SUPERJOINT RITUAL A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred (Sanctuary) cd 16.98

SUPERJOINT RITUAL Use Once And Destroy (Sanctuary) cd 17.98
Latest in the seemingly endless list of Phil Anselmo projects: Pantera, Down, Viking Crown, Necrophagia, Southern Isolation, Eibon, Christ Inverter, and now Superjoint Ritual. For SR, Anselmo has enlisted the help of Eyehategod/Crowbar guitarist Jimmy Bower, Hank Williams III's drummer Joe Fazzio, and a bass player who is known simply as III, supposedly for contractual reasons similar to those that kept Anselmo a secret member of Necrophagia for so long. And the record has all those familiar Anselmo sights and sounds, fuzzy downtuned Southern groovemetal guitars, Anselmo's melodic screech, lurching, hypnotic tempos, and fierce pounding sludge metal rhythm section. But the sound here is much more raw and immediate, speedy and punky and noisy all over the place, but as with all Phil's bands it all gets reeled back in just right and becomes a sludgy groove before running wild again. Reminds me more of Pantera than Down, just so you know. Good stuff.
RealAudio clip: "Oblivious Maximus"
RealAudio clip: "It Takes No Guts"
RealAudio clip: "Everyone Hates Everyone"

SUPERMACHINER Rise of the Great Machine (Undecided) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This record was quite an unexpected surprise. Knowing that Supermachiner is half of the band Converge, we were expecting some sort of hardcore metal mayhem, but were pleased to find something much more subtle, but still super ass kicking. Dark and shimmering soundscapes of fragile chimes and drones that slowly build into hypnotic and pounding tribal freak outs ala Neurosis, and break down into minimal post rock rhythmic workouts ala Godspeed. Pretty amazing actually.

SUPREMACY Satanic Reich (Total Holocaust Records) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Beast Of Satan"

SURACHAI Plague Diagram (self-released) lp 15.98
We didn't know too much about Surachai, or his record Plague Diagram, but from the way it was described to us, as a one man electronic / metal outfit, whose sound was equal parts black metal, doom metal, powernoise and avant garde, we were sorta convinced it would be right up our alley (and yours), and now that we're finally hearing this stuff, we're pretty sure we were right.
The metal sounds remind us of the more mechanical / industrial groups like Godflesh and Pitchshifter, the sound churning and chugging, the rhythms, precise and clinical, hard to tell if it's a real drummer or a machine, but it hardly matter, this is some serious heavy, downtuned crush, and even in the first track, there are hints that this is more than just a metal record. Little stutters here and there, chirps and glitches and squelches, subtle at first, before eventually, the metal dissipates, leaving a weird bit of black ambience, all bleating horns, looped low end, hazy shifting drones, fluttering backwards effects, gradually growing more and more abstract and tripped out, before giving way to the second track, which opens with a flurry of soft chaos, machine like rhythms erupt as do buzzing riffs, those bleating horns seeming to still be present, underpinning the relentless chug, the vocals harsh and howled, the arrangement mathy and precise, and then again, out of nowhere, the song splinters, and is barraged by strange electronics, mysterious sound effects, before slipping into another expanse of ambient drift, all muted distorted glitch, heaving low end melodies, all strangely cinematic.
The rest of the record plays out similarly, a churning and chugging electronic flecked metal gradually decays eventually leaving some sort of glitched out sonic shadow, a tangle of dense pulses and layered shimmer, of staticky squelches and grinding blackened melodies, the final few minutes of the record maybe our favorite, a strange sort of slowed down demonic IDM, all chirps and hisses and whirring, that gives way to an almost Aphex Twin sort of melodic drift, albeit just a bit twisted and slightly atonal, sounding a bit like a demonic Christmas Carol, before gradually being overtaken by another squall of black buzz.
Includes lots of strange guests: Richie Devine, Nordvargr, Otto Von Schirach and others, and is pretty nicely packaged, pressed on 180 gram clear vinyl, housed in a thick PVC plastic sleeve, with a printed insert and a sticker. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.
MPEG Stream: "Isolation"
MPEG Stream: "Ashes"

SURT Muspellsheimr (Brotherhood Of Light) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super limited tape from this local one man band, who traffics in a sort of folk flecked lo-fi acoustic blackened ambience, all darkly strummed acoustic guitars, shimmering synths, spidery melodies, disembodied voices, whirling atmospheres, the sounds wreathed in reverb, everything just a bit warped and woozy, reminds us a bit of an acoustic ambient version of German black metal weirdos Varghkoghargasmal, a stumbling bit of windswept kosmische drift, that slips easily from hushed mesmer to urgent tension, the sounds unfurling dramatically and cinematically, occasionally slipping into long expanses of spare and sparse, almost chamber music sounding minimalism, but just as often a sprawling bit of chiming strum that sounds like a black metal interlude that blossomed into a full song, lots of soft focus haze and warm tendrils of tape hiss, while the guitars emit soft melodic tangles and blurred gauzy ambience.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Each one hand numbered.

SURT Ragnarok (Brotherhood Of Light) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Folks went a little crazy for the debut tape from this one man black metal band, enigmatically called Surt, who trafficked not so much in black buzz and a sort of haunting folky ambience, all blackened and mysterious, we could barely keep those tapes in stock, and we were all ready to review this second tape, when he sort of disappeared, and the tapes got harder and harder to restock. But since we were left with FIVE copies of tape #2, we figured we'd list it, so at least a few of you who dug the first tape could get your hands on this one.
And just like the first one, the sound of Surt remains, folky and ritualistic, some sort of subterranean Appalachia, mostly steel string guitar, lots of echo and reverb, the sound rhythmic and cyclical, mesmerizing and repetitive, all over a backdrop of subtle swirl and hushed ambient shimmer, the sound slipping from strident and urgent to hushed and drifty and psychedelic, swaddled in swirling barely there synths, giving it a distinctively kosmische vibe for sure.
These are limited to 100, hand numbered, but as we mentioned above, we have five copies, and not sure if we can ever get more, so grab one while you can...

SURT / URUK HAI split (Brotherhood Of Light) cassette 5.98
Super limited split, on local tape label Brotherhood Of Light, featuring one man black ambient alchemist Surt, who we've featured before on the aQ list, and who just so happens to be the man behind the BoL label, here teamed up with Austrian ambient soundscaper Uruk Hai. As might be expected, the packaging is very abstract and minimal, the track listing non existent, so it's hard to figure out which tracks are which, but it hardly matters, the sound a brooding, synth heavy shimmer, a sprawling warm blackness, slowly unfurling minor key melodies, all hazy and gauzy and washed out, sinister and ominous, but with a mysterious warmth, the vibe a little bit medieval too, reminding us in places of aQ fave Dark Ages, with majestic chordal swells, giving way to haunting medieval melodies.
The flipside (again, not to sure which is which), is a much more melodically dense affair, lush tangles of melody, distorted and blown out. grinding low end, heaving swells of crumbling synths and spidery melodies, a churning, dense slow motion wall of sound, that drifts from hushed near shimmer to caustic black ambient crush, the tones pulsing and pulsating, overtones galore, a dizzying swirl of abstract psychedelic ambience, that is ultimately more avant experimental than black ambient. Killer stuff!
LIMITED TO JUST 66 COPIES!! Each one hand numbered.

SURVIVOR All Your Pretty Moves (Monster) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SUTEKH HEXEN Behind The Throne (Magic Bullet) cd 10.98
Latest black sonic ritual from this SF trio (formerly duo), and like the last record, Larvae, which came out on Handmade Birds, Behind The Throne continues the group's evolution away from the blacknoise that defined their earlier sound. As we mentioned in our review of Larvae, the band seemed to spend a surprising amount of their time lately not blasting or buzzing, instead, conjuring up some surprisingly lovely ambience, and that's true here too, although the ambience here is less shimmery and abstract, and more like some sort of blackened dronescapery, thick swaths of guitar buzz, and dense swells of processed vocals, creating something that's both haunting and hypnotic, dense and intense, it's not really until about 7 minutes into the first track (which fills up the whole first side of the vinyl), that the band finally do unleash some black metal, but when they do, it's a dense blurred buzz, so blurred and blown out it almost sounds more droney and washed out than grim and heavy, but the crazy thing is, the band haven't even started, as a couple minutes later, they somehow explode again, the sound splintering into a weird almost industrial sounding black chug, a grinding, howling maelstrom of black buzz and churning psychedelia, that quickly fades out leaving just a long stretch of crumbling noise, distant vocals, tolling bells, and crackling staticky ambience.
The second track / B side is another sprawling epic, this time bookended by some creepy industrial ambience, what sounds like jangling chains, plenty of rumbles and creaking high end, all smeared into a blackened ur-drone, soon guitars drift in, but not riffs, more like black chordal clouds, that hover darkly, before finally coalescing into proper riffs, but like the first track, the riffs are so distorted and blown out, the 'black metal' here is more of a blackdrone blur, that even with headphones reveals very little of what's going on in Sutekh's roiling black soundworld, the guitars murky and muddy one second, harsh and caustic the next, the vocals a buried bellow, and if there are drums, they're buried so low they just add to the general cacophony. The track churns and chugs, and at one point sounds almost like a sonic approximation of a locomotive, clattery and industrial, but still wreathed in a swirling blackbuzz fog, before the blackness dissipates, leaving just the strange ritualistic ambience that opened the track.
Super swank packaging, full color photos of some sort of altar ritual, candles and chalices and knives, all wreathed in shadow, with all the texted printed in a clear reflective spot varnish.
MPEG Stream: "I. (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "I. (excerpt 2)"

