SHADES OF BLACK: URARV, DEVILGROTH, DYMNA LOTVA, WINGS OF DAHAK, IRONHAND, ANDAVALD, ADVENT SORROW

 SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Sep 262017
 

 

Alcohol poisoning prevented me from writing about everything I wanted to write about in my last SHADES OF BLACK post two days ago. With that demon temporarily in submission, I’m now able to write about seven more musical demons in a blackened vein (and if you’ve been paying attention, I’ve added a couple of bands to this continuation beyond those I forecast on Sunday).

Regrettably, I’ve had to resort to a tactic I’ve used before. There are four albums or EPs included in this group of seven, but because I don’t have the time to write full reviews I’ve only commented on one track from each of those, but provided streams of the complete releases so you can explore further if I you like the tracks I’ve highlighted.

URARV

Aldrahn (Björn Dencker Gjerde) is a name of historical significance in the annals of Norwegian black metal through his work during the ’90s in Dødheimsgard and Zyklon-B, as well as his contributions to Thorns and more recently The Deathtrip. Urarv (“Ancient Heritage”) is his most recent endeavor, originally conceived in 2003 during his stay in a mental institution and now finally flowering in thorns through a debut album named Aurum (released on September 17 by Svart Records), in which Aldrahn is joined by bassist Sturt and drummer Trish (whose work in Asagraum I’ve written about previously). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: BLAZE OF PERDITION, CHORIA, INFAUST

 SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Sep 242017
 

 

The word for the affliction I’m suffering today begins with “hang” and ends with “over”, preceded in this particular instance by the word “vicious”. The timing is unfortunate because I had plans for a gigantic SHADES OF BLACK post, but it has taken me so long to claw my way back to a functional state that I’ve had to abandon those plans. Due to the lateness of the hour, I’ve only written about music from three of the eight bands I had originally intended to say something about.

I have a faint hope that I can write about the others early in the coming week, but things tend to get very busy around the NCS compound once Monday arrives. Time will tell, as it always does….

BLAZE OF PERDITION

We showered praise on this Polish band’s last album, Near Death Revelations, with one writer calling it “a landmark release that has a huge helping of everything… complex, on-point, and refined as hell,” yet also “primitive and crushing”, while another at our site lauded it as a “home run” — “you are surely going to get your blitzkrieg black metal assault in spades”, but “they know when to practice restraint and inject atmosphere/melody for maximum affect”. I also called the music “a really excellent offering of dynamic black metal with galvanizing riffs and a doomed atmosphere”.

And so we welcome with open arms the new Blaze of Perdition album, Conscious Darkness, which will be released on November 3 by Agonia Records and includes cover art by Karmazid. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: VERGE, YELLOW EYES, MALOKARPATAN, ZIGGURAT, WITCHCRAFT SADOMIZER, STRODA, DEATH ICON, DÉPÉRIR, SATOR MALUS, JOYLESS EUPHORIA

 SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
Sep 102017
 

 

As you can see, I have music from 10 bands from the blackened realms in this post. I thought about dividing it into two parts to make it more easily digestible, posting the first 5 as soon as I finished writing about them and then beginning on the second 5. But then I remembered what happened last weekend, when the rest of life intruded and I didn’t finish Part 2 before the typhoon of Monday made landfall. So I forced myself to defer posting this collection until I had completed all of it. Though I guess I could have divided it then. Oh well.

Doesn’t mean you have to consume all of this at once. You can pretend there’s a dividing line after Witchcraft Sadomizer and come back later… just don’t forget, or let the rest of life get in the way.

VERGE

Finland’s Verge are fascinating on many levels. Wholly apart from the evolution of their music into increasingly distinctive shapes, the lyrics of their songs are also engrossing and thought-provoking, though in their unsettling poetry you must be prepared to experience despair and hopelessness in a search for self-becoming that seems perpetually elusive, always challenged and usually defeated by our own wretched flaws and misunderstandings. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): WITCHERY, NAILBLACK, ANTZAAT, THEURGIA, KWADE DROES, FACELESS ENTITY

 SHADES OF BLACK  11 Responses »
Sep 032017
 

 

As mentioned in today’s earlier post, I binged on new music yesterday after being deprived of the chance to do much at the end of last week. That led to the selection of the blackened tracks in this post (many of them recommended by friends who have a knack for spotting things that hit my sweet spots), and a second group that I’ll finish today and post tomorrow. Without further ado, on we go….

WITCHERY

I’m leading off with “True North“, a name that’s been used by other bands for other songs, but this one comes from the new album I Am Legion by Sweden’s Witchery, which features eye-catching cover art by Andreas Diaz Pettersson.

Yes indeed, a new Witchery album only one year after the band re-grouped to put out In His Infernal Majesty’s Service to commemorate their 20th anniversary. And this new one features the same line-up that recorded that last album — drummer Chris Barkensjö, guitarists Jensen and Rickard Rimfält, bassist Sharlee D’Angelo, and vocalist Angus Norder. Apparently, they were so delighted with response to In His Infernal Majesty’s Service that they dived right back into writing more new songs. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): KADAVERDISCIPLIN, KAPALA, KATLA, MIDNIGHT, ZEIT

 Exceptions to the Rule, SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Aug 232017
 

 

Here’s the second part of a column delayed from Sunday. I began it yesterday with a news item and then new music from four bands, and continue it today with new music and a new video from five more. From yesterday through today, these items are organized in alphabetical order by band name.

