CRADLE OF FILTH Damnation And A Day (Sony) cd 15.98
It's hard to know what to say about a band whose sound stays pretty consistent throughout its relatively lengthy career. On the one hand, it's sad when a band makes the same record over and over again. But one could argue that if one was great then 5 or 6 would be even greater! I think most of us fall somewhere in between. We want bands to explore and expand, but we don't want their sound to change so dramatically that all the stuff we loved about them in the first place is changed or gone. With Cradle Of Filth, and maybe black metal in general, there's only so far you can go and so many ways you can experiment. This may just be the best Cradle Of Filth record since their career defining Dusk And Her Embrace album. Not because this record is a whole new sound, and not because it's that familiar sound we already love. but because CoF have mastered two elements that in the past have wholly determined the hit/miss ratio of their albums. The first is the production. CoF have been cursed with a thin, and thus entirely unheavy production in the past. And while it is maybe understandable, trying to fit all those guitars, drums, keyboards, double kicks, female background vocals, dreamy atmospheres, and of course vocalist/black metal pinup Danni Filth's dog whistle shrieks and guttural growls, that still didn't keep some old records from sounding like they were recorded on an 8-track and mastered with tin cans and twine. This is definitely the heaviest CoF record in a long time; the guitars are thick and brutal, the drums are pummelling and the vocals are settled just right in the mix. Things are still marred by that wimpy keyboard sound, but I think that's more an aesthetic issue than one of recording/production. The other element that makes Damnation one of Cradle Of Filth's best is the SONGS. THE GODDAMNED RIFFS! In the past, CoF have occasionally lapsed into sound over song, sonics over substance. Where it all sounded great, but...were there any actual songs?! This time around the riffs are wickedly catchy and the songs follow suit. Complicated enough to withstand repeated listens, but hooky enough to leave you humming the riffs days later. Cradle Of Filth are still silly and over the top and dramatic and goofy, that's their schtick. But the fact that the songs are so weird and convoluted and actually pretty fucking heavy, makes the goofy vampire/creatures of the night/goth nightmare side of their band a welcome relief from the glut of TRUE blazing fast, monochromatic, grim, primitive and humorless black metal. Think of it as some sort of black metal opera, Immortal meets Devil Doll, and it all makes some sick sort of sense.
MPEG Stream: "Hurt And Virtue"
MPEG Stream: "An Enemy Led The Tempest"

CRADLE OF FILTH Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa (Nuclear Blast) 2cd 17.98
We love black metal. Longtime readers of the aQ list are no doubt well aware of that fact. And as much as we dig the true and the grim and the kvlt, we have no fantastical notions of our own "Trueness". We love all sorts of black metal, ridiculous over the top orchestral bombastic black metal, avant pop laced BM, totally twisted weirdo BM, all manner of blacknoize, AND we love Cradle Of Filth. We have for nearly two decades. One of our first black metal records was 1994's The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, which even today, still sounds incredible. And yeah, like Dimmu Borgir, CoF are one of the few bands who managed the shift to mainstream metal act, finding their way into Hot Topics and onto teenage bedroom walls worldwide. But that's not a reason to hate them. Well for some folks it probably is, but for us, we dig their ridiculous bombast, their over the top symphonic arrangements, their vampiric babe imagery, the soaring synths, the faux strings, Dani Filth's bizarre vocalizing, slipping from guttural growl to inhuman screech, and besides all that stuff, there's some seriously shredding black metal happening. Sure, not all their records have been good, the last few have been a bit disappointing, and few have been as good as their classic Dusk... And Her Embrace, which along with their debut we would still rank with our all time favorites.
The problem with the not-so-good CoF record was that they just weren't heavy enough, everything else was firmly in place, but the strings and the dramatic female vocals, and the orchestras and all that stuff, relegated the riffs and the blasts and the buzz to supporting roles. But damn if this new one isn't a return to form, their heaviest in ages. And it's easy to see why this appeals to goths and teens and the like, this is an epic and dramatic tale, it's like a black metal musical version of True Blood, or more accurately some historical tale of witches and warlocks, the whole thing rife with death and life, and love and tragedy and vampires and murder and mayhem, but it's the music that matters, and it sounds pretty bad ass to us, the riffing furious and frantic and so heavy, the drumming blasting and pounding, the vocals distinctively unlike most black metal vokills, then the synths and pianos, that would be enough, but then mix in some haunting dramatic interludes, the cinematic ambience, the haunting female voices, the symphonic stabs, and you've got what is essentially another awesome Cradle Of Filth record. And yeah, the true grim hordes can look down their corpse painted noses at us, but we love this shit. And for anyone who bought the ridiculous new one from Dimmu Borgir that we listed last time, well, this is the perfect companion!
While they last, we have the deluxe version with a bonus cd and four extra tracks!
MPEG Stream: "The Cult Of Venus Aversa"
MPEG Stream: "One Foul Step From The Abyss"
MPEG Stream: "The Nun With The Astral Habit"

CRADLE OF FILTH Dusk And Her Embrace (Music For Nations) cd 16.98
"Litanies of damnation, death, and the darkly erotic" from Britain's biggest (and best?) black metal export, the notorious Cradle of Filth. When this first came out in 1996, Andee was already a fan of their previous discs, but this is the one that convinced Allan that CoF were actually pretty darn great. Totally over the top, storming black metal mixed with Hammer Horror theatrics. It's fast, complex, and brutal. Definitely extreme despite their "sell-out" reputation. It's THE CoF disc to get, to start with, we all agree! And it's definitely in both Andee and Allan's black metal top ten of all time.
You can obsess over all the "troo cvlt" black metal you want, and call these guys posers, but sorry, those one-man-bands can't really compete with Dusk And Her Embrace. At all. And, crude as it may be to say, we bet the CoF guys get laid a lot more too.
MPEG Stream: "Funeral In Carpathia"
MPEG Stream: "A Gothic Romance (Red Roses For The Devil's Whore)"

CRADLE OF FILTH Dusk And Her Embrace (Koch) lp 18.98
NOW ON VINYL, AGAIN! "Litanies of damnation, death, and the darkly erotic" from Britain's biggest (and best?) black metal act, the notorious Cradle of Filth. Andee was already a fan of their previous discs, but this is the one that convinced Allan that CoF were pretty darn great. Totally over the top, storming black metal mixed with Hammer Horror theatrics. It's fast, complex, and brutal. Definitely extreme despite their "sell-out" reputation. The CoF disc to get, to start with, we all agree.

CRADLE OF FILTH From the Cradle to Enslave (Metal Blade) cd 13.98
We've had this for a while but neglected to list it, a fate that this ferocious little ep does not deserve. Previously available as an import digipak, now in a domestic jewel case version with one track different from the original (swapping the import's techno-remix for a brand new, non-techno song, a good deal really). Featuring possibly CoF's best song title ever ("Of Dark Blood And Fucking"), a ditty that happens to also be their best song since the days of "Dusk & Her Embrace". Despite all the hype and the lineup changes, this ep is proof that Dani Filth and his corpsepainted crew are still quite capable of drawing blood.

