ASGARD ROOT Issue 2 magazine 14.98
The return of Asgard Root! An upstart metal magazine, whose first issue we raved about a while back, and who with the publication of their second issue are definitely ready to give the big boys at Decibel and Terrorizer a run for their money.
Way bigger than the first issue, this volume is jam packed with tons of amazing metal bands, black, cult and obscure, lots of aQ faves, some non metal groups, as well as reviews and photos and art.
It's a massive and heavy (both literally and figuratively) tome, that should definitely be required reading for the heavy-sounds inclined aQuarians out there.
Depressive black metallers Austere, recent aQ black metal faves Coldworld, raw Canadian cult Akitsa, an interview with Swedish black one man horde Arckanum, Mortiis (!), post black metallers Janvs, melodic black metal outfit Agolloch, mysterious black horde Paragon Belial, post industrialists Allerseelen, UK depressive black metallers Lyrinx, Canadian neo folk black metal outift Musk Ox, rune reader Freya Aswynn, Wallachia's favorite albums, Norwegian legends Enslaved, English steampunk black metallers A Forest Of Stars, gloomy gothic metal group Yussuf Jerusalem, ex-Lycia singer David Galas, UK one man black metal band Caina, Dead Raven Choir (!!), Swedish gloom pop metal masters Lifelover and lots of reviews, magazines, demos, albums, and more more. Definitely recommended.

ASH BORER s/t (Pesanta Urfolk) lp 16.98
What is it with bands not naming records? We're all for the 'self titled' record, but when they're ALL self titled, it gets a little confusing. By record number two or three at least start numbering 'em, fer chrissakes. Anyway, another rad reissue of a tape from this West Coast avant black metal horde, that was so limited on its initial release, we never managed to even see a single copy. Originally put out in a run of 150 copies on Psychic Violence, this is our, and quite possibly your, first exposure to this monumental chunk of progressive blackness, opening with a lumbery dirgey doom, that pounds and creeps, beneath anguished wails, before exploding into some of the most intense and emotional black metal we've heard, due in some part we would imagine to the structure and the melody, unlikely for most black metal, in fact, it almost sounds like post rock sped way up and blackened, soaring and hauntingly melodic, majestic and moody, these blasts are separated by still more emotional sonic stretches, midtempo sprawls of soaring guitar trills, and angular math rock riffs, all wreathed in black beneath grim howled vokills, before closing with a blast of frenzied riffage and a final movement of dirgey weirdly melodic doomic plod.
The B side starts off all shimmery synths and smoldering angular guitar melodies, before launching into another stretch of frantic blasting buzz, here alternating between furious blackness, blissed out reverbed psychedelia and churning mathy doom, the record epic and constantly shifting, but woven together into a single epic movement, the final part of which might be the best bit on the record, a slow build blackened post rock, that eventually explodes into a totally epic blowout of blackened Godspeed-style majesty.
LIMITED TO 777 COPIES, pressed on 160 gram red vinyl, housed in super swank matte black gatefold sleeves, printed on the front and back in red metallic foil.

ASH BORER / FELL VOICES split (Eternal Warfare / Gilead Media) lp 14.98
This killer two way avant black metal split, previously only issued as a crazy limited tape, now available on vinyl! Comes with a nice printed insert and a silkscreened patch too...
Originally released to coincide with a recent tour, this split (and the tour it commemorated) teams up Ash Borer from Arcata with Fell Voices from Santa Cruz. A seriously brutal and kick ass Northern California USBM match up for sure. We've raved about Fell Voices before, but this is the first we've heard from Ash Borer, who sound pretty perfect alongside their sonically similarly brethren, offering up a 21 minute side long black metal epic, that slips smoothly from soaring, frenzied majestic black metal riffery, to woozy, loping, but still super distorted and raw, postrock flecked doom, to swirling black ambience, to lumbering spaced out psychedelic drift, lacing shimmery sheets of washed out guitar over plodding minor key melancholy, before building gradually back into a dense tribal crush, and then finally another bout of thrashing black buzz.
Fell Voices fill up their half of the tape with another single sidelong jam, which much like last year's self-titled lp, unfurls a dark, brooding epic bit of blackness, beginning with a cloud of looped muted riffage, streaks of burnished feedback, slowly swelling and swaying, stretched out into some serious droniness, before some warped minor key guitar melodies, and buried in the mix blast beats surface, not turning the song into blasting blackness, instead just adding some strange texture to that deep black drone, the song wavery and woozy, until finally the band kicks in full bore, but even then, it's not typical black metal, it's super mathy, and intricate, lots of dynamics, all spaced out, guitar harmonics drifting over insanely dense drumming, and riffage so blurred and black, it almost just sounds like pulses of blacknoize. The song seems to coalesce into a driving blast of murky black thrum, bits of melody surfacing from the blurred black expanse, super tranced out and hypnotic and most importantly, especially in a genre like black metal, totally twisted and unlike almost any other BM we've heard.
LIMITED TO 750 COPIES! Pressed on 180 gram vinyl.

ASH BORER / FELL VOICES split (self-released) cassette 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Got the last copies ever of this killer split, direct from the bands, limited to just 100 copies, released to coincide with their just wrapped up Summer tour, and which teams up Ash Borer from Arcata with Fell Voices from Santa Cruz. A seriously brutal and kick ass Northern California USBM match up for sure. We've raved about Fell Voices before, but this is the first we've heard from Ash Borer, who sound pretty perfect alongside their sonically similarly brethren, offering up a 21 minute side long black metal epic, that slips smoothly from soaring, frenzied majestic black metal riffery, to woozy, loping, but still super distorted and raw, post rock flecked doom, to swirling black ambience, to lumbering spaced out psychedelic drift, lacing shimmery sheets of washed out guitar over plodding minor key melancholy, before building gradually back into a dense tribal crush, and then finally another bout of thrashing black buzz.
Fell Voices fill up their side of the tape, with another single sidelong jam, and much like last year's self-titled lp, unfurls a dark, brooding epic bit of blackness, beginning with a cloud of looped muted riffage, streaks of burnished feedback, slowly swelling and swaying, stretched out into some serious droniness, before some warped minor key guitar melodies, and buried in the mix blast beats surface, not turning the song into blasting blackness, instead just adding some strange texture to that deep black drone, the song wavery and woozy, until finally the band kicks in full bore, but even then, it's not typical black metal, it's super mathy, and intricate, lots of dynamics, all spaced out, guitar harmonics drifting over insanely dense drumming, and riffage so blurred and black, it almost just sounds like pulses of blacknoize. The song seems to coalesce into a driving blast of murky black thrum, bits of melody surfacing from the blurred black expanse, super tranced out and hypnotic and most importantly, especially in a genre like black metal, totally twisted and unlike almost any other BM we've heard.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, each one hand numbered. Already out of print. Last copies EVER!