KADAVERDISCIPLIN

Kadaverdisciplin is a newish band of Swedish black metal slaughterers whose line-up includes a core trio of musicians from Västervik, Sweden (who include members of Zombified and Blodsrit) plus drummer extraordinaire Fredrik Widigs (Marduk, The Ugly). After a couple of digital singles, they have finished a debut album appropriately named Death Supremacy that will be released by Hammerheart Records on October 20. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): ORATION, AUÐN, A PALE DECEMBER, ARCHGOAT, JUDASWIEGE

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Aug 222017
 

 

Greetings from western Wyoming. I’m two days late posting this column. I intentionally delayed it from Sunday to Monday because it seemed to make more sense to post this installment on the day of the total eclipse here in the U.S. — a time when actual shades of black would become manifest as the totality approached, and a moment when we could greet a black sun edged with the brilliance of the corona as night triumphed over day.

But I obviously didn’t get that done. After finishing yesterday’s three premieres, I ran out of time before the approach of the black sun beckoned.

I originally chose new music from seven bands for this week’s feature, but with the delay I’ve added two more new discoveries, in addition to one news item, which leads off this column. The new music is organized in alphabetical order by the name of the bands — and because of its length I’ve divided this into two parts. Because I’ll be making my way back to Seattle today, I might not get Part 2 posted until tomorrow.

ORATION

Yesterday Oration Records and Studio Emissary announced the first group of bands for next year’s edition of the Oration fest in Reykjavík, Iceland, which will take place on March 7-9, 2018, at the Gamla Bíó venue. As you can see from the flyer above, the bands announced yesterday are as follows: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): BESTIAL SIGHT, MÉSALLIANCE, SORES, VAMACARA

 SHADES OF BLACK  8 Responses »
Aug 132017
 

 

 

Here’s the second part of a post I began (here) earlier today, collecting recent variants of black metal that I’ve been enjoying, and hope you will enjoy, too.

BESTIAL SIGHT

“When You Need Metal​.​.​.​Go To Hell” has been a slogan used by the Hells Headbangers label for years, and it’s also the name of the next album I’ve chosen for this collection. It was released on July 21 by a band from Krasnodar, Russia, named Bestial Sight. It appears to be their first release. I was drawn into it by the cover art, which is fiendishly good (though I haven’t discovered the identity of the artist). Update: the cover art is by Alexey Sivitsky (Godlike ikons) Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): CTULU, THYRGRIM, MESZAROTH, MASCHARAT

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Aug 132017
 

 

I had an especially tough time deciding what to include in this collection. Yesterday I spent hours listening and re-listening to things I’d collected over the last week, and to even more music that others had recommended to me, and I still fell short of listening to everything on my list. From what I did hear, these songs seemed to go well together. By coincidence, I discovered almost all of them thanks to links from my Serbian acquaintance Miloš, who I think must listen to even more new music (and more obscure new music) than I do.

I’m dividing this post into two parts, the second of which will come later today. I’ll also mention that some noteworthy black metal splits have also come out this past week, or will come out soon. They’re not covered in this post because I hope to devote a separate column to them tomorrow.

CTULU

The hooded and masked German nihilists who have taken the name Ctulu released a self-titled album last year (their fourth full-length). The album didn’t include all the tracks they recorded at that time, and the band have taken some of those previously unreleased recordings and assembled them into a new EP named Cultus In Tenebris. “At the same time,” the band have explained, “Cultus in Tenebris is a concept EP trying to catch the spirit of Necronomicon rituals”: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ENSLAVED, BATTLE DAGORATH, WHEN BITTER SPRING SLEEPS, VANVID, PROFANE ORDER, BÜTCHER, THE DARK RED SEED, NYSS

 Exceptions to the Rule, SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Aug 072017
 

 

You might have noticed that I didn’t post a SHADES OF BLACK article yesterday — or anything else, for that matter. I was in Wyoming with my spouse from Thursday through Saturday attending a wedding, and spent Sunday getting home. On the airplane rides there and back I plowed through the NCS in-box and did some other web surfing. Found a ton of new stuff I wanted to listen to, and managed to find a couple of hours here and there over the weekend when I did do some listening, just enough to find the selections I’ve collected here, though not enough time to write anything.

The music below is a mix of full new releases and advance tracks from forthcoming albums… and I’ve included one song stream that isn’t black metal… or maybe even metal at all… except in its spirit. But I’m beginning with a news item hot off the presses.

ENSLAVED

In early July I gleefully reported the news that Jens Bogren had finished mixing and mastering the new 14th studio album by Enslaved, an album that Grutle Kjellson described as “a little re-boot, a fresh start so to speak”. Today the album art (above, hand-painted by the Norwegian artist Truls Espedal) was unveiled, and we received more details about the album, which I’ll quote here from the press release: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: SATYRICON, ABIGOR, WINGS OF DAHAK, ONE TAIL ONE HEAD, UHTCEARU, ASTROPHOBOS, LUSTWORM

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Aug 012017
 

 

In this past Sunday’s regular episode of this feature I explained that I had more new music in a black vein that I wanted to share and expected I would do it on Monday. So, I’m a day late, and with the delay I’ve expanded it a bit. The result is divergent music by seven bands from seven countries, but we begin with a news item.

SATYRICON

Today we got some additional information about the new album by Satyricon. As previously reported, it is entitled Deep Calleth Upon Deep and will be released by Napalm Records on September 22. The cover art is an obscure 1898 drawing by the famous Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The album has been described by the label as “a wholesale reinvention and a brand new era in SATYRICON history”. And with that titillating pronouncement we also have this statement by frontman Satyr: Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries