[ aquarius records

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Showing results 3601 through 3650 of 5570.

Yet another amazing discovery in the realms of unheralded heaviness from the '70s. Krautrockers Night Sun released this, their only album, back in 1972, and probably the only heavier sounds produced on earth that year were produced by Black Sabbath (and,

RealAudio clip: Slush Pan Man
RealAudio clip: Got A Bone Of My Own
RealAudio clip: Plastic Shotgun

We're a sucker for a band name, you should definitely know that about us by now. And a lot of you are the same. The thinking is, if you're that creative with just the name of your band, imagine how nuts the music must be?? Sure, that doesn't always hold true, but in the case of the awesomely monickered Tremor Of The Black Manx, the name couldn't suit the music more. On the same label as last week's record of the week, the bizarre black metal weirdness of Jute Gyte, comes TOTBM, who we know NOTHING about, but it hardly matters, what does matter is that this is some awesomely confusional and fucked up stuff, like some sort of fractured electronic hyper grind, or maybe we could call it grindtronica, or something like that. The structure is definitely grind, the songs are short, the arrangements are head spinning, but all of the sounds seem to be synths and not guitars, although sometimes the sounds DO seem to resemble guitars, maybe they're just super processed, regardless, the result is a strangely synthesized bit of frantic buzz, tangled melody, moody murky drift, all wrapped around skittering, stuttering programmed drums, that go from plod to pound to inhuman blast in the blink of an eye, dragging the rest of the sounds along with it. Really rad, and WAY weird. TOTBM are teamed up here with Night Troll, who sound like a slightly electronic, WAY fucked up, ultra lo-fi raw primitive black metal. Ildjarn, Bone Awl, Akitsa, if you love that stuff but wish it was WEIRDER, more damaged and demented, with throbbing sub bass, tangled atonal guitars, processed death metal grunts, and all sort of other random fuckery, then this is for you. Total lo-fi stumbling ultra raw outsider electronic black metal. Which to us reads: SUPER RAD.

MPEG stream: Circle Of Witches
MPEG stream: Dungeon Forest
MPEG stream: Opal Blondes
MPEG stream: Carving Sea Altars

Full length number two from one of the most revered US black metal bands around. And for good reason. Their Death And The Black Work record was near flawless, a swirling epic, spaced our psychedelic blackness, with insane insectoid riffing, inhumanly blazing drumming, filthy demonic vox, and some of the most tangled, gnarled and complex arrangements ever. Especially the guitars. Strip the guitars away, and you'd still be looking as a practically perfect BM framework, blasting, chaotic, dense, ultra heavy, to that you could add some generically grim and frosty riffage and have a decent slab of black metal, or you could add some warped and dizzyingly fractured Nightbringer style riffing, and suddenly, we're in a whole 'nother dimension. In some ways the sound is more death metal than black metal, in structure at least, furious and relentless, so fast, but cloaked in a filthy patina of grim ambient buzz, shot through with spidery mournful melodies, and those guitars, soaring and howling and tangly and layered and totally epic and relentless, as close to manic blackened riffing can get to non stop shredding without losing cohesion, instead it makes every track seem more epic, more spacey out, as if the band were trying to craft some impossible black metal ur-drone raga, a constant build, getting more and more and more frantic, the energy spilling forth it huge gouts of incendiary buzz and blast, totally exhausting, but also utterly exhilarating, one track feels like a whole record by other, less ambitious bands, like some strange hybrid of Deathspell Omega, Leviathan and Liturgy, the last especially in the way Nightbringer seem to transcend black metal, taking the traditional tropes and stretching them into something almost more akin to 20th century composition, black metal rendered in sprawling expansive soundscapes of light and dark, buzz and blast, grind and crunch, howl and shimmer, occasionally slipping into gorgeous swirling guitar drones, other times, pounding majestic doomlike lumber, and still other times face melting bursts of white noise blasts of grinding black crunch. Nightbringer are easily one of the best USBM bands, and Apocalypse Sun is just latest in their ever expanding black world of sound, and is most definitely a contender for black metal record of the year. As if we were expecting anything less...

MPEG stream: I Am I
MPEG stream: Supplication Before The Throne Of Tehom
MPEG stream: Serpent Of The Midnight Sun
MPEG stream: Upturning The Seventh Chalice

The return of Nightbringer! One of the best USBM bands going, hailing from the frosty, wintry climes of Colorado, whose last release (or at least the last one we got) was an insanely kick ass split with Temple Of Not (a sort of drone-y Nightbringer side project), a record that most of the black metal folks we know consider a masterpiece. Ourselves included. So there were seriously high expectations for this, their first full length. We can safely say, even after only a few listens, this will WAY surpass expectations and will likely be topping a lot of year end lists, a total contender for black metal record of the year. There is a cd version that we'll be getting eventually, but this vinyl version is SO much cooler. First off, it comes in a killer box, but more importantly, it contains nearly 30 minutes more music! So odds are the troo grim black metalheads are gonna want one of these super limited boxes. The rest of you can wait a couple weeks for the cd. Nightbringer's sounds is a dense swirling blackness, spaced out and subtly psychedelic, incredibly thick and textured, a bizarre hybrid of Darkspace and Deathspell Omega, but also plenty of old school raw black metal, long stretches of lurching doom, the sounds are not necessarily unfamiliar, but it's how they're employed. The guitars are the strangest of all, slipping from classic buzzing riffage, to sweeping majestic epic chords, to super strange ultra fast trills, almost like a tremolo, something we've heard very few BM bands do, it's really haunting and otherworldly, and adds to the sort of blackness of space vibe, and offers a cool counterpoint, the main riff lumbering along, the drums a chaotic slowed down plod, but then that strange guitar part unfurling these rapid fires runs, that almost sound like drones, long drawn out tones, making the whole thing so haunting and tense, in fact for a black metal record, much of Death And The Black Work is spent not playing fast at all (minus that awesome weird guitar part), the band is almost more like some alien blackened doom, that occasionally erupts into a thunderous blast, before slipping back into their buzzing black sprawl. But when they do get fast, it's fucking manic, frenzied, gloriously fucked up and feral, a buzzing blurred onslaught, that has few equals. We could go on and on but fuck it, this is IT. This is black metal supremacy. Mysterious and otherworldly, furious and blackly epic, total grim and frostbitten outer space brilliance. And yeah, this just might be black metal record of the year after all. LIMITED of course. And fair warning, ALL the boxes have some sort of very light cosmetic damage, actually damage might be too dramatic, they all have light scuffs on the edges, or seem a bit worn in places, but that just make them seem even more like some lost sacred scroll, some ancient book of the dead, discovered beneath the ruins of a church, and minus those slight imperfections, these boxes are precious black jewels, emanating a timeless malevolence, that will no doubt feel right at home on that candle lit skull laden black altar you keep all your records on at home.

MPEG stream: Caput Draconis - Black Saturn
MPEG stream: Womb Of Nyx
MPEG stream: Feast Of The Manes

One of a handful of new releases on the always kick ass Starlight Temple Society, the new Temple Of Not, and the Void Of Reveries cds, both reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, and this, a killer collection of demos and rare and unreleased tracks, from Colorado's best black metal export, Nightbringer, whose previous two records were huge favorites around here, both Death And The Black Work and Apocalypse Sun, buzzing blasting works of black art. This compilation gathers up various tracks from the last decade, two from a 1999 demo, two from Nightbringer's split with Serpentinam from 2004, and most excitingly, two unreleased tracks from the Death And The Black Work sessions. The demo tracks are awesomely raw, after a brief ambient intro, the band explodes into a serious murky sprawl of blackened buzz, the sound so lo-fi and murky, all the sounds blur into a glorious stretch of smeared blown out blackness. Laced with weirdly lush keyboard swells. The split tracks are a bit more produced, the first track raw and trebly, the sound epic and majestic, but still harsh and grin and hellish, the second more moody and atmospheric, midtempo, still buzzing and black, but with some cool weird keening high end guitar skree, and some doomy ambience, a pretty epic slab of lumbering crush. The Death And The Black Works tracks are as epic as you would hope, unclear why they got left off the record proper, soaring, frantic, blasting buzzing blackness, pounding double kick drumming, intense insectoid riffing, raspy vokills buried in the mix, and some super cool parts where all the low end drops out, just leaving frenzied high end riffing soaring over chaotic drumming. The final track is another more doomy jam, the frantic riffing spread out over lurching lumbering drum plod, howled anguished vox, lots of swirling black atmosphere, and plenty of twisted dynamics, like guitars dropping out and then swooping back in, as well as some totally epic arrangements. Killer stuff, especially for an odds and ends collection. Definitely recommended, for fans obviously, but also for disciples of the grim black buzz. LIMITED TO 150 COPIES!!!

MPEG stream: Oblivion's Descent
MPEG stream: Scorn Of The Enlightened
MPEG stream: Womb Of Nyx

We've long been fans of this grim kvlt Colorado horde, whose uniquely twisted sound seems to merge classic Norwegian style black metal, with the gnarled, warped blackness of bands like Deathspell Omega, their hybrid a furious, frenzied, impossibly complex and totally maniacal black metal that while reminiscent of other bands, is most definitely a pure and extremely virulent strain of blackness few bands can ever hope to attain. We often joke that even the black metal savvy among us have trouble telling one band from another, but there's no mistaking Nightbringer, their sound strangely distinctive, tonally, compositionally, this latest record, their third, delves even deeper into the warped world of post blackness that their Deathspell brethren are constantly exploring, for every burst of blast beat driven fury, there's a stretch of twisted super melodic mathiness, for every chunk of churning doomic plod, there's some progged out moment of soaring majesty, the songs slip and slither, transform and constantly shift shapes, the riffs besides being gnarled are strangely slippery, sounding almost at times like they're being played with a slide, and lending a warped psychedelic vibe to much of the proceedings, with much of the black filth tempered by moments of surprising loveliness, or bits of classic metal that find their way into an otherwise furiously fractured squall of black hole buzz. But like the records before, there's something going on well beyond the playing, or the production, an ineffable something that infuses the music here with something special, a mood, and ambience, evocative and mysterious, pretty much every black metal band is grim and brutal, dark and blackened and EVIL, but Nightbringer seem unconcerned with all of that, instead crafting this incredible black metal worlds, where the mood is built into the sound, into the order of notes, the choice of tone and timbre, it seems like it must be unconscious, but whatever it is, and however these guys do it, it's what makes THIS the real transcendental black metal!!