ASH POOL Black Bondage In The North (Paragon) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another ultra brief blackened missive from the blacknoiserock duo Ash Pool (half of which just so happens to be noisemaker Prurient), after a totally mindblowing cassette onÊTour De Garde. Ash Pool spew forth some sort of primitive and raw thrashing blackness, a strange hybrid of black metal and noise rock. Blasting furiously one moment, loping along almost melodically the next. On the tape, the damaged demented sonic assault was peppered with brief bits of melody and jangle, all of which are even more evident on this brand new single.Ê
Side A is an ultra raw grimy black sludge stomp, murky and fuzzy, the vocals howled and blown out, so much so that they send the meters even more into the red, swallowing all the other sounds whole, a pounding relentless groove, almost like a blackened Brainbombs. But even at its most brutal, Ash Pool can't seem to help letting weirdly melodic riffs and stretches of jangle guitar slip into the otherwise harsh and hateful proceedings. So much so that here and there the sound is almost poppy, but it's easy to miss as everything is so slathered in grimy production and gritty distortion.
The B side begins with just jangly guitar and simple tribal drumming, surprisingly pretty, a loping shimmering smear of tranquil poppiness, that is of course eventually totally obliterated by a wash of black thrash and buzzing sludge....

ASH POOL For Which He Plies The Lash (Hospital Productions) cd 12.98
The return of East Coast USBM duo Ash Pool featuring Dominick Fernow of Prurient, which is what usually has people expecting something WAY noisier, along the lines of WOLD or Nekrasov or something, a sort of white noise infused with elements of blackness and buzz, but in fact the sound of Ash Pool is way more "poppy" than you might expect, aligning itself with the raw black energy of groups like Akitsa. Ash Pool definitely used to traffic in ultra raw, primitive BM, but on For Which He Plies The Lash, things seem to have taken a turn, with a more polished sound and some distinctly more accomplished songwriting, that includes some awesomely off kilter riffing, and lots of what the fuck weirdness.
Take the opening track "Holocaust Temple", which begins with a killer start/stop lurch, before exploding into full on manic buzz frenzy, but then there's some crooned clean vocals, that remind us of Borknagar, a weird juxtaposition for sure, but it works, it's just totally changes the vibe, as the music and the harsh vox are relentless and almost looped sounding, pounding away. The song shifts gears, and veers into a seriously poppy stretch, with some awesome guitar playing, and crazy catchy melodies, sounding a bit like In Flames gone black metal, and then suddenly, the song grinds to a halt, and they kick out this crazy folky / polka riff, and the songs becomes almost jaunty, the vocals even more maniacal, the bass bloopy and woozy, the whole song a sort of black waltz, before lurching into the home stretch with a blast of venomous black fury. Holy shit, so awesome, and so fucking weird.
And the rest of the record follows suit. "A Sacrifice Consumed By Fire" begins with a hysterical shriek before slipping into a warped doomy lumber, that eventually becomes more and more jagged, and furiously blastingly obtuse. "Big Bang Black Metal" is downright black 'n' roll, with a super rocking groove, and monstrous grunted vox, as well as a tripped out bridge, all Eastern sounding, with a weird temp change and spidery melody.
The whole record is one awesome musical mindfuck, equal parts troo grim heaviness, warped poppiness, sludge doom driven chug, and out there what the fuck, but all deftly woven into one seriously cohesive chunk of fucked up blackness.
And as if to just seal the deal, the record closes with quite the confusional two-fer, the downtuned shriek laden seasick creep of "Moon Rose Over Sobibor", slipping from doomic lumber, to stuttery chug and back again, before finishing off with the oddly titled "On The Rings Of Saturn Adam And Eve Conceive Cain" which is mostly a filthy slab of midtempo grimness, oh except for that one part where the song cuts out suddenly, leaving a weird, swirly sci-fi organ driven pound, which then underpins the next stretch of soaring majestic riffage, before the band finally leap back into the fray, finishing off with a stretch of frantic frenzied freaked out heaviness.
Fucking awesome stuff. And definitely not where we expected Ash Pool to head next, but these guys just keep getting better and better, and we're pretty sure For Which He Plies The Lash is probably gonna be a contender for black metal record of the year...
MPEG Stream: "Holocaust Temple"
MPEG Stream: "A Sacrifice Consumed By Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Big Bang Black Metal"

ASH POOL For Which He Plies The Lash (Hospital) lp 16.98
NOW ON VINYL!!!
The return of East Coast USBM duo Ash Pool featuring Dominick Fernow of Prurient, which is what usually has people expecting something WAY noisier, along the lines of WOLD or Nekrasov or something, a sort of white noise infused with elements of blackness and buzz, but in fact the sound of Ash Pool is way more "poppy" than you might expect, aligning itself with the raw black energy of groups like Akitsa. Ash Pool definitely used to traffic in ultra raw, primitive BM, but on For Which He Plies The Lash, things seem to have taken a turn, with a more polished sound and some distinctly more accomplished songwriting, that includes some awesomely off kilter riffing, and lots of what the fuck weirdness.
Take the opening track "Holocaust Temple", which begins with a killer start/stop lurch, before exploding into full on manic buzz frenzy, but then there's some crooned clean vocals, that remind us of Borknagar, a weird juxtaposition for sure, but it works, it's just totally changes the vibe, as the music and the harsh vox are relentless and almost looped sounding, pounding away. The song shifts gears, and veers into a seriously poppy stretch, with some awesome guitar playing, and crazy catchy melodies, sounding a bit like In Flames gone black metal, and then suddenly, the song grinds to a halt, and they kick out this crazy folky / polka riff, and the songs becomes almost jaunty, the vocals even more maniacal, the bass bloopy and woozy, the whole song a sort of black waltz, before lurching into the home stretch with a blast of venomous black fury. Holy shit, so awesome, and so fucking weird.
And the rest of the record follows suit. "A Sacrifice Consumed By Fire" begins with a hysterical shriek before slipping into a warped doomy lumber, that eventually becomes more and more jagged, and furiously blastingly obtuse. "Big Bang Black Metal" is downright black 'n' roll, with a super rocking groove, and monstrous grunted vox, as well as a tripped out bridge, all Eastern sounding, with a weird temp change and spidery melody.
The whole record is one awesome musical mindfuck, equal parts troo grim heaviness, warped poppiness, sludge doom driven chug, and out there what the fuck, but all deftly woven into one seriously cohesive chunk of fucked up blackness.
And as if to just seal the deal, the record closes with quite the confusional two-fer, the downtuned shriek laden seasick creep of "Moon Rose Over Sobibor", slipping from doomic lumber, to stuttery chug and back again, before finishing off with the oddly titled "On The Rings Of Saturn Adam And Eve Conceive Cain" which is mostly a filthy slab of midtempo grimness, oh except for that one part where the song cuts out suddenly, leaving a weird, swirly sci-fi organ driven pound, which then underpins the next stretch of soaring majestic riffage, before the band finally leap back into the fray, finishing off with a stretch of frantic frenzied freaked out heaviness.
Fucking awesome stuff. And definitely not where we expected Ash Pool to head next, but these guys just keep getting better and better, and we're pretty sure For Which He Plies The Lash is probably gonna be a contender for black metal record of the year...
MPEG Stream: "Holocaust Temple"
MPEG Stream: "A Sacrifice Consumed By Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Big Bang Black Metal"

ASH POOL Genital Tomb (Tour De Garde) cassette 5.98
From the demented man behind the abrasive noise assault of Prurient comes the blackened buzz of Ash Pool. And holy shit is this some of the best stuff we've ever heard in a while. Fans of stuff like Bone Awl and Ancestors will freak for this. It's not just the songs but the sound. Simple riffing, but recorded super hot, and drums so high in the mix they pulse and throb all thick and distorted, vocals harsh and hateful that swallow all the other sounds whole. The riffs are killer, old school but blown out and noisy as fuck. When the band locks into a black blast, it's almost an impenetrable droning buzz, but then out of nowhere the band will shift gears into some weird super melodic bridge, or some midtempo groove. A seemingly impossible blend of melancholy melodiousness, buzzing black thrash and super saturated ultraviolent noise rock. Awesome.

