SHADES OF BLACK Archives - Page 54 of 63

SHADES OF BLACK: ALCEST, ENSLAVED, WINTERFYLLETH, ULTHA

Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 7 Responses »

Aug 072016

Just as yesterday’s Seen and Heard round-up was much shorter than usual, so too is this Sunday’s edition of Shades of Black. I got back to Seattle last night from that four-day wedding festivity in Vegas I’ve mentioned before, but between the two premieres I’ve posted since then and a backlog of personal stuff to deal with, I haven’t had time to write about everything I wanted to include in this post. I’m hoping to supplement it during the coming week before going off to Migration Fest on Thursday, when our site’s content will probably diminish again.

With so many songs and full releases on my list of Shades to choose from, I picked the following four items to recommend, without much rhyme or reason. The bands are less obscure than usual for these posts, until you get to the end.

ALCEST

I suspect I will always consider Alcest to be a shade of black even if Neige and Winterhalter decide to start playing bluegrass — though that hasn’t happened yet. The fifth Alcest album is named Kodama, which we’re told is the Japanese word for “tree spirit” and also refers to the process of sounds reverberating across mountains, valleys, and forests that’s often attributed to these spirits. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): NEUROSIS, PROSTERNATUR, ARÊTE, MYSTICUM, SOLAR MASS, HORN IMPALER, HORSE DRAWN

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Aug 012016

On Friday I mentioned that I would be out in the woods over the weekend and unable to post a Shades of Black installment on Sunday. I said I would get it ready for Saturday instead. That obviously didn’t happen. Rather than wait until next Sunday, I’ve decided to do it now — and to double-down by making this a multi-part post. I’m not saying how many other parts there will be or when the rest of them will appear this week — because I’m desperately trying to remember the lesson that part-time, half-witted metal bloggers should never reveal plans that may fall apart immediately.

In this first part, I’m focusing on six individual songs and videos that have appeared recently. I’ll get to some EPs and full album releases in the next part. But first, a trailer for a highly anticipated new album…

NEUROSIS

This first item is kind of outside the bounds of what Shades of Black usually focuses on, but I got so excited about it that I didn’t want to delay spreading the word until our next Seen and Heard round-up. It’s a video trailer for the new eleventh album by the mighty Neurosis. It’s name is Fires Within Fires and it will be released on September 23 by Neurot Recordings. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: WINDFAERER, MAR MORTUUM, HIDING, ANTHRO HALAUST, AEGRUS, MISANTHROPIC RAGE

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

Jul 242016

Greetings from Seattle and welcome to another edition of Shades of Black. I wasn’t able to prepare one of these installments last Sunday due to fucking off, so I’ve accumulated an especially large list of recent discoveries that I would like to write about. From that list I’ve selected blackened music from six bands to recommend.

WINDFAERER

The name Windfaerer will likely be a familiar one to our readers. Last year we premiered two songs from the band’s marvelous second album Tenebrosum and named one of those to our list of 2015’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. What a nice surprise it was to discover that two days ago Windfaerer released more new music.

These new songs (three of them) appear on a three-way split by Windfaerer and two other Northeast bands, WolfCloak, and Dumal. The name of the split is Coniuratio Nigrum Atlantika. So far I’ve only listened to Windfaerer’s tracks, but they are predictably excellent. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): NEAR, SAURON, JUGURTHA, URFAUST, IMPERIUM INFERNALIS, DEN OF APPARITION

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 8 Responses »

Jul 132016

This is the delayed second part of a two-part collection of blackened metal that I began (here) on Sunday. The sharp-eyed among you will notice that I now have music from six bands instead of the four that I said would be included in this second installment. I actually wanted to add many more than two, but that would have caused the same problem that led me to split up Sunday’s post, so I’ll save them for another day.

This collection includes four full albums or EPs for which I haven’t written the kind of complete reviews that they deserve or that you might prefer. As usual, I’m squeezed for time. But please don’t mistake my meager write-ups for lack of enthusiasm — I’m very high on everything included here and hope you’ll explore all of them.

NEAR

Once again I must thank my overseas comrade Miloš for sending me links to the first two releases in this collection. The first of them is an album named Own Sun by the Italian band Near, which was released last week by De Tenebrarum Principio, a faction of ATMF. This is Near’s second album, following 2010’s The Opening of the Primordial Whirl. (The cover art bears the title “Our Sun”, but the ATMF Bandcamp page identifies Own Sun as the title.) Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): MAKE, ULTHAR, WITCH IN HER TOMB, CAIRN

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 2 Responses »

Jul 102016

Ms. Islander and I were at an outdoor wedding and reception yesterday. It began in the late afternoon and continued late into the night around a fire with an intermittent misting rain. We had a great time, but it has caused a slow start for my Sunday blogging.

I had collected music from eight bands to recommend in this latest Shades of Black post, but because it’s already early afternoon here in the Pacific Northwest I’ve decided to split up the collection into two parts. Otherwise, this post would be appearing even later than it already is; also, eight may be too much music to digest in one sitting anyway. With luck, I’ll get the second half finished in time to post on Monday. Hope you enjoy what’s included here.