MPEG stream: Rite Of The Slaying Tongue
MPEG stream: Eater Of The Black Lead
MPEG stream: Psychagogoi

What better way to find a band to release a split with than to just pick a band that features essentially the same members? Such is the case with this two way split between buzzing black hordes Nightbringer and ritualistic dark ambient ensemble Temple Of Not. Most bands would probably just combine the two, and have a black metal band with long drone passages, or vice versa, but these are two entirely different sonic entities, and both are amazing. Hailing from Colorado, these groups were brought to our attention by Wrest from Leviathan, who is VERY selective about the metal he listens to, so much so that when he repeatedly sang (growled?) the praises of both these bands we knew we had to check it out. Nightbringer buzz darkly through a thick black void, with loping midtempo tempos over furiously fast riffing, and some completely insane drumming, not just blast beats, but wild fills and strange unlikely rhythms. Occasionally the band slows down, at which point the music takes on a creepy majestic air, like court music for some hellish black temple, but it's not long before the band bursts back into full speed blackness. Super atmospheric with bizarre blasts of hyper speed buzz as well as stretches of dense droning riffage. Heavy and dense and evil. These guys definitely wouldn't sound out of place on NED alongside Deathspell and Antaeus. Nightbringer's occultic ambient alter ego Temple Of Not is just as dark and heavy, but realizes their evil through drone not buzz, with two lengthy glacial crawls, thick soundscapes of whirring rumble and dreamlike shimmer. But be prepared, this is not normal ambient music. Part way through the first track, the song is disrupted by huge speaker shredding bursts of what sounds like a garbled black metal transmission from an alternate universe, repeated over and over building into a strange fuzzed out super distorted rhythm before drifting off again, allowing the song to wind down into blackness. The second ToN track is even more spare, but still haunting and ominous, disembodied vocals drift above a slowly shifting, layered landscape of throb and thrum, warble and whir, guitars and synths intertwined and tangled up in a slow drift skyward, the last few minutes punctuated by a simple distant pulse-like distant drum beat. Very primal and ritualistic. And the perfect compliment to Nightbringer's hellborne onslaught. Recommended by AQ and Wrest endorsed!! You know what that means...

MPEG stream: The Void
MPEG stream: Mors Philosphorum
MPEG stream: Temple Of Not

What do you get when you mix a bunch of high school kids, the Champs, Dungeons And Dragons, Hammerfall, stadium rock, a record collection filled with black metal, and ridiculous instrumental prowess? Nightfist of course. These kids are like a power metal Champs, spewing forth galloping, rollicking melodic majestic instru-metal, complete with Maiden-ish duelling guitars, squiggly guitar solos, wicked double bass drumming, silly song titles, ridiculous opening/closing narrations and thankfully less irony than you might think, despite being released on Temporary Residence, not usually the home of Euro-styled metal mania.

MPEG stream: Chapter 1: The Hero's Overture
MPEG stream: Chapter 2: Acidrainfuckhell

We've been trying to list this for ages, but our first batch was destroyed in the post, and our second batch took its own sweet time getting here from Poland, but here we are, almost a year after we initially ordered 'em, and we can finally unleash the bizarre tech prog metal of Poland's Nightly Gale on the masses. So yeah, this is definitely doom. Maybe even toss in a few extra 'o's, cause this is damn doomy. But it's also pretty freaking weird. Four massive lengthy epics, each with its own strange vibe. The opener is a slow plod, epic guitars, soaring over downtuned chug, a glacial trudge but with super dramatic prog rock crooning over the top, sometimes almost slipping into a sort of yodel. Then suddenly, the rhythm lurches into a strangely technical start stop stutter, with gurgling keyboards and space rock FX, and some harsh black metal vocals. The second track is more of that strange tech-prog-doom, with fuzzy synthesizers, programmed drums, at times it almost sounds like Meshuggah slowed waaaaaaaay down, strangely technical, but as if played in slow motion, with weird processed underwater prog vocals, and some almost Viking growls. Some delicate dreamlike piano, gently placed amidst super harsh screams and massive downtuned crunch. It's like prog Cradle Of Filth at 16 rpm. Actually, we have no idea what this is like... It's at this point that one is forced to think, WHAT THE FUCK?!? How have we not heard this band? Why aren't more people completely obsessed with these guys? WE DON'T KNOW. Tracks 3 and 4 continue on in the same sort of schizophrenic, prog doom direction. With long expanses of swooshing ambience, moody melancholy acoustic passages, epic emotional guitar harmonies, huge cinematic synths, track three almost sounds like a doom metal Genesis, if such a thing were possible, and we're beginning to think it is! The track ends with a groovy little shuffling Nine Inch Nails sort of murky electronic dirge with hissed whispery vocals, before launching into the 15 minute closer, which initially sounds like it might be the most straight ahead doom track on the record, until about halfway through, where the band breaks down into a creepy nursery rhyme sort of interlude with bizarre production, freaky sound effects and haunting vocals, before launching back into a killer mathy jam, lurching and stuttering hypnotically before fading out into some dreamy dirgey melancholy dream doom, complete with strangely Alice In Chains-like vocals (a good thing btw) and a repeating minor key piano figure. So freaking heavy, and weird and goddamn great! We only have about 20 copies, and we're pretty sure that since it took us so long to get these that it's probably out of print, so odds are once these are gone, we won't be able to get more...

MPEG stream: At Your Command
MPEG stream: Illusion Of Evil

Finland's self-proclaimed Undisputed Kings of Lasermetal are back! Note that 'Lasermetal' as a genre exists ONLY in connection to Nightsatan, and is definitely NOT actually metal, though these guys do look pretty metal - you've got one guy, Inhalator II, wearing all sorts of studded gear, including studded headband; another guy, Wolf-Rami, who has a scary skull face inside his motorcycle helmet; and a third, Mazathoth, who wears a Boba Fett style helmet, and a cape, and has antlers inexplicably growing out of his back. But they're an instrumental synth trio, not metal in the slightest, except conceptually perhaps. If you recall, we made Nightsatan's debut album Midnight Laser Warrior an aQuarius Record Of The Week a few years back, blown away by their brand of "crazy, futuristic, electro prog", a soundtracky, synth-heavy sound inspired by John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream, not unlike Zombi or Umberto, but taking that into a ridiculously fantastical Finnish realm of over-the-topness. Well, with this new release they somehow go even FURTHER over the top, 'cause instead of just sounding like a soundtrack, it IS a soundtrack, to a real movie that's included here on its own dvd disc packaged with the cd. And the movie stars Nightsatan, playing themsleves, as surreal sci-fi superheroes wandering a futuristic wasteland encountering (and slaying, or having sex with) strange characters. It's an homage of sorts to Italian '80s post-apocalyptic exploitation cinema, complete with dialog dubbed in Italian (English subtitles are provided). It comes across like a mix of Mad Max and Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain, truly bizarre and absurd, full of gory special FX and nudity. Sex, violence, and synthesizers! Basically, an extended, insane music video for Nightsatan. It's a professional production, including some impressive special effects (it's worth watching the 'making of' bonus feature to see how they did it - 'cuz we didn't think they had deserts in Finland), with a plot involving, yes, 'loops of doom' - we can't explain it but it does sort of make sense. it's really a bit disturbing at moments, and twistedly funny too, and of course the music is pretty rad, and you can enjoy it alone on the soundtrack cd, which is twice as long as the movie, consisting of 14 tracks, 48 minutes of Nightsatan's retro-futuristic synth-splorations, droning and glistening, often underlaid with propulsive beats via Inhalator II's 'laserdrums'. Mood-wise it ranges from sinister suspensefulness, to exciting electro-rock, to maudin, melodic 'love theme' moments. Fans of Umberto, Trans Am, Blizaro, Emeralds, all ought to dig - imagine a mix of all those, but with an added element of pure Finnish WTF?-ness. It's hard to believe that Nightsatan are NOT one of the so-called NWOFHM bands put together by the guys in Circle, like Steel Mammoth. But nope, they're just friends, apparently this sort of thing just what they do in Finland these days. Ah, Finland. Ah, Nightsatan!

MPEG stream: Theme From Loops Of Doom
MPEG stream: Secret Of The Mystery
MPEG stream: Battle Knights

They're from Finland. They're called Nightsatan. Their record is called Midnight Laser Warrior and features on its cover some helmeted ghoul with a knife, and a sawblade, and a bullet belt, and tons of spikes and studs on the leather jacket that barely obscures his rotting zombie flesh. They have song titles like "Four Eyed Cyclops", "Death Chess 2000", "Karelian Stairmaster (Evil Lucifer)". The record was mastered by two members of aQ faves Finnish hypnorockers Circle. We saw a YouTube clip of Nightsatan performing, where a certain member of the crowd got so worked up he decided to sing along, that person was none other than Albert Witchfinder of the mighty Reverend Bizarre (and The Puritan, among others). Their drummer is credited with player "Laserdrums". And most importantly, they play "LAZERMETAL". Which is in fact, not metal at all, nor even "NWOFHM", instead it's some sort of crazy, futuristic, electro prog, like Goblin or John Carpenter, or any of the current crop of Carpenter worshipping retro futurists (Majeure, Umberto, Zombi, Blizaro) but filtered through some ELP, or Yes, or even more obscure prog faves like Il Balleto Di Bronzo or the New Trolls. Sure the sound is synthy, and retro and electro and will no doubt appeal to those folks, but it's also twisted and proggy and FINNISH, which makes this something else entirely. The cool thing about these guys, ONE of the cool things, is that they're a proper band, this isn't just a studio project, assembled at a desk with a computer, no these guys are a BAND, and there's tons of footage of them playing live, and most notably, they have a DRUMMER, who plays drums, electronic drums sure, but they give the sound a sweaty, urgent, human element missing from lots of similar stuff, not to mention, these songs are epic and complex and again PROGGY. Opener "Four Eyed Cyclops" begins with a bit of Tangerine Dreamy synthiness, accompanied by some growled cookie monster vox, but it doesn't take long for the track to get going, with some awesome syncopated rumming, locked tight with the synths, then another buzzing bit of low end synth swoops in, and while it's not metal, we can definitely feel the same sort of power and energy and intensity. All the synths drop out, leaving just the buzzing low end one to unfurl a serious slithery riff, the drums come back in, and it's like some weird electronic electro-doom, the metal vibe, more in the vibe than the sound, but it's definitely weird and heavy and electronic, with lots of bent notes wound into electro leads. Awesome. "Death Chess 2000" starts off with more buzzing low end synth riffage, some "Iron Man" style kick drum, before slipping into another bit of electro-doom, only to have everything suddenly speed up, and transform into a car chase Autobahn soundtrack that returns briefly to that opening electro doom, before stripping down to just minimal synth and a skeletal rhythm, and more of those weird raspy vox, finishing off in a blaze of swirl and buzz. "Karelian Stairmaster (Evil Lucifer)" might be the proggiest of the bunch, another swirly Logan's Run sounding intro, all arpeggiated melodies underpinned by thick wheezing synth buzz, while the snare drum drives the rhythm, before blossoming into a hazy, futuristic soundscape (which more than one customer mistook for the Tron soundtrack! If only!), that warbles woozily, and eventually switches tempo and becomes the perfect score for some lost eighties VHS tape horror movie futuristic dystopian city montage. Throughout, the song offers up some strange detours, intense super dynamic stop/starts, with pounding drums, and some gorgeous woozy video game soundtrack balladry (which again has us thinking how much better these guys would have been for scoring Tron). "Ninja Apocalypse" is creepy, and haunting, with the sound of fake rainfall, deep bass swells, and a main keyboard melody that would most definitely not be out of place in a Halloween or Friday The 13th movie, but like all the songs, the track continually shifts and transforms, minimal and hauntingly creepy one second, supper progged out and propulsive the next, soaring and majestic the next, and druggy and psychedelic the next. "Steel Diamond Part 4" (parts 1 and 2 are on the 7" reviewed elsewhere on this list, not sure where part 3 is though), is another electro prog workout, that features a super soundtracky main melody wreathed in layer after layer of synth buzz, the drums dense and intricate, the sound swirling and shimmering, evoking images of alien planets, of crashed starships, of subterranean lairs, of strange creatures chained up and walking into the depths, of the blackness of space, which leads right into the final track "Stars, Our Destination", which takes that space synth sci-fi sound even further out, pulsing and throbbing, the melodies tangled and intricate, hypnotic and totally mesmerizing, the sound dramatic and emotional and epic, and so totally cinematic, every track in fact here plays out like the music to some climactic scene from some lost eighties sci-fi adventure epic, with "Stars, Our Destination" being the perfect culmination, the drums less rhythmic, and more dynamic, pounding alongside the synths, the vocals more breathy exhalations, soon joined by thick rubbery low end pulses, everything growing more and more intense before fading into a swirling drift of warbly synths, swirling FX and whispered urgent voices. There's a short hidden track, another sort of Halloween gone electro synthwave, with a pulsing house-y beat, creepy raspy vocals, and a main melody that sounds like it had to be created for some horror movie, tense and intense, this final coda brooding and moody, but also propulsive and weirdly motorik, the perfect sci-fi, electro house, futuristic synth wave hypno krautrock finish to a pretty much perfect sci-fi, electro house, futuristic synth wave hypno krautrock record! And all this talk of soundtrack and cinema is not just us, the artwork on the back cover, which features a modular synth, with the various patch bays altered to read as song titles, also includes various inputs for things like "Doom & Gloom", "Heavy Pounding" and maybe most tellingly "Extra Giallo". So good. Easily our favorite of this new batch of synthy soundtracky sci-fi sounds. There is vinyl, but it's not out yet, a few weeks still. And if you dig this, be sure and grab one of those 7"s too!!

MPEG stream: Four Eyed Cyclops
MPEG stream: Death Chess 2000
MPEG stream: Karelian Starmaster (Evil Lucifer)
MPEG stream: Stars, Our Destination

If you found your way here without reading about and most likely buying the full length Nightsatan record, best to take a second and go check out that review, we get WAY more in depth there about the band and their fantastic futuristic sounds. And if you already added the cd to your cart, and just need MORE, then heck, skip the rest of this, and throw one of these in your cart too. But for those who need to know more. Nightsatan are from Finland, and play "Lazermetal" which is in fact less metal, and more futuristic soundtracky sci-fi synth wave prog. "Steel Diamond" parts 1 and 2 make up the bulk of the 7" (part 4 is on the full length, no idea where part 3 is), and is a sprawling synthscape of fat, fuzz drenches electro future prog, swirling synths, propulsive electronic drums, sweeping arrangements, epic swells, the bass buzzy and blown out, all wound into some sort of electronic krautspacefunk soundtrack. There are some breakdowns and interludes that are so thick and heavy, the bass SO buzzy, that it almost does sound metal. The second part of the "Steel Diamond" quadrilogy offers up a plodding super dramatic space opera lazer prog workout, wild tangles of synth leads, evoking the final march up to the castle, the final battle, knights versus aliens, the vibe is definitely doomy, but synth-doom, building to a wild proggy break, that gets all electro-metallic before slipping right back into that spaced out synthy futurism. The other track here, "Space Revenger" (awesome title!), is a pounding Teutonic bit of synthy electro prog metal, but with all the metal guitars replaced by MORE SYNTHS, epic and dramatic and intense and cinematic, with some surprisingly crushing parts that remind us a bit of MIDI metal (those cheesy electronic versions of classic metal sounds, YouTube it) but cranked WAAAAAY UP! The cover art here is cool too, the band in metal T's and studded wristbands, huge black shades, obscured by red lights, looking very metal, with a shiny silver sticker that says "Finland's No#1 Nightsatan - File Under LAZERMETAL", while the back boasts two different legends, one reads "No guitars played on this record", the other "DEATH TO FALSE LASERMETAL". Fuck Yeah. Pressed on LAZER-RED vinyl too...

The Greek answer to Monster Magnet! Seriously.

Here we have the collected recordings of a young (average age fifteen years old!!!) band by the name of Nihilist that would (several personnel changes later) become THE Swedish death/thrash cornerstone known as ENTOMBED. Without Entombed, it's a safe bet to say that death metal would not be what it is today. Some of the members of Nihilist also went on to start other bands you may have heard of like Dismember and Unleashed. But with this long awaited Nihilist reissue, we can go back to where it all began! Assembled here for your aural pleasure (along with in-depth liner notes/photos, etc.) are all the known demos (as they were originally released) and some extra cuts, i.e. a track recorded for a 1989 split ep with Paradise Lost, Carcass, & Bolt Thrower, and a couple more cuts for a 7" EP (a Repulsion cover, etc.). Sound-quality you ask? Well, we're talkin' teenagers in the late 80's here. But nonetheless, they sound pretty damn good. The tracks have all been "remastered" for this release, but you wouldn't know it. They sound that good. Not GREAT mind you, but good. Just how a killer nineties death metal record should sound. Remember we're talking demos here! One of the demos herein was recorded by (unknown at the time) famous producer Tomas Skogsberg. So yeah, you get it (if you know your Swedish death metal).� There are a few tape drop outs here and there, but they are almost unnoticeable. Besides, this stuff is CLASSIC material that blows away sooooooo much of what is out there today. These guys were so ahead of their time -- and at such a tender age! This will go great next to your Repulsion discography and maybe that Disembowelment box set from a few lists back, and maybe next to some Sodom or Obituary or Possessed too. But really, this is the cream of the crop for Swedish (death/thrash) metal and we'd be suprised to find a shelf of cds that already holds power of this magnitude!

MPEG stream: Sentenced To Death
MPEG stream: Carnal Leftovers

This one is definitely for the noise crowd. Doomlords might find this latest joint from Northwester dronedoomdirge duo (now trio apparently) Blue Sabbath Black Cheer a little too punishing. We can only assume it's the influence of Nihilist Assault Group, not that BSBC didn't have noisy tendencies before, but here, the two combine forces to unleash a blackened Merzbowian beast, two side long blowouts of grinding white noise drenched hiss and glitch and howl and buzz. At low volume, like much of this ilk, one might mistake this for TV static, or a vacuum cleaner, or the needle slipping off the record and scraping over the label, a cacophony of crunch and scrape and gristly fuzz, blurred into heaving clouds of NOISE. Strap some headphones on though if you dare, and there's definitely more going on than meets the ear, some churning almost rhythms, cool textures, tangled strands of drone and rumble and whir, but that's all buried underneath an avalanche of satanic hiss and skull caving, amp destroying white noise brutality. Awesome stuff, if your ears can handle it. Again, very little in the way of doom, or even low end to be found here, but if you like to sit back, and relax to some Incapacitants, dine to a little Merzbow, or entertain to the strains of Hijokaidan, then heck, this might be the perfect soundtrack for your next nihilistic dinner party. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Gorgeous black and white jackets, with a thick printed insert.

The second Grond begins, it all becomes clear: this is EXACTLY what you want to be listening to! Nihill follows a similar path to progressive black metal heavies such as Deathspell, Blut Aus Nord, and S.V.E.S.T., meaning this is modern black metal done the right way, but they also inject a significant amount of dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom into the mix, ala SUNNO))) and Bunkur. So, uh, do we really need to say it? We're giving this one our seal of approval like you wouldn't believe. Grond is part II of a trilogy (check out our review for the recent reissue of part I, Krach, from a few lists back), and it kicks off in grand fashion with "Aard," a blitzkrieg of pummeling blast beats, seasick guitar riffs, and forceful growling vocals. The song is a bit like wandering in a psychedelic dream state through a blackened, frozen wilderness, and it doesn't let up one bit for the duration of its 11 furious minutes, at least not until its feedback drenched conclusion, which segues into the next song, "Antimoon", a plodding doomscape pierced with discordant, siren like guitar notes and shrouded in infinite layers of fuzz and murk for the first 8 of its 17 minutes, after which the song spirals into an abyssic crevasse of windy, electronic ambience. "Vacuum" is a brutal and relentless lesson in Satanic riffage that works its way into the depths of your mind with its constant repetition and the singer's harsh, demonic croaks. The song is unrestrained and beyond the control of anything but the band themselves. The final selection here, "Pulsus", is another lesson in abject, doomed out black metal, a glacial, slow moving vortex ready to pull you deep into the misery. As the minutes progress, the song stops and starts like an animal gasping to crawl out of a blizzard, only to repeat its into eternity, or at least until an ever growing fuzz takes over everything in its path. So yeah, this one pretty much fulfills the requirements for a metal record around this neck of the woods - equal parts speed and barely mobile dooooooooooooooom, all mixed into a hateful brew of metallic fury. We can only wonder where things will go with part III.

