. They've been a band for almost 12 years now, and this is their very first release, and it's only FIVE songs! But you know what, it doesn't even matter. We would gladly wait another 12 years for 5 more songs like this. It's that good. That black and freaked out and gloriously fucked up. Fans of weirdo black metal and outsider grimness NEED this.
The first track is an ambient intro, all mournful guitar, and moody drones, but with soaring operatic vocals over the top.
When the first proper song kicks in, the band buzzes and pounds, a looped repetitive riff, but then the vocals, beginning as a guttural growl and quickly sliding up to an eighties metal wail, and back again, it's dizzying. The song switches to half time, the vocals transform back into a rasp, but again, explode into falsetto shrieks. Fucking brilliant. And the music underneath is the perfect support, murky and washed out, buzzy and dense, looped and hypnotic, even without the vocals, we'd be way into it, super depressive black buzz, but the vocals just transform it into something totally unique and pretty insane sounding.
One of the 5 songs is a Setherial cover weirdly enough, and they do it pretty straight, maybe upping the buzz ante, filtering it through their own cracked sound, furious and thick and relentless, they sort of out-Setherial Setherial, and then there's those vocals, here more of a traditional black shriek, but still pretty impressive. A brief folky interlude leads to the records closer, a nearly 10 minute black blowout. Loping and buzzy, totally epic, the riffing majestic and mournful, and the vocals, growling out a low demonic rumble, spitting out hellish black rasps, and of course shrieking wildly, until the track breaks down into an ambient interlude, the vocals transformed into a throaty croon, and then quickly to a wild banshee wail. Not to make too much of the vocals, cuz the music here is excellent, some of the best grim black buzz we've heard, but when it's all tangled up with the convoluted compositions and bizarre vocals, it turns what would have been just a killer black metal record into a freaked out fucked up blackened classic.
Right from the beginning, the second recording from Avsolutized to make the list, this time an earlier demo tape, limited to 99 copies, of which we got the last dozen, so these will no doubt go FAST.
Right out of the gate, these Japanese black metal weirdos demonstrate exactly why we've barely been able to keep their cd in stock, with some haunting clean guitar and some INSANE falsetto vocals, like an unhinged hair metal howl, that slips from guttural grunt to warbly croon all the way back up to that freaky falsetto, in a single stretch, and then the band kicks in, exploding in a frenzy of beautifully blown out black buzz, and chaotic drumming, and those vocals continuously slipping and sliding and soaring all over the place.
The buzz slips dramatically into some woozy more midtempo Burzumic lopes, with the guitars unfurling soaring melodies and haunting atmospherics, always grounded by a sudden burst of howling screeches or a burst of off kilter rhythms and machine like flurries of blast beat mayhem. Weird to think we might not have ever heard these guys if they hadn't just emailed us out of the blue. Even weirder is that we just discovered there may be some link between Avsolutized, and their equally demented black metal countrymen Arkha Sva, especially considering the distinctive Arkha calligraphy that adorns the tape cover. But none of that matters once you're immersed in the swirling black world of Avsolutized, furious and blackened and heavy, all twisted into strange shapes and tangled up with those insane and impossible vocals, and some seriously inhuman lightspeed drumming. And again, LIMITED TO 99 COPIES! We have less than 15. Each one housed in a cool extra paneled tape cover, and each one hand numbered.
Yet another reissue from the illustrious Southern California black metal collective known as the Black Twilight Circle, this one from the oddly monikered Axeman, whose lone 2010 demo was previously only available as a super limited cassette, but is now available again, as a slightly less limited lp.