CRADLE OF FILTH Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder (Road Runner Records) 2cd 23.00

CRADLE OF FILTH Godspeed On the Devil's Thunder (Roadrunner) lp 23.00

CRADLE OF FILTH Live Bait For The Dead (Abracadaver) 2cd 24.00
Everyone's favorite (or most hated) over-the-top British black metal act stalls for time before their upcoming major label studio album debut with this double disc import containing (disc 1) a live performance from April 2001, and (disc 2) a bunch of remixes, souncheck recordings, and demo tracks. Cd-rom video is also included (the "director's cut" promo vid for their Sisters of Mercy cover "No Time To Cry"). The material in their live set ranges from early classics like "The Forest Whispers My Name" to the more melodic, Maidenesqe stuff from their last proper studio full-length, "Midian". Definitely one for fans only -- who else is gonna want the CoF screensaver included? But now, after an ep, a best-of, and this live/odds n' ends release, Dani & co. ought to bring forth their actual new album!
RealAudio clip: "Dusk And Her Embrace - Live"

CRADLE OF FILTH Lovecraft and Witch Hearts (Music for Nations) cd 19.98
We all love Cradle Of Filth, even if they're the band to hate. As black metal posers, sellouts, whatever. Bottom line is, their records are amazing, totally complex, epic concept records, with ultra fucked song structures, amazing playing and maybe the sickest vocals ever. It doesn't hurt that they have the whole evil goth/bondage vampire look going on as well as their line of pornographic merchandise, videos and super sci-fi metal album covers. Unclear why they aren't as big as Marilyn Manson or Slipknot. I'm sure they will be eventually. But for now, there's this double cd collection of album and compilation tracks. For the CoF virgin, this would be a great place to start. You get tracks from all the records as well as an Iron Maiden cover, a Sodom cover, a Slayer cover and lots more. Definitely a great introduction to the band. If you are already a convert, odds are you have most of this stuff already. But for you completists, there are 3 unreleased tracks (but be warned, it's one Sabbat cover, one orchestral track, and one techno track, check em out below!).
RealAudio clip: "Dusk And Her Embrace"
RealAudio clip: "For Those Who Died (Return To The Sabbat Mix)"
RealAudio clip: "Carmilla's Masque"
RealAudio clip: "Dance Macabre"

CRADLE OF FILTH Midian (Koch) cd 16.98
The UK's most popular black metal export strikes again. Such songs as "Cthulhu Dawn", "Lord Abortion", and "Creatures That Kissed In Cold Mirrors" maintain CoF's sexy Hammer Horror vibe, and although "Midian" has much better production than their last album "Cruelty & The Beast" (thankfully!), Dani Filth and the lads still haven't sold out for the Marilyn Manson big bucks that they must be tempted by... I mean, "true black metallers" will claim that CoF were sell outs from the beginning, but at least they haven't changed. This record, along with the improved production, only differs from past efforts by the inclusion of even more melodic, Iron Maiden style guitar parts, not a bad thing at all. Otherwise, the Gothic keyboards, female backing vox, Dani's unholy repertoire of low and high screams, and the blasting drums are intact and 100 percent Filthy (i.e. completely over the top).
RealAudio clip: "Cthulhu Dawn"

CRADLE OF FILTH Nymphetamine (Roadrunner) cd 17.98
Here's one of our all-time favorite black metal bands, and even we are guilty of ignoring them a bit now that they're HUGE rather than being a raw, cult, underground one-man-band operation like a lot of the stuff we've been trumpeting lately. But that's not fair. Cradle of Filth, though some purer-than-thou types see 'em as sell-outs, are pretty much just as 'extreme' as they ever were, and in terms of songwriting have really only gotten better. And they're one of the reasons that we're even black metal fans in the first place -- CoF were the first 'modern' black metal band that Andee, for one, ever heard and got into (along with Satyricon)...and then one thing lead to another. Not everyone's cup of absinthe, but you can't deny their brew's potency.
So, we really should have reviewed this new album the week it came out, but better late than never. Of course, we also know that if you're already into CoF, all you need to know is that this latest album is simply another great CoF opus -- gothically bent, vicious and heavy. Its perfumed and perverse atmosphere of baroque excess lacks not for Dani Filth's trademark screech and snarl (more snarl than screech this time), and some sweet female vox too (a Nymphette, of course, and doubtless corseted), ornate Hammer horror keyboards, blasting drums, and a good deal of very 'heavy metal' guitar riffage. More and more the Filthies have been taking after classic metal mentors like Iron Maiden and Metallica, with some very trad sounding melodies and harmonies cropping up amidst their occult-sexual black metal blasphemizing. Fans needn't know much more, you ought to be happy with this. On the other hand, if you haven't yet been, um, rocked by this Cradle, well, this would be a very accessible starting point (although we certainly must also recommend our absolute fave, Dusk And Her Embrace). And for those of you who once were CoF fans but turned your backs on 'em as they got more popular and more tuneful and better produced...well never mind about Nymphetamine then, I guess. But you're missing out on some damn good metal music!
MPEG Stream: "Nemesis"
MPEG Stream: "Medusa And Hemlock"

CRADLE OF FILTH The Principle of Evil Made Flesh (Cacophonous) cd 16.98
This is the cd you must buy if you are at all interested in Norwegian dark metal (even though they're not Norwegian). Melodic. Heavy. Fast. Beautiful. The current kings of black metal, just amazing.

CRADLE OF FILTH Thornography (Roadrunner) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Dirge Inferno"
MPEG Stream: "The Byronic Man"
MPEG Stream: "I Am The Thorn"

CRAFT Fuck The Universe (Southern Lord) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Writing a guest review here two years ago, Wrest of Leviathan called Craft's previous album Terror Propaganda a "lesson in the grimmest of expession". We just got this new, third (and final? maybe not) Craft disc in stock so we haven't checked with Wrest yet to see what he thinks of it, but subjecting it to our own finely black metal attuned ears, we say, YEAH!
Fuck The Universe is another bog-blast of genius from one of the best bands in the Swedish black metal underground. For the black at heart, grim pleasures abound in Craft's negative metal mixture of misanthropic spittle, dismal drone and headbanging hooks, the band bulldozering through the uncaring cosmos with the feeling being mutual. Or worse. There's something very rock and roll gone wrong about this, slowed down thrash executed with a sneer of competence, nodding to the gods Darkthrone and Mayhem with a "don't worry, we've got it covered" sort of look (and sound). Recommended. Plus, this domestic version is released on the undeniably hip label Southern Lord, whose doom roots have of late seemingly been overtaken by the love of black metal, and they love the good stuff, we're on the same page there!
MPEG Stream: "Earth A Raging Blaze"
MPEG Stream: "Demonspeed"

CRAFT Fuck The Universe (Southern Lord) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on super limited double vinyl. One disc is clear red vinyl, the other a kick ass picture disc! We only got a handful of these as they are super limited so if you want one you gotta be quick.
Writing a guest review here two years ago, Wrest of Leviathan called Craft's previous album Terror Propaganda a "lesson in the grimmest of expession". We just got this new, third (and final? maybe not) Craft disc in stock so we haven't checked with Wrest yet to see what he thinks of it, but subjecting it to our own finely black metal attuned ears, we say, YEAH!
Fuck The Universe is another bog-blast of genius from one of the best bands in the Swedish black metal underground. For the black at heart, grim pleasures abound in Craft's negative metal mixture of misanthropic spittle, dismal drone and headbanging hooks, the band bulldozering through the uncaring cosmos with the feeling being mutual. Or worse. There's something very rock and roll gone wrong about this, slowed down thrash executed with a sneer of competence, nodding to the gods Darkthrone and Mayhem with a "don't worry, we've got it covered" sort of look (and sound). Recommended. Plus, this domestic version is released on the undeniably hip label Southern Lord, whose doom roots have of late seemingly been overtaken by the love of black metal, and they love the good stuff, we're on the same page there!
MPEG Stream: "Earth A Raging Blaze"
MPEG Stream: "Demonspeed"

CRAFT Terror Propaganda (Selbstmord) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This bit of black metal wisdom comes courtesy of AQ pal Wrest from the mighty Leviathan:
As things change and weaken in the ranks of older "black metal" bands, a hellish shriek sounds from the Swedish underground. Unlike their fellow countrymen, Mardukee and Dork Fun-eral, Craft have developed a formula for taking the sound of '90s era B.M. and breathing new life into its whithered black lungs. Terror Propaganda, Craft's second effort, is a lesson in the grimmest of expession. "False Orders Begone" rides a riff that matchs the genius of old Celtic Frost while "616" is a thrashy, dark intrumental voyage. These 8 hymns may seem to some like mere Darkthrone worship, but upon closer listening, this hard to find gem shines far brighter than most new Scandanavian B.M. coming out these days. May Craft rot in glory.
MPEG Stream: "Ablaze"
MPEG Stream: "The Silence Thereafter"

CRAFT Total Soul Rape (Moribund) cd 17.98
Blazing fast primitve Swedish black metal in the style of Darkthrone, old Ulver, or Immortal. Blurry buzzsaw guitars, pounding blasting drums and raspy growling screams. Pure and evil and totally cult.

