ASVA What You Don't Know is Frontier (Southern) 2lp 23.00
What You Don't Know Is Frontier is the second release from this heavy droning super group and it's insanely awesome. Densely layered glacial pools of buzzing heaviness, it's no surprise that Asva consists of members of Burning Witch, Goatsnake and SUNNO))) among others. An expansive pallet of guitars, percussion, organs, electronic wind instruments, and vocals, all plunge the listener into a battle between crumbling civilization and the redeeming light at the heart of the storm. Unlike many heavy drone bands who are easily weighed down by a lack of dimension within their music, Asva manages to swiftly guide the listener in and out of finely choreographed movements that unfold with precision musicianship. This is definitely not simply "another drone record" that should be overlooked or dismissed. The range of textures and attention to detail is key here. What You Don't Know is Frontier unfolds more like a soundtrack then a drone record, a refreshing attempt at broadening the genre into a more honest, accessible art form. Highly recommended for fans of anything HEAVY.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"

AT THE GATES Slaughter Of The Soul (Earache) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From '95, one of the last great Earache releases was Swedish death metallers At The Gates' debut for the label -- definitely ATG's best, but sadly also to be their last, album. "Slaughter The Soul" stands next to Dissection's "Storm Of The Light's Bane" as the apex of the New Wave of Swedish Melodic Death Metal sound. The Iron Maiden-inspired guitar work, the black metal styled throat shredding vocals, and the "Reign In Blood" era Slayer -worthy speed and brutality of this attack showed just how extreme AND melodic metal could get. Acts like In Flames, Shadows Fall, Soilwork, and countless others wouldn't be what they are without ATG. Truly a '90s metal classic, and like "RIB" without an ounce of fat, clocking in at 34 action packed minutes.
Not only part of the currently on-going Earache vinyl reissue program, but also now re-released on cd with bonus tracks as well.

AT THE GATES Slaughter Of The Soul (Earache) cd+dvd 16.98
From '95, one of the last great Earache releases was Swedish death metallers At The Gates' debut for the label -- definitely ATG's best, but sadly also to be their last, album. "Slaughter The Soul" stands next to Dissection's "Storm Of The Light's Bane" as the apex of the New Wave of Swedish Melodic Death Metal sound. The Iron Maiden-inspired guitar work, the black metal styled throat shredding vocals, and the "Reign In Blood" era Slayer -worthy speed and brutality of this attack showed just how extreme AND melodic metal could get. Acts like In Flames, Shadows Fall, Soilwork, and countless others wouldn't be what they are without ATG. Truly a '90s metal classic, and like "RIB" without an ounce of fat, clocking in at 34 action packed minutes.
Not only part of the currently on-going Earache vinyl reissue program, but also now re-released on cd with bonus tracks as well ('cause of course there's room for 'em): one unreleased song called "The Dying" from the "SOTS" sessions, 2 demo tracks, and covers of Slaughterlord, No Security, and of course, Slayer!
Now in slipcase w/ bonus dvd: Live in Krakow + "making of" documentary.
RealAudio clip: "Slaughter Of The Soul"
RealAudio clip: "The Dying"

AT THE HEAD OF THE WOODS / BLOOD OF THE BLACK OWL split (Handmade birds) cd 12.98
We've long been fans of both of these artists, James Woodhead, aka At The Head Of The Woods, and Glass Throat Records head honcho Chet Scott, aka Blood Of The Black Owl, as well as their collaborative project, The Elemental Chrysalis, a quick search on the aQ site will find much we've written about all three projects over the last several years. This super limited cd on Handmade Birds (run by R. Loren from Pyramids) finds both groups offering up a bit of a teaser for their prospective full lengths. Up first is ATHOTW, with another sprawling bit of ritualistic ambience, all haunting and otherworldly, ethereal vox over whirring organs, and simple percussion, blurred buzz, even some psychedelic wah guitar, the sound slipping from an almost improvised sounding slow build, to an FX drenched psychedelic space dirge, the transition seamless, the final few minutes of the track, space and heavy and fantastically psychedelic and transcendent. Easily the most epic ATHOTW track yet!
Blood Of The Black Owl counters with his own bit of sonic ritualism, all shakers and fluttery flutes, deep drones and distant shimmer, channeling the spirit if Native American musics, the sound drifts and hovers, until the vocals come in, a strangely out of place demonic croak, that adds some serious menace to the proceedings, that voice soon joined by more voices, all over spidery guitar melodies, and a creeping slowcore rhythm, the song slowly building and brooding, laced with what sounds like spacey theremin and deep distant rumbles, culminating in a distorted coda, all crumbling distortion, dirge like drum pound, swirling FX and soaring vox.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Housed in a cool oversized sleeve, with striking skull/antler artwork.
MPEG Stream: AT THE HEAD OF THE WOODS "Here I Stand"
MPEG Stream: BLOOD OF THE BLACK OWL "Visions Of Strix Nebulosa"

ATAVIST Alchemic Resurrection (Rise Above) 10" 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Doom devotees, could we have your attention? We've got a handful of these remaining in stock, a 2-song 10" ep from English sludgelords (and frequent Nadja collaborators) Atavist, released earlier this year on vinyl only, limited to 333 copies. Actually it's really only one song, the downtuned dirge "Alchemic Resurrection", parts a and b, spread over both sides of this 10", nearly 15 minutes of misery.
It's so punishingly slow and heavy that it's pretty hard to tell if it's supposed to play on 33 or 45... they both sound good, and even at the faster speed it's pure sludge.
This comes on black wax speckled with sparkly flecks, like a star field or goldschlager or metallic dandruff.

ATAVIST II: Ruined (Profound Lore) cd 14.98
Oh, the misery! Vying with the likes of Moss and Marzuraan for the title of Sludge Lords of England, Atavist offer up their second full-length (hence the title), following a split with Nadja not long ago. But Atavist are a complex beast with a tortured soul that in some ways is really less about sludge than it is about sheer sadness, opting for beauty over brutality much of the time.
Drums echo. Acoustic guitars weep. And then the walls of doom-drone (droom?) riffage come closing in, crashing down. But although there's heaviness galore, with gruff vokills raging, the gentle side to Atavist is nakedly displayed here too. Tranquil, haunting, Atavist possess almost a campfire drone post rockishness that curdles Khanate-like when the heaviness is let loose. All seven tracks, together something of a continuous emotional breakdown, demonstrate definite extreme mood swings, all of 'em melancholy and majestic, some of 'em massively metal. Actually it's a six-part dirge, plus a bonus track at the end, appropriately enough a cover of "I Hate The Human Race" originally by Boston sludge merchants Grief.
For fans of both Mogwai and Asunder for sure. So good.
MPEG Stream: "II"
MPEG Stream: "VI"

ATAVIST II: Ruined (Aurora Borealis) 2lp 22.00
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!
Oh, the misery! Vying with the likes of Moss and Marzuraan for the title of Sludge Lords of England, Atavist offer up their second full-length (hence the title), following a split with Nadja not long ago. But Atavist are a complex beast with a tortured soul that in some ways is really less about sludge than it is about sheer sadness, opting for beauty over brutality much of the time.
Drums echo. Acoustic guitars weep. And then the walls of doom-drone (droom?) riffage come closing in, crashing down. But although there's heaviness galore, with gruff vokills raging, the gentle side to Atavist is nakedly displayed here too. Tranquil, haunting, Atavist possess almost a campfire drone post rockishness that curdles Khanate-like when the heaviness is let loose. All seven tracks, together something of a continuous emotional breakdown, demonstrate definite extreme mood swings, all of 'em melancholy and majestic, some of 'em massively metal. Actually it's a six-part dirge, plus a bonus track at the end, appropriately enough a cover of "I Hate The Human Race" originally by Boston sludge merchants Grief.
For fans of both Mogwai and Asunder for sure. So good.
MPEG Stream: "II"
MPEG Stream: "VI"

ATAVIST s/t (Invada) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sludge is like a drug. Those of us who are hooked, can never get enough. And the heavier or weirder it gets, the more we need every fix to be just a little bit slower, a little bit heavier, a little bit more fucked up and freaked out. This stuff is already pushing the limits of how slow and heavy it can go, you can only get so slow and heavy before notes and melody and any sort of tonal color disappear completely resulting in what is essentially a super dense drone (and lord knows we love those too!!) so most of the bands that have been supplying us with our sludge fix of late have pushed the limits of slow and heavy obviously, but have mostly managed to twist their particular take on the sludge and the doom and the drone into seriously creepy and contorted shapes.
Thus we have Atavist. On first listen, they seem to be trudging down the same black and glacial path as Khanate, plodding Neanderthal drums, crumbling downtuned grit caked guitar rumble, and of course super processed demonically gurgled growls and shrieks. A horrifying and harrowing slow motion journey through the blackest pits of hell for sure. That along would be enough to have us jonesing. But then Atavist mix in some super unlikely elements. First, they actually rock. Not the whole time, but sometimes, they slip into an actual stonery doomic riff, and the tempo picks up, not too much, more like moving from steamroller tempo to runaway dumptruck tempo, but it definitely rocks, heavily and furiously, but never strays from the sludge too long, always slowing back down like said dumptruck plunging into a stretch of road where the tar has melted into black quicksand. The other unlikely element is a certain strange melodic flair, which seems unlikely, but somehow fits perfectly nestled amongst the surrounding doom. From the dreamy, propulsive post rock buried within the first track, gorgeous minor key guitar arpeggios, and shuffling loping almost krautlike rhythms (sounding at moments like a more dirge-y Katatonia) to the delicate intro to the second track, a glistening framework of soft melancholy melody and subtle simple bass lines, all drifting in a swirl of ambient haze (complete with a super creepy sample from the movie Session 9). There are even some blasts of full on freenoise freakout.
But Atavist at their core, are sludge pure and not so simple. Mighty hellbeasts wielding impossibly heavy slabs of ultrasludge, hurling dense chunks of black sound, moving in slow motion, but laying waste to all who cower before them. Neverending Eyehategod-ish high end feedback, dirge-y superdistorted bass grooves slowed waaaaaay down, until they're almost just big muddy smears of low end, guitars so low they sound like they're being dragged behind a truck through a tarpit. Those of you who have been fiending for more Khanate, Eyehategod, Moss, Bunkur, Monarch or who just need your head dunked in hot tar and beaten with feeding back guitars once in a while, may have just found the perfect prescription for your deathdoomdronedirgesludge fix.
MPEG Stream: "31:38"
MPEG Stream: "20:11"