ASH POOL Saturn's Slave (Hospital Productions) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oh man, have we been dying for this, more blown out primitive super raw black metal fury from the man who is Prurient and who also runs the kick ass Hospital Records store and label.
Like past Ash Pool releases, this is super fast, super heavy black metal informed by noise music, drawing on bands like Akitsa and Ildjarn, but filtered through a decidedly modern noise based mindset. The strange thing is, how goddamn poppy and melodic and catchy this stuff is. You would think just the opposite what with the noise pedigree and all, but fuck it if this isn't some of the heaviest, buzziest, most furious, and catchiest black metal EVER.
Two short sharp blasts, the first, begins just how we would hope, raw frantic riffing, the guitar super distorted and buzzy, the drums distorted and blown out, the vocals howled and shrieked, everything totally saturated and in-the-red, but there's plenty of midtempo chug chug chug to balance out the furious blasts, and a few seconds in, it's impossible to ignore how catchy it is, the main hook is a killer, melodic, stick in your head catchy, but somehow it doesn't take away from the blackness or the grimness at all. Poppy, yet buzzy and black.
The flip side follows suit. Raw, feral, blown out, black, but the guitars start sounding weirdly NWOBHM, unfurling weird little harmonies amidst all the buzzing and blasting, the arrangement a lurching start and stop, weird and mathy and fucked up and totally black, but those guitars sound like they were lifted out of an Iron Maiden song, and the thing is, it's a fucked up hybrid that should absolutely not work, but it does, and it's part of what makes Ash Pool so good. These two songs will only tide us over for so long, we NEED another full length.
Cool black and white covers, blue vinyl. And yeah, probably crazy limited.

ASH POOL World Turns On Its Hinge (Hospital Productions) cd 12.98
Finally! The first proper full length from these NY based, ultra sick, primitive black metal noise merchants. Everything we've heard so far we've dug like crazy, a single and a tape, each filthy and dripping with blown out black buzz and pounding punkish riffing. This full length is more of the same, and if anything ups the ante sonically.Ê
Meaner, heavier, thrashier, filthier, more raw and primitive and blown out, and like the other records, still poppy and weirdly catchy. This is most definitely black metal, but a crushing primitive D-beat style BM, following a similar sonic path as fellow black hordes Bone Awl, Ancestors, Akitsa, Malveillance and the like.Ê
Ash Pool is one part blacknoise outfit Prurient, so you knew there was gonna be noise, but the noise here is deftly harnessed into roiling black riffs and blasting beats, woozy, dizzying seasick blasts of relentless pound, furious and fierce, the production thick and blown out, in the red, crumbling distortion and murky reverb everywhere.Ê
But this isn't just the same song over and over, set the instruments to blast and let the record play out. No these songs are varied and bizarre, occasionally epic and dramatic, sometimes so fast and brutal it borders on pure noise, sometimes a Brainbombs style caveman pound, sometimes a weird minor key mathrock jam, always appropriately blown out and noisy, but now and then the songs veer into strange, creepy, almost pretty territory, a slow and loping doomic lurch, with minor key melodies that manage to be mournful and funereal but still jagged and buzzy. Winding melancholic lopes that just sort of meander and chug abstractly. But it's never long before the tracks splinter into jagged shards, with the song exploding into another stretch of raw toxic pummel, theÊvocals doused in FX and convulsing wildly atop the relentless riffage. And every once in a while, the band lock into some crazy melodic groove, and for a brief moment you almost forget you're listening to some harsh and hateful black noise outfit.Ê
Hard to explain how great this stuff is, it all manages to be so visceral and intense, emotional and depressive, melodic with losing it's flesh-peeling edge, so sonically varied without losing its focus, the slow songs are perfect bridges between the speaker shredding streaks of black brutality, but even when things are chaotic and on the verge of collapse, the songs still manage to be catchy and melodic and heavy as fuck.Ê
MPEG Stream: "Sin Of Life"
MPEG Stream: "Crucifixion Fantasy"
MPEG Stream: "Vices Triumph Over Wisdom"

ASH POOL World Turns On Its Hinge (Paragon) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now on vinyl, the amazing debut full length from these NY based, ultra sick, primitive black metal noise merchants. Everything we've heard so far we've dug like crazy, a single and a tape, each filthy and dripping with blown out black buzz and pounding punkish riffing. This full length is more of the same, and if anything ups the ante sonically.Ê
Meaner, heavier, thrashier, filthier, more raw and primitive and blown out, and like the other records, still poppy and weirdly catchy. This is most definitely black metal, but a crushing primitive D-beat style BM, following a similar sonic path as fellow black hordes Bone Awl, Ancestors, Akitsa, Malveillance and the like.Ê
Ash Pool is one part blacknoise outfit Prurient, so you knew there was gonna be noise, but the noise here is deftly harnessed into roiling black riffs and blasting beats, woozy, dizzying seasick blasts of relentless pound, furious and fierce, the production thick and blown out, in the red, crumbling distortion and murky reverb everywhere.Ê
But this isn't just the same song over and over, set the instruments to blast and let the record play out. No these songs are varied and bizarre, occasionally epic and dramatic, sometimes so fast and brutal it borders on pure noise, sometimes a Brainbombs style caveman pound, sometimes a weird minor key mathrock jam, always appropriately blown out and noisy, but now and then the songs veer into strange, creepy, almost pretty territory, a slow and loping doomic lurch, with minor key melodies that manage to be mournful and funereal but still jagged and buzzy. Winding melancholic lopes that just sort of meander and chug abstractly. But it's never long before the tracks splinter into jagged shards, with the song exploding into another stretch of raw toxic pummel, theÊvocals doused in FX and convulsing wildly atop the relentless riffage. And every once in a while, the band lock into some crazy melodic groove, and for a brief moment you almost forget you're listening to some harsh and hateful black noise outfit.Ê
Hard to explain how great this stuff is, it all manages to be so visceral and intense, emotional and depressive, melodic with losing it's flesh-peeling edge, so sonically varied without losing its focus, the slow songs are perfect bridges between the speaker shredding streaks of black brutality, but even when things are chaotic and on the verge of collapse, the songs still manage to be catchy and melodic and heavy as fuck.Ê
The lp version includes super striking new artwork and an lp sized insert!
MPEG Stream: "Sin Of Life"
MPEG Stream: "Crucifixion Fantasy"
MPEG Stream: "Vices Triumph Over Wisdom"