MPEG stream: Aard
MPEG stream: Antimoon

It's hard to not love a band that sounds like some unholy spawn of Deathspell Omega and SUNNO))), a blackened ritualistic blend of furious black metal and epic doomdrone, and while that combination in and of itself is not outrageously novel, since lots of BM record incorporate ambience and drones, it's all in the execution, and Nihill have managed to spin a sinister black web of sound that while familiar in some ways, is truly unlike anything we've heard before. The first in a supposedly already completed trilogy of albums, Krach is a droning black beast, that begins with a short intro, a barely there bit of dark ambience, before exploding into�blasting chaotic, almost industrial black metal, so intense and blown out it basically ceases being black metal and becomes some droning buzzing black noisescape, the relentless blast beats the only thing holding everything together, huge swaths of ugly buzz and furious tangled black riffing. About part�way through the brutality abates, leaving a fuzzy free floating tangle of�strange voices, and circusy guitar melodies, whirring drones and abstract ambience, before a black blast shatters the tranquility and we're sucked right back down into Nihill's fuzzed out hellish sonic abyss. The rest of the record is primarily the epic, three part, 42 minute�Gnosis song suite. Each movement a cinematic slab of black doomdronedrift,�huge ultra distorted swells of chordal crunch, over�haunting plodding percussion that sounds like it was recorded in some massive underground cathedral, these�glacial sonic shifts lumber beastlike through sprawling black hole soundscapes, the various layers and drones shifting from hateful industrial pummel to gorgeous ambient shimmer and back again. Imagine a more druggy SUNNO))) but with actual percussion, some demonic propulsion driving this epic's 16 rpm engine. The trilogy is broken up by another burst of DSO style blackened chaos, a completely deranged off kilter sonic assault, but the last two movements follow, one right after the other, finishing off the record with a nearly half hour of glacial, suffocating, brutal black drift.� Any one remotely into any of the following bands absolutely NEEDS this: SUNNO))), Deathspell Omega, Moss, Khanate, Bunkur, S.V.E.S.T., Trollmann, Tenhornedbeast, Monument Of Urns, Marzuraan, Black Boned Angel... we could go on and on and on. A new deathdoomdronedrift favorite, with the added bonus of some seriously buzzing blackness.� And we're already dying for the rest of the trilogy....

MPEG stream: Mundus Subterreanus
MPEG stream: Gnosis Pt. 1
MPEG stream: Dreams Upon The Scaffold

The return of this Dutch black metal horde, full length number three, and their M.O. remains fully intact, a grinding, churning gnarled blackness that sonically fits in the twisted black pantheon of groups like Deathspell Omega, S.V.E.S.T., Ascension, Hell Militia, Ondskapt, and the like. And while Nihill has a definite doooooooom component, you'd never know it from the opening track, the ten minute "Vuur: The Deathwind Of Resurrection", which after a brief bit of noisiness explodes into a roiling blast of furious buzz, only switching it up in the shape of a more classic metal gallop, quickly returning to the frantic blast of the first few minutes, the multiple guitars creating a dense black wall of sound, that is SO buzzy it almost blurs into a full on drone, but listen close, and there's all sorts of crazy tangled melodies and slithery slippery riffage going on beneath the surface, dizzyingly furious and utterly relentless. The second track "Spiral: The Tail Eater" finds the band slowing down the tempo, but shedding NONE of the buzz, in fact if anything, it's somehow buzzier, the sound so thick and corrosively distorted, it again makes the sound even more tranced out and hypnotic. "Orbron: Returning To The Primal Matter" is another one that's impossible dense and chaotic, suffocatingly intense, buzz drenched blackness that seems to swallow all other sound whole. After a tripped out stretch of ambience, the final track finds the band infusing their psychedelic blackbuzz fury with some 'classic' black metalisms, some chugging riffage, some swirling melodies, the sound still buzzy and blown out, but also murky and mesmerizing, a mildly more melodic coda to a record that borders of total blackhole / black buzz collapse. So fucking killer.

MPEG stream: Vuur: The Deathwind Of Resurrection
MPEG stream: Spiral: The Tail Eater

An ultra brief blast of grim, depressive, doomy ambience, from this Swedish one man horde known as Nihilum. Also spreading his harsh hateful message of metallic doom and gloom in the groups Durthang and Hypothermia, Nachtzeit, the man behind Nihilum, here weaves lush, lonely synthscapes of minor key melody, rumbling drones, soaring faux strings, and mournful melancholia, all over drawn out pulses and epic sweeping expanses of slow shifting fuzz. A gloriously lo-fi dark ambience, cinematic and sad, weirdly dramatic and hauntingly pretty. Not so much metal, or doom, or even heavy really, as lilting and lovely, dark, dreamy and depressive.

Journey back once more to the land of the pyramids, the time of the pharoahs, Ancient Egypt -- where metal raged and ruled supreme! Didn't it? Nile are convinced that it did, and their archeological research as presented on records like this, their eagerly-awaited fourth full-length album, ought to convince you too. Perhaps the world's most popular death metal band (and arguably the best), Nile probably need no further introduction. If you know death metal, you know Nile. This new disc, Annihilation Of The Wicked (is that a pun? An-NILE-ation of the Wicked?) picks up where their previous efforts left off, blasting insanely into serpentine song structures with the heaviness of a fallen obelisk, the vocalist chewing his gruff, unintelligible way through lyrics of Egyptological, occult import. For the most part, song titles this time around are shorter, such as "Lashed To The Slave Stick" and "Sacrifice Unto Sebek" -- though we do get "Chapter Of Obeisance Before Giving Breath To The Inert One In The Presence Of The Cresent Shaped Horns"! I read an interview with Nile recently where they admitted having a bit of a chuckle when they come up with titles like that... As epic as ever (there's not many short songs here, even with the shorter song titles), this does differ from past extravaganzas perhaps in scaling back a bit on the atmospheric/ethnic samples. Being the Morbid Angel of bands that aren't actually Morbid Angel, this album is laced with both twisted, tormented leads and lumbering slow sand-blasted grinds (especially on the last and longest song, the Lovecraftian crusher "Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten"). Technically impressive (not as overtly nuts as Cephalic Carnage or Meshuggah, but still, whoa), well-produced, the works -- Annihilation Of The Wicked is another success for Nile. As if there was gonna be any question of that. This is NILE we're talking about!! They're still definitely deserving of their death metal crown (Pharonic scepter?)... if you're gonna buy just one DM album this year, you couldn't go too far wrong with this one!

MPEG stream: Lashed To The Slave Stick
MPEG stream: Annihilation Of The Wicked

We've long been fans of death metallers Nile, their insane super technical avant metallic constructions, and of course their ridiculous (but kind of awesome) obsession with Egyptology, every record we go through the same process, we don't really care that much, just another Nile record, and we're already kind of burnt out on the last one, but then we throw it on, and BAM, our minds are re-blown, and we becomes obsessed once again, and listen to it like crazy, and marvel and how these guys whip up this impossibly complex metal, and incorporate yet more arcane Egyptian mythology into their sound to boot. And whattayaknow? It happened again. After sort of sleeping on this when it came out, we're now nuts for it, we've been listening to it constantly, even poring over the lyrics, and the various explanations for the lyrical inspirations, with the band's commentaries extensive and self deprecating and pretty fun to read, but really it's the music, which once again is dizzyingly complex, head spinningly intricate, the drumming furious and frantic, the riffing dense and frenzied, the arrangements super progged out, with wild squiggly tangled fully psychedelic death metal leads, much of the playing downright inhuman, total mathed out technical death metal bliss, that few other bands can touch. Like we've mentioned in past reviews, while this is most definitely death metal, the sound and the production aren't necessarily traditionally heavy, which is another thing that gives Nile a weirdly avant vibe, the sound more like some super dense, complex, tangled experimental math metal, the production making all of the various sounds crystal clear, every kick drum beat in every furious blast beat, every note in every lead, but to make it that clear and crisp, much of the buzz and distortion has to be dialed back, so the result is this strangely mesmerizing, droned out, hypnotic tangle of death metal tropes, and weird experimental textural sound, that definitely helps Nile transcend the strictures, both sonic and compositional, of traditional death metal.

MPEG stream: Enduring The Eternal Molestation Of Flame
MPEG stream: The Fiends Who Come To Steal The Magick Of The Deceased
MPEG stream: The Inevitable Degradation Of Flesh

If Indiana Jones was a metalhead, this would be his favorite band! State-of-the-art death metal brutality/technicality with a Great Pyramid-sized fixation on Ancient Egypt. Here are some song titles: "Invocation of the Gate of Aat-Ankh-Es-En-Amenti", "Nas Akhu Khan She En Absiu", "Masturbating The War God", "Libation Unto The Shades Who Lurk In The Shadows Of The Temple of Anhur"! The liner notes even include detailed essays giving the historical background for each song's lyrics. Our resident Egyptologist, Elisabeth, is currently studying these for accuracy (she thinks that they are relatively well-researched, if not based on the most up-to-date sources...)! The archeological aggression of Nile combines the fast and furious, yet subtly melodic approach of Morbid Angel (who also share an interest in things occult and middle-eastern) with ethnic musical trappings (not always Egyptian either: there's even some Tibetan monks chanting on here). Live, these non-metal elements are brought in via PowerBook sampling, unusual for the genre. On record, such departures are even more effective and atmospheric. This, Nile's 2nd full-length for Relapse, is a dark, sinewy, complex, demonic masterpiece!

Nile, the death metal band obsessed with the grandeur, mystery and mythology of Ancient Egypt, are one of the biggest things in the underground metal world right now (underground meaning NOT Ozzfest or MTV friendly, but with Nile you could also use "underground" in an archeological sense!). This, their third Relapse album, has been hotly anticipated by thousands and thousands of fans worldwide. And not 'cause of the popularity of Hollywood's The Mummy or The Scorpion King. No, Nile owe their following quite deservedly to their own amazing and intense musicianship and atmospheric songwriting. If you were going to buy just one 'extreme' metal album this year, you could do much worse than getting "In Their Darkened Shrines". It's an album of brutal, unrelenting heaviness, utterly insane drumming, shredding solos, and headspinning dynamics -- you'll feel like you've been through a desert sandstorm when they're done -- that's impressively technical, AND majestic, with 'exotic' middle-eastern influenced melodies and textures galore (utilizing their usual guitars, and ethnic instruments, and samples). They're one of those bands -- and this is one of those albums -- that not only belong in every self-respecting metalhead's collection, but would be a good thing for ANY adventurous music lover with an interest in the loud and difficult and imaginative to investigate. While they're not as intentionally avant-garde and 'out there' as Sigh or Enslaved or Weakling or Arcturus, they are as incredible as musicians, and certainly 'out there' when compared to most other death or black metal acts, coming up with violent ten-minute neck-breaking epics worthy of Hollywood, but not the other way around. Nile are now totally the kings -- er, pharoahs -- of speed/death metal, occupying the throne previously occupied by giants like Morbid Angel and Slayer (both of whom have dabbled in Egyptian imagery before). Very recommended.

