BURZUM Fallen (Back On Black) 2lp 29.00
Post-release-from-incarceration record number two from the infamous Burzum, aka Varg Vikernes, and just like Belus before it, this IS pretty goddamn great, most definitely harkening back to the good old days, as in: Filosefem / Aske / Det Som Engang Var. In our review of Belus, we went on at length about the man, his shitty politics, his questionable sanity, his storied history, his checkered past (and present), but odds are, most metalheads are getting tired of the whole "Vikernes is an asshole", "his music sucks cuz his politics suck" thing. If you do want to get into that or maybe aren't actually up on the whole Burzum controversy, well, check that review, or just do a Google search and you'll be all caught up.
The funny thing about his previous disc Belus, besides it A) being really good, and B) being a proper black metal record, considering the two records Vikernes made in jail were super cheesy, all-synthesizer affairs (although supposedly, that owed to the fact that he wasn't allowed to have guitars in prison), was that it was SO much a Buzum record, that even the most casual fan hearing a snippet from Belus, would have immediately recognized it as Burzum, which is remarkable considering it had been exactly 14 years since the last proper Burzum black metal record. And in fact Allan here named that tune in about 5 notes when he heard it playing in the store - "this must be Burzum!" Not sure what that says about Burzum and Belus, a return to form, or a retrogression? Regardless, it sounded great, and we ended up digging it big time.
Fallen, while in many ways a logical follow up, and again, hugely beholden to Burzum past, mixes things up a bit, so while still distinctly Burzum, it's also a bit weirder, and not so easy to peg. Opener "Jeg Faller" begins with a total classic Burzum riff, brittle and buzzy, droned out and repetitive, epic and majestic, the drumming buried in the mix, then that riff is matched up with some awesomely woozy minor key arpeggiations, and weirdest of all, some strange sea shanty style crooning, at first, it's a bit off putting, but a few listens and it sounds pretty perfect. And that's pretty much the template for the whole record, frantic classic Burzum style riffing, seasick waltzy midtempo melancholia, the usual guttural vokills, but interspersed with some monk like chanting (or some full on proper crooning, like the surprisingly heartfelt vocals on "Budstikken", there laid over some frantic blackened riffing, a weird but effective combo), all the songs laced with ominous bits of spoken word, the arrangements super simple, and spare, and the production not hugely heavy or buzzy, instead again, a bit brittle and cold, lo-fi, but in a good way, a vibe and atmosphere that definitely suits the songs, and the sound.
The record finishes with a cool, minimal bit of ritualistic folkiness, all hand drums, strange percussion, detuned steel string strum, raspy wraith like whispers, and haunting mournful melodies.
We're sure there will be much debate about the merits of Fallen, the failings of Vikernes, the usual black metal politics and of course the degree of trueness or grimness involved here, but fuck it, at this point we're happy to just dig a record for the music, and we dig the music on Fallen a whole lot...
MPEG Stream: "Jeg Faller"
MPEG Stream: "Valen"
MPEG Stream: "Budstikken"

BURZUM Filosofem (Feral House Audio/Misanthropy) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
By now, unless you've been living underneath a VERY big rock, you know all about Count Grishnackh aka Burzum, Euronymous, Bard Faust, Mayhem, Emperor and all the killing and church burnings and suicides. If for some reason you don't know about all this stuff, go buy yourself a copy of The Lords Of Chaos, a book that covers all that stuff in great detail. The problem with all this drama, murder, satanism, whatever, you forget that the whole reason these guys knew each other, and the only reason any of us cared, was the music they made. And that music they made was black metal. A black metal that thanks to the decidedly non-musical drama, would soon make black metal a household name.
So when folks ask us to recommend some classic black metal, we always recommend Satyricon's Nemesis Divina, Immortal's Battles In The North, Emperor's Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk, and of course Burzum's Filosefem. Filosefem, originally released in 1996 holds a special place in our outsider music hearts, as the first black metal record to turn the whole black metal formula completely upside down. Count Grishnackh was the only member and played all the instruments, even the drums, which gives the whole thing a weirdly damaged droning swing. A rhythm that would define the rhythmic sound of later black metal legends like Graveland and Woodtemple. The guitars are a thick suffocating buzz, razor sharp and totally blown out. And the vocals are an anguished wail, some sort of primeval demonic incantation. But where Burzum stands out most is the addition of a creepy synthesizers that hover in the background of several of the tracks, a haunting melody buried beneath the swirl of fuzz and ultradistortion. Unlike other BM bands, the keyboard isn't a huge wash of strings to add some sort of epic quality, these tracks are already epic enough, here the keyboards are much more spare, a simple minor key melody is picked out, almost childlike, hovering briefly, before the next note follows. Except for one blazing blast of a track, Filosefem is mostly midtempo, lurching and heaving, stumbling down dirt road into a smeared grey landscape. But as the record nears the last few tracks, the record changes, beginning with the nearly half hour long "Rundgang um die Transzendentale Saule der Singularitat", a track that eschews any hint of metal, stripping away the guitars, the drums, everything, and leaving just the synthesizer, as it unfurls a seemingly endless Aphex Twin like four note melody. Forlorn and strangely compelling. And in the context of the whole record, as emotionally devastating as anything we've heard. The final track "Gebrechlichkeit II", brifngs back the guitars, but makes them nearly static, an endlessly blurry vacuum cleaner like riff, slowly shifting, as another haunting melody drifts wraith like in the background. Definitely one of the most essential and unique metal records of all time.

BURZUM Filosofem (Byelobog Productions) cd 17.98
New version, in slipcase.
By now, unless you've been living underneath a VERY big rock, you know all about Count Grishnackh aka Burzum, Euronymous, Bard Faust, Mayhem, Emperor and all the killing and church burnings and suicides. If for some reason you don't know about all this stuff, go buy yourself a copy of The Lords Of Chaos, a book that covers all that stuff in great detail. The problem with all this drama, murder, satanism, whatever, you forget that the whole reason these guys knew each other, and the only reason any of us cared, was the music they made. And that music they made was black metal. A black metal that thanks to the decidedly non-musical drama, would soon make black metal a household name.
So when folks ask us to recommend some classic black metal, we always recommend Satyricon's Nemesis Divina, Immortal's Battles In The North, Emperor's Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk, and of course Burzum's Filosefem. Filosefem, originally released in 1996 holds a special place in our outsider music hearts, as the first black metal record to turn the whole black metal formula completely upside down. Count Grishnackh was the only member and played all the instruments, even the drums, which gives the whole thing a weirdly damaged droning swing. A rhythm that would define the rhythmic sound of later black metal legends like Graveland and Woodtemple. The guitars are a thick suffocating buzz, razor sharp and totally blown out. And the vocals are an anguished wail, some sort of primeval demonic incantation. But where Burzum stands out most is the addition of a creepy synthesizers that hover in the background of several of the tracks, a haunting melody buried beneath the swirl of fuzz and ultradistortion. Unlike other BM bands, the keyboard isn't a huge wash of strings to add some sort of epic quality, these tracks are already epic enough, here the keyboards are much more spare, a simple minor key melody is picked out, almost childlike, hovering briefly, before the next note follows. Except for one blazing blast of a track, Filosefem is mostly midtempo, lurching and heaving, stumbling down dirt road into a smeared grey landscape. But as the record nears the last few tracks, the record changes, beginning with the nearly half hour long "Rundgang um die Transzendentale Saule der Singularitat", a track that eschews any hint of metal, stripping away the guitars, the drums, everything, and leaving just the synthesizer, as it unfurls a seemingly endless Aphex Twin like four note melody. Forlorn and strangely compelling. And in the context of the whole record, as emotionally devastating as anything we've heard. The final track "Gebrechlichkeit II", brifngs back the guitars, but makes them nearly static, an endlessly blurry vacuum cleaner like riff, slowly shifting, as another haunting melody drifts wraith like in the background. Definitely one of the most essential and unique metal records of all time.

BURZUM Filosofem (Back On Black) 2lp 36.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
By now, unless you've been living underneath a VERY big rock, you know all about Count Grishnackh aka Burzum, Euronymous, Bard Faust, Mayhem, Emperor and all the killing and church burnings and suicides. If for some reason you don't know about all this stuff, go buy yourself a copy of The Lords Of Chaos, a book that covers all that stuff in great detail. The problem with all this drama, murder, satanism, whatever, you forget that the whole reason these guys knew each other, and the only reason any of us cared, was the music they made. And that music they made was black metal. A black metal that thanks to the decidedly non-musical drama, would soon make black metal a household name.
So when folks ask us to recommend some classic black metal, we always recommend Satyricon's Nemesis Divina, Immortal's Battles In The North, Emperor's Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk, and of course Burzum's Filosefem. Filosefem, originally released in 1996 holds a special place in our outsider music hearts, as the first black metal record to turn the whole black metal formula completely upside down. Count Grishnackh was the only member and played all the instruments, even the drums, which gives the whole thing a weirdly damaged droning swing. A rhythm that would define the rhythmic sound of later black metal legends like Graveland and Woodtemple. The guitars are a thick suffocating buzz, razor sharp and totally blown out. And the vocals are an anguished wail, some sort of primeval demonic incantation. But where Burzum stands out most is the addition of a creepy synthesizers that hover in the background of several of the tracks, a haunting melody buried beneath the swirl of fuzz and ultradistortion. Unlike other BM bands, the keyboard isn't a huge wash of strings to add some sort of epic quality, these tracks are already epic enough, here the keyboards are much more spare, a simple minor key melody is picked out, almost childlike, hovering briefly, before the next note follows. Except for one blazing blast of a track, Filosefem is mostly midtempo, lurching and heaving, stumbling down dirt road into a smeared grey landscape. But as the record nears the last few tracks, the record changes, beginning with the nearly half hour long "Rundgang um die Transzendentale Saule der Singularitat", a track that eschews any hint of metal, stripping away the guitars, the drums, everything, and leaving just the synthesizer, as it unfurls a seemingly endless Aphex Twin like four note melody. Forlorn and strangely compelling. And in the context of the whole record, as emotionally devastating as anything we've heard. The final track "Gebrechlichkeit II", brings back the guitars, but makes them nearly static, an endlessly blurry vacuum cleaner like riff, slowly shifting, as another haunting melody drifts wraith like in the background. Definitely one of the most essential and unique metal records of all time.
BE WARNED! THESE BURZUM LPS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONCE THESE ARE GONE, IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THEY'LL BE GONE FOR GOOD. IF IT ENDS UP WE CAN GET MORE, BE PREPARED TO WAIT PATIENTLY!

