News and reviews on all macabre melodies: Metal in its many manifestations, dark and synthwave, audio dramas, soundtracks, ambient, and dungeon synth.
Ruptured World continues its sci-fi epic with the third installment in the Planetary (not officially titled) series. Author Alistair Rennie writes, produces, and provides yet another exquisite tale of cosmic dark ambient, bolstered by the mastering of Simon Heath (Cryo Chamber; Atrium Carceri). I have espoused on numerous occasions that I love narrative in music - I love the weaving of story, design, and atmosphere into musical presentations, no matter the genre.
Read MoreCaustic Reverie's newest droning ambient offering is an explorative meditation on isolation. The first half of the year has seen the planet shuttering its windows - lockdowns and quarantines occurring on a global scale, and composer Bryn Schurman found himself home, with naught but his synthesizers to keep his mind occupied.
Read MoreWith quarantine in effect and the outside world a fearful prospect, many of us have been practicing a solitary, hermetic lifestyle as of late. Luckily, our brethren at Wrought Records have just the soundtrack you need to don a robe, cast your worldly ways aside, and settle into a life of introspective isolation. On May 30th they will bestow upon us the debut release of Texas-based Dungeon Synth neophyte Illuminator. TItled In Ictu Oculi, and inspired by the artist’s fascination with medieval Christianity, this album is an exercise in capturing the stillness, repetition, and perhaps epiphany of the monastic lifestyle.
Read MoreOn her debut, full-length Monolith Belarus dark ambient artist Cryo Depth invites you to succumb to the numbing chill of cryostasis and survive the slow journey between stars. I’ve had the opportunity to strap in for this two-track transmission of minimalist, cosmic drone. Let me shake the feeling back into my limbs and I’ll tell you how I fared on the trip.
Read MoreNERATERRÆ wastes no time with shy introductions to politely acquaint the listener with this musical construct; this album begins with "The Last Abjurer'', informed by Zdzislaw Beksinski's haunting (and my personal favorite) "AA72". There is an eerie, atmospheric texture underlying the "space", a mammoth sensation of looking down upon lesser beings, and immediately, a cascade feeling of Cyclopean dread washes upon the listener. This "looks'' like a Beksinski painting - no - this ambient piece feels like a Beksinski painting.
Woven tapestries of pain-fueled melancholy; a seminal half-life of despair creeping into our world, laid bare before mortal eyes, and the only way we have to interpret the feelings is through the morbid paintings of the long-dead artist. "The Last Abjurer'' is a dismal, oppressive castigation of sound that embodies the visage of the titanic statues as they gaze downward upon the lowly human staring up at the Cyclopean monuments, and the music conveys exactly that.
Read MoreEternal Drift, the new album from Beyond the Ghost opens with the track, "Aphotic Black"; subdued, percussive strings, slowly fading into the drone of the atmosphere that begins to swell as you notice your surroundings. The narrative to this ghostly analect reveals you are trapped in a time loop, lost in a world of shadow - a city of there-and-yet-not; empty, void, and lifeless… even you, and your transom is constantly glazed with a filmy blur. This album is a constant, ghostly reminder of the thematic presentation: you are a wandering ghost, lingering in twilight - the Between, some may call it.
It is a narrative of searching - for someone, something, perhaps? However, the ethereal qualities of the album act as a means to distract you, to distract your spirit. It is a display of being timeless. This is the soundtrack to the Half-World, a Purgatory of not only being, but of the mind.
Read Moreo set it plainly, The Midnight represents the cream of the Synthwave crop. Since the debut EP Days of Thunder, The Midnight has carefully crafted classic after classic, culminating in their forthcoming release Monsters on July 10th via Counter Records. Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan possess an ability to evoke feelings both familiar and forgotten. To explore places, you can’t quite remember, yet subconsciously crave. The band themselves would point you to the Japanese term ‘Mono no aware’: the aching awareness of impermanence. A rhythmic reflection on the passing of time and the realization that nothing lasts forever. But these times can be revisited in memories and - thanks to The Midnight - music.
Read MoreIf you’re a fan of modern dungeon synth then you likely know both Erythrite Throne and Seregost. Over the past couple of years, they’ve released consistently strong content with original voices that rise above the rest. They both wowed with amazing sets at Northeast Dungeon Siege MMXX this year. Now, they’ve joined forces for a split release that keeps the legacy of underground camaraderie alive. Obsidian Relic Records is set to release A Sacrilegious Ritual Upon Once Holy Ground on May 1st.
Read MoreHave you ever been struck unawares by an album or film that leaves you mentally stunned? I know of several motifs that have seemingly begun to filter into movies, namely what has been dubbed "neon horror". Films such as Mandy, The Color Out of Space, Maniac, all contain an undercurrent a recurring theme - that of the late '60s / early 70's psychedelia; a pastiche amalgamation of early 80's sword and sorcery pulp novels melted into a slag and mixed with 70's LSD-induced horror films - dross and all.
"Rainbow Rituals of the Spiritual Sojourner" by Temple of the Fractured Light is a progressive/psychedelic dungeon synth project album that was released in April; it resides among themes mentioned in the previous paragraph, and it is a stroke of absolute brilliance. I will admit that the "70's prog" is not my go-to sound when I am searching for music with which to listen, and perhaps that is the very reason this album struck such a resonant chord with me.
Read MoreBelgian Speed Metal titans BÜTCHER have announced the addition of a new member, guitarist Max Mayhem of Thrash act Evil Invaders.