SUTEKH HEXEN Behind The Throne (Magic Bullet) lp 15.98
Latest black sonic ritual from this SF trio (formerly duo), and like the last record, Larvae, which came out on Handmade Birds, Behind The Throne continues the group's evolution away from the blacknoise that defined their earlier sound. As we mentioned in our review of Larvae, the band seemed to spend a surprising amount of their time lately not blasting or buzzing, instead, conjuring up some surprisingly lovely ambience, and that's true here too, although the ambience here is less shimmery and abstract, and more like some sort of blackened dronescapery, thick swaths of guitar buzz, and dense swells of processed vocals, creating something that's both haunting and hypnotic, dense and intense, it's not really until about 7 minutes into the first track (which fills up the whole first side of the vinyl), that the band finally do unleash some black metal, but when they do, it's a dense blurred buzz, so blurred and blown out it almost sounds more droney and washed out than grim and heavy, but the crazy thing is, the band haven't even started, as a couple minutes later, they somehow explode again, the sound splintering into a weird almost industrial sounding black chug, a grinding, howling maelstrom of black buzz and churning psychedelia, that quickly fades out leaving just a long stretch of crumbling noise, distant vocals, tolling bells, and crackling staticky ambience.
The second track / B side is another sprawling epic, this time bookended by some creepy industrial ambience, what sounds like jangling chains, plenty of rumbles and creaking high end, all smeared into a blackened ur-drone, soon guitars drift in, but not riffs, more like black chordal clouds, that hover darkly, before finally coalescing into proper riffs, but like the first track, the riffs are so distorted and blown out, the 'black metal' here is more of a blackdrone blur, that even with headphones reveals very little of what's going on in Sutekh's roiling black soundworld, the guitars murky and muddy one second, harsh and caustic the next, the vocals a buried bellow, and if there are drums, they're buried so low they just add to the general cacophony. The track churns and chugs, and at one point sounds almost like a sonic approximation of a locomotive, clattery and industrial, but still wreathed in a swirling blackbuzz fog, before the blackness dissipates, leaving just the strange ritualistic ambience that opened the track.
Super swank packaging, full color photos of some sort of altar ritual, candles and chalices and knives, all wreathed in shadow, with all the texted printed in a clear reflective spot varnish.

SUTEKH HEXEN Daemons (Dead Section) 7" 11.98
Latest blast of blurred blacknoise brutality from this SF duo, whose records seem to disappear in a heartbeat, every one a ridiculously limited microedition, this new 7" no different, already sold out and out of print, we got 20 copies, and will most likely not be able to get more.
Which is a shame, cuz this is maybe SH's most melodic and distinctly black metal record yet. Frantic riffing beneath super distorted vox, a blurred tranced out almost blacknoisedrone, until the drums kick in, but when they do, it's less like a blastbeat, and more like another layer of blurred low end buzz, the guitars churning relentlessly within a cloud of black/white noise, super repetitive and cyclical, but the melodies continue to seep through, mournful and minor key, buried beneath thick swaths of roiling blackness, the sound murky and muddy and surprisingly warm for being as intense and blackened as it is.
The flipside is another surprise, all echoey and industrial, more processed vokills, this time though draped over clean guitar strum and a clattery machine like rhythm, the overall vibe brooding and downright doomy, a sort of creepy black ambient industrial maybe? There's an even more surprising second half, laced with clean, post rock-ish guitars, some death march ultradoom plod and creepy, cinematic piano-like melodies, the oozes and drifts darkly before disappearing in a haze of Merzbow worthy buzz, a thick swirling cloud of roiling blackness.
LIMITED TO 253 COPIES!! We have less than 20, so grab one before they're gone...

SUTEKH HEXEN Empyraisch (Vendetta) lp 16.98
When we recently reviewed this on the last list, we went on and on about how sonically, the band seemed to be returning to their noisier, more abrasive roots, after a pretty steady trajectory toward a sound more polished and melodic. We only later discovered that there was a much more obvious reason for this 'shift' in sound, and it was that these were in fact old recordings, and Empyraisch was in fact a compilation of sorts, gathering up all the tracks from the super insanely limited and long out of print 7"s the band released over the last couple years, as well as a rare compilation track or two.
We'd imagine most of you were like us, and were unable to snag any of those rare 7"s, or perhaps only managed to track down one or two, so this should still be of interest to even the most obsessive SH fans, but fair warning to the folks who did manage to get em all. For the rest of is though, this is a godsend (devilsend?)...
This Bay Area black metal / noise outfit dig deep into the crypt for these grim blacknoize rarities, a gloriously dizzying mix of blurred noise drenched black buzz and haunting atmospheric ambience...
The opening track introduces Sutekh Hexen at their noisiest, the initial stretch of washed out buzzing blackness giving way to pure face melting black noise, unrelenting and devastating. Which is a bit of foreshadowing, since this collection obviously represents the group at their noisiest and grimmest.
The rest of the side unwinds in blasts of corrosive noise, this time underpinned by low drones and chant like vox, adding some melody and color, however subtle, to the proceedings, everything burred into a Tim Hecker-ish haze. Side one closes with a blast of extremely harsh black metal, the buzz and any semblance of riffage, nearly buried beneath an avalanche of grinding psychedelic noise.
The B side lets Sutekh Hexen flex those soundscaping muscles, at least briefly, opening with a stretch of droned out thrum, a soft black swirl, drifting ominously, only to disappear in a squall of torrential blackness, a wild roiling black hole of sound, that eventually dissipates, allowing the harsh vokills to slip to the fore, then the buried rhythms, but again, it all bleeds into an extended sprawl of black metal murk, woozy and blown out, blurry and dense, trailing off into a cloud of grim black energy.

SUTEKH HEXEN Larvae (Handmade Birds) cd 13.98
The sound of this Bay Area blackmetal / blacknoise duo-turned-trio continues to evolve, and in surprising directions on this, their latest in a flurry of extremely limited releases over the last year. Beginning life as purveyors of dense speaker shredding noise, informed by, but not necessarily sounding much like, black metal, it seemed more a case of black metal riffs buried beneath sheets of white noise and crumbling industrial detritus, and blast beats recorded on a crappy cassette tape and played back through a Walkman, and again, buried beneath a punishing wall of sound. But with every record, the sounds seem more composed, perhaps less antagonizingly harsh, with more time spent creating atmospheres and ambience, than actually buzzing and blasting, which again is the case on Larvae. The opening track, begins with 3+ minutes of shimmery ominous ambience, laced with strange insectoid clicks, the guitars, when they do surface, unfurl soft strummed streaks of chordal whir, beneath which lush swells undulate drowsily, it's at about the 4 minute mark, that the song splinters, and explodes in a dense blurred barrage of furious murky black buzz, that while heavy, is also soft focus enough that it nearly has more in common with Tim Hecker or folks like that, until the group crank up the sound once again, and it becomes full on black metal, that lasts less than a minute, and the band return to the haunting drift that opened the record, before one final time, blasting through the last two minutes, the guitars a black blur, the vocals a fierce monstrous bellow, the drums, if there are any, buried in the mix, a heaving wash of noise drenched heaviness, that manages to be massive, but still weirdly textural.
The relatively brief second track applies the group's corrosive crunch and black atmospheres to something much more dirgey and dismal, a churning industrial tinged creep, the sounds blown out and in-the-red, a tangle of black noise / white noise and industrial crush somehow sculpted into a lumbering black doom, peppered with squalls of blaring FX drenched ear shredding skree, but also underpinned by all manner of layered drones and disembodied voices.
The final track, clocks in at a whopping 15 minutes, and again, finds the band easing into it, unfurling a hushed bit of blackened dronescaping, again flecked with strange clicks and skitterings, the guitars drift in, this time sounding like some sort of Appalachia, draped over streaks of muted crumbling crunch, the song sprawling out into an epic chunk of black folk drift, tangled voices, swirls of hiss and thrum, all wreathing the steel string buzz of the acoustic guitar, until at about the ten minute mark, everything is swallowed up by an avalanche of frenzied black buzz and frantic riffing, so dense and tangled that again, sans headphones the riffs all bleed into one thick roiling cloud of sound, eventually coalescing into an almost classic metal sounding chug, a murky hypnotic dirge that churns malevolently to the record's end.
Both the cd and the lp come in super swank, and gorgeously designed packaging, the artwork abstract in all blacks and greys, with the text printed in clear spot varnish ink, designed by Sutekh Hexen member Kevin Gan Yuen and Dwid Hellion from hardcore legends Integrity. The cd is limited to 500 copies, the lp is already sold out and out of print, so these are the last vinyl copies we'll be able to get...
MPEG Stream: "Isvar Savasana"
MPEG Stream: "La Det Bli Lys"

