!T.O.O.H.! (!TOTAL OBLITERATION OF HUMANITY!) Order And Punishment (Earache) cd 15.98
Tooh? Tee-oh-oh-ech!!? What's that? Oh, TOTAL OBLITERATION OF HUMANITY! Nice. Of course, they're one of those mean and blasting grindcore bands, and a really good one, on the weirder side of the genre -- or genres, in their case, since the Czech Republic's misanthropic !T.O.O.H.! tend to blenderize metal, punk, jazz, and other elements in their music.
We've actually been fans of these freaks for a long time, and were pleased to see 'em get a release on big time extreme metal label Earache, especially as we'd never been able to stock their cds regularly before, since they were all hard-to-come-by Middle European imports. Now we can get Order And Punishment anytime we want to spank all y'all with. And a sonic spanking it is, an utterly spastic spanking of technical death grind insanity. Ripping rollercoaster songcraft, full of widdly neo-classical guitar, vehement vocals in Czech (about what, we don't know), dizzying changes, and some valiantly thrashing riffs... it's really those "classic" metal elements that turn this into a headbanger's ball for us, and make Order And Punishment a worthy repeat listen. What a bunch of nutters.
MPEG Stream: "Abu-Hassan"
MPEG Stream: "Padaji, Piskaji"

1349 Beyond the Apocalypse (Candlelight) cd 15.98
If you walked into Aquarius right now and came up to me and asked: hey I want to hear some truly violent and grim Norwegian black metal! And it better be good! I want my ears to fill with black blood and my face to instinctively become a snarling grimace as my head bangs uncontrollably!! What would I do? Well, I might point you towards Immortal or Gorgoroth... or I might just hand you this new disc from Norway's numerically-nomenclatured 1349. Already notable for boasting the legendary drummer Frost from Satyricon in their ranks, this band became underground superstars upon the release of their previous full-length, Liberation, which was simply one of last year's best black metal albums. Just ask Wrest from Leviathan, who provided AQ's rave review of it at the time. The prospect of a new 1349 made our black metal lovin' hearts go pitter-pat and we're not disappointed with it now that it's here. Still fast still grim still better than 99 percent of their competitors. Compared to Liberation, this is marginally less fuzzy and buzzy, revealing what sounds a bit more like a 'real metal band' than some trance-inducing drone act. They're breaking no new ground riff-wise, but the guitars are savage and bleak, the drumming simply insane, and surprises lurk in dark corners of this record. 1349 are just so ...classy. So, in answer to your question, I would confidently say, get Beyond the Apocalypse!
MPEG Stream: "Nekronatalenheten"
MPEG Stream: "Blood Is The Mortar"

1349 Hellfire (Candlelight) cd 14.98
RAGE! This is the brand of blazing fast, berserker black metal that, if you were perhaps a less civilized and controlled person than we'll assume most readers of the AQ list to be, would perhaps result in you throwing yourself bodily about your room, thrashing, trashing, destroying things until your cd player suffers a critical blow and some semblance of reason returns to you with the sudden silence. Well let's hope that scenario never takes place (or if it does, nobody blames us for recommending this album). But listening to this frenzied blackness can certainly be cathartic even if there's no physical (only psychical) reaction. It's exuberant and extreme corpsepainted carnage up there with the best of 'em -- we're reminded particularily of the fiercest tracks by Immortal.
Yes indeed, the high expectations we had for upandcoming Norwegian black metal battle cruiser 1349's third outing, are met or exceeded in spades with the release of Hellfire, which features as always the inhuman drumming of Satyricon skinbeater Frost, who slows things down for some well-deserved headbangs only occasionally, but mostly drives the album forward faster than an Aquarius customer pouncing on a new limited edition vinyl Boris release! The blurring speed of Frost's drumming is well-matched by singer Ravn's angry, raspy throat abuse and the jagged riff shrapnel flying from the guitars. Swathed in an atmospheric cloak of evil, buzzing, distorted near-melody (especially the album's final, title track, which somehow clocks in at exactly 13 minutes and 49 seconds!), Hellfire is hyperspeed ultraviolence of the highest calibre. If you already like 1349 you know what to expect. Everyone else, watch out.
MPEG Stream: "I Am Abomination"
MPEG Stream: "Sculptor Of Flesh"

1349 Hellfire (Back On Black) 2lp 23.00
Now available as a super deluxe limited 2lp!
RAGE! This is the brand of blazing fast, berserker black metal that, if you were perhaps a less civilized and controlled person than we'll assume most readers of the AQ list to be, would perhaps result in you throwing yourself bodily about your room, thrashing, trashing, destroying things until your cd player suffers a critical blow and some semblance of reason returns to you with the sudden silence. Well let's hope that scenario never takes place (or if it does, nobody blames us for recommending this album). But listening to this frenzied blackness can certainly be cathartic even if there's no physical (only psychical) reaction. It's exuberant and extreme corpsepainted carnage up there with the best of 'em -- we're reminded particularily of the fiercest tracks by Immortal.
Yes indeed, the high expectations we had for upandcoming Norwegian black metal battle cruiser 1349's third outing, are met or exceeded in spades with the release of Hellfire, which features as always the inhuman drumming of Satyricon skinbeater Frost, who slows things down for some well-deserved headbangs only occasionally, but mostly drives the album forward faster than an Aquarius customer pouncing on a new limited edition vinyl Boris release! The blurring speed of Frost's drumming is well-matched by singer Ravn's angry, raspy throat abuse and the jagged riff shrapnel flying from the guitars. Swathed in an atmospheric cloak of evil, buzzing, distorted near-melody (especially the album's final, title track, which somehow clocks in at exactly 13 minutes and 49 seconds!), Hellfire is hyperspeed ultraviolence of the highest calibre. If you already like 1349 you know what to expect. Everyone else, watch out.
MPEG Stream: "I Am Abomination"
MPEG Stream: "Sculptor Of Flesh"

1349 Liberation (Candlelight) cd 15.98
1349 was once an obscure Norwegian black metal entity with one ep featuring Satyricon's Frost as session drummer. It was really great, actually, but it's only now with their full-length debut that people are starting to pay attention. Frost judged 1349's merits well and has joined as a permanent member -- if that isn't recommendation enough to you, here's what black metal expert Wrest (of tUMULt label black metallers LEVIATHAN) had to contribute:
"15 or so years after the birth of the second black metal storm, most of the so called 'original' black metal bands have changed direction in an effort to evolve. These acts have chosen to add different elements (rave, techno, way too much synth, etc...) or go in directions of so-called 'growth'. Fortunately, this is not the case with 1349's Liberation. From start to finish, Liberation is Arctic blackened terror, rendered at hyper velocity. The production is appropriately raw and cacaphonous, which makes for a guitar tone like a sonic guillotine, headed for your face at eye-level. At first listen the drums sound like they must be sped up. NOBODY can play that fast! Not so. It is merely a new snare-drum sound for Frost (a man few can hope to match at any speed). Most impressive is 1349's mastery of what most 'black metal' bands choose to leave out: the METAL! Along with loathsome, Satanic lyrics there are tasteful shards of igneous thrash and true metals. This record is a death-threat to all the 'evolved' black metal acts, prancing about flamboyantly in their pathetic raver-existences. Not to be missed... if you like the real thing."
And as purely Metal as Wrest insists this is, we'd be remiss if we didn't also point out that the insanely fast drumming and the solid buzzing hiss of the guitars make this disc a trance-drone record capable of appealing also to open-minded avantgardists as well as Immortal and Dissection fans!
MPEG Stream: "Riders Of The Apocalypse"
MPEG Stream: "Legion"

