NEGURA BUNGET Virstele Pamintului (Aural Music / Code 666) cd 16.98
BACK IN STOCK!
First record in more than 4 years from these Romanian black metallers, and longtime aQ faves, Negura Bunget. We had almost given up hope at one point of ever hearing new music from NB, as the band had broken up, only to recently reform with just one original member, and yet instead of recording a new record, they chose to RE-record some of their old music with the new lineup. But this, this IS in fact the first new music from the newly reformed Negura Bunget, and considering such a dramatic personnel shift, the sound is relatively consistent with recent NB records, although in many ways, Virstele Pamintului is in fact quite different than OM, the last proper full length.
The band do continue to move further away from their early sound which was a very Weakling-like blasting black Norwegian style metal, growing more and more atmospheric, more folky, more proggy, and at the same time somehow more simple. This is most definitely the folkiest record yet, as the first half of the record is mostly not metal, and the folk element definitely takes center stage here.
The record begins with a nearly 6 minute intro, performed on all traditional Romanian folk instruments, flutes and hand drums, wooden percussion, and buzzing strings, creating a lush, mysterious, foresty feel, until finally the band launch into some proper metal, but it's not blasting or fierce, instead, it's washed out and almost atmospheric, with thick swaths of synthesizer underpinning the melancholy buzz, soaring majestic guitar melodies, the vocals bellowed dramatically, and after less than two minutes, the band shifts back, and unveils a shimmery landscape of long glimmering tones, layered soft focus drones, choir like vocals, acoustic guitars weaving crystalline lattices of subtly tense melody, that had they been swathed in buzz, would make for some serious blackness, but instead here, they just help evoke a haunting dreamscape, finally the drums thunder in, the vocals too, spoken dramatically, but still, it's mostly folky and acoustic, until finally the metal erupts again, and instead of blackness, it's almost a sort of depressive doom pop, very melodic, and emotional and intense, still heavy, just more moody, and it suits them for sure.
After another stretch of dark Romanian folk flecked ambience, track four, again beginning with a dark folk intro, slowly mutates and intensifies, until it too explodes into some black metal, but even here, about as fierce and heavy as the record has gotten, the blackness is rife with acoustic guitars, fluttering flutes, swirling synths, all wrapped around a very Maiden-y melody, woozy serpentine guitars, chugging riffage, all still softened by those folk underpinnings.
And while there are indeed moments of blackened aggression, and bits of blasting fury, that doesn't seem to be what NB are really about anymore, the group seem to be more concerned with evoking emotion, creating a landscape of sound that reflects their philosophy and mythology, the black metal more just an element of the whole, and really not even that prominent of one at this point, instead the modern sound of Negura Bunget is some sort of blackened dark folk prog metal, epic and sprawling, intricate and intimate, not concerned with heaviness or kvltness or any false scene idea of 'true', because when it gets right down to it, the music of Negura Bunget is indeed as true as it gets, true to the self, and to their vision, and that sort of truth is the only thing that can create musical art like Virstele Pamintului.
MPEG Stream: "Pamint"
MPEG Stream: "Dacia Hiperboreana"
MPEG Stream: "Umbra"
MPEG Stream: "Ochiul Inimii"

NEGURA BUNGET Zirnindu-Sa (Lupus Lounge) 2cd 17.98

NEIGE ET NOIRCEUR Philosophie Des Arts Occultes / Thanatonaut (Dunkelkunst) cd 13.98
We've been meaning to review something by this Canadian atmospheric/ambient black metal horde for ages, but there records have been surprisingly difficult to get in numbers enough to review and list. But finally we got enough of this one, not brand new, but a reissue of an ep from 2009, with a single from the same year tacked on, four tracks, 42:23 in all, of some of the best, tranced out black ambience and buzzing blackness we've heard. Check out the first track, the slow building "Loudon" which sounds like an even blacker more lush Locrian, beginning with a recording of some preacher, condemning a witch to burn at the stake, all over a deep rumbling whir, the sound blossoming into a thick lush drone, all woozy warped tolling bells, swirling synths, mysterious reverbed percussion, and finally a guitar, the slowly erupts into a caustic roiling buzz, a thick crumbling distorted swell over a hunting Jeck like loop, which gives way to near silence, and recordings of what sounds like running water, beneath an acoustic guitar, the vibe sort of Comus-y, but even more harrowing and haunting, finally finishing off with another strange sample, which leads directly into the epic "Rituel Incantatoir Du Grimoire Du Sorcier", which erupts immediately into a fierce frenzied black buzz, the drums so fast they sound almost like a drone, the guitars blurred and frantic, the arrangement cyclical, weirdly looped with a little stutter, making the song swing hypnotically, and then the song explodes into an almost-waltz, epic and majestic and melodic, the blazing double kick returning, now accompanying the waltz like main riff, the sound seeming to grow ever grander, only to bliss out part way through, the guitars smeared into a lush layered sprawl, over which another mysterious sampled voice surfaces, and then it's back to the loping buzz, finishing off in a squall of synth soaked black doom churn.
The final track of the ep is all ambient, a haunting liturgical drift, all chanted voices blurred into woozy drones, delicate piano melodies, subtly manipulated sounds, almost like tape experiments, hazy and washed out and totally mesmerizingly hypnotic. Which leads directly into the single track, the even more epic 18+ minute "Thanatonaut", which spends its first 5 minutes droning ominously, swirling winds, the sound of workers toiling in the dungeons, then finally, the guitars come in, massive and heavy and huge, unfurling creeping chugging doom, an ominous creep, with more swirling synths, and some impossibly gurgly demonic vokills, the song a sonic death march, subtly psychedelic, wreathed in ambient shimmer and atmospheric swirl, a gorgeously abject slab of blackened doom, which trudges resolutely to the very end. So fucking great. While very little of this release is in fact black metal, black energy oozes from every note, and will no doubt convince the uninitiated, that Neige Et Noirceur could very well be their new favorite band.
MPEG Stream: "Loudon"
MPEG Stream: "Rituel Incantatoir Du Drimoire Du Sorcier"

NEKRASOV Cognition Of Splendid Oblivion (Siege Of Power) cd 10.98
For everyone who missed out on that last Nekrasov, which is probably most folks as it was a cd-r limited to 50 copies, half of which we got and sold in a flash, here's another new full length, from this Australian black metal / blacknoize terrorist, and this one is also limited, but never fear, not nearly as limited as that last one, and it's an actual cd, so we should have these for a while, a little while at least.
Which is good news, cuz this might be the best Nekrasov yet, let's start with the packaging, wow, a gorgeous and grim 6 panel sleeve, with intense black and green paintings, each panel featuring variations of the new super intense NKRSV logo printed in reflective clear ink, so striking, and pretty representative of the sounds within.
For those new to Nekrasov, his sound is a blasting blackness almost entirely ensconced in blacknoise, a swirling chaotic squall of hiss and grinding skree and blown out howl, within which lurks frantic riffing, relentless drumming, although much of the time, it feels implied more than actually heard. Like WOLD, Nekrasov rewards close listening, headphones strapped on, reveals a crumbling, abject hellish sound world, hateful and harsh and harrowing, it doesn't get much more brutal than this, or noisy, but on Cognition Of Splendid Oblivion more than even, Nekrasov finds a balance, letting the noise swallow certain portions whole, but dialing the noise back in places, giving us glimpses if riff or melody, of blast, ror texture. And the noise itself, is not straight up Merzbowian brutality, there's definitely nuance, almost like the noise is an artifact of the guitars being TOO distorted, the drums TOO crushing, the vokills TOO brutal...
"Psychic Epilepsy In The Butcher Of Light" might be the heaviest thing Nekrasov has recorded, the riffs seemingly MADE out of noise, churning, throbbing, the vocals struggling to be heard through the sheer crush of the riffs, the drums no more than a distant pulse. But within this black buzzing void, the sounds grow epic and majestic, soaring and struggling to shine through the thick black clouds of sound.
The other cool thing about Nekrasov that we may have mentioned before is the breadth of tone and timbre, the noise is multi dimensional, and varies from track to track, because it's not just noise for noise sake, it's part of the composition, an integral part, so sometimes the sound is hissy and brittle, other times murky and muddy, some track get all shoegazey and blissed out, others threaten to gouge your eardrums out. The second to last track starts out all dreamy and washed out, then the BM kicks in, sans noise, and we're treated to a rare glimpse of the buzz and blast behind the curtain, before the final track crushes everything in its path with some of the densest and pummeling noise possible, and even then, it's weirdly listenable, twisted and textured, a swirling blackness that grinds and howls and blasts and buzzes until finally slipping into oblivion.
MPEG Stream: "Heresy.Heresy. Heresy. Oh. Where Have You Gone"
MPEG Stream: "Psychic Epilepsy In The Butcher Of Light"
MPEG Stream: "The Person And The Yawning Abyss"

NEKRASOV Extinction (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98
Not one, but two new missives from mysterious blackmetal/blacknoize merchant Nekrasov, an Aussie one man horde who crafts some of the most twisted sickest noise drenched black metal we've ever heard. Elsewhere on this list you'll find an older title, a split/collaboration with Canadian doom-ed black metal peddlers Humiliation, but this right here is the latest bit of filth and fury, transmitted from NKRSV headquarters directly into your rotting blackened earholes. And weirdly enough, while it's still noisy as fuck, it seems Master Nekrasov has dialed back the noise a bit, right out of the gate, the awesomely titled "We Are Just An Indifferent Interpretation Of The Black Plague" explodes in a frenzy of lightning fast programmed beats, of insectoid riffing, of hellish howling vokills, but the whole thing weirdly and impossibly melodic, it's all relative of course, but woven into the fabric of the furious grinding black blast, is a distinctly hooky undercurrent, which not only makes it crazy catchy, also infuses the rest of the track with a distinctly weirdo black vibe. The second track is another blast of pounding grimness, this time the harsh vox are balanced by what sounds like monks chanting and yet still more strangely pleasing melodies, all buried under the relentless pound and churn, the result is a strange bit of almost orchestral sounding brutality.
After a lengthy bit of blackdrone drift, all muted rumbles and buried industrial percussion, a sort of militaristic windstorm ambience, the record slips back into blackened buzz, this time, much punkier, not blasting so much as pounding furiously, the vocals super hot and in-the-red, swallowing up all the other sounds with every shriek, while in the background the new surprisingly melodic side of Nekrasov struggles to shine from behind the black curtain of frantic buzzing and machinelike pound. More ambience follows, some field recorded creepiness, laced with buried bits of melody, culminating in an avalanche of crumbling distortion and harsh blurred black crunch, the final bit of pure buzzing metallic blackness comes in the form of "Chant The Name Of God In A Thousand Languages Until All Is Blood And Feces", a return to the noisy Nekrasov of old, a buzzing old school black metal smothered in thick sheets of hiss, the distortion so blown out, the vocals so processed and inhuman, the whole thing threatens to crumble to pieces, and is constantly blurring into an almost full on blackdrone.
The record finishes off with two lengthy tracks, nearly 22 minutes, of creeping, haunting, abject, miserable black ambience, the first a thick black churning dronescape, heavy glacial guitars smeared into dense streaks, trudging across a sonic wasteland, all industrial filth, whirring church organ (!) and mysterious melodic drift. And finally, the 16 + minute title track, a corrosive blackened noise drone, layered and dense, also industrial, but less rhythmic, heaving crumbling swells, the sound of cities crumbling, of collapse and decay, of death and oblivion. Brutal and intense.
MPEG Stream: "We Are Just An Indifferent Interpretation Of The Black Plague"
MPEG Stream: "Matter Is The Bastard"
MPEG Stream: "Pre-Fetal Non-Mantra"