BURZUM From The Depths Of Darkness (Byelobog Productions) cd 17.98

BURZUM From The Depths Of Darkness (Byelobog Productions) 2lp 37.00

BURZUM Hlidskjalf (Misanthropy) cd 16.98
The final Burzum album, another all keyboard affair, recorded in prison and again the sound is mostly atmospheric, swooshing keyboards, some simple drum machine rhythms, a bit of folky filigree here and there. Supposedly evoking the ambience of Nordic forest and Nordic Pride (a barely disguised white pride, as Grishnackh, now Vikernes, discovered his true Nazi self in prison) this is a mostly disposable dark ambient record, for only the true Burzum completists.

BURZUM Hlidskjalf (Back On Black) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The final Burzum album, another all keyboard affair, recorded in prison and again the sound is mostly atmospheric, swooshing keyboards, some simple drum machine rhythms, a bit of folky filigree here and there. Supposedly evoking the ambience of Nordic forest and Nordic Pride (a barely disguised white pride, as Grishnackh, now Vikernes, discovered his true Nazi self in prison) this is a mostly disposable dark ambient record, for only the true Burzum completists.
BE WARNED! THESE BURZUM LPS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONCE THESE ARE GONE, IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THEY'LL BE GONE FOR GOOD. IF IT ENDS UP WE CAN GET MORE, BE PREPARED TO WAIT PATIENTLY!

BURZUM Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (Misanthropy) cd 16.98
The title roughly translated is "What once was," but Det Som Engang Var is more about what is to come, the perfect bridge between the grim raw primitive Burzum of old and the beautifully bizarre grim blackness / haunting electronic hybrid that Burzum was to become. Originally released in 1994, the year he was sentenced to prison for murdering Mayhem's Euronymous, Hvis is a buzzing droning black metal masterpiece. Which would have probably remained the most essential Burzum document had Filosefem not been released 2 years later.

BURZUM Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (Back On Black) lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The title roughly translated is "What once was," but Det Som Engang Var is more about what is to come, the perfect bridge between the grim raw primitive Burzum of old and the beautifully bizarre grim blackness / haunting electronic hybrid that Burzum was to become. Originally released in 1994, the year he was sentenced to prison for murdering Mayhem's Euronymous, Hvis is a buzzing droning black metal masterpiece. Which would have probably remained the most essential Burzum document had Filosefem not been released 2 years later.
BE WARNED! THESE BURZUM LPS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED!! ONCE THESE ARE GONE, IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT THEY'LL BE GONE FOR GOOD. IF IT ENDS UP WE CAN GET MORE, BE PREPARED TO WAIT PATIENTLY!

BURZUM Ragnarok: A New Beginning (Aske) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you don't know the whole sordid story with this guy/band, let us refer you to "The Lords of Chaos" book... Here's some rare demo/rehearsal material from Varg, all early stuff recorded long before his incarceration. Very cult. The demo material is rough and super atmospheric, gloom drone metal supreme. This is the stuff for which the term "necro" was invented. This disc also includes other oddities, such as a rehearsal recording of a seemingly drunken Varg, along with guys from Mayhem, likely equally drunk, singing a Cliff Richard song a capella (this track is really more silly than necro). Then there's a long spooky track with vocals by the late Sveinbjorn Beinfeinsson, head of the Asatru religion, backed by Varg's synths (this might be of more recent vintage than the rest). For true fans. Limited (and numbered) edition of 1000 cds. We only have a few.
RealAudio clip: "Lost Wisdom"

BUSHMAN'S REVENGE A Little Bit Of Big Bonanza (Rune Grammofon) cd 17.98
Norway's always-on-it Rune Grammofon label seem to have a special penchant for finding "jazz" bands with electric guitars who really can rock, like the recently reviewed Hedvig Mollestad Trio, and the band currently under consideration, the oddly-named Bushman's Revenge, an instrumental bass/drums/guitar (and some vibraphone) trio. This is Rune G's third release by 'em, the follow up to 2010's Jitterbug, which we really liked a lot. And we like this one too!
First off, first off... the opening track is a slightly rambunctious, bass-burbling cover version of the gorgeous "As We Used To Sing" by the late great jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock, from his criminally-out-of-print for years now 1990 masterwork, Ask The Ages! Excellent choice, making for an auspicious beginning to this album. So nice to hear that lovely melody again, as any Sharrock fan will surely agree. Bushman's Revenge bring to it a very lively feel, that's in keeping with the rest of the disc, recorded live in the studio, with few overdubs, and lots of energy. This band is quite electric, let's say, with dense squalls of guitar to the fore (of course, that's why they'd cover Sharrock, and heck last time out they covered Motorhead!), but they also take some serene detours too (even at volume). Among those mellower moments, "John Lennon Was The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" has a title that might sound facetious, but the particularly calm and beautiful music so named seems quite sincere.
Once again, a great "jazz" album for folks who love amped-up, tangled-up rock.
Gatefold lp (with download), or digipaked cd, both with Rune G's usual distinctive Kim Hiorthoy graphics.
MPEG Stream: "As We Used To Sing"
MPEG Stream: "No More Dead Bodies For Daddy Tonight"
MPEG Stream: "Jeg Baker Kokosboiler"

BUSHMAN'S REVENGE A Little Bit Of Big Bonanza (Rune Grammofon) lp 24.00
Norway's always-on-it Rune Grammofon label seem to have a special penchant for finding "jazz" bands with electric guitars who really can rock, like the recently reviewed Hedvig Mollestad Trio, and the band currently under consideration, the oddly-named Bushman's Revenge, an instrumental bass/drums/guitar (and some vibraphone) trio. This is Rune G's third release by 'em, the follow up to 2010's Jitterbug, which we really liked a lot. And we like this one too!
First off, first off... the opening track is a slightly rambunctious, bass-burbling cover version of the gorgeous "As We Used To Sing" by the late great jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock, from his criminally-out-of-print for years now 1990 masterwork, Ask The Ages! Excellent choice, making for an auspicious beginning to this album. So nice to hear that lovely melody again, as any Sharrock fan will surely agree. Bushman's Revenge bring to it a very lively feel, that's in keeping with the rest of the disc, recorded live in the studio, with few overdubs, and lots of energy. This band is quite electric, let's say, with dense squalls of guitar to the fore (of course, that's why they'd cover Sharrock, and heck last time out they covered Motorhead!), but they also take some serene detours too (even at volume). Among those mellower moments, "John Lennon Was The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" has a title that might sound facetious, but the particularly calm and beautiful music so named seems quite sincere.
Once again, a great "jazz" album for folks who love amped-up, tangled-up rock.
Gatefold lp (with download), or digipaked cd, both with Rune G's usual distinctive Kim Hiorthoy graphics.
MPEG Stream: "As We Used To Sing"
MPEG Stream: "No More Dead Bodies For Daddy Tonight"
MPEG Stream: "Jeg Baker Kokosboiler"

BUSHMAN'S REVENGE Jitterbug (Rune Grammofon) cd 17.98
Hadn't heard this jitterbuggin' Norwegian bunch before, though they have a previous album on Rune Grammofon and one before that as well. Definitely gonna have to track down those too, 'cause this one is pretty great, if you're into avant rock/jazz instrumental rippage. At peak power, they're QUITE energetic and frenzied, but unfailingly musical too, and the disc has much in the way of moodier, mellower moments as well.
Bushman's Revenge are a trio of electric guitar, bass, and drums, with a cameo appearance on two tracks here by organist Stale Storlokken of Supersilent. The guitarist is also a member of the proggy and metallic "blackjazz" group Shining. Which maybe explains why this is often so much heavier and rockier than most quote unquote fusion, and also why they do a Motorhead cover ("Damage Case" from Overkill done as an instrumental, or what they call a "Happy Go Lucky Karaoke Version", which stomps along exuberantly with a full-on freakout in the mid-section). Elsewhere, they veer from tangled and distorted guitar onslaughts to stately melodic reveries... and even play some deviant blues ("While My Guitar Gently Breaks"). Bushman's Revenge are for fans of other Rune G "fusion" like Scorch Trio for sure, and also we'd recommend 'em folks partial to Nels Cline.
MPEG Stream: "Kill Your Jitterbug Darlings"
MPEG Stream: "Wind And Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Professor Chaos"