3 INCHES OF BLOOD Advance and Vanquish (Roadrunner) cd 16.98
Without even reading this review, you probably know already if you're the sort of person who'd be interested in purchasing an album with song titles like "Destroy The Orcs", "Crazy Nights", "Axes Of Evil" and "Wykydtron". And if you are, AQ sez you should definitely buy this one! But read on for the details.
Listening to this album, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a German power metal troupe from 1985...but this disc is brand spankin' new, and the kids in 3 Inches Of Blood are from Vancouver! And their thanks list includes the likes of Teen Cthulhu, Goatsblood, and Harkonen. Presumably they followed the unlikely but ultimately excellent path from punk and hardcore to metalcore to, now, full on balls-in-a-vice, galloping guitars, swords and sorcery M to the E to the T to the A to the L. The singer screams and shrieks with the best of 'em (reminding us of Lizzie Borden, Udo and Metal Church's David Wayne), the music is both punishing and melodic, and a lot of the lyrics are even ABOUT metal, a la Manowar. So, the metalheads here at AQ were instantly hooked (oh yeah, it IS hooky). Not bad for some Canadian kids! Sure, great bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Darkest Hour and Mastodon have already allowed strains of '80s true heavy metal to seep into their metalcore mosh-math but 3 Inches Of Blood go waaaay beyond that. You will hear the metalcore origins in how this is tougher and heavier and noisier than their '80s inspirations, but still, it's pretty darn D&D.
What's really fucked up is, how'd they get on Roadrunner? This ain't nu metal, this ain't rap metal, this ain't even death metal. Not only that, someone spent some big bucks on it: produced by Neil Kernon (who has twiddled knobs for everyone from Hall and Oates to Macabre), mixed by Colin Richardson (another big name, most famous around here for his work with Carcass)...the cover art is even by the guy who did Megadeth's signature Vic Rattlehead cover paintings. Well, apparently this band somehow wound up touring with The Darkness, and loads of good press in the UK ensued, followed by this Roadrunner deal, after one previous indie-release we haven't been able to get a hold of yet. And sure, these guys are a bit tongue in cheek like The Darkness, but the music they are inspired by (no, not parody) isn't nearly as commercial and pop as the '80 hair metal and '70s cock rock The Darkness favors. The bands these guys emulate were way more underground and fast and heavy, stuff like good, old Helloween fer instance. Or (not so underground but important) Judas Priest's Painkiller album. All right, 'nuff said. Basically, it comes down to: "Destroy The Orcs", yay or nay? We say yay, destroy those pesky orcs!!
MPEG Stream: "Destroy The Orcs"
MPEG Stream: "Deadly Sinners"

3 INCHES OF BLOOD Fire Up The Blades (Roadrunner) cd 14.98
Right from the majestic, martial instrumental intro of "Through The Horned Gate" that begins this album, it's clear that the return of 3 Inches Of Blood is also the return of true, speedy, spikes n' leather metal in an updated '80s vein, hypercharged with aggressive modern metalcore technology. It's all about relentless shrieking, Maidenesque guitar frenzies, and song titles like "Night Marauders" and "Demon's Blade". Total galloping speed metal mayhem, and then some. It's like Judas Priest's Painkiller as performed by Converge!
Of course, 3 Inches Of Blood aren't the only band these days looking back to the glory days of the '80s for (ironic?) metal inspiration. But this Vancouver sextet is one of the best, most wholehearted, and surprisingly successful sales-wise (among North American bands anyway -- and this is way cooler than Dragonforce) and also have their own unique approach to this sound, which can be ascribed both to their hardcore heritage and to the presence of two vocalists (that's all they do!) in the band, doubling up on the mics, one a long-haired, raspy-but-melodic high-end falsetto specialist, the other short-haired one dealing in growlier throat abuse. And they kinda need two singers/screamers to compete with all the dual guitar fireworks going off around them.
Fire Up The Blades is a fine follow up to their breakthrough second album Advance and Vanquish, and is also already a definite headbanging AQ fave. We're into what seems to be an extra dose of, uh, rock n' roll riffage here -- there's some cowbell happenin' too. But it's still all pretty much rockin' at 150mph, pedal to the metal. This is one fierce, energetic album! For fans of everything from Accept to Children Of Bodom to Laaz Rockit to Darkest Hour to Lizzie Borden to Mastodon to Metal Church... gotta highlight this, as the FUN, fist-in-the-air quotient compared to some of the grim black metal we're always recommending is extremely high.
MPEG Stream: "The Great Hall Of Feasting"
MPEG Stream: "Trial Of Champions"

324 Rebelgrind (HG Fact) cd 11.98
Latest and definitely greatest from these old school Japanese grind thrashers. Noisy, heavy, brutal, punishing, and weirdly catchy.

5/5/2000 Reflektionen Musique (Post Replica) cd 12.98
A long look through a dark tunnel into the cloudy past of drone explorationists 5/5/2000, a duo made up of aQ pal Nathan Berliguette, formerly of tech grind outift Creation Is Crucifixion as well as the man responsible for bringing the glorious sounds of the Arboga Teenage Riot to these shores and our ears (and for that we he will never be forgiven, er... I mean forgotten) and Travis Ryan, frontman of gore soaked death metallers Cattle Decapitation and nominee for Sexiest Vegetarian In The World. But none of that really prepares you for the sound of 5/5/2000, named for a rare planetary alignment that was supposed to signal the coming of the Antichrist. Their sounds is not technical, not grind, not metal, instead, these three extended tracks explore different facets of the drone, from soft billowy tranquil ambience to soaring space like shimmer to creaking, corrosive machinelike whir to a thick whirl like the washed out fuzz of a million vacuum cleaners to the out of focus sepia toned drift of soft edged rumble and melancholy instrumental mumble. All three tracks are gorgeous, dense drones thick with swirling reverb, fuzzy tape hiss, and all manner of fragmented melodies and layer after layer of rich warm sound. While supplies last, you'll get the special limited edition version, limited to 100, hand numbered, packaged in an oversized sparkly silver, velcro sealed cardboard sleeve, with three pins affixed to the front. After those are gone it's back to the normal jewel case version...
MPEG Stream: "There Was Never A Moment When The End Of The World Was Not Real"
MPEG Stream: "Surface Of The Sun"

500 FT. OF PIPE Dope Deal (Beard of Stars) cd 14.98
Detroit's 500 Ft. Of Pipe are another new band of hard-rockin' hopefuls in the crowded stoner rock arena, and they are better than most. What with their Motor City pedigree, they align more with Stooges-fans Monster Magnet than with Kyuss (Kyuss being the most common template for young stoner rock bands to follow, y'know). There's (of course) a big drug fixation going on here -- witness song titles like "420 to Go", "Dope Deal", and "D.E.A." Loud, bass-heavy, rock action, with psychedelic balls enough to cover Donovan's "Sunshine Superman"! Allan's fave stoner rock disc of the year.
RealAudio clip: "Detroit City (Never Done Me No Good)"
RealAudio clip: "Wear It Out"

500 FT. OF PIPE The Electrifying Church Of The New Light (Beard Of Stars) cd 14.98

5IVE Hesperus (Tortuga) cd 14.98
The cover photo on this digipack release shows placid waters, probably some sheltered harbor near Boston, from whence this guitar-drums two-piece hail. The photo on the interior gatefold also depicts relatively calm seas. But the sonic waves that 5ive stir up are something else, bigger and meaner! 5ive's relentless and riff-repetitive, mostly-instrumental music is HEAVY all right. And thus, floats our boat, even as it tosses said boat about upon its stormy waves.
We've been waiting for some new 5ive for quite some time. This is their first full-length of new material in forever. 2006's Versus ep, featuring a couple remixes by Justin Broadrick (Jesu), only left us hankering for more... so we're glad to report that this new 5ive is finally here and it's got what we want. Thick n' distorted stoner rock meets post rock jams, full of loud soft dynamics for maximum sludgecore beauty and power. Tracks like "Heel" and "Big Sea" have plenty of rollicking psychedelic swing to 'em, after the pretty parts that set you up for the heavier hitting... and while the likes of "News II" gets up into the 12 minute range, even the shorter tunes here manage some epic, hypnotic heft. Fans of 5ive won't be disappointed, and if you haven't heard 'em before check this out if stuff like Pelican, Kinski, godheadsilo, Isis, Old Man Gloom, etc. is on your personal playlist.
MPEG Stream: "Gulls"
MPEG Stream: "Big Sea"