NEKRASOV Into The No-Man's Sphere Of The Ancient Days (Exotic Corpse) cd 13.98
We always thought rap and metal would be so good together, but then rapmetal happened, and well, you know the rest of that story, granted there are a few moments on the Judgment Night soundtrack that truly shine, but not enough to erase all the other unspeakable abominations created in the name of rapmetal. To be fair though, we were envisioning something much more brutal and avant garde. Not metal bands playing funky for rappers, we were thinking insane rappers trying to flow over grinding thrashing blasting brutal metal. Say Onyx rapping with Cannibal Corpse. Or Carcass with Sensational. We still think that shit would work.
Anyway, we felt the same way about noise and metal, and well, that worked out much better. As metal bands incorporated all manner of buzz and grind and hiss and blown out production. WOLD, Portal, Vargr, it's definitely a good mix. And then there's noise bands who started introducing riffs and black buzz into their already caustic soundscapes. That too is pretty fucking cool.
Which brings us to Nekrosov, an Australian one man band, whose black metal is as noisy as all get out, but who spends so much time droning and buzzing and crafting bleak noisescapes, we're just as inclined to lump him in with the noise camp, incorporating riffs and blast beats into his distorted crumbling abject bleakscapes. Either way, it hardly matters, the point is this shit is fierce, and heavy as fuck, black and buzzing, but also hissy and blown out, lo-fi, crumbling and NOISY. Like we said, two great tastes, and for the iron eared, this is the stuff that will definitely hit the spot.
The opening is full on noise, there might be some metal going on in there, but if so it's pulled apart and flung into a roiling cauldron of black his and chaotic industrial clatter, followed up by a track that begins all rumbling and dark ambient, but quickly erupts into some grim primitive buzz, howling thrashing blackened buzz, furious and frightful, an old school black pummel, with guttural demonic croaks and insectoid riffing.
But then the third song, the longest on the disc is all ambient, field recordings of what sounds like rain, grinding coruscating feedback in the distance, thick reverberating rumbles, super grim and abstract, a song Wolf Eyes could have recorded if they were jamming with Prurient, a truly haunting soundscape, creepy and ominous, harsh and harrowing.
The rest of the disc careens from demonic squalls of black blast, to churning, roiling doomic dirges, to sprawling abstract minimal shimmer, to pounding primitive metallic crunch, to thick SUNNO)))-like glacial sludge to processed fields of scrape and creak, groan and whir, often more than one of those at once, for a truly inspired noise metal hybrid. Now if we can just get Sensational or David Banner or Bone Crusher to rap on the next Nekrosov...
MPEG Stream: "Freedom From Self Joy"
MPEG Stream: "Into The No-Man's Sphere Of The Ancient Days"
MPEG Stream: "Ashes Of The Lords In My Hand"

NEKRASOV On Certainty (self-released) cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The return of Australian black mental noizemonger Nekrasov, with another ultra limited, beautifully packaged disc of buzzing blackness and grim blacknoize. And this time we do mean LIMITED. Only 50 copies made, already sold out, we have 20 copies, and that's it, which as always is a shame, cuz this stuff is killer, and WELL deserving of more ears...
But for the lucky 20 of you who are quick on the trigger and who have an ear for this sort of furious filth, On Certainty definitely does not disappoint, Taking the black metal / white noise hybrid we were already so into, and pushing it even further out, making it more psychedelic, more space-y, the opening track sets the stage, a gorgeous post industrial noisecape, all warped muted melodies, grinding metallic textures, a churning, looped sounding corrosive drone infused with a weird melodiousness, which is quickly obliterated by the second track, and incendiary white hot speaker shredding black noise blow out, there seem to be riffs and blasting drums, and howled vocals, but they are so over saturated, so in the red, that they seem to be coming apart and bleeding into the sounds around them, the result a blast of Merzbowian blackness, like an even more abrasive and harshly heavy Wold, but like Wold, there's tons of stuff going on below the caustic surface, strange little melodies surface occasionally riffs coalesce only to split apart into shards of crunch and buzz, the vocals seem to be set on constant howl, a thick layer of anguished blur. The cool thing is that the tone and timbre is super varied, one track will be brittle and blasty, a swirling sea of high end skree, while the next will be a churning chunk of low end, or all drums, so heavily effected they crumble and crunch and stop sounding like drums at all.
Maybe too harsh for the unadventurous metalhead, but for those who like their heavy noisy, and their noise heavy, this should totally hit the spot. And be sure to stick around for the closer, maybe the prettiest song on the disc, still plenty noisy, but underneath it all a woozy washed out bit of mournful melancholia, which infuses all sorts of intense emotion into the crumble and crunch and rrrooooaaar around it.
Gorgeous packaging too, a full color oversized 6 panel fold over sleeve, lots of stark shots of landscapes and wastelands, and a super cool logo / diagram adorning the front.
MPEG Stream: "Belief"
MPEG Stream: "Nothing In The World Can Convince"
MPEG Stream: "Belief Part II"

NEKRASOV The Form Of Thought From Beast (Exotic Corpse) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Record number two from this grim one man nekronoise black metal horde from Australia. We raved about the first one, Into The No-Man's Sphere Of The Ancient Days, a few lists back, but we're led to believe that a handful of you may have not made it past the first paragraph, the intro, the hook. If that was you, well, you should be regretting it now, and when you finish reading this review, listening to the sound samples, and most likely buying one of these, go back to the No-Man's review, skip the beginning and jump right in and read the whole thing. And everything will be right.
The point of that intro, and that review, and to a certain extent this one too, was that adding noise is not always as simple as just, well, adding noise. Mixing to genres, even if they're related, just as often leads to something messy and pointless, as it does to some genius fusion. And there is definitely plenty of noisy black metal, but much of it is either thick noise over shitty metal, or just metal, with the noise an afterthought. One must have a serious handle on both THE NOISE and THE RIFF to make it work. And if you hadn't figured it out by now, Nekrosov is most definitely a master of both the noise and the riff, and manages to fuse the two into something blackly transcendent.
That said however, the opening one two punch here are a bit misleading, in that the noise and the riff are kept well separate, the first, an ominous glitched out landscape of bleak minimal buzz and drone, hiss and crackle, almost like a black metal Philip Jeck, and the second track, the furious buzzing blasting "Mountain Ash" sounds amazing, only noisy in as much as black metal is inherently noisy, super well produced, the riffs HUGE and heavy, the drums lightning fast, erupting in squalls of impossible blasts, the vocals grim and harsh, the melodies soaring, even some hooks buried beneath the buzz.
The next track however finds Nekrosov returning to more familiar blacknoise ground. Deep swirling waves of static buzz, the vocals stretched into sheets of abstract whir, churning and roiling, beneath melodies lurk and struggle to surface, held under by the buzzing blackness. It's almost like some black metal song was frozen, a single moment played over and over stretched into some sort of infinite loop, but it's not a loop as it slowly grows and sprawls and spreads out into something expansive. It's almost ambient, and strangely soothing in its droniness, without losing any of its grim buzz or black mystery.
The next few tracks veer back and forth between, blown out soundscapes of samples and percussion, blurred into a windswept buzz, what sounds like ghostlike vocals underneath processed sounds of whipping winds and the click clack of a railroad, to noise drenched old school raw black metal crush, to slow burning deep ambience, to full on classic eighties style riffing, the old masters rendered in new shades of black and buzz, finally culminating in the twenty minute closer, which begins as some bleak, post industrial Wolf Eyes-an dronescape, all haunting whirs, and strange clanks and clunks, distant moans, bits of percussion and mysterious samples, building to a wall of white hot blackened buzz, sheathed in streaks of feedback and pulled apart riffs, this is the sort of shit that would put most cd-r dronescapers to shame, but it's not over yet, the wall of noise slowly takes shape, riffs emerge from the murk, drums explode from beneath the veil of hiss, the track barreling along churning wildly, riffing and blasting, but gradually sinking ever deeper into a morass of gorgeous textured noise, crackle and buzz and hiss, blown out and super distorted, eventually swallowing the blackness whole, leaving just a brief glimpse of the black buzz, before blinking out.
Fucking AWESOME! Absolutely essential. As is the first disc, if you haven't gone back and re-checked that one out already.
Killer handmade packaging too. The cd housed in a printed fold over black and white cardstock sleeve, that sleeve, housed in an oversized sealed envelope, hand painted black and red and silver, very abstract, and super striking. And as you might have guessed. ULTRA LIMITED!!! But the special print handmade versions are limited to 100 copies and we have the very last copies. Once these are gone, you'll get the normal version. Same music, mostly the same packaging, just minus the painted outer sleeve...
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Ash"
MPEG Stream: "Today The Sun A Golden Illusion"

