SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): GAAHLS WYRD, TRISTE TERRE, SOL SISTERE

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Feb 102019
 


photo by Jørn Veberg

 

The conditions were correct for frostbitten music yesterday, when the Seattle area received more snow in 24 hours than it usually gets in a year. Granted, it was a laughably small amount by the standards of people who live in truly wintry climes (8 inches at the airport, and greater or lesser amounts around the area), but enough to paralyze the region and knock out the power (and internet service) in the forest where I live from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. We’re obviously not really set up to deal with snow very well.

The absence of power and net access put a crimp in my usual Saturday surveying of new black metal; I spent more time feeding the wood-burning stove to stay warm. I did catch up a bit this morning, but also relied on listening I’d done during last week before the weather turned hostile. There’s enough here to justify dividing the group into two parts. But I’m kind of hurrying through the words since more snow is expected today, and I’ve got to make preparations.

Part 1 consists of advance tracks from three forthcoming albums. Part 2 is devoted to recent full releases.

GAAHLS WYRD

The presence of Gaahl (Kristian Espedal) at the front of this formation will guarantee attention for their debut album, GastiR – Ghosts Invited. But for that recording he had some impressive talent around him, too — Ole Walaunet (The Batallion, God Seed, Grimfist), Frode Kilvik (Krakow, Aeternus), and Kevin Kvåle (Horizon Ablaze). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: CONVULSING, SAURON, ÚIR, TRISTE TERRE, PANZERFAUST, XALPEN, ÆÐRA

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  13 Responses »
Nov 272016
 

convulsing-errata

 

I spent time yesterday pawing through a lot of recent releases and advance tracks by black metal bands. After some self-struggle, I picked a group of songs to feature in this post. And then late in the afternoon I got additional recommendations from various sources, and that tossed all my plans up into the air. When the dust settled, I revised my picks to include these:

CONVULSING

Convulsing was one of the recommendations that took me by surprise (thank you to starkweather and DaNasher). This is a one-man band from Sydney, Australia, whose new album Errata was released just yesterday. It caught the ears of certain listeners because the man behind Convulsing, Brendan Sloan, is also a member of Dumbsaint, who have a following. And word has been spreading. When you hear the album, I think you’ll be convinced that word will continue to spread, and damned fast and far, too. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TUMBLEWEED DEALER, UNDERGANG, ARCADE MESSIAH, TRISTE TERRE, SUFFER YOURSELF, CADAVERIC INCUBATOR

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Nov 152016
 

tumbleweed-dealer-cover

 

We’re entering the time of year when year-end lists will quickly start popping up, and that means our own annual LISTMANIA frenzy will soon begin. As usual, the earliest of the forthcoming lists (those that will soon appear in print zines), will necessarily neglect albums that are set for release between now and January 1, and even some that were released in the first half of November. We will continue trying to spotlight those, despite succumbing to listmania.

The impending LISTMANIA orgy also means that our own output of reviews and new-music features will likely diminish. In what’s left of our period of normalcy, I have plans to throw as much new quality music your way as I can, including two features today, beginning here. The organizing principle of this collection is simply this: Diversity.

TUMBLEWEED DEALER

To begin today’s round-up I’m stepping off our typical beaten paths of blood-lusting savagery with music from a band I’ve only discovered recently — Tumbleweed Dealer from Montréal. Their third album, Tokes, Hatred & Caffeine, the cover of which is visible above, will be released on November 21, 2016. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): KYY, HORN IMPALER, SURTR, ETERNAL SAMHAIN, TRISTE TERRE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Oct 092016
 

kyy-beyond-flesh-beyond-matter-beyond-death

 

This is the second installment in a big collection of mostly new black metal that I listened to yesterday, making my way through a list of music I had compiled during the last week as I saw things in our e-mail and my Facebook feed. The following collection includes further tracks from some releases I’ve written about before in this column, plus two new discoveries — one for a forthcoming release and one that appeared earlier this year. To listen to the music collected in Part I of this post, click this link.

KYY

Two Sundays ago I wrote about a 2015 EP named Travesty of Light by the Finnish band Kyy, plus excerpts from a couple of tracks that will appear on their forthcoming debut album Beyond Flesh – Beyond Matter – Beyond Death, which is due for release on November 4 through Saturnal Records. Now we’ve finally got a full track stream to share with you from the album. Continue reading »