BUSHMAN'S REVENGE Jitterbug (Rune Grammofon) lp 24.00
Hadn't heard this jitterbuggin' Norwegian bunch before, though they have a previous album on Rune Grammofon and one before that as well. Definitely gonna have to track down those too, 'cause this one is pretty great, if you're into avant rock/jazz instrumental rippage. At peak power, they're QUITE energetic and frenzied, but unfailingly musical too, and the disc has much in the way of moodier, mellower moments as well.
Bushman's Revenge are a trio of electric guitar, bass, and drums, with a cameo appearance on two tracks here by organist Stale Storlokken of Supersilent. The guitarist is also a member of the proggy and metallic "blackjazz" group Shining. Which maybe explains why this is often so much heavier and rockier than most quote unquote fusion, and also why they do a Motorhead cover ("Damage Case" from Overkill done as an instrumental, or what they call a "Happy Go Lucky Karaoke Version", which stomps along exuberantly with a full-on freakout in the mid-section). Elsewhere, they veer from tangled and distorted guitar onslaughts to stately melodic reveries... and even play some deviant blues ("While My Guitar Gently Breaks"). Bushman's Revenge are for fans of other Rune G "fusion" like Scorch Trio for sure, and also we'd recommend 'em folks partial to Nels Cline.
MPEG Stream: "Kill Your Jitterbug Darlings"
MPEG Stream: "Wind And Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Professor Chaos"

BUSHMAN'S REVENGE Never Mind The Botox (Rune Grammofon) lp 24.00
Last list, we highlighted A Little Bit Of Big Bonanza, the newest full-length from this Norwegian improvising unit on Rune Grammofon. The takeaway: "...a great 'jazz' album for people who love amped-up, tangled-up rock."
Fans will be interested in this vinyl-only 12", intended as a companion to that new album, recorded at the same sessions. It consists of cover versions of some of their faves. Bushman's Revenge has previously covered Motorhead and Sonny Sharrock, among others, and the covers presented here are equally diverse. Jazz, alt-rock, metal, they know no boundaries. They cover The Pixies ("Monkey Gone To Heaven"), The Police ("No Time This Time"), Black Sabbath ("War Pigs"), Sun Ra ("We Travel The Spaceways"), and even themselves ("Bushman Rock", a song left off their earlier Jitterbug album). As you might expect, these compositions are all respectfully rearranged, and deranged, when given the Bushman's Revenge treatment.
Comes with mp3 download.

BUZZOV*EN Revelation: Sick Again (Hydra Head) cd 12.98
Revelation: Sick Again is the legendary long lost unreleased final album from North Carolinian stoner sludge sickos Buzzov*en, and while recorded over a decade ago, it languished unreleased due to various legal difficulties, which were just the latest, for a band who essentially existed in a world of difficulties and dysfunction, be it jail, drugs, violent shows, band breakups, cancelled tours, but of course all of that stuff found its way into the groups nihilistic, heavy as fuck, drug addled sound. Recorded during a period of "exhaustion, drug-induced confusion and frustration" (although how that differs from other Buzzov*en records we're not entirely sure), Revelation: Sick Again is everything we've come to love about Buzzov*en: woozy, slithery Sabbathy riffage, sheets of feedback, big pounding drums, Kirk Fisher's whiskey soaked glass gargling yowl, songs that slip from blasting and frenetic, to wasted and druggy, long stretches of droned out blackened lumber dropped between bursts of low slung sonic swagger, and filthy crusty metallic crunch, the tracks peppered with strange samples and lots of grit and grime, the sound a gnarled melding of Black Flag's My War and classic Sabbath, sludgey, groovy, heavy, wasted and warped and so goddamn good.
MPEG Stream: "Symptom"
MPEG Stream: "Drying Out"
MPEG Stream: "Break Me Off"

BUZZOV*EN Revelation: Sick Again (Hydra Head) lp 24.00
Revelation: Sick Again is the legendary long lost unreleased final album from North Carolinian stoner sludge sickos Buzzov*en, and while recorded over a decade ago, it languished unreleased due to various legal difficulties, which were just the latest, for a band who essentially existed in a world of difficulties and dysfunction, be it jail, drugs, violent shows, band breakups, cancelled tours, but of course all of that stuff found its way into the groups nihilistic, heavy as fuck, drug addled sound. Recorded during a period of "exhaustion, drug-induced confusion and frustration" (although how that differs from other Buzzov*en records we're not entirely sure), Revelation: Sick Again is everything we've come to love about Buzzov*en: woozy, slithery Sabbathy riffage, sheets of feedback, big pounding drums, Kirk Fisher's whiskey soaked glass gargling yowl, songs that slip from blasting and frenetic, to wasted and druggy, long stretches of droned out blackened lumber dropped between bursts of low slung sonic swagger, and filthy crusty metallic crunch, the tracks peppered with strange samples and lots of grit and grime, the sound a gnarled melding of Black Flag's My War and classic Sabbath, sludgey, groovy, heavy, wasted and warped and so goddamn good.
MPEG Stream: "Symptom"
MPEG Stream: "Drying Out"
MPEG Stream: "Break Me Off"

BUZZOV-EN Violence From The Vault (Relapse) cd ep 11.98
Not sure why we never reviewed anything by these pot fueled purveyors of crusty sludge, could be that all of their records predated the list, but we have shown much love to post Buzzov-en stoner sludge combo Weedeater, the thing is, everything we love about Weedeater, existed in Buzzov-en, even more. Heavier, sludgier, stonier, crustier, filthier, these five songs were recorded right before the band disbanded in the mid nineties, and the band are on fire, lurching, churning, downtuned heaviness, KILLER riffs, caveman drum pound, vocals buried WAY down in the mix, from pounding dirge, the thrashing chaotic crunch, the band just sound relentless and fucking ultra intense here, could be that it was close to the end, could be the fact that the whole band was falling apart to problems with drugs, whatever it is, this stuff sounds fierce and violent and raw and on the edge. The sound is weirdly murky and muddy, blown out, but not super hot sounding, more blurred and buzzy, but it suits the mood big time.
There are of course goofy samples before most of the songs, which seems par for the stoner sludge course, and there's the totally demented drugged out 16 minute "Nod" which does in fact sound like the whole band nodding off mid song, captured on tape, a stumbling, abstract soundscape of guitar buzz, and weird voices, swirling effects, deconstructed riffage, total psychedelic sonic headfuck, which rules, but it's the other 4 songs that put most of Buzzov-en's contemporaries, past and present, to shame. These tracks may have been recorded 15 years ago, but they still sound incredible, and anyone into the current crop of drug metal heavies, who somehow missed out on these guys back in the day, well, now is the time to make things right. The liner notes mention a possible new Buzzov-en record in 2010 as well, we can only hope...
MPEG Stream: "Mainline"
MPEG Stream: "Paintake"

BUZZOV-EN Violence From The Vault (Relapse) lp 17.98
NOW ON VINYL!!!
Not sure why we never reviewed anything by these pot fueled purveyors of crusty sludge, could be that all of their records predated the list, but we have shown much love to post Buzzov-en stoner sludge combo Weedeater, the thing is, everything we love about Weedeater, existed in Buzzov-en, even more. Heavier, sludgier, stonier, crustier, filthier, these five songs were recorded right before the band disbanded in the mid nineties, and the band are on fire, lurching, churning, downtuned heaviness, KILLER riffs, caveman drum pound, vocals buried WAY down in the mix, from pounding dirge, the thrashing chaotic crunch, the band just sound relentless and fucking ultra intense here, could be that it was close to the end, could be the fact that the whole band was falling apart to problems with drugs, whatever it is, this stuff sounds fierce and violent and raw and on the edge. The sound is weirdly murky and muddy, blown out, but not super hot sounding, more blurred and buzzy, but it suits the mood big time.
There are of course goofy samples before most of the songs, which seems par for the stoner sludge course, and there's the totally demented drugged out 16 minute "Nod" which does in fact sound like the whole band nodding off mid song, captured on tape, a stumbling, abstract soundscape of guitar buzz, and weird voices, swirling effects, deconstructed riffage, total psychedelic sonic headfuck, which rules, but it's the other 4 songs that put most of Buzzov-en's contemporaries, past and present, to shame. These tracks may have been recorded 15 years ago, but they still sound incredible, and anyone into the current crop of drug metal heavies, who somehow missed out on these guys back in the day, well, now is the time to make things right. The liner notes mention a possible new Buzzov-en record in 2010 as well, we can only hope...
MPEG Stream: "Mainline"
MPEG Stream: "Paintake"