RealAudio clip: The Blessed Dead
RealAudio clip: Execration Text
RealAudio clip: Unas Slayer Of The Gods
RealAudio clip: Wind Of Horus

What more can we really say about Nile at this point? These Egyptology obssessed occultists have established themselves at THE death metal band of the millennium, rightful heirs to the septic scepters once wielded by the likes of Cannibal Corpse and (especially, in light of their subject matter) Morbid Angel. If you haven't heard 'em, we'd recommend starting with Black Seeds of Vengeance or In Their Darkened Shrines, but if you're already on board with Nile then you'll want/need this. Especially considering the strange, ummm, phallic bent of this album (evident from the title, the various erect members on statues depicted in the cd booklet, and some of the lyrical content). In interviews the band have been expressing their excitement over freaking out metalheads not prepared for such a phallus-centric death metal disc... haha.... Really, as an addition to the Nile discography, Ithyphallic can only be criticized as offering more of the same, and fans won't complain about that. There's still song titles like "Papyrus Containing The Spell To Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In The Water". There's still atmospheric, exotic 'ethnic' interludes, like the creepy "The Infinity Of Stone" ferinstance. And there's still (of course) state of the art death metal brutality in the form of grunting vox, blazing drums, guitar shred, and (one reason we really like Nile) plenty of truly heavy doom-paced riffage, slowing things down to the ancient tempos of slaves dragging huge stones from quarries to build the pyramids... While they last, digipack version with two (instrumental) bonus tracks.

MPEG stream: What Can Be Safely Written
MPEG stream: Eat Of The Dead

The King Tut exhibit is back, and so is Nile! Gotta hand it to 'em, not only is their uncompromisingly brutal death metal so extreme that it's practically avant-garde (the stuff of Mike Patton's sickest fantasies no doubt), they stick to their historical, Egyptological themes with such pedantic persistence it's clear that they really ARE geeks for this stuff. Which also helps the (inadvertent?) avant-garde aspect, when they throw in "exotic" touches of ethnic instrumentation, and lyrics that practically need scholarly footnotes. Who else in the world of metal or any other music for that matter would name a song "Hittite Dung Incantation"? Hmm, maybe Steven Schultz, come to think of it. Anyway, as far as we're concerned, that's pretty cool, and this review is now superfluous, either you want album with a song called "Hittite Dung Incantation" on it or you don't, right? If somehow you're still undecided, perhaps it will help you decide (either way) if we mention that, musically speaking, Nile haven't lost a step, and still appear to be the reigning kings of death metal, with the state of the art blasting beats, crushing riffs, squiggly (yet majestic) leads, and guttural growls all precisely in place. And considering how death-obsessed ancient Egypt was, with those pyramidical tombs and all, Nile have picked a perfect subject for death metal, one that doesn't get old (it's already old!), and provides a chance for the band to explore some sounds not normally heard on a death metal album. Ferinstance, take the track "Yezd Desert Ghul Ritual In The Abandoned Towers Of Silence", which we're not sure if it's an "ethnographic forgery" or appropriated field recording, but it's definitely not death metal, with its ritualistic percussion, Arabic-sounding chant, and zinging acoustic flourishes on an oud or some other non-Western string instrument. We could do with a whole album of that (see Harappian Night Recordings for something along those lines) but of course the next track, "Kem Khefa Kheshef" is back to the bulldozing brutality. Heck, we've liked EVERY Nile album, and this is no exception. What else is there to say? If you were to just follow ONE death metal band's career, you could do a lot worse than Nile. Plus, you might learn something! Now, the question is, when is Nile going to pay tribute to the ultimate metal/Egypt song ever (that they didn't write) and record a cover of Iron Maiden's "Powerslave"? Sure it'd be silly hearing it done death metal style, but no sillier than "Hittite Dung Incantation", eh?

MPEG stream: Hittite Dung Incantation
MPEG stream: Iskander Dhul Karnon

Freaked out Japanese hard rock supergroup, a '70s inspired power trio featuring the talents of million-notes-per-second, whammy-bar-crazy guitarist Kawabata Makoto (of Acid Mothers Temple, Musica Transonic, Mainliner, Toho Sara, etc. etc.),

RealAudio clip: Hoos The Fuk That Et That Rest O Man Schoo
RealAudio clip: Let's Zeppelin'
RealAudio clip: Mystery-Dead Breaker

Another missive of murky unblack energy from the mysterious Njiqahdda, another project from the man behind E.E.E. Recordings, as well as some of our favorite unblack bands: Light Shall Prevail, Agathothodion, Glaciial, but for Njiqahdda, the approach seems to be much different that for the other more traditionally buzzy outfits. In our review for the last Njiqahdda, we described the sound as alchemical psychedelic naturalist atmospheric doomed UN-black metal, which still pretty much applies, but like in those other projects, the sounds and productions are so varied, it sounds sometimes like they were recorded in different studios, used different equipment, it even sounds sometimes like it was played by entirely different bands. Not sure how he does it, but whatever it is, every new record reveals a new facet to his sound, and on this new Njiqahdda, the sound is murky and hypnotic, not so much a buzz as a muddy blur. A main riff that is repeated over and over and over, a chord progression rendered almost dronelike, the vocals a layer of gurgling rumble over the top, the drums only audible as a distant throb or the occasional sizzle of cymbal shimmer. Definitely grim and (un)black, but with that distinct postrock vibe, and a weirdly catchy main melody, the whole thing locked and looped into an endlessly repetitive mantra. Two tracks on the first disc, muddy and murky and dreamily washed out, almost like some minimal black metal record produced by Tim Hecker or Philip Jeck. Buzzy and beautifully blurred. The second disc is a single hour long track of deeeeeeep black ambience. A haunting and mysterious expanse of distant whirs and cavernous rumbles, soft shimmer and high end streaks, super spare and sparse, headphones recommended, reverbed voices, the sound of some underground cavern, lightless and devoid of all life, an emptiness, a nothingness, beautifully austere. Packaged in an oversized black cardboard box, with a candle and incense, a parchment insert, the cd-r's in plain white cardboard sleeves with paste on text on the front and back. Crazy limited. In fact, TOTALLY OUT OF PRINT, this batch made just for us, which means once these are gone, they are gone gone gone...

MPEG stream: Aartuu Solmua Orkk
MPEG stream: Mortaa Skaldai Unvettu Oom

The return of the unpronounceably named master of alchemical psychedelic naturalist atmospheric doomed UN-black metal, Njiqahdda, whose last record was a revelation, which is saying a lot as the man behind Njiqahdda also records as Light Shall Prevail, Agathothodion, and as part of Glaciial, not to mention running the kick ass E.E.E. Recordings label. But with Njiqahdda, there does seem to be something more organic going on, something less tied to the structures and strictures of black metal. There is definitely plenty of buzz and blast, but there's also lots of krautrock style jamming, psychedelic ambience. The sound is much more lo-fi, murky and muddy, but not in that blackened grim way so much as a strange haunting earthy way. The opening track begins with some swirling black rumble, and mysterious downtuned drones, but when the song proper kicks in, it's not a burst of blackness, instead it's an effects drenched tripped out hypnorock jam, Butthole Surfers style vocals swirl in a sea of trippy druggy FX, the main riff is looped and repeated, the drums propulsive and inventive, if anything this sounds more like last week's record of the week CAVE, than any black metal we've heard . There are some shrieked harsh vocals, some double kick blast beats, but those are strung beneath clean guitars weaving a seasick shanty, the effects cycling and swirling and adding so much weird texture and so many strange layers, that this honestly sounds like it could be some blackened Circle side project. The track unwinds into a dense field of slowly unfurling feedback and more spacepsych FX. The second track follows a similar pattern, hewing a bit closer to a distinctly black metal sound, but still, the effects are wrapped around everything, the drums are busy and chaotic, the vocals are weird whispers, doused in delay, and allowed to careen amidst the warped riffage and splattery drumming, part way through, the band locks into a nearly Burzumic buzz, but before too long the song slips back into hushed black ambience. Track three is the blackest so far, a loping, dirgey, depressive minor key midtempo lurch, the guitars surging and soaring majestically, the drums simple and propulsive, the vocals still weird indistinct clouds of echo and shimmer. Tripped out and seriously psychedelic, but definitely black and buzzy, almost blissed out, not really in a shoegazey way, but more like an effects laden space rock. Finally to finish things off, Njiqahdda takes the last song and dips back into a soundworld much more grim and black, the riffing much less effected, more a churning buzz, still swathed in effects and keyboards, the vocals hissy wraiths hovering overhead, the cymbals so hot and sizzly, they seem to never decay, adding a whole 'nother layer of high end shimmer, finally giving way to a weird looped abstract riffscape, with guitars, roiling pulsing, flecked with stuttery glitch and random abstract crunch, eventually becoming a soft minimal whisper before blinking out. Shit yeah. If anyone is pushing the boundaries of black metal, it seems to be the ones not even playing it. Unblack is definitely the new black, especially if you like your grim buzz tripped out and seriously fucked up.

MPEG stream: Lvistagnagsetta
MPEG stream: Infertel

First actual, non cd-r, cd release from this mysterious one man ambient doomy un-black metal band. Like all of the EEE and related bands, Njiqahdda are tough to describe, black metal is the source and the root of their sound, but what is done to that sound, how it is twisted and processed and effected, the arrangement, the production, the recording, are all as important to the sound as the sound itself. Like the last Njiqahdda record, this one is all about repetition, the riffs and parts looped over and over, the drums locked into rhythms that often stretch the length of the song barely wavering. But like that record, the sound here is fantastic, alien - sure there's the requisite buzz and blast, the distortion and growled guttural vox, but they are twisted into truly strange shapes. The guitar, the main riff, is blurred and murky, turned into a throbbing pulsing drone as much as an actual riff, occasionally stripped down to an almost indie rock like jangle. The drums, programmed and machinelike, offer up a framework for the various elements to hang on, the vocals too are heavily effected, a blown out howl, that sometimes transforms into what sounds like radio interference. And like most tracks, there is always one element that makes everything else seem downright normal, here it's the cymbals, which stutter and hiccup, like they're super processed, or perhaps they're just recorded so hot, that they cause the tape heads to malfunction, either way, it sounds amazing, and sort of like some blackened Chain Reaction record. So for half of the first track's 16 minutes, these elements loop and shift sucking the listener in, mesmerizing with its trancelike groove. At which point the track pauses, before relaunching, this time with thick streaks of distorted melody, and soaring sort-of-leads, blown out Nadja-like majesty, before the distortion and buzz is pulled back, revealing the murky strummy underbelly of the song, leaving just drums and jangly guitar, and a layer of distorted hiss, peppered with weird percussive throbs and dropouts, which only add to the track's weirdness. And so goes the rest of the record. Loooooong tracks. The riffing so hot and blown out and in the red, that the various distortions and crumbling tape hiss, add a whole other element to the sound. The drums buried in the mix, the cymbals acidic and hissy, sometimes washing out all the sounds around it, other times bathing the main riff in a shower of sizzle, the guitars white hot, slipping from blinding and effulgent to blackened and falling to pieces, what sounds like keyboards, smeared streaks of buzz and drone, deep fuzzy bass, harsh vokills, all the various elements going through various stages of distortion and decomposition, doused in effects and processing, recorded in such a way, that they often don't sound like guitars, or drums, or vocals at all. Each song a series of blackened riffy drones, long stretches of clean shimmer, of lilting jangle, of stumbling dizzying abstraction, even longer stretches of looped mesmerizing buzz, but always run through with lilting melodies, buried hooks, subtly catchy, blissed out and black. A record as much about riffs and beats as it is about sound and timbre, texture and mood, a dreamy blissy blackened dronescape of buzz, blur, loop rhythm and ambience, twisting its unblackness into something haunting and hypnotic and unforgettable.