As we mentioned in our reviews of some other recent Black Twilight reissues (Odz Manouk, Tuukaria), the Black Twilight Circle is modeled after the infamous French Black Legions, which included bands like Mutiilation, Vlad Tepes, with just a small handful of members, each playing in different groups in different arrangements. Volahn, the man behind Axeman, also performs under his own name, as well as in a number of other lesser known projects, and at one time played both in Bone Awl (live) and Ashdautus. In Axeman, though, Volahn mixes his old school crusty black thrash with classic eighties style metal, at least on the opener "Metnal", with its synth laden, spidery minor key opener, that sounds like some lost metal ballad, before kicking into full on rocking, rife with wild shredding leads, and chaotic drumming, we'd have ben happy if that was the total of Axeman's sound, but instead, the sound shifts to a more chugging dirgemetal, with raspy vokills, before finally exploding into some blasting thrashing metallic mayhem, raw, primitive, chaotic and loose, the shredding leads returning, and the sound shifting back to that classic metal sound that opened the track. "Kosmic Death" is a much black beast, frantic and frenzied, way more black metal, a murky lo-fi onslaught that is as filthy and buzzy as anything else we've heard from the Black Twilight bands, with some awesome King Diamond like falsetto wails. And finally, "Attestor of Doom And Birth" is a wild blast of old school black thrash, the sound so blown out and distorted, it often turns into a dense wall of droned out buzz, but when the buzz is dialed back a a bit, a tangle of buried melody is revealed, and soon the leads return, which definitely add something special, as most black metal seems to have dispensed with guitar solos entirely. Here it just gives the sound a classic speed/thrash metal vibe, which is a cool match with Axeman's more grim sinister murky leanings. The production is awesomely lo-fi too, with the tape hiss sometimes so loud it's like another instrument, which again, just adds to the atmosphere, and if you're like us, make it sounds even cooler.
Full color printed inner sleeves and nice thick black and red jackets.
[note: The sound is a bit less lo-fi on the lp, these samples were made from the tape version]
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Awesome droning avant metal. A bit industrial, a little black, very dark and creepy.
So, do you really need another hole in the head, I mean black metal album? Well, yes you do, you just might want this one, it's a bit different and certainly on the extreme of extreme. On the other hand, Ayat could easily be too scary for some. We were intrigued with Ayat for several reasons. 1) It's on the Moribund label, and we always at least check out their releases, 2) the band hails from of all places, BEIRUT, and 3) we read an interesting interview with them recently in the venerable Metal Maniacs magazine (which, by the way, we're sad to hear is soon to cease publication, a seriously severe loss to the metal scene we grew up with).
In their interview, Ayat make some seemingly hyperbolic statements ("Moribund couldn't refuse this; they had no choice"), but also also sound like they have intelligent reason to believe them, and express some ideas that we don't think we've ever heard a band say, such as the notion that their listeners "are the people who don't give two shits about Ayat but have a life of their own. Every now and then, we give them a gift. The musician/listener relationship should not go beyond that." They also discuss what real war is like (something they know about, that most black metal bands don't), explaining "it's getting your hands dirty, and screwing everyone around you until you convince yourself you're not such an asshole after all". Their atypical background and evident intelligence already set Ayat apart. Then you should note that the guy quoted above calls himself Filthy Fuck. And the other guy in the band is named Sadogoat. Reconciling that, taking them seriously, definitely made us want to hear their music.
And of course, what really matters IS the music. And the music here, or should we say "music", is REALLY distorted and deranged and blasting and brutal. Up there with early Anaal Nathrakh and Revenge. It almost makes you wonder, why they don't just go all the way into Merzbow or Incapacitants style total noise? But then this would lose the frantic headbanging catchiness that underpins all the blurred, buzzing, screaming chaos. Ayat's relentless raw, rawarrrrghhh sound is really kind of punk rock (like Pissed Jeans x 666!!!), but the attentive listener will also realize there's quite a bit of artistry to how these tracks are constructed. It's a complex thing cramming all this craziness and violence into what are actual, rockin' songs. Considering that the band -sounds- like they'd rather be slitting their wrists or gargling alcohol or beating you up rather than doing anything constructive.
Ayat's song titles are just lovely, like "Puking Under Radiant Moonlight (Followed By A Century Long Ejaculation)" and "Thousands Of Pissed Motherfuckers". Filthy Fuck's vocals are often barked, rasped and sputtered like a hardcore Donald Duck and it's not always possible to tell what he's singing about (which may be just as well) but we get the idea it's nihilistic, not nice.