NEKRASOV The Form Of Thought From Beast (Siege Of Power) lp 11.98
NOW ON VINYL, this big time aQ black metal fave, record number two from grim Australian one man nekronoise black metal horde NEKRASOV!!
We raved about the first Nekrasov, Into The No-Man's Sphere Of The Ancient Days, our first exposure to this maniac's haunting blacknoize infused buzzing riffage, noise being a key element of Nekrasov's sound. But as we mentioned in that review, adding noise is not always as simple as just, well, adding noise. Mixing two genres, even if they're related, just as often leads to something messy and pointless, as it does to some genius fusion. And there is definitely plenty of noisy black metal, but much of it is either thick noise over shitty metal, or just metal, with the noise an afterthought. One must have a serious handle on both THE NOISE and THE RIFF to make it work. And if you hadn't figured it out by now, Nekrosov is most definitely a master of both the noise and the riff, and manages to fuse the two into something blackly transcendent.
That said however, the opening one two punch here are a bit misleading, in that the noise and the riff are kept well separate, the first, an ominous glitched out landscape of bleak minimal buzz and drone, hiss and crackle, almost like a black metal Philip Jeck, and the second track, the furious buzzing blasting "Mountain Ash" sounds amazing, only noisy in as much as black metal is inherently noisy, super well produced, the riffs HUGE and heavy, the drums lightning fast, erupting in squalls of impossible blasts, the vocals grim and harsh, the melodies soaring, even some hooks buried beneath the buzz.
The next track however finds Nekrosov returning to more familiar blacknoise ground. Deep swirling waves of static buzz, the vocals stretched into sheets of abstract whir, churning and roiling, beneath melodies lurk and struggle to surface, held under by the buzzing blackness. It's almost like some black metal song was frozen, a single moment played over and over stretched into some sort of infinite loop, but it's not a loop as it slowly grows and sprawls and spreads out into something expansive. It's almost ambient, and strangely soothing in its droniness, without losing any of its grim buzz or black mystery.
The next few tracks veer back and forth between, blown out soundscapes of samples and percussion, blurred into a windswept buzz, what sounds like ghostlike vocals underneath processed sounds of whipping winds and the click clack of a railroad, to noise drenched old school raw black metal crush, to slow burning deep ambience, to full on classic eighties style riffing, the old masters rendered in new shades of black and buzz, finally culminating in the twenty minute closer, which begins as some bleak, post industrial Wolf Eyes-an dronescape, all haunting whirs, and strange clanks and clunks, distant moans, bits of percussion and mysterious samples, building to a wall of white hot blackened buzz, sheathed in streaks of feedback and pulled apart riffs, this is the sort of shit that would put most cd-r dronescapers to shame, but it's not over yet, the wall of noise slowly takes shape, riffs emerge from the murk, drums explode from beneath the veil of hiss, the track barreling along churning wildly, riffing and blasting, but gradually sinking ever deeper into a morass of gorgeous textured noise, crackle and buzz and hiss, blown out and super distorted, eventually swallowing the blackness whole, leaving just a brief glimpse of the black buzz, before blinking out.
Fucking AWESOME! Absolutely essential. AND LIMITED OF COURSE!!! ONLY 500 COPIES! With all new artwork, and an 11x17 poster...
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Ash"
MPEG Stream: "Today The Sun A Golden Illusion"

NEKRASOV The Form Of Thought From Beast (self-released) dvd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not one, or two, but THREE new hateful black noise drenched black missives from mysterious Australian, an ep, a three way split, and this, a dvd documenting the visual aspect of the black sickness known as Nekrasov. Fair warning, this this is stupidly limited, like less than 50, maybe WAY less. We got TEN. That's it, they're gone once these have left the building.
We won't go into too much detail since, odds are some of you black souls who are buying he other two Nekrasov releases on this list will no doubt snag this as well, but just in case, this chunk of visual brutality is the perfect accompaniment to Nekrasov's sinister blacknoize. Beginning with a test pattern that slowly shifts from rainbow colors to shades of grey, before dissolving into blackness, this is some far out, psychedelic experimental shit, snippets of broadcasts, lots of snow and interference, a tiny glowing orb exploding into a screen full of static, some creeping children's show viewed through a wall of horizontal hold bars and some between channel static, all to the strains of some caustic slow burning buzz, as the music grows harsher, the images grow more and more abstract, all manner of interference patterns, constantly shifting textures and patterns, seriously eye melting and brainwashingly hypnotic.
This is the dvd-r version of an even more limited VHS that is long long gone. The audio companion (we assume) to the ultra grim and vicious cd of the same name. Definitely only for the black of heart and kult of spirit.

NEKRASOV Tramp And Void EP (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.
We just got in a handful of these super limited cd-rs from Australia's Nekrasov, the project of one Bob Nekrasov (no, really), formerly of Melbourne based doomsters Whitehorse, and current purveyor of abject post-industrial blackness. Tramp And Void is, as we like to say in the business, a real motherfucker. This ep is just teeming with filth and despair, the sounds within melding noisy as hell blackened ambience with super heavy black METAL. The first song is an awesome slab of crumbling electronics abuse with hateful vocals gurgling about in the slowly rumbling chaos, very cool and somewhat reminiscent of that Cities Last Broadcast cd we reviewed a while back. But when track two kicks in, it's like being launched out of an abandoned high rise and into a waiting hurricane. The sound is like a more traditionally metal WOLD meeting up with Australia's psychedelic doom/grind lords diSEMBOWELMENT. In a dog fight. Or something. Pretty intense stuff, regardless, the non-stop double kick drum gives you the impression that you ain't coming out of this one alive. Track 3 sounds like the last day of existence, with windy electronics dominating as Mr. Nekrasov spews out anguished, hateful musings until everything is overwhelmed by electronic skree. Following another vignette of slowly moving ambience, Tramp And Void concludes with an ultra depressive, mid-tempo dirge, the relentless kick drums once again letting you know there is nowhere to hide. The piece is brutal but melancholy, not to mention quite beautiful, and one of those perfect songs to end a record as you assume the fetal position and wonder what horrors await. Though brief, this ep is an intense and demanding piece of work, refusing to confine itself to any one genre in particular. That said, forward thinking metalheads will be scrambling to get their grimey hands on this one.
Again, this thing is insanely limited, not sure how many were made, but you're gonna want to act fast. Comes packaged in an awesome black and red mini-poster with an image of a forest dwelling black winged angel staring right into your soul.
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Track 5"

NEKRASOV / ADERLATING split (Chrome Leaf) lp 14.98
A pretty strange, but in many ways pretty perfect pairing, cult Aussie black metal / black noize horde Nekrasov, and industrial cinematic black doom project Aderlating, which just so happens to be an offshoot of the mighty Gnaw Their Tongues.
Both blackened, both noisy, here the two drift together and end up meeting somewhere right in the middle, floating in the hellish black abyss, heavier on the ambient than the black metal, more abstract and atmospheric than harsh and harrowing.
Nekrasov offers up a side long stunner, which begins as a roiling minimal dronescape of textured blackness, muted streaks of submerged melody, buried vocals, creeping slow motion pulses, constantly shifting layers, deep dense overtones, creaks and scrapes, utterly haunting and otherworldly, occasionally building to a SUNNO)))-like wall of sound, before slipping back into something more slithery and cinematic. By The end, the sound has reached a fever pitch, a swirling, caterwauling cacophony of inhuman vocalizations, tangled black tendrils of buzz and skree, all woven into an organic, heaving blackened ambient drone driven sonic beast, before finishing off with a stretch of hushed minimal shimmer.
Aderlating, aka Gnaw Their Tongues, otherwise known as Mories, counters with a set of three interlocking soundscapes, abject and industrial, set amidst a sea of softly swirling black tones, shapes and sounds seem to creak and groan, like some hellish machine, churning away just below the surface, spewing gouts of feedback, and sinking ever deeper into the vile black void that somehow keeps it afloat. Fragments of voice, melody, surface here and there, only to be swallowed up again. Occasionally the proceedings seems to almost coalesce into some sort of garish subterranean cabaret, but still cloaked in swirling swaths of hellish hiss and black buzz, and epic rumbling low end that threatens to devour all the other sounds. Fragmented barely there rhythms lead into an avalanche of crumbling distortion and in-the-red psychedelic blacknoize, which roils and churns and explodes in a frenzy of sonic chaos, before returning again, to its more tranquil state, which even itself is rife with industrial clatter and swaths of muted caustic noise, finishing off in a blaze of brilliant bristling blackness.
Gorgeous packaging, stunning cover art, black inner sleeve and pressed on sick green, white and black splattered vinyl.
LIMITED TO 300!!!

NEKRASOV / HUMILIATION split (New Scream Industry) cd 12.98
BACK IN STOCK!!
Nekrasov, the one man Aussie blacknoize wrecking crew who have long terrorized aQ with epic blasts of furious blackness, teams up with Canadian black metal misanthropes Humiliation, for a seriously malformed chunk of audial evil. And while it's a split, it's also a partial collaboration, each band contributing three tracks, one of which has been augmented and fucked with by the other.
The proceedings begin with Nekrasov unfurling drifting clouds of muted murk, which give way to a barrage of blurred riffage, then blown out tumbling blast beats, all gnarled and blurred, weirdly pretty and washed out, Humiliation adding various sounds to the already dense racket. For the next two tracks, Nekrasov goes it alone, first the epic (and epically titled) "From Where I Sit The Sky Was Full Of Wrath And Ill Will", a sprawling 11 minutes of tangled spidery guitar melody, creeping droned out drift, hushed industrial ambience, ominous orchestral swells, harsh howled vokills, a brief blast of black metal crush, and then a tripped out squall of twisted effects drenched blackened noise. Finally, things finish off with a a super abstract final jam, all lumbering machine like lurch, rumbles and creaks, clatter and processed grinds and buzzes, eventually smoothing out into a deep subterranean sounding low end thrum.
The first Humiliation track begins as a haunting whirl of strange processed winds and voices, almost like some sort of EVP style field recording. Soon the voices become more pronounced, wreathed in effects, the ambience peppered with disembodied riffs, bits of chug, soaring bits of minor key melody, all suspended in a field of hiss and whir and buzz, eventually exploding into some seriously filthy and damaged black doom, harsh vokills, lo-fi drum damage, thick black chugs, a strange bit of Khanate-meets-Abruptum-meets-Burzum-meets-Wolf Eyes, a spaced out bit of grimness, eventually fading into a soft swirl of music box like melody and distant rumble, before exploding into the follow up, another chunk of lumbering hateful black stumble, which over the course of the next 8 minutes drifts from abject industrial pound, to tripped out Gnaw Their Tongues style almost orchestral minimal doom, to clattery creepy soundtracky ambience, to Swans like Teutonic pound, to almost dreamy otherworldly drift.
The final track, begins like another slab of industrial flecked doomic plod and crush, wreathed in a corrosive halo of crumbling distortion and malfunctioning effects, before the riffing drops out completely, leaving a roiling expanse of fractured feedback, strange samples, grinding scrape and howl, all wrapped in wildly explosive layers of blown out buzz.
More necessary Nekrasov, and something serious to whet your appetite for more fucked up filth from the mysterious Humiliation...
MPEG Stream: NEKRASOV "From Where I Sit The Sky Was Full Of Wrath And Ill Will (w/Humiliation)"
MPEG Stream: HUMILIATION "Barbarians (w/Nekrasov)"