MPEG stream: Nortii Maatu
MPEG stream: Aasklamatii Ligmett Aursag

With a name like Njiqahdda, and a record title like Njimajikal Arts, all the text written in some unreadable Eastern script, and cover art consisting of lush green foliage and nothing else, with the promise that this was some mysterious alchemical psychedelic naturalist atmospheric doomed black metal, you know we were seriously intrigued. But at the same time, we really had no idea what to expect. We got these from E.E.E. one of our current favorite labels, home to all of the amazing unblack metal we've been raving about forever... so at first we assumed it was another unblack metal offshoot of one of the many E.E.E. bands, but the label assured us it wasn't. Later we discovered, it was actually a sort of experiment to see if folks reacted differently to stuff on E.E.E. if they thought it wasn't Christian. So, after all, it ends up, it is actually guys from Flaskavsae and Drommer, who together have whipped up one of the weirdest and most gorgeously fucked up (un)black records of the year. Which is saying a lot considering how twisted and far out most of the E.E.E. stuff is... Where to start? Two discs, looooong tracks, weirdly washed out buzzing post rock, with lots of clean guitars and haunting atmospherics, all tangled up with thick blasts of dense black buzz, and with super freaked out production and lots of unlikely and not very metal sounds and arrangements. The opening track, "Blister Within The Hive" is based around a super Slinty' guitar riff, looped and repeated, the drums weirdly staggered and mathy, the vocals a muted mumbly howl, super distorted and demonic, but not like black metal, more like noise rock. The main riff shifts and gets more and more dramtic and lush, while the vocals become more distorted and more unhinged, transforming into swirling clouds of harsh hiss and blurred white noise. With the repeated almost looped riff, it's like an un-black metal Circle, relelntless and mesmerizing, and totally hypnotic. The guitars and drums slowly fade out leaving a twisted, slithery buzzing low end drone, super minimal, as it crawls through a field of glitch and shimmer, like some cd-r drone record. The second track, "A Tale Of Ancient Tergue" is more traditional black metal, but it's all relative. A loping Burzumic midtempo buzz, with tho seame freaked out alien vocals, the drums and cymbals super hot and way up in the mix, threatening to overload everything, the main riff and melody surprisingly melancholy and catchy, again locking into a continuous loop, until the main riff drops out, and suddenly a haunting chorus of voices takes over the main melody, humming and crooning over the still poundin and crashing drums, creepy and so beautiful. All hovering in a thick cloud of swirling FX and spaced out shimmer. The disc finishes off with the nearly half hour long "Blue Wintry Days", a doomy surge through fields of hissing white noise buzz, the guitars soaring, the drums again sizzling white hot all over the place, mournful and melancholy, but so weirdly washed out at times it sounds like Tim Hecker vs. Burzum vs. Merzbow. About halfway through the various elements become less and less distinct, and the song transforms into an almost static blur, before shifting back into a dark doomy plod, but still always, a bit more mathy and post rock and spaced out that any black record has a right to be. And we love it. The second disc is just two long songs. The first, "Ancient Tergue Recital" begins all ambient, with deep cavernous drones and birdsong, shimmering metallic reverberations and delicate chimes, a sparse ambient sprawl, that builds and builds, getting darker, and more ominous, the melodies turning minor key, but continuing to drift, a tranquil black ambient lullaby wrapped around a lilting and haunting music box melody. The final track, "The Wintry Grey" is another long ambient workout, this one even more minimal than the first, more in line with Coleclough or Chalk, minimal and nearly static, subtle overtones shifting gently as the various layers rub against each other almost imperceptibly. A keening high end draped over a warm whirring low end, the two all tangled up in a divine dreamy drift. Definitely one of the coolest, darkest, weirdest, doomiest, dreamiest (un)black metal records of the year.

It's been a little while since we've heard from these long time aQ faves, the near unpronounceable one man black metal band Njiqahdda, but this latest quickly reminds us why exactly they've remained out of our favorite bands. A lot has changed in the Njiqahdda camp, sonically and spiritually (E., the man behind Njiqahdda, runs the E.E.E. label, which was home to most of the UNblack (Christian) metal bands we knew about), but that's part of what made this band so exciting, and wow, the sound on this new one is incredible, the production is massive! The songwriting is expansive and almost proggy, the first track alone, the six minute "Gaia" is a multi part mini epic, the sound not so buzzy and black, but more sprawling and chuggy and churning, wild dense tribal drumming, bellowed raspy vokills, the guitars thick, almost Neurosis like at time, the sound weirdly (and purposefully we assume), distorted and overdriven in places, strange squalls of percussion, some soaring leads, all wound into a dense, and tense blast of moody metallic heaviness, that while maybe not buzzy and black enough for the grim hordes, the rest of is can revel in these twisted, avant sounds. And it doesn't get any less far out and progressive. The second track is even more dense and mathy, the drumming more intricate, wound around flurries of notes, before finally coalescing into a chugging pound that sounds almost more hardcore than metal, that same sort of ferocity, and it suits the sound, which weds this punk fury to blasting double kick drumming, and swirling sinister ambience, not to mention, a super melodic / dynamic breakdown, complete with crooned vocals, and crazy drum splatter. As amazing as it is to listen to this, the thought of how someone conceives of music this twisted and intricate and perplexing is still a fantastic mystery. The record never slips into pure black buzz, so for folks looking for THAT sort of blackness, better steer clear, but if you like your blackness laced with gloomy death rock ("With Clouds"), or twisted spaced out psychedelia ("She Which Water Holds"), or groovy Khold like blackend Nirvana style heavy riffing ("Exclave"), then there's plenty here to love. And yet amidst all the aforementioned sonic weirdness, there's plenty more, all deftly woven into a bigger, and impossibly cohesive whole, metallic heaviness, warped riffing, dreamy dark psych drift, hooks galore, crooned gothic vocals, spidery math rock breakdowns, loping post rock rhythms, and soaring epic sonic majesty. As much as we love everything we've heard from Njiqahdda, it's hard to believe how far this sound has come, and how much it's grown and expanded over the years, somehow managing to retain the black energy that made those early records so vital, but infusing it with a wide eyed experimental streak, that most definitely makes this a contender for metal record of the year. So great! Sadly though, this is ALREADY OUT OF PRINT!! We got about twenty copies, but these are the last we'll be able to get, so act fast. Packaged in dvd style cases with full color printed inserts.

MPEG stream: Gaia
MPEG stream: The Vail Of Allaeius
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MPEG stream: ...And The Men Behind The Sun

Latest blast of avant UN-blackness from the awesome and unpronounceable Njiqahdda. The latest project of the man who seemed to single handedly define the UN-black metal scene we were so enamored of, with his label EEE, and his various other awesome and aQ approved projects Light Shall Prevail, Agathothodion, Glaciial and a bunch of others. But Njiqahdda was always way weirder. Which is saying a lot considering that the weirdness of those other projects is precisely what made them so appealing to us in the first place. So when we say this stuff is weirder, well prepare yourself. Sprawling super intricate and convoluted blackened epics, we hesitate to call it black metal, even though it most definitely is, guitars buzz, drums blast, the vocals and howled and anguished, the melodies minor key and majestic, but those tropes are all twisted up here, into something way more unique. More like a mathy blackened prog, or some avant blackened hypno-rock. Both would apply, the parts constantly shifting, the arrangements always in flux, the drums wild and dense and intricate, the guitar playing both gnarled and frantic, chiming and soaring, songs as likely to erupt into a grim burst of furious buzz, as a woozy, almost poppy bit of melodiousness. The sound too is distinctly un-black metal, and not UN-black in that sense, more like NOT black at all, murky and muddy, warm and a little washed out, not buzzy and brittle, the voice buried in the murk, the drums also a bit muted, occasionally some more traditional blackness surfaces, but usually just as quickly the sound shifts to something more rhythmic or mathy or proggy, tranced out and droney, all of the songs seemingly parts of a single massive and majestic whole. The record's centerpiece, a 25 minute epic, even breaks down part way through into some glimmering shimmering post rocky drift, all hazy and washed out and dreamlike, acoustic guitars and little high end melodic trills, before disappearing in a cloud of alien FX, processed percussion, mysterious electronics, before finally emerging on the other side reverted back to its moody, murky, repetitive hypno rock blackness, somehow more melodic and poppy than ever. The whole record is overflowing with sonic surprises, and yet somehow every random bit of sonic weirdness, doesn't stick out, instead it all sounds perfectly organic, from brooding acoustic folk, to manic mathy super frenetic stop start dynamics, from jangly almost post rock, to gnarled, almost impossibly complex blackprog, and from weirdly muddy washed out almost gothy sounding black buzz to abstract electronics flecked foresty folk. As much as we love all the other Njiqahdda, and hell, pretty much all the other groups that came before, this one definitely takes the cake. Stretching the realms and bounds of the black metal sound about as far as they can go, while impossibly still managing to retain a sound that is both black AND metal. A new favorite for sure. Some super stunning artwork as well, a massive booklet, filled with gorgeous photos of the sea, overlaid with blue metallic sigils and mysterious mantras...