We were -really- worried about the singer towards the climax of the first track "Ilahiya Khinzir! (All Hail Allah The Swine)", but then realized what we were hearing was a recording of pigs squealing. The album is littered with tons of weird, disturbing samples, which sometimes extend into sinister soundscapey passages... but then it's back to the blasting, soon enough. There's actually lots of surprises within these tracks. Snippets of old timey music. The occasional perfunctory guitar solo surfacing. Once in a while, there's even some clean, chantlike singing (a la Root's Big Boss), most notably on the downtempo album closer "Such A Beautiful Day! (The Exaltation Of Saint Francis)" which combines plodding, morose melody with a subtle sheen of electronic drone. Whew! Many methods to their madness here.
Be warned, as you've undoubtedly already surmised, there's religious intolerance, heck, HATRED expressed (not entirely a surprise, as they are a black metal band, usually not known as fans of organized religion, or terribly concerned about offending anyone). This band, based in Lebanon as we mentioned, is avowedly anti-Islamic. Wonder how that works out for them?
Just how far into the shadows can you go? Avantgarde US black metal band Azrael attempt to answer that question by unleashing this double disc, comprising Acts III ("Self") and IV ("Goat") of their on-going journey into the void of unlight. As we've noted before, these guys are willing to wander outside of the typical black metal template, sounding much more like a moody post-rock band at times... grimly melodic, droned-out, rhythmic and spare. Elsewhere, they cough up the black metal bonafides, rasping vokills and frosty riffage and all. But still they sound something like a necro Neurosis. As longtime fans of the original nordic black metal post-rockers, Ved Buens Ende, we love this. Azrael, at home in the shadows, appreciate that darkness is often quiet, and that the seasick tension produced by repetition and dynamics can be as creepily effective as the most overtly brutal guitars and screams. Awesome!
Another review courtesy of our black metal brother Wrest from the mighty Leviathan:
From the wastelands of the cold and frosty midwest, comes Azrael's "Into Shadows Act 1". This is the first of a two part assault, from Lord Samaiza (vocals, guitar) and Algol (vocals, basses, programming). Continuing on from "Obdurate", their first record on the now defunct Desastrious records, this duo's talents have been honed to a razors edge. Discordant melodies, dark and blackened folk, and some truly creepy acoustic shards, all buried under ritualistic�hate howls. Azrael are monoliths, rising far above most U.S. black metal, with their cold vision of grim expression.
Here's part two of Azrael's Into Shadows and on it they've veered even further away from typical grim black metal into melodic avant weirdness. The first clue is the sleeve, a gorgeously stark series of photos of snowy lanscapes, snow covered trees, and leafless branches. No band info to be found anywhere. The second clue is the first two minutes of the first song, delicately strummed acoustic guitars and reverb heavy drums, eventually joined by droning keyboards, or maybe they're cellos. Either way, it's a weirdly spare sort of rhythmic post-rockish workout. Eventually this pastoral tranquility bursts into buzzing necro black metal hell, all high-end mosquito guitars, howled vocals and simple programmed drum beats, but still over a throbbing, swooning bed of those same droning cellos. Really cool. The record sort of seesaws back and forth between grim howling buzz and sleepy doomy low end rumble. Maybe a little like a black metal Old Man Gloom. Dark and hypnotic, grim and necro, and with some surprising, almost indie sounding melodic jangle thrown into the already unlikely mix!
More grim buzzing black metal from Finland! For some of us, that's all we need to know, but then, go ahead and check inside and discover that the lyrics were "written and stolen from various sources", by someone called Ancient Fisherman, who just so happens to be Albert Witchfinder of the mighty Reverend Bizarre!! Fuck yeah!
So in addition to digging through the RB archives and releasing almost as many records posthumously as when they were actually a band, Mr. Witchfinder indulges his glacial ultra doom side as The Puritan, and offers up musical black masses in both Armanenschaft, and now Azrael Rising.
Relentless and furious, buzzing and black, the Ancient Fisherman's partner Vitutor lays down some serious grimness, channeling the Nordic elite, but also countrymen like Horna, Ajattara, Beherit, Sargeist, the Finnish elite, and Azrael sounds right at home. Long epic stretches of sweeping keyboards, give way to loping sprawls of midtempo Burzumic buzz, before slipping into lightning fast blasts of blown out blackness. One track stands out, as it harkens back to Reverend Bizarre, a seriously doomy trudge, the vocals slipping from harsh and screechy to bellowy and demonic, while the riffs churn and the tempos lurch, before the last song crashes in, a blown out hiss drenched burst of midtempo drumming, washed out blurred buzzing guitars, and vocals that are wild and gloriously unhinged.
