Nov 112013
 

Hope you had a good weekend. And if you didn’t, hope you have a good week. And if you don’t, I apologize for the feebleness of my hopes. At least your life will be enriched by seeing and hearing these things I saw and heard over the weekend (and yes, I had a good weekend, thank you).

HEXIS

When last we wrote about this Danish band it was during 2012 in a review of their three-way split with As We Draw and Euglena. They’ve now recorded a new album entitled Abalam which is projected for release on January 11, 2014. Over the weekend I saw a music video released earlier this month for one of the new songs — “Tenebris” — which was made by London filmmaker Craig Murray. Murray’s video is an homage to a certain unforgettable scene in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, with a bit of a twist in its finale.

As for the music, it’s a storm of razors, thunder, and vocal lightning, a ravaging assault of fused black metal and hardcore.

You might also like to know that “Tenebris” is included on a vinyl split release with Redwood Hill and can also be downloaded from Bandcamp (here) for free. Now, here’s the video:

https://www.facebook.com/Hexisband

HEXIS: TENEBRIS (2013) from 209mm on Vimeo.

 

CYNIC

Over the weekend, Cynic’s Paul Masvidal posted that artwork you see above on Facebook, along with this note: “The wait is soon over. Here’s your look at the cover of Cynic’s new album, Kindly Bent to Free Us. Available worldwide on Valentine’s Day, 2-14-14.” I haven’t yet seen the name of the artist, but it’s a damned fine cover.

Back in December 2012, Cynic announced that they had entered Perfect Sound studios in Hollywood to begin recording the album. About the new material, drummer Sean Reinert said:

“This album marks CYNIC’s 5th release. It’s a bold new sound for CYNIC and marks a gigantic leap in the band’s progression. We’ve had a lot of time to let this material develop and gestate, and it finally feels ready to be unleashed on the world. I’ve been in trio mode with Malone and Masvidal flushing out a zillion and one details, and couldn’t be happier about what’s happening with these songs. They are truly alive!”

We shall see.

https://www.facebook.com/CynicOnline
http://www.cyniconline.com/

 

SUNN O))) and ULVER

Now here’s another enticing visual, which Southern Lord posted on Facebook, accompanied only by this: “2014!”

Ulver posted their own message about this graphic: “A more official announcement, previews, release date etc. regarding this alliance should be just around the corner, from Southern Lord Records.” In a May 2012 interview, Ulver’s Kristoffer Rygg referred to a project with Sunn O))) as follows:

You talked about mixing some songs with Sunn O))). Can you give us any clue on this stuff?
Actually we recorded four — not really songs at that point — but rather blocks of sound. Also in the ultimate 2008, around the same time we had the first sessions for “Childhood’s End”. It’s the same. It’s been lying around and we’ve returned to it occasionally but now Stephen’s been around a bit. It’s time to get the ghost out of the closet. We’re free to do it now. I’ve completed “Childhood’s End” and it is a bit of downtime from the live thing so we’re in a position where we actually have the privilege to pick up on some lost threads. Old ghosts or whatever.”

So it appears this isn’t a split but a collaboration — and not the first one between the bands. Ulver also participated on a fifteen-minute track named “CUT WOODeD” that appears on Sunn O)))’s WHITEbox box set, released in July 2006. Should be interesting.

http://sunn.southernlord.com/
http://sunn.bandcamp.com/
http://www.jester-records.com/ulver/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ulver/31166220421

Okie, dokie, now let’s get back to some actual music:

 

INGESTED

Manchester, UK-based Ingested have recorded a new four-track EP entitled Respected By No One, Feared By All that’s due for release on December 16 by Siege of Amida. It was mixed and mastered by Cryptopsy’s Chris Donaldson. Over the weekend I saw that they had begun streaming one of the new songs — “Endgame” — on Soundcloud.

The objective of this brutal slamming death metal seems to be smashing enough bones to cripple the listener while shoving whirring drill bits into each ear until they meet in the middle. It’s a groovy bit of nastiness with excellent vocal vomit, the kind that bubbles and surges up from deep in the gut and then explodes in an agonizing spray. You can let it cripple your limbs and drill your head via the player below.

https://www.facebook.com/ingesteduk

 

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT

Our Dutch friends in The Monolith Deathcult have not been resting on the laurels thrown their way for their 2013 album Tetragrammaton. It appears that they are already at work on something new, something named Apotheosis (a familiar name, but perhaps with a new spin?). They are also planning a UK tour, about which shall have more to say in the future.

According to The Font of All Human Knowledge:

Arnaud Amaury or Arnaud Amalric (died 1225) was a Cistercian abbot who took a prominent role in the Albigensian Crusade. He is most remembered for allegedly advising a soldier, who was worrying about killing orthodox Catholics along with the heretics during the sack of the Cathar stronghold of Béziers, Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius. (‘Kill them. For the Lord knows those that are His own.’). . . . This is the origin of the modern phrase, ‘Kill them all and let God sort them out.'”

You should also know that “The Dutch in the Medway” is one of twenty-three poems written by Rudyard Kipling for C.R.L. Fletcher’s A School History of England (1911). It begins with this verse:

If wars were won by feasting,
Or victory by song,
Or safety found in sleeping sound,
How England would be strong!
But honour and dominion
Are not maintained so.
They’re only got by sword and shot,
And this the Dutchmen know!

Now that you’ve been properly educated, watch and listen to this:

 

  3 Responses to “SEEN AND HEARD: HEXIA, CYNIC, SUNN O))), ULVER, INGESTED, THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT”

  1. Well, The Apotheosis was their first album… so mayhaps this is for a re-recording/remaster?

  2. the Ingested track really hit the spot

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