CRAFT Void (Southern Lord) cd 14.98
Finally! The return of Swedish black metal horde Craft, six years after their crushing Fuck The Universe record, purported to be their last at the time, but it was well worth the wait, and we're happy to report very little has changed in whatever negative grim underworld these guys call home, in fact, if anything, Void sound even more misanthropically miserable, the sound seriously cranked, a killer production that doesn't take away from the sound's raw immediacy or caustic filth at all, just makes it that much more powerful. As always, these guys weave dizzying blackened riffs into plodding doomic trudges, creating a strange dichotomous sound that find the guitars riffing furiously, while the rest of the band lumbers ominously, their debt to Mayhem and Darkthrone more than paid, as they take the classic sound of vintage Scandinavian blackness and make it all their own, peppering their dirgey miserablism with cool little melodic trills, processed backwards guitars, weird effects, all employed judiciously, and subtly, letting the core black buzz and demonic pound speak for itself, the vocals even more harsh than before, and so blown out and high in the mix that occasionally you can almost hear the needles in the studio peg, but for all the lumbering midtempo dirgery, it's not just all doomy blackness, and while the band rarely go full bore frenzied blast, they do crank up the tempo here and there, although they do tend to slip right back into some gnarled and churning dirge before too long. There's also plenty of classic metal mixed into their black buzz too, which makes these songs surprisingly catchy, but again, without at all sacrificing the band's grizzled hellish blackness.
MPEG Stream: "Serpent Soul"
MPEG Stream: "Come Resonance Of Doom"
MPEG Stream: "The Ground Surrenders"

CRAFT Void (Southern Lord) lp 17.98
NOW ON VINYL!
Finally! The return of Swedish black metal horde Craft, six years after their crushing Fuck The Universe record, purported to be their last at the time, but it was well worth the wait, and we're happy to report very little has changed in whatever negative grim underworld these guys call home, in fact, if anything, Void sound even more misanthropically miserable, the sound seriously cranked, a killer production that doesn't take away from the sound's raw immediacy or caustic filth at all, just makes it that much more powerful. As always, these guys weave dizzying blackened riffs into plodding doomic trudges, creating a strange dichotomous sound that find the guitars riffing furiously, while the rest of the band lumbers ominously, their debt to Mayhem and Darkthrone more than paid, as they take the classic sound of vintage Scandinavian blackness and make it all their own, peppering their dirgey miserablism with cool little melodic trills, processed backwards guitars, weird effects, all employed judiciously, and subtly, letting the core black buzz and demonic pound speak for itself, the vocals even more harsh than before, and so blown out and high in the mix that occasionally you can almost hear the needles in the studio peg, but for all the lumbering midtempo dirgery, it's not just all doomy blackness, and while the band rarely go full bore frenzied blast, they do crank up the tempo here and there, although they do tend to slip right back into some gnarled and churning dirge before too long. There's also plenty of classic metal mixed into their black buzz too, which makes these songs surprisingly catchy, but again, without at all sacrificing the band's grizzled hellish blackness.
MPEG Stream: "Serpent Soul"
MPEG Stream: "Come Resonance Of Doom"
MPEG Stream: "The Ground Surrenders"

CRAW Bodies For Stontium 90 (Hydra Head) cd 14.98
Ten years on and Craw (remember them?) are still at it. Combining some of the best parts of the Dazzling Killmen, Bastro and Jesus Lizard and coming up with a bass heavy, groove laden, crushing metal onslaught. Equal parts metalcore and post rock, Craw spread out expansive rhythmic structures, with the bass and drums tightly wound together while guitars roar above and around, riffs weaving in and out, slowly building into walls of sludge-thick guitars. Craw's weak point has always been the vocals. So much so that a lot of people I know would probably cite Craw as one of their all time favorite bands, if it wasn't for those damn vocals. Well, the vocals are still a bit of a problem, but they are so much better than before. Not sure if the singer is singing better, or the vocals are more buried in the mix (more like both methinks) but whatever it is, makes this new Craw record go down way easier and means that this is WAY RECOMMENDED!
RealAudio clip: "Caught My Tell"
RealAudio clip: "Weedy Species"
RealAudio clip: "Sex"

CREAM ABDUL BABAR Excavation 1995 - 1998 (Public Guilt) 2cd 14.98
One of the best bands with one of the worst band names. But if we can love Japancakes and Flaming Lips and the Butthole Surfers then by God we can love Cream Abdul Babar. CAB are a southern fried noise rock outfit who channel all that was good about Amrep, Homestead, the aforementioned Buttholes, and twenty years of indie/post/dirge/noise rock chaos. This 2cd collects their first LP on disc one, and on disc 2, all of their splits and comp tracks as well as a wicked live number. CAB are notorious for the addition of trombone to their otherwise traditional guitar/bass/drum/vocal lineup. The trombone adds even more low end and gives the proceedings a woozy sort of seasick feel. This is awesome, ass kicking aggro noise rock in the tradition of Butthole Surfers, Halo Of Flies, the Cows, Jesus Lizard with plenty of dynamics and melody to keep things interesting. Highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Temple Of Doom"
MPEG Stream: "Godzilla Vs. Mothra"
MPEG Stream: "Jennifer Aniston's Pussy"

CREAM ABDUL BABAR The Catalyst To Ruins (At A Loss) cd 12.98
This monstrous 7 piece experi-metal ensemble has been around for years now. Alternately referred to as either 'that metal band with the trombone player' or 'that band with the worst name ever.' Let's address both of those issues right off the bat. They do indeed have a trombone player. Although his presence isn't nearly as obvious on their older records. And yes, Cream Abdul Babar is one of the stupidest names ever. EVER. But it's like the Flaming Lips, after a while, no matter how dumb the name is, it just comes to be synonymous with the music. I'm at the point where I can actually recommend this band by name without cringing. And recommend them I do. Like crazy. This band fucking rules. Their last EP was one of my favorite records ever! Take a little Neurosis, mix in a little Jesus Lizard, a little metal core, and then, just the way AQ likes it, mix in all sorts of ambient weirdness (think a more DIY, less overtly metal Old Man Gloom). Heavy and hypnotically rhythmic, crushing riffs and screamed/almost sung vocals (almost emo, although on the very violent end of the emo spectrum) and a devastating rhythm section. All this and dark droning, backwards, looped ambience and dreamy shapeless rumbles too. It's so good it almost makes me glad they're called Cream Abdul Babar. Almost.
RealAudio clip: "Kill People"
RealAudio clip: "It's Hard To Sue When You're Laughing"
RealAudio clip: "E Is For Intelligent"

CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION Automata (Willowtip) cdep 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ultra brutal, extremely technical metal/hardcore. Four new songs amidst a collage of noise. All with an extremely political anti-technology bent.

CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION / CRITICAL ART ENSEMBLE / CARBON DEFENSE LEAGUE Child As Audience ((R)TMark) cd/book 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Awesome co-operative release between southwestern political grindsters Creation is Crucifixion, Critical Art Foundation and the Carbon Defense League. Beautiful box with a cd/cd-rom and a huge perfect bound book. The book examines the 'reverse engineering of the Nintendo Gameboy' and the concept of child as consumer. Translated into French, Dutch and German, as well as English. The cd contains 3 new tracks from Creation Is Crucifixion, blazing super technical metal grind a la Discordance Axis, as well as 4 ambient tracks with voiceovers relating to the 'child as audience' concept by the Critical Art Ensemble. The cd-rom portion contains development software by the Carbon Defense League. Cool.