NEKRASOV / MOON / NEKROS MANTEIA The Haunting Resonance (Fall Of Nature) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So, apparently Australia is more than just adorable animals and funny accents. No, many bands from Australia are simply scary as shit! And what better way to throw yourself headfirst into the maelstrom than with this KILLER 3 way split, featuring some of the island continent's most depressive and unsettling blackened exports?
The Haunting Resonance is, as the liner notes briefly explain, a conceptual album "regarding the matter of ghosts, spirits, and phantoms" and what role, if any, they would play if the earth was wiped clean of all humanity. Pretty upbeat stuff, huh? And while it is impossible to discern just what is being sung, the music more than ably conveys this dark subject matter.
Nekrasov, whose awesome Tramp And Void ep is reviewed elsewhere on this list, inaugurates the affair with "That Which Hunts...", a burly juggernaut of a song combining Wolf Eyes-styled electronic terrorism with esoteric black metal. This song is like a continuously swirling black hole, constantly turning on and devouring itself. The song shifts, without a moments notice, from creepy, slow moving ambience to full on black metal fury, with gothy keyboards smeared across the landscape. The end result is like the soundtrack to dying alone in the wilderness, where instead of finding some source of divine strength, you simply realize that this is it. The last half of this psychedelically informed piece is a haunting, droney loop with all kinds of high end to make you nice and uncomfortable. Its repetition is its unsuspecting source of power, and before long, you are lulled into a trance where you are powerless to do anything but adjust your body to the ominous rhythms of your dying breaths.
The middle part of the trilogy is represented by Moon, who follow a similar approach to merging black metal atmospheres with more contemplative noise elements. "Forgotten Spirits" drones about as labored pulses carry the piece to a more metal (but still really weird and avant-garde) second half. While not quite as furious as Nekrasov, Moon's contribution is equally creepy and unsettling, with what may or may not be a human voice howling incessantly until the song just stops.
Bringing The Haunting Resonance to its grim conclusion is Nekros Manteia with the song "The Final Ghost". Slow, focused drums hold the foundation while delayed guitars float amongst rumbling drones. Stylistically, it makes sense when you realize the song features guitar work from Bonnie Mercer of Grey Daturas. Both bands follow a psychedelic approach that manages to sound both expansive and concentrated within its own realm of noise. Eventually, the band locks into a crusty, doom laden groove before switching to a sparse, post-rock dirge with weird, croaking vocals.
While not exactly the feel good hit of the summer, The Haunting Resonance is a worthwhile listen in its own right, and sure to appeal to those willing to explore the darker realms of noise and the more insular, lonely aspects of outsider black metal. Recommended. And apparently quite limited as well. We got a bunch of these, not sure we can get more when we run out...
MPEG Stream: NEKRASOV "That Which Hunts..."
MPEG Stream: MOON "Forgotten Spirits"

NEMESIS The Day Of Retribution (GMR Music) cd 16.98
Been wanting to list this reissue for a while, finally got enough of a handful in stock to do so. If you're into doom metal at all, real old school doom metal, then you're familiar with Swedish legends Candlemass. The premier epic doom band of the '80s, responsible for classic albums like Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, Nightfall, and Ancient Dreams, who are still at it today, most recently bringing the hammer down with Death Magic Doom reviewed here a few months ago.
Well, way way back in their misty past there lurks Nemesis. This is where Candlemass's career of doom began. Featuring future Candlemass bassist/bandleader Leif Edling, and axewielder Christian Weberyd, Nemesis recorded a 12" ep in 1984 entitled The Day Of Retribution. Here it is reissued, complete with original PINK cover art (yay! we love anything, especially anything metal, with a pink cover!). The five songs of the ep, some of them later reused in Candlemass compositions, are examples of raw, wrenching doom dirge at its most basic best. Like Black Sabbath from beyond the grave, gone even more gothic and grim. Maybe I'm just a Candlemass fanboy, but this stuff still gives me the chills. Part of Nemesis' charm belongs to the unpolished vocals, from Leif Edling himself. He's not a soaring, operatic vocalist like Candlemass's best known singer Messiah Marcolin, not at all, but he sounds like he means it, wailing like a damned soul, in a lower register. The chugging riffs and Leif's anguished vox convey a lot of emotive power, enhanced too by the rough production, making the perfect mystic music for blasphemous rites and psychological breakdowns, conjuring Satanic black shapes within one's mind...
This new reissue, with liner notes from Leif, is filled out with six bonus tracks. A prior reissue had paired the Nemesis ep with early Candlemass demos, but this includes even earlier, more cult Nemesis demos instead! Tinny and distorted, but definitely of historical, doomological interest, after you've enjoyed the main course.
MPEG Stream: "Black Messiah"
MPEG Stream: "The King Is Dead"

NENAVIST Inhuman (Legion Blotan) cd 11.98

NEPTUNE TOWERS Caravans To Empire Algol (Peaceville) cd 14.98
We love Fenriz. Not just cuz he's the drummer from legendary black metal duo Darkthrone, but cuz he's a funny, super opinionated, black metal mouthpiece, whose musical knowledge, especially when it comes to metal, but well beyond, are above reproach, and his related rants are hilarious. There's a reason they've been reissuing all the Darkthrone records with a second disc featuring Fenriz's 'director's commentary'. There's a reason he was the focus of the recent black metal documentary Until The Light Takes Us. And if you have the DVD, and there's a reason one of the bonus features is Fenriz in a classroom, with a bunch of blackboards, schooling the rest of us on the history/roots/development of black metal. But as we've discovered over the years, and as the above would attest to, Fenriz is not your normal black metaller. For one, he has a thing for techno, and electronic music as a whole, not to mention a bunch of other seriously non-metallic musics, one of which is spaced out kosmische synth music, a la Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jean Michel Jarre.
Which resulted in a band mysteriously named Neptune Towers (aka Fenriz and only Fenriz), and a pair of records (with a third that was unreleased) woven together by some overarching sci-fi concept. Sure, by now, synth projects, well, everybody's got one, but in 1994, to have some underground black metal icon release a synth record, well, it was a bit shocking. But what was even more shocking, was how goddamn good they were. Listening to this stuff again now, if the circumstances were a bit different, Fenriz could have essentially been Expo 70 or Zombi neary two decades ago! Sure lots of metalheads probably have this or want it, but all the kids today into the whole retro Goblin / Carpenter kosmische synth axis, will be blown away to discover this slab of brooding, epic, droned out, synthscapery.
Caravans To Empire Algol is part one of Fenriz's Algol mythology, and is self described as "Deep Space Alien Astral Synth", which is pretty much right on the money. The cover featuring a red hued cloud of stars, some mysterious corner of the galaxy, the liner notes simply read: "Escape The Earth. Unlike many synthesizer/space releases, this album has no vocals or drums. This is purposefully in order to enable the listeners to keep 'both feet off the ground.' Vocals and drums are particularly earthbound instruments that would eclipse the mission of this disc. Escape the earth." The original liner notes further suggest that the record "will only reach their optimal goal when heard alone. NOT FOR COLLECTIVE LISTENING." And finally, "Only effectively listenable on large black stereos. Deep space awaits. Neptune Towers supports extinction of all organic life forms. NO TAKEOFF. NO LIFE." And while that may have been a bit tongue in cheek, the sounds here seem to back up those boisterous claims, unfurling a seriously chilling sprawl of isolationist drift, like the soundtrack for some planetarium light show, but an old crumbling planetarium, tucked away in the woods, seemingly abandoned, except for these strange sounds emanating, and instead of stars projected on the ceiling, the building has crumbled, leaving the listener to stare directly into the blackness of deep space.
Two epic tracks, the title track clocking in at 24:35, and its sonic sequel, the 12:39 "The Arrival At Empire Algol" closing out this first installment of our sonic journey. Thick sitar like buzz, droned out, and drifting above a hissing swirl of shimmer that seems to float from speaker to speaker, the sound occasionally building into something more distorted and crumbling, almost like SUNNO))) or some sort of black noise combo, but blurred and billowing, haunting and ominous, the sounds rough and raw, heavily textured, primitive and lo-fi, but somehow transcending their genesis and blossoming into something truly cosmic, a pulsing krautrock style synth throb just beneath the surface.
The vibe is murky and minimal, but also trancey and psychedelic, a serious slab of home brewed kosmische, akin to some kid building a time machine in his bedroom, it's like Fenriz tinkered with his crappy old synth, until it opened a portal to some other dimension, to the far reaches of the universe, and these are the transmissions that came pouring out. And while lots of synth music borders on the new agey, there's nothing wimpy about this, this is synth music that rattles your skull and loosens your bowels, it really does evoke some sort of otherworld, some journey into the unknowable, conjuring up not just the mysterious of the unknown, but the harrowing journey to get there.
About nine minutes in, the clouds part a bit, letting shards of prismatic melody shine through, giving the proceedings a celestial vibe, but soon it settles back into something much more haunting and ominous, long tones, unravelling over a softly swirling sea of tangled melodic murk, yet it remains still weirdly majestic, until the almost bombastic final minutes, dirgey, and distorted, but a groovy bassline that seems to lurk just below the surface throughout, which is what gives this a subtly krautrock feel, and that near the end is panned hard and swings from speaker to speaker, while the synths grind away, slipping back into the sitar like buzz of the opening few minutes.
The second track is much more minimal, the buzz pushed into the background, a low level insectoid hum draped over the glimmering sonic starfield, the feel here even more raw and primitive, a mad scientist concoction, the buried melodies, and delicate textures doused in lots of noise and hiss, and strange sonic artifacts, intentional or otherwise, most likely the limitations of the original synth/4-track set up, but those limitations become as much a part of the sound as anything else, all smeared into a washed out haze, rife with strange barely there melodies, keening feedback, buried percussive thumps, and layers of thick undulating low end whir, all of which eventually devolves into a blurry sprawl of flanged rumbles and melodic moans, all sprawled into an endless series of blackened swells, laced with strange little bits of electronic filigree, sent into the ether like some doomed sonic transmission.
So incredible. ANYONE who digs all the dark synth kosmische cinematic soundscaping that is going on today, will flip for this. Especially if you have a large black stereo to play it on. Comes with updated artwork, swank slipcover, and new liner notes from Fenriz, explaining the genesis of Neptune Towers, and exactly what happened to the lost third part of the Algol trilogy.
MPEG Stream: "Caravans To Empire Algol"
MPEG Stream: "The Arrival At Empire Algol"

