Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Russian drone doom

Вирь
Хорна



Вирь (translated Vir') is a solo drone doom outfit from Leningrad, Russia. The bleak tone of the album is achieved with mostly bass and vocals. No drumming, no guitars. Just fuzzed out bass and shrieked lyrics in Russian. The vocals are very reminiscent of early BM recordings, and no lyrics have been posted, so themes are unknown.

The album contains a good amount of experimentation, and has a handful of guest musicians. Some electronic oscillator action here and there, and some break downs full of different sheets of metal being banged and bowed; there is even some bowing being done on the electric bass.

Check it out if you're into any drone doom. Some parts sound Jesu, some parts like Sunn o))). It's really just a more experimental drone cd with some brutal vocals. Enjoy! It took me a while to find this one.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Lets talk about war...

Damaar
Triumph Through Spears of Sacrilege


Damaar is a Lebanese black metal group writing music from the depths of the war torn Islam nation. The album is entirely anti-Islamic and the tracks convey the pure, genuine hatred these guys have. Unable to release a physical copy, the band released MP3s of this demo before moving to Australia where they were able to fully release the cd.

The sound is a little more warlike and death then most black metal. However, lyrically the album stands up against the Eastern gods. Guitars and such are pretty typical black metal.

Devastating demo... DO YOU WISH TO DIE?

Saturday, February 21, 2009

A dose of riffy Black Metal...

Vordr
II
Take any black metal album, add some REAL bass and low end, and you've got Vordr. Fucking spiteful, raw metal. Clear BM influence with a dose of thrashy punk. The vocals are typical screechy BM vocals, but are certainly less reserved. The guitars are heavy enough to be labelled as sludge (particularly on the opening track), yet dark enough to be black.

Oh, and did I mention it's grim as shit? Fucking grab this right now.

DL


Ulver / Mysticum Split 7"
Ulver will be playing their first live show in 15 years this coming May in Lillehammer, Norway. Though they won't be playing any of the old black metal stuff, I figured I'd post this on up anyways. Very strong two tracks, with a typical dose of low-fi recordings. If you aren't familiar with either Ulver or Mysticum, go google some of their other shit and get familiar.

Mysticum is straightup norweigian BM. They went slightly industrial on later releases, but didn't veer all to far from the standard. Lyrical themes generally lie in the occult.

The Ulver side of the split is a typical Ulver release. Folk, acoustic elements that slam straight into typical black metal blast beat riffage, with lyrics based more around folklore.

Uncomfortable much?

Khanate
Khanate (2001)
PLEASE PLEASE
NO FACE
NO BREATHE
NO BREATHE
PLEASE DON'T BREATHE
NO...
NO JOY
NO JOY
NO JOY
NO JOY PLEASE

Some basic grimmoire...

Burning Witch
Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for our Lord of Light)

From the Lord website:
"Shortly after disbanding: " Crippled Lucifer" a compilation CD of the two EPs, was released in 1998 by the then new label Southern Lord Records. It was the second release of the label, the first being Thorrs' Hammer. Burning Witch briefly reformed for their last shows in the fall of 1998 after which Edgy 59 left the band. O'Malley reunited with Anderson to form Sunn O))), and Dahlquist joined both in sunn 0))) for their first two albums (The Grimm Robe Demos øø Void) then briefly joined Anderson in Goatsnake for the "Flower of Disease" album. Currently, O'Malley is in various projects including Sunn O))), and KTL. Dahlquist and B.R.A.D are in Asva."

Utterly dark, grim, painful doom. Even after you have adjusted to the gritty tone, the tracks are barely accessible. One of my personal all time favorites. I seriously recommend you go to the Lord site and buy yourself a copy of the CD. Great packaging, and comes with a 50 page booklet of pictures. $16. Sample "History of Hell" here.

DL


Corrupted
Paso Inferior

Recorded in 1996 in Osaka, Japan. Originally on Frigidity Discos records. One dark, sludging 40 minute track with the same tempo throughout. For a sludge record, there is a lot of droning, atmospheric guitars that give the album a drone feel. It drags in much deeper sludge then usual, which lends the group an incredibly heavy sound. The vocals themselves are incredibly gutterel, adding to the painfully heavy, dragging tone of the record. If you are not familair with Corrupted, this one is a great one to start with.

And as usual, you can't listen to it unless its shaking your fucking face off.