MAKE

I’m going to start and finish this collection with music from two bands I discovered thanks to tips from my friend Miloš. The first of these is a trio of songs from an album entitled Pilgrimage of Loathing by a North Carolina band named Make. The album, which is their third full-length, will be released on July 15 by the Portland (OR) label Accident Prone. Before hearing the music, I was enamored of the cover art by Fritz Silberbaur — and then became enamored of the music, too. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 3): HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY, ELLENDE, AZZIARD, NIRNAETH, ISGÄRDE, AKATHARTA

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 6 Responses »

Jul 052016

This is the third and final Part of a post that I began on Sunday focusing on black metal (and music influenced by it), thinking it would just be a two-parter featuring six bands instead of what it has become. As the days have passed, I’ve continued to come across advance tracks and full releases that I want to support, and the total has now reached 13 bands. Honestly, I could do this every day, but I’m going to make myself stop until next Sunday so I can devote attention to other things. Like eating and sleeping.

I’m going to begin with a couple of videos, one brand new and one not so new (but newly discovered), both of them created for Austrian bands. And then I’ll turn to a new split, a recent album, and a couple of new songs from a band with some famous names attached to it that aren’t really black metal but I want to mention them without further delay.

HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY

The new album by this Austrian band, III: Trauma, is fantastic. We’ve already featured one of the new tracks (here) and premiered a second one (here), and yesterday the band debuted a video for a third one. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): KAMPFAR, AXIOMA, TODESSUCHT, HELLBRINGER

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 11 Responses »

Jul 042016

Yesterday I posted the first half of what was supposed to be a two-part post collecting recent advance tracks and full releases in a blackened vein that I wanted to recommend to you. When I finished Part 1, I had music from three more bands collected for Part 2. Sure enough, between then and now I found a lot more stuff that got me excited. And since we’re celebrating Independence Day here in the States, I might as well go big.

So, I’ve expanded this edition of Shades of Black into a three-part post, with the final segment coming tomorow. Please enjoy this jumbo fireworks display as we all strive for our own independence.

KAMPFAR

Kampfar previously released a fantastic video for one of the tracks (“Daimon”) from last year’s excellent Profan album (reviewed here), and today they premiered another one. This video is for “Tornekratt“, and to quote from the site that handled the premiere, it’s “a nightmare vision of the end of the world featuring a vast demon wielding a fiery whip over the last remnants of humanity, a grotesque take on the last supper, monolithic hooded deities serving judgement and all manner of cinematic suffering.” Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): CAÏNA, OLD GRAVES, LARVAE

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

Jul 032016

For this Sunday round-up of recommended music in a blackened vein, I compiled advance tracks and two full-album streams from a total of six bands. Because I’m a little pressed for time today, I decided to split the collection into two parts and finish writing the second half for tomorrow, so as to char the shit out of The Glorious Fourth. Between now and then I might add to the collection, too.

I’m starting with music from two bands whose past work I’m familiar with, and then turning to groups who are new to me, concluding tomorrow with one whose music is only slightly “blackened” but has some famous names attached to it.

CAÏNA

With a few relatively brief pauses, Caïna has been prolific and inventive, releasing six albums and more than a dozen shorter releases since the first demo in 2005 — and transforming the shapes of the sound along the way. Caïna’s new seventh album is named Christ Clad in White Phosphorus, and it’s coming out on July 15 through Apocalyptic Witchcraft Records.

For this new album, Caïna’s core creator Andy Curtis-Brignell is joined by vocalist Laurence Taylor (Cold Fell) and bassist Paul Röbertson, along with contributions by members of the British experimental/noise group Warren Schoenbright and Integrity’s Dwid Hellion in his guise as Vermapyre. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): BLACK FUNERAL, WARFIST, VETURHEIM, REST, ALRUIN, ELK

Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 6 Responses »

Jun 292016

Well, I’m two days late with this post. My original plan was to follow Part 1, which appeared on Sunday, with this Part 2 on Monday. But I got busy posting other things both Monday and Tuesday, and so here we are. Having delayed too long already, let’s just get right to the music….

BLACK FUNERAL

The Texas band Black Funeral was born from the mind of Michael W. Ford (aka Akhtya Nachttoter) in the mid-’90s, and although other members of the line-up have changed over time, Ford has persevered, releasing 8 albums that began with 1995’s Vampyr – Throne of the Beast. And this year, roughly six years after the last Black Funeral full-length, another one will be upon us in September via Iron Bonehead Productions and Dark Adversary. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): KÆCK, BLACK MASS PERVERTOR, PROTEAN, NOX, MIST OF MISERY, SATANAAMAH

Metal News, SHADES OF BLACK 4 Responses »

Jun 262016

I’ve been playing catch-up on new and newly discovered music this weekend. It’s been a very good series of listening sessions, and now I’m up to my eyebrows in tracks I’d like to share. I posted one round-up earlier today, and in this one I’m focusing on new music in a blackened vein. But this post won’t exhaust all the black(ish) music that’s now burning in my head, and so my plan is to compile a second installment of Shades of Black for posting tomorrow. As usual, I’ve tried to select the songs, and to divide them between Parts 1 and 2, in a way that would provide a diverse listening experience.

KÆCK

When I reviewed Kaeck’s Stormkult last year, I identified two aspects of the music that I thought made it one of the brightest stars in the firmament of 2015 black metal releases: First, even in a genre known for its extreme intensity, Stormkult is extremely intense. For almost its entire duration, it’s a raging hurricane of sound — bombastic, terrorizing, and chillingly grim. If you want to be electrified by music, this will do it, and leave your head smoking. Continue reading »

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