NEPTUNE TOWERS Transmissions From Empire Algol (Peaceville) cd 14.98
Back in October, we wanted to make the reissue of Caravans To Empire Algol, the first album of blackened kosmische drone-synth drift from Neptune Towers our Record Of The Week, in fact we wanted to make both that AND this, a sort of dual ROTW. Both were records many of us here have loved for YEARS, so we were super excited for the chance to share them with all of you. Sadly, we were never able to get enough copies of that first one at the time to make it a proper ROTW, but we did manage to get a enough of the THIS one, so finally, Neptune Towers achieves aQ Record Of The Week status!! (And making it even more ROTW-worthy, this one, unlike the reissue of Caravans, includes previously unreleased bonus tracks from the never released third installment in the trilogy!)
Neptune Towers was in fact the alter ego of hilariously and hyper opinionated black metal mouthpiece Fenriz, one half of black metal legends Darkthrone, which is initially how we discovered Neptune Towers, Caravans To Empire Algol being the first in a planned high concept trilogy. But the music of Neptune Towers was about as far removed from the black buzz of Darkthrone as can be, instead, Fenriz in his NT guise trafficked in blissed out, kosmische, psychedelic synthscapery a la Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, which considering the current onslaught of retro-synth outifts, proves Fenriz quite prescient back in the day. And thus, for ANYONE into all the modern day practitioners of sci-fi synthwave psychedelia. Zombi, Umberto, Majeure, Cloudland Canyon, M. Geddes Gengras, Gatekeeper, Xander Harris, Roll The Dice, Bitchin Bajas, etc., Neptune Towers is definitely worth checking out. But be warned, it's of a much darker strain than a lot of that stuff, gritty and low fidelity, but still impossibly spacious and epic. Black billows of spectral synth swirl around grinding cascades of low end buzz, everything swaddled in clouds of sci-fi squiggle and driven by dense echo drenched pulsations.
Like Caravans, the record is divided into two epic halves, the two lengthy tracks that make up Transmissions seeming to ooze from the darkest reaches of the galaxy, spectral sonic artifacts captured by arcane machinery in some abandoned bunker, the music pouring forth from the old dusty speakers, captured on those giant spinning tape reels, played back to a room full of baffled scientists, given this fleeting glimpse into some other world, in some far away galaxy, darkly cinematic, gritty and grimy, very rough around the edges, lush layers of grislty squelch, that suddenly explode into dizzying swirls of prismatic shimmer, all glistening and glimmering and downright new agey, before being sucked back down into the roiling blackened space-synth morass, only to emerge seconds later, transformed into a weirdly motorik pulsing groove, which again, soon dissipates leaving just shadows and ghostly melodic traces.
The sound throughout is in constant, glorious flux, hazy cosmic percolations, fractured, fragmented rhythms, swirling shimmering melodies, long droned out sprawls pocked with lazer beam blorp and space-sonar pings, the sound most definitely drifting into Goblin / John Carpenter terriroty here and there, with haunting little melodic refrains, that resurface, like the theme from some imaginary seventies sci-fi art film, or the perfect music for some blackened planetarium show.
This reissue tacks on four bonus tracks, excerpts from the aborted third part of the trilogy, 1994's Space Lab, four short sonic fragments that continue on right from where Transmissions fades out, continuing further into the reaches of the cosmos, lush, chordal swirs, arpeggiated melodies, all drifting through wide open expanses of deep black thrum, drifting somnambulently from swoonsome softly shimmering blackened cosmic-drone, to blissfully brooding synth-psych mesmer.
Comes in a swank slipcase too!
MPEG Stream: "First Communion. Mode: Direct"
MPEG Stream: "To Cold Void Desolation"

NERO ORDER The Tower (self-released) cd-r 11.98
Long in the works debut full length from these SF heavies, four songs, 54 minutes, a sprawling collection of lurching lumbering, trudging post metal apocalyptic, swampy emo dirgery. And we don't mean emo in the mall punk sense, no we're talking, earnest and intense, epic and EMOTIONAL, the vocals specifically, a wild, nearly unhinged caterwaul, dramatic and occasionally over the top, sounding a bit like a harsher Daniel Higgs (and when it does, the band almost sounds like a metal Lungfish!), or a more metal David Yow, a little like the guy from NoMeansNo oddly enough, or even a more manic Michael Gira, with an intense, snarling delivery, actually sung too, not of that gurgle and shriek, and those real vocals add pathos and intensity to the already swaggery, slithery doomy crush underneath.
Equal parts math metal, post metal and doom metal, these guys unfurl epic sun baked expanses of totally epic doom blues brutality, churning heaviness that slips from gnarled Birthday Party like scumrock to soaring slow building Neurosis style pummel, the guitars drifting from jangle to roar, from shimmer do droned out and blackened, often in the same song. Long stretches of hypnotic cyclical riffing give way to bursts of chaotic metal psych jams, give way to swampy noise rock strut, eventually returning to the lumbering downtuned heaviness that seems to be the band's core, but those vocals soar above it all, tortured and patently UNmetal, helping transform this post metal avant doom into something truly unique. Features guest vocals from Eugene Robinson of Oxbow!
LIMITED to 100 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Signs Of Five"
MPEG Stream: "Every Pillar And It's Crumbling"

NETHER The Wholeness of Nothingness (NOTHingness REcords) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Got just TWO copies of this, found tucked away in the closet here, originally released in 2003, looooong out of print, the label too is now defunct, this is some seriously epic, black hole, bottomless low end deepdarkdronemusic. Bleak and hushed, ambient minimal shimmer, cold and barren, cinematic and utterly ominous, shot through with streaks of crumbling distortion, the whole thing so gorgeously haunting and harrowing. Definitely for fans of Thomas Koner, and other masters of the grim black drone.
Packaged in an oversized dvd case, full color printed cover, and as mentioned above, out of print, last two copies EVER.
MPEG Stream: "The Wholeness of Nothingness"

NEURAXIS Truth Beyond... (Willowtip) cd 14.98

NEUROSIS A Sun That Never Sets (Relapse) cd 16.98
The new, eagerly awaited full-length from the Bay Area's biggest metal band -- whoops, are they really a metal band anymore? They really haven't embraced that tag for a while now, if ever, being more artsy and tribal and droney and avantgarde than what most folks think "metal" is anyway (although we know there ARE lots of metal bands just as weird and innovative). Regardless of the terminology, Neurosis has also always been wayyy heavy. This new disc doesn't exactly lack heaviness, but also seems heavily influenced by some of the acts that Neurosis will be sharing the stage with at their Beyond The Pale festival this weekend: Michael (Swans) Gira, Zoviet France, Tarentel, Amber Asylum... It's a kinder, gentler Neurosis. There's less screaming (and more Gira/Tom Wait-ish singing), more quiet post-rock moments, less of the out-and-out metallic pummel to overload your senses than found on classics like "Enemy of the Sun". But it's still dark and plodding...
RealAudio clip: "The Tide"
RealAudio clip: "Watchfire"

NEUROSIS A Sun That Never Sets (Relapse) dvd 19.98
Live visuals from everyone's favorite Bay Area art-punk-metal legends.

NEUROSIS Enemy Live NYC '94 (Neurot) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Cold, Enemy, Locust, Lost, Takeahnase. If those song titles mean anything to you, you'll probably want this. The Bay Area apocalyptic metalcore artisans captured live to cassette at New York's Limelight back during their "Enemy of the Sun" days. Heavy.

NEUROSIS Enemy Of The Sun (Neurot) cd 14.98
The best part about one of our old favorite records getting reissued, especially one that predates the New Arrivals list, is that we finally get the chance to try and put into words exactly what it is that made the record so special to us. Neurosis' Enemy Of The Sun is particularly overdue for some gushing praise, to this day it remains one of our favorite records ever, and definitely our favorite Neurosis record. Although it should be noted, that Allan and Andee have spent much of today arguing about which is the better Neurosis record, this, 1993's Enemy Of The Sun or 1992's Souls At Zero, and while arguments could be made for plenty of other Neurosis records as well, we were at least able to agree that it most definitely boiled down to one of these two, but since Andee's the one writing this review, guess which one wins here!
Living in the Bay Area, Oakland's Neurosis were our heavy music heroes, crusty punks who embraced metal, transforming their early punk sound into something much more stately and epic and heavy, without losing touch with their punk ethics, their new sound as most folks by now know would go on to influence an insane number of the heavy bands of today. With no Neurosis there would be no Isis, no Pelican, and by extension of that, no metallic post rock bands at all, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. While Allan posits that Souls At Zero was the record where Neurosis made the shift from punk to metal (and chamber prog), Andee further posits that Enemy Of The Sun was the record where that new sound was perfected, the brooding slow builds, the mysterious samples, the Ozzy-like vox, the crushing doomy dirge-y pummel, the squalls of crushing heaviness, the sound so moody and atmospheric, yet so heavy and intense. Record opener "Lost" has to be one of the most perfect songs EVER, beginning with a haunting sample, simple high-hat rhythm, low-slung slow motion Joy Divisiony bassline, big bass kick and those Ozzy-ish vox, when the band kicks in, they sound almost industrial, like a Ministry track slowed down to a crawl, super dynamic, stop/start, big blasts of guitar crunch, and wailing harmonics, all underpinned by more samples, lurching and hypnotic, until finally the band explode into a churning downtuned blowout, only to slip right back into that start/stop harmonic driven drift, the song shifts a few more times, changing it up completely for the more punkish pounding outro, that also slips right back into chugging epic Neurosis style bombast.
As if that track weren't devastating enough, "Raze The Stray" is just as good, with its strange Middle Eastern sung intro, minor key piano, soaring strings, acoustic guitar, the haunting revery shattered by a dense grinding tribal blowout, roiling and fierce as fuck, howled and heavy, only to again slip right back into that tranquil ambient drift, now laced with bells, and woozy bass. This track too changes gears and directions, weirdly proggy, but somehow still cohesive, the second movement featuring a loping mathy midtempo groove, with a killer scraped guitar part and more chuggy chunky guitar crush.
We could go through the whole record, track by track, but you can probably figure out by now that they all rule, although it is worth mentioning the nearly half hour long closing track "Cleanse", a sprawling drum jam that definitely hints at future Neurosis side project Tribes Of Neurot, a hypnotic pounding Crash Worship style epic, laced with didgeridoo, and strange strangled vocalizations, those vocals wreathed in effects, and looped and sent spinning from speaker to speaker, the whole second half of the track a druggy damaged soundscape of hard panned, effects drenched, vocal trip-out. Woah. So fucking great, and even nearly two decades later, this still sounds better, and heavier, and more original than most of the stuff out there...
The new reissue features the same bonus tracks as the 1999 version, a demo and a live track, but this new one comes housed in a swank slipcover...
MPEG Stream: "Lost"
MPEG Stream: "Raze The Stray"
MPEG Stream: "Cold Ascending"

