Hailing from Athens, Blame Kandinsky style themselves as the Greek lovechild of Botch and The Dillinger Escape Plan, and dropped their debut album Spotting Elegance back in 2017, before hitting some high-profile tours around Europe including a support slot with Cavalera Conspiracy.
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.
Twenty-five years plus into his career, Marilyn Manson continues to be an enigma, wrapped tight inside a riddle, not wishing to be fully known. By never making the same album twice with his namesake band, he continues to defy expectations, and be equally loved and hated. While his early albums are masterworks that others from the 1990s would kill to rest their reputations on. However, as the rockstar gains on years and gets further away from his early years, he has transformed into a much more interesting character than when he was freaking out pastors and scarring moms and dads.
Channeling the fierce soul of bands like Anal Cunt, Righteous Pigs, Negative Approach, Tantrum Mantra has come from Los Angeles to destroy you. The side project of Spirit In The Room frontman Dennis R. Sanders, Tantrum Mantra has a new song and video today for their track ‘Guilty Fucker’. You can hear it only at Ghost Cult, below: Continue reading
Arizona punk and sludge merchants Hex Volt are streaming their new EP at Ghost Cult today. The Best Hex Volt EP Ever (it’s their only one) releases this Friday and you can hear it below: Continue reading
Job For A Cowboy bass wunderkind Nick Schendzielos (ex-Cephalic Carnage) have released the off-beat and disturbingly funny ‘Newborns’ video on his YouTube channel, Bassfordays. Brought to life with the versatile Dave Davidson of Revocation, as well as Landon Meier and Matthew Zinke, watch it if you dare to be royally weirded out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXMH_0gRapc
Nightsatan are one of what I can’t help but think of as the “token” bands – a band who sign to a primarily Metal label, are championed by Metal musicians (in this case, Reverend Bizarre’s Albert Witchfinder, who’s performed with them live) and receive rave reviews from Metal sites, but don’t actually play Metal. It’s easy to be cynical about why these bands target themselves at a Metal audience, and why they largely seem to lack acceptance amongst whatever scene they should be a part of, but some quality acts have taken this route in the past.
Nightsatan play evocative, moody synth-soundscapes most easily comparable to Goblin (and modern imitators Zombi), Vangelis or the soundtracks to eighties and nineties action movies. The soundtrack comparison is no coincidence – Nightsatan And The Loops Of Doom (Svart Records) is ostensibly the soundtrack to a short movie of the same name (though the album is longer than the film) which, if the trailer is to be believed, consists of the three fantastically-costumed band members walking across a desert getting into poorly-choreographed fights. The music mirrors this with sinuous pulses, echoing beats and a kind of vintage-sinister atmosphere.
The main strengths and weaknesses of the album are the same that affect most soundtracks. This is music that’s been designed to support visual images – removed from those images you have music that can be evocative or boring depending on the listener’s mood. My own biggest issue with the music here was the lack of hooks or audible drama – atmosphere is built, but within any clear outcome it is often left simply to fall into the background and be ignored.
Being a clear homage to a particular style of music, aimed primarily at an audience that perhaps doesn’t possess the full critical context to judge it fairly, it’s easy to see …Loops Of Doom as something of a gimmick album. Certainly I have my doubts how long the appeal will remain after the novelty has faded. It is, however, a well-executed and engaging gimmick that yields up some pleasing pieces of music, at least for a while.
6/10
RICHIE H-R