Back in the tail end of the seventies, Bon Scott of AC/DC sang “if you want blood, you got it.” Over four decades later in 2022, we might hear a comparable rallying cry from vocalist/guitarist Ryan Osterman and his post-rock/shoegaze band Holy Fawn. However, on Dimensional Bleed (Wax Bodega) — the Arizona natives’ second album — the message would be more like “if you want relentless, beautiful sadness, you got it.”
There are times when album art seems absolutely representative of the music contained within. So it is with Irkalla (The Artisan Era), the forthcoming album by Green Bay, Wisconsin’s Aronious. The technical death metal group’s follow-up to their 2020 album Perspicacity, rushes at the listener in relentless, head-spinning waves, as though the band was charting the soundtrack to the formation of galaxies. Continue reading
Industrial metal — of a recognisably early 90s style — lives on in 2022 in the form of Body Prophecy (20 Buck Spin) by Oklahoma’s Black Magnet. Following up Hallucination Scene — the project’s debut album — this latest release arrives with more than a casual nod to Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, and Godflesh (from which Justin K. Broadrick even lends his mixing talents on the album’s closing track). Continue reading
Satyricon & Munch (Napalm Records) is the coming together of two icons of Oslo, Norway – the visuals of artist Edvard Munch inform a new piece of music by black metal veterans Satyricon. With the music inspired by — and presented as part of — a new exhibition at Oslo’s MUNCH museum, this 56-minute recording of new material exists also independent of its visual counterpart. If expecting a full-on black metal album, approach with caution; for those ready for an atmospheric, instrumental journey, this dark trip may be worthy of your time.
As though transmitted from a parallel dimension, Throes Of Death From The Dreamed Nihilism (I, Voidhanger Records) – the debut record by Bekor Qilish – is a strange and magnificent avant-garde metal beast. The brainchild of Italian vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Andrea Bruzzone, Bekor Qilish is a solo project, aided by a smattering of key collaborators — who add colour to Bruzzone’s already mesmeric creation. Whether the term “extreme” or “avant-garde” fits better, Throes Of Death From The Dreamed Nihilism is a whirlwind of creativity and impressive technicality.
Something gigantic and terrible is looming over the dark horizon, and it’s reaching its mighty hand to drag you down below the earth. That’s the feeling anyway on Summoning the Slayer (Relapse Records) — the fourth full-length record by Michigan’s death/doom quintet Temple of Void.
It’s time to enter a very dark place. Poland’s mysterious and enigmatic doom-jazz-post rock-funk project -S- return with their first full-length release since their 2013 untitled debut. Led by composer, bassist, vocalist Patyr, with Grzegorz supplying drums, Dom, w którym mieszkał Wąż (A House Where Dwelled A Snake) (I, Voidhanger) is like nothing else you’re likely to hear, and that includes the group’s debut. The album is four tracks and forty-one minutes of oppressive, threatening, slithering, funky doom. If that sounds like a wild trip, it is.
And don’t forget those clarinets!Continue reading
There’s a slow, mournful funeral march coming through the mists, on a still silent plain, on The Buried Storm (Prophecy Productions), the latest release by Darkher. Led by multi-instrumentalist Jayn Maiven, the album at times bears a resemblance to Neurosis or Triptykon at their most quiet and reflective. With each song centred around the vocal layering of Maiven, the instrumentation often stripped to cello and violin backing, it’s an evocative and understated musical landscape. Often bringing to mind Bat For Lashes, one that sings her siren song with a doom folk backing, this is soothing music for people who like it dark.
Atmospheric black metal project Tome of the Unreplenished have upped the ante on Earthbound (Avantgarde), the band’s forthcoming album. After laying the groundwork on a few initial releases, multi-instrumentalist Hermes brought in a full-band for 2017’s Theurgy – Act I. A departure from the more musically straightforward debut, 2015’s Innerstanding (both I, Voidhanger), the first “full-band” release, probably alienated some listeners. If you aren’t open to noise and industrial experimentation (think more Throbbing Gristle than Nine Inch Nails) you may want to leave that one alone. The latest release is far more in keeping musically with the debut record and it’s a satisfying forty-six minutes of riffing and atmospherics.
It’s been roughly forty-three years since Killing Joke released their first single, Almost Red. Their latest release, the four track single Lord of Chaos (Spinefarm) is the first hint at what the band’s follow up to 2015’s Pylon will sound like. With the existential dread of the world falling apart around us, things may get worse before they get better, but as the horizon gets darker it seems the fire of Killing Joke burns ever brighter.