NEUROSIS Enemy Of The Sun (Relapse) 2lp 37.00
NOW REISSUED ON VINYL!!!
The best part about one of our old favorite records getting reissued, especially one that predates the New Arrivals list, is that we finally get the chance to try and put into words exactly what it is that made the record so special to us. Neurosis' Enemy Of The Sun is particularly overdue for some gushing praise, to this day it remains one of our favorite records ever, and definitely our favorite Neurosis record. Although it should be noted, that Allan and Andee have spent much of today arguing about which is the better Neurosis record, this, 1993's Enemy Of The Sun or 1992's Souls At Zero, and while arguments could be made for plenty of other Neurosis records as well, we were at least able to agree that it most definitely boiled down to one of these two, but since Andee's the one writing this review, guess which one wins here!
Living in the Bay Area, Oakland's Neurosis were our heavy music heroes, crusty punks who embraced metal, transforming their early punk sound into something much more stately and epic and heavy, without losing touch with their punk ethics, their new sound as most folks by now know would go on to influence an insane number of the heavy bands of today. With no Neurosis there would be no Isis, no Pelican, and by extension of that, no metallic post rock bands at all, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. While Allan posits that Souls At Zero was the record where Neurosis made the shift from punk to metal (and chamber prog), Andee further posits that Enemy Of The Sun was the record where that new sound was perfected, the brooding slow builds, the mysterious samples, the Ozzy-like vox, the crushing doomy dirge-y pummel, the squalls of crushing heaviness, the sound so moody and atmospheric, yet so heavy and intense. Record opener "Lost" has to be one of the most perfect songs EVER, beginning with a haunting sample, simple high-hat rhythm, low-slung slow motion Joy Divisiony bassline, big bass kick and those Ozzy-ish vox, when the band kicks in, they sound almost industrial, like a Ministry track slowed down to a crawl, super dynamic, stop/start, big blasts of guitar crunch, and wailing harmonics, all underpinned by more samples, lurching and hypnotic, until finally the band explode into a churning downtuned blowout, only to slip right back into that start/stop harmonic driven drift, the song shifts a few more times, changing it up completely for the more punkish pounding outro, that also slips right back into chugging epic Neurosis style bombast.
As if that track weren't devastating enough, "Raze The Stray" is just as good, with its strange Middle Eastern sung intro, minor key piano, soaring strings, acoustic guitar, the haunting revery shattered by a dense grinding tribal blowout, roiling and fierce as fuck, howled and heavy, only to again slip right back into that tranquil ambient drift, now laced with bells, and woozy bass. This track too changes gears and directions, weirdly proggy, but somehow still cohesive, the second movement featuring a loping mathy midtempo groove, with a killer scraped guitar part and more chuggy chunky guitar crush.
We could go through the whole record, track by track, but you can probably figure out by now that they all rule, although it is worth mentioning the nearly half hour long closing track "Cleanse", a sprawling drum jam that definitely hints at future Neurosis side project Tribes Of Neurot, a hypnotic pounding Crash Worship style epic, laced with didgeridoo, and strange strangled vocalizations, those vocals wreathed in effects, and looped and sent spinning from speaker to speaker, the whole second half of the track a druggy damaged soundscape of hard panned, effects drenched, vocal trip-out. Woah. So fucking great, and even nearly two decades later, this still sounds better, and heavier, and more original than most of the stuff out there...
MPEG Stream: "Lost"
MPEG Stream: "Raze The Stray"
MPEG Stream: "Cold Ascending"

NEUROSIS Given To The Rising (Neurot) cd 14.98
New albums from old faves come and go, but when you say, there's a new Neurosis, we sit up and pay attention. Like contemporaries the Melvins, they've reached an iconic, utterly influential status at this point in their long career -- and yet still keep making rad, relevant albums that keep pushing their now archetypal sound further. Pioneers who keep on pioneering, getting better and better, even as hordes of other bands copy them and try to keep up. The word on the street was that Given To The Rising was a "return to the heavy" for Neurosis, not like they ever really left. But yes, this is HEAVY. We can't say (like we did about A Sun That Never Sets) that is is a "kinder, gentler" Neurosis. Not at all. The riffs will slay you, the vocals are fierce, yet the scope (musical, emotional) of this disc is impressively broad... The proggy, psychedelic, post-rock and (dare we say) gloom-pop melodic elements that run like a dark thread through their discography are present on these ten tracks, mostly all of epic lengths (as usual). Harrowing power. Depressive beauty. Ritual rumble. Alienated lyrics. Soft-loud dynamics. Droning space-outs. All utterly "owned" by the Neurosis crew. This band just levels everything and everyone in their path!
This is one that will satisfy old school Neurosis fans and yet would be a perfect first-time Neurosis experience too. For instance -- although we can't imagine this is too likely! -- if there are any Jesu fans out there who haven't ever heard Neurosis, do yourself a favor and pick this up pronto!! Arguably their best album since 1999's classic Times Of Grace.
PS while supplies last, we've got a bonus dvd that comes with the cd... oh and also there WILL be a vinyl pressing, but it's not out yet.
MPEG Stream: "Given To The Rising"
MPEG Stream: "Fear And Sickness"
MPEG Stream: "Water Is Not Enough"

NEUROSIS Given To The Rising (Neurot) 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 ON VINYL!
New albums from old faves come and go, but when you say, there's a new Neurosis, we sit up and pay attention. Like contemporaries the Melvins, they've reached an iconic, utterly influential status at this point in their long career -- and yet still keep making rad, relevant albums that keep pushing their now archetypal sound further. Pioneers who keep on pioneering, getting better and better, even as hordes of other bands copy them and try to keep up. The word on the street was that Given To The Rising was a "return to the heavy" for Neurosis, not like they ever really left. But yes, this is HEAVY. We can't say (like we did about A Sun That Never Sets) that is is a "kinder, gentler" Neurosis. Not at all. The riffs will slay you, the vocals are fierce, yet the scope (musical, emotional) of this disc is impressively broad... The proggy, psychedelic, post-rock and (dare we say) gloom-pop melodic elements that run like a dark thread through their discography are present on these ten tracks, mostly all of epic lengths (as usual). Harrowing power. Depressive beauty. Ritual rumble. Alienated lyrics. Soft-loud dynamics. Droning space-outs. All utterly "owned" by the Neurosis crew. This band just levels everything and everyone in their path!
This is one that will satisfy old school Neurosis fans and yet would be a perfect first-time Neurosis experience too. For instance -- although we can't imagine this is too likely! -- if there are any Jesu fans out there who haven't ever heard Neurosis, do yourself a favor and pick this up pronto!! Arguably their best album since 1999's classic Times Of Grace.
MPEG Stream: "Given To The Rising"
MPEG Stream: "Fear And Sickness"
MPEG Stream: "Water Is Not Enough"

NEUROSIS Honor Found In Decay (Neurot) cd 14.98
Really, at this point, what else is there to say about long running epic doom/sludge outfit Neurosis that we (or someone else) hasn't already? Their sound, ever evolving, remains a template for a million bands that have and will continue to follow in their gargantuan footsteps. The arrival of each new record is an event unto itself. Their performances, increasingly rare, rival Godspeed and Phish and the Grateful Dead in terms of obsessive and slavish fan worship, with fans driving hours, even flying to see them perform. And anyone (including us) will tell you it's well worth it, their performances visceral and emotional, punishing and epic. And they continue to masterfully craft their own brand of brooding, majestic heaviness, even now, nearly THIRTY years in.
This latest full length finds them once again returning to Electrical Audio in Chicago, with Steve Albini manning the mixing board, having been recording them since 1999's Times Of Grace, and while we all have our favorite Neurosis records (Andee's is Enemy Of The Sun, Allan's is Souls At Zero), they've yet to make a bad record. And while they continue to crush and pummel, they have also mellowed with age, or maybe more accurately, gotten more comfortable expanding the group' sonic palette, and it definitely suits them, this new record might be the most varied, and in some ways the least heavy yet.
The opener almost sounds like Neurosis channeling Lungfish, the same sort of looped trancelike mesmer, with the vocals delivered in a staccato sung/spoken bark, the vibe a little bit groovy too, a strange opener for sure, but about halfway through it slips into huge heaving riffery, and yet instead of sounding crushingly heavy, it's more sort of washed out and psychedelic, the heaving riffs, laced with woozy melodies, and weary clean vox.
We can't help but think Steve Von Till's and Scott Kelly's forays into folky singer songwriter territory and their obsession with the late great Townes Van Zandt, hasn't informed the sound of Neurosis, with "At The Well" starting off with some spare guitar shimmer, and Von Till's raspy croon, and even when the hammer falls, it isn't the same sort of Neurosis pummel we would have expected, it remains mournful and melodic, and a little bit twangy, and it might just be our imagination, but we hear slivers of slide guitar drifting in the background, which gives the song even more of a melancholic vibe. "Bleeding The Pigs" too starts off a bit croony, but quickly evolves into something more fierce and feral only to lock into a long stretch of droned out psychedelia, that reimagined with different instrumentation could easily have turned into some brooding dark folk. And even in the heavy parts, that folkiness subtly surfaces again and again.
And as the record plays out, you begin to realize that in some ways, this is in fact a way different sounding group, with the churning, gnarled super distorted heaviness, relegated to a supporting role, the second half of "Casting Of The Ages", the final few minutes of "Bleeding The Pigs", sounding especially like old Neurosis with weird samples, tribal drumming, and anguished bellowed vox, but really, most of the rest of the record seems to be more contemplative, with strings surfacing here and there, acoustic guitars, long stretches of post rocky minimalism, brooding expanses of hushed drift, and then when the riffs come in, the pounding drums, they seem to be infused with a sort of mournful energy, and seem to be recorded in such a way, that the sound is more psychedelic, more lush and enveloping, a hammer wrapped in velvet, the band unfurling some of their moodiest, and most majestic material yet, which we imagine, live, could still translate into something utterly brutal and punishing, but here, exists as something much more measured and mature, a darkly melodic, occasionally metallic, moody musical fugue that is as much brooding heavy post rock and roiling psychedelic heaviness as it is doom dirge crush, and more often than not, much more so.
While they last, we have the limited version in slightly oversized gatefold digi-packaging, after which we'll have the slipcased jewelcase edition.
MPEG Stream: "We All Rage In Gold"
MPEG Stream: "At The Well"
MPEG Stream: "My Heart For Deliverance"