ATAVIST s/t (Invada) lp 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL! It's an import, probably not gonna be around too long...
Sludge is like a drug. Those of us who are hooked, can never get enough. And the heavier or weirder it gets, the more we need every fix to be just a little bit slower, a little bit heavier, a little bit more fucked up and freaked out. This stuff is already pushing the limits of how slow and heavy it can go, you can only get so slow and heavy before notes and melody and any sort of tonal color disappear completely resulting in what is essentially a super dense drone (and lord knows we love those too!!) so most of the bands that have been supplying us with our sludge fix of late have pushed the limits of slow and heavy obviously, but have mostly managed to twist their particular take on the sludge and the doom and the drone into seriously creepy and contorted shapes.
Thus we have Atavist. On first listen, they seem to be trudging down the same black and glacial path as Khanate, plodding Neanderthal drums, crumbling downtuned grit caked guitar rumble, and of course super processed demonically gurgled growls and shrieks. A horrifying and harrowing slow motion journey through the blackest pits of hell for sure. That along would be enough to have us jonesing. But then Atavist mix in some super unlikely elements. First, they actually rock. Not the whole time, but sometimes, they slip into an actual stonery doomic riff, and the tempo picks up, not too much, more like moving from steamroller tempo to runaway dumptruck tempo, but it definitely rocks, heavily and furiously, but never strays from the sludge too long, always slowing back down like said dumptruck plunging into a stretch of road where the tar has melted into black quicksand. The other unlikely element is a certain strange melodic flair, which seems unlikely, but somehow fits perfectly nestled amongst the surrounding doom. From the dreamy, propulsive post rock buried within the first track, gorgeous minor key guitar arpeggios, and shuffling loping almost krautlike rhythms (sounding at moments like a more dirge-y Katatonia) to the delicate intro to the second track, a glistening framework of soft melancholy melody and subtle simple bass lines, all drifting in a swirl of ambient haze (complete with a super creepy sample from the movie Session 9). There are even some blasts of full on freenoise freakout.
But Atavist at their core, are sludge pure and not so simple. Mighty hellbeasts wielding impossibly heavy slabs of ultrasludge, hurling dense chunks of black sound, moving in slow motion, but laying waste to all who cower before them. Neverending Eyehategod-ish high end feedback, dirge-y superdistorted bass grooves slowed waaaaaay down, until they're almost just big muddy smears of low end, guitars so low they sound like they're being dragged behind a truck through a tarpit. Those of you who have been fiending for more Khanate, Eyehategod, Moss, Bunkur, Monarch or who just need your head dunked in hot tar and beaten with feeding back guitars once in a while, may have just found the perfect prescription for your deathdoomdronedirgesludge fix.
MPEG Stream: "31:38"
MPEG Stream: "20:11"

ATAVIST / NADJA 12012291920 / 1414101 (Invada) cd 14.98
Not one, not two, but THREE Nadja releases this week! Two of them are collaborations, but still, how's a Nadja fan supposed to keep up? But as we've learned, it's well worth the effort, as each disc has been a bonafide killer, and this one is no different.
Teamed up with UK sludge doom quartet Atavist, this seems like the ultimate doom drone matchup, and thus you might expect that these two bands would bring out the heaviest and sludgiest in each other, when in fact, the exact opposite is the case.
Two nearly half hour tracks, each one meandering and blissful, darkly tranquil and really really pretty. The first is a slowcore / postrock drift, delicate guitar figures, looped over a slow shimmery dronescape, the backdrop constantly shifting, the guitar line spidery and minor key, repeating hypnotically above a constantly intensifying backdrop of drones and rumblings. Eventually the background noise overtakes the lonely guitar, but not in a sludgy bombastic way, more like a muted churning swirl, lots of billowy low end guitar, and drifting smoky ambience. Near the end, the guitars do thicken, and suddenly the dreaminess is mired in some serious sludge, shot though with distant keening psychguitar, but it doesn't last, and the sludge softens quickly into more whispery whir.
The second track is a wide open expanse of billowy dark ambience, lots of strange muted FX and pulsing krautrocky swirl. More in line with Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh than SUNNO))) or Earth. Eventually building into a moaning majestic wall of sound, like Sunroof! or Vibracathedral, but less skree and more rumble, huge slabs of crumbling guitar, beneath glistening melodic fragments and soft whirls of sound.
Droney and dreamy, divine and doomy and obviously essential.
MPEG Stream: "Twentyfour:sixteen"
MPEG Stream: "Twentynine:thirtyseven"

ATAVIST / NADJA 12012291920 / 1414101 (Kreation) lp 16.98
NOW ON VINYL!!!
Teamed up with UK sludge doom quartet Atavist, this seems like the ultimate doom drone matchup, and thus you might expect that these two bands would bring out the heaviest and sludgiest in each other, when in fact, the exact opposite is the case.
Two nearly half hour tracks, each one meandering and blissful, darkly tranquil and really really pretty. The first is a slowcore / postrock drift, delicate guitar figures, looped over a slow shimmery dronescape, the backdrop constantly shifting, the guitar line spidery and minor key, repeating hypnotically above a constantly intensifying backdrop of drones and rumblings. Eventually the background noise overtakes the lonely guitar, but not in a sludgy bombastic way, more like a muted churning swirl, lots of billowy low end guitar, and drifting smoky ambience. Near the end, the guitars do thicken, and suddenly the dreaminess is mired in some serious sludge, shot though with distant keening psychguitar, but it doesn't last, and the sludge softens quickly into more whispery whir.
The second track is a wide open expanse of billowy dark ambience, lots of strange muted FX and pulsing krautrocky swirl. More in line with Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh than SUNNO))) or Earth. Eventually building into a moaning majestic wall of sound, like Sunroof! or Vibracathedral, but less skree and more rumble, huge slabs of crumbling guitar, beneath glistening melodic fragments and soft whirls of sound.
Droney and dreamy, divine and doomy and obviously essential.
MPEG Stream: "Twentyfour:sixteen"
MPEG Stream: "Twentynine:thirtyseven"

ATAVIST / NADJA II - Points At Infinity (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
Phew. For a minute there we were worried we were gonna go to list without a Nadja or Aidan Baker disc. But fear not, we're safe! At least for two more weeks.
Team up number two from UK sludgecombo Atavist and doomdrone duo Nadja, and much like the last disc, which sort of threw us for a loop as we were expecting some serious sludgey bombast, the first of the two tracks here is all blissed out and dreamy, a churning 20+ minutes of downtuned minor key guitar shimmer, deep whirring bass rumble, locked into a looped cyclical meander, the various spidery melodies intertwined and loose, layered and abstract, stretched out over a deep blackened canvas of undulating sonic swells, darkly ominous but quite hypnotic and mesmerizing. But then comes the CRUSH. And it's massive, we only had to wait a record and a half for the metal payoff but it's a big one. Three guitars locked into a churning riff, the drums a massive pound, howled vocals buried in the mix, all the while a haunting high end drone seems to hover over the proceedings, woven into the chugging melee below. But this sudden explosion of poundage and riffery is short lived, after 6 or 7 minutes, the blissy downtuned metallic onslaught abates, leaving a swirling emptiness of distant percussion and soft fluttery feedback. The high end gradually transforms into lowend, and the track gets a bit SUNNO)))-y, deep slowed down riffs moving glacially under a blackened canopy shot through with glimmers and shimmers and muted sparkles, finally slipping back into a softly moaning drone, that drifts like smoke through a sky grey with ash.
Another droney, doomy, blissy and briefly metallic essential from these two masters of their mysterious dark art.
MPEG Stream: "Projective Plane"

