On Troll (By Norse Music) Drott draws from Scandinavian folklore to create a soundtrack for the listener to inhabit a dank, murky forest, with the eponymous troll close enough that you can smell it, delivered via dark, slightly campy electronic rock soundscapes that would feel totally in place in a (not too scary) fantasy/ horror movie. Continue reading
This experimental Chicago band has been toying with the dark sonic corners for over twenty years. It’s been eleven of those years since we have had a new album from Yakuza, and it is good to dive back into their land of twisted shadows. The focus has shifted to a more deliberate brand of heavy, that places them not far from the sonic zip code of older Mastodon. The differences are fewer guitar pyrotechnics and a much darker trajectory than the Atlanta progsters. Bruce Lamont’s baritone moan carries a hint of anger as the opening track is framed with dissonance.
Austrian post-black metallers Harakiri for the Sky kicked off their debut US tour in Brooklyn, co-headlining with North Dakota’s Ghost Bath.
No matter how rotten the State of Denmark ever was, the fecundity of fetidity seems ever more prevalent in the Belgian ward of Ghent; more specifically within the parish boundaries of the Church of Ra, is something far more foul. Missionary for ruinous, dark, and heavy music, six-string dire wolf Lennart Bossu presents a new vehicle to spread the word of power of exacting, challenging, but ultimately rewarding, dark metallic music captured and presented under the guise of Predatory Void, a quintet of local luminaries to Bossu who have helped mould and shape a new, slightly more straight-forward, yet no less demanding than Amenra, force.
As part of our preview of Roadburn Festival 2023, Ghost Cult Keefy interviewed Rasmus and Ketil a.k.a. John Cxnnor! The duo, who also have the hardcore band LLNN, are curating a special presentation and curated performance at Roadburn this year. In addition, they are releasing their collaborative live album with The Devil’s Trade – “Live At Roadburn” album out April 21 via Pelagic Records. The guys discussed the genesis of the project, how they connected with Roadburn founder and artistic director Walter Hoejimakers, touring, future plans for both projects and their favorite Terminator flick!
With the first release in eight years, Norway’s Dødheimsgard return armed with a reputation for the abstract and the almost absurd. Formerly a more pure Black Metal act, 1999’s seminal 666 International saw the band broaden their sonic palette to incorporate a widening range of styles within their sound, often incorporated in sudden ways as opposed to fluidly throughout, with 2015’s return, A Umbra Omega, receiving plaudits and adding to their cult following.
Big|Brave, along with recent collaborators The Body (on Leaving None But Small Birds), Sunn O))) and Earth, are one of those bands whose music while fundamentally heavy and ‘Metal’ (for all intents and purposes) nonetheless expands far beyond the sometimes self-imposed conservative restrictions of the genre. Being a somewhat inactive member of a Metal group on Facebook, I am all too familiar with the more traditional brand of Metalhead for whom the genre stopped being ‘true’ after Iron Maiden‘s Somewhere In Time or Metallica‘s …And Justice For All. If you are of that ilk therefore, I have a sneaking suspicion that this album possibly won’t be for you.
My first encounter with SubRosa’s music was back in 2016 as an eighteen year-old who had just gotten a headstart into music journalism, just right after they released For This We Fought the Battle of Ages. That 2016 release was especially remarkable for my eighteen year-old self, because, apart from its droning resonance in a form of menacing atmospheric doom that would drive the listeners into a solemn state of enchantment, the album was also inspired by Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, a Russia-bound dystopian novel that portrays a state ravaged by modern-day authoritative surveillance; an uncanny prediction towards the terror of the Stalinist regime in real life. The theme and inspiration of the said SubRosa album just instantly ignited the politically conscious side in me at the time.
Metal in its various forms has a reasonably long-standing practice of making concept albums based on historical events, and the latest album from Dystopian Future Movies, War of the Ether (Septaphonic Records) continues that trend with what is almost certainly the most intense musical experience I have ever had.
The concepts and the all too real, bleak experiences of mental hardships and loss of loved ones will be well known to many people and additionally to many people we know. For Stake, these have been the fuel for the band since their inception (previously under the Steak Number Eight moniker), a vehicle for vocalist/guitarist Brent Vanneste’s grief and anxiety.