5IVE s/t (Tortuga) cd 13.98
Not to be confused with the identically named "ladband" we discovered while trying to look up info on this one on the internet -- no, this 5ive are no boyband, they're a Boston psychedelic-doom-core duo making their cd debut after releasing one amazingly heavy LP last year. Their label Tortuga is also the home of AQ-faves Old Man Gloom. Following in the prolific footsteps of OMG (and GnR for that matter), 5ive have not one but two simultaneous new releases. The self-titled one is actually just the cd version of the aforementioned LP. And it's a monster. Six long tracks of mostly-instrumental sludge heaviness. Their weighty distortion-dirge-demonics are in a league with Gore, Earth, Corrupted, Electric Wizard, and fellow Bostonians Warhorse. That hypnotic, heavy, and stoned! Follow-up full-length "The Telestic Disfracture" is similarly heavy, and adds not-entirely necessary guest vocals (from another Boston metalcore band, Milligram) on several tracks. Brutal. Again, the songs are long and droney, but with good use of quiet/loud dynamics for maximum punishment effect (and surprising beauty too). These discs would make that ladband go running for mommy!
RealAudio clip: "The Baron"

5IVE The Hemophiliac Dream (Tortuga) cd 10.98
Boston's 5ive (who may be changing their name to Continuum Research Project, as that's what the top obi on this li'l disc says -- I think the Euro boy band 5ive's lawyers might have something to do with that) unleash another super heavy and mesmerizing instrumental metallo-drone experience, consisting of the 23 minute track "Part I: The Hemophiliac Dream" and then "Part II", a quite worthwhile 14 minute remix done by the Jim O'Rourke of the avant-metal underground, James Plotkin (Phantomsmasher, Khanate, OLD, Joy Of Disease, Flux, Romance, Lotus Eaters, etc.), giving 5ive the computer/electronics treatment for some this-side-of-Merzbow-noisy (yet quite listenable), stereo-panning-gone-wild weirdness. A claustrophobic headphone trip. In sum, "The Hemophiliac Dream" is psychedelic, sludgy, and a little post-rock in places -- total beauty-in-heaviness stuff for fans of Boris, Acid Mothers Temple, Old Man Gloom, Melvins, Tarantula Hawk, Swans, Kyuss, all that. And Pink Floyd fans might recognize its origins...
RealAudio clip: "Part I: The Hemophiliac Dream"

5IVE The Telestic Disfracture (Tortuga) cd 13.98
Not to be confused with the identically named "ladband" we discovered while trying to look up info on this one on the internet -- no, this 5ive are no boyband, they're a Boston psychedelic-doom-core duo making their cd debut after releasing one amazingly heavy LP last year. Their label Tortuga is also the home of AQ-faves Old Man Gloom. Following in the prolific footsteps of OMG (and GnR for that matter), 5ive have not one but two simultaneous new releases. The self-titled one is actually just the cd version of the aforementioned LP. And it's a monster. Six long tracks of mostly-instrumental sludge heaviness. Their weighty distortion-dirge-demonics are in a league with Gore, Earth, Corrupted, Electric Wizard, and fellow Bostonians Warhorse. That hypnotic, heavy, and stoned! Follow-up full-length "The Telestic Disfracture" is similarly heavy, and adds not-entirely necessary guest vocals (from another Boston metalcore band, Milligram) on several tracks. Brutal. Again, the songs are long and droney, but with good use of quiet/loud dynamics for maximum punishment effect (and surprising beauty too). These discs would make that ladband go running for mommy!
RealAudio clip: "Nitinol"
RealAudio clip: "Shark Dreams"

5IVE Versus (Tortuga) cd ep 10.98
It's been almost a year since we heard anything from instru-metal rockers 5ive, and even then it was just a weird remix thing with Kid 606. The last proper record they did was way back in 2002! So what the heck have those guys been up to for the last 4 years? Not recording a whole lot of new music that's for sure, as this new release is also a sort of remix ep. But we're not gonna complain. We've been dying for new material from this heavy as hell drums and guitar duo, so we'll take what we can get. And what you get here is 4 tracks, 25 minutes, of epic and spacious, almost cinematic doom bliss. Two 5ive tracks and two "remixes" of 5ive tracks by Justin Broadrick of Jesu. The opening track, one of the two remixes sounds like some metallicized Morricone / Goblin hybrid. Swirling sound fx, and a simple plodding rhythm. You can definitely hear some Jesu in there. The second track is WAY more classic 5ive, a groovy loping post rock workout, that builds and builds into huge lurching staggering stoner rock. Part way through everything sort of blisses-out into a keening tribal drum, guitar jangle drift, that slowly grows in intensity into a huge wall of massive churning guitar, which becomes a super tense stop start doom thing, before exploding back into full on metal groove. The second track "Soma" is the original from which the two Broadrick remixes are culled. A convoluted doomic dirge, grinding and slithering, thrashing and grooving, equal parts Dazzling Killmen, Isis, Lightning Bolt and Laddio Bolocko, a relentless chaotic dirge thrash, swirling and pounding, dense and ultra heavy. For the final track, Broadrick removes most of the heavy guitars, leaving just the simple clean guitar melody and a hypnotic looped drum line. Over that he drapes sheets of sonic shimmer and clouds of fuzzy ambience, an epic ambient plodding doom soundtrack to the end of the world, like a more metallic Mogwai / Brian Eno mashup. Totally gorgeous. But not enough!! Now we're completely jonesing for more 5ive AND more Jesu! C'MON! WE NEED IT!!!
MPEG Stream: "Reso-I"
MPEG Stream: "Soma Remix By J K Broadrick (Stage 2)"

7000 DYING RATS The Sound of No Hands Clapping (tUMULt / Toyo) cd 15.98
It takes a lot of...well guts maybe, to be a fucking ultra-tight, super brutal grind metal powerhouse and to purposefully alienate/annoy a huge legion of possible fans by not taking your metal seriosly enough: by telling jokes, talking about cocks, mocking the sense-of-humourless metalheads you find yourself playing in front of, having skits, mixing in 80s hair metal, and synth pop and just being generally silly and goofy (but still totally killer musically, not just a "well, we can't play that well anyway" joke).
This is record number two from the Rats (following 'Fanning the Flames of Fire', a joint release between Caroline and Chicago's Up Jumps the Devil) and it's a doozy. Imagine the spazz inflicted genre hopping of Mr. Bungle, only more black metal and Venom, more Thin Lizzy, more comedy and more like your older hesh brother that's been working at the 7-11 since he dropped out of high school. The jokes are funny (kind of) and the music is punishing and furiously brutal (when it's not silly and moronic). With song titles like "Gary Drug Abusey", "Uncle Tom's of Finland", "Paper Thin Lizzy", "Straight Up Comedy Grind" and an 80's metal cover of the theme song to Beverly Hills 90210 (with a 90210 sample poking fun at fellow midwestern grinder Weasel Walter -- he of the Flying Luttenbachers, Lake of Dracula and Hatewave, among others), you might be inclined to pass off 7KDR as a novelty item -- but take out the comedic element, and you'd have a hellish, brutal metal record, better than most of their more serious minded contemporaries. I mean, if they dropped their comedy schtick and just played straight up grind/metal, they would be huge. Probably on Relapse, and selling hundreds of thousands of records. But thanks to those guts, they're on tUMULt, and Toyo and they're liable to sell more than a thousand records!!! Fans of Anal Cunt, Pig Destroyer, Drop Dead, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Dying Fetus, Bathtub Shitter, Fuck...I'm Dead, Mr. Bungle, Faxed Head and Neil Hamburger will love this.
RealAudio clip: "This Close"
RealAudio clip: "Uncle Tom's of Finland"
RealAudio clip: "A Rat's Ass (Judas Priestly)"
RealAudio clip: "Strippers on Ecstasy"
RealAudio clip: "Lair of Deadly Gigantic Scorpions"