ATELECINE A Cassette Tape Culture (Pendu Sound) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
LAST COPIES! Now OUT OF PRINT, except for this small handful. All the remaining copies have slightly damaged covers (mostly bent corners), hence the reduced price, vinyl is pristine, last chance to pick up one of these twisted beauties...
Most people probably know Sasha Grey for what she is most (in)famous for, and that would be for being a porn star. Even folks who don't know porn stars might still know Grey as an actress, who recently starred in Steven Soderbergh's film Girlfriend, and has been on HBO's Entourage, but few probably know her as a musician (although aQ customers might remember she sang on a Current 93 record!). And we're not talking cheesy club diva, a la Tracy Lords, crooning terribly over bad house music, no we're talking as a proper musician, one who apparently has been making music since she was a teenager (influenced by KMFDM and Throbbing Gristle), and whose current group aTelecine is some sort of blackened industrial avant drone sound collage thing, that would put most of the current crop of experimental musicians to shame. The label hypes Grey's music as being heavily indebted to groups like Nurse With Wound and Coil, and while we're tempted to think this is just the label trying to make the band seem 'cooler' and more authentic, it only takes a few minutes listening to aTelecine's new full length to realize, it's not all that unlikely. This stuff is dark, and corrosive, haunting and fierce, otherworldly and intense, a little bit industrial, a little ambient, a little witch house-y, a little black metal, doomy and new wavey and seriously dark, a dizzying churning cauldron of field recordings, samples, loops, electronics, distorted guitars, programmed beats, FX drenched vocals, throbbing basslines, plenty of glitch and clang and rumble and buzz.
If you're anything like us it'll just take a single song, the first one we heard (even though this is aTelecine's 3rd or 4th record), the super creepy, super intense "I Came, I Sat, I Departed", a lumbering blackened industrial creep, all downtuned chug, low slung slither, laced with some seriously fucked up and freaky hissed whispery vokills, the sound crunchy and glitchy, but super hypnotic. The song gets more and more chaotic, with anguished howls, more distortion, the song seeming to crumble before our ears into a hellish reverb drenched miasma. Terrifying and incredible.
The rest of the record stacks up pretty well too. "A Cassette Played" is all woozy low end and rumbling bass over snippets of crowd sound, a sort of collaged dark wavey drift, with some super minimal skittery Autechre style fractured beats, a sprawling expansive dronescape, laced with skitter, and ominous synth swells, strangely cinematic keyboards, the sound becoming almost John Carpenter-esque near the end, before slipping directly into "Chroeg Xen", which sounds like Steve Reich or Terry Riley as interpreted by the current crop of retro futurist sci fi new wavers. "Elijah's New Sun" is a fluttering field of hiss and static, of shortwave interference, buried synth pulses, strange processed vocals, and minimal synth melodies way off in the distance.
"It's All Write" is an avalanche of song fragments, woven into a woozy, series of melodic swells, streaks of buzz, bits of sampled voices, a minimal barely there beat, slowly unwinding like some out of focus sonic charnel house. "Kitchen Light" is a surprisingly lovely bloopy bleepy bit of spacey synthiness, while "Never Was A Dreamer (vox)" is a swirling synthy crawl, all whispered tangled voices, and layered shimmery drones. "She Is Beautiful" is another bit of sci fi synthery, which leads into the short closer "Some What Daft", a gorgeous creepy glitchscape, of muted melodies, fractured drones and alien squelches, all over a sort of krauty pulse, the sort of track that we would have loved to see go on way longer. Which is pretty much how we feel about almost every track here.
Sure, the fact that aTelecine is Sasha Grey's band is the hook, but it hardly matters really, besides bucking the convention of actresses turned terrible musician, or certainly porn star gone pointlessly mainstream, this stuff is incredible, dark and dense and extremely well crafted, occasionally playful and mysterious, but more often fucking chilling and intense, and definitely makes it plain for all to see, that if Grey ever did decide to give up her day job, as sad as that would be, at least we'd have more of this amazing music to look forward to.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "I Came I Sat I Departed"
MPEG Stream: "A Cassette Played"
MPEG Stream: "It's All Write"
MPEG Stream: "Some What Daft"

ATHEIST Elements (Relapse) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "Green"
MPEG Stream: "Water"

ATHEIST Piece Of Time (Relapse) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "Piece Of Time"
MPEG Stream: "Unholy War"

ATHEIST Unquestionable Presence (Relapse) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "Mother Man"
MPEG Stream: "Unquestionable Presence"

ATLAS MOTH, THE An Ache For The Distance (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
Latest batch of psychedelic sludge from this Chicago crew, their second album, but the first we've actually heard from these guys, and we have to say, we're digging this quite a bit. There seems to be something going on in Chicago, or something in the water as they say, with bands getting way weirder and more tripped out and psychedelic, the most obvious recent example has to be Nachtmystium's shift from grim blackness, to hazy black psych, similarly, we always thought these guys were much more doomy and sludgey and crusty, and perhaps at one point they were, but now they're conjuring something up much more in the spirit of groups like Kylesa or Rwake or other bands who have augmented their buzz and pound and howl with something much more experimental, melodic and psychedelic.
The Atlas Moth lay the foundation with big, downtuned riffs, a little stonery, way sludgey, plenty of classic metal going on too, the vibe very much like a smoldering post rockier Neurosis, but the riffs are spread out into strangely proggy arrangements, the band taking full advantage of their THREE guitar lineup with twisted serpentine harmonies that wrap themselves around everything. And the vocals are more like black metal shrieks, heavily effected vokills, that could sound out of place, but instead add a different element to the proceedings, but there's also lots of keyboards, some dramatic crooned clean vocals, even some trumpets, all woven into a sound that's epic and majestic, psychedelic and heavy, songs that unfurl gradually and slowly suck you in, not blasting or pounding or buzzing so much, but more sort of spaced out, and darkly dreamy, moody midtempo dirges that are totally mesmerizing.
Super striking Jesus Lizard Goat style artwork, with all manner of strange images projected onto a naked woman, like the music, very psychedelic.
MPEG Stream: "Coffin Varnish"
MPEG Stream: "Perpetual Generations"
MPEG Stream: "Holes In The Desert"

ATOMIC BITCHWAX, THE Spit Blood (MeteorCity) 2cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So we really liked the last few Atomic Bitchwax records. Member of Monster Magnet busts out and does a record of guitar wanker stoner rock. Sounds good. So what's wrong with the new one? Not sure exactly. It's just sort of flat. Sort of pointless. And there's some seriously bad vocals. Oh and then there's the cover of AC/DC's 'Dirty Deeds.' Bad. Well, not bad, just the same as the original. I mean sure it's fun to play, but why listen to a sort-of-the-same-version when you could just throw on the real thing. And why in god's name put it first on the record?! Anyway, if you're in need of even more stoner rock, or need a Monster Magnet fix, and your standards aren't super high, go for it, otherwise, check out 500 Ft. Of Pipe or Spiritual Beggars or Roachpowder or some of the other killer stoner metal we've listed in the past.
Does come with a bonus cd, pretty cool Meteor City label sampler, chock full of, you guessed it, stoner rock.

ATOMIC BOMB AUDITION, THE Eleven Theaters (Hector Stentor) cd 12.98
This is one awesomely confusing record. We weren't sure what to expect, but it definitely wasn't this. Bursts of grinding downtuned death metal give way to shuffling jazzy lounge music, mathy riffing morphs into prog rock workouts which give way to simple dreampop strumming. There's Super spacious slowcore, reverbed guitars and shuffling jazz drums, weird underwater melodies and funereal horns... and Pell Mell style instrumental almost surf rock with total "Wipeout" drums.
It's all a little overwhelming, and confusing, but in a good way. And unlike a lot of genre jumping outfits, none of these disparate sounds, and impossible mash ups sound at all forced. In fact, the band has such a deft hand with arrangements, that when you're listening to Eleven Theaters, it's hard to imagine that any band would NOT combine all of these styles and genres. Lilting Appalachian folk, drifts and shimmers into some angular Amrep style dirge rock, tripped out dronelike shimmer, all glistening guitars and whirling ambience, gives way to ultra lush jazzy mope rock, complete with horn section and cymbal sizzle, huge pummeling sludge rock splinters into a completely noise drenched splattery free jazz drum freakout before breaking down into soft focus ambient drift only to explode into a monstrous dirge all over again.
Maybe these guys are mostly a metal band... but it's really hard to tell. Especially after taking this all in. Definitely mind expanding, and certainly mostly for those with a very wide range of tastes, but like we said, it's hard not to love this record, every part of it, from the dreamy to the heavy, from the dark and dangerous to the goofy and absurd. Really cool.
MPEG Stream: "The Creationist"
MPEG Stream: "Wave Of Babies"
MPEG Stream: "Apocalypse Dove Song"

ATOMIC ROOSTER Death Walks Behind You (Expanded Deluxe Edition) (Castle) cd 10.98
OK, we recently dealt with the Frijid Pink, now here's another important example of early proto-heaviness for us to *finally* list on our site. And they too have a funny name - Atomic Rooster! This album, from 1971 (natch), is probably their best and most significant (though their next lp, In Hearing Of is also up there too). Death Walks Behind You was the band's second album, but their first with new drummer Paul Hammond and new guitarist John DuCann (aka John Cann), who had previously played in psych outfits Andromeda, The Attack, and others. He's best known though for his stint in Atomic Rooster - though we really wish there were decent reissues available of his and Hammond's post-AR band Hard Stuff for us to list, they're one of proto-metal's best kept secrets! But while DuCann brings a lot to this album with his guitar playing and singing, the real star of the show remains organist and main songwriter Vincent Crane, who had founded the band originally in 1969 with his former Crazy World Of Arthur Brown bandmate Carl Palmer (who split from Atomic Rooster after their debut to join up with Emerson and Lake, y'know). Vincent Crane's Hammer horror Hammond organ and piano playing has a lot to do with this record's doomy quality. Though they never took it to the extreme that Black Sabbath did, Atomic Rooster - and this album in particular, from its title and creepy William Blake cover painting to the gloomy, yet groovy music itself - certainly made good use of the spooky/dark/evil/occult vibe that later became a staple of the heavy metal genre. Eight bleak and bombastic tracks here, laced with lots of that good ol' "hairy funk" as DJ Andy Votel would put it. As far as heavy duty organ-based prog/psych goes, you've got to give it up to Atomic Rooster!!
FYI, this expanded deluxe version is jewel-cased, in a slipcase, and includes six bonus tracks: b-sides, demos, and BBC radio sessions. So 14 tracks total. Yeah!
MPEG Stream: "Death Walks Behind You"
MPEG Stream: "Tomorrow Night"