NEUROSIS Honor Found In Decay (Relapse) 2lp 44.00
NOW ON (DOUBLE, SWANK) VINYL!!
Really, at this point, what else is there to say about long running epic doom/sludge outfit Neurosis that we (or someone else) hasn't already? Their sound, ever evolving, remains a template for a million bands that have and will continue to follow in their gargantuan footsteps. The arrival of each new record is an event unto itself. Their performances, increasingly rare, rival Godspeed and Phish and the Grateful Dead in terms of obsessive and slavish fan worship, with fans driving hours, even flying to see them perform. And anyone (including us) will tell you it's well worth it, their performances visceral and emotional, punishing and epic. And they continue to masterfully craft their own brand of brooding, majestic heaviness, even now, nearly THIRTY years in.
This latest full length finds them once again returning to Electrical Audio in Chicago, with Steve Albini manning the mixing board, having been recording them since 1999's Times Of Grace, and while we all have our favorite Neurosis records (Andee's is Enemy Of The Sun, Allan's is Souls At Zero), they've yet to make a bad record. And while they continue to crush and pummel, they have also mellowed with age, or maybe more accurately, gotten more comfortable expanding the group' sonic palette, and it definitely suits them, this new record might be the most varied, and in some ways the least heavy yet.
The opener almost sounds like Neurosis channeling Lungfish, the same sort of looped trancelike mesmer, with the vocals delivered in a staccato sung/spoken bark, the vibe a little bit groovy too, a strange opener for sure, but about halfway through it slips into huge heaving riffery, and yet instead of sounding crushingly heavy, it's more sort of washed out and psychedelic, the heaving riffs, laced with woozy melodies, and weary clean vox.
We can't help but think Steve Von Till's and Scott Kelly's forays into folky singer songwriter territory and their obsession with the late great Townes Van Zandt, hasn't informed the sound of Neurosis, with "At The Well" starting off with some spare guitar shimmer, and Von Till's raspy croon, and even when the hammer falls, it isn't the same sort of Neurosis pummel we would have expected, it remains mournful and melodic, and a little bit twangy, and it might just be our imagination, but we hear slivers of slide guitar drifting in the background, which gives the song even more of a melancholic vibe. "Bleeding The Pigs" too starts off a bit croony, but quickly evolves into something more fierce and feral only to lock into a long stretch of droned out psychedelia, that reimagined with different instrumentation could easily have turned into some brooding dark folk. And even in the heavy parts, that folkiness subtly surfaces again and again.
And as the record plays out, you begin to realize that in some ways, this is in fact a way different sounding group, with the churning, gnarled super distorted heaviness, relegated to a supporting role, the second half of "Casting Of The Ages", the final few minutes of "Bleeding The Pigs", sounding especially like old Neurosis with weird samples, tribal drumming, and anguished bellowed vox, but really, most of the rest of the record seems to be more contemplative, with strings surfacing here and there, acoustic guitars, long stretches of post rocky minimalism, brooding expanses of hushed drift, and then when the riffs come in, the pounding drums, they seem to be infused with a sort of mournful energy, and seem to be recorded in such a way, that the sound is more psychedelic, more lush and enveloping, a hammer wrapped in velvet, the band unfurling some of their moodiest, and most majestic material yet, which we imagine, live, could still translate into something utterly brutal and punishing, but here, exists as something much more measured and mature, a darkly melodic, occasionally metallic, moody musical fugue that is as much brooding heavy post rock and roiling psychedelic heaviness as it is doom dirge crush, and more often than not, much more so.
Gatefold, packaged with a big fancy booklet of photographs.
MPEG Stream: "We All Rage In Gold"
MPEG Stream: "At The Well"
MPEG Stream: "My Heart For Deliverance"

NEUROSIS Official Bootleg 01 Lyon France 11.02.99 (Neurot) cd 14.98
As the title indicates, here's the first in a series of "official bootlegs" of live performances by SF's own punk/metal/experimental/tribal juggernaut, those cheerful dudes known as Neurosis. "This series is designed to provide specially priced quality recordings" of Neurosis shows, in an attempt to "put an end to low quality, overpriced recordings which do not represent our vision of our music" it says here. Not sure what's so specially priced about $14.98, but the recording IS of better-than-usual-bootleg quality for sure, doing justice to the band's sound. Massive, pounding, screaming, Neurosis heaviness, brutal and psychedelic. Recorded in France in 1999, the show documented here features three songs from their "Times Of Grace" album, plus one each from "Through Silver In Blood", "Enemy of the Sun" and "Sovereign". Even though one essential component of the Neurosis live experience -- the trippy video/film visual projections -- is of course missing from this disc, it's still a nice release for fans of the band, demonstrating their sheer metallic power to those who've been lulled by the melodic, post-rocky, even folky & acoustic direction of their last album "A Sun That Never Sets" and the various solo efforts of Mssrs. Kelly and Von Till (though the "Times of Grace" stuff was heading that way too).
RealAudio clip: "The Doorway"

NEUROSIS Official Bootleg 02: Stockholm, Sweden 10.15.99 (Neurot) cd 14.98
Our favorite psychedelic apocalyptic tribal metalcore band fights the bootleggers with this offical live recording, circa their Times Of Grace album. Most tracks are drawn from that fine album, with some earlier stuff represented as well, including "Locust Star", the hit from Through Silver In Blood. Great sound, great live band, it's a no-brainer for dedicated Neurosis fanatics.
MPEG Stream: "The Doorway"

NEUROSIS Souls At Zero (Neurot) cd 14.98
Reissue of this all-time-classic by the Bay Area's (and America's!) number one most popular underground metal outfit. Tribal punk/metal with chamber-prog rock leanings? Super heavy and full of atmosphere. I, Allan, personally think that if you're going to own just one Neurosis album, this is it.

NEUROSIS Sovereign (Neurot) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Four tracks, totalling a little over a half hour of Albini-produced psychedelic, metallic, atmospheric Neurosis-music ('cause their heavy, percussive tribal crust-prog is by now too distinctive and unique to be compared to much else). The Neurosis collective is augmented with the usual guests on violin, tuba, trombone, cello, etc. (members of Amber Asylum and so forth). Dark, droning, and mesmerizing as always. And, "Sovereign" includes a special bonus: interactive multimedia cd-rom material for Macs and PCs. As anyone who's been to a Neurosis show knows, they've got AMAZING visuals, and now some of that experience is available on your home computer. Very cool.

NEUROSIS Sovereign (Neurot) cd 14.98
The back catalog reissue campaign continues from Oakland's favorite sons, the mighty Neurosis, whose Sovereign was an ep originally released in 2000, chronologically and thus sonically sitting right between Times Of Grace and A Sun That Never Sets. Four sprawling, slow building tracks of post doom heaviness, of sinister smoldering metallic post rock, an epic chunk of psychedelic, metallic, atmospheric Neurosis-music ('cause by this point, and perhaps well before, their heavy, percussive tribal crust-prog had become too distinctive and unique to be compared to much else). Produced by Steve Albini, the usual pound and crush, the spidery melodies, and hushed gruff vocals, not to mention the squalls of downtuned chug and feral howl, and those mesmerizing tribal rhythms, are again augmented by various guests (including of course members of Amber Asylum) adding violin, tuba, trombone, cello, etc. What else to say about these guys, their sound, dark, droning, and hypnotic, and a sound that continues to be emulated by essentially every heavy band around.
This new version of Sovereign, besides offering up all new artwork and a swank slipcover, also tacks on a bonus track "Misgiven", a dark experimental noise drenched dirge that almost sound more like Neurosis offshoot Tribes Of Neurot more than the band proper, thick sinewy basslines, pounding slo-mo rhythms, all wreathed in swirling clouds of electronics, hiss and whir and shimmer, spacey and psychedelic, fractured and noisy, especially near the end, when the bass drops out, leaving just a strange tripped out, dubbed out electronic noise flecked drum pound.
MPEG Stream: "Prayer"
MPEG Stream: "An Offering"

NEUROSIS The Eye Of Every Storm (Neurot ) cd 14.98
Another great Neurosis opus! They've pretty much perfected the combination of massive drone-metal devastation and quietly drifting, melodic gloom. Heavy guitars, roaring voices and industrial-ized drumming give way to desperate melancholic balladry, sung-spoke in a weary, careworn male voice that's a dead ringer for that of Mark Lanegan. As with their recent collaboration with Jarboe of the Swans, or their previous full-length A Sun That Never Sets, you get both dark and light here...really a twilight I guess. Dusk-infused art from a powerful yet mature band. Neurosis fans may find this to be one of their best yet, and anyone not already a Neurosis fan ought to lend an ear (to this record for sure, not to mention all their other excellent releases).
MPEG Stream: "Burn"
MPEG Stream: "A Season In The Sky"

NEUROSIS The Eye Of Every Storm (Neurot ) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another great Neurosis opus! They've pretty much perfected the combination of massive drone-metal devastation and quietly drifting, melodic gloom. Heavy guitars, roaring voices and industrial-ized drumming give way to desperate melancholic balladry, sung-spoke in a weary, careworn male voice that's a dead ringer for that of Mark Lanegan. As with their recent collaboration with Jarboe of the Swans, or their previous full-length A Sun That Never Sets, you get both dark and light here...really a twilight I guess. Dusk-infused art from a powerful yet mature band. Neurosis fans may find this to be one of their best yet, and anyone not already a Neurosis fan ought to lend an ear (to this record for sure, not to mention all their other excellent releases).
MPEG Stream: "Burn"
MPEG Stream: "A Season In The Sky"

NEUROSIS Through Silver in Blood (Relapse) cd 14.98
"Locust Star" IS a great song.