ASHDAUTUS Where The Sun Is Silent (Full Moon Productions) cd 11.98

ASHES Funeral Forest (Supernal) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "The Suffering Mists"
MPEG Stream: "Forest Funeral"

ASHES Hymn To A Grey Sky (Supernal.) cd 15.98
Another awesome Supernal release from a few years back that we never managed to review until now. Loyal AQ list readers should already be intrigued just based on the fact that some of our all time favorite black metal records and dark ambient drones have come courtesy of Supernal, Benighted Leams, Drudkh, Hate Forest, Dark Ages, Fall Of The Grey Winged One, Contra Ignem Fatuum and on and on. We're happy to report that Ashes fall into that category of black metal we just can't ever seem to get enough of, that freaked out midtempo, stumbling, damaged, demented, outsider black metal. Imagine Benighted Leams if they were a little dronier and a little more ambient, leaning a bit more toward Burzum instead of Darkthrone.
Weird warbly melancholy acoustic guitars, wavering keyboard ambience, totally fucked up drumming, spastic and stumbling, totally damaged drum programming, all wrapped in a blissed out stumbling black metal buzz, and topped off with some of the most fucked up vocals EVER, a guttural, super processed, creepy insectoid gurgle. Hymn To A Grey Sky is tracked as a single 47 minute track, which is usually annoying, but in this case, we can't imagine NOT listening to the whole thing at once. Long expanses of distant keyboards and simple martial drumming, buzzing loping Burzumic buzz with circusy keyboards way down in the mix, more of those creepy vocals draped over the top, dizzying confusional double bass drum programming, dreamy soft focus drone interludes, a big stretch right in the middle of the record of nature sounds, running water, insect buzz, birds chirping, rustling leaves before stumbling back into a killer midtempo buzz drenched black metal dirge, complete with muted classical guitars, some weird dark ambient In The Nursery style timpani and synthesizers, drifting into an almost new age coda to yet another one of the weirdest slabs of damaged blackness to come our way!
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 3"

ASHES Yggrasil (Supernal) cd 15.98
Final release from longtime aQ favorites Ashes, a one man black metal band from the UK, whose particular brand of metal was decidedly damaged and demented. But a lot has changed in the 2+ years since Hymn To A Grey Sky. Here's how we described that record:
Weird warbly melancholy acoustic guitars, wavering keyboard ambience, totally fucked up drumming, spastic and stumbling, totally damaged drum programming, all wrapped in a blissed out stumbling black metal buzz, and topped off with some of the most fucked up vocals EVER, a guttural, super processed, creepy insectoid gurgle.
Sounds good. It is good. In fact one of our favorite discs on the always kick ass Supernal label. But here we are a few years on, and while many of those elements are still present in Ashes' sound, it's not nearly as fucked up or freaked out, which is not necessarily a bad thing, just different.
The opening track is a chunk of lilting acoustic folk, urgently strummed acoustic guitar, fluttering flute, a very dark and dreamy intro, until track two kicks in, and we're off! The rest of the record is a series of buzzing midtemo blasts of Burzumic lope, super simple riffs, the drums equally simple, pounding relentlessly, the vocals a more traditional demonic rasp, that sometimes turns into more of a hissy shriek, and even occasionally a Viking-like croon, in the background keyboards soar majestically, the melodies grandiose and epic, and thankfully the drums still have a bit of stumble in them, and the riffs seem to always break into a more dynamic weird sort of chug, before resuming their droning buzz. A gorgeous buzzing soundworld of foresty blackness, very reminiscent of Woodtemple and Graveland, but even more stripped down and simple.
And then there's the last song. Which sounds like NOTHING on the rest of the record, but is so weird and epic and doomy and gorgeously fucked up, we sort of wish there was a whole record of stuff like this. The drums a slow motion plod, the guitars not so much riffing as a constant blackened blur, thick whirring rumbling distorted bliss, totally washed out and dreamy, and so so so divinely droney. Then the vocals, a soaring clean croon, not growly or evil in the least, totally melodious and epic, singing a gorgeous hook, buried in the mix. Folks into all that new shoegaze black metal will go nuts for this track, almost worth it just for the one song alone, even though the rest of the record is pretty fantastic.
This marks the final release by Ashes, who are as of now defunct, but let's hope the man behind Ashes is working on new music, and let's hope it sounds like this final chunk of black bliss.
MPEG Stream: "Yggdrasil"
MPEG Stream: "Fenrir Unbound"
MPEG Stream: "A Darker Horizon"

ASKA / HYPOTHERMIA Melankoli / Abuse Myself (I Want To Die) (Unjoy) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Killer match up between two AQ faves, Hypothermia (who we've raved about in the past) and Aska, who have yet to grace our list (until now!). Massive, brutal, abysmal, blackened doomic buzz from both, Aska even tackle a GG Allin cover and dedicate it to Poison Idea's Pig Champion. Awesome.

ASTRAL WOMB s/t (Frequency Thirteen) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of two new releases from the Frequency Thirteen label, home of TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA, as in aQ faves like Black Vomit, Ice Bound Majesty, Skulltrol, Dukkha, Rape Rack and others. Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find the new record from Torture Gnosis, a tripped out disc of celestial lo-fi psychedelic synthscapery and blackened cosmic dronemusic, but this here, the debut from Astral Womb, is exactly the opposite, although from the band name we were maybe expecting something 'astral', but instead these guys kick out some serious noiserock grindprog jams, churning downtuned heaviness, wild octopoidal drumming, buzzing guitar crunch, the songs wildly intricate, the band slipping from churning chug to furious grind to mathy metallic pound to lumbering dirgey doom to dense stop/start dynamics. Like some twisted lo-fi hybrid of the Fucking Champs, the Ruins and Loincloth, with some Lightning Bolt thrown in for good measure. It's like math rock, noise rock, grindcore and maybe a little death metal all tangled up into a lurching chunk of wildly rocking avant heaviness. The recording super lo-fi, giving the sound a seriously raw vibe, and be sure and stick around for the last track, an sprawling 8+ minute math heavy progged out epic, that pretty much pushes all of our heavy rock buttons, furious and frenzied, mathy and heavy, loads of stop/starts, even some weird clean guitar jangle, but for the most part, lurching and lumbering, pounding and blasting, the sort of jam that's a total set ender and leaves the crowd a sweaty bloodied exhausted mess. So killer.
LIMITED TO 50 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Silent Mindless And Blind"
MPEG Stream: "Black Iron Prison"