SUTEKH HEXEN Larvae (Handmade Birds) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The sound of this Bay Area blackmetal / blacknoise duo-turned-trio continues to evolve, and in surprising directions on this, their latest in a flurry of extremely limited releases over the last year. Beginning life as purveyors of dense speaker shredding noise, informed by, but not necessarily sounding much like, black metal, it seemed more a case of black metal riffs buried beneath sheets of white noise and crumbling industrial detritus, and blast beats recorded on a crappy cassette tape and played back through a Walkman, and again, buried beneath a punishing wall of sound. But with every record, the sounds seem more composed, perhaps less antagonizingly harsh, with more time spent creating atmospheres and ambience, than actually buzzing and blasting, which again is the case on Larvae. The opening track, begins with 3+ minutes of shimmery ominous ambience, laced with strange insectoid clicks, the guitars, when they do surface, unfurl soft strummed streaks of chordal whir, beneath which lush swells undulate drowsily, it's at about the 4 minute mark, that the song splinters, and explodes in a dense blurred barrage of furious murky black buzz, that while heavy, is also soft focus enough that it nearly has more in common with Tim Hecker or folks like that, until the group crank up the sound once again, and it becomes full on black metal, that lasts less than a minute, and the band return to the haunting drift that opened the record, before one final time, blasting through the last two minutes, the guitars a black blur, the vocals a fierce monstrous bellow, the drums, if there are any, buried in the mix, a heaving wash of noise drenched heaviness, that manages to be massive, but still weirdly textural.
The relatively brief second track applies the group's corrosive crunch and black atmospheres to something much more dirgey and dismal, a churning industrial tinged creep, the sounds blown out and in-the-red, a tangle of black noise / white noise and industrial crush somehow sculpted into a lumbering black doom, peppered with squalls of blaring FX drenched ear shredding skree, but also underpinned by all manner of layered drones and disembodied voices.
The final track, clocks in at a whopping 15 minutes, and again, finds the band easing into it, unfurling a hushed bit of blackened dronescaping, again flecked with strange clicks and skitterings, the guitars drift in, this time sounding like some sort of Appalachia, draped over streaks of muted crumbling crunch, the song sprawling out into an epic chunk of black folk drift, tangled voices, swirls of hiss and thrum, all wreathing the steel string buzz of the acoustic guitar, until at about the ten minute mark, everything is swallowed up by an avalanche of frenzied black buzz and frantic riffing, so dense and tangled that again, sans headphones the riffs all bleed into one thick roiling cloud of sound, eventually coalescing into an almost classic metal sounding chug, a murky hypnotic dirge that churns malevolently to the record's end.
Both the cd and the lp come in super swank, and gorgeously designed packaging, the artwork abstract in all blacks and greys, with the text printed in clear spot varnish ink, designed by Sutekh Hexen member Kevin Gan Yuen and Dwid Hellion from hardcore legends Integrity. The cd is limited to 500 copies, the lp is already sold out and out of print, so these are the last vinyl copies we'll be able to get...
MPEG Stream: "Isvar Savasana"
MPEG Stream: "La Det Bli Lys"

SUTEKH HEXEN Larvae (Analog Worship) cassette 8.98
Now available on cassette!!
The sound of this Bay Area blackmetal / blacknoise duo-turned-trio continues to evolve, and in surprising directions on this, their latest in a flurry of extremely limited releases over the last year. Beginning life as purveyors of dense speaker shredding noise, informed by, but not necessarily sounding much like, black metal, it seemed more a case of black metal riffs buried beneath sheets of white noise and crumbling industrial detritus, and blast beats recorded on a crappy cassette tape and played back through a Walkman, and again, buried beneath a punishing wall of sound. But with every record, the sounds seem more composed, perhaps less antagonizingly harsh, with more time spent creating atmospheres and ambience, than actually buzzing and blasting, which again is the case on Larvae. The opening track, begins with 3+ minutes of shimmery ominous ambience, laced with strange insectoid clicks, the guitars, when they do surface, unfurl soft strummed streaks of chordal whir, beneath which lush swells undulate drowsily, it's at about the 4 minute mark, that the song splinters, and explodes in a dense blurred barrage of furious murky black buzz, that while heavy, is also soft focus enough that it nearly has more in common with Tim Hecker or folks like that, until the group crank up the sound once again, and it becomes full on black metal, that lasts less than a minute, and the band return to the haunting drift that opened the record, before one final time, blasting through the last two minutes, the guitars a black blur, the vocals a fierce monstrous bellow, the drums, if there are any, buried in the mix, a heaving wash of noise drenched heaviness, that manages to be massive, but still weirdly textural.
The relatively brief second track applies the group's corrosive crunch and black atmospheres to something much more dirgey and dismal, a churning industrial tinged creep, the sounds blown out and in-the-red, a tangle of black noise / white noise and industrial crush somehow sculpted into a lumbering black doom, peppered with squalls of blaring FX drenched ear shredding skree, but also underpinned by all manner of layered drones and disembodied voices.
The final track, clocks in at a whopping 15 minutes, and again, finds the band easing into it, unfurling a hushed bit of blackened dronescaping, again flecked with strange clicks and skitterings, the guitars drift in, this time sounding like some sort of Appalachia, draped over streaks of muted crumbling crunch, the song sprawling out into an epic chunk of black folk drift, tangled voices, swirls of hiss and thrum, all wreathing the steel string buzz of the acoustic guitar, until at about the ten minute mark, everything is swallowed up by an avalanche of frenzied black buzz and frantic riffing, so dense and tangled that again, sans headphones the riffs all bleed into one thick roiling cloud of sound, eventually coalescing into an almost classic metal sounding chug, a murky hypnotic dirge that churns malevolently to the record's end.
MPEG Stream: "Isvar Savasana"
MPEG Stream: "La Det Bli Lys"

SUTEKH HEXEN Luciform (Wands) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally, the debut full length from this Bay Area black metal / blacknoise duo, who in recent months have garnered a whole lot of hype, based on a flurry of killer (albeit insanely limited) releases, and a recent West Coast tour, which found the duo playing outside of the Bay Area for the first time ever. And while we've raved about everything we could get our hands on from these guys, this is definitely the band's finest moment, albeit, weirdly their least noisy. But noisiness is all relative. Cuz this is still plenty noisy, it's just compared to some of their previous releases, and their blistering liver performances, this stuff is far removed from that black metal Merzbow sonic attack that defined their early days.
Here, the noise takes a backseat to the black metal, which is actually a good thing, the riffing, and prerecorded blast beats, weaving a woozy washed out buzzscape, which on their own, would make the sound a sort of soft focus Wold, all washed out and blackly buzzy, but over this blackened foundation, the duo add heapings of noise, the vocals, processed to oblivion, sound like gouts of white hot buzz, more guitars, extra layers of blackness, it's as if the black metal core is at the center of a swirling cloud of jagged, caustic blacknoise, the two seeming to function independently for the most part, but the band create dramatic dynamics with the twisted mix, which finds, various elements dropping out, only to erupt and explode back into action moments later, or the black metal riffing getting fused to the blacknoise creating a harsh wall of sound, which just as quickly separates leaving the blast and buzz to pound furiously, shadowed by streaks of hiss and hum, the sounds dramatically stereo panned too for further twisted effect.
The stretches of ambience are darkly effective, as are the weirdly mournful clean guitar parts, the band obviously capable of creating mood and mystery, and when the buzz kicks in, none of that mood or mystery is lost, instead, it's absorbed into the frenzied black chaos which transforms the sound into something more than noise, more than black metal, it's a darkly epic, strangely textured assemblage of buzz and blast, howl and pound, the sound a living black entity, sonic chaos given form, this is the real transcendental black metal, all should be worshipping before the altar of the priests of Sutekh Hexen.
LIMITED TO 350 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "The Great Whore"
MPEG Stream: "In Worship, They Weep His Name"