A FASHIONABLE DISEASE s/t (My Pet Goat) 7" 4.50
Totally ass kicking and weirdly fucked brutality fills this little 7" from Santa Cruz's own, A Fashionable Disease! Another one of those what the fuck, seemingly impossible combinations of influences, synthesized in such a unique and successful way, that makes us kind of scratch our heads and lament that we haven't been turned on sooner. How do you describe this? Maybe filthyfreejazzcrustyfiedsatanicdamagedgrindpunkavantskronk? Or maybe just Crass meets Ayler meets Pig Destroyer meets Sun Ra meets Schoenberg meets Anal Cunt meets Mahavishnu. We don't fucking know, but it rules! Super demented, ultra damaged grind-jazz, complete with horn section! Putrid angular metallic guitar discordance, feculent terrorist manifesto screeched vocals, growling horns, blasting drums. The first cut, "Veal Medallions" starts with a blast of feedback before hurling into a psychotically chromatic guitar and piano line, ending up in a blasting tumult of throat tearing vocals and frenetically crazed drumming! Some of the lyrics from this number kind of sum up what these fellas are about... "skulls converge ruins/ rainbows ejaculate onto your face/ quiet in the piss-stained evening/ spring wind blows perfume of 1,000 rotting carcasses...". Fuck yes. The rest of the 7" is just as killer. Totally fucked and totally great! For fans of Zorn, Bathtub Shitter, Rudimentary Peni, Crass, Coltrane, Dystopia, Cecil Taylor, or anything filthy, proggy, grindy, avant-jazzy, and totally shredding! Recommended!

A PERFECT MURDER Rehearsal (Cyclop Media) cd 10.98

A SCANNER DARKLY s/t (Gilead Media) cd ep 10.98
This Philip K. Dick obsessed band's debut offers six tracks of heavy, raging, artful metalcore. Named after one of PKD's paranoid sci-fi novels (soon to be a major motion picture directed by Richard Linklater!) these guys specialize in unleashed terror in the form of low-end dirge, screaming vocals and guitars, and battering drums. It's kinda like a post-rock band that's REALLY REALLY UPSET about something, combining the atmosphere of an imaginary, scary sci-fi soundtrack ('specially on the mostly ambient track six) with loud, fast, crushing 'core. For fans of Coalesce, Neurosis, Old Man Gloom, Discordance Axis, Isis, Knut and the whole Hydra Head scene.
MPEG Stream: "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?"
MPEG Stream: "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said"

A TORTURED SOUL Kiss Of The Thorn (Eyes Like Snow / Northern Silence) cd 11.98
A change of pace from the usual black metal grimnity we expect from the Northern Silence label (who have brought us the likes of Angmar, Alcest, Amesoeurs, Stielas Storhett, Necrofrost...) comes from Milwaukee metallers A Tortured Soul (not to be confused with another metal band called This Tortured Soul fyi). In truth, they're on a Northern Silence sub-label called Eyes Like Snow, and actually ARE pretty grim. But not in a black metal way, unless you count Mercyful Fate/King Diamond as black metal (which they were definitely considered, back in the day, due to KD's LaVeyan Satanic philosophies). This is '80s styled epic power metal, with soaring-with-the-eagles, then-tearing-them-to-shreds singing that reminds us at times of Judas Priest's Rob Halford -- or even ol' Ozzy Osbourne -- especially on this album's best track, "Not Tonight"...
Vocalist Black (that's his name) has a high falsetto attack that mixes it up with more growly-man discourse. Likewise, A Tortured Soul's music ranges from moody n' melodic to ball-crushingly heavy, from doomy plod to speedy chug, doing their damnedest to deliver on their negative, depressive moniker. For fans of KD's outfits, also Justice-era Metallica, Nevermore/Sanctuary, '90s Judas Priest, Iced Earth, maybe even Shadows Fall. All despite the looks of their very black metal seeming band logo/symbol!
MPEG Stream: "Tomorrow's Door"
MPEG Stream: "Not Tonight"

ABDULLAH Graveyard Poetry (Meteor City) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ohio stoner/doom/post-grunge metal band Abdullah return with their 2nd proper album, continuing (sort of, read on) their tradition of heavy Black Sabbathy guitars/riffs overlaid with melodic vocals, that kinda sound like those of Dax Riggs of Acid Bath/Agents of Oblivion/Deadboy and the Elephant Men. Songwise, Abdullah are a bit like a slightly doomier version of the late lamented Spirit Caravan (if you didn't hear, Spirit Caravan recently broke up -- but don't worry, Wino joined up with Victor Griffin in his band, Place of Skulls...dunno if that means Wino's a Christian now, but whatever...ok, back to the Abdullah review) but with some big twists this time out. Before we heard "Graveyard Poetry", we were a bit surprised to see that that Abdullah's European record label was comparing this release not only to doomsters like Trouble as we'd expect, but also to a bunch of obscure, traditional 80s metal acts, among them, local SF semi-legends Brocas Helm! Well, it's kinda true, at least on a few tracks anyway (like "Deprogrammed" and "They, The Tyrants"), wherein they leap from the moody, grungy doom style they established on their previous releases (and much of this one) into full-on rockin', quasi thrash metal territory. In this context, the vocals remind us a lot less of Dax Riggs and a lot more of the guy from Diamond Head!! I guess they've been listening to, if perhaps not Brocas Helm, at least some early Metallica and NWOBHM stuff!! Cool. A nice surprise. Although, while WE like the mixture, it might be a problem for some folks who will either dig the 60 percent doom content, or the 40 percent thrashin', but maybe not both.
RealAudio clip: "Black Helicopters"
RealAudio clip: "Deprogrammed"
RealAudio clip: "Secret Teachings Of Lost Ages"

ABDULLAH s/t (Meteor City) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ohio stoner/doom band, with grunge leanings. Maybe not as doomy as one might hope, 'cause the drummer/vocalists Ozzy-ish voice makes one wish for more Sabbath, less Soundgarden. Good tho.
Nice cd booklet art/design, kind of a surprise coming from the usually aesthetically-impaired Meteor City...

ABDULLAH / DRAGONAUTA split (Dias De Garage) cd 12.98
We last heard from Sabbathy stoner rockers Abdullah back in 2002, when the Ohio-based quintet released their second album, Graveyard Poetry. Now they've reappeared on this split release in the company of Argentinian weirdos Dragonauta, whose previous full-length Luciferatu was justly celebrated 'round these parts when it came out last year. Celebrated by those of us at AQ who like eccentric, proggy doom metal, that is! It's nice to hear something new from both bands, and although they take differing approaches to the stoner/doom style, they both have a love of Black Sabbath in common and also aren't afraid to be, well, a bit different (in very different ways, we should add).
Abdullah serve up six new tracks of moody, dynamic rock/metal with what we've described before as having somewhat of a "grunge" flavor. But Abdullah are much darker and heavier than the average Seattle band of the '90s... For fans of Down, CoC (circa Blind or Deliverance), Alice In Chains, and Acid Bath, we'd venture to say.
After the relatively mainstream and melodic Abdullah, Dragonauta seem even less "normal" than they already are (aren't?). They offer three new studio cuts and two live tracks, all of 'em being creaky, spreaky, riff-freaked workouts marked by fat psychedelic guitar noodle and raspy, strangulated Spanish-language vocals. From headbanging gallop to mellow jazz chords, Dragonauta take their compositions to various unexpected extremes, wild-eyed and drunkenly metallic at all times (except for when they're not). They're a bit like Los Natas but with even more of a 'we're crazy and we don't give a damn, let's play!' attitude. As far as we're concerned, they're the main reason to get this split, even though we like the Abdullah stuff ok too. But Dragonauta are just plumb loco and that really floats our boat in their moat.
MPEG Stream: ABDULLAH "Grey Sky Faith"
MPEG Stream: DRAGONAUTA "Revolucion Luciferiana"

ABIGAIL Forever Street Metal Bitch (Drakkar) cd 14.98

ABIGOR Channeling The Quintessence Of Satan (Napalm) cd 15.98
With an album title like that, you can't go wrong, can you? These Austrian black metal gods return with their upteenth effort of expertly wrought epic evil. In league with the likes of Emperor, as well as Satan and His Quintessence.