BXI Boris & Ian Astbury (Southern Lord) cd 12.98
When we first heard about this, we had to check the calendar to make sure the release date wasn't April 1st. But no, this is real, the latest collaborative project undertaken by everyone's favorite Japanese psychedelic heavy rockers, Boris, wherein they team up with, yes, Ian Astbury of The Cult!! Seems like something out of an episode of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, does it not? Well believe it. BXI is Boris + Ian (or times Ian?), and the disc's blatant/redundant title makes the concept plain.
So... what do we think? Well what do YOU think? Basically, a lot depends on A) what you think of Ian's singing, which may or may not depend on how big of a Cult fan you are or once were, and B) how much of a hardcore devoted Boris fanboy (or girl) you are. If you like everything Boris and/or Ian Astbury, then this is for you. Otherwise, maybe check out the sound samples before reflexively "adding to cart" just 'cause it's a Boris (related) release.
This 20 minute, 4 track ep includes 3 songs newly written by the BXI unit, plus a version of The Cult's "Rain", from their 1985 album Love, sung by Boris guitarist Wata. The fairly dynamic first track, "Teeth And Claws", finds Astbury wailing about how "animals will save us... yeah, yeah they will, yeah they will, yes they will" over some sub-grunge, big-beat, quasi-heavy quasi-psych that wouldn't sound out of place on most modern rock stations. The next song, "We Are Witches", is much "tougher" and more metallic, with chunky distorted guitar chug. After that, comes "Rain", which is the best cut here in our opinion. Wata's gentle, dreamy vocals are a nice change from Astbury's overwrought rock dude yowl, and guest guitarist Michio Kurihara's stinging acid rock leads are glorious. Though, if they'd chosen to cover "Love Removal Machine" we'd have been into it too... The finale, "Magickal Child" is slow and majestic, with Astbury being dramatic but not ridiculous. Still, it's the closest Boris has ever come to U2 territory, that's all. Kurihara also plays guitar on this track too, again a plus. It's kinda funny he's on this disc with Astbury, in a six-degrees of separation way, since Kurihara was a member of Tokyo retro psych act White Heaven, who sounded a lot like The Doors, whose frontman Jim Morrison was of course famously portrayed by Val Kilmer in a movie, wait no that's not it, it's that The surviving Doors recently toured with Ian "The Lizard King II" Astbury as their singer, didn't they?
Really, not bad as long as you don't hate Astbury. But also, not what we were hoping for (well, had we ever envisioned this collaboration in the first place). Boris definitely seems to be meeting Astbury much more than halfway here, this coming off more like Astbury with Boris as a backing band (or Boris paying tribute to him for some reason) than Boris doing some weird and heavy Boris thing and then making it weirder by having the guy from The Cult sing on it. Oh well, we'll admit we're Boris (and/or Cult) fans enough to pick this up just for "Rain" alone, and then can enjoy the other tracks to varying degrees, or not...
NB. vinyl coming soon (within a couple weeks).
MPEG Stream: "Teeth And Claws"
MPEG Stream: "We Are Witches"
MPEG Stream: "Rain"

BXI Boris & Ian Astbury (Southern Lord) 12" 13.98
Now here on vinyl too!!
When we first heard about this, we had to check the calendar to make sure the release date wasn't April 1st. But no, this is real, the latest collaborative project undertaken by everyone's favorite Japanese psychedelic heavy rockers, Boris, wherein they team up with, yes, Ian Astbury of The Cult!! Seems like something out of an episode of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, does it not? Well believe it. BXI is Boris + Ian (or times Ian?), and the disc's blatant/redundant title makes the concept plain.
So... what do we think? Well what do YOU think? Basically, a lot depends on A) what you think of Ian's singing, which may or may not depend on how big of a Cult fan you are or once were, and B) how much of a hardcore devoted Boris fanboy (or girl) you are. If you like everything Boris and/or Ian Astbury, then this is for you. Otherwise, maybe check out the sound samples before reflexively "adding to cart" just 'cause it's a Boris (related) release.
This 20 minute, 4 track ep includes 3 songs newly written by the BXI unit, plus a version of The Cult's "Rain", from their 1985 album Love, sung by Boris guitarist Wata. The fairly dynamic first track, "Teeth And Claws", finds Astbury wailing about how "animals will save us... yeah, yeah they will, yeah they will, yes they will" over some sub-grunge, big-beat, quasi-heavy quasi-psych that wouldn't sound out of place on most modern rock stations. The next song, "We Are Witches", is much "tougher" and more metallic, with chunky distorted guitar chug. After that, comes "Rain", which is the best cut here in our opinion. Wata's gentle, dreamy vocals are a nice change from Astbury's overwrought rock dude yowl, and guest guitarist Michio Kurihara's stinging acid rock leads are glorious. Though, if they'd chosen to cover "Love Removal Machine" we'd have been into it too... The finale, "Magickal Child" is slow and majestic, with Astbury being dramatic but not ridiculous. Still, it's the closest Boris has ever come to U2 territory, that's all. Kurihara also plays guitar on this track too, again a plus. It's kinda funny he's on this disc with Astbury, in a six-degrees of separation way, since Kurihara was a member of Tokyo retro psych act White Heaven, who sounded a lot like The Doors, whose frontman Jim Morrison was of course famously portrayed by Val Kilmer in a movie, wait no that's not it, it's that The surviving Doors recently toured with Ian "The Lizard King II" Astbury as their singer, didn't they?
Really, not bad as long as you don't hate Astbury. But also, not what we were hoping for (well, had we ever envisioned this collaboration in the first place). Boris definitely seems to be meeting Astbury much more than halfway here, this coming off more like Astbury with Boris as a backing band (or Boris paying tribute to him for some reason) than Boris doing some weird and heavy Boris thing and then making it weirder by having the guy from The Cult sing on it. Oh well, we'll admit we're Boris (and/or Cult) fans enough to pick this up just for "Rain" alone, and then can enjoy the other tracks to varying degrees, or not...
MPEG Stream: "Teeth And Claws"
MPEG Stream: "We Are Witches"
MPEG Stream: "Rain"

C-AVERAGE Second Reckoning (Kill Rock Stars) cd 13.98
A two-piece band of indie rockers from the Pacific Northwest doing their best to play metal...no, not The Need. It's C-Average -- but these guys might need to think about changing their name, as on this release they've manage to bring their grade point average up a bit! I'd give them a B+ for Second Reckoning, and a little gold star for "most improved". It's way tighter and heavier than their not-so-great debut from a few years back. They still do a lot of covers (this time, "The Witch" by the Sonics and Mose Allison's "Parchment Farm" by way of Blue Cheer), but play them, and their originals, much more convincingly than before. Maybe they'll figure out that with a live bass player, they'd have a chance to be really really good. Punk rock classic rock for fans of Melvins, The (Fucking) Champs, etc.

CAACRINOLAS A Thousand Cries Has The Night cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Members of German avant-jazz outfit Bretzel Killing Machine take their interest in horror films/music a step further by forming this two-man experimental BLACK METAL band! Yes, B.K.M. leader (and solo electronics artist) Bjoern Eichstaedt has finally delivered his his long-promised (threatened?) Caacrinolas project. Keyboardist/vocalist Bjoern, together with guitarist/bassist Larry Luer, and a drum machine, have made a very cult sounding 24-minute cd-r demo ep, numbered and limited to 100 copies. It's just one track (the title song "A Thousand Cries Has The Night") and the truth is, if this is a representative twenty-four minutes of that night, then it has a lot MORE than a 1000 cries, 'cause the screaming on here is voluminous and disturbing. Starting off with Goblin-style horror keyboards and drony atmospherics and then moving into Burzum style riffery and throat-shredding screaming backed by drum machine mayhem, this is pretty scary from the get-go. Then we move into doomy broken-guitar explorations, almost like Esoteric scoring a horror flick. The song continues to take many twists and turns, all dark and droney ones of course.
It's definitely something for fans of Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, Abruptum, Nokturnal Mortum, Potentiam, and similar avant-ambient-black-metal trips. Excellent! We look forward to their next recording, which we're told is already underway, entitled "Satan et les lŽgions fantastiques tourmentant le CrucifiŽ"...
RealAudio clip: "A Thousand Cries Has The Night (excerpt 1)"
RealAudio clip: "A Thousand Cries Has The Night (excerpt 2)"

CAACRINOLAS Caacrinolas 2: Valley of the Dead cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Cryptic and creepy, Caacrinolas is the "black metal" project of German AQ-pal Bjoern Eichstaedt and his colleague Larry Luer, both of whom more typically make music in the realms of avant-garde jazz and experimental electronics. But, inspired by the likes of Burzum and Emperor, Bjoern and Larry created Caacrinolas, whose first, cultish cd-r release "A Thousand Cries Has The Night" was much liked by AQ staff and customers. Now they're returned to terrorize us further with "Caacrinolas 2: Valley Of The Dead". Again, it's a single track, but a longer one, at 36 minutes this time. Again, it's in a limited, numbered edition of 100. The packaging is a bit fancier -- a clear dvd-sized "Super Jewel Box", with a suitably chilling black-and-white cover photo beneath a sheet of blood-red acetate. Nice (and thus, the price is a bit more than before). And again, this is a scary 'lil disc! It does seem like they maybe have less of an overt black metal concept going on this time -- they're really establishing their own style of horror soundtrack jazz vs. metal, seemingly referencing both Bohren & Der Club of Gore and Cradle of Filth, Fantomas and Morricone, Bernard Herrmann and Sigh!
This disc's journey of darkness begins with classical strings and malevolent petrodactyl squawks, seguing into a Bohren-esque, noirish jazz-drone soundscape with zombie monk vocals in the background. But sudden changes will constantly catch the listener unawares -- lurking at every turn there are bursts of jagged metalcore riffing with roiling drums, passages of doleful organ, blasts of noise and distortion, dark and droney Tangerine Dream synth-work, and, as the disc concludes, pensive, pretty piano a la David Shire's soundtrack for The Conversation. Yep, it's good! (and evil.)
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 2"