SUTEKH HEXEN Luciform (Wands) lp 16.98
FINALLY REPRESSED!!
Finally, the debut full length from this Bay Area black metal / blacknoise duo, who in recent months have garnered a whole lot of hype, based on a flurry of killer (albeit insanely limited) releases, and a recent West Coast tour, which found the duo playing outside of the Bay Area for the first time ever. And while we've raved about everything we could get our hands on from these guys, this is definitely the band's finest moment, albeit, weirdly their least noisy. But noisiness is all relative. Cuz this is still plenty noisy, it's just compared to some of their previous releases, and their blistering liver performances, this stuff is far removed from that black metal Merzbow sonic attack that defined their early days.
Here, the noise takes a backseat to the black metal, which is actually a good thing, the riffing, and prerecorded blast beats, weaving a woozy washed out buzzscape, which on their own, would make the sound a sort of soft focus Wold, all washed out and blackly buzzy, but over this blackened foundation, the duo add heapings of noise, the vocals, processed to oblivion, sound like gouts of white hot buzz, more guitars, extra layers of blackness, it's as if the black metal core is at the center of a swirling cloud of jagged, caustic blacknoise, the two seeming to function independently for the most part, but the band create dramatic dynamics with the twisted mix, which finds, various elements dropping out, only to erupt and explode back into action moments later, or the black metal riffing getting fused to the blacknoise creating a harsh wall of sound, which just as quickly separates leaving the blast and buzz to pound furiously, shadowed by streaks of hiss and hum, the sounds dramatically stereo panned too for further twisted effect.
The stretches of ambience are darkly effective, as are the weirdly mournful clean guitar parts, the band obviously capable of creating mood and mystery, and when the buzz kicks in, none of that mood or mystery is lost, instead, it's absorbed into the frenzied black chaos which transforms the sound into something more than noise, more than black metal, it's a darkly epic, strangely textured assemblage of buzz and blast, howl and pound, the sound a living black entity, sonic chaos given form, this is the real transcendental black metal, all should be worshipping before the altar of the priests of Sutekh Hexen.
Colored vinyl.
MPEG Stream: "The Great Whore"
MPEG Stream: "In Worship, They Weep His Name"

SUTEKH HEXEN Ordo Adversarial (Wands) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This local black metal / drone-noise duo have been cranking out recordings like crazy, not that you would ever know it, as all of them were released as lavishly packaged, outrageously limited cassettes (and all in batches of something like 50 copies). Finally, the band seem to be making waves beyond the WAY underground, and a comprehensive reissue campaign is under way, as well as a whole spate of about-to-drop new releases. But THIS, this is the first recording we've been able to get from these guys to list, and fans of noise drenched blackness, and super distorted psychedelic heaviness will be in heaven (hell?). A blasting, blown out, ultraviolent blend of raw, primitive black metal buzz, dense drones, lysergic psychedelic atmosphere and caustic abrasive blacknoise, these two tracks require iron ears, a black soul and preferably some headphones to get lost in SH's bizarre black cacophony.
"Bled Thy Likeness" is a blurred and muted expanse of crackly, staticky black thrum, murky and muddy, a writhing, swirling sprawl of hazy washed out minor key riffage, laced with streaks of soaring guitars woven into a background of distorted black ambience, eventually exploding into a whitenoise drenched blast of heaving, crumbling, ultra distorted blackdrone crush, hellish shrieked vokills smeared into undulating sheets of Merzbowian buzz, all underpinned by a haunting monkish chantlike melody, adding a strange bit of melancholy mystery to the harsh hellish buzz.
"Murmur" is just as intense, a wild frenzied blown out assault of fierce and fucked up blacknoise chaos, the shrieked vox distorted and processed into another layer of furious buzz, tangled up in the frenzied berserker riffing, the whole sound a twisted, gnarled tangle of face melting, ear shredding, soul shearing fury, the song somehow blossoming part way through into something subtly more melodic, the blacknoisebuzz and grim black-blast infused with a strangely lush and warm melodic undercurrent, a deep sonic swell, rife with epic black metal majesty, but nearly suffocated by the caustic clouds of brittle buzz and in-the-red roar overhead.
LIMITED TO 400 COPIES. Super striking, thick black and white jackets, and printed on nice heavy vinyl...
MPEG Stream: "Bled Thy Likeness"
MPEG Stream: "Murmur"

SUTEKH HEXEN & ANDREW LILES Breed In Me The Darkness (Merzbild) cassette 9.98
This latest batch of tapes from local label Merz Tapes finds the label expanding and rebranding, now known as Merzbild, and no longer limiting themselves to cassettes. It is however this most recent batch of cassettes we're here to discuss. In this case, it's this collaboration between SF black metal / blacknoise outfit Sutekh Hexen, and long time Nurse With Wound collaborator Andrew Liles.
There would be a time when Liles remixing a black metal band would seem crazy, but the fact is that at this point, SH are really only tangentially black metal, as they spend much of their time weaving dense dronescapes, or sculpting bursts of feral ear splitting noise into tense and intense walls of blown out sound, granted, there's still plenty of blast and buzz, but it's often obfuscated and recontextualized. Each side of this tape seems to offer up both the original track, and then Liles' reworking. On the A side, SH unfurl a dense blurred rumble, peppered with muted bombastic thuds, and subterranean pulses, buried voices, and a tranced out sprawl of undulating layers, blacks and greys, haunting and harrowing, a sound that's bleak and abject, the perfect launching point for Liles, who takes that track and stretches it from a little under 6 minutes, to almost 18, making the focal point a haunting, reverbed piano, drifting in soft billowing clouds of what we take to be the original track, letting the occasional drum blat leap out, or spidery tendrils of industrial buzz, gnarled tangles of voices speaking in tongues, and then suddenly, at about 10 minutes in, the song is transformed into what sounds like a sort of industrial rock? Chugging metallic guitars, big drums, all over that churning Sutekh brood, there's even some psychedelic guitar leads, unclear if somehow those sounds were buried in the original track, or if Liles just went nuts and essentially turned SH, at least briefly, into a weird industrial metal band, but then suddenly, it all fades away, leaving the track to slither ominously to the end, trailing a cloud of buzzing detritus in its wake. Wow.
The flipside finds SH exploding right out of the gate with a blurred blast of black buzz, murky and swirling and dizzyingly dense, before settling into another long sprawl of black ambient drift, much more haunting, abstract and serene. And again Liles takes SH's 5 minutes and more than doubles it, the whole thing, a brooding blackened driftscape, the tones oozing and rife with what sounds like some sort of demonic chorale, a blurred black raga, laced with sheets of harsh noise, jagged shards of processed vocal hiss, building to an impossibly dense and noisy, speaker destroying crescendo, that sounds like multiple Herman Nitsch compositions playing at once, atonal, droned out, and weirdly mesmerizing, underpinned by what sounds like organ or calliope, the vibe very cinematic, the sound collapses into a cacophony of smashing bottles, before beginning the slow build again, this time to a blown out, smeary drone, seemingly constructed from the blast and buzz of the original, but here recast as something more Tim Hecker like, massive crumbling distorted swells, and granular sheets of sound rife with melodic murk, gradually collapsing into a strange stuttering digital freakout, and one final burst of smashing glass.
Super sweet packaging, printed silver-on-smoky-clear tapes, reflective silver on swirly green and black J-cards.
MPEG Stream: "We Once Walked Upon These Coals (...To Save Us From Satan's Power Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Selling Light to Lesser Gods (He Is Risen Mix)"

SUZUKITON Service - Repair Handbook (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98
For you proggy instro-metal freaks, last list we had the ultra Champsy Hematovore, this time 'round we've got Suzukiton: two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and no singer, all hailing from a metalloid stoner robot shitkicker planet called Richmond, Virginia. Their songs are kinda complex constructions of chunky bits that make me think of, not Legos, but whatever that other, more advanced toy construction set is meant for really smart kids who'll grow up to be engineers. These guys probably played with that when they were young, but then picked up guitars and grew long hair and beards and instead of becoming engineers and making big hydroelectric dams and rocket ships and super-computers and stuff they grew up to shred metallically and mathematically (but groovily too) in Suzukiton. Heck, the square root symbol is actually used in one of their song titles. And another song is called "Chugga". I guess when you're instrumental, the best two options are song titles like that that describe the music, or song titles that just make somebody grin. Anyway Suzukiton chugs along nicely thick and sometimes speedily, and should definitely appeal to fans of the likes of the aforementioned Champs, as well as Zebulon Pike and Mastodon and some old faves from nearby to Suzukiton's neck of the woods, Breadwinner and Confessor.
It's definitely way better that these guys channelled their aggression and smarts into this rather than, say, making bombs. And keeping it instrumental means that they don't have to talk about their feelings, either.
MPEG Stream: "Rogue Mechanica"
MPEG Stream: "Aquachimp"

SVARTAHRID As The Sunrise Flickers (Napalm) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More grim-faced black metal from a crew of modern-day Vikings. We'd never heard of them before, but I don't think this disc is their debut. They rock harder than most, and boast a great cold sound (very 'Frosty', one could say...). Energetic AND majestic, good stuff for fans of the genre!