So there you go... Black metal. Finnish. Albert Witchfinder. Buzz. Blast. Grim. What else do you need?
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Okay doomlords and dronelords, it's been a while since we got something in this heavy and grim and bleak and doomic. Something so blackened and crushing, but also so dark and droney, so blissed out and blurry.
The mysterious B.Baphomet, utilizing a strange collection of sound making devices, including bass guitars, Moogs, FX, vocals, Rhodes, percussion, oscillators, seat creaking, vibraphone and of course "knocking something over", has concocted this haunting mysterious collection of blackdrones and downtuned ambient doom, of shimmering whispers and washed out electronic landscapes. Weirdly, two of the tracks here are credited to B.Baphomet, while two of them are credited to M. Colby, who IS B.Baphomet.
Regardless, the opener is for the doomlords, a near black metal crawl, huge guitar chords poured out like black tar, super processed vocals howl and growl, streaks of feedback and long stretches of crumbling rumble, like a black metal version of that Vulture Club record we love so much. This is ultra-ultra-megadoom, an impossibly thick wall of black buzz, of low end sludge, creeping and seeping, the vocals buried in the mix, crushing and pummeling, a slow motion sonic flaying. The track eventually morphs into something much more static, the guitars spread out into throbbing drone, layered with fuzzy synths, and tons of low end, occasionally peppered with barely audible vocals, strange short wave interference, damaged FX,13 minutes of utter and glorious aural punishment.
But from that point on, the other three tracks, are for the dronelords (and hell, by now most aQ customers should count themselves as both, doomlord and dronelord), something much more abstract and minimal, the second track, is a strange swirl of muted melodies, buried rhythms, swells of processed guitar, all smeared into a blurry glimmering dronescape. The third track is similarly minimal and drone-y but much more gritty, the various tones crumbly and distorted, crackle, hiss, whir wrapped around decaying sound, the track slipping from warm alien glow, to subterranean industrial grind, but always stretched into long drawn out alien sounding sonic expanses.
The final track is the prettiest of the bunch, a sort of lullaby, drifting bell like tones, glimmering chimes, muted delicate melodies, warm soft chords, all so soft and shimmery and so unlike the rest of the disc, especially the blackened opener.
SUPER LIMITED!! Only 111 copies! Each disc comes in a super swank hand screened brown on brown cardstock sleeve, with a printed red Japanese style obi, inside, a printed color insert, each one hand numbered.
As much as we love us some ultra doom, some seriously sick slowness, you know, that doooooom, that is so glacial, that the songs begin to crumble and ooze into viscous black pools. We do. But sometimes we just want our doom to ROCK. Sounds contrary but it's been known to happen. Doom can be slow and low and still rock. Take B.Son for example. Whose particular brand of doomic energy is drawn from bands like Harvey Milk, Karp, The Melvins, godheadSilo, more a sort of downtuned propulsive sludge with doom elements, than pure doom. But goddamn if it isn't just as brutal and heck, doomy...
Thick ropy buzzbass, pounding destructo drums, throaty howls, grinding guitars, all lurching and swaying like some drugged and demented superrock doombeast, all filtered through a bit of grinding screamo and some buzzed out metallic blackness.�
There are moments of blisssed� out post rockiness, and weird laid back grooves, stretched out near ambience and dense little mathy jams, but those moments just serve to keep the doomed sludge rock fury from becoming too much.�
Produced by James Plotkin. Spiffy black and gold sleeves... This seems to already be out of print as well, so this batch could very well be the last we see of these...
We only have a handful of these in stock, and pretty sure this is already out of print at the label. We got them ages ago, but the covers were damaged in shipping, so we had been waiting for more covers, and when we finally did get more, they somehow ended up in a box in the back, until we found them a few days ago.