CAACRINOLAS Vargtimmen (self-released) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been over FIVE years since we last heard from German duo Caacrinolas and their strange brand of constantly changing black metal weirdness. The two were fixtures in the avant garde jazz / experimental electronic German underground, fronting the group Bretzel Killing Machine, but the two became fixated on black metal, and horror movies and decided to do something about it. Their debut, A Thousand Cries Has The Night, was a brief black assault, with buzzing riffage, sweeping black ambience, and some of the most intense wailing vocals we'd ever heard. We compared the music on the disc to groups like Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, Abruptum, Nokturnal Mortum, Potentiam, bands who took black metal and shaped it into something more unique, and often more disturbing. The duo returned soon after, with a second salvo, the ominously titled Valley of the Dead, another lengthy single track, but the black buzz was pulled back to reveal a haunting Goblinesque soundworld of lugubrious dark crawls, and Bohren like blackjazz slowcore. Granted, the record was like a haunted house, with creeps and starts lurking around every corner, but the focus was a long droning black drift (btw, both of those were SUPER limited so don't try to order 'em...)
Now here we are 5 years later (although most of this was recorded in 2003 and '04), and Caacrinolas take up just where they left off, creating a gorgeous epic creepscape of drifting pointillist pianos, long drawn out minor key chords, whispery ghost like voices, dark cavernous drones, and streaks of fuzzed out ambience, all smeared into ominous, yet strangely lovely stretches of cinematic tension. Hard not to hear Bohren, and again Goblin, but also Stars Of The Lid, and even bits of Tim Hecker, Aidan Baker, and other subtle sound sculptors... Most AQ drone-heads are already in love with this kind of sound and it only takes a minute or two before those folks are ready to close their eyes and drift off... but not so fast....
About halfway through the opening track, some keening distorted high end guitar, begins to repeat, over and over, like some lonely distant minor key siren, until they're joined by some downtuned low slung slow motion riffage, that buzzes and crawls, over a warm warbly bed of synths... it never explodes into black action though, instead, it slowly twists and turns, the various layers of keyboard and synthesizer, getting all tangled up and drifting darkly above a swirling sea of subtle black drone.
The second track follows a similar pattern, a slow building horror movie ambient epic. Keyboards drone and shimmer, muted melodies drift right beneath the surface, bits of percussion pepper the Niblockian blur, the tension builds, the production crackles and hisses, a strange textured underlayer to the near static drone, until a mournful strummed guitar surfaces, and the track transforms into some strange lonely lament, drifting, drifting, drifting, until the band suddenly launches into full on rock mode, crunchy riffage, eighties synths, simple propulsive drumming, and the band is squarely in Goblin (or Zombi) territory, weaving a tense soundscape, dramatic and a little over the top, eventually, becoming -slightly- black metal with some super brittle high end insectoid buzz and some blasting double kick buried in the mix, like a black metal Goblin scoring one of those scenes where the terrified girl in her nightgown is running through the midnight forest, being chased by a mysterious maniac. Eventually, the band settles back down into a haunting slithering creep, but now with mysterious female voices mumbled beneath the buzzing synth, the sizzling cymbal swells, the spidery sad guitar melodies, and the slow motion downtuned riffing, until it all fades to black. Awesome!
Like the other discs, this one is also limited to only 100 copies, so we're not sure how long we'll be able to keep these in stock. If people freak out over this one the way they did over the first two, probably not long. But UNLIKE the other ones, which were packaged in slimline jewel cases, 3 is super elaborate, housed in a gold metallic hinged box (like those old Chain Reaction releases), with the artwork silkscreened directly onto the metal, the cd affixed to a metallic nub on the inside, and a printed black on black insert with all the liner notes tucked inside.
MPEG Stream: "Vargtimmen"
MPEG Stream: "En Un Espacio"

CABLE The Failed Convict (The End) cd 13.98
Man, another favorite of ours that somehow slipped through the cracks. These guys have been rocking for close to 15 years now, they've put records out on Hydra Head, Translation Loss, This Dark Reign, now The End, eight full lengths, even a sort of greatest hits cd/dvd, and we're only now giving these guys some love. Well, apologies to the band, the labels, and to you, if you've somehow managed to miss out on these guys this whole time, you've go some serious catching up to do, cuz these guys RULE. Heavy and dirgey and noisy, definitely reminiscent of the classic AmRep sound, if you dig stuff like Today Is The Day, Botch, Neurosis, Killdozer, all that sort of low slung pigfuck heaviness, you'll probably dig these guys. They sort of get lumped in with the post hardcore / emo outfits, but they're sort of more filthy and fierce, the guitars super thick and angular, crunchy, the drums massive, and the vocals, a totally impossible throat shredding howl, that manages to still be melodic even though it sounds like the dude must be coughing up blood after every show. The arrangements are mathy and complex, lots of starts and stops, and yeah, hooks too, for being heavy and obtuse and fucked up, this stuff is pretty goddamn catchy too.
Been a while since we listened to these guys, but this record is kicking our ass, and reminding us how hard these guys rocked. We're definitely gonna revisit all those old records. That is if we can get ourselves to stop listening to this one, which at this point seems very very unlikely...
MPEG Stream: "Jim's Dream"
MPEG Stream: "Gun Metal Grey"
MPEG Stream: "Be The Wolf"

CADAVER Necrosis (Candlelight) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A few years ago, the once-defunct Norwegian death metal act Cadaver reactivated themselves, morphing into a blackened, industrial-tinged monster dubbed Cadaver, Inc. whose album was a brutal comeback indeed, in the vein of their comrades Satyricon.
Now they've dropped the Inc. and become plain old Cadaver again (perhaps because their amazing Cadaver, Inc. website, which was done to look like that of a fake corpse-disposal crime-scene cleanup company, was getting more attention than the actual band). They've got their old logo back and with it a more old-school death/black metal approach to the music: as the first track is titled, they are indeed "Necro As Fuck". Instead of Satyricon, now they're sounding more like Celtic Frost. Extremely aggro, raw stuff with gruff, too loud vocals. As fierce as it is, there's definitely some weird parts in the songs too that reward careful listening. And the cover art is lovely by the way.
MPEG Stream: "Evil Is Done"
MPEG Stream: "Goatfather"

CADAVER EYES The Acquisition Of Power Over Fire / No Time To Haste (Heart & Crossbone) cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We listed an amazing record a while back from a band called Barabara, from Israel, who sounded to us a bit like a black metal Hella! So here we have the newest record from a band called Cadaver Eyes, which just happens to be the solo project of Barbara drummer David Opp, who in Cadaver Eyes also plays drums, but the twist here is the drums trigger samples, so it's a seriously self contained one man band, just one guy singing and whipping up a huge grinding metallic shitstorm with his drums. Pretty impressive. Sounds like some of the samples must be crusty Napalm death / Carcass style guitar riffs, while others are rumbling super distorted bass. The end result is a sludge-y grinding thrash attack that would be right at home on Earache or Peaceville circa late '80's. All sung in Hebrew, with some songs peppered with random bits of found snippets, traditional Israeli folk songs, media bites and other random sonic interference. This should also hit the spot for folks into the grind-sludge of Burmese, UK crusties Doom, Texas scuzz merchants Rusted Shut as well as anyone into crushing spastic chaotic musical mayhem!
MPEG Stream: "Dive Into The Abyss"
MPEG Stream: "Scandal Shaaruriyah"
MPEG Stream: "Powerless Emperor"

CADAVER IN DRAG Raw Child (Animal Disguise Recordings) cd 12.98
Ok, let's start adding 'em up. This band gets point for their name, first off. 'Cadaver In Drag' is both disturbing and humorous enough to be worth a nervous chuckle (it's even funnier if you imagine that they know something about the Swedish death metal band Cadaver that we don't know). And their knack for names extends to album and song titles too, especially that of track two, "Fuck This Place". Could be an anthem for folks sick of living in, say, Kentucky (from whence Cadaver In Drag hail). Plus, they get points for this being released on the Animal Disguise label, run by one of the guys from Mammal, whose recent album was an Aquarius Record Of The Week, last week. That certainly piques our interest. And also then there's more points for this being picked, before it was even released, as an Album Of The Month (October 2007) by pagan pope Julian Cope on his Head Heritage website, which puts 'em in league with such past heavy AQ faves as Harvey Milk, Orthodox, Om, Death Comes Along, Vincent Black Shadow, The Heads, SUNNO))), and others. As always, we recommend reading his reviews.
So, before we even heard this, Cadaver In Drag had already run up the score pretty high in their favor. And now that it's here, and blasting on our stereo, the verdict is: hella more points!! For being a totally fucked, mesmeric mash of doooomic sludge metal and shrill psychedelic noise rock... part Khanate, part Wolf Eyes (or Mammal), and, as Julian Cope sez, part Les Rallizes Denudes. Nasty, noisy, nauseous. Early on in both the first two of this disc's three tracks, some angsty, wretched screams carry on about something or other, but those are quickly forgotten as Cadaver In Drag concentrate on their plodding, powerful instrumental raison d'etre: monomaniacal repetitive riff-bashing, each track an extended, distorted, metallic, trebly throb, crashing and clanging, staying more or less the same for up to 19 minutes in the case of the first and longest cut, the aptly titled "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell". However, subtle, simple shifts in sound do occur, almost as if they're playing their own destroyed dub versions of these compositions. It's like Skullflower covering Super Roots 3 (or 5) by the Boredoms, if you can imagine that sort of sickeningly hypnotic hybrid. Or Eyehategod and Hair Police (a member of whom contributes synths here) locked in a minimal march to death, freaking out with as few chords as possible, but plenty of FX. Or Cavity vs. Harry Pussy... Yowza. And it must be said that Cadaver In Drag does mellow the fuck out for the almost melodic, calm-in-comparison album closer "Secession '61". Nice. Points for that too.
MPEG Stream: "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Secession '61"