CREBAIN Night Of Stormcrow (tUMULt) cd 11.98
It's kind of surprising that SF based one-man black metal outfit Crebain, one of the handful of bands that makes up the new wave of elite West Coast grim black buzz, along with Leviathan, Xasthur, Draugar etc., really only has one proper full length recorded (besides a handful of tracks on the recently repressed split with SFBM legend Leviathan). It could be attributed to the fact that Crebain mainman Ancalagon The Black has been spending his time fronting the local black horde Horn Of Dagoth, releasing two cd-r demos, and recording a yet-to-be-released 7" in the past couple years, or it could simply be that Crebain's buzzing black pitch simply needs to stew and fester before being unleashed.
Having signed to Moribund a while back, and with a new full length supposedly in the works, it's these tracks here that have defined Crebain, a handful of songs that have established Ancalagon and Crebain as a serious black metal menace, worthy of inclusion in the elite USBM pantheon, and hearing these tracks it's not hard to understand why.
Previously available as an outrageously limited (and numbered in blood of course) cd-r, and then an almost as limited picture disc, this amazing collection of thrashing blackened buzz is now available on cd (actual cd, not cd-r) for the first time. Totally re-mastered, and with three extra tracks from pre-Crebain combo Gauderon Dherg, Night Of Stormcrow is still buzzy and brutal, primitive and raw, but it's almost like a new record. The artwork is visually streamlined, leaving out all the outrageous band photos, the sledgehammer, the proclamations like "To all those who have dared to cross me, your time is coming. Eventually, I will kill you all", leaving just the logo, a handful of liner notes and lyrics, some abstract runes and bird images and lots and lots of black. And the music has gotten a slight overhaul as well, the sound is louder and more dense, there's more low end, more BUZZ if that were even possible, the sequencing tighter, all wound into a snarling black tangle of buzzing fury. The extra Gauderon Dherg rehearsal tracks, so super in the red and lo-fi, but still heavy and intenseÉ
Here's a slightly altered and updated version of the cd-r review from a while back:
What is it about California that spawns such fury and hatred and musical malevolence? Must be the weather! Or its proximity to HELL! There's been a remarkable number of cold and frosty, cult black metal bands coming from the Golden state in the last few years, all of them worthy of inclusion in black metal's elite: SF's legendary Weakling, Ludicra, Leviathan, Xasthur, Draugar, and now CREBAIN. Another one man project, Crebain is Ancalagon The Black, who handles "Majestic Hellcommand Of Kataklysmik Deathstrings, Nightmarish Throatshredding and Percussive Programming." This is classic black metal, hateful and misanthropic, buzzy and hypnotic, a la Burzum, Darkthrone, Judas Iscariot, and the like. Named for Sauron's huge black birds in Lord Of The Rings (what would black metal bands do for names without Tolkien??), Crebain exudes a similar malevolence on Night Of The Stormcrow, replete with howling, guttural, hyper-distorted wails of anguish, hellish riffs, buzzing insect-swarm guitars and some masterful programming that thankfully turns the drum machine into a hellish instrument of evil. Even other black metallers hail Ancalagon for his insane axe mastery, and it's easy to see why. Incredibly fast and intricate, fuzzed out tangled squalls of black buzz, that wrap their black tendrils around everything in sight, clinging to the hyperfast rhythms as they go from static blur to convoluted complexity in the blink of an eye. The tracks are peppered with bits of ambient sound, the cawing of crows, gorgeous choral vocals, but these are but brief moments of ominous tranquility amidst an expanse of utter buzzing blackness.
Less atmospheric than Xasthur, and less fucked up than Leviathan, but equally true and black, Crebain follows his own dark path straight to the pits of hell.
MPEG Stream: "Night Of The Stormcrow"
MPEG Stream: "I Live To Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Cries Of My Motherland"
MPEG Stream: "Winds Of Fury"

CREBAIN Night Of Stormcrow (Evil Saint) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What is it about California that spawns such fury and hatred and musical malevolence? Must be the weather! Or its proximity to HELL! There's been a remarkable number of cold and frosty, cult black metal bands coming from the Golden state in the last few years, all of them worthy of inclusion in black metal's elite: SF's legendary Weakling, Ludicra, Leviathan, Xasthur, Draugar and now CREBAIN. Another one man project, Crebain is Ancalagon The Black, who handles "Majestic Hellcommand Of Kataklysmik Deathstrings, Nightmarish Throatshredding and Percussive Programming." This is classic black metal, hateful and misanthropic, buzzy and hypnotic, ala Burzum, Darkthrone, Judas Iscariot, and the like. Named for Sauron's huge black birds in Lord Of The Rings (what would black metal bands do for names without Tolkien??), Crebain exudes a similar malevolence on Night Of Stormcrow, replete with howling, guttural, hyper-distorted wails of anguish, hellish riffs, buzzing insect-swarm guitars and some masterful programming that thankfully turns the drum machine into a hellish instrument of evil. Less atmospheric than Xasthur, and less fucked up than Leviathan, but equally true and black, Crebain follows his own dark path straight to the pits of hell. And as Ancalagon states in the liner notes: "To all those who have dared to cross me, your time is coming. Eventually, I will kill you all." This cd-r is strictly limited to 66 copies and numbered in BLOOD!
MPEG Stream: "Night Of The Stormcrow"
MPEG Stream: "I Live To Kill"

CREBAIN Night Of The Stormcrow (Aurora Borealis) picture disc 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We had a handful of Crebain's ultra limited demo Night Of The Stormcrow a few years back, and they sold out in no time at all. You've now got yourself another chance to pick it up, on VINYL no less, with this here super limited picture disc version of these very first recordings from SF black metal horde Crebain. Nice thick picture disc vinyl with the logo on one side and an amazing photo of Crebain mastermind Ancalagon The Black on the other, weilding the most metal of weaponry, the sledge hammer! So fucking cool. Here's what we had to say about Night Of The Stormcrow first time around:
What is it about California that spawns such fury and hatred and musical malevolence? Must be the weather! Or its proximity to HELL! There's been a remarkable number of cold and frosty, cult black metal bands coming from the Golden state in the last few years, all of them worthy of inclusion in black metal's elite: SF's legendary Weakling, Ludicra, Leviathan, Xasthur, Draugar, and now CREBAIN. Another one man project, Crebain is Ancalagon The Black, who handles "Majestic Hellcommand Of Kataklysmik Deathstrings, Nightmarish Throatshredding and Percussive Programming." This is classic black metal, hateful and misanthropic, buzzy and hypnotic, ala Burzum, Darkthrone, Judas Iscariot, and the like. Named for Sauron's huge black birds in Lord Of The Rings (what would black metal bands do for names without Tolkien??), Crebain exudes a similar malevolence on Night Of The Stormcrow, replete with howling, guttural, hyper-distorted wails of anguish, hellish riffs, buzzing insect-swarm guitars and some masterful programming that thankfully turns the drum machine into a hellish instrument of evil. Less atmospheric than Xasthur, and less fucked up than Leviathan, but equally true and black, Crebain follows his own dark path straight to the pits of hell. And as Ancalagon states in the liner notes: "To all those who have dared to cross me, your time is coming. Eventually, I will kill you all."
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, WE GOT 60 AND WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET MORE, SO IF YOU WANT ONE ACT FAST. ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!
MPEG Stream: "Night Of The Stormcrow"
MPEG Stream: "I Live To Kill"

