Nov 032022
 

We’ve written something about every release so far by the Australian band Ploughshare, whose record titles seem evocative of their world view: the 2017 EP Literature of Piss; the 2018 debut album In Offal, Salvation; and the 2019 EP Tellurian Insurgency. We keep that streak going today with our premiere of “A Horrible and Terrifying Impression” from Ploughshare‘s forthcoming second album, Ingested Burial Ground.

In our previous writings we’ve piled up adjectives in an effort to capture just how viscerally terrorizing Ploughshare‘s genre-splicing music is — “violent, oppressive, and mind-bending” was one such string of words.

And, well, we will try again now, because the new album and the song you’re about to hear are also frightening, but they’re also not mere repetitions of what the band have done before. New weapons have been added to the arsenal of nightmares. Continue reading »

Oct 192019
 

 

It’s been another messed-up week for yours truly. My usual routines have been flipped upside-down by events in my personal life, and I’m not sure when they’ll be right-side-up again. As with the week before last, new-music round-ups were a casualty. I did manage to find enough free time this morning to compile this one.

LORD MANTIS

Five years after Death Mask, Lord Mantis has revived and recorded a new album named Universal Death Church. The line-up this time consisted of a reunion of vocalist/bassist Charlie Fell and guitarist/vocalist Andrew Markuszewski, joined again by guitarist Ken Sorceron of Abigail Williams, and by new drummer Bryce Butler in place of the late Bill Bumgardner. Continue reading »

Jul 052018
 

 

Sometimes when you have no plan, the plan makes itself. A guiding hand intervenes, or if you’re not superstitious, you nod your head at the pleasures of serendipity and synchronicity.

I didn’t plan to make this post, but in searching for new music I happened, by a fortunate chance, to listen to the music in this post in the exact same order as I’m presenting it here. And it all seemed to fit together in a way that spawned the title of this post.

PLOUGHSHARE

Literature of Piss was the 2017 debut EP of this band from Canberra, Australia. In Offal, Salvation is the band’s 2018 debut album. “The Urinary Chalice Held Aloft” is the name of one of the tracks on the album. Perhaps you begin to get a sense of the band’s worldview. Continue reading »

Apr 132017
 

 

This collection of new music is perhaps more eclectic and quirky than usual. Certainly, some of the tracks collected here are difficult to categorize, and in some cases almost impossible to describe. As a playlist, I found it appealing in part because it threw me off-balance. As usual, I also tried to include under-the-radar names, as well as (somewhat) better known ones, though I doubt any of these names have reached beyond the crevices of the underground.

LO-RUHAMAH

This makes the third time I’ve emblazoned our site with that wonderful piece of artwork by Elijah Gwhedhú Tamu at the top of this post, but the first time I’ve been able to share any music from the album it adorns. I’ve been eager to find out what kind of music would be wrapped within this imagery, and now I know that it’s as interesting and as attention-grabbing as the visual art. Continue reading »