CARONTE – SPIRITVS

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 092025
 

(Andy Synn wants you all to help him make Caronte a much, much bigger deal)

In light of the increasing success of bands like Unto Others and Tribulation, as well as the massive popularity of a little band you may have heard of called Ghost, it’s surprising that occult Doom coven Caronte haven’t received a similar amount of love and attention.

Maybe it’s because they’re still – despite their love of infectiously psilocybic melodies and gloomily gothic grooves – a little too dark, or a little too rough and rugged (though to me that’s actually part of their appeal) to appeal to a more “mainstream” audience quite as much, or maybe they’re just hanging out with “the wrong crowd” (they’re still very much associated with the Black Metal scene to some people… heck, it was at Inferno Festival that I first encountered them myself).

Whatever the reason, however, I’m making it my mission to give the band’s profile a bit of a boost… especially since their new album, Spiritvs (which comes out this week), might just be their most artfully accessible yet!

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BASTARÐUR, CARONTE, NECRONAUTICAL, LOW FLYING HAWKS, DAGOBA, ZAKULA, ANNIHILUS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 212021
 

 

This is one of those days when we risk overwhelming even the most voracious listeners who visit our site. I’ve already posted a round-up of blackened metal and a full album stream, but can’t resist using some unexpected free time to pull together another collection. This one is rife with videos, most of them accompanying advance tracks from forthcoming releases, but there’s another full album stream in the mix as well. There’s a lot of stylistic variety in the mix too.

BASTARÐUR (Iceland)

This first track came as a big surprise (at least to me). It turns out that Bastarður is the crust punk project of Sólstafir singer/guitarist Aðalbjörn Tryggvason, drawing upon the influence of such bands as Entombed, Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Motörhead, and Disfear.

He made Bastarður’s debut album, Satan’s Loss of Son, with drummer Birgir Jónsson (Dimma), and the album also includes guest vocals by Marc Grewe (Morgoth, Insidious Disease) and Prmordial’s Alan Averill, as well as guest guitar leads and soloing by Ragnar Zolberg (who has performed live bass for Sólstafir) and Þráinn Árni Baldvinsson from Skálmöld, among others. Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2019: CARONTE / IAPETUS / NAGA

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 092019
 

Caronte

 

(Andy Synn prepared this collection of reviews, covering three excellent 2019 albums to which we haven’t previously devoted sufficient attention.)

Despite promising to take some time off after last week’s orgy of lists here I am, back again, with more bands/albums for you to check out.

My plan, as it stands right now, is to spend the next week or two, if/when I can, catching up with a few bands who either missed out on last week’s year-end round-up, or who made the lists but haven’t received a full write-up here as of yet.

The reviews themselves may be a little shorter than usual, simply due to time constraints on my end, but hopefully they’ll prove just as insightful as ever. Cough…

Anyway, today we’ve got some groovesome Satanic Doom, some progressively inclined Melodeath, and some nasty Blackened Sludge, so there should be something for (almost) everyone to discover. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 108): CARONTE

 Exceptions to the Rule, THE SYNN REPORT  No Responses »
May 032019
 

 

(In this April 2019 edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn enthusiastically reviews the discography to date of the Italian band Caronte.)

Recommended for fans of: Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Pallbearer

Don’t let your senses deceive you… it may be a few days late but this is still the April edition of The Synn Report, and one which I hope will be more than worth the extra wait, as the Satanic Stoner Doom sound of Italy’s Caronte (a band I only became familiar with/aware of thanks to their performance at this year’s edition of Inferno Festival) represents something I/we haven’t really touched on very much (if at all) in this column before now.

Active for a little over eight years now, the quartet – Dorian Bones (vocals), Tony Bones (guitar), Henry Bones (bass), and Mike De Chirico (drums) – have already built up a pretty healthy discography during their career, using their music (and their live shows) to explore and celebrate the more occult side of things, with songs addressing everything from Thelemic mysticism to Buddhist philosophy to Native American shamanism.

And while the strident clean vocals of singer Dorian Bones might seem like something you wouldn’t usually expect on this site (given their somewhat theatrical, Danzig-esque cadence) please believe me when I say that they’re a vital part of the band’s identity.

But enough jibber-jabber from me… why not read/listen further and find out for yourself? Continue reading »

DARK RITUALS OF DOOM — PART I

 Mosh Pit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
May 182015
 

 

(In this first part of a mammoth two-part essay, our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks explores a variety of spiritual rituals and their connections to doom metal.)

All right now! Tonight we’re summoned for a divine cause!

Mankind started the basis of society since its  primordial childhood. Many old and good traditions have been lost to the ages, yet ritualistic aspects and traditions were set very deeply in the turns of our brains. Certain traditions and ceremonies have been transformed into religious acts or became social rituals during our evolution, but most of them remain alive in modern days. Something took the form of the Christian Eucharist, something else developed into the form of the Easter Rabbit or the bacchanalia of a metal gig. These rites have provided new trappings to the symbolism at their core, but some people still seriously follow and perform its archaic elements. Let us take a look at which forms of religious rituals live their new life in the sermons of modern priests of the doom cult.

This text is a reworked, renewed, extended, and a bit rude translation of an article that I wrote for a Russian e-zine (here), but I and some of the bands who were discussed thought it would be a good idea to have an English version as well. Of course, it’s not really as much of a scientific or anthropological work as it could be, but if there’s someone who’s ready to make a proper investigation then let me know — I have an idea or two.

Here I’ve used some of my past interviews or just asked some bands straight question about their vision of certain rituals.

Don’t take it too seriously! And don’t try to perform it at home!

And as I’ve mentioned above — tonight we’re summoned for a divine cause! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HENRY BONES (CARONTE)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 012015
 

 

(Our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks presents his interview with Henry Bones, bassist of Italy’s Caronte.)

There are a lot of bands who use the tag “occult” in speaking about their music. But the Italian dark masters in the doom stoner band Caronte are not ordinary followers of this genre. They play their songs with true and darkest passion and energy in practicing their mystic sacraments and sharing this experience with Caronte’s listeners. The second full-length album of this Italian cult was released by Van Records under the name Church of Shamanic Goetia in 2014, and once again Caronte have shown their best, revealing new heavy super-hits, as if Danzig himself were playing with them! I’ve used a chance to speak with Henry Bones (bass) about this new record.

 

Hello Henry! Caronte has released the album Church of Shamanic Goetia through Van Records in 2014. And though the band’s core remains the same, I hear some advancements in your music. How do you class the band’s evolution?

From the previous releases we are all matured a lot, both on a human level and at the level of composition. On our last album we really expressed ourselves as never before.

 

By the way, how many virgins did you put on the devil’s altar to gain such driving riffs and catchy tunes?

You should ask at our drummer Mike. Normally he is dealing with the virgins. Continue reading »