CREBAIN / LEVIATHAN split (tUMULt) cd 11.98
Finally back in print and available again. The ultimate Bay Area USBM matchup, the sky turns black and the rolling hills of SF are covered in frost, as these two black metal behemoths meet up on the bloody field of battle. The brilliantly fucked up bizarre blackness of the mighty Leviathan and and the grim black buzz of Crebain. Apologies to all the folks that were forced to pay outrageous sums for this on eBay, but patience is a virtue and those patient few, shall now be rewarded....
The black cloud over sunny California grows and grows, with each addition to its dark army and each new missive from one of its elite! Black metal has found a strong foothold in this unlikely location. Xasthur, Leviathan, Draugar, Crebain and a small dark likeminded legion lurk in the shadows, far away from the fun and the sun, unleashing some of the most raw and uncompromising black metal we've ever heard.
AQ pal Wrest and his genius one man avant black metal outfit Leviathan return with what may quite possibly be his best, most intensely weird material to date. We just can't get enough of his dark and violent, totally skewed take on grim frosty black metal. And for this release he teams up with relative newcomer Ancalagon The Black and his outfit Crebain. Not quite as weird as Leviathan, Crebain channels his darkness through a more thrashing Darkthrone/Mutiilation style.
On this split, Wrest takes his ultra distorted inhuman vocals, pummelling hyperspeed blasts, and violent riffery to a whole 'nother dimension, and moves even further away from his contemporaries, both in terms of sound and concept. There are certain sonic similarities for sure, but Leviathan has such a personal and undiluted take on the black sounds that so obviously flow through is veins. For every blast beat and every buzzing riff, there's some stuttery, fucked up breakdown, or extended blissed out ambient soundscape, or rhythmic mathrock workout, or strummy clean guitar jangle, or weird production with all sorts of glitches and strange sounds. The ambient parts here are definitely some of the most beautifully creepy we've ever heard, from a metal band or otherwise. And the metal, well, by now you should know few can touch Leviathan when it comes to black metal brilliance. And the thing is, Wrest doesn't think any of this is weird. He just makes the sounds he hears in his head, and they sound right to him. And they are right, but in such a beautifully weird way. Can't wait for the upcoming full length Tentacles Of Whorror. His half of the split ends with a straight ahead and super necro cover of cult early '90s San Francisco metallers Von's "Blood Angel." Nice.
The other half of this is Crebain's first official cd release, having previously only released a super limited cd-r demo last year, and it's just as good as that demo led us to hope. This is as raw and buzzing and blazing as it gets. Where Wrest is a master of arranging, creating moods and ambience, Ancalagon is a master of the riff. An unbelievably good guitarist, these riffs are lightning fast and swarm into your ears like a plague of locusts. Thrashing and chaotic, Crebain is a furious no-nonsense metallic onslaught. Programmed drums allow the rhythms to keep up with the madness inducing riffery. Occasionally things slow down to midtempo, and then it becomes quite obvious that Crebain is actually writing catchy songs, not just an insane series of parts. Melodies and almost-groovy riffs propel loping hypnotic dirges towards their eventual obliteration via hyperspeed blasts and that blurry Crebain riffery. Fucking great.
This split is another nail in the coffin containing the corpses of the Nordic metal elite, as black metal's California contingent threatens to thaw their frosty corpses with the soul shearing rays of its black sun! Aieeee!
MPEG Stream: CREBAIN "Retribution"
MPEG Stream: CREBAIN "The Burden Of My Despair"
MPEG Stream: LEVIATHAN "Ruminating In Hatemagick"

CREBAIN / LEVIATHAN split (Anti-Xtian Terror) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Just discovered a box of these in the back room, last copies, and supposedly the final pressing of this essential slab of USBM on vinyl!
Originally released on Andee's tUMULt label in a limited run of 666 copies (of course), this grim blast of West Coast Black Metal is now available once more on vinyl! USBM heavyweights Leviathan and Crebain each offer up some of their best and blackest material (and in the case of Crebain, still some of his ONLY material, the only other releases being the demo reissued by tUMULt)
As you might have guessed, this is still incredibly limited of course, only 500 copies pressed, and as with other super limited stuff like this, only one per customer please...
The black cloud over sunny California grows and grows, with each addition to its dark army and each new missive from one of its elite! Black metal has found a strong foothold in this unlikely location. Xasthur, Leviathan, Draugar, Crebain and a small dark likeminded legion lurk in the shadows, far away from the fun and the sun, unleashing some of the most raw and uncompromising black metal we've ever heard.
AQ pal Wrest and his genius one man avant black metal outfit Leviathan returns with what may quite possibly be his best, most intensely weird material to date. We just can't get enough of his dark and violent, totally skewed take on grim frosty black metal. And for this release he teams up with relative newcomer Ancalagon The Black and his outfit Crebain. Not quite as weird as Leviathan, Crebain channels his darkness through a more thrashing Darkthrone/Mutiilation style.
On this split, Wrest takes his ultra distorted inhuman vocals, pummelling hyperspeed blasts, and violent riffery to a whole 'nother dimension, and moves even further away from his contemporaries, both in terms of sound and concept. There are certain sonic similarities for sure, but Leviathan has such a personal and undiluted take on the black sounds that so obviously flow through is veins. For every blast beat and every buzzing riff, there's some stuttery, fucked up breakdown, or extended blissed out ambient soundscape, or rhythmic mathrock workout, or strummy clean guitar jangle, or weird production with all sorts of glitches and strange sounds. The ambient parts here are definitely some of the most beautifully creepy we've ever heard, from a metal band or otherwise. And the metal, well, by now you should know few can touch Leviathan when it comes to black metal brilliance. And the thing is, Wrest doesn't think any of this is weird. He just makes the sounds he hears in his head, and they sound right to him. And they are right, but in such a beautifully weird way. His half of the split ends with a straight ahead and super necro cover of cult early '90s San Francisco metallers Von's "Blood Angel." Nice.
The other half of this is Crebain's first official release, having previously only released a super limited cd-r demo last year, and it's just as good as that demo led us to hope. This is as raw and buzzing and blazing as it gets. Where Wrest is a master of arranging, creating moods and ambience, Ancalagon is a master of the riff. An unbelievably good guitarist, these riffs are lightning fast and swarm into your ears like a plague of locusts. Thrashing and chaotic, Crebain is a furious no-nonsense metallic onslaught. Programmed drums allow the rhythms to keep up with the madness inducing riffery. Occasionally things slow down to midtempo, and then it becomes quite obvious that Crebain is actually writing catchy songs, not just an insane series of parts. Melodies and almost-groovy riffs propel loping hypnotic dirges towards their eventual obliteration via hyperspeed blasts and that blurry Crebain riffery. Fucking great.
This split is another nail in the coffin containing the corpses of the Nordic metal elite, as black metal's California contingent threatens to thaw their frosty corpses with the soul shearing rays of its black sun!
Gorgeously packaged in a super deluxe gatefold sleeve, with all new artwork, pressed on nice thick vinyl, with both Leviathan and Crebain getting their own slab of BLACK BLACK vinyl. AWESOME!
MPEG Stream: CREBAIN "Retribution"
MPEG Stream: CREBAIN "The Burden Of My Despair"
MPEG Stream: LEVIATHAN "Ruminating In Hatemagick"

CREMATION Black Death Cult (Nuclear War Now!) cd 9.98
Long overdue release of Canadian death metal murk from legendary horde Cremation, the brainchild of J. Reed, who would later go on to play in Axis Of Advance, Conqueror, Arkhon Infaustus and of course the mighty Revenge!
Black Death Cult is a collection of various tracks from early nineties demos, and is a glorious, raw, lo-fi, muddy and murky blackened death metal blow out. The guitars are tuned way down, the vocals are gurgles and grunts, the drums are chaotic and splattery, the arrangements seriously off kilter, no long stretches of droning blasts, or doomy plods, instead, the band lurch and lumber, from brief flurries of high speed thrash, to woozy warped chugging stumble, to freaked out grinding blast, to meandering metallic drift, these songs are bizarre and twisted and convoluted and brilliant. Reminds us a lot of the recent Impetuous Ritual, the same sort of Morbid-Angel-slow-parts-all-strung-together vibe, and the same sort of dipped in tar sound, but with a slightly more trad death metal feel, but only very VERY slightly. This stuff is so fractured and fucked up, that it will more likely appeal to folks into weirder, outsider metal, Wold, Portal, that sort of thing, at some points it almost sounds like Gorguts' Obscura playing at 16rpm, super technical, but grinding and pounding through a druggy syrupy haze. Awesome. One of the coolest, weirdest metal reissues in recent memory.
MPEG Stream: "The Moon, The Mist, & Baphomet"
MPEG Stream: "Black Cloud Landscape Of Infernal Indulgence"
MPEG Stream: "Inverted Menstrual Brides Of Black Defiance"