ABIGOR Fractal Possession (End All Life Productions) cd 15.98
The return of infamous Austrian black metal horde Abigor, after six years of near silence. The band broke up briefly in 2003, but reformed last year, with an almost entirely new lineup, but their sound continues pretty much right where their last full length Satanized left off. Abigor began life as grim epic buzz merchants, channeling the sound of classic Norwegian BM, but mixing it with raw primitivism and forest folkiness, all woven into a sound distinctly their own. Furious and chaotic, most songs blasting blurs of swirling blackness, peppered with confusional arrangements and epic flourishes. But on 2001's Satanized, the band changed direction, their sound becoming  more cold and clinical, more ultra technical and sci-fi, the same old buzz and blast but with a futuristic sheen...
Right out of the gate, Fractal Possession (even the title!) ups the future tech sci-fi blackness ante big time, after a brief industrial soundscape of space FX, and angular guitar, bits of metallic clatter and clang, electronic beats and weird snippets of dialogue, the band lurches into a crazy squiggly blast of super dynamic, tangled guitar squiggles and furious blast beats, like some strange Mick Barr / Orthrelm style guitarist got dropped into a stretch of futuristic black metal buzz. The band soon settles back into a more recognizable pattern of blasting fury and relentless hellish pound, but those angular shred guitars are still everywhere, soaring and slippery, serpentine squiggles in, around, over and under the various riffs and drum blasts. There are also all kinds of ultra brief interludes, short stretches of creepy ambience or some subtle folky strum, that barely have time to leave your speakers before the band buzz back into action, giving the whole sound a super seasick, start/stop ultra dynamic feel. The rest of the record follows a similar pattern, with some songs offering up gothy minor key melodies, Borknagar-like clean vocals, stretches of mathy blackened post rock, damaged chunks of bizarre effects drenched buzz, even some classic old school metal riffing here and there. It's a confusional combination for sure, but it works, it really sounds like it could be the black metal soundtrack to an Alfred Bester novel. Dramatic, mysterious, original, heavy, weird, plenty of awesome what-the-fuck moments, but some unbelievably kick ass riffing as well. Everything just oozing creepy alien otherworldly ambience...
If you can imagine some impossible (and improbable) crossbreeding experiment, where genes were taken from Emperor, Blut Aus Nord, Gorguts, Necrophagist, Orthrelm and Ved Buens Ende, then said genes were launched into space, where they were left to orbit some blackcloud shrouded planet, the genes gestating and mutating in the rays of an alien sun, returning to earth a hulking buzzing blasting blackened alien sonic space creature, only to find the humans gone, the landscape a burning post apocalyptic wasteland of destruction and death, fire and fury, and of course, gloriously dense and complex black metal buzz.
MPEG Stream: "Project Shadow"
MPEG Stream: "Cold Void Choir"
MPEG Stream: "Lair Of Infinite Desperation"

ABIGOR Fractal Possession (End All Life Productions) 2lp 18.98
Now available on lp, super heavy vinyl, deluxe gatefold jacket, with printed black and gold metallic inner sleeves, really really nice.
The return of infamous Austrian black metal horde Abigor, after six years of near silence. The band broke up briefly in 2003, but reformed last year, with an almost entirely new lineup, but their sound continues pretty much right where their last full length Satanized left off. Abigor began life as grim epic buzz merchants, channeling the sound of classic Norwegian BM, but mixing it with raw primitivism and forest folkiness, all woven into a sound distinctly their own. Furious and chaotic, most songs blasting blurs of swirling blackness, peppered with confusional arrangements and epic flourishes. But on 2001's Satanized, the band changed direction, their sound becoming  more cold and clinical, more ultra technical and sci-fi, the same old buzz and blast but with a futuristic sheen...
Right out of the gate, Fractal Possession (even the title!) ups the future tech sci-fi blackness ante big time, after a brief industrial soundscape of space FX, and angular guitar, bits of metallic clatter and clang, electronic beats and weird snippets of dialogue, the band lurches into a crazy squiggly blast of super dynamic, tangled guitar squiggles and furious blast beats, like some strange Mick Barr / Orthrelm style guitarist got dropped into a stretch of futuristic black metal buzz. The band soon settles back into a more recognizable pattern of blasting fury and relentless hellish pound, but those angular shred guitars are still everywhere, soaring and slippery, serpentine squiggles in, around, over and under the various riffs and drum blasts. There are also all kinds of ultra brief interludes, short stretches of creepy ambience or some subtle folky strum, that barely have time to leave your speakers before the band buzz back into action, giving the whole sound a super seasick, start/stop ultra dynamic feel. The rest of the record follows a similar pattern, with some songs offering up gothy minor key melodies, Borknagar-like clean vocals, stretches of mathy blackened post rock, damaged chunks of bizarre effects drenched buzz, even some classic old school metal riffing here and there. It's a confusional combination for sure, but it works, it really sounds like it could be the black metal soundtrack to an Alfred Bester novel. Dramatic, mysterious, original, heavy, weird, plenty of awesome what-the-fuck moments, but some unbelievably kick ass riffing as well. Everything just oozing creepy alien otherworldly ambience...
If you can imagine some impossible (and improbable) crossbreeding experiment, where genes were taken from Emperor, Blut Aus Nord, Gorguts, Necrophagist, Orthrelm and Ved Buens Ende, then said genes were launched into space, where they were left to orbit some blackcloud shrouded planet, the genes gestating and mutating in the rays of an alien sun, returning to earth a hulking buzzing blasting blackened alien sonic space creature, only to find the humans gone, the landscape a burning post apocalyptic wasteland of destruction and death, fire and fury, and of course, gloriously dense and complex black metal buzz.
MPEG Stream: "Project Shadow"
MPEG Stream: "Cold Void Choir"
MPEG Stream: "Lair Of Infinite Desperation"

ABIGOR In Memory... (Napalm) cdep 10.98
Prolific (and very "cult") black metal act Abigor from Austria return with a 5-song ep, featuring two cover tunes (of Kreator and Slayer, both originally recorded for appearances on those ubiquitious Dwell-label tribute comps) and three other rare tracks, one from the "With Us Or Against Us" compilation and the others rehearsal or rough-mix versions of old stuff. So, more a disc for Abigor completists, but as we said, they're a cult band, and this will whet fans' appetites for their upcoming "Satanized (A Journey Through Cosmic Infinity)" album due out in 2001.

ABIGOR Nachthymnen (From The Twilight Kingdom) (Napalm) cd 16.98
Third disc from this great folk/black metal band.

ABIGOR Satanized (A Journey Through Cosmic Infinity) (Napalm) cd 16.98
Time-tested, probably not mother-approved: veterans Abigor are the definition of true cult black metal. Hailing from Austria, one of the few non-Scandinavian European countries to really boast an "infamous" black metal scene, Abigor have now released umpteen cds of pure satanic metal madness, taking early Emperor's wall-of-sound approach as a template but experimenting with folk interludes (on some discs), Darkthrone/Frost style primitivism (on others), and more. This new album, though, really sees Abigor making strides into a new, science-fictional universe of advanced, evil metal that rocks. Yes, it's still trad black metal (not some cyber-industrial-electronica crossover like so many of their Nordic brethren now attempt) but it's almost got kind of a new, mathy, metal-core approach that sets it apart from its predecessors in the Abigor discography. Imagine careening drums, angular, No-Wavish guitar riffing (not as extreme as on Gorguts' crazy "Obscura", but in that realm at points), plus cosmic keyboard coloration a la Bal Sagoth or Limbonic Art (which on the song "Galaxies And Eons Decline" somehow reminds us of 007 theme music!). The chaotic song-structures imply that the Abigor guys have made Cryptopsy and Dillinger Escape Plan part of their listening diets, along with the usual keyboard-laden epic blasting black metal that represents their roots. As a result, this "journey through cosmic infinity" is indeed a surprising thrill-ride. This will be a contender for black metal disc of the year, for sure! Buy or die.
RealAudio clip: "Battlestar Abigor"
RealAudio clip: "Nocturnal Stardust"
RealAudio clip: "Galaxies And Eons Decline"