SVARTPEST Ved Den Drabelige Inngang Til Helvete (Baphomet) cd 11.98
If you were wandering around in the cold Norwegian wilderness and found a dark cave inhabited by a tribe of trollish troglodytes who just happened to have their own black metal band and were in the middle of a really good, raw and evil rehearsal session, with nasty distorted guitars (I guess they have a portable generator) and still-bloody animal bones and skulls for percussion, THAT's the Svartpest experience. Svartpest, a severely anti-Christian crew of two or three some of whom also play in bands like Gorelord and Wurdulak, says their music "is based upon the ancient hymns of the primitive cavemen that once lived on the mountains and fjords of Norway" and certainly the cavernous atmosphere and primal grunt of their third album "Ved Den Drabelige..." gives us no reason to disbelieve 'em. They really do use bones and blocks of wood for percussion, alongside more usual black/Viking metal components like rasping vocals, blasting drums, and buzzsaw guitar riffing. What makes this great is how the metal parts are made even more powerful and majestic by the band's forays into ritualistic creepiness of a more ambient, malevolent hippy nature -- it's like Mayhem crossed with that 60's ESP band Cromagnon at times. (Note to Baphomet label: next time, don't let the cavemen themselves master the cd, 'cause that's probably why there's careless little "digi-farts" left in between the tracks.)
MPEG Stream: "I Skapelsen Av Det Kolde..."
MPEG Stream: "En Hyllest, Til Norge Vaart Land"

SVARTTHRON Soundtrack to My Solitude (ISO666) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SVEDHOUS Agaric Plot (Misanthropic Art Production) cd 13.98

SVETOVID Valhallan Dreams (Werewolf Promotion / Hammerbund) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We had never heard Canadian black metal horde Svetovid before, but we got this, their debut full length, from the same place we got recent BM cassette faves from Surt, Sunchariot, Gnieu, and Lascowiec, so were pretty excited to check them out, and weren't sure what to expect from the haunting acoustic folk intro, a lilting and slightly stumbling bit of Appalachian sounding fingerpicked melancholia, which lead directly into an avalanche of crumbling blackness, a swirling, whirling wall of sound, infused with a surprising amount of melody, the drums buried in the mix, the vocals a reverbed croak, but the guitars, dense and lush and layered, and while buzzy, almost more soaring and shimmery, the blackbuzz blossoming into something almost shoegazey, that minus the vox, might be something you'd hear on Starlight Temple Society. Blissed out blackened heaviness that is as poppy as it is buzzy, whether it's intentional or not, but we're digging it a LOT. And actually, maybe not all of the record is that poppy or blissed out, once we got done listening to that first track about ten times, the sound gets darker and meaner, chugging and churning, the vocals a sinister monstrous bellow, but somehow, the sound is still melodic, almost as if someone was used to the chordal structure of pop music, and was applying it to black metal, but the result is something grim and black, but warm and fuzzy and washed out, that track, not at all blasting, instead swirling and shimmery, the guitars tranced out and cyclical, the sound nearly psychedelic. We could go on and describe all the tracks here, but the sooner this review is done, the sooner we can strap on our Walkman, get away from this computer and dig in to the rest of this tape.
LIMITED TO 320 COPIES! Each one hand numbered.

SWALLOW THE SUN Hope (Candlelight) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "Hope"
MPEG Stream: "These Hours Of Despair"

SWALLOW THE SUN New Moon (Spinefarm) cd 13.98

SWALLOW THE SUN Plague Of Butterflies (Spikefarm) cdep 10.98

SWALLOW THE SUN The Morning Never Came (Olympic Recordings) cd 16.98

SWARM OF THE LOTUS When White Becomes Black (At A Loss) cd 12.98

SWASHBUCKLE Back To The Noose (Nuclear Blast) cd 15.98
You thought rap and metal sounded good together? (Or not?)
Well, how about thrash metal and PIRATES?? A match made in Heaven. Or hell! Or on the high seas! Kinda silly, but fun for sure... the thrash metal is furious and tight and heavy, the vocals aren't especially 'pirate-y', but the lyrics certainly are. And there are some awesome between song interludes, featuring clips from movies and samples and various other bits of pirate dialogue and drama...
MPEG Stream: "Scurvy Black"
MPEG Stream: "Rime Of The Haggard Mariner"
MPEG Stream: "Back To The Noose"

SWINE Marked By The Baron (Vanguard Productions) cd 9.00
Sale priced! It's strange what a huge influence Bay Area black metallers Von ended up being on pretty much everybody. Not really all that surprising really, they did after all totally destroy. Filthy and grimy and so heavy and primal and raw. It seems like every black metal band has at one time or another covered Von, there was even a full length tribute, and of course, there have been about a million bands who did everything in their power to channel the spirit and ferocity of Von, one of the most successful being Swine, the Von worshipping side project of a guy called Swine appropriately enough, frontman for Hateful Abandon, whose most recent record, Famine (Or Into The Bellies Of Worms), a collection of blackened gothic gloom, we highlighted a while back.
On Marked By The Baron, it's Satanic Blood Angel time, ALL the time, blasting drums supplied by a furious frenzied drum machine, the guitars thick and gritty, buzzy and intense, the vocals drenched in reverb and effects, grunting and growling, as much as howling and shrieking. The sound manages to be weirdly moody and dramatic too, with moaning guitar melodies drifting over the churning black filth below, giving most of the tracks a weirdly wistful vibe, considering how fast and furious the rest of the music is. Rapid fire, frenzied and relentless, pounding and punky, but so atmospheric and with such a vile vibe, and that aforementioned moody melancholy, culminating in the final track, that dips into some super emotional classic sounding doom, even slipping into some mournful clean guitar, and after a few minutes of silence, returning with a bit of washed out dreamy drone, weird.
But beyond those little bits of strangeness, this is some gloriously heavy, harsh, beautifully depressive, raw blasting blackness.
MPEG Stream: "Black Soul King"
MPEG Stream: "Beast Call"
MPEG Stream: "Tusk Toothed"

SWITCHBLADE s/t (Icarus / Deathwish) cd 11.98
You'd have thought there'd be a band by now called Switchblade, but these guys I think are the first we've seen here at Aquarius to use that moniker...from the name you might expect some sort of garagey rockabilly punk or somesuch, but this ain't the Stray Cats. Nope, Switchblade are a punishing metalcore trio from Sweden, who could just as easily be labeled a 'post-rock' band. First off, you'd swear this was recorded by Steve Albini (though it's not): it's got that spacious, dry, natural room sound recording quality with BIG drums. Mix that with quiet-loud dynamics and electric drone potential and you'll be wondering if this metal at all until vocals make a rare, screaming throat abuse appearance to remind you. Oh, and also 'cause when it's heavy it's, yeah, heavy! Totally hypnotic and dark...kind of like a slow, epic version of old AQ instro-metal faves Fuehler. Or some sort of Albini-produced krautrock. Or a downer Circle. Or an evil Mogwai... Shellac, Pelican and Isis would also be good reference points. While some metalcore outfits have a densely layered, hyperkinetic, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink modus operandi (i.e. Converge, Coalesce), Switchblade, with their stripped-down, mostly instrumental, repetitive-riffing approach, seem to utilize a keep-it-simple aesthetic that really works for them. There's not even any song titles, just six numbered tracks (47 minutes total) of Switchblade's sinister, soporific, satisfying music.
MPEG Stream: "01"
MPEG Stream: "03"

SWITCHBLADE s/t [2006] (Cyclop Media) cd 15.98
Self-titled records are strange. They are definitely a statement. It's sort of like 'our record doesn't NEED a title, it speaks for itself'. We can't help but think sometimes though that it's just pure laziness. The sort of band who would forgo an album title are only a hop skip and a jump away from ditching song titles too. And then what's next, no band name? That's part of the fun, part of the magic. Part of the unique world that a band creates. Sometimes the title of a song or album is exactly what makes us want to listen to it. Along the same lines, we're often frustrated by bands who have multiple self-titled records. Quite confusing, there's the OLD self-titled one, and the NEW self-titled one. But what about these Swedish metalheads. Not one, not two, not even three self-titled records, BUT ALL FOUR of their release so far are self-titled. Even their first seven inch! And they HAVE gotten rid of song titles, opting instead for numbers. So I guess it is all about the music after all. So yeah, the music, that's why we're here, right? All we can say, is what the hell happened to Switchblade?! Something seriously scary we'd have to guess. Last time we checked in, they were one of those metallic post rock metalcore hybrids, exploring drifting loping melancholy rhythms that would explode into chugging grinding sludgy metal freakouts. They also had a strange Albini-esque vibe, big booming drums, really spacious recording.
But now. Holy shit, these guys are a whole lot scarier. A lot slower. Even heavier. It's like they discovered their inner Khanate. This is downright doooooomy. It's almost like the last Switchblade record played at 16rpm. In fact, maybe it is... Hmmm? Anyway, this has much more in common with Moss and Bunkur and Earth and Nadja and Marzuraan and Khanate, than the bands that occupied a similar sonic space as their last record, the Pelican's and Isis's and the like. The new Switchblade is a slow lumbering beast, two lengthy tracks, one 16 minutes, one almost 30 minutes, each a plodding, slow motion, glacial, dirge. Riffs are drawn out and allowed to drift and dwindle before the next riff arrives to take over. The drummer sounds like he only has one drum. And one cymbal. But both of them are really BIG and really LOUD. But unlike some of the sludgelords this disc is obviously indebted to, Switchblade keep their sound warm, and spacious. This isn't murky or muddy. It's wide open and spacious, the guitars are clear and bright, distorted sure, but more thick and heavy than downtuned and sludgy. A bit like recent discs from the Angelic Process and Nadja, a sort of beautiful sludge. the first track is the more overtly evil of the two with super creepy harsh whispered vocals, like Gollum from Lord Of The Rings, a raspy demonic growl (apparently a dude from black metallers Watain, guesting). The second shorter track, sounds a bit like a heavier version of slowcore legends Codeine, with whispery crooned vocals, drifting minor key chords, all strung along a skeletal doom plod. Haunting and malefic, but at the same times strangely delicate and introspective. A truly mysterious and utter metamorphosis. We can hardly wait to hear what their fifth self-titled release will bring...
MPEG Stream: "01."
MPEG Stream: "02."