CREMATION Black Death Cult (Nuclear War Now!) lp 14.98
Long overdue release of Canadian death metal murk from legendary horde Cremation, the brainchild of J. Reed, who would later go on to play in Axis Of Advance, Conqueror, Arkhon Infaustus and of course the mighty Revenge!
Black Death Cult is a collection of various tracks from early nineties demos, and is a glorious, raw, lo-fi, muddy and murky blackened death metal blow out. The guitars are tuned way down, the vocals are gurgles and grunts, the drums are chaotic and splattery, the arrangements seriously off kilter, no long stretches of droning blasts, or doomy plods, instead, the band lurch and lumber, from brief flurries of high speed thrash, to woozy warped chugging stumble, to freaked out grinding blast, to meandering metallic drift, these songs are bizarre and twisted and convoluted and brilliant. Reminds us a lot of the recent Impetuous Ritual, the same sort of Morbid-Angel-slow-parts-all-strung-together vibe, and the same sort of dipped in tar sound, but with a slightly more trad death metal feel, but only very VERY slightly. This stuff is so fractured and fucked up, that it will more likely appeal to folks into weirder, outsider metal, Wold, Portal, that sort of thing, at some points it almost sounds like Gorguts' Obscura playing at 16rpm, super technical, but grinding and pounding through a druggy syrupy haze. Awesome. One of the coolest, weirdest metal reissues in recent memory.
MPEG Stream: "The Moon, The Mist, & Baphomet"
MPEG Stream: "Black Cloud Landscape Of Infernal Indulgence"
MPEG Stream: "Inverted Menstrual Brides Of Black Defiance"

CREST OF DARKNESS Project Regeneration (Listenable Records) cd 14.98
This is probably one of my (Andee's) favorite new metal records. Imagine some sort of weird mix between Cradle of Filth and Voivod. Technical and blazing fast, but instead of that sing-songy black metal melody that seems to make it into every black metal track, this one is all riffs, and the riffs are angular and obtuse and impossibly fast (seeing as they're not single notes), reminding us a lot of Canadian scifi thrashers Voivod, but more like a hyperspeed Voivod! Shrieking Cradle of Filth style vocals and a sort-of-cyber death/black metal sound with super tight and clinical production and the occasional creepy ambient bits with strings and Bjork/Lamb style vocals! Weird and completely great.
RealAudio clip: "Computerized / Luciferian Light"
RealAudio clip: "Project Regeneration"

CRETIN Freakery (Relapse) cd 12.98
Sure, there's lots of great grind bands, but how many can grind like it's 1989? A whole bunch you say. Well, yeah, maybe, but NONE of them can pull it off as well as Cretin, a crushing, grinding ultra-brutal blast from the past. Been hankering for some Scum-era Napalm Death, howabout some early Carcass? Do the names Terrorizer, Extreme Noise Terror and Repulsion send all sort of blastbeats and downtuned riffage careening around your caveman skull? Well then, Cretin is just what you've been waiting for. Fast and filthy buzzing grind metal brutality that does nothing but pound and blast, like a giant metal fist grabbing a handful of your hair and repeatedly smashing your face into the pavement. You know you love it. We sure as hell do. Features ex-members of death thrashers Exhumed and there's even some guest guitar action from one of the Repulsion guys just so you know this shit is for real!
MPEG Stream: "Tooth And Claw"
MPEG Stream: "Tazer"
MPEG Stream: "Daddy's Little Girl"

CREVICES BELOW, THE Below The Crevices (Nordvis) cd 13.98
How could we resist a band called The Crevices Below, whose album is titled Below The Crevices? Hell, just check out album opener "Below The Crevices" (yes!!!), a creeping atmospheric synth heavy subterranean exploration, that does sound precisely like a field recording of what lurks just below the crevices, all blackened swirls, strange machine like rhythms, ominous melodies, anguished wails off in the distance, eventually spidery doomy guitars drift into the picture, and then suddenly, the song explodes in a frenzy of furious synth soaked black blasting, everything cavernous and echoey, the vocals a rasped bellow, the drums pounding, the guitars buzzing, but those thick droning synths transforming the sound into something weirdly alien and majestic. And then out of nowhere, in comes an impossibly melodic clean guitar part, again transforming the sound into something almost poppy, the sound slipping back and forth between that grim synthy buzz, and that soaring melodic poppiness, dense and heavy and droney and totally epic.
Not really sure how we discovered this Australian one man band, pretty sure it was based entirely on the band name, but our obsession spread, first Andee, then Allan, then fellow black metal weirdo Botanist, then aQ pal Monte. Soon after Andee played it on his radio show, and everyone wanted to know what the heck it was. And where they could get it.
So yeah, The Crevices Below, who besides being masters of synth heavy black metal majesty, also create a dark gloomy downer pop the likes of which we haven't heard since the amazing debut from Nuit Noire offshoot Soror Dolorosa, which is how most of Below The Crevices plays out: gothy, gloomy, Joy Divisiony dirges, long expanses of melancholic synthswirl doom pop, washed out and dreamily woozy, over which a deep ominous croon, that sits right on the verge of hysteria, wails and howls, occasionally blossoming into something much more black and buzzy, in fact most of the tracks here are a perfectly twisted fusion of goth pop and black buzz, heavy and darkly psychedelic, the synths really the driving force, swooping in to transform what ever buzzing blackness or dour broodery is taking place and turning it into something heavy and epic and mighty, and mighty twisted.
When you break it down, very little of Below The Crevices is truly black metal, several of the tracks strip away the buzz completely, leaving instead a sort of creeping poppy gloom, or some sort of softly hazy, almost shoegazey ambience. "Whispers Of Sorrow" is all spidery guitar melodies wreathed in thick swaths of synthdrone, all underpinned by skeletal drum skitter, while "Trapped In Suicidal Depths" is all gloomy and gothy, heavily effected downtuned guitars, low slung bass, croaked sinister vox, more Christian Death or Specimen than black metal, super spare, the guitars less buzzy and more warm and twangy, the vocals growing more and more anguished, and while there's a brief bit of buzzing guitars and pounding drums midway through, those quickly fade, leaving the rest of the track to unfold like some smeared eyeliner, gothic cabaret.
But bookending this goth-gloom two-fer, is one one side, "A Grand Cavernous Awakening", which might be the most black metal of the bunch, at least initially, the synths adding plenty of pomp to on otherwise grim sprawl of black buzz, while the second half of the song, slips back into moody melodic gothic doom pop, and on the other side, the record closer, the nearly eleven minute "Carrying The Cries Of The Lost", which starts off all hushed and folky, deep vox over acoustic guitar, and simple spare drumming, but then this track too explodes into some soaring buzzing blackness, those synths epic and triumphant, peeling away at one point, offering up the record's grimmest moments, pure metallic crush, only to then shift gears again, and slip into a more melodic half tempo groove, seconds later launching back into a blasting gallop, but instead of grim buzz, super dramatic crooned vox once again transform the sound into something much more gloomy and poppy, before a twisted squall of an ending, flitting from mathy angular crunch, to distorted buzz / synth swirl psychedelia.
So incredible, incredibly weird, and utterly recommended. Another black metal record of the year contender and it's only January (and yeah, we know this came out last year, but it only made it on the aQ list in 2012...)!!
MPEG Stream: "Below The Crevices"
MPEG Stream: "The Tombs Of Subterranea"
MPEG Stream: "Trapped In Suicidal Depths"

CRIMSON Fading (Total Holocaust Records) cd 12.98

CRIPPLE BASTARDS Misantropo A Senso Unico (Deaf American) cd 11.98
The misanthropic Italian grindcore legends, the one and only Cripple Bastards, return with a brand-new full-length (no, not another singles collection!) on former Brutal Truth drummer Rich Hoak's Deaf American imprint. Giulio the Bastard, Alberto the Crippler, and the rest of the band continue their career of negative, brutal, political grind, as always spitting out short blasts of fast, noisy punk metal with secret prog-rock leanings, recorded raw and lo-fi on shitty equipment (but sounding fantastic). There's either 16 or 109 songs on here, depending on how you count the final track "94 x Flashback di Massacro" which is a re-recording of an old 94-track demo tape!
RealAudio clip: "Misantropo A Senso Unico"