ASTROFAES Dying Emotions Domain (Negative Existence) cd 13.98
Of all the Ukrainian black metal hordes we love, all of which seem to share members, be it Drudkh, Blood Of Kingu, Hate Forest, Nokturnal Mortum, Lucifugum, Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra and the like, Astrofaes seems to be the only one we've never reviewed, which is definitely a shame, since most of the black metallers around here dig that band as much as any of the others. So in some weird way this almost seems appropriate, even though the band has released six full lengths, their 1998 debut will be the first one to make it on the list. Recently reissued by Negative Existence, Dying Emotions Domain should most definitely hit the spot for fans of any of the above mentioned outfits, and since it's their debut, it's the most raw, the sound simultaneously lo-fi but also impossibly heavy, the guitars super distorted, the sound informed by lots of classic metal as well as more grim blackness, the riffing definitely not run of the mill black metal, the chugging and churning peppered with cool little licks and trills, the guitar so blown out the sound is transformed into a blurred in-the-red warmth, as opposed to a frosty buzz, everything underpinned by soaring majestic synths, the vocals buried in the mix, the drums pretty kick ass but down in the mix as well, it's all about those riffs and that crazy super saturated guitar sound, just check out the sample below for "Fiery Mysticism" and you'll know just what we mean. They also cover a Celtic Frost track and pretty much make it their own, there are also some hints of the folk that would inform later bands, but for the most part this is just a pretty serious slab of blown out blackness, that anyone into buzzing old school black metal (Ukrainian or otherwise) will probably dig big time.
MPEG Stream: "Fiery Mysticism"
MPEG Stream: "At Nightfall"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AURVANDIL Yearning (Eisenwald) cd 14.98

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

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

AVSKY Malignant (Moribund) cd 14.98
Hail Sweden's own grim hate-mongers (among many), Avsky. This is a band not intimidated by fiercely calculated genre boundaries, proudly celebrating the intersection between old style black metal, blackened death metal (a la lo-fi Hypocrisy), and charred crust punk. This is their second full-length in general, but their first for Moribund, specifically. While some may feel that the relatively high production value somehow cheapens the album, those interested in music and not just being kvlt will here be rewarded. Simply soak in the maleficent hate vibes, and lose yourself in a trance. Crushing guitars, searing riffs, blasting double-bass, and tortured, howling vocals. From mid-tempo to blast beats, it's all here. The bases are covered. Think old Darkthrone demos, Bathory, and Nattefrost all laying prostrate before Baphomet's throne.
MPEG Stream: "Cleanse the World"
MPEG Stream: "The Filth"

AVSOLUTIZED Den Svarta Vandans Genealogi (Neinsphere) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're always on the lookout for more weird black metal. But sometimes it just finds us. We got an email from a mysterious band from Japan called Avsolutized. Like most black metal groups, they were exceedingly polite, and just very much wanted us to listen to their music. So we did, and holy shit did these guys blow us away. They've been a band for almost 12 years now, and this is their very first release, and it's only FIVE songs! But you know what, it doesn't even matter. We would gladly wait another 12 years for 5 more songs like this. It's that good. That black and freaked out and gloriously fucked up. Fans of weirdo black metal and outsider grimness NEED this.
The first track is an ambient intro, all mournful guitar, and moody drones, but with soaring operatic vocals over the top.
When the first proper song kicks in, the band buzzes and pounds, a looped repetitive riff, but then the vocals, beginning as a guttural growl and quickly sliding up to an eighties metal wail, and back again, it's dizzying. The song switches to half time, the vocals transform back into a rasp, but again, explode into falsetto shrieks. Fucking brilliant. And the music underneath is the perfect support, murky and washed out, buzzy and dense, looped and hypnotic, even without the vocals, we'd be way into it, super depressive black buzz, but the vocals just transform it into something totally unique and pretty insane sounding.
One of the 5 songs is a Setherial cover weirdly enough, and they do it pretty straight, maybe upping the buzz ante, filtering it through their own cracked sound, furious and thick and relentless, they sort of out-Setherial Setherial, and then there's those vocals, here more of a traditional black shriek, but still pretty impressive. A brief folky interlude leads to the records closer, a nearly 10 minute black blowout. Loping and buzzy, totally epic, the riffing majestic and mournful, and the vocals, growling out a low demonic rumble, spitting out hellish black rasps, and of course shrieking wildly, until the track breaks down into an ambient interlude, the vocals transformed into a throaty croon, and then quickly to a wild banshee wail. Not to make too much of the vocals, cuz the music here is excellent, some of the best grim black buzz we've heard, but when it's all tangled up with the convoluted compositions and bizarre vocals, it turns what would have been just a killer black metal record into a freaked out fucked up blackened classic.
MPEG Stream: "An Everlasting Circulation Of Void"
MPEG Stream: "Utan Dod..."

AVSOLUTIZED Towards... You There (Noirinfini Rex) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Right from the beginning, the second recording from Avsolutized to make the list, this time an earlier demo tape, limited to 99 copies, of which we got the last dozen, so these will no doubt go FAST.
Right out of the gate, these Japanese black metal weirdos demonstrate exactly why we've barely been able to keep their cd in stock, with some haunting clean guitar and some INSANE falsetto vocals, like an unhinged hair metal howl, that slips from guttural grunt to warbly croon all the way back up to that freaky falsetto, in a single stretch, and then the band kicks in, exploding in a frenzy of beautifully blown out black buzz, and chaotic drumming, and those vocals continuously slipping and sliding and soaring all over the place.
The buzz slips dramatically into some woozy more midtempo Burzumic lopes, with the guitars unfurling soaring melodies and haunting atmospherics, always grounded by a sudden burst of howling screeches or a burst of off kilter rhythms and machine like flurries of blast beat mayhem. Weird to think we might not have ever heard these guys if they hadn't just emailed us out of the blue. Even weirder is that we just discovered there may be some link between Avsolutized, and their equally demented black metal countrymen Arkha Sva, especially considering the distinctive Arkha calligraphy that adorns the tape cover. But none of that matters once you're immersed in the swirling black world of Avsolutized, furious and blackened and heavy, all twisted into strange shapes and tangled up with those insane and impossible vocals, and some seriously inhuman lightspeed drumming. And again, LIMITED TO 99 COPIES! We have less than 15. Each one housed in a cool extra paneled tape cover, and each one hand numbered.