CADAVER IN DRAG Raw Child (Animal Disguise Recordings) lp 14.98
Ok, let's start adding 'em up. This band gets point for their name, first off. 'Cadaver In Drag' is both disturbing and humorous enough to be worth a nervous chuckle (it's even funnier if you imagine that they know something about the Swedish death metal band Cadaver that we don't know). And their knack for names extends to album and song titles too, especially that of track two, "Fuck This Place". Could be an anthem for folks sick of living in, say, Kentucky (from whence Cadaver In Drag hail). Plus, they get points for this being released on the Animal Disguise label, run by one of the guys from Mammal, whose recent album was an Aquarius Record Of The Week, last week. That certainly piques our interest. And also then there's more points for this being picked, before it was even released, as an Album Of The Month (October 2007) by pagan pope Julian Cope on his Head Heritage website, which puts 'em in league with such past heavy AQ faves as Harvey Milk, Orthodox, Om, Death Comes Along, Vincent Black Shadow, The Heads, SUNNO))), and others. As always, we recommend reading his reviews.
So, before we even heard this, Cadaver In Drag had already run up the score pretty high in their favor. And now that it's here, and blasting on our stereo, the verdict is: hella more points!! For being a totally fucked, mesmeric mash of doooomic sludge metal and shrill psychedelic noise rock... part Khanate, part Wolf Eyes (or Mammal), and, as Julian Cope sez, part Les Rallizes Denudes. Nasty, noisy, nauseous. Early on in both the first two of this disc's three tracks, some angsty, wretched screams carry on about something or other, but those are quickly forgotten as Cadaver In Drag concentrate on their plodding, powerful instrumental raison d'etre: monomaniacal repetitive riff-bashing, each track an extended, distorted, metallic, trebly throb, crashing and clanging, staying more or less the same for up to 19 minutes in the case of the first and longest cut, the aptly titled "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell". However, subtle, simple shifts in sound do occur, almost as if they're playing their own destroyed dub versions of these compositions. It's like Skullflower covering Super Roots 3 (or 5) by the Boredoms, if you can imagine that sort of sickeningly hypnotic hybrid. Or Eyehategod and Hair Police (a member of whom contributes synths here) locked in a minimal march to death, freaking out with as few chords as possible, but plenty of FX. Or Cavity vs. Harry Pussy... Yowza. And it must be said that Cadaver In Drag does mellow the fuck out for the almost melodic, calm-in-comparison album closer "Secession '61". Nice. Points for that too.
MPEG Stream: "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Secession '61"

CADAVER INC. Discipline (Earache) cd 14.98
Formed out of the ashes of Swedish 90's Earache deathmetal act Cadaver, the 21st Century Cadaver (Inc.) is an-all new "post-black-metal" beast, drawing upon bandleader/guitarist Anders Odden's experiences contributing to recent Apoptygma Berzerk (Swedish techno!) and Satyricon albums. The band is filled out by former members of such notable Nordic black metal acts as Aura Noir, Dimmu Borgir, and Dodheimsgard. And, providing a spoken word segment from his jail cell, is ex-Emperor dude Faust.
RealAudio clip: "Primal"
RealAudio clip: "Point Zero"

CADAVER YELLETH AT AMBER TOWER Code: Algeria (Res Adversae Productions) cd ep 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the same mysterious Russian otherworld that brought us the blackened genius of Ithdabquth Qliphoth comes the amazingly monickered Cadaver Yelleth At Amber Tower, which as far as we can tell is one of the many side projects that IQ mainman AL-LA-ShT-ORR employs to explore some seriously twisted and esoteric sounds.
And it doesn't get much more esoteric than this. Falling somewhere between the mysterious shortwave broadcasts of the Conet Project, and the disembodied ghostly blacknoise of Prurient, Code:Algeria is a strange sonic artifact, a manufactured lost transmission from the abyss, voices from some recovered black box recorder, broadcast from some other dimension, travelling through the atmosphere, gathering strange distortions and interference as it goes, a dizzying assemblage of beeps and hiss and warm buzzing textures, the voices speaking French? Arabic? Russian? Hard to tell, distorted as they are, 3 voices, 4 voices, the cadence and interplay almost musical, interrupted by bursts of hiss and sonar like pings, by the second track, some woozy warbly organ has joined the mix, the hiss sounds more scuplted, stuttering and skittering almost rhythmically, still wound around those strange voices, and the hiss taking on an almost Sunroof! like melodiousness, but those voices, continue to haunt and perplex, is it a military exercise? Is it something more sinister? Definitely sounds like it. Whatever it is, it's fantastic, and enthralling, and like the Conet Project, transcends its parts to become melodic and musical and surprisingly listenable. For field recording freeks too, especially ones into EVP and the Ghost Orchid and the like...
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

CADAVERIA Far Away From Conformity (Scarlet) cd 14.98

CADAVERIA The Shadows' Madame (Scarlet) cd 14.98
This Italian metal band is hard to figure out: visually, they look kinda Marilyn Manson-eque with big boots, devil-locks and black vinyl trenchcoats. So we expected some sort of vampire industrial goth thing, maybe with female vocals...well it's got female vocals, but not your usual variety! This band actually plays a weird hybrid of mid-tempo pounding black metal and catchy classical/folk riffage. Singer Cadaveria (ex-Opera IX) teamed up with members of Italian black thrashers Necrodeath for this new band that combines her unique vocals (a melodic but throaty rasp, sometimes venturing into sweeter, higher register) with majestic riffs on keyboard and guitar that really sound like Slough Feg or Hammers of Misfortune parts. Way more "heavy metal" than we'd expected at first glance. And way more original, fully of tricky twists you won't expect. We like! A kick ass surprise metal discovery for sure.
RealAudio clip: "Circle Of Eternal Becomings"
RealAudio clip: "Black Glory"

CAIN A Pound Of Flesh (Rockadrome / Vintage) cd 14.98
Rockadrome's Vintage division comes through with the proto metal goods yet again, this time reissuing the 1975 debut album from Minnesota hard rockers Cain (put out on compact disc once before by Rockadrome's previous incarnation Monster Records, but long out of print). First off, you know this is gonna be heavy when you see that cover, graphically and grossly depicting an actual pound (or more) of actual flesh overflowing from a tin can marked Cain. "8 Prime Cuts" it says on the can. And there are, 8 prime cuts of good ol' '70s American riff rock. (Plus four more bonus tracks from '78 on this cd reish.) It's along the lines of Grand Funk, Starz, Bad Company, Ted Nugent, Moxy, with some hints of Angel and Blue Oyster Cult...
Frontman Jiggs Lee's barechested vocals lead the charge with barroom bravado, as Cain kick out their jams, consisting of hard hitting party time grooves definitely made to be blasted LOUD out of muscle cars in the Midwest. Full of funky rhythms and dramatic crescendos, Cain's music is basically swaggering cock rock, with nods to both glam and the proggier fare from the likes of Led Zep and Queen (there's even flute in the intro to the second track, "Katy"). Speaking of Queen, you gotta love a band that has a song called "Queen Of The Night" and then another one, two tracks later, entitled "South Side Queen".
If you liked the recent Rockadrome reissue of Poobah, you'll want to check this out too. And for even more proto metal awesomeness that's shown up here this week, see also our review of the Up All Night various artists collection!
MPEG Stream: "Queen Of The Night"
MPEG Stream: "Heed The Call"

CAIN Stinger (Vintage / Rockadrome) cd 13.98
Been waiting for this, those of us here into the authentic, ass-kicking Seventies hard rock action that is. After their 1975 debut, Pound Of Flesh, the cd reissue of which we reviewed some time ago (you know, the one with the gross can o' meat cover, to illustrate its title), Cain returned with a second album in '77. Now it's been reissued on cd too, with six live bonus tracks.
Like we said about Pound Of Flesh, this is music made to loudly blare from an 8-track in a muscle car. These long-haired and bushy-mustachioed Minnesota boys, lead by bare-chested, leather-lunged frontman Jiggs Lee (how did he not become a big rock star with that name?) sure knew how to rock n' roll it, in a very '70s swaggery cock rock style that mixes hard riffing and sweet melodies. Lotsa badass boogie here, and some more "sophisticated" moments too - "The Minstrel Song" is their pomp rock opus, recalling early Styx (when Styx were sorta heavy, yes they were) and Queen. There and elsewhere we're also reminded of Rainbow (and Elf) and Starz and other more famous '70s contemporaries. Cain's songs are designed to get a crowd goin' with wailing guitar heroics, soaring vocal hooks, and what might be just the right amount of cowbell - definitely dated but damn good fun, though maybe they didn't really need to do a cover of "Gimme Some Lovin'".
If disco and new wave hadn't come along, Cain might have gone places, 'cause apparently they were one heck of a live band, as you can kind of get a taste of here from the bonus tracks, most of which were recorded at the 1977 Minnesota State Fair. Jiggs was even known to do magic tricks and juggling, in addition to belting it out, wow.
So yeah, Rockadrome/Vintage deliver the '70s hard rock/proto-metal goods again, after the Hooker and Sainte Anthony's Fyre reissues we've reviewed on recent lists. Especially if you liked Hooker, you'll like this. Keep 'em coming, guys! (They have the proto-doom legend Icecross on deck next, yeah!!)
MPEG Stream: "Freedom"
MPEG Stream: "The Minstrel Song"
MPEG Stream: "Stinger"