SWITCHBLADE s/t [2012] (Denovali Recordings) cd 16.98
We've long been fans of this Swedish post-metal / dirge-sludge / metal-gaze duo, and their ever expanding discography continues to confound, as this is their sixth full length since 2000, and the sixth record without a title. So yeah, self titled, AGAIN, and as we mentioned in our review of their 2006 self titled record, they also chose to jettison song titles as well, which continues to be the case, this three song, 37 minute epic divided into 'movements', and each of those movements further divided into 'coda's and 'elegy's and 'finale's. Which may seem a bit pompous, they are after all a rock band, and a pretty stripped down one at that, being just a guitar player and a drummer (their set up pictured on the front cover), but as the saying goes, it's not what you got, but what you do with what you got, and these guys turn two instruments (and admittedly a LOT of amplifiers), into something mightily metallic and majestic, with long passages of dark dreamy droniness, and dense dynamic sprawls of droned out psychedelic math-kraut heaviness, as well as lumbering driving dirges, and yeah, of course, heaving walls of crumbling distortion doused sludge, all driven by some serious drum-damage bombast, and this time around, some super tripped out vocals, contributed by not one, not two, but THREE guest vocalists (one known simply as "The Cuckoo", who we like to think is the one contributing the weird heavily effected gurgle-vox). There's also some keyboards this time around, adding a little more swirl and spaceiness to the proceedings, but the sound is still in keeping with the previous five self titled records, heady and heavy, hypnotic and metallic. Maybe imagine a mostly instrumental Isis, stripped way down, and then slowed way down, and recording with Steve Albini, or Dutch instru-metallers Gore, with a slightly more expansive soundfield.
At this point Switchblade are truly masters of their craft, weaving lush landscapes of chug and churn, those landscapes often blossoming into impossibly majestic sonic sprawls, tranced out and mesmeric, peppered with the occasional dense sonic blast, or fluttery fields of ghostly psychedelic drift, the whole thing laced with all manner of warped sonic subtleties, but spending the majority of their time locked into endless stretches of head nodding hypno-rock drone-dirge-metal bliss out.
The cd comes in a six panel full color digipack, while the deluxe 2lp version is pressed on 180 gram vinyl and includes a download code.
MPEG Stream: "Movement 1 (excerpt)"
MPEG Stream: "Movement 2 (excerpt)"

SWITCHBLADE s/t [2012] (Denovali Recordings) 2lp 39.00
We've long been fans of this Swedish post-metal / dirge-sludge / metal-gaze duo, and their ever expanding discography continues to confound, as this is their sixth full length since 2000, and the sixth record without a title. So yeah, self titled, AGAIN, and as we mentioned in our review of their 2006 self titled record, they also chose to jettison song titles as well, which continues to be the case, this three song, 37 minute epic divided into 'movements', and each of those movements further divided into 'coda's and 'elegy's and 'finale's. Which may seem a bit pompous, they are after all a rock band, and a pretty stripped down one at that, being just a guitar player and a drummer (their set up pictured on the front cover), but as the saying goes, it's not what you got, but what you do with what you got, and these guys turn two instruments (and admittedly a LOT of amplifiers), into something mightily metallic and majestic, with long passages of dark dreamy droniness, and dense dynamic sprawls of droned out psychedelic math-kraut heaviness, as well as lumbering driving dirges, and yeah, of course, heaving walls of crumbling distortion doused sludge, all driven by some serious drum-damage bombast, and this time around, some super tripped out vocals, contributed by not one, not two, but THREE guest vocalists (one known simply as "The Cuckoo", who we like to think is the one contributing the weird heavily effected gurgle-vox). There's also some keyboards this time around, adding a little more swirl and spaceiness to the proceedings, but the sound is still in keeping with the previous five self titled records, heady and heavy, hypnotic and metallic. Maybe imagine a mostly instrumental Isis, stripped way down, and then slowed way down, and recording with Steve Albini, or Dutch instru-metallers Gore, with a slightly more expansive soundfield.
At this point Switchblade are truly masters of their craft, weaving lush landscapes of chug and churn, those landscapes often blossoming into impossibly majestic sonic sprawls, tranced out and mesmeric, peppered with the occasional dense sonic blast, or fluttery fields of ghostly psychedelic drift, the whole thing laced with all manner of warped sonic subtleties, but spending the majority of their time locked into endless stretches of head nodding hypno-rock drone-dirge-metal bliss out.
The cd comes in a six panel full color digipack, while the deluxe 2lp version is pressed on 180 gram vinyl and includes a download code.
MPEG Stream: "Movement 1 (excerpt)"
MPEG Stream: "Movement 2 (excerpt)"

SWORD Lord By Fire (We Are The Label) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Being in a metal band and calling yourself Sword, or anything plus Sword (Demonsword, Devilsword, etc.) you're just asking to be confused with the hundreds of other Sword bands out there. And c'mon, there have been several fairly well known Swords in not too distant metal history as well. The same goes for anything Witch, Super anything, Jesus whatever, the list goes on. Remember a math rock band from back in the nineties, called Table? At the time we all thought that was the stupidest name ever, but faced with ANOTHER Sword, Table seems downright brilliant. How many weird heavy bands would actually think to call themselves something as innocuous and uncool as Table? Probably none. But we digress. You've probably been reading a lot lately about a 'next big thing' band called THE Sword. That THE is very important. Cuz this isn't them. That (The) Sword, from Texas, has a sort of Fucking Champs, ironic metal thing going on, where as this Sword, just Sword, from Virginia, is a down and dirty, sludgy, scummy filthy downtuned skull cracking metallic headbutt. Huge crushing Eyehategod riffage, all slithery and sludgy and tuned WAY down, with howled hate fueled vocals and big pounding drums, simple and heavy as fuck. Think High On Fire, EHG, Minsk, Buzzoven, Sleep, Kyuss, Electric Wizard, this is black t-shirt, faded tattoos, torn jeans, shitkicker boots, long hair, big beard heavy fucking metal rock and roll. Let's imagine a Sword fight shall we? The Sword clashing mightily against Sword. The Sword is a fancy fantastical +2 magic sword, with a super ornate, betassled handle, some sort of jewel set in the hilt, with a real alligator skin grip, the blade is sort of curved and delicately etched with ancient runes, while Sword is a big six foot broadsword, rusted and dinged up, heavy as fuck, impossible to lift without both hands, but once raised skyward capable of splitting a man clean in half, the handle wrapped in deerskin and duct tape, the blade brown with the dried blood of vanquished foes. It's up to you how you'd rather be armed as you head into battle. (Well, it seems that this Sword did not in fact win the battle as we just learned that they have now changed their name to Lord By Fire to avoid all of that confusion we were just discussing!)
MPEG Stream: "Radula"
MPEG Stream: "Cemophora Coccinea"

SWORD, THE (The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire (Kemado) 9" hexagonal picture disc 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oooh. Hexagonal!!! And a picture disc. It hardly matters what music is on it, does it?? Especially since it's a limited edition "Black Friday" Record Store Day style release, not long for this world, and we are down to our last 3 copies!
But, in case you are for some reason curious about the music too, we can tell you it rocks. Two songs from everyone's favorite hipster heshers (ha, well, we like 'em), one from their recent Warp Riders opus, the Thin Lizzy-ish "(The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire", backed with a previously unreleased tune in a similarly heavy, sci-fi '70s stoner rocking vein, "Farstar".
And it comes with a hexagonal sticker too.
ONLY ONE COPY LEFT!