ATRIARCH Forever The End (Seventh Rule) cd 9.98
Hey, blackened doom dudes and dudettes, we know you're busy spinning your new Yob album 24-7, but if you don't want to wear Atma out, here's something else you might like, from the folks (Seventh Rule) who last brought us Batillus.
Atriarch are an outfit from up in Portland, Oregon, and deal with the depression of living there (all the rain!) by making this bummer music, downer stuff for sure. And HEAVY. Though this is their debut, Atriarch aren't exactly newcomers to the underground sludge scene, their singer is from Trees, and also the bassist was in Graves At Sea. So they know what they're doing, and what they're doing is making some atmospherically arty, anguished ultra-doom!!!
There's four songs, adding up to 36 minutes (this is obviously intended for two sides of vinyl, which Seventh Rule has released in quite handsome form, though we also have cds in different, handmade packaging, self-released by the band). It's kinda like one looooong song though, and we mean that in a good way... a depressive, occasionally violent journey into the realms of grim gothic darkness, Atriarch employing harsh vokills (and some use of mournful "clean" vocals too), droning synth, somber slow-mo drum pummel, soft-loud dynamics, sad melodies, and of course crushing distorted guitars, to convey their dire emotional message of the foreverness of the end. Should appeal to anyone who might dig a bleaker, blacker metal version of Cough, Atavist, the aforementioned Yob, etc.
MPEG Stream: "Plague"
MPEG Stream: "Fracture"

ATRIARCH Forever The End (Seventh Rule) lp 13.98
Hey, blackened doom dudes and dudettes, we know you're busy spinning your new Yob album 24-7, but if you don't want to wear Atma out, here's something else you might like, from the folks (Seventh Rule) who last brought us Batillus.
Atriarch are an outfit from up in Portland, Oregon, and deal with the depression of living there (all the rain!) by making this bummer music, downer stuff for sure. And HEAVY. Though this is their debut, Atriarch aren't exactly newcomers to the underground sludge scene, their singer is from Trees, and also the bassist was in Graves At Sea. So they know what they're doing, and what they're doing is making some atmospherically arty, anguished ultra-doom!!!
There's four songs, adding up to 36 minutes (this is obviously intended for two sides of vinyl, which Seventh Rule has released in quite handsome form, though we also have cds in different, handmade packaging, self-released by the band). It's kinda like one looooong song though, and we mean that in a good way... a depressive, occasionally violent journey into the realms of grim gothic darkness, Atriarch employing harsh vokills (and some use of mournful "clean" vocals too), droning synth, somber slow-mo drum pummel, soft-loud dynamics, sad melodies, and of course crushing distorted guitars, to convey their dire emotional message of the foreverness of the end. Should appeal to anyone who might dig a bleaker, blacker metal version of Cough, Atavist, the aforementioned Yob, etc.
MPEG Stream: "Plague"
MPEG Stream: "Fracture"

ATTESTUPYA Tjalen / Den Stora (Release The Bats) lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

AUDIO KOLLAPS Panzer (Epistrophy) cd 16.98
The German label that brought us the first two albums from ambient doom-jazzers Bohren & Der Club Of Gore is much better known for crusty punk/metal/hc stuff. One of their top acts is Audio Kollaps, who tear it up on their latest, the aptly-titled juggernaut of blurring brutality that is Panzer. It's full of fast, fierce grinding metal with chugging breakdowns and gruff, German-language vocals growling lyrics that we're pretty sure must be politically progressive, anti-war diatribes. Though, just from listening to this aggro music, you wouldn't necessarily take 'em for peaceniks!
MPEG Stream: "Schuld"
MPEG Stream: "Was Ist Die Warheit?"

AUDIOPAIN 1986 (Vendlus) cd 14.98
Reissues of earlier stuff by this rad thrash band.

AUDIOPAIN Contagious (Vendlus) cd 14.98
Reissues of earlier stuff by this rad thrash band.

AUDIOPAIN The Switch To Turn Off Mankind (Vendlus) cd 11.98
"Faster to death with the throttle at max / as I introduce Mr. Neck to Mr. Axe". Yeah! With lyrics like that, and a headbanging maelstrom of speedy riffs to match, this is Thrash Metal all right! But unlike a lot of today's self-professed "old school" thrash bands, Norway's Audiopain aren't primarily an exercise (however deadly) in '80s nostalgia. It's retro thrash, yeah, and they did title one of their older discs 1986, but we get the idea that they're thrashing with no regard for trends, in a more modern, blackened way, maybe 'cause they don't present themselves in formula thrash fashion (at least not on record, we don't know what they look like live). The imagery of their cd packaging isn't about spikes and leather and fists in the face. Or nuclear bombs and radiation symbols. It is dark and evil looking, signifying "extreme" metal for sure, but doesn't try to look like an old Kreator or Nuclear Assault album, y'know? It's a lot artsier than that (though not as creative as the unique packaging of their previous album for Vendlus, 2004's The Traumatizer). However, when you hit "play", you'll hear that this sure IS thrash metal, that would have given any moshpit back in the eighties quite a workout. 100 percent aggro, heads down, faster than a shark, razor-sharp, thrash-til-death metal, that will have your neck thoroughly wrecked before the 27 minutes of violently concentrated force on this six-song cd have barely begun.
And while the lyric quoted at the start of this review (from the title track) is certainly the sort of thing an Exodus or Destruction would have come up with back in the day, much of the rest of the lyrics here are way more cryptic and oblique, with seeming themes leaning towards the black metal side of things, anti-religious and evil and obviously misanthropic. You get the idea that Audiopain wishes there was indeed a Switch To Turn Off Mankind. And if we sell this to any kids, their parents will surely be looking for the switch to turn off Audiopain...
MPEG Stream: "Alliance"
MPEG Stream: "Holy Toxic"

AUDIOPAIN The Traumatizer (Vendlus) cd 14.98
A lot of the metal we trumpet here at at AQ HQ is of the weird, droney, dirgey, arty, trancey variety. Stuff that, intentionally or not, could be considered avant-garde. But we like metal that's just plain metal too, metal that's meant for headbanging not headscratching. And so it is that Norway's Audiopain (a dumb name, yes, but it's just a name) has become the current hit for AQ's metalhorde (if Andee and Allan can be considered a horde). The first thing we noticed about this release (before we even had listened to it) is that they make up for the unimaginative band name by doing something downright creative with the packaging -- the cd booklet has been sliced horizontally in thirds and then cleverly folded into an assemblage unlike anything we've seen before in a cd. So, we were curious as to what this would sound like. How 'bout some fierce, energetic, razor-blade-rifftastic thrash? With raspy screams, nasty guitars, thick bass and blasting drums, Audiopain's The Traumatizer is totally andrenalized and 'izing. It's like '80s German thrash-meisters Destruction or Kreator with more of a creepy atmosphere. That means we're also reminded of current Swedish thrashers Defleshed (but *with* guitar soloing). That means: freakin' good! And how can you not like a severe, dark, violent metal band that whose thanks list includes a "cosmic toodeloo", a "grand bag of hip hurra" and "a subliminal penguin" to various friends and family? Maybe these guys are kinda weird and arty, come to think of it. But whatever tendencies they have in that direction won't get in the way of your demin-n-leather clad pleasure center enjoying some hooky, headbanging, thrashing-mad METAL. Not overly long at six songs/34 minutes, a la Reign In Blood, but I found myself happily hitting repeat on these traumatizing tunes, over and over again.
MPEG Stream: "Believer"
MPEG Stream: "The Traumatizer"

AUFKREMA Rehearsals 2002-2003 (Tour De Garde) cassette 5.98
Strange and mysterious rehearsal recordings from this Canadian black metal horde, most notable for the fact that it's all improvised. As the liner notes proclaim: "We think there should be more spontaneity in black metal and extreme music in general and this release is a tribute to the primal energy and chemistry we felt and experienced while playing/recording." Hear! Hear! And while this is all improvised, don't be expecting super abstract weirdness and ambient black drone, no this is still raw and kvlt black metal, grim and buzzing, with some super killer riffing and some seriously awesome drumming. Strangely recorded too, murky practice space production. The guitars thick black smears, and the drums super blown out and in the red, but still kind of washed out and muddy, and when the blasting double kick drums come in, it's less like a staccato dut-dut-dut-dut-dut-dut than a massive roiling wave of low end speaker shredding thrum.
We only have 6 or 7 copies of this, and we're not sure if we can get more when we sell out...