CAINA Hands That Pluck (Profound Lore) 2cd 13.98
Latest full length from this long running experimental black metal one man band, masterminded by Andrew Curtis-Brignell, who has been doing Caina since he was a teenager, and who for this new record is joined by a pretty elite group of guests, Imperial from Krieg, Rennie Resmini from hardcore legends Starkweather, and Chris Ross from Blood Revolt / Revenge / Axis of Advance.
Like on past records, the sound of Caina is a tough one to pin down, fusing total shoegaze pop, to indie pop jangle, crushing downtuned doom to soaring epic post rock slow build, gloomy gothy drift to churning mathy almost-prog, and pretty much anything else Curtis-Brignell can think of. The opening track here is the perfect example, exploding right out of the gate with a chugging almost punky D-beat pound, with wildly bellowed vox, but laced with shimmery melodies, the vocals heavily effected, and insanely high in the mix, swinging wildly from speaker to speaker, eventually the song slipping to what sounds almost more like Mogwai, that sort of brooding, smoldering crescendo, building to an explosive climax, before fading into a bit of shimmery drift, hushed and softly psychedelic, a smeared expanse of woozy low end and hazy guitar glimmer, which leads directly into a burst of old school raw black metal blast, guttural vox, stumbling blast beat, murky frenzied riffing, but this is Caina after all, so it doesn't take long for the sound to splinter into something weirdly mathy and dynamic, and then transform into a dreamy melodic drift, hovering beneath some sick vokills, and again building slowly to something much more fierce and frantic.
It would probably be a bit confusing to go track by track and try to describe every part of every song, needless to say, it's wildy varied, but never to the point of losing cohesion, it's an epic sonic patchwork, woven deftly into some super idiosyncratic avant black metal, infusing the usual blast and buzz and pound, with field recordings, swirling synths, strange samples, blissed out kosmische drift, tribal drum driven math rock, all manner of strange vocals, the sound constantly shifting from black metal blast, to depressive dirge, melodic jangle to drifty drone and back again.
It's probably too all over the map for the true grim hordes, but most aQ metalheads will find this stuff easy to get lost in, a wild sonic journey through some twisted epic black metal otherworld.
Included with the album proper is a bonus disc, featuring reinterpretations of four older tracks, remastered versions of the originals and a Nico cover, both the old and new version of the older songs definitely light on the metal, more jangly and atmospheric, darkly psychedelic, with the biggest surprise might be the re-done version of "To Pluck The Night Up By Its Skin", which is retitled "To Funk The Night Up By Its Shit" and is exactly what the title warns us it might be, a groovy, almost disco-y reworking, but insanely enough, it's actually pretty awesome, and ends up sounding like a slightly darker dirgier version of that whole Eurodisco Carpenter / Goblin worship that is so popular these days.
Sweet packaging too, full color six panel digipack with booklet packed with liner notes, lyrics and photos.
MPEG Stream: "Profane Inheritors"
MPEG Stream: "Murrain"
MPEG Stream: "The Sea Of Grief Has No Shores"
MPEG Stream: "Callus And Cicatrix"

CAINA I, Mountain (God Is Myth) 3" cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the first in a super limited series of 3" cd-r's dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft. This inaugural installment comes from UK one man black metal horde Caina, whose debut record indeed bore a passing resemblance to AQ faves, Lurker Of Chalice, the weirder side project of Leviathan's Wrest, but managed to be it's own strange black beast.
And if anything, I, Mountain is even stranger, with barely any black metal, in fact there's very little here that might be considered metal at all. But that in no way means this isn't dark, or mysterious or subtly heavy.
I, Mountain is an instrumental interpretation of Lovecraft's At The Mountains Of Madness, and is an intense sonic journey.
The first five minutes are a blissy dreamy drift, muted acoustic guitars, glistening and shimmering, it's not until five minutes in that the tenor becomes ominous, with haunting crumbling production and mysterious minor key ambience. Then it's about halfway through before we get the first hint of anything resembling metal, and even then, it's thick clouds of noxious distortion, drifting in the background, a sort of black ambience, but this quickly gives way to a churning doomy sludge, downtuned guitars, thick waves, layer after layer, slowly shifting and pulsing.
Finally, with only minutes to go, the metal kicks in, but it's no black blast, instead a propulsive metallic dirge, thick guitars, and pounding simple drums with the occasionally splattery fill, trudging resolutely forward before the drums drift off, leaving dense peals of processed guitar to swirl and shimmer ominously before the dark ambience fades to black.
I, Mountain is tracked as a single 20+ minute track, although in the booklet, the sections are separated into movements. Packaged in a slim jewel case, with a 4 panel booklet and a thick card insert with a photo of Lovecraft on one side and an essay on the other. Nice!
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! We got 20, and it's already out of print, so when we run out, we will not be able to get more...
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 2"

CAINA Mourner (Profound Lore) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Waves Engulf A Pier"
MPEG Stream: "Hideous Gnosis"
MPEG Stream: "I Reeled In Heaven"

CAINA s/t (Universal Tongue / Bubonic Productions) cd ep 12.98
Latest from this one man UK avant black metal outfit, whose Temporary Antennae record on Profound Lore we raved about a while back, a four song ep that like Temporary Antennae, and most of the other Caina records, veers all over the place, taking seemingly disparate sounds and parts, and weaves them all together into something cohesive and compelling, mysterious and a bit bizarre.
The record opens with some sunshiney post rock, all warm sun dappled synths, simple drums, whooshing major key shimmer, epic and majestic and pretty, which only makes the second track that much more menacing, with it's overdriven crumbling guitars, its growled demonic vokills, its weird spaced out arrangement, more doom than black metal, until the song revs up and blasts blackly before slipping into something much more abstract, the vocals remain, but the music transformed into something more jangly and poppy, the sound once again shifting back toward something blown out and blissy, a soaring emotional coda that does not at all match the song's ominous beginning.
The third track is the most fucked up of the bunch, beginning with some plodding, weirdly melodic depressive black metal, before everything drops out leaving just the guitars, to unwind some folky fluttery melodies, over subtle bass throb, and warm synth swells, eventually dropping out completely, leaving just some sampled voices, which just so happen to be Jim Jones from the People's Temple recorded in Guyana, creepy and fucked up for sure, the music shifts to match, a lurching start stop that sounds a bit like the recent Funeral Mist.
The final track begins with some almost-cheesy Goblin-y soundtracky synth, laid over some simple shuffling drumming, spidery minor key guitar, post rocky and drifty and dreamy. About halfway through, some warped metallic chug gradually builds into a pounding math metal workout, again all very major key and epic sounding, gradually becoming less and less epic, as the sound shifts slowly toward a more raw and blasting blackness.
Cool stuff, definitely twisted and confusional, but we're beginning to think that's precisely why we dig Caina so much...
MPEG Stream: "Drilling The Spire"
MPEG Stream: "To Pluck The Night Up By Its Skin"

CAINA Some People Fall (God Is Myth) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The first we heard about this UK outfit Caina, was that they sounded a bit like Lurker Of Chalice, Wrest from Leviathan's more experimental black metal side project. And if you're anything like us, which we're thinking in matters Leviathan you most definitely are, then that was pretty much all we needed to hear. And it does definitely share some sonic similarities, although it is most definitely it's own mournful, melancholy blackened beast.
The opening track doesn't prepare you at all for the rest of the disc, it's a strange and murky, shimmering ambient soundscape, rich swells of epic sound, like an instrumental post rock Constellation band run through some sort of Jeck / Basinski / Tim Hecker filter rendering everything smeary and gloriously indistinct. Distant drums, bits of percussive skitter, all drifting below a sun baked expanse of glistening soft focus drone. Quite lovely. And the rest of the record is lovely too, just in a much more bleak and blackened way. The opening track has a definite shoegazer vibe that manages to stretch out and settle over all the tracks here. Thick reverby guitars, super primitive practice space drums, arpeggiated minor key melodies, strange little guitar leads spun out into the ether, ultra raw vocals way up in the mix, huge guitar chugs, lilting sort of sea sick rhythms, bizarre convoluted song structures, blast beats that seem to just sink into the mire, long stretches of caliginous dark ambience, gorgeous slabs of simple hypnotic guitar, the whole record wreathed in a dense funereal sonic fog. Dark and creepy and pretty but still so bleak and black. Lurker / Leviathan fans need this for sure. As does anyone into weird damaged blissed out black metal. And if you love stuff like My Bloody Valentine, Jesus & Mary Chain, M83, Phillip Jeck, Tim Hecker and the like, but can't really imagine what all those bands would sound like in a black metal context, look no further...
MPEG Stream: "The Validity Of Hate Within An Emotional Vacuum"
MPEG Stream: "Black End Tyme Collapse"
MPEG Stream: "Satanikultur Pessimis"