ABOMINABLE IRON SLOTH, THE s/t (Goodfellow) cd 15.98
Probably the best thing about Abominable Iron Sloth is they sound EXACTLY how a band called Abominable Iron Sloth should sound. Simple, plodding, groovy, down tuned, crushing and heavy heavy heavy. Stripped down blown out caveman riffs over pounding doom drum thud and super harsh shrieked vocals. Chugging and churning and completely crushingly mesmerizing. A mid tempo dirge metal owing much to folks like High On Fire, Karp, Melvins, Floor, Cavity, Crowbar and Eyehategod while giving it their own particular slothlike spin. Plus we're suckers for goofy song titles: "Hats Made Of Veal And That New Car Scent", "A Hot Pink Shell Of My Former Self", "Parasite Hilton And Other Flaws Inherent To Wealth" and of course "A Distant Pond From The Rivers Of Human Limelight."
Features ex-members of Dead And Gone metalcore legends Willhaven.
MPEG Stream: "Hats Made Of Veal And That New Car Scent"
MPEG Stream: "A Hot Pink Shell Of My Former Self"

ABORYM With No Human Intervention (Code 666) cd 14.98

ABRUPTUM Casus Luciferi (Regain / Blooddawn) cd 14.98
Four tracks 39 minutes 21 seconds of EVIL. That's what this so-long-awaited-it's-unexpected cd from Swedish black metal improvisors Abruptum provides. And if Abruptum aren't already your favorite black metal band they sure should be. One member is a dwarf (or so we thought, he may just be really REALLY short). And past releases have included a whole record made up entirely of field recordings of band members whipping themselves and howling in agony! When they do get down to actual metal, it's of the grimmest, vilest variety. And since we were kind of under the assumption that Abruptum were no more, this sudden return is pretty darn exciting. So in keeping with Abruptum's confounding and perplexing history, this new release is definitely not "metal". Still evil of course, but sonically it's much more of an experimental dark ambient drone record. And a great one at that! Press play...a distant, martial drum cadence underpins dark droning feedback, grinding tortured low end, haunting minor key chords and distant melodies buried under slabs of distorted crunch. It's like a blackened mix of Total, Der Blutharsch, Lustmord and Corrupted, perhaps. Sweet female vocals soon (barely) emerge from the murk...a heavily reverbed chorale, chanting, with tolling bells, all buried under a thick grimy layer of grinding grit. Like a Merzbow / Dead Can Dance mashup. Soon the vocals fade into the mist as the grinding throbbing low end begins to pulse and loop and shimmer, distant explosions crack through the darkened skies, the echoes spreading out like ripples in a pond, creating hypnotic almost-rhythms, while underneath it all weird little looped melodies scurry about looking for shelter from the throbbing malevolence. Imagine Philip Jeck, in spikes and full corpse paint, set up in the middle of the forest beneath a full moon, with a hundred turntables, all black and moss covered, playing the warped and slowed down records of Troum, Dead Can Dance, William Basinski, Skullflower and all manner of rumbling drones...
MPEG Stream: "Casus Luciferi"
MPEG Stream: "Ex Inferno Inferiori"

ABRUPTUM Casus Luciferi (Picture Disc) (Regain) picture disc 14.98
Now available as a super limited picture disc!
Four tracks 39 minutes 21 seconds of EVIL. That's what this so-long-awaited-it's-unexpected cd from Swedish black metal improvisors Abruptum provides. And if Abrupt aren't already your favorite black metal band they sure should be. One member is a dwarf (or so we thought, he may just be really REALLY short). And past releases have included a whole record made up entirely of field recordings of band members whipping themselves and howling in agony! When they do get down to actual metal, it's of the grimmest, vilest variety. And since we were kind of under the assumption that Abrupt were no more, this sudden return is pretty darn exciting. So in keeping with Abruptum's confounding and perplexing history, this new release is definitely not "metal". Still evil of course, but sonically it's much more of an experimental dark ambient drone record. And a great one at that! Press play...a distant, martial drum cadence underpins dark droning feedback, grinding tortured low end, haunting minor key chords and distant melodies buried under slabs of distorted crunch. It's like a blackened mix of Total, Der Blutharsch, Lustmord and Corrupted, perhaps. Sweet female vocals soon (barely) emerge from the murk...a heavily reverbed chorale, chanting, with tolling bells, all buried under a thick grimy layer of grinding grit. Like a Merzbow / Dead Can Dance mashup. Soon the vocals fade into the mist as the grinding throbbing low end begins to pulse and loop and shimmer, distant explosions crack through the darkened skies, the echoes spreading out like ripples in a pond, creating hypnotic almost-rhythms, while underneath it all weird little looped melodies scurry about looking for shelter from the throbbing malevolence. Imagine Philip Jeck, in spikes and full corpse paint, set up in the middle of the forest beneath a full moon, with a hundred turntables, all black and moss covered, playing the warped and slowed down records of Troum, Dead Can Dance, William Basinski, Skullflower and all manner of rumbling drones...
MPEG Stream: "Casus Luciferi"
MPEG Stream: "Ex Inferno Inferiori"

ABRUPTUM De Profundis Mors Vas Cousumet (Regain / Blooddawn) cd ep 8.98
Returning from a long absence, here's a three song ep from Sweden's infamous improv-black metal band Abruptum. None blacker! The first track, dating from way back in 1991, starts with gothic keyboards and has a lot of Satanic screaming, but with its gothic keyboard intro and straight-ahead drums, actually sounds like "normal" song-based black metal. But the 8+ minute track two is the reason to get this. This year 2000 recording is where Abruptum reveal themselves to be the Hijokaidan (to make a Japanoise reference) of black metal, a clanging bell heralding some supremely evil chaos that sounds closer to Merzbow (to make another) than Mayhem. Wrapping things up, track three's marching boots (doubtlessly sampled from some WWII movie) morph into a distorted industrial rhythm that terminates in a finale of soundtrack synths. It's all about the atmosphere, and Abruptum is indeed the blackest. 16 minutes of (mostly) unstructured metallic madness that only the truest will like or understand.
RealAudio clip: "Dodsapparaten"

ABRUPTUM Evil Genius (Southern Lord) cd 14.98
Ah Abruptum, how we've missed you. Nary a peep since 2004's killer black ambient masterpiece Casus Luciferi, which while an amazing gorgeously bleak slab of droning mystery, really barely scratched the surface, only hinting at the harsh, hateful, bizarre black metal beast Abruptum once was.
That's where Evil Genius comes in. And evil Genius is exactly what it is. A collection of old demos, it was originally released with an actual razor blade inside and a sticker instructing the listener to kill themselves. There were also loads of strange rumors surrounding the band, including the one about mainman It being a dwarf, who tortured himself in the studio, in order to capture true anguish. After all, Abruptum were, according to their own edict, "the pure audial essence of evil"... Who knows how much of that stuff was true (we like to think ALL of it), and ultimately it doesn't really matter, the proof is in the pudding, and in this case the pudding is a sludgy, filthy, crusty, primitive chunk of harsh, stumbling, lurching, distorted psychedelic black metal. Or maybe black doom would be more appropriate. There are no blast beats or blazing buzzing riffs, instead, Evil Genius is a confusional garbled outsider mess, but a glorious one, keyboards lurch in and out of the mix, usually atonal and off kilter, the drums plod and pound, tortured and strangled vocals howl and grunt, belching out strange black growls, tons of thick black ambience surround everything, seeping into every bit of music like some strange black mold, weird squeaks and groans, and all sorts of random sounds pepper the entire record, hard to say if they are footsteps or the cracks of a whip or creaking hinges, but they all sort of get sucked into Abruptum's dizzying blurry and buzzy soundworld. And guitars of course, lots of them, tuned way down, sometimes not tuned at all, occasionally spewing out some strange black shaped riff, but other times just buzzing or droning, roaring or squealing, often sounding less like a guitar than some sort of hellish demon speaking in tongues.
But as fucked up and bizarre as Evil Genius is, it's still eminently listenable, even catchy at times, almost pretty at others, but always, a totally baffling, fucked up and completely damaged way out black metal what-the-fuck blast of, well, EVIL GENIUS!!
All new artwork, with brand new liner notes from It, and while it's hard to tell for sure, we're led to believe that there is at least one extra track, as EG compiles the first two Abruptum demos ("s/t" and "The Satanist Tunes") as well as the "Evil" 7" and their track from the long out of print Tribute To Euronymous compilation cd (which we think is the bonus track).
So absolutely and utterly RECOMMENDED!!
MPEG Stream: "Honores Vultus Mutares Ex Aeris Campi"
MPEG Stream: "Icendio Fulminis Telis"
MPEG Stream: "Animum, Mentem Alcis Iuventutem Largitionibus, Hostes Ad Dimicandum, Commotis Exita Sacris Thyias"
MPEG Stream: "De Profundis Mors Vas Cousumet"