AUGRIMMER Autumnal Heavens (Northern Silence) cd 10.98
andeee / andrewww

AUN Black Pyramid (Cyclic Law) cd 12.98
We've long been fans of Canadian doom/drone/dirge outfit Aun. They shared a split with French ultra doomlords Habsyll (who also released a record on Andee's tUMULt label) and we made their most recent record, VII, a Record Of The Week a while back. Which makes perfect sense, as they traffic in a perfect blend of electronic dronemusic, abstract blackened buzz and downtuned glacial sludge that we just can't seem to get enough of. VII was peppered with black metalisms as well, and featured drumming from Voivod's Away, transforming Aun's drones into something way more metal, but on Black Pyramid, Aun move away from overtly metallic soundmaking, and instead focus on creating a collection of epically abject dronescapes, that capture the same sort of intensity and soul crushing heaviness, but using a distinctly different palette. And the results are incredible. Dark, and dreary, depressive and hauntingly beautiful.
Each track here is a miniature epic, a bleak sprawl of smoldering sounds, deep shimming low end drifts beneath hazy fragmented melodies, everything blurred and smeared into slow shifting clouds of grim ambience, the tracks peppered with mysterious bits of random percussion, scrapes, creaks, chimes and buried rhythms.
The sound occasionally blossoms into thick buzzing sheets of crumbling distortion, smoldering swaths of blown out thrum, or gorgeously dreamy streaks of shoegazey melody, but just as quickly settles back down into pulsing electronic swirls, or murky expanses of blackened drift.
The record closes with the 9+ minute "Shining", which finds Aun taking that hushed minimal shimmer, and tethering it to a strange skeletal rhythm, a sort of disembodied techno throb, but more brittle and trebly, as the black swells beneath roil and churn, until eventually, thick throbbing droned out guitars, wreathed in swirling fuzz, are driven forward by a new, more propulsive, loping, lurching rhythm, the sound growing more and more intense and distorted, before finishing in a final squall of swirling FX and washed out distortion. So good. And while way less metal than the previous record, it's most definitely just as heavy, and dark, and intense.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Phoenix"
MPEG Stream: "Taurus Ten"
MPEG Stream: "Black Pyramid"

AUN / HABSYLL split (Public Guilt / Conspiracy) lp 26.00
Two of our favorite heavies team up for an epic slab of vinyl dronedirgedoomsludge, and it's just as good as we would have hoped. One man Canadian slow motion doomlord and recent aQ Record Of The Week honoree Aun goes head to head with French ultra doom duo Habsyll, each stretching their sound in new directions, while keeping things appropriately slow and low and heavy.
Aun's first track is a buzz drenched dirge, but with a surprising amount of propulsion, and melody, a sort of psychedelic space rock rendered in mechanical rhythms billowing clouds of buzz, a lumbering glacial groove locked in tight, while all around thick slabs of chordal rumble heave and swell and howl and buzz, swoonsome and swirly and downright catchy, and pretty, almost like a pop song melted down into something slightly more oozing and blackened, at times sounding like some strange sort of metallic trip hop, like a sort of doomy Portishead vibe, dark and smoldery and murky, but still dense and heavy. The shorter follow up, follows a similar trajectory, some blurred effected riffage, laid over another machinelike groove, the mood mysterious and melancholy, the vibe hypnotic and mesmerizing, a sort of stripped down post industrial rhythmscape, with plenty of constantly shifting action in the background, clouds of shifting layers, strange overtones, streaks of crackle and hiss and buzz, very cinematic and atmospheric, and just a little bit krautrocky.
Habsyll counter with a 23+ minute side long sprawl that begins with some spare percussive clatter, before slipping into some strange murky atmospherics, billowing gongs, strange snake charmer melodies, rumbles, downtuned thrum, all very spare and spacious and haunting, until about 4 minutes in, and things lurch into action, albeit some barely mobile glacial tarpit drone action, huge caustic crunches, left to ring out, the decay in the form of crumbling clouds of distortion, swirls of cymbal sizzle, eventually some tortured vocals, a strange cacophonous harmony, one a sick gargle, the other a hysterical shriek, the drums growing more busy, the clouds of rumble and buzz coalescing into riffs, finally exploding into some super manic Lightning Bolt style frenzied freak out, but it's not long before the track settles back down into a creepy crawl, ponderously plodding its way into a drumless haze, dense swells of warped distorted warble, pulsing and throbbing until finally fading out completely.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. 180 gram grey vinyl. Includes a download card, and features super bad ass artwork by Stephen Kasner.
MPEG Stream: AUN "Druids"
MPEG Stream: HABYSLL "IV"

AURA NOIR Deep Dreams Of Hell (Karmageddon Media) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: "Released Damnation"
MPEG Stream: "The Rape"
MPEG Stream: "Broth Of Oblivion"

AURA NOIR Hades Rise (Peaceville) cd 15.98
A good metal record can do a lot of things. But it really takes only one thing to make a great metal record. That it tears your face off. (Or melts your ears, or wrecks your neck, or whatever metaphor for the physical response to loud, violent, headbanging riffage you choose to use.) And by that metric, this latest from Norway's Aura Noir is a pretty great piece of work. Total mid-paced blackened thrash mastery!
Featuring former members of black metal legends Ved Buens Ende, Dodheimsgard, Ulver, Satyricon, and Mayhem (among others), this band originated during what might be considered the first thrash metal revival, in the mid/late '90s. Now we're in the midst of another wave of nostalgia for good old '80s thrash, and thus these guys cannot be accused of being trendy or jumping on the bandwagon! The rasping death grunts, chainsaw guitaring, and blazing drum kit devastation found here is all authentically old school, at least older than the new school of old school... raw n' ugly and hella catchy too. For fans of speedy '80s slayers like Destruction and early, Frost-ier Coroner, with maybe more of a rock n' roll Venom/Motorhead vibe mixed in. The dissonant guitar licks twisted into tracks like "Iron Night/Torment Storm" give this a bit of left-field Voivod-y weirdness as well. More modern reference points could be fellow Norwegian retro-thrashers Audiopain, and the more recent, metal/punk Darkthrone output (one song here is called "South American Death", shades of DT's "Canadian Metal"). We should mention that one track features a guest guitar solo from Danny Coralles, but even those of you not so metal-obsessed enough to know or care about who that is (he's from the band Autopsy, duh), might well still enjoy the heck out of Hades Awaits for the basic, brutal pleasures it provides. We dare you not to headbang. Impossible.
MPEG Stream: "Hades Rise"
MPEG Stream: "Gaping Grave Awaits "

AURA NOIR Increased Damnation (Hammerheart) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not a new album from these Norwegian black metal thrashers, but a re-release of their rare 1995 debut mini-cd "Dreams Like Deserts" with the addition of a bunch of previously unreleased tracks, including a few live tracks and two recordings with Fenriz of the illustrious Darkthrone on vocals! Aura Noir's guitarist plays in black metal legends Mayhem, and the band also features members of weirdos Dodheimsgard and the even weirder Ved Buens Ende (who we'd rather see a new release by, but what can you do?)... "Increased Damnation" is indeed a great speedy slice of artful blackened thrash metal, however.
RealAudio clip: "Towers of Limbs and Fevers"

AURA NOIR The Merciless (Tyrant Syndicate / Peaceville) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're excited about this album for a few reasons: 1) it's the first release from a new imprint called Tyrant Syndicate, run by none other than Norwegian black metal godfathers Darkthrone themselves! 2) besides that, we were already fans of Aura Noir -- a band featuring members of Mayhem, Ved Buens Ende and Dodheimsgard. And oh, and most importantly, 3) it is a merciless (yes it is) blackened thrash attack, with a nasty grin and a death-grunt for every poser mowed down by their onslaught. Blazing guitars, thumping tubs, and a Darkthrone-approved n' authenticated old school attitude! Venomous.
MPEG Stream: "Funeral Thrash"
MPEG Stream: "Sordid"

AURAL FIT Livestock (Slant Eye Archives) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We tracked this down for those of you who really liked the first band on that recent Tokyo Flashback 5 compilation, or who, failing that, end up intrigued by the following description... We're talking about a Japanese trio called Aural Fit. We'd never heard of 'em before, but we were impressed by their cut "Behind 20, Beyond 20k" on that comp, which we described as "a very heavy, doomy, dirgey track that fans of Boris and Earth will dig, cacophonic and dense". Turns out they'd recently released a full-length cd entitled Livestock that's equally dirgey. Five tracks, 33'36" of unrelentingly creepy, cavernous, noisy, plodding improv psych. This is the dark, moody, hypnotic, rumbling music of rock n' roll void-dwellers, with crashing drums, harsh blasts of feedback guitar, and anguished vocals buried in the mix. Chances are they're fans of Fushitsusha and Skullflower...
(We've actually only got 11 copies of this, hopefully we can get some more, but please be patient if we run out.)
NB. the band put this out themselves, so Slant Eye Archives is their own label, something that anyone offended by the name might want to know!
MPEG Stream: "Obedience"
MPEG Stream: "Sensory Deprivation"