So lucky day for the doomlords, as this is another crushing slab of blackened ultra doom from German heavyweights, B.Son or Black Shape Of Nexus, teamed up with the new to us Crowskin.
B.Son operate somewhere between the spare spacious plod of Fleshpress, and the blood curdling speaker torture of Bunkur. It's slow, and thick, and viscous and harsh, and downtuned and HEAVY, but there's tons of space, the guitars are weirdly clean-ish, the arrangements are abstract, minus the vocals this could be some strange doom-ed post rock, but with the hellish howls, it is transformed into an oozing sprawl of glacial crush, of lumbering Teutonic lurch, shot through with some surprisingly pretty melodies, and some subtle sonic shading. There's a new full length out now too, which this has us dying to hear...
Crowskin are also from Germany, and are also somewhat doomy, but unlike the tarpit trudge of B.Son, Crowskin, are a bit more propulsive, a little more mathy, and a little more crusty / punky, but even more outwardly brutal, with long stretches of loping prettiness, moody atmospherics, which inevitably lead into massive churning swirls of distortion doused crustdoom, but they also have these strange parts, where a super clean guitar unfurls a haunting melody, WAY up in the mix, louder than everything else, making for something really off kilter and twisted sounding. Like Neurosis via Moss, Crowskin lumber monstrously through extended sprawls of buzzy drones and roiling low end crush.
A pretty lethal one two punch for the doom freeks out there. Too bad we only have 15 copies or so, and as mentioned above, it's very likely these will be the last copies ever...
Gorgeous, slightly oversized, super striking fold over cardstock sleeves, a few have barely bent corners (compliments of the post office), but these are the last copies we'll see, so we're all gonna just have to live with it, thankfully, the bends are very minimal and thus barely noticeable to all but the most anal of record nerds...
add to cart [/images/addtocart.gif]/af4105.html Space rock gone classical? Yes! It's a drugs and flutes thing you wouldn't understand. We got turned on to these guys by our friends in Circle. This band from Finland started as a standard-issue jamming stoner space rock outfit, doing the heavily effected, free form freakout thing. Not quite so damaged as countrymen Doktor Kettu or Avarus, but close. But, perhaps tiring of the more untrained approach, one long dark Arctic winter they spent woodshedding, studying up on their classical chops. And they also drafted in some drop-outs from the local conservatory of music to help out. Now they make their debut as Bachwind, doing, among other things, a monster magnetized adaptation (a very loose adaptation) of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier 1: Prelude & Fugue No. 2 (BWV 847) of 1738, with an instrumental lineup that includes both fuzz bass and viola, analog synth and harpsichord. It's Avarus meets Apocalyptica, basically. Recommended, of course.
There aren't a whole lot of badass bands from New Hampshire. Hell, there aren't a whole lot of any kind of bands from New Hampshire. But if Backstabbers Incorporated are any indication of the kind of unrestrained metallic fury that lurks just below the surface of their seemingly placid New England home state, then we'll give New Hampshire a much wider berth in our future travels.
Furious downtuned metallic punk rock crossover, with grinding riffs, thrashing drums, throbbing low end, howled vocals, but all packed into incredibly chaotic and head spinning arrangements, with plenty of plodding doomy breakdowns, and full on near-noise blow outs. Super intense and emotional. Way too metal for most punk rockers, this is fucking brutal and heavy and utterly pummeling. Think old Neurosis, Converge, Drop Dead, SSD and the like. Awesome.
Okay drug rock freeks, space rock explorers, doomlords, sludge demons, prog obsessives, metal maniacs, stoner dudes, noise nerds, and basically most of the other folks who read this here aQ list, Bad Acid is the magazine for you. And calling Bad Acid a magazine is a bit of a misnomer. It's more of a multimedia spacemetaldoomprogsludgenoise experience. You think we're exaggerating? A seventy minute dvd, an ELEVEN HOUR mp3 audio disc, a nearly two hour long label sampler, AND a 60 page booklet/magazine packed with liner notes, articles and interviews.
Packed with SO many aQ favorites, but just as many new bands we'd never heard, a bunch who could very well turn into new favorites. We've barely scratched the surface, since if we spent 14 hours on each review, the list would be, oh, about 5 items long. But from what we've heard / seen / watched so far, this latest issue of Bad Acid is pretty essential.