ABRUPTUM Evil Genius (Southern Lord) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl! With all new artwork. Killer black gloss on black matte, the Abruptum logo taking up the whole front cover, the straight razor and song titles on the back. With a super thick inside sleeve, with liner notes and awesome band photos. Besides all that, this is one of the most infamous slabs of audial evil EVER, finally available on vinyl...
Ah Abruptum, how we've missed you. Nary a peep since 2004's killer black ambient masterpiece Casus Luciferi, which while an amazing gorgeously bleak slab of droning mystery, really barely scratched the surface, only hinting at the harsh, hateful, bizarre black metal beast Abruptum once was.
That's where Evil Genius comes in. And evil Genius is exactly what it is. A collection of old demos, it was originally released with an actual razor blade inside and a sticker instructing the listener to kill themselves. There were also loads of strange rumors surrounding the band, including the one about mainman It being a dwarf, who tortured himself in the studio, in order to capture true anguish. After all, Abruptum were, according to their own edict, "the pure audial essence of evil"... Who knows how much of that stuff was true (we like to think ALL of it), and ultimately it doesn't really matter, the proof is in the pudding, and in this case the pudding is a sludgy, filthy, crusty, primitive chunk of harsh, stumbling, lurching, distorted psychedelic black metal. Or maybe black doom would be more appropriate. There are no blast beats or blazing buzzing riffs, instead, Evil Genius is a confusional garbled outsider mess, but a glorious one, keyboards lurch in and out of the mix, usually atonal and off kilter, the drums plod and pound, tortured and strangled vocals howl and grunt, belching out strange black growls, tons of thick black ambience surround everything, seeping into every bit of music like some strange black mold, weird squeaks and groans, and all sorts of random sounds pepper the entire record, hard to say if they are footsteps or the cracks of a whip or creaking hinges, but they all sort of get sucked into Abruptum's dizzying blurry and buzzy soundworld. And guitars of course, lots of them, tuned way down, sometimes not tuned at all, occasionally spewing out some strange black shaped riff, but other times just buzzing or droning, roaring or squealing, often sounding less like a guitar than some sort of hellish demon speaking in tongues.
But as fucked up and bizarre as Evil Genius is, it's still eminently listenable, even catchy at times, almost pretty at others, but always, a totally baffling, fucked up and completely damaged way out black metal what-the-fuck blast of, well, EVIL GENIUS!!
All new artwork, with brand new liner notes from It, and while it's hard to tell for sure, we're led to believe that there is at least one extra track, as EG compiles the first two Abruptum demos ("s/t" and "The Satanist Tunes") as well as the "Evil" 7" and their track from the long out of print Tribute To Euronymous compilation cd (which we think is the bonus track).
So absolutely and utterly RECOMMENDED!!
MPEG Stream: "Honores Vultus Mutares Ex Aeris Campi"
MPEG Stream: "Icendio Fulminis Telis"
MPEG Stream: "Animum, Mentem Alcis Iuventutem Largitionibus, Hostes Ad Dimicandum, Commotis Exita Sacris Thyias"
MPEG Stream: "De Profundis Mors Vas Cousumet"

ABRUPTUM In Umbra Malitiae Ambulato In Aeternum In Triumpho Tenebraum (Regain / Blooddawn) cd 14.98

ABSU In The Eyes Of Ioldanach (Osmose) cdep 11.98
4-song ep from these crazy Texan black metallers, as a follow-up to their amazing "Third Storm Of Cythraul". Utterly raging, magickal-with-a-K thrash intensity infuses the likes of "Manannan" and "Never Blow Out The Eastern Candle", proving again that Absu are among the only Americans with the ability to both out-weird and out-metal their Northern European competitors. Can't wait for the next full-length.

ABSU Mythological Occult Metal 1991-2001 (Osmose Productions) 2cd 14.98
"The Gold Torques Of Ulaid", "Immortal Sorcery", "The Great Battle Moving From Ideal To Actual"? Are these chapters from a sanity-blasting tome of arcane magicks? Or lectures on mythic history or philosophy? Well, perhaps. But they're also song titles from this decade-spanning double cd collection of Absu tracks. Absu being one of our all time favorite black metal bands... if that's even an accurate description for them, 'cause there's a depth to what they do that seems like so much more than playing corpse-painted dress-up like so many black metal bands get away with. Absu, on the other hand, have definitely done their research. This Texan trio combines the evil old school speed/thrash attack of Slayer with Norwegian-style black metal mystery, adding a immense dose of magickal and mythical erudition and then taking things to a whole 'nother, never-breaking-character, Manowar-esque, Olde English speaking, are they serious or not?? level... They're a whole mindboggling package, a display of "total attention to detail" showmanship (or is it belief?) that utterly wows us, along with their raging musickal assault.
It should be noted that this new double cd is not a "best of". If it was, we'd say that even if you've never heard Absu before, you should check it out, 'cause they're one of the best "extreme" metal bands out there (and we mean "out there") and a "best of" would, therefore, be exceedingly good. Actually we'll say that anyway. But this is really a release for folks who are already fans of the band, 'cause it's a collection of rare tracks taken from various compilations and 7" eps. It also includes some live and otherwise previously unreleased material. So even if you have every Absu album, you don't have some of this. And you need it.
Disc one contains all the tracks from three hard-to-find (we don't have 'em!) 7" vinyl records -- Temples Of Offal, And Shineth Unto The Cold Cometh, and Hallstattian Swords -- plus their song from the the Gummo movie soundtrack, and more. It's all great stuff, from the solo soundtracky synth-scapes of the Hallstattian Swords tracks to the killer Mercyful Fateness of the alternate take of "Stone Of Destiny" from their most recent album, Tara.
Disc two is devoted to covers, live, and unreleased material. You get to hear Absuized versions of tracks by Mayhem (and krautrock's Conrad Schnitzler, since Absu's cover of "Deathcrush" includes the Schnitzler intro that Mayhem sampled on the original!), Possessed, Iron Maiden, and Destruction, most of which originally appeared on tribute comps to those respective artists. There's also four live cuts (worth it for the song intros alone!) and a couple unreleased rehearsal tracks. Again, all stuff any Absu fan can't live without. Just try, you'll die (someday, anyway). And you won't die as happy as you would if you'd had this.
MPEG Stream: "The Gold Torques Of Ulaid"
MPEG Stream: "The Winter Zephyr (...Within Kingdoms Of Mist) [live]"

ABSU Tara (Osmose) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Exhibit V" in the Absu discography of blackened occultic Texan thrash supremacy! This disc was a long time coming and well worth the wait. The trio of Sir Proscriptor McGovern (drums, vocals), Shaftiel (guitars), and Equitant Ifernain (bass) again assault your body and mind with their intense musickal and lyrickal magick. Imagine old Slayer on 78, with IQs of 200, and obsessed with the most arcane and obscure elements of world mythology. Thankfully the thick, beautifully illustrated cd booklet includes, in addition to the lyrics, a lexicon of Absu-referenced terms, touching on everything from Irish history to the Tarot to hexagrams of the Yi King. How many other cds do you have that inform you of Greek historian Diodorus Siculous' thoughts on various cultures' philosophies of immortality? Eh? As black metal goes, these guys are the absurd and intelligent gods of the genre, which they transcend anyway into avantgarde realms unknown to most mortals -- heck, with their magickal role-play they transcend music itself. The band Absu, as a concept, is its own art. Strain your neck and bend your brain!
RealAudio clip: "Four Crossed Wands (Spell 181)"

