Jul 302015
 

Les Acteurs de L'Ombre Productions-Sampler MMXV

 

I think free (and nearly free) music compilations by metal labels are a great idea. Of course, I say that as a fan and not someone who has ever attempted to operate a label, so I don’t know if they actually help sell music. But from my perspective it sure seems like a good way to expose people to bands they’ve never heard before, especially when the comps include some bands you have heard before and like — at least in my case, that tends to function as a good enticement for listening to the new names.

Over the weekend I discovered three new compilations by small metal labels that I thought would be worth exploring for that very reason, i.e., they include music from some very good bands I already know about, but are dominated by names that are new to me. I haven’t listened to everything in every comp yet, but what I’ve heard so far makes these downloads worthwhile.

I’m also including another excellent compilation from CVLT Nation (also free) that has been out for a couple of weeks, but I only tumbled to it recently.

Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions: Sampler MMXV

This French label recently released a new compilation on Bandcamp. The new compilation includes 11 tracks, and among those are songs by Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Moonreich, Maieutiste, and Mare Cognitum, all of whom are bands whose music I’ve enjoyed. The remaining tracks are by Déluge, Suhnopfer, Darkenhold, Aezh Morvarc’h, In Cauda Venenum, Lifestream, and Profundae Libidines. Continue reading »

Jun 112015
 


The Dark Descent label has recently released a 10-track sampler of music from the label’s artists that’s available on Bandcamp now (“name your price”). It includes music from recent releases plus previews of unreleased material from Adversarial, Blood Incantation, and Thevetat.

Those three previously unreleased tracks are all great, and for me proved to be welcome introductions to the fascinating, brain-scrambling death metal exuberance of Blood Incantation (their track will appear on an EP named Interdimensional Extinction) and the blood-thirsty death metal explosiveness of Thevetat (their track will appear on a forthcoming 7″ named Desecration of Divine Presence).

I was especially hot to hear the new Adversarial track, “Eonik Spiritual Warfare”, which will appear on their forthcoming second full-length, Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism, scheduled for release in August with album artwork that has again been created by the awesome Danille Gauvin.  The band’s set at Maryland Deathfest this year was one of the event’s high points for me, and I’ve been a big fan of everything they’e recorded to date. Continue reading »

Jan 072015
 

 

Every now and then I feel the need to elevate myself to about 40,000 feet above the Earth so as to more clearly receive extraterrestrial emanations and special guidance from the cosmos itself. I happen to be doing that right now. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology I can snoop the web for news and new music and post what I find, even as I receive mysterious communications from entities far beyond our own sphere.

Actually, to be brutally honest, which is the only kind of honest we know how to be at this site, I’m cooped up on an airplane flying across the country for my fucking day job, and the only emanations I’m getting are from the whine of the jet engines outside my window; I can’t make sense of them.

Although there’s an internet connection on board, it’s not good enough for me to hear music streams or watch videos. So, I’ve picked all but one of the music streams in this round-up based on educated guesses that they will be good. Maybe you’ll leave a comment and let me know if I guessed right. Presented in alphabetical order: Continue reading »

Aug 142014
 

I intended to finish this collection and post it yesterday, making it Part 3 of a big Wednesday round-up of news and new music, but the old fucking day job interfered, and so I’m beginning our Thursday with it. This collection is a bit different from the usual “Seen and Heard” because it includes a couple of items at the end that aren’t new — I’ve just been really drag-ass in bringing them to your attention.

HETROERTZEN

I first came across Hetroertzen last May when I impulsively decided to explore (and write about) some of the releases by an underground Swedish label named Lamech Records. The band are originally from Puerto Varas, Chile, but are now located in Sweden. They have completed recording a fifth full-length album, entitled Ain Soph Aur. It’s currently projected for release on December 6, 2014, in a variety of formats by Lamech Records, Terratur Possessions, and Amor Fati Productions.

In recent days, two songs from the album have been made available for streaming — “Blood Royale” and “The Rose and the Cross”. Both are long pieces, in the seven-and-a-half minute range, and both are very good. Continue reading »

Jul 112013
 

We do like to keep our eyes open for free shit worth recommending to you, and here’s one that comes highly recommended. It’s a “mixtape” of death metal compiled by CVLT Nation — 25 songs by 25 bands, with a total run time of 2 hours, 18 minutes. It’s a mix of older and newer songs and includes a variety of death metal styles.

You’ll find some Immolation and Ignivomous, some Mithras and some Mitochondrion, some Cryptopsy and some Ulcerate, some Spawn of Possession and some Wormed, some Antediluvian and some Ævangelist, and much more. I really like the selection of music picked for this thing, which is why I’m pimping it.

The compilation is divided into two files that are downloadable via the Soundcloud players you’ll find at CVLT Nation or here, after the jump. Enjoy. Continue reading »

Apr 302011
 

The weekend is upon us. Don’t know about you, but I’m fucking ready for it. Tonight I’m going to see Between the Buried and Me, Job For A Cowboy, The Ocean, and Cephalic Carnage, which is certainly one of the more diverse touring line-ups of the year, so far. I’ve seen three of those bands multiple times in the past, and they do not disappoint, and I’m very curious about the fourth, who I’ve never heard on stage — The Ocean.

I hope you’ve got something to look forward to this weekend, too. But even if you plan to wallow in misery because life decided to burn a bag of shit on your front porch, we can at least give you some new tunes to brighten the weekend outlook. Not knowing what kind of metal you may be into, I tried to round up a mix of styles, while staying with the theme of new music.

Maybe you enjoy having your face clawed off by demon spawn. If so, we’ve got yet another new piece of otherworldly scariness from Malfeitor (Sweden). Maybe that’s not enough, and what you really want is music that will leave your flesh so scavenged that even hyenas will lose interest in your carcass. We have an answer for that, with a compilation from CVlt Nation. Maybe you get your rocks off from technical guitar wizardry, with music that transports you into a sublime plane which makes you feel connected to something larger than your own feeble soul. If yes, then you’ll want to hear a taste (two tastes, actually) of the solo release from Christian Muenzner (Obscura).

And maybe you want something in between, something that captures the emotion of your life, with every high and low, from the rocket-ship into the stratosphere to the utter desolation of your worst depression, from the sunrise to the bottomless pit. Yeah, we have that too, from Germany’s Ära Krâ. But before that we have a brand new song from Origin, and we really shouldn’t have to explain how many kinds of awesome that means. Stay with us, after the jump . . . Continue reading »