AXIS OF PERDITION, THE Deleted From The Transition Hospital (Code 666) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Deleted Scenes I: In The Hallway Of Crawling Filth"
MPEG Stream: "Pendulum Prey (Second Incarceration)"

AYAT Six Years Of Dormant Hatred (Moribund) cd 14.98
So, do you really need another hole in the head, I mean black metal album? Well, yes you do, you just might want this one, it's a bit different and certainly on the extreme of extreme. On the other hand, Ayat could easily be too scary for some. We were intrigued with Ayat for several reasons. 1) It's on the Moribund label, and we always at least check out their releases, 2) the band hails from of all places, BEIRUT, and 3) we read an interesting interview with them recently in the venerable Metal Maniacs magazine (which, by the way, we're sad to hear is soon to cease publication, a seriously severe loss to the metal scene we grew up with).
In their interview, Ayat make some seemingly hyperbolic statements ("Moribund couldn't refuse this; they had no choice"), but also also sound like they have intelligent reason to believe them, and express some ideas that we don't think we've ever heard a band say, such as the notion that their listeners "are the people who don't give two shits about Ayat but have a life of their own. Every now and then, we give them a gift. The musician/listener relationship should not go beyond that." They also discuss what real war is like (something they know about, that most black metal bands don't), explaining "it's getting your hands dirty, and screwing everyone around you until you convince yourself you're not such an asshole after all". Their atypical background and evident intelligence already set Ayat apart. Then you should note that the guy quoted above calls himself Filthy Fuck. And the other guy in the band is named Sadogoat. Reconciling that, taking them seriously, definitely made us want to hear their music.
And of course, what really matters IS the music. And the music here, or should we say "music", is REALLY distorted and deranged and blasting and brutal. Up there with early Anaal Nathrakh and Revenge. It almost makes you wonder, why they don't just go all the way into Merzbow or Incapacitants style total noise? But then this would lose the frantic headbanging catchiness that underpins all the blurred, buzzing, screaming chaos. Ayat's relentless raw, rawarrrrghhh sound is really kind of punk rock (like Pissed Jeans x 666!!!), but the attentive listener will also realize there's quite a bit of artistry to how these tracks are constructed. It's a complex thing cramming all this craziness and violence into what are actual, rockin' songs. Considering that the band -sounds- like they'd rather be slitting their wrists or gargling alcohol or beating you up rather than doing anything constructive.
Ayat's song titles are just lovely, like "Puking Under Radiant Moonlight (Followed By A Century Long Ejaculation)" and "Thousands Of Pissed Motherfuckers". Filthy Fuck's vocals are often barked, rasped and sputtered like a hardcore Donald Duck and it's not always possible to tell what he's singing about (which may be just as well) but we get the idea it's nihilistic, not nice.
We were -really- worried about the singer towards the climax of the first track "Ilahiya Khinzir! (All Hail Allah The Swine)", but then realized what we were hearing was a recording of pigs squealing. The album is littered with tons of weird, disturbing samples, which sometimes extend into sinister soundscapey passages... but then it's back to the blasting, soon enough. There's actually lots of surprises within these tracks. Snippets of old timey music. The occasional perfunctory guitar solo surfacing. Once in a while, there's even some clean, chantlike singing (a la Root's Big Boss), most notably on the downtempo album closer "Such A Beautiful Day! (The Exaltation Of Saint Francis)" which combines plodding, morose melody with a subtle sheen of electronic drone. Whew! Many methods to their madness here.
Be warned, as you've undoubtedly already surmised, there's religious intolerance, heck, HATRED expressed (not entirely a surprise, as they are a black metal band, usually not known as fans of organized religion, or terribly concerned about offending anyone). This band, based in Lebanon as we mentioned, is avowedly anti-Islamic. Wonder how that works out for them?
MPEG Stream: "Ilahiya Khinzir! (All Hail Allah The Swine)"
MPEG Stream: "Fornication And Murder"
MPEG Stream: "Misogyny When We Embrace"

AZRAEL Act III: Self & Act IV: Goat (Moribund) 2cd 14.98
Just how far into the shadows can you go? Avantgarde US black metal band Azrael attempt to answer that question by unleashing this double disc, comprising Acts III ("Self") and IV ("Goat") of their on-going journey into the void of unlight. As we've noted before, these guys are willing to wander outside of the typical black metal template, sounding much more like a moody post-rock band at times... grimly melodic, droned-out, rhythmic and spare. Elsewhere, they cough up the black metal bonafides, rasping vokills and frosty riffage and all. But still they sound something like a necro Neurosis. As longtime fans of the original nordic black metal post-rockers, Ved Buens Ende, we love this. Azrael, at home in the shadows, appreciate that darkness is often quiet, and that the seasick tension produced by repetition and dynamics can be as creepily effective as the most overtly brutal guitars and screams. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Obscure Ritual Initiation"
MPEG Stream: "Down Into Blood"
MPEG Stream: "Submersed"

AZRAEL Into Shadows Act II: Through Horned Shadows Glimpse (Moribund) cd 14.98
Here's part two of Azrael's Into Shadows and on it they've veered even further away from typical grim black metal into melodic avant weirdness. The first clue is the sleeve, a gorgeously stark series of photos of snowy lanscapes, snow covered trees, and leafless branches. No band info to be found anywhere. The second clue is the first two minutes of the first song, delicately strummed acoustic guitars and reverb heavy drums, eventually joined by droning keyboards, or maybe they're cellos. Either way, it's a weirdly spare sort of rhythmic post-rockish workout. Eventually this pastoral tranquility bursts into buzzing necro black metal hell, all high-end mosquito guitars, howled vocals and simple programmed drum beats, but still over a throbbing, swooning bed of those same droning cellos. Really cool. The record sort of seesaws back and forth between grim howling buzz and sleepy doomy low end rumble. Maybe a little like a black metal Old Man Gloom. Dark and hypnotic, grim and necro, and with some surprising, almost indie sounding melodic jangle thrown into the already unlikely mix!
MPEG Stream: "Through Horned Shadows Glimpse Pt. III"
MPEG Stream: "Through Horned Shadows Glimpse Pt. IV"

AZRAEL Obdurate / Unto Death (Moribund) cd 14.98

AZRAEL RISING s/t (Primitive Reaction) cd ep 7.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
More grim buzzing black metal from Finland! For some of us, that's all we need to know, but then, go ahead and check inside and discover that the lyrics were "written and stolen from various sources", by someone called Ancient Fisherman, who just so happens to be Albert Witchfinder of the mighty Reverend Bizarre!! Fuck yeah!
So in addition to digging through the RB archives and releasing almost as many records posthumously as when they were actually a band, Mr. Witchfinder indulges his glacial ultra doom side as The Puritan, and offers up musical black masses in both Armanenschaft, and now Azrael Rising.
Relentless and furious, buzzing and black, the Ancient Fisherman's partner Vitutor lays down some serious grimness, channeling the Nordic elite, but also countrymen like Horna, Ajattara, Beherit, Sargeist, the Finnish elite, and Azrael sounds right at home. Long epic stretches of sweeping keyboards, give way to loping sprawls of midtempo Burzumic buzz, before slipping into lightning fast blasts of blown out blackness. One track stands out, as it harkens back to Reverend Bizarre, a seriously doomy trudge, the vocals slipping from harsh and screechy to bellowy and demonic, while the riffs churn and the tempos lurch, before the last song crashes in, a blown out hiss drenched burst of midtempo drumming, washed out blurred buzzing guitars, and vocals that are wild and gloriously unhinged.
So there you go... Black metal. Finnish. Albert Witchfinder. Buzz. Blast. Grim. What else do you need?
MPEG Stream: "I"
MPEG Stream: "II"