ABSU The Third Storm Of Cythraul (Osmose) cd 14.98

AC/DC Family Jewels (Epic Music Video) 2dvd 21.00
Funny that a band can get so over-rated they become supremely under-rated. It could be that one of the best rock bands of all time has maintained their overall showmanship, but without the illustrious and crazed Bon Scott on lead vocals, their pure fire got lost in the huge rock-band-production of the '80s and '90s. Lightshows and media blitzes (not to mention excessive usage of their music for major league sporting events) seemed to dilute their early naked raw energy. Though, these days they certainly still do have raucous energy to spare, just ask anyone who's seen them in recent years. However, the young ravenous intensity of the band in the mid-to-late '70s is, in comparison, incredibly impressive to witness. Thankfully, several choice moments from that time in the band's career is presented on this Family Jewels (ahem) double dvd.
Disc one (20 songs from 1975-1980) features priceless footage of early performances and some incredibly scrappy but amazing music videos. Of the live shows, one that stands out is the footage from their notoriously impressive performance at University of Essex on a UK television series called Rock Goes To College.
In the music video for "Jailbreak" (which has become a staple on VH1 Classic), you see the band (with Angus shockingly in only something that looks to be a paper thin pajama set), freezing their asses off, "playing" the song with instruments up on some windy hill somewhere, "escaping from jail" and dodging some home-made explosives. The look of the film, quick cuts matched by the song's memorable sound quality make for one of the best music videos of all time. I get chills everytime I watch it.
In clip after clip, the surprisingly unpredictable and witty showman Scott keeps you thoroughly entertained. Keep an eye out for bagpipe-playin' Bon and schoolgirl Bon alongside schoolboy Angus! Speaking of which, the playfully rambunctious chemistry between the two is great, adding a totally distinct personality to their on-stage energy that's sadly missed in the later Johnson-era performances. To boot, it's pretty cool too to watch the evolution of Angus' student uniform.
Disc two (20 more tracks, 1980-1993) draws from the Brian Johnson years (AC/DC's singer after Bon's untimely death), and so one of the unexpected things that this double cd set inadvertenty offers is the opportunity for the Scott versus Johnson debate teams to re-ignite their rallying charges (just as the Iron Maiden Early Years double-dvd did for the Dickinson and DiAnno supporters). Which side are you on? So far, we're siding with Bon...all except for Allan who votes for Brian. You can take it up with him.

ACCEPT Restless & Wild (Nuclear Blast) cd 15.98
Everybody knows 'Balls To The Wall', Accept's early 80's hit that almost made the 'You Shook Me All Night Long' leap from Headbangers Ball to FM radio, but their 1982 release 'Restless and Wild' (reissued here, digitally remastered and in a spiffy digipack) is the only truly essential Accept record. And essential it is. Equal parts catchy eighties hard rock and proto-thrash-metal and featuring the unique balls-in-a-vice/tracheotomy vocals of sort-of-dwarf Udo Dirkschneider, 'Restless and Wild' is easily one of my favorite metal records of the eighties, and it holds up surprisingly well, almost 20 years later.

ACID BATH Double Live Bootleg! (Rotten) dvd 25.00
The dedication and worship and legend that this band inspires, even years after the end of their brief career is amazing. Not undeserved mind you, just surprising. Cult legends in the bayou's sludge scene along with Eyehategod, Crowbar, Down, etc... Acid Bath called it quits after the death of their bass player, and members went on to join Crowbar and Goatwhore after recording their post-Acid Bath masterpiece (and one of our favorite records) as the Agents Of Oblivion. But Acid Bath -were- amazing, melding furious grinding almost-death metal, buzzing hardcore, and super melodic hard rock ala Alice In Chains or Soundgarden. And writing amazing songs, evoking mystery and death and salvation and nihilism. It's sort of a crime they weren't HUGE. But maybe they are right where they should be, underground. Here's how we described our favorite Acid Bath record on a past list: "Imagine the sheer brutality of Eyehategod, the bluesy grind of fellow bayou residents Soilent Green, the stoned sabbathy swing of Trouble, and the melodic flair of late era Corrosion of Conformity or Alice In Chains, all forced onto one cd. Sound confusing? It is. But somehow, it gels perfectly, striking a pefect balance between catchy and heavy." While this is probably not the place to start for Acid Bath virgins (that would be their second full length cd 'Paegan Terrorism Tactics') this is a godsend for Acid Bath fans (like us) and an amazing document. Features multiple live performances of all their best songs from Boston in 1996, New Orleans in 1994, Metairie, Louisiana in 1994, Milwaukee Metalfest in 1994, Hollywood in 1996, Breux Bridge, Louisiana in 1996, Lafayette, Louisiana in 1996 and St. Petersburg, Florida in 1996. Also includes a video clip from 1994, rehearsals for their first demo in 1993 and a practice in their barn/practice space in 1992. Most of the video looks/sounds pretty good. All of it's interesting, and if you already love Acid Bath as much as we do, you already know you have to buy this!

ACID BATH Paegan Terrorism Tactics (Rotten) cd 15.98
Man, does this record rule! Not entirely sure how we all managed to miss this one when it came out a few years back. It was actually (re)discovered on the recommendation of a not-so-entirely-trustworthy source. Go figure! But now that we know, so must you...Imagine the sheer brutality of Eyehategod, the bluesy grind of fellow bayou residents Soilent Green, the stoned sabbathy swing of Trouble, and the melodic flair of late era Corrosion of Conformity or Alice In Chains, all forced onto one cd. Sound confusing? It is. But somehow, it gels perfectly, striking a pefect balance between catchy and heavy. This has become an absolute favorite of Andee, Allan, Elisabeth, and a handful of customers who have seen the light. Interesting non-music related facts: amazing cover art by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, one band member dead, one in jail...HIGHLY recommended!

ACID KING III (Small Stone) cd 15.98
San Fran stoner metal heroes (and heroine) Acid King roll their big ol' ball of fuzz in our direction with this latest (presumably third, but we didn't count 'em) album of heavy Sabbath-influenced spacey sludge rock. Singer/guitarist Lori S. and company kick out the jams (albeit slowly) on such tracks as "2 Wheel Nation", "Heavy Load" and "Into The Ground". With her wailing moan drifting over the sort of plodding, low-end riff repetition you'd expect from pals of Boris, this is one for those of you into the likes of Om, Sons Of Otis, Dead Meadow, that sort of thing. Of course, you might nod off before the cool guitar part or catchy bit of the song heaves into view...but that's the risk you take with a lot of the stonier stoner stuff like this!
MPEG Stream: "Heavy Load"
MPEG Stream: "War Of The Mind"

ACID KING / THE MYSTICK KREWE OF CLEARLIGHT Free... / The Father, The Son and The Holy Smoke (Man's Ruin) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Split release of stoner rock majesty. First up, the doomier side of the album courtesy of local SF heavies Acid King (the band lead by Dale Crover's ex-wife Lori, featuring as well 'Thee' Guy Pinhas of ex-Obsessed, ex-Goatsnake, ex-Beaver fame). Their four tracks of sludge love are followed by the somewhat 'funkier' stylings (well, there's an organ player in the band) of deep South instrumental combo The Mystick Krewe... Funky spelling anyway. This New Orleans band (boasting members of Eyehategod) aren't actually instrumental on this disc, though, as they are joined by stoner rock legend Wino (Spirit Caravan, ex-Saint Vitus, ex-Obsessed) on vocals, a smart move. Again, heavy stuff. Rock out! Recommended.
RealAudio clip: MYSTICK KREWE OF CLEARLIGHT "Veiled"
RealAudio clip: ACID KING "Free"