The dvd first, a series of music videos, film excerpts and slide shows, we were mostly excited about the scenes from an Antonius Rex movie, Antonius Rex being the dude from JACULA!! Tripped out and satanic and appropriately what-the-fuck. Some killer live footage of doom mongers Ogre, a killer art gallery slide show from the Malleus artist collective, featuring an awesome soundtrack from Morkobot, a Northwinds video, and then some more obscure stuff, Manatees tour video, Wicked Minds video, King Suffy Generator video, Lento live footage and tons more. All woven together by some super creepy animated menus.
Then there's the cd-r, featuring 11 hours of mp3's from Moss, Danava, White Hills, Barbara, Hey Colossus, Orange Sunshine, Capricorns, Khlyst, Acid King, Heresi, Raw Radar War, Fire Witch, Taint, Orange Goblin, Shinjuku Thief, Litmus and those are just the bands we know and already dig. 57 bands total, 102 tracks, tons of new bands to check out and discover. Also included is a label sampler focusing on the Bone Structure cd-r label, whose releases run the gamut from raw black metal, to buzzing industrial noise, to black ambient to grinding industrial weirdness. We actually have some BS stuff on the way, to be reviewed on the list soon, but this is a killer way to check out tons of stuff on the label.
And then there's the actual magazine component, with notes on each of the bands on the cd-r, a feature on each of the bands on the dvd, tons of info about Bone Structure and the bands on the label, as well as interviews with Fire Witch, Taint, Orange Goblin, and probably most exciting of all Alan Dubin, formerly of Khanate, talking about his new band Gnaw, which features folks from Burning Witch, Thorr's Hammer, Atavist, Enos Slaughter and Ike Yard(!). Man, we can't wait to hear that.
All of the above packaged in a standard dvd style case, with killer cover art from the Malleus Rock Art Lab. A bit pricey due to the weak dollar and the expensive overseas shipping, but pretty well worth it.
Yet another incredible collection of far out sights and sounds from the folks at Bad Acid. Everything from sludge to doom to psych to stoner rock to noise to weird jazz to fractured electronics to post rock and pretty much every stop in between. Rumor is that Bad Acid might be shifting to a monthly release schedule, which is certainly fine with us, but considering how much stuff is jammed into each Tab, we have no idea how these guys will be able to pull it off. But here's hoping, cuz not only is every issue loaded with tons of mp3s and videos and live performances from bands we already love, but also included are tons of bands we'd never even heard of before, many of which end up being be big time favorites.
This time around, the audio compilation includes tracks from Gnod, Harvey Milk, Oxbow, Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg, Moss, 5ive, Berkowitz Lake & Dahmer, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Zu, Btong, Skull Defekts, Burmese, Cadaver Eyes, Pendo, L'Otracina, Enablers, Outrageous Cherry, Millions, Kenji Siratori, A Fashionable Disease, and that's just the bands we know, there are FORTY FIVE other bands!!! The dvd features Bay Area stoner stalwarts Acid King, as well as a whole mess of mostly new to us bands, offering up promo videos, live sets as well as animation and other visual weirdness. There's also a label sampler included on the disc, and then there's still the printed magazine! A thick dvd sized booklet, overflowing with interviews and articles and features and reviews, with most of the bands featured on the dvd as well all the notes for the artists included on the dvd (both the audio and video portion). Easily one of the most amazing resources for tripped out weird underground and independent music, and for discovering new bands, or even for actually finally hearing bands you'd always wondered about, it's a big ol' earful, and an eyeful, so best to set aside some serious listening / reading time, and just dive in. After all, since they might be bumping up their schedule, you might only have the next 30 days to make it through all this Bad Acid before you have Tab 9 to contend with...
All right doom / grind / stoner / sludge / heavy music obsessives, it's time for your now monthly (!) fix of extreme heaviness, in the form of the latest Tab of the Bad Acid audio/video zine, which is supposedly gonna be a monthly occurrence, which is definitely good for our ears, but makes keeping up a bit tough. But if you're into heavy sounds, then you're pretty much for sure gonna want one of these.