AURVANDIL Ferd (Eisenwald) cd 12.98
Originally released as a super limited cassette, one of our recent black metal faves now available on cd!! Here's what we had to say about Ferd when we first reviewed the tape version back in 2010:
The first we heard from French black metal crew Aurvandil was on a recent split with the Weakling worshipping Dead As Dreams, we described them as sounding very Norwegian, very Burzumic, drum machined buzzy midtempo blackness, and we were definitely primed to hear more, which brings us to this, the latest from Aurvandil, originally released on the same label as the Murmuure, a past Record Of the Week, Aurvandil is not nearly as twisted or bizarre, but still totally slays. After a lengthy, folky almost Viking sounding intro, all lilting acoustic guitar and programmed drum machine, the band burst into a buzzing electrified version of the same song, an odd way to kick off your record, especially considering that the next track EXPLODES in a frenzy of impossibly blasting frantic blackness, the programmed drums so fast they almost become a drone, the guitars frenetically riffing along, totally trancelike, a series of swells, beyond the furious buzz and black blast, it's mesmerizing and hypnotic and relentless, even when the track shifts gears, it's to another strangely frenzied blast, but it's not that simple, the guitars are still buzzing madly, but beneath the guitar a melancholic synth drifts and shimmers, and then the drums and vokills come back in, and it's a weird, hard to describe black metal that is impossibly intense, but also washed out and dreamy, a totally strange combo, that could not work, but instead, transforms this into some sort of ambient blackness, that still buzzes and blasts, but without shattering the strange spellbinding energy the songs invoke. There are strings, and cellos, and mysterious voices, the arrangements seem simple, but they are definitely simple in unexpected ways. The record finishes off with another weirdly folky chunk of blasting blackness, but the three songs in between those folky bookends, nearly 30 minutes, are an incredible suite of psychedelic avant trancelike black metal dronemusic, that would probably be ranking first in our new black metal obsessions, if it weren't for that Murmuure, but hell, it's a seriously close second!
MPEG Stream: "Peregrination I"
MPEG Stream: "Over The Seven Mountains"

AURVANDIL Ferd (Cold Void Emanations) cassette 7.98
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 from French black metal crew Aurvandil was on a recent split with the Weakling worshipping Dead As Dreams, we described them as sounding very Norwegian, very Burzumic, drum machined buzzy midtempo blackness, and we were definitely primed to hear more, which brings us to this, the latest from Aurvandil, released on the same label as the Murmuure raved about elsewhere on this list, Aurvandil is not nearly as twisted or bizarre, but still totally slays. After a lengthy folky almost Viking sounding intro, all lilting acoustic guitar and programmed drum machine, the band burst into a buzzing electrified version of the same song, an odd way to kick off your record, especially considering that the next track EXPLODES in a frenzy of impossibly blasting frantic blackness, the programmed drums so fast they almost become a drone, the guitars frenetically riffing along, totally trancelike, a series of swells, beyond the furious buzz and black blast, it's mesmerizing and hypnotic and relentless, even when the track shifts gears, it's to another strangely frenzied blast, but it's not that simple, the guitars are still buzzing madly, but beneath the guitar a melancholic synth drifts and shimmers, and then the drums and vokills come back in, and it's a weird, hard to describe black metal that is impossibly intense, but also washed out and dreamy, a totally strange combo, that could not work, but instead, transforms this into some sort of ambient blackness, that still buzzes and blasts, but without shattering the strange spellbinding energy the songs invoke. There are strings, and cellos, and mysterious voices, the arrangements seem simple, but they are definitely simple in unexpected ways. The record finishes off with another weirdly folky chunk of blasting blackness, but the three songs in between those folky bookends, nearly 30 minutes, are an incredible suite of psychedelic avant trancelike black metal dronemusic, that would probably be ranking first in our new black metal obsessions, if it weren't for that Murmuure, but hell, it's a seriously close second!
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, these are the last of these we'll ever see...

AURVANDIL Yearning (Eisenwald) cd 14.98

AUSTERE / LYRINX split (Eerie Art) cd 14.98
We've been wanting to review anything from either of these bands for ages, one from Australia, the other from the UK, both trafficking in ultra depressive, hauntingly beautiful suicidal doom-ed black metal, but each with a distinctly different approach.
Austere are the Aussies, and have a black metal pedigree like you wouldn't believe (Funeral Mourning, Pestilential Shadows, Kinstrife & Blood, Nazxul to name a few). In their Austere incarnation, the duo of Sorrow and Desolate craft a dark swirling abyss of midtempo blackness, a mournful stretch of clean guitars and loping drums create a haunting moodiness, which morphs into something much more blackened and blown out, but no less ethereal and, well, austere. But it's the vocals that transcend here, an insane high pitched shriek, drifting in a cloud of reverb and delay, inhuman to say the least, occasionally growing into something much more growling and aggressive, but just as quickly becoming a disembodied wraith like shriek. All the while the music beneath drifts and lilts, reminding us of a way more washed out Katatonia, minor key and brooding, but strangely epic and expansive, and most definitely miserable and melancholy and darkly depressive.
The UK's Lyrinx are a good match, their sound equally grim and sorrowful, but the drums are much more of a presence, the guitars too are less ethereal and more buzzy and raw, the arrangements are very post rocky, loping and meandering, very reminiscent of Slint, and by extension Ved Buens Ende. The vocals here too are harsh and anguished, but like the rest of the sound, more abrasive, more caustic and raw, weirdly complimenting the hypnotic churning drift beneath. And unlike the monochromatic crawl of Austere, Lyrinx definitely mix it up, slipping into frenzied black metal blast, the drums exploding in tangles of wild octopoidal fury, before slipping into haunting half time breakdowns, all lingering minor key chords and abstract rhythms, a resulting sound both woozy and weary and sorrowful, as well as intense and chaotic.
Essential for the suicidal black metal hordes out there: Make A Change Kill Yourself, Hypothermia, Lutomysl, Silencer, I Shalt Become, Happy Days, Nortt, Holmgang, might as well add Lyrinx and Austere to the list...
MPEG Stream: AUSTERE "Towards The Great Unknown"
MPEG Stream: LYRINX "No Failure In Suicide"

AUSTERITY PROGRAM Backsliders And Apostates Will Burn (Hydra Head) cd 10.98
This is probably gonna sound like total sacrilege. And it is, we know it is, but it's all we can think when we're listening to these guys, quite possibly our favorite drum machine driven duo, is that yeah, they sound like Big Black, the super distorted guitar chug, the sung spoken vox, the thick floor shaking bass, the fucked up and funny lyrics, it's like Big Black, bit kind of, well, you know, BETTER.
There we said it. And before you get your hate mail machine in motion, realize, that we revere Big Black, every single song, a fucking misanthropic masterpiece, but if you were to ask us, what could make BB better? Well, we would have said, let's see, you could make it heavier, make the songs more complex, add tons more dynamics, fuck it, the Austerity Program is just that, like a super charged, ultra heavy, way more complex Big Black, but they are so much more, they have taken that sound, that classic, timeless (to us at least) sound, and made it all their own.
The super tense slow build of "Song 25", with its sprawling guitar buzz, and hushed spoken vocals, gradually growing more and more intense, the drum machine and buzzing bass soon joining in, a churning low slung dirge, the guitar doesn't even show up until a minute left in the song, but suddenly the track is transformed into a lurching metal machine prog blow out, with some awesomely weirdly clipped rhythms, chugging guitar, it's the sort of part most bands would (and should) stretch out for minutes, but the AP make it last seconds, cuz they know, they have way more up their sleeves.
"Song 26" explodes in a throbbing downtuned crush, stopping, starting, stuttering, hiccupping, until things bliss out, and suddenly it's a shimmery whispered drift, only to lurch into a grinding metallic robotic pound, finally finishing off with more churn and crunch. "Song 27" starts off all distorted strum and more clipped drum machine, droney and tense and hypnotic, before splintering into a stop start stutter, that explodes into what sounds like "Jordan, Minnesota" at triple speed, and then back again, a fucking epic proto prog metal jam with some MIT worthy drum machine programming, and anguished ultra pissed vox.
"Track 29" might be the weirdest, and perhaps the coolest of the bunch, a cloud of soaring guitars, a chugging bass, and another robotic looped rhythm, but the vocals are sung, sweetly, a lovely melodic counterpoint to the churn and chug beneath it, taking some subtle detours throughout, but always returning to that relentless crunch, another track, that seems way too brief at 5:30, epic and melodic and majestic and heavy and fucking awesome.
We've listened to these 4 songs about 20 times, and we're bound to go 20 more, but they've got us really hoping there's a full length around the corner. And yeah, that means buy it, it RULES.
MPEG Stream: "Song 25"
MPEG Stream: "Song 26"