MPEG stream: Transcendental Knowledge Upon The Battlefield
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It's been a while since we've listed any UNblack metal, the twisted Christian variant of the more traditionally heathen black strain of metal that we hold so near and dear to our black withered hearts. But as longtime readers of the aQ list no doubt know by now, we LOVE unblack metal, not necessarily for the message (we don't love black metal for its message either), but instead, the sound of unblack metal is so far out, so far removed from the tired tropes of BM, not sure if it's divine inspiration, or just the particular group of unblack metallers we tend to be drawn to, but it seems like the unblack tends to be weirder and more warped than the black in most cases, and thus, we've found ourselves looking to the UNdark side for that which our musical soul yearns for. This latest slab of abstract experimental UNblackness, comes courtesy of aQ faves Njiqahdda, which just so happens to be the work of the man behind a bunch of other aQ unblack faves including Light Shall Prevail, Agathothodion, Glaciial and others. Which already meant this was gonna be some seriously experimental, evocative buzzing brilliance. Which it is, we're happy to report, but much has changed, the sound here is much prettier, much more stripped down, with less of an emphasis on buzz and blast, and more on mood and texture, ambience and emotion. The epic 15 minute opener, is all jangly clean guitar, and wild drumming, at least in the beginning, the song soon explodes into something much more black, but after the initial burst, it sort of smoothes out, and instead of being crushing and punishing, it's hypnotic and mesmerizing, there are still harsh vocals, but the buzz is smoothed out, and the melody is lilting and melancholic, not hard to imagine this song could be stripped down to a gorgeous hazy drone, without losing to much of it's actual form and structure. The follow up skips the buzz entirely, and offers up a bit of dreamy, slightly gothic indie jangle, a sort of sweetly minor key post rock, wrapped in a light haze of shimmery ambience. The next two tracks look back to the opener, both lengthy drone drenched black metal jams, with that muted buzz, tangled guitar harmonies, and super catchy melodies, both, even at their heaviest, manage to remain poppy and melodic, that blend, and the push and pull between light and dark, is what makes those tracks so emotional and powerful. The closing track is an extended dronescape of whirling haze, shimmering high end, and deep cavernous rumbles, it almost sounds like a field recording set to music, one can almost visualize, the epic forests, the moon reflecting off the water, the glimmer of starlight on the frost covered branches, quite beautiful, and a fitting finish to a strangely beautiful batch of buzzing washed out unblack post metal.

MPEG stream: Ingratuu Maate Lagentii
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Four more short sharp blasts of grinding, cyclical, mesmerizing, crusty, repetitive blown out, in the red hypnorock heaviness from No Balls, a minimally maximalist offshoot of the mighty Brainbombs, taking single parts, and locking them and looping them into (im)proper songs, pounding away relentlessly, total caveman headbanger post punk sludge rock, and some of the raddest shit we've ever heard. Obviously if you love the Brainbombs, you're probably gonna dig this too. The same gnarled filthy riffage, the same sort of Neanderthal drum pound, but No Balls are definitely their own demented beast, howled vocals buried in the mix, occasional damaged psychedelic guitar leads, the sound thick and dense and powerful, heavy and punk as fuck, but also weirdly metallic, and super trancelike, most songs a single riff, pounded out over and over, while all around it guitar lines tangle, the low end throbs and pulses, vocals yelp, this record is more songy than the rest of the Brainbombs catalog, but only just barely. Like old school Finnish punk rock, super charged and stripped down, furious and fierce and frantic, but dirgey and doomy and sludgey at the same time, a tangled superfuzz blowout, tightly wound, and unravelling before your ears, glorious ramshackle, totally loose and swaggery and druggy, but tight in that way only bands on the verge of total collapse are capable of. It's way too short, these are the kinds of songs that could go on forever, stretch any of these jams into double digits and you'd have some seriously transcendental ur-dirge drone bliss crust wave nirvana, but if you're like us, you'll find yourself playing this over and over and over and over anyway... LIMITED TO 306 COPIES. In hand screened sleeves, each one hand numbered. We got a bunch, but most likely these are the last copies we'll ever get...

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

SORRY. FINALLY! It's here, the first full length from NO BALLS. The new project from TWO of the Brainbombs, and it's just like the 7" (which is sadly now out of print): a noisier, more metal, more stripped down, more mesmerizingly hypnotic, even more fucked up and fractured and RAW, nearly instrumental Brainbombs which means this is fucking AMAZING!!! If you love the Brainbombs, and how could you NOT, then you'll love this. Looped, motorik rhythms pound away relentlessly, through thick clouds of crumbling distortion, the recording super fucked up and in the red, with a super freaked out spatial thing going on, some of the drums seem to be blasting away right up front, while other drums sound off to the side, while the distorted guitars seem to seep into EVERYTHING, the result is head nodding (banging?) and totally dizzying. It's like these guys took unreleased Brainbombs jams and stripped them down to their bare essentials, then dipped them in a boiling cauldron of blown out distortion, hurling them into the void, picking out just a single riff from each track, and looping it, over and over and over, pounding away at that same riff FOREVER, total maximalist minimalism, like some impossible hybrid of Brainbombs, Gore, Black Flag and Lubricated Goat, hypnotic and mesmerizing, filthy and raw, metal AND punk, post everything noise rock, this shit is so fucked up and fierce. Angular slashing riffage, buried super distorted vocals, but only here and there, some of that old dented BB trumpet bleat pops up every once in a while too, but those elements are practically swallowed whole by the churning black mass of sound that is No Balls, a gloriously sludgey and psychedelic kraut punk doom, mantra like, but also totally rocking, and simultaneously the best and the worst thing that's ever happened to your stereo. And your ears. Totally ruling, utter sonic destruction, total musical bliss, filthy and fantastically and utterly recommended. Some of us are thinking... RECORD OF THE YEAR. Oh yeah... The bad news is these are limited to only 300 copies, and once the batch we have is gone, we probably won't be able to get more. Super simple packaging, black on brown jackets, with that bunny image from the 7", plain white inner sleeve, pressed on nice thick vinyl... grab one before they're gone...

On the same label that brought us the recent lp from SF blackmetal/blacknoize merchants Sutekh Hexen, comes this crusty, blackened slab of raw, primitive, feral heaviness. And, as the title suggests, there are in fact six songs, but they all sorta bleed and ooze into each other, blown out and in the red, each track a skull shearing slab of blackened crust punk crunch, D-beat pound wedded to grisly grinding riffage, the drums distorted and weirdly industrial at times, sounding more like metal on metal (maybe Pussy Galore style) than a proper kit, and the vocals, holy shit, total throat shredding hellish howls, all wound up into relentless onslaught of grinding, blasting, buzzing brutality. And somehow, the band still manage to cram some melody into their constant blackened barrage, the result turning this sick black slab into something strangely catchy. The vibe is definitely more blackened punk, then punky black metal, the difference is really maybe too minor to quibble over. Needless to say if you like your sounds raw and heavy, primitive and in-the-red, punked out and black as fuck, then this stuff should definitely hit the spot. Fans of Ancestors, Bone Awl, Akitsa, Ash Pool, Malveillance, Acephalix, Harassor, Endless Humiliation, Dishammer, Trap Them and the like should definitely check these guys out. LIMITED TO 350 COPIES!!!

We only have 6 of these, the debut demo from this Florida depressive black metal duo, who sound is a twisted, grim melding of screeching abject misery and blasting blackened buzz. After a brief intro of spidery acoustic guitar, and some jagged shards of distorted noise, the band launches into a frenzied fury of insectoid guitar buzz, galloping blasts, and over it all, so hysterically shrieked vokills, wrapped in TONS of reverb, which invariably leaks all over the rest of the proceedings giving the whole record a sort of hazy lo-fi vibe. While most depressive black metal seems to lean more toward the doom side of the spectrum, lots of the jams here are frenzied and fast, flitting from D-beat pound, to all out lightning speed black blast, the melodies minor key for sure, keeping the mood appropriately miserable, but all wrapped up in burst and blasts. There are a few tracks of loping doomic creep, some of the record's finest, and most emotionally charged moments, during which the vocals get even more anguished, the music sounding post rocky and proggy, but inevitably, they eventually slip right back into something more blasting and black. CRAZY LIMITED, already out of print, and super cool packaging...

Newest ep from this Greek black metal band. Limited and numbered to 600 copies and in a cool faux leather digipak. Epic and majestic black metal ala Emperor with a touch of Burzum-y primitveness. Buzzing mosquito guitars that gradually get heavier and

RealAudio clip: Crucify Him

Debut record from this Greek black metal band of buzzing symphonic Empreror style black metal. Not quite as polished as their new ep, but there's something to be said for that. Blazing primitive metal, with huge epic keyboard parts, spacey droned out

RealAudio clip: To The Shrine
RealAudio clip: The Drowning

If our review of Noctum's 2010 debut The Seance boiled down to saying this Swedish band's '70s-sounding Sabbath/Pentagram worship was definitely highly recommended to all Witchcraft fans ('cause it sounded a heck of a lot like aQ faves Witchcraft), then this time around, with their new album Final Sacrifice, we must recommend 'em to all fans of their new labelmates, In Solitude. 'Cause Noctum have added a BIG dose of Mercyful Fate to their sonic equation - which means, rather than Witchcraft, they now remind us more of In Solitude, or even Ghost. A lot of it has to do with the vocals, with their newfound wailing King Diamond-ish affectations (including the high falsetto, and horror story lyrics), which don't sound nearly as much like Magnus from Witchcraft as they used to. Instead, yeah, he sounds something like the guys from Ghost and In Solitude. There's also a Mercyful Fate riff or two hinted at in these songs for sure. We don't want to accuse 'em of following trends, but have to admit it looks a little suspicious. In Solitude and Ghost, both displaying big Mercyful Fate influences, are of course two of Sweden's currently hippest/hottest hard rock exports right now, right? But it could just be a coincidence. And in any case, what does it matter? Nobody was accusing Noctum of being all that original in the first place. What's important, is, will you dig the tunes? And you will, if you like this sort of retro riffy occult metal action, a la In Solitude of course. Plus, Noctum DO still have plenty of the '70s/Sabbath/Witchcraft thing going on too, in fact, one song is progged out enough to feature flute, and it ends up being a pretty cool combo, Black Sabbath meets Mercyful Fate (or Witchcraft meets In Solitude), nothing wrong with that!! Also if you found the latest In Solitude to be "not metal enough" for you, this won't have that problem, they don't (yet) do the goth-rock thing. But they do mix in some possible other inspirations - there's a rollicking-ness to some of this that makes us think they've been listening to Southern/boogie rock like the Allman Brothers, Ram Jam or Pat Travers (!), and heck, any band that can make us reference both King Diamond and Ram Jam, we approve!