"I'm glad to announce that I am now joining Belgian speed metal force Bütcher as second guitarist!" says Max. "It was an honor for me to play with the boys at the release show of the new record. And the chemistry is there, both on- and offstage. Why not keep this going? As a fan of raw-sounding metal, fast vintage riffing, and occasional blast beats, it's a pure pleasure for me to share the stage - and beers! - with BÜTCHER. I can't wait to crush some skulls again once everything is back to normal!”
Read MoreThrough dealings surely conducted under the rattling limbs of dead forests, contracts signed by what little moonlight the cloud cover would allow, Wrought Records is preparing a dark offering to it’s supplicants. On May 7th Cefaris’ third album, the second of 2020, will be released on cassette and digital. Less of a project and more of an entity to be reviled, or perhaps worshipped, Cefaris is true occult dungeon synth, so cloaked in black midnight that it almost hides the tinge of blood that coats it. Cefaris is, at its heart, a pure exploration of vampiric motifs.
Read MoreCalgary’s Traveler came charging out of the gates with their 2019 self-titled debut album. The band firmly announced their arrival to the metal community at Germany’s Keep It True festival, treating European audiences to a traditionally brisk blend of heavy metal. The travelers from beyond are composed of retro-riff master Toryin Schadlich, guitar guru and songwriter Matt Ries, shrieking storyteller Jean-Pierre Abboud, and robustly rounded out by the thundering rhythms of bassist Dave Arnold and drummer Chad Vallier. With the release of the latest album Termination Shock on April 10th of this year, if you’re still sleeping on Traveler, it’s time to wake up.
Read MoreConceived, and performed by sole member Heolstor (Mystagos) with help from guest female vocalist, Maya, "Through Doors of Midnight" is a ritualistic centerpiece of artistic endeavor; seven hymns of invocation and introspective spellweaving, and an evocation of sound design and aesthetic presentation. Combine this with a delicate mix (provided by Simón Alvar (The Empty Hall Studios) and artwork by Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule, and it is a demonstration of artistic poise and purpose.
Read MoreThe incantations of Australia’s The Wizar’d have held listeners spellbound since their inception in 2004. Established by guitarist/vocalist ‘Ol Rusty, the band would summon several singles and demos before calling forth the EP Follow the Wizard in 2006. Two years later, The Wizar’d released the first full-length album Infernal Wizardry. From 2010s Pathway into Darkness to the ritualistically revered Ancient Tome of Arcane Knowledge, the Australian Archmages have managed to manifest a mystic and doom-laden discography.
Read MoreDo you spend your nights hunched over a computer, hunting eBay for the missing pieces of your serial killer trading card collection? (Eclipse put these out in the 90s. Look it up.) Do you feel at home in the seedy, debauched world of say, William Lustig’s Maniac (1980)? Then have I got a piece of sonic sleaze for you. I’m talking about Shitfucker’s Sex With Dead Body. What a fucking sentence.
Read MoreNot content to rest upon their thorny bed of thrash-laden black metal, Avslut return with their second offering, Tyranni.
I first discovered Avslut by accident last year while perusing black metal tags for some gym music, and was immediately enamored with this band's delivery of tight, thrashy black metal in their album, Deceptis. Not content to rest on their laurels, Swedish metal outfit Avslut return with yet another black metal offering, tightening their visceral assault into an even sharper musical design.
Read MoreI will admit that before I had the opportunity to write this I was drooling over the first track of this EP not long after it hit Bandcamp. I won’t shy from the fact that I am a sucker for killer cover art and god damn this cover is sick. You could easily convince me that this was a release from 1984 based on the art alone. I wouldn’t argue.
Virginia based artist Markus Fussell can lend his brush to as many albums as possible and the scene would benefit. Google him and you’ll see what I mean. Of course, we’ve all been lead-in by the promise of good album art only to be left disappointed. I’m happy to report that this is not the case with Blood Star’s The Fear.
Read MoreThe debut album of Finland’s Bythos, The Womb of Zero, featuring current and former members of Behexen, Sargeist and Horna is set to be unleashed on April 24th via Terratur Possessions.
Today, however, the band revealed the new track, Omega Dragon, on the Official Black Metal Promotions YouTube Channel and it definitely stands shoulder to shoulder with all the legends of Finnish Black Metal. Take a listen:
I find myself growing pickier and pickier when it comes to Death Metal as I get older. The genre has, undoubtedly, produced more than its share of classic releases: Altars of Madness, Onward to Golgotha, Close to a World Below and None So Vile are where my preferences lie. I will never be able to get into the over-produced, sterile exercises in musical masturbation that make up a lot of the modern Death Metal scene, however.
Luckily, I don’t have to clear that hurdle with Hegemony’s Enthroned by Persecution. Available April 24th on Hell’s Headbangers, it’s a raw, bludgeoning, filthy mess of an album that manages to be a breath of fresh air while simultaneously calling back to genre greats in a manner that isn’t just flat-out aping the source material.
666 Goats Carry My Chariot is the second album from Antwerp, Belgium’s Bütcher and it’s a Speed Metal masterwork. This band combines all the best parts of Show No Mercy-era Slayer, Mercyful Fate, Diamond Head, Motörhead and Judas Priest with a generous dash of Bathory and Dissection for good measure. There isn’t a single wasted track on the album, it’s all prime cuts, from the second the intro track fades into the Ace of Spades-inspired “Iron Bitch,” to the final note of the somber, acoustic “Exaltation of Sulphur.”
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