B.BAPHOMET Einsplundaghn (Small Doses) cd-r 8.98
Okay doomlords and dronelords, it's been a while since we got something in this heavy and grim and bleak and doomic. Something so blackened and crushing, but also so dark and droney, so blissed out and blurry.
The mysterious B.Baphomet, utilizing a strange collection of sound making devices, including bass guitars, Moogs, FX, vocals, Rhodes, percussion, oscillators, seat creaking, vibraphone and of course "knocking something over", has concocted this haunting mysterious collection of blackdrones and downtuned ambient doom, of shimmering whispers and washed out electronic landscapes. Weirdly, two of the tracks here are credited to B.Baphomet, while two of them are credited to M. Colby, who IS B.Baphomet.
Regardless, the opener is for the doomlords, a near black metal crawl, huge guitar chords poured out like black tar, super processed vocals howl and growl, streaks of feedback and long stretches of crumbling rumble, like a black metal version of that Vulture Club record we love so much. This is ultra-ultra-megadoom, an impossibly thick wall of black buzz, of low end sludge, creeping and seeping, the vocals buried in the mix, crushing and pummeling, a slow motion sonic flaying. The track eventually morphs into something much more static, the guitars spread out into throbbing drone, layered with fuzzy synths, and tons of low end, occasionally peppered with barely audible vocals, strange short wave interference, damaged FX,13 minutes of utter and glorious aural punishment.
But from that point on, the other three tracks, are for the dronelords (and hell, by now most aQ customers should count themselves as both, doomlord and dronelord), something much more abstract and minimal, the second track, is a strange swirl of muted melodies, buried rhythms, swells of processed guitar, all smeared into a blurry glimmering dronescape. The third track is similarly minimal and drone-y but much more gritty, the various tones crumbly and distorted, crackle, hiss, whir wrapped around decaying sound, the track slipping from warm alien glow, to subterranean industrial grind, but always stretched into long drawn out alien sounding sonic expanses.
The final track is the prettiest of the bunch, a sort of lullaby, drifting bell like tones, glimmering chimes, muted delicate melodies, warm soft chords, all so soft and shimmery and so unlike the rest of the disc, especially the blackened opener.
SUPER LIMITED!! Only 111 copies! Each disc comes in a super swank hand screened brown on brown cardstock sleeve, with a printed red Japanese style obi, inside, a printed color insert, each one hand numbered.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"

BAD ACID Tab 6 dvd+ cd-r+ magazine 19.98
Okay drug rock freeks, space rock explorers, doomlords, sludge demons, prog obsessives, metal maniacs, stoner dudes, noise nerds, and basically most of the other folks who read this here aQ list, Bad Acid is the magazine for you. And calling Bad Acid a magazine is a bit of a misnomer. It's more of a multimedia spacemetaldoomprogsludgenoise experience. You think we're exaggerating? A seventy minute dvd, an ELEVEN HOUR mp3 audio disc, a nearly two hour long label sampler, AND a 60 page booklet/magazine packed with liner notes, articles and interviews.
Packed with SO many aQ favorites, but just as many new bands we'd never heard, a bunch who could very well turn into new favorites. We've barely scratched the surface, since if we spent 14 hours on each review, the list would be, oh, about 5 items long. But from what we've heard / seen / watched so far, this latest issue of Bad Acid is pretty essential.
The dvd first, a series of music videos, film excerpts and slide shows, we were mostly excited about the scenes from an Antonius Rex movie, Antonius Rex being the dude from JACULA!! Tripped out and satanic and appropriately what-the-fuck. Some killer live footage of doom mongers Ogre, a killer art gallery slide show from the Malleus artist collective, featuring an awesome soundtrack from Morkobot, a Northwinds video, and then some more obscure stuff, Manatees tour video, Wicked Minds video, King Suffy Generator video, Lento live footage and tons more. All woven together by some super creepy animated menus.
Then there's the cd-r, featuring 11 hours of mp3's from Moss, Danava, White Hills, Barbara, Hey Colossus, Orange Sunshine, Capricorns, Khlyst, Acid King, Heresi, Raw Radar War, Fire Witch, Taint, Orange Goblin, Shinjuku Thief, Litmus and those are just the bands we know and already dig. 57 bands total, 102 tracks, tons of new bands to check out and discover. Also included is a label sampler focusing on the Bone Structure cd-r label, whose releases run the gamut from raw black metal, to buzzing industrial noise, to black ambient to grinding industrial weirdness. We actually have some BS stuff on the way, to be reviewed on the list soon, but this is a killer way to check out tons of stuff on the label.
And then there's the actual magazine component, with notes on each of the bands on the cd-r, a feature on each of the bands on the dvd, tons of info about Bone Structure and the bands on the label, as well as interviews with Fire Witch, Taint, Orange Goblin, and probably most exciting of all Alan Dubin, formerly of Khanate, talking about his new band Gnaw, which features folks from Burning Witch, Thorr's Hammer, Atavist, Enos Slaughter and Ike Yard(!). Man, we can't wait to hear that.
All of the above packaged in a standard dvd style case, with killer cover art from the Malleus Rock Art Lab. A bit pricey due to the weak dollar and the expensive overseas shipping, but pretty well worth it.

BAD ACID Tab 8 magazine+dvd-r 17.98
Yet another incredible collection of far out sights and sounds from the folks at Bad Acid. Everything from sludge to doom to psych to stoner rock to noise to weird jazz to fractured electronics to post rock and pretty much every stop in between. Rumor is that Bad Acid might be shifting to a monthly release schedule, which is certainly fine with us, but considering how much stuff is jammed into each Tab, we have no idea how these guys will be able to pull it off. But here's hoping, cuz not only is every issue loaded with tons of mp3s and videos and live performances from bands we already love, but also included are tons of bands we'd never even heard of before, many of which end up being be big time favorites.
This time around, the audio compilation includes tracks from Gnod, Harvey Milk, Oxbow, Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg, Moss, 5ive, Berkowitz Lake & Dahmer, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Zu, Btong, Skull Defekts, Burmese, Cadaver Eyes, Pendo, L'Otracina, Enablers, Outrageous Cherry, Millions, Kenji Siratori, A Fashionable Disease, and that's just the bands we know, there are FORTY FIVE other bands!!! The dvd features Bay Area stoner stalwarts Acid King, as well as a whole mess of mostly new to us bands, offering up promo videos, live sets as well as animation and other visual weirdness. There's also a label sampler included on the disc, and then there's still the printed magazine! A thick dvd sized booklet, overflowing with interviews and articles and features and reviews, with most of the bands featured on the dvd as well all the notes for the artists included on the dvd (both the audio and video portion). Easily one of the most amazing resources for tripped out weird underground and independent music, and for discovering new bands, or even for actually finally hearing bands you'd always wondered about, it's a big ol' earful, and an eyeful, so best to set aside some serious listening / reading time, and just dive in. After all, since they might be bumping up their schedule, you might only have the next 30 days to make it through all this Bad Acid before you have Tab 9 to contend with...