NEUROSIS Times Of Grace (Relapse) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Local heroes Neurosis (the biggest underground "metal" band in the country?) return with a new digital slab of heaviness, dark and grinding like Slayer on 33. Yet they incorporate elements of their Tribes of Neurot alter-ego, lending Times of Grace a much more melodic sound, with swashes of delicate ambience. Compared to their last record, Through Silver In Blood, this is superior, making for a much better follow-up to their great Enemy Of The Sun lp. Tribal metal psychedelia, uniquely Neurosis. Recommended.
Oh, we should add that to expand this listening experience, you might also want to accompany Times Of Grace with Grace, the companion album by the Neurosis' ambient experimental alter ego, Tribes Of Neurot. They're intended to be played simultaneously!

NEUROSIS & JARBOE s/t (Neurot) cd 14.98
Scary Swans 'chanteuse' Jarboe has been getting into the collaborative thing of late, doing a tour and live DVD with Italian post-rockers Larsen, and now getting together with the Bay Area's very own Neurosis, the reigning kings of underground art metal. Jarboe's idiosyncratic but compelling vocals -- a whisper, a pant, a drawl -- get dynamic backing from the Neurosis horde. Their sinister tribal drone-psych heaviness is a churning, seething thing, a perfect backdrop for Jarboe's dramatic lyrics and vocal style, which can range from rather lovely and melodic to total throat abuse. Rather than being a metal juggernaut, Neurosis here sound more akin to their Tribes of Neurot alter-ego, a spacey industrial darkness capable of spells of delicate beauty that seem always about to crumble or explode. Especially effective is the 11 minute apocalyptic country-folk dirge that closes the album. But all ten tracks are powerful, psychological. Definitely a downer listen that should appeal to fans of both sides in this collaboration.
MPEG Stream: "Within"
MPEG Stream: "Seizure"

NEVAI, NONDOR Three Tocattas (self-released) lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If we had to pick THEE most warped and bizarre and musically confusional motherfucker out there, we just might have to pick Nondor Nevai, sometime member of To Live And Shave In L.A., but with a pretty sizable catalog of completely fractured and fucked solo recordings, not to mention he plays in a duo with Mick Barr, which is like a free-metal freakout, which really has to be heard to be believed. As does this, the latest outing from NN, self described as "murderous freeblasting klassikill" performed on "an amplified organ so distorted and piercing it is painful", which is pretty much spot on, but there's way more going on. The provenance of discovering this record might put it in perspective. Someone sent us an amazing video, featuring Nondor Nevai, in a snowy clearing in the middle of a dark forest, next to a tree with a severed deer head tied to it, NN in black jeans and suspenders, shirtless, huge shaggy mop of hair, arms covered in blood, wildly headbanging as he lights an upside down plywood cross and chugs alcohol, and most importantly, getting all up in the camera, menacingly brandishing his iPhone! That phone clutched in his outstretched hand 'invisible orange' style. And the music, suitably warped, blasting buzzing weirdness, check it out for yourself:
http://nandornevai.com/movies.html
So when NN got in touch we ordered a bunch of this new record, a super limited (only 250 copies) 180 gram 12", housed in a super thick, gatefold sleeve, with a killer patch affixed to one side, featuring a strange image of some sort of demon hovering over the earth, glowing silver hands holding arrows crossed in front of this hooded visage, bearing the legends "Overshadower Kommand" and "Kolder Than Heaven". Once you finally make it past the eye popping art and the confusional text, you'll discover a sprawling collection of what can only be described as electro classical black prog doom whatthefuck. Buzzy super distorted melodies, twisted processed vokills, heavily panned so they stutter swinging wildly from speaker to speaker, the songs alternately plodding along menacingly, lumbering and lurching or occasionally slipping into ferocious blackened blasts. There's plenty of Goblin-y ambience here and there, but even those bits are wrapped around wild octopoidal drumming, the sound not really black metal, but definitely black, and occasionally metallic, instead it's like some twisted carnivalesque black prog, which to us sounds like a dream/nightmare combination of ELP, Vondur and Orthrelm, which needless to say, means this RULES.
Baffling and brilliant, totally recommended for folks who like their heaviness as fucked up as possible, total outsider black prog bliss.
LIMITED TO 250 COPIES!!!

NEVER PRESENCE FOREVER / UNGEROMIMIZU split (Lyderhorn) 7" 4.50
Super bizarre 7" match up, that will have weirdo music freeks flipping out. Two bands, with essentially nothing in common, each exploring extreme and opposite ends of the sonic spectrum, both completely ruling. And in one case, completely baffling.
The A side is a band from Virginia called Never Presence Forever. Never heard of em? We hadn't either, but all it took was this brief 7" sampling to have us wanting to hear way more. We were sort of expecting some furious black metal, or damaged noise, but instead, NPF offer up some gorgeous creeping dark ambience, low rumbling strings, deep metallic reverberations, all mournful and melancholy, cinematic and haunting.
The flipside is a whole other something. A band, or a guy, called Ungeromimizu, whose sound is a sort of lo-fi black metal Whitehouse, a square wave damaged synth blown out psychnoise screamo, that is so intense and noisy and freaked out, we weren't sure if we were loving it or hating it. But it only took a few second for us to go with love.
Imagine full on white noise chaos, all hiss and squeal and speaker shredding skree, like Faxed Head with no bass and all the treble your stereo can('t) handle, super processed vocals Masonna style, squiggly FX addled synths, total ear punishing insanity. The second track is toned down, but only a little, a weird warbly techno synth pulse beneath howling black metal vox, and all sorts of squiggly high end streaks and squeals.
Due to a pressing mistake, pressed not on black, or bloody red, or trippy swirled vinyl, but various shades of pink!

NEVERMORE Dead Heart In A Dead World (Century Media) cd 12.98

NEW KEEPERS OF THE WATER TOWERS Chronicles (MeteorCity) cd 11.98

NEW KEEPERS OF THE WATER TOWERS The Calydonian Hunt (MeteorCity) cd 11.98
Here's another new one from the ever-reliable stoner rock label MeteorCity. This interesting, oddly named Swedish outfit is a HEAVY juggernaut indeed, but also nuanced, combining chugging guitar crush with graceful twin harmonies, and switching up from shouty aggro vox to more tuneful, croon-ful melodic singing. According to the Encyclopedia Metallum, The New Keepers Of The Water Towers' typical lyrical themes pertain to "Dwelling Beasts" - whatever that means. Perhaps those beasts are the quarry of "The Calydonian Hunt". There's certainly something mythic and fabled about their songtitles ("Mankind's Fall", "Arise, The Serpent", "The Sword In The Stone"...) and the music follows suit, their surging Swedish sludge being both bombastic and more complex than you might expect. Primal prog perhaps? Mystic metal? Certainly recommended to fans of such folks as High On Fire, Mastodon, Grand Magus, The Sword, and others of that equally heavy and probably bearded ilk.
MPEG Stream: "Abyssal Lord"
MPEG Stream: "The Calydonian Hunt"
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Lake"

NEXT LIFE Electric Violence (Cock Rock Disco) cd 15.98
Electronic "nintendo metal" from Norway.

NIBIRU Caosgon (self-released) cd 15.98
You've probably never heard of Nibiru (this Nibiru anyway, though maybe you're deep into Sumerian mythology and/or Babylonian astronomy and are familiar with the term in other contexts!), but if you're at all a fan of throbbing, spaced-out sludge psych then please pay attention. Before writing this review, we put a tag on this in the store that just said "Ritualistic Occult Italian Doom" and that managed to sell a copy or two already, but more can be said about it. To elaborate, this is the debut full-length from an esoteric Italian trio who play totally-trance inducing, heavy rhythmic ritualistic stoner sludge. UFOmammut is an obvious reference point, Nibiru are equally fuzzed-out and head-nodding, but have some characteristics unique to themselves, notably their vocal stylings, which bring in an undercurrent of 'world music', the heavily effected vocals sounding like distorted muezzin wails, or even digitized Tuvan throat singing. The electronic treatment of the vocals kind of reminds us of the nefarious Auto-Tune, but instead of making 'em sound like Cher or Britney Spears, Nibiru's hypothetical version of Auto-Tune is set on 'guttural alien shaman' or something like that! The singing is thus oddly melodic, but also otherworldly. It's definitely distinctive and effective in creating their primal, droned-out, mesmeric, magickal mood. Helping with that too, are all the thick effects-laden guitar/synth/organ textures and lumbering, staggering layers of rhythmic pound. Right from the smoothed out grind of epic 18 minute opener "Invokation I: The Acid Skull", Nibiru never really let up, the listener transported into their mystic realm of dreamtime, doomic dervish sounds for the duration. Fans of such heaviness as Gnod, Bong, OM, Zoroaster, UFOmammut, Los Natas/Ararat, and Lord Of Doubts' Eastern/Buddhist ceremonial sprawl, would do well to investigate forthwith.
Compact disc limited to 300 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Invokation I: The Acid Skull"
MPEG Stream: "Smashanam, The Crematorium Ground Of Kalu"

NIELLERADE FALIBILISTHORSTAR (N.F.H.) Hackelsekista (Total Holocaust Records) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Jasande Lera"
MPEG Stream: "Castrol:265695"

NIELLERADE FALIBILISTHORSTAR (N.F.H.) Halrum (SNSE) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

NIELLERADE FALIBILISTHORSTAR (N.F.H.) Halrum (SNSE) lp 8.98