CRIPTA OCULTA Sangue Do Novo Amanhecer (Cocainacopia / Bubonic Productions) cd 7.98

CRISIS 8 Convulsions (Martyr Music) cd 15.98

CRISIS Armed To The Teeth / Kick It Out (Shadow Kingdom ) 2cd 15.98
Another awesome eighties metal obscurity rescued and reissued by the fine folks at Shadow Kingdom. Some of the metalheads around here (okay, just Andee), had this record when they were teenagers, so were especially excited by this reissue, and it's even better than we had hoped, as it tacks on the unheard-by-nearly-everybody second album, as well as a whole disc of demos.
Crisis were definitely not cool or hip, even back in the eighties. When the world wanted Motley Crue and Quiet Riot, these guys were channeling classic NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Meavy Metal), specifically early Iron Maiden, as well as Motorhead and Raven, with hints of Thin Lizzy and Rory Gallagher, their sound raw and rough, but super rocking and crazy catchy, the vocals sometimes a dead ringer for Maiden's Paul Di'Anno, their sound heavy, but hooky, and the songs, totally catchy, and super rocking. If only they had been about ten years earlier, things might well have turned out differently.
As it is, NWOBHM obsessives would do well to check this out, and fans of classic eighties metal, you probably remember these guys already and most likely want this, and if you never heard these guys, you're in for an eighties metal treat!
Includes a massive booklet, featuring the original 'sexy' gun toting babe album cover, liner notes, photos and lyrics.
MPEG Stream: "Crank It Up"
MPEG Stream: "Break In The Action"
MPEG Stream: "Armed To The Teeth"

CROM Hot Sumerian Nights (Underdogma) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Crom are funny guys. Their first record, The Cocaine Wars, featured one of the best album covers EVER, a Heavy Metal Magazine style painting of a hot babe in armor, riding a huge polar bear, across a vast tundra, covered in a thick layer of snow, that once the booklet was opened, was revealed to actually be mounds of cocaine being sniffed by a mighty Viking! The new record, features the band painted in the same style as the first record, all Vikings, wearing armor, swords at their side, one flipping the bird, trudging across another snowy expanse, that this time, once the booklet opens, becomes the fluffy bedspread of a sleeping Viking, warm and cozy beneath a polar bear skin, his arm around his sleeping wench. Needless to say we were sold before we even heard a note.
And musically, these guys are pretty goofy too, tons of short short tracks, as many skits and interludes and weird sonic experiments as there are proper songs. But the key to Crom is that A. They really are funny, and the skits, while often dumb or puerile or pointless, are in fact pretty hilarious, and B. The riffs KILL. To the point of being incredibly frustrating, as each song cuts off after only a minute or two, leaving the listener wanting more. Way more. But somehow, all of those metallic fragments, and all of the fucked up silly non-musical moments, are woven into one awesomely over the top, confusional genius mess.
The sound is part black metal, part classic metal, part grind, a little Fucking Champs, some death metal, a little doom, it's obviously the work of some seriously obsessive metalheads, with seriously short attention spans, but the songs when they kick in totally destroy, from furious thrashing blackness, to grinding churning chug, to what-the-fuck metallic free for all, to total classic old school majestic metal, often all in the same song, and then there's all the snippets from movies, the bits of dialogue, the weird whispered vocals chanting 'join us', the entire track made of the sniffle of cocaine sniffing (we assume), weird epic fade-in's that fade in to nothing, some seriously Melvins-y sludge, confusional collages of samples and downtuned riffage, but none of that shit would fly if the band weren't capable of rocking like mother fuckers, which they most certainly are.
And be sure and stick around for the hidden last track, crickets, burbling brook, some distant humming, some Orc-ish growling, monks chanting, incantations, a bunch of crazy Jesus samples, and then a furious blown out lo-fi blast of chaotic metallic grind, the whole thing finishing off with one of those little chunk of music from an after school special or one of those "one to grown on" TV spots.
Hot Sumerian Nights will probably frustrate the shit out of a lot of folks, but they could be quickly won over with a polar bear, a warrior babe, a wall of amps and lots and lots of blow...
MPEG Stream: "Wee Hours Of The Snowgoat"
MPEG Stream: "Thorgrimm's Lament"
MPEG Stream: "The Lurker Within"
MPEG Stream: "Grim Grey Gods"

CROM Hot Sumerian Nights (Forest Moon Special Products) lp 12.98
NOW ON VINYL!
Crom are funny guys. Their first record, The Cocaine Wars, featured one of the best album covers EVER, a Heavy Metal Magazine style painting of a hot babe in armor, riding a huge polar bear, across a vast tundra, covered in a thick layer of snow, that once the booklet was opened, was revealed to actually be mounds of cocaine being sniffed by a mighty Viking! The new record, features the band painted in the same style as the first record, all Vikings, wearing armor, swords at their side, one flipping the bird, trudging across another snowy expanse, that this time, turns out to be the fluffy bedspread of a sleeping Viking, warm and cozy beneath a polar bear skin, his arm around his sleeping wench. Needless to say we were sold before we even heard a note.
And musically, these guys are pretty goofy too, tons of short short tracks, as many skits and interludes and weird sonic experiments as there are proper songs. But the key to Crom is that A. They really are funny, and the skits, while often dumb or puerile or pointless, are in fact pretty hilarious, and B. The riffs KILL. To the point of being incredibly frustrating, as each song cuts off after only a minute or two, leaving the listener wanting more. Way more. But somehow, all of those metallic fragments, and all of the fucked up silly non-musical moments, are woven into one awesomely over the top, confusional genius mess.
The sound is part black metal, part classic metal, part grind, a little Fucking Champs, some death metal, a little doom, it's obviously the work of some seriously obsessive metalheads, with seriously short attention spans, but the songs when they kick in totally destroy, from furious thrashing blackness, to grinding churning chug, to what-the-fuck metallic free for all, to total classic old school majestic metal, often all in the same song, and then there's all the snippets from movies, the bits of dialogue, the weird whispered vocals chanting 'join us', the entire track made of the sniffle of cocaine sniffing (we assume), weird epic fade-in's that fade in to nothing, some seriously Melvins-y sludge, confusional collages of samples and downtuned riffage, but none of that shit would fly if the band weren't capable of rocking like mother fuckers, which they most certainly are.
Hot Sumerian Nights will probably frustrate the shit out of a lot of folks, but they could be quickly won over with a polar bear, a warrior babe, a wall of amps and lots and lots of blow...
MPEG Stream: "Wee Hours Of The Snowgoat"
MPEG Stream: "Thorgrimm's Lament"
MPEG Stream: "The Lurker Within"
MPEG Stream: "Grim Grey Gods"

CROM The Cocaine Wars 1974-1989 (Pessimiser) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
L.A.'s kings of grindcore first full length (after a shitload of comps and 7"s). Heavy and noisy and totally hilarious. From the airbrushed cocaine/Conan the Barbarian 70's-van art cover, to the ridiculous between song banter (lifted from Venom and others) to the sort-of-appropriation of metal classics and 70's am radio hits that occasionally surface between bursts of all out grind, this record fucking rules. Think Crossed Out but not as slower and sloppier, or think Man Is The Bastard with a sense of humor.
Awesome.

CROM The Cocaine Wars 1974-1989 (Forest Moon) lp 16.98
This incredible slab of ridiculous heaviness, long out of print on cd, is finally available on lp, worth it to have the insane cover art all BIG, easily one of the best record covers you'll ever see, and the goofy sonic crush to back it up! Plus if you missed it before, now you've got a chance to hear it!
L.A.'s kings of grindcore first full length (after a shitload of comps and 7"s). Heavy and noisy and totally hilarious. From the airbrushed cocaine/Conan the Barbarian '70s-van art cover, to the ridiculous between song banter (lifted from Venom and others) to the sort-of-appropriation of metal classics and '70s am radio hits that occasionally surface between bursts of all out grind, this record fucking rules. Think Crossed Out but way slower and WAY sloppier, or maybe Man Is The Bastard with a sense of humor.
Awesome.

CRONIAN Terra (Century Media) cd 12.98
Basically Borknagar.