SWORD, THE Age Of Winter (Kemado) cd 13.98
Not to be confused with the sludgier Sword from Virginia or the '80s Sword from Canada, or indie rockers The Swords Project or Idyll Swords or any of the umpteen other bands metal and otherwise called Sword or something like Sword... THIS Sword hails from Austin TX, and is mightily hyped as the next big thing in the indie/metal crossover world, a la The Fucking Champs or Pelican. They're at the very least the next Early Man. And sound a bit like that Brooklyn retro-metal outfit (with the Ozzyish vox). They're also touring with 'em, playing here in San Francisco around the corner from Aquarius at 12 Galaxies next week, Tuesday the 21st of February. I (Allan) am for sure gonna go... 'cause this band (and Early Man too) have the potential to slay live, judging from the studio recorded evidence. Actually I've been curious about The Sword for a while, heard some good things about these guys first when our pals in Slough Feg (or was it Hammers Of Misfortune?) played with 'em in Texas. Then I guess they also got some good press at SXSW. So, here's their debut full length on the Kemado label (home also to Diamond Nights, Tarantula A.D. and Dungen among others). And, put briefly, it rocks.
Their pounding, uber-heavy, swords (duh) and sorcery stoner metal reminds us a bit of Zebulon Pike, and A LOT of High On Fire (and also, thus, Sleep). Those aforementioned vocals especially. Their lyrics and graphic imagery are all seemingly inspired by Norse mythology and the music, rather than being a black metal blur, is suitably heroic as well -- charging, triumphant, and almost wearying in its relentless bombast... which is why the mellow respite at the beginning of speedster "Iron Swan" is welcome, and the hills and valleys of the album's longest, proggiest, most epic tune "Lament For The Aurochs" give it staying power. The Sword sure sound serious, taking the weightiness of stoner/doom metal and putting it to old school, dual guitar, fantasy metal use. We imagine many fans of The Fucking Champs and Mastodon and some of the other bands mentioned above will indeed like this.
MPEG Stream: "Freya"
MPEG Stream: "Lament Of The Aurochs"

SWORD, THE Age Of Winter (Kemado Records) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now on vinyl, as it should be! (This is the gatefold regular vinyl, not the been-and-gone picture disc version). Not to be confused with the sludgier Sword from Virginia or the '80s Sword from Canada, or indie rockers The Swords Project or Idyll Swords or any of the umpteen other bands metal and otherwise called Sword or something like Sword... THIS Sword hails from Austin TX, and is mightily hyped as the next big thing in the indie/metal crossover world, a la The Fucking Champs or Pelican. They're at the very least the next Early Man. And sound a bit like that Brooklyn retro-metal outfit (with the Ozzyish vox). They're also touring with 'em, playing here in San Francisco around the corner from Aquarius at 12 Galaxies next week, Tuesday the 21st of February. I (Allan) am for sure gonna go... 'cause this band (and Early Man too) have the potential to slay live, judging from the studio recorded evidence. Actually I've been curious about The Sword for a while, heard some good things about these guys first when our pals in Slough Feg (or was it Hammers Of Misfortune?) played with 'em in Texas. Then I guess they also got some good press at SXSW. So, here's their debut full length on the Kemado label (home also to Diamond Nights, Tarantula A.D. and Dungen among others). And, put briefly, it rocks.
Their pounding, uber-heavy, swords (duh) and sorcery stoner metal reminds us a bit of Zebulon Pike, and A LOT of High On Fire (and also, thus, Sleep). Those aforementioned vocals especially. Their lyrics and graphic imagery are all seemingly inspired by Norse mythology and the music, rather than being a black metal blur, is suitably heroic as well -- charging, triumphant, and almost wearying in its relentless bombast... which is why the mellow respite at the beginning of speedster "Iron Swan" is welcome, and the hills and valleys of the album's longest, proggiest, most epic tune "Lament For The Aurochs" give it staying power. The Sword sure sound serious, taking the weightiness of stoner/doom metal and putting it to old school, dual guitar, fantasy metal use. We imagine many fans of The Fucking Champs and Mastodon and some of the other bands mentioned above will indeed like this.
MPEG Stream: "Freya"
MPEG Stream: "Lament Of The Aurochs"

SWORD, THE Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephyrians (Kemado) 10" picture disc 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
See nearby for our review of this band's new album Gods Of The Earth, for which this limited edition 2-song picture disc vinyl 10" was a teaser. We've just got a handful. It's got album track "Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephyrians" on side A, with the non-album cut "Codex Corvidae" on side B.
The artwork features the band's logo superimposed over a skeletal horse rising from an erupting pool of glowing magma, a typical scene in ancient Hyperzephria.

SWORD, THE Gods Of The Earth (Kemado Records) cd 13.98
If you're gonna call your metal band The Sword (not just Sword, of which there have been a few, but THE Sword) you've got a lot to live up to. So maybe it's not such a surprise that lots of folks in the scene have been hatin' on this band 'cause somehow they're not "true" enough. And/or they got just too darn popular. Ironic hipster metal they get called. We've probably said it ourselves. But of course what's ironic is how 'cause a band gets big, suddenly they're not cool anymore. Now, it does seem that Austin's The Sword live charmed lives, young undoubtedly hipster dudes bringing the heavy to a maybe not entirely metal audience, getting all kinds of hype with only one album (well, now two) to back it up. That there's OTHER bands out there equally worthy who don't get on MTV or Guitar Hero, we won't deny! Better bands, even. Heck, the world ain't fair. But that doesn't mean that The Sword aren't good fist in the air fun. C'mon, their High On Fire meets The Fucking Champs brand of HEAVY, guitar harmony laden, stoner/doom rumble, replete with swords & sorcery fantasy metal '80s influences, might not be the most original or imaginative thing ever but sounds pretty good to us, even if they're certainly no Slough Feg.
And this sophomore effort, Gods Of The Earth (oooh, full of themselves, are they?), is probably up a songwriting notch or two from their Age Of Winters debut two years ago, though following the same general template, so if you liked that one you'll like this too. There's a couple melodic acoustic guitar intros and interludes, but mostly massive amps to 11 guitar crush and drum pummel the rest of the time. The Sword's seriously stentorian riffage rules, conjuring images of conquering armies sweeping savagely across ancient bloody battlefields. Kings and wizards, rogues and rangers populate their lyrics, and they even do a song about an axe. It's all very D&D, straight faced no joking (which should be a point in their favor). If The Sword's songs were airbrush artwork they'd go great on the side of your van.
'Tis true, sometimes their rather relentless (or shall we say epic?) chugga-chuggery and lackadaisical singing/shouting (Sleep style, as is much else of their sound) can eventually sound a bit been there done that. But not when you're fully engorged with headbanging lust, which you as a redblooded metalhead ought to be! That is, as long as you're not being a scene policeman too worried about what's metal and what's poseur to have a good time. What do you want to be, high school hall monitor or sword-swinging barbarian berserker?? The Sword offer you the choice of either role we suppose.
MPEG Stream: "Lords"
MPEG Stream: "The Black River"

SWORD, THE Gods Of The Earth (Kemado Records) lp 16.98
NOW ON VINYL! If you're gonna call your metal band The Sword (not just Sword, of which there have been a few, but THE Sword) you've got a lot to live up to. So maybe it's not such a surprise that lots of folks in the scene have been hatin' on this band 'cause somehow they're not "true" enough. And/or they got just too darn popular. Ironic hipster metal they get called. We've probably said it ourselves. But of course what's ironic is how 'cause a band gets big, suddenly they're not cool anymore. Now, it does seem that Austin's The Sword live charmed lives, young undoubtedly hipster dudes bringing the heavy to a maybe not entirely metal audience, getting all kinds of hype with only one album (well, now two) to back it up. That there's OTHER bands out there equally worthy who don't get on MTV or Guitar Hero, we won't deny! Better bands, even. Heck, the world ain't fair. But that doesn't mean that The Sword aren't good fist in the air fun. C'mon, their High On Fire meets The Fucking Champs brand of HEAVY, guitar harmony laden, stoner/doom rumble, replete with swords & sorcery fantasy metal '80s influences, might not be the most original or imaginative thing ever but sounds pretty good to us, even if they're certainly no Slough Feg.
And this sophomore effort, Gods Of The Earth (oooh, full of themselves, are they?), is probably up a songwriting notch or two from their Age Of Winters debut two years ago, though following the same general template, so if you liked that one you'll like this too. There's a couple melodic acoustic guitar intros and interludes, but mostly massive amps to 11 guitar crush and drum pummel the rest of the time. The Sword's seriously stentorian riffage rules, conjuring images of conquering armies sweeping savagely across ancient bloody battlefields. Kings and wizards, rogues and rangers populate their lyrics, and they even do a song about an axe. It's all very D&D, straight faced no joking (which should be a point in their favor). If The Sword's songs were airbrush artwork they'd go great on the side of your van.
'Tis true, sometimes their rather relentless (or shall we say epic?) chugga-chuggery and lackadaisical singing/shouting (Sleep style, as is much else of their sound) can eventually sound a bit been there done that. But not when you're fully engorged with headbanging lust, which you as a redblooded metalhead ought to be! That is, as long as you're not being a scene policeman too worried about what's metal and what's poseur to have a good time. What do you want to be, high school hall monitor or sword-swinging barbarian berserker?? The Sword offer you the choice of either role we suppose.
MPEG Stream: "Lords"
MPEG Stream: "The Black River"