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Woah. Witchcraft fans, listen up!! There's gotta be something supernatural in the water over there in Sweden, 'cause they've somehow conjured up ANOTHER band that channels the swinging riffage and occultic vibe of early '70s Sabbath (and Pentagram) so perfectly, a la Witchcraft. We had thought that Burning Saviours (RIP) were Witchcraft's closest doppelgangers, but these young guys do a damn good job of it too. Other bands in this vein include Graveyard, Horisont, Troubled Horse (well they're mostly all Witchcraft members, that one), and Dead Man... now add Noctum to that list and put 'em at the top! Not what we were expecting, with its cover art and logo, this looks a bit more like black metal, but these Swedes are definitely practicing an earlier form of witchcraft for this seance of theirs... Quite a nice surprise, if something that sounds so familiar can be called a surprise. Probably if the singer didn't have that particular Swedish-accented lilt to his voice (all songs but one, "Den Onda Trollpackan", are sung in English), and did more of an overt Ozzy, we'd be calling 'em Sabbath clones (first 3 albums!) rather than Witchcraft ones, but the combination of Pentagram/Sabbath stylings and the emotive, melodic, sincere-sounding vocals definitely spell Witchcraft. (Though "Lucifer's Way" also reminds us of a song by heavy progressive krautrockers Dies Irae!). We thought of trying to review this without playing up the Witchcraft-iness of it, but really, if you like Witchcraft (and who doesn't?) you'll find this a pleasure - and if you aren't yet into Witchcraft, you should probably start with one of their own albums anyway. Though this would do in a pinch! Sabbath fans, too, queue up. Noctum possess a very Iommi-ish guitar tone for sure. Goes great with their undeniably catchy, and heavy, riffs. Throw in crashing cymbals, bellbottomed lope, and urgent-sounding songwriting infused with portents of doom, and you've got something that's more authentically 1971 proto-metal than most things from 1971! LIMITED to 500 numbered copies.

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MPEG stream: Mistress
MPEG stream: Lucifers Way

We've listed Noctum's The Seance previously, when it came out domestically on the Stormspell label, in 2010. Subsequently, the band put out a vinyl-only 12" ep on the High Roller label called The Fiddler, with two new songs and a Pentagram cover. Unfortunately, we never were able to pick up any of those eps, but now the Swedish psych/prog label Transubstans has put out an import edition of The Seance that includes 2 of the 3 tracks from The Fiddler as a bonus! (They left off the Pentagram song.) So, if you missed this before, here's a bigger better version, and if you're a big fan, now's your chance to upgrade to this expanded edition... What we said about the original limited edition Stormspell pressing: Woah. Witchcraft fans, listen up!! There's gotta be something supernatural in the water over there in Sweden, 'cause they've somehow conjured up ANOTHER band that channels the swinging riffage and occultic vibe of early '70s Sabbath (and Pentagram) so perfectly, a la Witchcraft. We had thought that Burning Saviours (RIP) were Witchcraft's closest doppelgangers, but these young guys do a damn good job of it too. Other bands in this vein include Graveyard, Horisont, Troubled Horse (well they're mostly all Witchcraft members, that one), and Dead Man... now add Noctum to that list and put 'em at the top! Not what we were expecting, with its cover art and logo, this looks a bit more like black metal, but these Swedes are definitely practicing an earlier form of witchcraft for this seance of theirs... Quite a nice surprise, if something that sounds so familiar can be called a surprise. Probably if the singer didn't have that particular Swedish-accented lilt to his voice (all songs but one, "Den Onda Trollpackan", are sung in English), and did more of an overt Ozzy, we'd be calling 'em Sabbath clones (first 3 albums!) rather than Witchcraft ones, but the combination of Pentagram/Sabbath stylings and the emotive, melodic, sincere-sounding vocals definitely spell Witchcraft. (Though "Lucifer's Way" also reminds us of a song by heavy progressive krautrockers Dies Irae!). We thought of trying to review this without playing up the Witchcraft-iness of it, but really, if you like Witchcraft (and who doesn't?) you'll find this a pleasure - and if you aren't yet into Witchcraft, you should probably start with one of their own albums anyway. Though this would do in a pinch! Sabbath fans, too, queue up. Noctum possess a very Iommi-ish guitar tone for sure. Goes great with their undeniably catchy, and heavy, riffs. Throw in crashing cymbals, bellbottomed lope, and urgent-sounding songwriting infused with portents of doom, and you've got something that's more authentically 1971 proto-metal than most things from 1971! ...So, pretty awesome, and now even better, with bonus tracks "The Fiddler" and "The Serpent Bride" both pretty groovy, bringing the cowbell and sounding like Led Zep was as much an influence as Sabbath.

MPEG stream: Fortune Teller
MPEG stream: Mistress
MPEG stream: Lucifers Way

One of two records on this week's list from a man called Avenger, who is probably most familiar to longtime readers of the aQ list as the mastermind behind stumbling surf-guitar flecked outsider black metal weirdos Varghkoghargasmal, whose 'wooden metal' is a twisted mash up of surf guitars, woozy warbly organs, black metal atmosphere and motorik almost krautrock rhythms, and whose only proper full length, Drowned In Lakes, was released on our own Andee's tUMULt label. But Avenger is an old school black metal thrasher at heart, as is evidenced by these two other projects, the creepy blackened doom of Black Priest Of Satan, reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, and this, a collection of early demos from Nocturnal, Avengers's old school thrash outfit that is pretty much everything a thrashing maniac could ask for, buzzing brittle riffs, galloping riffs, harsh demonic vokills, with the occasional falsetto scream, the songs impossibly catchy, the riffs killer, frantic and frenetic, raw and loose and sloppy and chaotic, all of which only adds to the feel and the vibe and the mood. Not hard to imagine that this is some killer cassette from the mid eighties. Shades of Destruction, Bathory, Nifelheim, Abigail and the like. The Thrash With The Devil ep from 2002 which starts things off is the more polished of the two, the band sounding heavy and thrashy and a little bit modern, still classic thrash for sure, and easily putting to shame the majority of thrash revivalists out there. Both with song AND sound, but it's the Rites Of The Black Mass demo from 2001 that is the gem, here, super raw and twisted, the drums weirdly produced and buried in the mix, the guitars brittle and jagged, the vocals a strange raspy bellow, also down in the mix, and blurred into what sounds more like a series of droned out demonic exhalations, the riffs super tranced out, the sound murky and muddy and seriously grim and evil, so good!Essential underground black thrash, classic sounding enough for the true metal obsessives, but just warped enough for the rest of us. Oh yeah, best part of the liner notes: "The guitar solo part in 'Welcome To Your Death' should be viewed as an expression of total fear and despair of a victim which looks into the merciless face of its killer!"

MPEG stream: Graveyard Massacre
MPEG stream: Hellraiser
MPEG stream: Chainsaw Carnage

MPEG stream: Soundtrack For A Suicide - Opus II
MPEG stream: Anthem To Self-Destruction

Ever wonder what sort of depraved and demented home movies might be the result of a prurient glimpse into the private life of Darkthrone's Nocturno Culto? Well, wonder no more. But be prepared to be disappointed, at least if all you're looking for is lots of metal and blood and mayhem. The opening scene pretty much sets the tone, a light hearted bit of ice fishing, with NC and Grutle from Enslaved, as they lay on the ice and dangle tiny little poles over a hole cut in the ice, not wearing spikes or leather, but instead the best Northface has to offer. Nocturno Culto even kisses the first fish he catches. And so it goes, a meandering journey through the life of Nocturno Culto, sure there's plenty of metal, the score is all Darkthrone tracks (a few Aura Noir tunes here and there) and droning ambience composed by NC for the film, but it's interspersed with plenty of light hearted fun, slow sweeping images of the vast and untamed beauty of Norway, and all sorts of other random bits and pieces. Darkthrone fans will NEED this obviously, not just for the amazing rehearsal footage, with Fenriz complaining about the price of cymbals (hasn't bought a new one in 13 years) and the duo setting up in a little rec room style basement complete with flowered drapes and Iron Maiden poster, their primitive lo-fi buzz interspersed with amazing shots of them wandering through snowy forests, but for a private glimpse into a world and country that are wreathed in mystery and that most metal folks only experience filtered through black buzz or smeared corpsepaint. As fun as it is to get lost in the drama and showmanship, it's equally interesting to experience what life as a musician in Norway must be like, and how living amidst forests and fjords, snow and sky, informs the music we've come to love so much. Besides the rehearsal footage, some of the highlights include: gorgeous footage of waterfalls and autumn forests, overlaid with ghostly images of the band, all to the strains of Darkthrone's buzzing grimness, complete with subtitles so you can finally understand the words, some hanging out with an old man who used to be a circus performer and his constantly barking dog, Aura Noir signing their recording contract, on a table in front of a wall full of nailed up antlers, followed by a very quiet repast of smoking and drinking... and playing Chinese checkers, a trip to Japan for Peter Beste's black metal photo show opening, featuring Nocturno Culto and Aaron from Iran playing a Kodo drummer video game, and crusty heartthrobs Gallhammer!!! We're even more crushed out if that were even possible. Some killer live footage as well as photo sessions, the Aura Noir record release party, backstage boredom, onstage mayhem, in a tiny club complete with those grade school acoustical tiles not more than a foot or two overhead, some footage of the downtime in the studio during the recording of Sardonic Wrath, a record label meeting, that takes place on a hillside around a campfire... and then a graveyard, and loads more. It's very abstract, a bit arty, but eminently watchable. Sometimes dark and bleak, other times sort of goofy and laid back, usually we tend to reach for the remote and skip around, but this The Misanthrope had us watching the whole thing end to end. And made us want to listen to nothing but Darkthrone! Extras on the first disc include a gallery of stills (or not-so-stills, as the pictures tend to shift and shimmer with the aid of some strange video effect), set to some dizzying Darkthrone tuneage, some amazing old old old footage of Darkthrone, 2 killer tracks from way back, the band looking like they're all of 12 years old (which they probably are), as well as the 'video' for "Too Old Too Cold" which almost plays like a mini version of the movie, graveyards, forests, and plenty of headbanging... Also included is a bonus second disc, a cd featuring all new music composed by NC specifically for the film, lots of rumbling crumbling dark ambience, all the haunting mood music from the movie. Spacey and abstract, creepy and shimmering, droney and dark, some of it pulsing and ethereal like some lost Tangerine Dream track, a few tracks super abstract guitarscapes, one track, a totally demented metal jam, with ultra processed guitars, tangled leads and goofy distorted vocals, but most of it is some seriously bleak and strangely lovely ambient minimalism.... Packaged in an oversized dvd style cd superjewel case with a big booklet of liner notes and photos, including one in which Darkthrone and Aura Noir are posed in the woods, snarling and brandishing what appear to be magazines and fireplace tools. Awesome. All region, NTSC.

Reissued Florida death metal classic. Back in '90 when this first came out, Nocturnus were pioneers in the use of keyboards in metal. Nowadays everybody uses keys (that's the basis of the whole black metal thing ain't it? Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir,

[ aquarius records — Metal ]