CROOKED NECKS Alright Is Exactly What It Isn't (Handmade Birds) lp 17.98
Second release on Handmade Birds from this post (sort of) black metal outfit, formerly called Frail, when they were black metal only in as much as they had shrieked vokills, musically, their sound was much more in line with the Cure or Depeche Mode, dark depressive almost new wave, and wait a secondÉ that's basically true of Crooked Necks as well, after a whole record of Joy Division covers (the recently reviewed Something Must Break 12"), this brand new full length doesn't sound all that far removed, dark shimmery bass lines, lots of chiming melodies and gloom pop guitar jangle, crooned vocals, a little reverby shimmer, softly propulsive rhythms, Crooked Necks are one of those rare bands that all metalheads seem to like, even though they're not even remotely metal. It's that weird heavy metal rule that states all metalheads must like the Cure and Depeche Mode, but just applied to a more modern band, which does make sense cuz again, take those shrieked vocals away, and this record could have come out on Sacred Bones or Captured Tracks or Wierd. But hey, that's fine with us, we're merely questioning why these guys are classified as metal, black or otherwise, maybe they're not so much anymore, regardless, we love this stuff, dreamy blissed out gloom pop, the weird thing is we'd almost even like it more sans the harsh vox, then it would just be pure crystalline jangle pop, a little gloomy, a little gothy, but pretty much total pop. The vocals definitely give it an edge, and there is some cool, slightly weirder stuff going on as well, some strange production, backwards swoops an swirls, but for the most part this is just a great new wave downer pop record, that yeah, if you're an adventurous metalhead, you just might dig, and if you're a popkid, and don't mind a bit of black screech, this could definitely be a new fave.

CROOKED NECKS Something Must Break (Handmade Birds) 12" 14.98
We first heard from Crooked Necks on their split with Finnish (sort of) black metal weirdos Circle Of Ouroborus. And as CoO made their way to the new Handmade Birds label, it makes sense that Crooked Necks would too. Born of the band Frail, who we raved about a while back on the list, who essentially sounded like a black metal Cure, or more accurately, they sounded exactly like the Cure, or a similarly dour new wave band, just with black metal shrieks instead of the typical deep gothic croon. That band transformed into Crooked Necks, and while the sound didn't change all that much, the vox were dialed back a bit, and the band began to sound more and more like an actual cold/new wave band, with the occasional BM tendencies, instead of the other way around.
This brand new 12", launching Handmade Birds' new White Label series, was apparently recorded a long time ago, and was born of some unnamed tragedy, and because of that was shelved for years, only now finally seeing the light of day. The most interesting part is that it's a collection of Joy Division covers, presented pretty true to the originals, but reimagined enough to make them interesting and a bit weirder. The A side is a bit more upbeat, so much so that we had trouble realizing that it was in fact meant to play at 45rpm, but the band definitely make these their own, which really is no great feat since they sort of sounded like Joy Division to begin with, but the drum programing is creative, the strange effects add a twisted vibe, it's mostly instrumental, but then the vocals do appear, they're buried in the mix, and heavily reverbed, ominous and mysterious and dramatic. The B-side is where it gets great, the band take on "New Dawn Fades" and "The Eternal", gloomy and dirgey and darkly haunting, emotional and melancholy, "The Eternal" especially, all spaced out and abstract, there are some shrieks on the B side, but just a few, and at first it was hard to tell they were voices, it could have been some sheet of high end guitar, but instead of distracting, it simply adds more emotion and passion.
The weird thing is that these guys are beloved by metallers, and that it ended up on Handmade Birds, when it almost sounds like it could have been some unearthed rarity reissued on Dark Entries. Gorgeous, haunting stuff. Fans of gloom rock and doom pop and the various waves (cold, synth, new, etc.) will definitely dig.
LIMITED TO 250 COPIES, in plain black sleeves, with no labels, simple black and white stickers on the front and back.

CROSS STITCHED EYES Decomposition (Alternative Tentacles) cd 14.98

CROSSED OUT 1990-1993 (Slap A Ham) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From Encinitas, California, land of surfers, and the Navy, and of course Andee's young adulthood, comes the short lived but hugely influential Crossed Out. Progenitors of the now ubiquitous powerviolence/grindcore scene, along with Man Is The Bastard and Drop Dead, Crossed out were a howling lo-fi mess of blastbeats and mangled riffs, grunting and shrieking through 30 second songs and 12 song 7" sides. This cd collects for the first time (minus a bootleg or two) everything they ever recorded, including their splits with Man Is The Bastard and Drop Dead, as well as a bunch of live stuff. Absolutely essential.
RealAudio clip: "Practiced Hatred"
RealAudio clip: "Society"
RealAudio clip: "Suffocation"

CROSSFACE / SCHNAUZER split (Cleveland Hardcore) 7" 3.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
How can you not love a band called Schnauzer? You can't. Not. Love them! We discovered a super fucked up looking cd in a bargain bin somewhere and bought it just cuz the band was called Schnauzer, and of course it was awesome and of course we were immediately obsessed. So here's a brand new disc from these miscreants, and just so you now what we're talking about here, the cover features a mugshot of some shifty looking dude with a wicked devillock, the songs are called "Total Lunatic" and "Blasted Beyond Belief", and here's a message for the listener in the liner notes: "Do NOT attempt top contact this band. Any efforts to do so will further agitate the members of Schnauzer. If you don't like us now, you CERTAINLY won't like us should we become angry. LEAVE US ALONE." Fuck yeah! And the sound? A furious pounding metallic hardcore, a howling vocalist that sounds a bit like Fozzy The Bear from the Muppets, filthy, cruty, blown out, heavy and MEAN as a Schnauzer!
It's a split with some Cleveland band called Crossface, who are cool, NY style hardcore, short pounding and brutal, two tracks, but it hardly matters really, it's ALL ABOUT SCHNAUZER!!!!!!!!

CROTCHDUSTER Big Fat Box Of Shit (Willowtip) cd 14.98
Uh...ok, this one's straight-up embarrassing. For us, 'cause we kind of like it! Can we even justify reviewing something called Big Fat Box Of Shit? We're usually the first to condemn "joke bands" (and good grief we get enuff of 'em here in San Francisco). But once in a while, against our better judgement, one of 'em make us laugh. Or simply astonishes and astounds us with their (misplaced but) incredible musical chops. Crotchduster is one of those. It's a side project of Florida technical death-metal act Capharnum (whose album Fractured we recommended on list #190) and it reveals their obvious love of Frank Zappa and juvenile, bathroom-stall humor. Definitely not for the easily offended or overly intelligent, as the R-rated sexist, scatalogical "humor" here is definitely dumb. About the only lyrics that aren't overtly rude are all the inside jokes about someone named "Bill Williams"! But the lyrics aside, the way these guys jump from blasting grind to fake AOR to hip hop skits to pop punk to whatever style of music they decide to skewer next is *amazing*. They do it dead-on. I mean, Mr. Bungle never juggled genres as deftly as these guys! Such a genre-splicing approach can either be intended as an avant-garde, post-modern, serious thing, perhaps with weird overtones (Candiria, Naked City, Sigh) or just for yuks (Steven Schultz, Spazztic Blurr, Reggie and the Full Effect, Crotchduster), with the likes of Mr. Bungle and the Secret Chiefs 3 falling somewhere in the middle I guess. So Crotchduster is at the low-brow-for-laffs end of the scale, where the jokes are soooo dumb ("Mammal Sauce"?) but so elaborate (like the interminable fake hate-mail reading towards the end of the disc) that it's almost funny even when it's not funny (or *that* it's not funny, the 'Neil Hamburger effect' we could call it). Insanely stupid but incredibly well done. It'll either leave you laughing or asking "why?" or both... you'll certainly be impressed by the (waste of?) musical talent displayed here. Definitely for Steven Schultz fans...imagine a foul-mouthed, misogynistic Steven Schultz with his mind in the gutter...
MPEG Stream: "The True Nature Of Williams"
MPEG Stream: "Mammal Sauce"