SHORT BUT SWEET Archives - Page 78 of 114

SHADES OF BLACK: CHÂTEAU, GRAFVITNIR, HAMMER OF WAR, HERON, HORROCIOUS, INFESTUM, STANDVAST, UNHOLY ORDER

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 3 Responses »

Nov 122015

I’m in an unfortunate position. Before I began my trip to Alaska about a week ago for my day job, I had collected a lot of music that I intended to compile for an installment of our Shades of Black series. And since arriving in Alaska I’ve found a few more songs (in the little time I’ve had to myself) that I wanted to add to the post.

The problem is that I haven’t had time to write my impressions of the music in detail — and I don’t think I will find the time in the near future. So, with apologies to the bands, I’ve grudgingly decided to just share the music streams with you, even though I can’t share all my words of praise about them. I do hope you’ll check out everything in this post, despite the large volume of music — I think it’s all very good.

CHÂTEAU

Amissus is the name of the debut EP by a band named Château from Raleigh, North Carolina (the first of two bands from Raleigh featured in this post). It’s available for order on CD or download at Bandcamp. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: MATRICIDE — “MORNING STAR”

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Nov 102015

As I write this I’m still in Anchorage, Alaska, toiling away night and day for my fucking day job. Today I don’t have to start work hours before the sun comes up, as I have been doing since late last week, so I had a little time (not much) to explore new music. I’m already so far behind that I had no good idea where to start, so I made an impulsive choice — and it turned out to be a fantastic one.

What I picked was a new two-song release on Bandcamp from the Daemon Worship label, and I picked it mainly because that’s a label that has never let me down. The name of the release is Morning Star, and it comes from a now-disbanded Swedish group named Matricide. Continue reading »

KOUROS: “CAUSA”

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Oct 232015

I haven’t felt very well today, having managed to poison myself with alcohol at a job-related function last night. I doubted I would be able to write anything of my own for the site today. So fragile is my head and so unsettled is my stomach that I even doubted I would be able to stand listening to any metal. But for reasons I can’t really explain, I randomly decided to explore an EP named causa that a New Delhi band named Kouros had invited us to hear, via an e-mail that arrived yesterday. It proved to be a wise, if impulsive, decision.

causa was just released a week ago via Bandcamp, and it appears to be Kouros’ second release overall (though I could certainly be wrong about that). Further, it appears that Kouros is a solo project, the musical vision of a man who calls himself Nium, and it’s a multi-faceted vision that draws from multiple wellsprings of metal and rock. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: WOUDLOPER — SELF-TITLED EP

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Oct 082015

We rarely turn back in time for the metal releases we review at this site, instead spending most of our time focusing on what’s coming in the future. And when I recently began listening to Woudloper’s self-titled demo (which seems to have been originally self-released about a year ago, and then was distributed on cassette by the Dutch label Breathe Plastic Records earlier this year), I didn’t mean to write a review. I thought perhaps I would include a mention of it in one of our Shades of Black round-ups. But this small obsidian gem is so good that I thought it deserved a stand-alone feature.

The band is the solo project of a Dutch musician named Erik B., and this demo consists of two long songs, denominated only by number. If you’re interested in a genre description, the music crosses boundaries, fusing together elements of atmospheric black metal, sludgy doom, and post-metal. It’s staggeringly heavy and manages to be both mesmerizing and frightening. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SCÁTH NA DÉITHE — “THE HORRORS OF OLD”

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Oct 052015

This is the third of three brief reviews I’ve written today for new or forthcoming short releases. In this one the subject is The Horrors of Old — the debut EP released on October 1 by Scáth Na Déithe, a two-man band from Ireland (Cathal Hughes and Stephen Todd).