First there's a DVD, this time featuring a couple aQ faves, Mono, Le Ira De Dios and Blood Fountains, a few bands we'd heard of: The Atlas Moth, Seven That Spells, as well as a whole bunch of new-to-us artists: Das Bluul, El Thule, !Xazzaz! and more. And that's sort of what makes Bad Acid so awesome, a few favorites, but even more new discoveries.
Which is where the insane and epic audio compilation comes in. Check out this list: Circle, Cough, Skitliv, White Hills, Pelican, Weird Owl, Vincent Black Shadow, Poochlatz, Tusk, Grey Daturas, The Atlas Moth, Ufomammut, Sunroof!, Kemialliset Ystavat, Lords Of Bukkake, Atlas Sound, Eternal Elysium, and that's just the bands we've heard of. There are about 50 or 60 more!
Then there's a sample for the Murkhouse label, as well as an art gallery, and that's just the DVD.
There's also a huge printed magazine, with reviews of ALL the bands featured, plus interviews with Ancestors, White Hills and more. Not to mention the bad ass cover art. Housed in a dvd case, killer stuff, better grab one of these quick so you have time to digest all these heavy sights and sounds before it's time for Tab 10!!!!
Finally, Tab 7 of BAD ACID, the "warped outsider music bible", is here, covering pretty much everything we love, from postrock to shoegaze to doom to sludge to grind to ambient to electronic to punk to garage. A massive dose of sensory overload, sounds, images, text, music, videos, interviews, articles, from a ton of bands we know and love, as well as a ton more of which we've never heard.
The previous issue of Bad Acid was a huge hit around here, we could barely keep it in stock, even though it was crazy expensive because of the WEAK dollar and the overseas shipping. But the dollar is not so weak anymore, so this issue is WAY cheaper, but thankfully no less kick ass.
First up, there's a DVD-r, featuring interviews with the Melvins and Celtic Frost, videos from Phantomsmasher, Jacula (!!!!!!) among others, as well as live footage of Morkobot, Ramesses and Isis! Then there's a SEVENTEEN HOUR, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN band mp3 audio cd-r, featuring tracks from Witchcraft, Otesanek, Coffins, Tenhornedbeast, Numinous Eye, Seven That Spells, Rahdunes, Stumm, Primordial Undermind, Saviours, Aldebaran, Lietterschpich, Journey To Ixtlan, Jamnation, Grave In The Sky, Ovo, Von Thronstahl, Tractor, Zodiacs, Wicked Minds, Gentlemans Pistols, South Saturn Delta, Eptileptinomicon (one of our favorite band names ever) and loads of others.
Finally there's 90 pages of full screen PDF sleeve notes, full color and super psychedelic, featuring lengthy interviews with Sons Of Otis, Ovo, Randy Holden / Blue Cheer, Rahdunes, Fuckbuttons, Helios Creed from Chrome, and Lazarus Blackstar among others! Good grief.
And just to get an idea of how sprawling and expansive and nearly overwhelming Bad Acid is, here's an abbreviated list of the hundred plus bands, new to us, some of which are bound to become new favorites: Resting Rooster, Total System Failure, High Watt Electrocutions, Spitting Off Tall Buildings, Tigrova Mast, The Black Pine, Ventura, Bang Lassi, Tetrix, Phononics, Baby Woodrose, St. Erik, Army Of Flying Robots, Vomm, A Horse Called War, Dyse, Invasion, The Deep Blue, Couldron, El Thule, Sailor Winters, Malachia, Sermoniser, Propane, Nosmaus, Dead.Circuit, Tetriori, Astra, Aftercare, Zone Six, Holy Calibre, Church Of Hed, Rise To Thunder, Cellardoor, Bikini Eyebolt, Motley Motion, Vibravoid, Space Shuttle Pilots, Oresund Space Collective, Forever Changing Concept, Stunt Cock, and again, more more more.
Packaged in a psychedelic dvd sized, 8 panel booklet, with some cool tripped out illustrations, and liner notes.
Total essential reading / viewing / listening for all heavy droney spaced out post kraut free noise jazz avant electronic outsider sound obsessives!