AUSTERITY PROGRAM Backsliders And Apostates Will Burn (Hydra Head) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A proper / regular lp version of this killer chunk of mechanized Big Black-ian post metal crush will hit the shelves this summer, but we managed to get a small handful of the super special test pressing version direct from the band. Special for many reasons, the first being, it's LIMITED TO ONLY 40 COPIES! Of which we got 8! And while the vinyl itself is the test pressing it comes in a full color sleeve much like the forthcoming normal version, but it also includes the whole cd, proper packaging and all, some inserts, AND a needle cleaning kit, hand prepared by the band to make the test pressing sound even better. And why should you care? Here's why:
This is probably gonna sound like total sacrilege. And it is, we know it is, but it's all we can think when we're listening to these guys, quite possibly our favorite drum machine driven duo, is that yeah, they sound like Big Black, the super distorted guitar chug, the sung spoken vox, the thick floor shaking bass, the fucked up and funny lyrics, it's like Big Black, bit kind of, well, you know, BETTER.
There we said it. And before you get your hate mail machine in motion, realize, that we revere Big Black, every single song, a fucking misanthropic masterpiece, but if you were to ask us, what could make BB better? Well, we would have said, let's see, you could make it heavier, make the songs more complex, add tons more dynamics, fuck it, the Austerity Program is just that, like a super charged, ultra heavy, way more complex Big Black, but they are so much more, they have taken that sound, that classic, timeless (to us at least) sound, and made it all their own.
The super tense slow build of "Song 25", with its sprawling guitar buzz, and hushed spoken vocals, gradually growing more and more intense, the drum machine and buzzing bass soon joining in, a churning low slung dirge, the guitar doesn't even show up until a minute left in the song, but suddenly the track is transformed into a lurching metal machine prog blow out, with some awesomely weirdly clipped rhythms, chugging guitar, it's the sort of part most bands would (and should) stretch out for minutes, but the AP make it last seconds, cuz they know, they have way more up their sleeves.
"Song 26" explodes in a throbbing downtuned crush, stopping, starting, stuttering, hiccupping, until things bliss out, and suddenly it's a shimmery whispered drift, only to lurch into a grinding metallic robotic pound, finally finishing off with more churn and crunch. "Song 27" starts off all distorted strum and more clipped drum machine, droney and tense and hypnotic, before splintering into a stop start stutter, that explodes into what sounds like "Jordan, Minnesota" at triple speed, and then back again, a fucking epic proto prog metal jam with some MIT worthy drum machine programming, and anguished ultra pissed vox.
"Track 29" might be the weirdest, and perhaps the coolest of the bunch, a cloud of soaring guitars, a chugging bass, and another robotic looped rhythm, but the vocals are sung, sweetly, a lovely melodic counterpoint to the churn and chug beneath it, taking some subtle detours throughout, but always returning to that relentless crunch, another track, that seems way too brief at 5:30, epic and melodic and majestic and heavy and fucking awesome.
We've listened to these 4 songs about 20 times, and we're bound to go 20 more, but they've got us really hoping there's a full length around the corner. And yeah, that means buy it, it RULES.
MPEG Stream: "Song 25"
MPEG Stream: "Song 26"

AUSTERITY PROGRAM Backsliders And Apostates Will Burn (Data DVD-R) (Hydra Head) dvd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This latest chunk of mechanized Big Black-ian post metal crush from aQ faves is not only available as a super limited test pressing / needle cleaning kit version elsewhere on this list, it is now also available as this even more limited data dvd-r, which contains 24 bit .wav files of song mixdowns and all the seperate instrument tracks, as well as instructions and artwork files. Why you ask? Well, so you can customize the record how ever you want, ditch the vocals, crank the vocals, blow out the drums, remix it, add sitar, tuba, sing along yourself, you've got the parts, use 'em to make your very own and utterly unique version of Backsliders And Apostates Will Burn! Oh, and you can always still just listen to it, and you should, cuz it rules...
This is probably gonna sound like total sacrilege. And it is, we know it is, but it's all we can think when we're listening to these guys, quite possibly our favorite drum machine driven duo, is that yeah, they sound like Big Black, the super distorted guitar chug, the sung spoken vox, the thick floor shaking bass, the fucked up and funny lyrics, it's like Big Black, bit kind of, well, you know, BETTER.
There we said it. And before you get your hate mail machine in motion, realize, that we revere Big Black, every single song, a fucking misanthropic masterpiece, but if you were to ask us, what could make BB better? Well, we would have said, let's see, you could make it heavier, make the songs more complex, add tons more dynamics, fuck it, the Austerity Program is just that, like a super charged, ultra heavy, way more complex Big Black, but they are so much more, they have taken that sound, that classic, timeless (to us at least) sound, and made it all their own.
The super tense slow build of "Song 25", with its sprawling guitar buzz, and hushed spoken vocals, gradually growing more and more intense, the drum machine and buzzing bass soon joining in, a churning low slung dirge, the guitar doesn't even show up until a minute left in the song, but suddenly the track is transformed into a lurching metal machine prog blow out, with some awesomely weirdly clipped rhythms, chugging guitar, it's the sort of part most bands would (and should) stretch out for minutes, but the AP make it last seconds, cuz they know, they have way more up their sleeves.
"Song 26" explodes in a throbbing downtuned crush, stopping, starting, stuttering, hiccupping, until things bliss out, and suddenly it's a shimmery whispered drift, only to lurch into a grinding metallic robotic pound, finally finishing off with more churn and crunch. "Song 27" starts off all distorted strum and more clipped drum machine, droney and tense and hypnotic, before splintering into a stop start stutter, that explodes into what sounds like "Jordan, Minnesota" at triple speed, and then back again, a fucking epic proto prog metal jam with some MIT worthy drum machine programming, and anguished ultra pissed vox.
"Track 29" might be the weirdest, and perhaps the coolest of the bunch, a cloud of soaring guitars, a chugging bass, and another robotic looped rhythm, but the vocals are sung, sweetly, a lovely melodic counterpoint to the churn and chug beneath it, taking some subtle detours throughout, but always returning to that relentless crunch, another track, that seems way too brief at 5:30, epic and melodic and majestic and heavy and fucking awesome.
We've listened to these 4 songs about 20 times, and we're bound to go 20 more, but they've got us really hoping there's a full length around the corner. And yeah, that means buy it, it RULES.
MPEG Stream: "Song 25"
MPEG Stream: "Song 26"

AUSTERITY PROGRAM, THE Black Madonna (Hydra Head) cd 13.98
It's hard to know exactly what to say about these guys, we have to fight our urge to just gush madly, and as you all probably realize by now, we can only put up so much of a fight... the last Austerity Program record was a bombastic homage to the drum machine fueled acerbic brutality of the late great Big Black, which we absolutely loved. But this record somehow manages to retain that sound (how could it not at least a little, especially considering the lineup is guitar, bass and drum machine?) while taking it so much further. Sure Big Black were amazing, as were the legion of drum machine driven behemoths that followed, but the Austerity Program are way more than the sum of their parts. Especially the drum machine part, which seems to define most bands that utilize one... The drum machine here doesn't always sound like a machine at all, which is the key, it's super tight, and precise, but could maybe be an actual drummer. Occasionally the band do take advantage of the machine's super human abilities, but for the most part, the drumming while crushing and brutal is also weirdly deft and subtle. The vocals also can't help but give a nod to Albini and Big Black, it's not a hellish howl or a guttural growl, it's more of an angry nerdy wail, a hyper literate, snarky rant delivered in a sung / spoken, regular guy shout. But the vocals are generally few and far between, which means it's mostly all about the bass and guitar...
And fuck if these aren't some of the heaviest, and thickest guitar sounds ever. It helps that the riffs totally destroy, super catchy, weirdly melodic, soaring and epic as often as they are metallic and pummeling. Sometimes super affected, but just as often a straight forward chest caving crunch, the bass throbbing and pulsing right along, often offering up some super unlikely melodic counterpoint, never content to just be a low end presence, the bass grinds and growls as intensely as the guitars.Ê
The overall sound ends up being some strange hybrid of Big Black (obviously), Harvey Milk, Jesu, a little bit of Fugazi and some hints here and there of black metal buzz, all tightly wound into an utterly intense crushing blast of beautiful brutality. From the first track, you'll be pretty much knocked the fuck out. It's a super complex mathy metallic workout, the guitars, swirl and soar, slither and shimmer, all the while pounding out some of the most bad ass riffs ever, and it's super dynamic, with the drums and guitar locked tight, stopping to emit little squalls of corrosive feedback before spiraling back into walls and washes of furious buzz. All the tracks are impossibly gorgeous and melodic, as well as being super ultra tight and clinical,Êguitars are massive, roiling and thick, the riffs warm and dense, but jagged and razor sharp, and the arrangements are mindblowing, super complex, but not to the point of destroying the flow of the songs, just perfectly obtuse and tangled, so much so that it sounds like one of these guys must have gotten some sort of calculus degree just to program the drum machine. But it's not all pound and crush,Êsome tracks are slow and brooding, the guitars building and building, a haunting groovyÊFugazi like percussive chug, that eventually builds to a completely catchy, massive grinding guitar / pummeling percussion battle that manages to take the shape of a crazy catchy song at the same time.Ê
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the fact that these guys are also really fucking funny too. But in that all to rare way, where the music is absolutely NOT funny, the humor is subtle, and clever, and just a bit snarky, but it's all over the place, EVEN in the music, but subtly so. From the sticker and obi text on the outside, to the lyrics (especially the part where they screamÊ"Here is my favorite part" before, well, what just might be their favorite part), to some of the clever arrangements, some of the strangely almost recognizable melodies, right down to the WTF liner notes, a chunk of pseudo-scientific data analyzing the various songs on the album, based on things like "distinct drum patterns", "average tempo", "vocal references to death", "abrupt pauses" and more. There are graphs and charts, and lengthy descriptions of how the "Divergence Index Value" of each song was calculated. Even the cover art, various swaths of old lady plastic flowers... these guys just totally rule. They're heavy and ultra brutal, but don't take themselves too seriously, they're funny, but the music is not, the humor is smart and funny, and somehow perfectly compliments the sheer epic intensity of the music...
They also had a contest celebrating the release of their new record with the grand prize being your very own customized song, and as if that weren't enough, have a peek at this amazing Austerity Program infomercial:
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=1WcsV7hQ1V4
As if it weren't already painfully obvious, absolutely essential, totally recommended, one of our favorite new records, and a no brainer for record of the week!
MPEG Stream: "Song 12"
MPEG Stream: "Song 17B"
MPEG Stream: "Song 19"