The EP consists of two long tracks (in the 10-11 minute range) and two short ones (in the range of 1-2 minutes). It does what all debut demos and EPs ideally should do: It displays in a relatively short span of time the capabilities and ideas of the band in a way that’s impressive, consistent, and coherent. And in this case, the EP does that in a way that furnishes a wholly immersive listening experience. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SLÆGT — “BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED”

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Oct 052015

This is the second of three brief reviews I’ve written for posting today, giving attention to three new or forthcoming short releases that I’ve really been enjoying. This one covers an EP entitled Beautiful and Damned by a Danish band named Slægt, which will be released next month by NecroShrine Records and Iron Bonehead Productions.

I’ve had the advance copy of this EP sitting in my queue of things to listen to for a while, but when I happened to see that BOTH Metal Sucks AND Stereogum’s “The Black Market” column had praised it, I thought I ought to pay attention to it. Because seriously, how often does that confluence of opinion happen?

Beautiful and Damned is Slægt’s first release since their debut black metal album Ildsvanger, which appeared early this year — though the music is apparently quite different from that album (which I haven’t heard), as is the fleshed-out line-up. Though remnants of black metal still adorn this new music, the band have incorporated a fascinating blend of other styles that makes this EP unusual, and unusually good. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: RUINEBELL — “EMBERS’ GRAVE”

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Oct 052015

This is the first of three brief reviews I’ve written for posting today, covering three new or forthcoming short releases that I’ve really been enjoying. The subject of this one is an EP entitled Embers’ Grave by Ruinebell from Finland and Spain (released this month by Doomentia).

Ruinebell caught my eye this past summer when they released the first single from this second of their two EPs to date. The band is a collaboration between Lasse Pyykkö (guitars) and Pekka Koskelo (drums) from Finland’s Hooded Menace, and vocalist Dopi from Spain (ex-Machetazo, ex-Dishammer, now playing in Bodybag). And if those names don’t get you interested in Ruinebell, there may be no hope for you. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): MAÏEUTISTE, THIS GIFT IS A CURSE, PYROMANCER, REBEL WIZARD, HUMM, GATEWAY

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 10 Responses »

Oct 022015

Yesterday I began a multi-part collection of new music in a blackened vein. I broke the post into two parts because I had so many new music streams I wanted to recommend. I probably should have broken this post into two parts as well, to make a total of three. But what the hell… As much music as you’ll find here, I hope you’ll find time to at least sample all of it, because it’s all very good and very diverse.

MAÏEUTISTE

I’ve written before about individual songs on the new self-titled debut album by the French band Maïeutiste (and we premiered one of them), but now the album has been released (by Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions) and all the songs are available for streaming and acquisition on Bandcamp. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): VREID, ORTHODOXY, UR DRAUGR, DEAFEST

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 5 Responses »

Oct 012015

Last night and this morning I engaged in an extended bout of metal listening and found not only a lot of new music I’m anxious to share with you but also some fantastic visual art. By chance, much of what I found is in a blackened vein, and so once again I’ve collected these discoveries in an installment of this irregular Shades of Black series. I have a lot to throw your way, and so it will come in at least two parts, with the other(s) headed your way on our site tomorrow.

VREID

It’s not an understatement to say that my NCS comrades and I are huge, slobbering fans of this Norwegian band. Okay… I guess I’m probably the only one who actually slobbers… the others just sweat a lot.

Anyway, I’m excited to spread the news that Vreid have now divulged some additional details about their new album and have also today premiered a video for the album’s title track. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: HUMAN IMPROVEMENT PROCESS — “ENEMIES OF THE SUN”

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Sep 222015

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by Italy’s Human Improvement Process.)

This has been a bumper year for EPs so far, with several of my favourite releases of 2015 coming in the old Extended Play format…. Barús, Wild Hunt, Sanzu, Pyrrhon, Exgenesis, Barishi, The Monolith Deathcult… the list goes on.

Well, now you can add Italian Tech-Death collective Human Improvement Process to that litany of names above, with their all-killer, no-filler, new EP Enemies of the Sun. Continue reading »

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