CAINA Temporary Antennae (Profound Love) cd 13.98
We were super into the first couple records from UK black metal outfit Caina, especially their entry in the HP Lovecraft 3" cd-r series, but then after that we sort of lost interest, not sure what it was exactly, the records started sounding more acoustic, more folky, not that we're opposed to that, it just wasn't doing it for us. So we almost skipped this new disc completely, but boy are we glad we didn't. Another instance that has us wondering what the hell we were thinking, and giving us cause to go back and see if maybe we just weren't way off the mark.
Because Temporary Antennae is really something else. Heavy, and folky, and creepy, and pretty goddamn weird. Beginning with some rumbling black ambience, assembled from what sounds like chants and guttural vocalizations, culminating in an incredibly freaky processed voice, leading us into the first song proper, a killer start stop blackened groove, that almost sounds like Led Zeppelin mixed with Lurker Of Chalice. We had compared Caina to Lurker way back when, and it still sort of applies. If you consider Lurker to be the gothier doomier creepier less distinctly black metal side of Leviathan. The sound her is definitely black, but not buzzy and blasty, instead, the guitars almost jangle, the voice is deep and dramatic, and the arrangement is more epic, almost post rocky, with haunting majestic melodies, warm reverb drenched ambience, all very moody and dour, another black metal band that seems to be leaning heavily toward old school slowcore. But filtering in all sorts of doom and folk and various other unlikely elements.
And so it goes with Temporary Antennae, simple skeletal drum machine rhythms beneath glimmering fx laden shimmer, haunting operatic vocals, all giving way to a super slow, but surprisingly not 'heavy' funereal doom, rife with clean guitar, and fucked up bellowed vox, atonal off kilter blasting blackness stutters into a lurching arrangement that makes it sound more like Ved Buens Ende than anything more traditionally black, and again, shot through with moody mathy clean guitar, crooned vocals, processed shoegazey guitars, and out of the blue drum machine throb and pulse, there's even what sounds like some eighties FM radio new wave, all synthy and poppy and jangly, which gradually transforms into something much heavier, like Jesu or Nadja, the same sort of M83 fuzziness, and then suddenly the record will shift again into a brooding gothic pop, all mournful melodies and spare drumming, guitar harmonics and distant hazy shimmer, only to change gears again moments later, taking the shape of a sort of melancholic sadcore jangle, like Mazzy Star or The For Carnation, and for the next few songs, the sound shifts, continually slipping from jangle to shimmer to drift, but never really returning to anything remotely metal, but by that point, you don't really want it to, you're in some sort of blissed out trance state, which is precisely the point.
Only the most adventurous and pop savvy metalheads are gonna dig this. Even at its heaviest, things are still pretty fuzzy and jangly and pretty, but if you've been digging stuff like Alcest and Amesoeurs, then this might just hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Ten Went Up River"
MPEG Stream: "Willows And Whippoorwills"
MPEG Stream: "Tobacco Beetle"

CAINA Will Over Worlds (Legion Blotan) cd 11.98

CALIBAN The Opposite From Within (Abacus) cd 13.98
Brand new release of inspired Slayer-worship here, courtesy of one of the forerunners of the fertile German metalcore scene, Caliban, who share that distinction with contemporaries and split-release partners Heaven Shall Burn. On this, their fourth full-length, Caliban is as heavy, if not heavier than ever, with the artillery salvos of the double-kick drums during the breakdowns being particularly lethal. Stay away from the pit when these guys steamroll through town or you're likely to get a good baker's dozen worth of kickboxers kicking, flailing and otherwise directly assaulting your person. They're also incorporating more melodic singing in parts a la Deftones, making them a definite recommendation for fans of Atreyu, Between the Buried and Me, Avenged Sevenfold and of course, Converge.
MPEG Stream: "Goodbye"
MPEG Stream: "Senseless Fight"

CALIBAN Vent (Lifeforce) cd 13.98
These German hardcore kids play metal better than most American metalheads. Caliban (along with Heaven Shall Burn) seem to be leading the new wave of metalcore, where almost every trace of hardcore has been eliminated, leaving nothing but METAL. Vent starts with acoustic guitar and howling wind like all great metal records, but by track two Caliban are tearing heads off with a full on Slayer-esque metal assault, until they break it down to half time, that's when they are absolutely crushing: some sort of sinister metallic march, punctuated by rib rattling riffs and Reign-In-Blood licks. Ominous and pulverizing and completely metal.
RealAudio clip: "Fire Of Night"
RealAudio clip: "Love Taken Away"

CALIBAN VS. HEAVEN SHALL BURN The Split Program (Lifeforce) cd 12.98
German metalcore showdown! Two of the best metalcore bands around (both German, and both so metal it's sort of selling them short to not just call them metal) face off on this split cd. Caliban spit out Slayer style west coast death metal complete with chugging riffs and with plenty of I-can't-believe-it's-not-Swedish furious metallic mayhem but throw in some emo earnestness. Heaven Shall Burn mix East Coast metalcore (Converge, Coalesce) with furious black metal riffing and mix in the occasional bizarre breakdown. This is a good introduction to both bands, but believe us, both full lengths (which we also carry) are essential for anyone who likes it hard and heavy.
RealAudio clip: CALIBAN "Assassin Of Love"
RealAudio clip: CALIBAN "A Summerdream"
RealAudio clip: HEAVEN SHALL BURN "Suffocated In The Exhaust Of Our Machines"
RealAudio clip: HEAVEN SHALL BURN "No Single Inch"

CALIBAN VS. HEAVEN SHALL BURN The Split Program II (Lifeforce) cd 13.98

CAMBODIA Weight Of Ages (self-released) cd-r 12.98
It's been a while since we were knocked on our asses by a random cd-r that just showed up in the mail. But this debut disc from a band called Cambodia did just that. We got a copy of this disc almost six months ago and it's take the band until now to get us enough copies to list, but holy fuck was it worth it!
Huge mournful riffs, that manage to be heavy and sludgy, but super emotional and minor key. Almost like someone took some sadcore moperock riff and dipped it in some SUNNO))) then rolled it in some Boris. The riff just hovers, all by it's lonesome, for almost three minutes before the drums kick in, and then the vocals. Woah, the vocals, an insane menagerie of growls and hysterical shrieks, sort of reminiscent of Bathtub Shitter. Dueling howls and screeches. But it's all about the loping metallic mope. Massive, lumbering, and intense. You can almost imagine some sort of Katatonia style clean vocals happening, but this is a whole different beast, a much harsher and brutal beast. But it's that main melodic refrain that makes this such a keeper. No matter who's howling, or what the drums are doing, or if there's ten tracks of chugging guitars, when that melody surfaces in a sea of sludge, it immediately grabs you and gives you that weird hairs standing on end feeling. If only most heavy bands could come up with these kinds of melodies.
Just to be clear, this is definitely some sort of slow motion sludgy doom, but it's got that special something that keeps it from being just another boring doom metal band. Instead it's almost more like the heaviest harshest indie slowcore band ever. Only more metal. VERY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Weight Of Ages"

CAMINITI, EVAN Night Dust (Immune) lp 22.00
Latest solo outing from one half of SF dronedoom duo Barn Owl, coming right on the heels of another solo record, that one from the OTHER half of Barn Owl, Jon Porras, a former aQ-er, whose Black Mesa we dug quite a bit. It would be tempting to try some rock nerd math, and imagine that Black Mesa plus Night Dust might simply BE Barn Owl, but strangely enough, the sounds Porras and Caminiti conjure up on their own, while not really deviating sonically too much from the soundworld they've created with their group, do end up being markedly different. And in many case more experimental and abstract than the twang flecked smolder and drift the two conjure up together. Caminiti's new one might be the strangest (and perhaps coolest) of the bunch, although that strangeness definitely creeps up on you, as the opener, "Near Dark" does sound like it could have been plucked right off a Barn owl record, all billowy clouds of warm softly roiling guitar thrum, shot through with streaks of high end melody, and a warm washed out haze, but even hear, Caminiti pushes the sounds, and the sound itself, pegging the needles, and moving WAY into the red, with sound buzzing and distorting in a way that gives the song a strange outsider psych vibe. But it's on the next track "Returning Spirits" where things get really good. A haunting sprawl of ethereal shimmer, peppered with deep pulsations, and dubbed out percussion, the guitars unfurling little tangles of melody, which get super distorted, a gorgeously muted blown out space-psych (those sounds could be synths, hard to tell, but both Porras and Caminiti, have been experimenting with synths, in Barn Owl, and on their own), but those little soft squalls are gorgeous, and haunting, the vibe super cinematic, dark and otherwordly. Then Caminiti lets loose with a glimmering starfield of super high glistening harmonics, that sound almost like chimes, all over a slow building swell of lush chordal thrum, just might be our favorite Caminiti track yet. But don't want to speak too soon. The rest of the record definitely continues to explore less familiar territory, the pulsing glitchy synths that underpin the warm guitar whorls on "A Memory Or A Mirage", the dense, crumbling, super distorted organ like wall of sound, that churns its way through "Star Circle", the brief blast of wild Neil Young like guitars draped over a woozy tranquil low end drift on "Moon Is The Hunter", the almost Nadja like doomgaze of "Last Blue Moments", the haunting blackened kosmische of "Slow Fade Of Stars", that sounds like Loren Mazzacane Connors playing in some massive cave, wreathed in thick, warm reverb, delicate and skeletal, drowsy and dreamlike, and finally, the two part closer "First Light", which stretches out incendiary guitars into keening dronescapes, again laced with glimmering harmonics, and deep mesmerizing tones, before drifting off into the ether with a final few minutes of spare, soft focus drone-psych blues, wreathed in clouds of whir and hiss, a haunting lo-fi soft noise coda.
Gorgeous full color gatefold sleeves with super striking original art by Caminiti. Includes a download coupon.
MPEG Stream: "Near Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Returning Spirits"
MPEG Stream: "Moon Is The Hunter"
MPEG Stream: "Last Blue Moments"