BAD ACID Tab 9 magazine+dvd-r 17.98
All right doom / grind / stoner / sludge / heavy music obsessives, it's time for your now monthly (!) fix of extreme heaviness, in the form of the latest Tab of the Bad Acid audio/video zine, which is supposedly gonna be a monthly occurrence, which is definitely good for our ears, but makes keeping up a bit tough. But if you're into heavy sounds, then you're pretty much for sure gonna want one of these.
First there's a DVD, this time featuring a couple aQ faves, Mono, Le Ira De Dios and Blood Fountains, a few bands we'd heard of: The Atlas Moth, Seven That Spells, as well as a whole bunch of new-to-us artists: Das Bluul, El Thule, !Xazzaz! and more. And that's sort of what makes Bad Acid so awesome, a few favorites, but even more new discoveries.
Which is where the insane and epic audio compilation comes in. Check out this list: Circle, Cough, Skitliv, White Hills, Pelican, Weird Owl, Vincent Black Shadow, Poochlatz, Tusk, Grey Daturas, The Atlas Moth, Ufomammut, Sunroof!, Kemialliset Ystavat, Lords Of Bukkake, Atlas Sound, Eternal Elysium, and that's just the bands we've heard of. There are about 50 or 60 more!
Then there's a sample for the Murkhouse label, as well as an art gallery, and that's just the DVD.
There's also a huge printed magazine, with reviews of ALL the bands featured, plus interviews with Ancestors, White Hills and more. Not to mention the bad ass cover art. Housed in a dvd case, killer stuff, better grab one of these quick so you have time to digest all these heavy sights and sounds before it's time for Tab 10!!!!

BAD ACID The Burnout Issue (Tabs 10,11,12) 3 x dvd-r + mini-magazine 27.00
Sad sad news, UK underground heavy/spacey/metallic/psychedelic magazine/compilation Bad Acid is no more. Longtime readers of the aQ list have no doubt enjoyed an issue or two (or three or four) of this sprawling publication, a combination printed zine, and computerized PDF zine, complete with an audio component that usually clocks in at at least 12 hours, sometimes twice that. It's been 10 years, and Bad Acid editor Dave Gedge has a family, and kids, has been losing money (magazines, even ones as amazing as Bad Acid are most definitely a labor of love) and furthermore is a Buddhist, so in addition to simplifying his life, Gedge has simply been burnt out, which is why this final salvo is called The Burnout Issue. And this final issue is the only bit of silver lining, but WHAT a silver lining it is. This final issue is in fact, THREE issues, #10, #11 and #12, and while the printed part might be the most minimal yet, it's more than made up for by the contents of the 3 dvd-r's. This time, the magazine itself is more of an index, as it takes EIGHT pages, in tiny text, to list all the bands and songs and videos and interviews and articles.
As usual, it's split into sections, the first is the PDF magazine, accompanied by music from each band as well as a review of the band's most recent record. Some of the bands in the magazine this time around: Carlton Melton, Aluk Todolo, Bong, Plastic Crimewave Sound, Sylvester Anfang, Residual Echoes, White Hills, Der Blutharsch, GNOD, Jazzfinger, Grey Daturas, Hooded Menace, Necro Deathmort, The Gates Of Slumber, Flood, The Wounded Kings, Full Blown Expansion, Hey Colossus, Ancestral, Isis, Pelican, Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Sutcliffe Jugend, The Accused, Inade, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Atomic Bitchwax, Snail, The Twilight Sad, Ramesses, Ufomammut, Witchsorrow, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, Slomatics, Root, Nordvargr, Antonius Rex, Russian Circles, Centurions Ghost, Nebula, Freedom Hawk, Steve Von Till of Neurosis, Leeches Of Lore, Dianogah, Sardonis, Torche, Turzi, Ancestors, L'Acephale, and loads more, including TONS of bands we had never heard of.
The second section is the interviews, and features Meads Of Asphodel, Nadja, Expo 70, Centurions Ghost, Vincent Black Shadow, Gnaw, Unearthly Trance, At War With False Noise, Old Corpse Road, Alice Donut, and more! The next section features label profiles of Denovali, Rocket and Future Noise, featuring loads of recordings from lots of bands on each label.
Then there's a section of bonus audio, with still more tracks, including jams from Sundial, B*Tong, Disappears, Fire Witch, Realmbuilder, Jex Thoth, White Buzz, Rich Hoak, Loscil, Jonas Reinhardt, Fauna, Big City Orchestra, and once again, a whole mess of bands we've never heard.
There's also a bunch of videos, by Total Fucking Destruction, White Hills, Psychofagist and a bunch more, some short films as well, and finally, a section of bonus MP4's, featuring promo videos from Expo 70 and others, and more short films and live footage.
Phew! It's epic and sprawling, and is equal parts rad bands you know and new discoveries. Way recommended for anyone who likes music AT ALL. But definitely Bad Acid leans toward the heavy and the psychedelic and the left of center. So yeah, obviously WAY recommend, and while Bad Acid will continue on in a different, bloggier, form, it just won't be the same, so you best buy this final issue of Bad Acid and add it to that shelf of magazines you keep and treasure and reread...

BAHIMIRON Southern Nihilizm (Moribund) cd 14.98
Sure, "You don't mess with Texas" is a cliche as old as the hills, one that has lost much of its import, but those are definitely words to live by if "messing with Texas" means messing with these guys. Houston's Bahimiron return with the aptly titled Southern Nihilizm, a furious slab of blasting grim blackness, that owes no small debt to the mighty Gorgoroth, giving that classic Norwegian sound through their own cracked Texan twist, the guitars are crunchy and buzzy, the drums are buried in the mix, but are wild and frenetic, and the vocals are seriously demented, going from processed guttural growls, to monstrous roar to almost Cradle Of Filth shriek, often in the same song.
The other weird thing about Bahimiron's sound is the production, tons of effects and what sounds like reverb, so everything is dense and noisy, and the riffs sort of blend into one another, turning a black buzz into a droned out buzzing blacknoize. There are some strange moments scattered throughout the record as well, the end of "The Cauldron Born" features a bizarre, awesomely out of place chromatic sort-of-guitar solo, "Agonist The Filth" has killer squiggly leads draped all over the place, "Chambers Empty" features deep bellowing clean vocals doused in effects that transform them into confusional speaking in tongues garbled mumbles then moments later into hysterical howls. The title track has a cool melancholy breakdown in the middle with a distorted guitar playing out a mournful minor key melody, before the band explodes into another blown out black frenzy. And "War Whiskey Sodomy" closes the record with a brief lumbering sludge soaked doom outro. But all that weirdness is deftly tangled up and tucked away in and within the band's furious noisy black metal buzz, making it just weird enough for us, but just grim and true enough for everyone else.
Cool cover art, the band's logo and evil goat image rendered in super subtle gloss black ink on a flat matte black booklet.
MPEG Stream: "The Cauldron Born"
MPEG Stream: "Shattered and Crowned in Deceit"