SWORD, THE Warp Riders (Kemado) cd 13.98
It's The Sword....in SPAAAAAAAAACE! Well, that is, the popular stoner doom quartet that so many "troo metallers" love to hate have released their third long-player, and this time trade their lyrical fixation on Norse mythology for more of a science fiction theme. Or cover art, anyway. And, really they don't sound too much different as a result. Still super heavy and riffy and kinda catchy despite the vocalist's limitations, and just as worthy of Guitar Hero inclusion as they ever were. What we are noticing, though, is maybe their Texas roots coming more to the fore, The Sword's typically Sleep-like sound now infused with some serious '70s boogie! The single "Tres Brujas", for instance, has a Southern Rock feel for sure, same with "Lawless Lands". Meanwhile, the cowbell-rockin' "Night City" and others like closer "(The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire" reveal The Sword's debt to another '70s influence: Thin Lizzy.
Delving into this disc, though, we do discover that the sci-fi (or rather, science fantasy) deal is for real: this is in fact a full-on concept album, with a cryptic nerdy narrative running though such heavy tracks as "Acheron/Unearthing The Orb", "The Chronomancer I: Hubris", and "The Chronomancer II: Nemesis". Hmm, we almost suspect that their brief two weeks of touring two years ago with San Francisco's Slough Feg somehow rubbed off on 'em. There's even Space Pirates in the story!
So, If you like The Sword (and we do, even if sometimes we get a bit bored if we hear too many of their songs in a row) and don't mind 'em doing something just a bit different, you'll likely like Warp Riders; to possibly damn with faint praise it's their least boring album yet!! No, seriously, we're digging it. Not as doomy as they once were, but more hard rockin' is what we're sayin'.
And if you don't like The Sword (or don't think you do), c'mon and give this one a chance anyway, as they're definitely trying out some new (old) stuff here and doing it well. And maybe the haters can give 'em a break now, as they're 3 albums in, and that counts as paying some dues, right?
MPEG Stream: "Arrows In The Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Lawless Lands"
MPEG Stream: "Night City"

SWORD, THE Warp Riders (Kemado) 2lp 30.00
It's The Sword...in SPAAAAAAAAACE! Well, that is, the popular stoner doom quartet that so many "troo metallers" love to hate have released their third long-player, and this time trade their lyrical fixation on Norse mythology for more of a science fiction theme. Or cover art, anyway. And, really they don't sound too much different as a result. Still super heavy and riffy and kinda catchy despite the vocalist's limitations, and just as worthy of Guitar Hero inclusion as they ever were. What we are noticing, though, is maybe their Texas roots coming more to the fore, The Sword's typically Sleep-like sound now infused with some serious '70s boogie! The single "Tres Brujas", for instance, has a Southern Rock feel for sure, same with "Lawless Lands". Meanwhile, the cowbell-rockin' "Night City" and others like closer "(The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire" reveal The Sword's debt to another '70s influence: Thin Lizzy.
Delving into this disc, though, we do discover that the sci-fi (or rather, science fantasy) deal is for real: this is in fact a full-on concept album, with a cryptic nerdy narrative running though such heavy tracks as "Acheron/Unearthing The Orb", "The Chronomancer I: Hubris", and "The Chronomancer II: Nemesis". Hmm, we almost suspect that their brief two weeks of touring two years ago with San Francisco's Slough Feg somehow rubbed off on 'em. There's even Space Pirates in the story!
So, If you like The Sword (and we do, even if sometimes we get a bit bored if we hear too many of their songs in a row) and don't mind 'em doing something just a bit different, you'll likely like Warp Riders; to possibly damn with faint praise it's their least boring album yet!! No, seriously, we're digging it. Not as doomy as they once were, but more hard rockin' is what we're sayin'.
And if you don't like The Sword (or don't think you do), c'mon and give this one a chance anyway, as they're definitely trying out some new (old) stuff here and doing it well. And maybe the haters can give 'em a break now, as they're 3 albums in, and that counts as paying some dues, right?
MPEG Stream: "Arrows In The Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Lawless Lands"
MPEG Stream: "Night City"

SWORD, THE / WITCHCRAFT split (Kemado / Rise Above) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We just had a big "Witchcraft weekend" 'round these parts... The incredible Swedish doom/prog rockers played two shows in the vicinity -- a packed one at Slim's in SF and also a much more intimate one at a place down in the woods near Santa Cruz (which was thus even more amazing). Several of the AQ staff made it to both shows, and are still recovering. Witchcraft are such cool guys, very down to earth and friendly despite all the ego-stroking rock star adulation that they've begun to receive... and totally deserve, 'cause they ROCK like nobody since about 1972. Their new album The Alchemist is still in heavy rotation here at the store, and MORE new Witchcraft is, geeze, icing on the cake.
The Sword from Texas are another young band of fairly retro doomsters we like who got pretty darn big pretty darn fast... makes sense the two bands would team up for something, in this case a limited edition 12" vinyl only split ep!
On Side Sword, you get a brand new composition from them called "Sea Of Spears" and also a cover version of Led Zep's "The Immigrant Song"! Witchcraft fill the flip with three tracks, the first of which, "You Bury Your Head", was originally released in 2002 as the b-side to their debut single (this is that recording, not the re-recording of it found on their first album). Then there's "Queen Of Bees" and "Sorrow Evoker", newly recorded versions of songs found on Witchcraft's Firewood album. FYI this record is already SOLD OUT at the label, so...

SYKDOM Intet Lib (Cybertzara) cd 14.98

SYMBYOSIS Crisis (Listenable) cd 16.98
Ultra technical and weirdly melodic death metal with lots of changes and super harsh distorted vocals. Sounds pretty mean, until the ridiculous keyboards kick in. Then it just gets weird. It's still heavy and fierce, switching back and forth between pounding blast beats and mid-tempo eighties-style metal, but the metal is generously sprinkled with wanky keyboard solos (ala Children of Bodom) and insane squiggly Morbid Angel leads. Awesome and bizarre.
RealAudio clip: "Opening Act"

SZARLEM Night Of Blood (Nykta) cd 13.98
We've all been a bit obsessed with Varghkoghargasmal since we first got our hands on the Call Of The Raven cassette, a stumbling confusional chunk of what the band calls 'wooden metal', one of us was so obsessed, that he released a full length Varghkoghargasmal record on his label (Andee, we're talking to you!), which took that wooden metal sound even further, creating a gorgeously evocative foresty black metal assembled from wavery warbly keyboards, off kilter drumming, and strummed clean guitars. But we never stopped to wonder what that wooden metal would sound like in a more traditional black metal setting, blacker and more distorted, more frostbitten more grim, well, now we don't have to wonder, as Varghkoghargasmal mainman (and only man really) Avenger, has unleashed this dark opus, the latest from his -other- one man band Szarlem, ominously titled Night Of Blood, and you know what? It sounds exactly how we would have expected, exactly how we had hoped. The same sort of Viking tinged stumbling bizarre loping black metal, that in its wooden form played out like some sort of fractured krautrock, but here, imbued with fire and frost and black buzz, it becomes an awesomely fucked up collection of midtempo black metal weirdness.
The guitars are thick and crusty and distorted, churning and chugging, the vocals a WAY up in the mix maniacal growl, and the drums, just like in Varghkoghargasmal, wander and stumble, adding a whole other element to Szarlem's sound, giving the proceedings a sort of black metal Shaggs vibe. But rather than sound fucked up and demented (well, it still does actually), it flows perfectly with the rest of the sounds, with the music, the whole thing a woozy warbly, off kilter, blackened stumbling lope, sometimes locking into an almost punkish groove, other times unfurling slow burning Burzumic sprawls, some of the tracks laced with haunting keyboards, fluttering little Casio melodies draped over the lurching blackness below, the best moments are when those keyboards lock in with the guitars and conjure up haunting harmonies, creating creepy almost Goblin like black metal buzz, but those moments are fleeting, as the tracks usually slip back into some thrashing blackness or meandering buzzing drift.
Lo-fi, raw and demented, dark and emotional and weirdly epic, this is some truly inspired, truly unique outsider black metal. And is thus WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Storm Of Darkness And Evil"
MPEG Stream: "Black Winter Rituals"