AUSTRASIAN GOAT, THE s/t (I Hate Records) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: "Pyre Without Flames"
MPEG Stream: "The Banks Of The Shadow's River"

AUSTRASIAN GOAT, THE / CHAMBRE FROIDE split (At War With False Noise) 7" 9.98

AUTHOR & PUNISHER Drone Machines (self-released) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Last list we reviewed a dvd from a 'group' called Author & Punisher, a one man industrial doom band, whose sole member, Tristan Shone, designed and fabricated an incredible array of massive sound generators: a 300 pound spinning metal disc, a huge hydraulic handled chain driven (and seriously physical) drum machine, a motorized handled bass generator, a headgear with a multi mic'd mask, to transform vocals into different sounds and rhythms... We were mesmerized by the footage, the sound was amazing, heavy and crushing, totally intense, but watching this guy, physically create and trigger the sounds, is what sealed the deal, an brutal and exhausting 'performance', a sweat soaked, instrumental work out, way more interesting than the legion of boring floorcore laptoppers and effects jockeys. That said, most of us tend to not re-watch videos, whereas records we'll spin over and over again. So we figured it would definitely be worthwhile to track down a proper record from A&P, and here it is.
The title says it all, Drone Machines, not to mention the front cover image of A&P maestro Shone, hunched over the huge spinning metal disc. So if you picked up the dvd, you know what sort of crushing sonic punishment you're in for, and if you missed out on that dvd completely somehow, then this is your chance to get introduced to A&P's churning, chugging, pummeling low end industrial doom crush.
Purely sonically, these sounds could have been played by a band, or created on a computer, but just realizing that it's one guy, and his army of sound generators, definitely adds something to the listening experience. Plus there's also plenty of weird sonic manipulation that could NOT be played by a band, thick bass tones slow down like someone pressing their finger down on a record while it's playing, that would be that massive disc, the booming percussion, involves a slamming of the huge chain driven hydraulic handle, hearing this, picturing that, makes it sound that much heavier, but screw it, taken on music alone, the sound of Drone Machines is classic post industrial metal crunch, but twisted and a little warped, a more robotic and machine-like Godflesh maybe, the tone and timbre definitely owes much to Broadrick's industrial beast. But then the record will offer up some weird buzzing almost synthy sounding bass, and weird high end tangles, strange haunting melodies swirling around, a totally tripped out psychedelic swirl, and we're in some far out sonic sci-fi universe, before it gives way to another stretch of lurching lumbering Teutonic pound. The vocals, when there are vocals, are gruff and howled, again harkening back to Broadrick, and add some serious menace to the already sonically menacing proceedings.
The best parts for us are the parts where the sound sources become obvious, or at least where you can tell something weird and special is going on, the swooping low end, constantly changing pitch, the various sounds becoming clipped or cut off, the grinding rumbling low end speeding up then slowing down, it makes the whole experience that much more warped and tripped out and psychedelic. The music becomes more than a chunk of industrial metal, it becomes a heaving metallic monster MADE from industrial metal, the various gears and servos emitting strange buzzes and whirrs, its thunderous footsteps the booming beat, the speaker rattling low end it's guttural growl, and the howling vox, the man that commands this beast, and instructs it to do his bidding, a futuristic steampunk, post industrial robotic doom metal dirge, that we just can't get enough of!
MPEG Stream: "Sand, Wind And Carcass"
MPEG Stream: "Burrow Below"
MPEG Stream: "Doppler"
MPEG Stream: "Beginning Of End"

AUTHOR & PUNISHER High Mayhem Festival 2008 (Sun Cult Video) dvd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We really weren't sure what to expect from a band called Author & Punisher, or why they would merit a dvd (actually dvd-r) release. The label sent us a clip from the dvd, and we immediately understood. Author & Punisher is a guy called Tristan Shone, an engineer/artist who fabricates incredible noise making machines, huge metal MACHINES, gorgeous in their construction, a massive 300 pound rotating disc, a strange handheld chain driven slider, a control panel with big airplane like controllers, all of which do more than look impressive, they control sounds. HEAVY SOUNDS. The massive disc spins, and Shone, using both hands, changes the speed of the disc and thus the tone of the bass; the handle, with the chain, slides along two metal cylinders, and controls the rhythms, a super primitive, yet ultra advanced drum controller. The handles control yet MORE low end, with motors built into the handles so when Shone is pulling the levers, to trigger the bass, the harder he pulls, the more the levers resist, in order to FEEL the bass. And the thing is, it doesn't just LOOK cool, it sounds amazing, like some sort of SUNNO))) / Godflesh dirge, but more alien, the way the bass can be controlled, stuttering, slowing down almost like a turntable, and the rhythms, crushing and massive, when Shone locks into a groove, it out-heavies even the heaviest of proper-instrumented bands. Not to mention, that after seeing this guy with the giant disc and the weird tank-like chained handle, regular old guitars and amps, will just look and sound wimpy in comparison. It's hard to describe just how amazing this stuff is to see and hear, but if you're anything like us, you'll watch 30 seconds of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blXgFQxpTkc
and be totally sold. So goddamn incredible. And it's not just the machines and the sound they make, it's that Shone uses them like a one-man band to make doom-drone pieces as good as any from our favorite full bands in the genre.
There's a chance, A&P might be coming to San Francisco, in which case you can expect some serious sonic Author & Punisher punishment right here in the shop, but until then, grab one of these while you can. Limited to 50 copies. Each one numbered, we have a dozen or so, they come in super swank dvd styled, printed chipboard fold over sleeves, with printed vellum inserts (and if for some reason dvds aren't your thing, we'll be getting some A&P cds one of these days as well!).

AUTHOR & PUNISHER Ursus Americanus (Seventh Rule) cd 11.98
We first discovered Author & Punisher via a super limited dvd, cuz really, as good as the music is, and it is amazing, you sort of have to see the music being made to understand just how fucking nuts this stuff, and this guy really is. A&P is one man, Tristan Shone, who builds his own instruments, which in and of itself is nothing new, but we're not talking cobbled together rickety speakers and Amps For Christ style plywood soundmachines (although we love that stuff), we're talking gorgeous, precision machined instruments, that look like modern art, huge smooth steel drums, strange handles that slide along metal rails, bizarre triggers and stainless steel mouthpieces fitted with multiple microphones, Author & Punisher's setup looks like some post modern Rube Goldbergian sonic mousetrap, all glimmering metals and smooth expanses of perfectly fitted machines, the live performance as physical as any normal instrumentalist if not more so, Shone spinning the huge metal; drum creating thick swells of rib cage rattling low end, slamming the strange handles along the steel rails producing booming bursts of percussion, the strange Cylon like microphone producing an inhuman alien bellow. Even sans sound, the performance is riveting. Mesmerizing. We were lucky enough to host an Author & Punisher instore, and besides being incredible to see up close, the sounds produced shook the old wooden building that houses aQ so hard, that our upstairs neighbors came down in a panic, explaining that the whole hose was vibrating, and things were falling off shelves and tables.
Now imagine that sort of physical energy, converted into sound, but not just any sound, but totally mesmerizingly epic, crushing buzz drenched post industrial heaviness. A sound that falls somewhere between the industrial crush of Godflesh, and the blown out electronic buzz and glitch of Digital Hardcore, but all blurred into a sort of abject blackened industrial doom. All manner of low end pulsing and buzzing, rumbling and whirring, the beats skittery and stuttery one second, pounding and Teutonic the next, and then there's the bass generator, which we assume comes from that huge metal disc, cuz a sound that thick and intense should really come from a massive 300 pound hunk of spinning metal, that impossibly dense low end, weirdly woozy and almost liquid, the tones being adjusted on the fly, so much so that it sounds like the speed of the recording is being messed with, the sound warbly and woozy, warped and darkly damaged and druggy. While at the same time being heavy as fuck, and pretty much WAY more brutal that bands with real drummer and a phalanx of guitarists in front of rows of amps.
It's amazing how much of the physicality is captured on the record, more so here than on past recordings, the sound managing the delicate balance between blown out amp destroying crush, and tightly wound, barely controlled chaos. The songs slipping from lumbering doomic lurch, to swoonsome skittery abstract dronemusic, from noisy metallic pummel, thick, sinewy digidub, and from thick almost metalgaze drift, to super spare haunting minimal skitter.
Ursus Americanus is definitely the culmination of past recordings and live performances, managing the seemingly impossible task of creating something that stands on its own musically, but that captures a soundmaking method that you're unlikely to experience from anyone else. Totally incredible. And obviously, if you get the chance, see A&P live, and have your mind (and ears) blown.
MPEG Stream: "Terrorbird"
MPEG Stream: "Lonely"
MPEG Stream: "Mercy Dub"