FELL VOICES s/t (Human Resources) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We'd been hearing about these guys for ages, a trio from Santa Cruz who were apparently mixing raw thrashing black buzz a la Bone Awl with sprawling epic arrangements, as in songs going on 20, sometimes 30 minutes.
So here we have their debut full length, a two song lp, two tracks, each filling up an entire side, one nearly 19 minutes, the other more than 21 minutes, and right out of the gate they explode into a frenzy of blasting beats and blurred insectoid riffing, growled demonic vocalizing, but over the course of these songs, the band explore all sorts of variations, slipping into loping mathy post rock, soaring epic Norwegian style majesty, doomic d-beat pounding, lurching stop / start breakdowns, long stretches of ominous ambience, lumbering Burzumic crush, slow burning distortion drenched drift, all held together with consistent elements that lead one part to another, streaks of buzz, minimal mysterious guitar figures, the sound of rain, droning bits of serpentine guitar. It's more than just long songs created by glomming shorter songs together. These tracks are expertly arranged and composed, the move with mood and purpose, melodies disappear only to resurface later, parts shift and twist and become repurposed, there are refrains, but there are also parts that appear once and are gone.
The B-side starts out like some sort of black drone record, heaving sheets of crumbling distorted buzz, woozy and wavery, before the band explodes into yet another flurry of soaring guitars and pounding rhythms, this time though it's all tension and no release, like the most dramatic part of some Godspeed epic translated into epic blackness, until the band finally slip into something more classically BM, but only just, this song/side too is a convoluted path, serpentine and impossible to predict, with some incredible surprisingly un-BM at times drumming, amazing catchy riffs, and the ambience this time relegated to near the end of the track, the furious blasting giving way to some haunting spectral drift, taking forever to fade out completely, instead, blasting at a barely audible level, just below the seemingly tranquil surface, eventually disappearing completely, leaving the track to wind down gently, with a languid, darkly pretty final few minutes. So awesome. Fell Voices are definitely a band folks into Weakling and Wolves In The Throne Room and Fauna and all that sort of sprawling epic blackness should check out. A new favorite of the black hordes around here for sure...

FELL VOICES s/t (2008 Demo) (Analog Worship) lp 12.98
Yet ANOTHER self titled record from the Fell Voices / Ash Borer black metal axis, which makes it even more difficult to keep track of which is what, but this one IS subtitled 2008 demo, and as that would rightfully lead you to believe this is FV's 2008 demo, previously available only on cassette, on vinyl for the first time, and the packaging is swank and deluxe, but more on that in a second.
This is FV's very first recording ever, and as such, demonstrates two things, one, a much more lo-fi sound quality, and two, an already fully formed sound, that the band would hone on subsequent records, the sound quality and recording fidelity improving as they went, that said, even with a more raw sound, these two tracks are incredible, the band already masters of the sidelong black metal epic, the A side beginning with a slow build, all chaotic drums over clan guitars, weird and woozy, the sound building and building, eventually coalescing into something more buzzy and blast, but even then the guitars remain super low in the mix, and SOUND clean still, which gives the sound a cool strange vibe, add in some bellowed demonic vox, some stretches of doomed out dirgery, all deep droning vox and tribal drumming, and then a crazy chaotic mathrock/noiserock outro. Lo-fi for sure, but still so epic and heavy and intense.
The flipside is much more black metal sounding, but with some serious D-best sounding stretches, a little punky, but still plenty black and blasting, with cool droned out guitars, and a super stunning interlude that's all blurred drones and muted feedback, which leads directly into some spaced out psychedelic drift, before the band lurches back into the fray.
PRESSED ON 180 GRAM VINYL!! Housed in thick sleeves, with a printed insert, LIMITED TO 367 COPIES!!

FELL VOICES Untitled (II) (Howling Mine / Gilead Media) lp 14.98
The latest epic slab of atmospheric black metal from this Northern California black metal duo begins with a warm bit of swoonsome, softly pulsing synth swirl, before the band launch into the first of two sidelong tracks, and immediately, the sound here is harder, and harsher, and heavier, the vibe is definitely atmospheric, but much more grim and buzzy, the two immediately locked into a hazy galloping expanse of majestic melodic blackness, droned out and trancelike, hypnotic and mesmerizing, sounding like it could (and maybe should) go on forever and ever, until the sound suddenly and gloriously ruptures, the song exploding into a gout of gnarled mathy chaos, before slipping right back into the trancey buzz.
The sound does eventually shift, the guitars soaring, fast picked melodies all tangled up with the relentless drum pound, eventually the song settling into a woozy, moody, buzz free creep, just mournful guitars wrapped around melodic bass, and a plodding almost doomy dirge. The band slowly build adding layer after layer, eventually returning to a furious tranced out buzz once again, but here the guitars seem slippery, the riffs even more tangled, the sound warped and even more chaotic, the black buzz slipping into almost white noise territory before finally collapsing into a long stretch of muted, murky grumbling grey drones.
The B side starts off distinctly more doomy, thick, reverbed minor key chords drift over a simple, slo-mo drum trudge, atmospheric, ominous, haunting, it's only a minute or two before this track too explodes in a frenzy of musical violence, an avalanche of blackened chaos, careening riffs, buried howls, splattery drumming, the various elements eventually coalesce into something more solidly black and buzzy, but before too much time has passed, the band transform it into some strange black doom, the chords tarpit slow, but the drums still blasting away, the vocals a beastly gurgle, before once again letting the buzzing blackness overtake them. This track, like the first side, is constantly shifting, from more clean shimmery ambience, to some gorgeously melodic churning guitardrone, that sounds like BM riffs blurred into hypnotic muddy swirls, and like the A side, this track finishes with a long stretch of minimal drift, this time, hazy synths, minimal percussion and haunting cinematic piano stabs, creepy, and harrowingly beautiful.
LIMITED TO 750 COPIES, pressed on thick vinyl, and housed in super heavy jackets.

FEN Ancient Sorrow (Northern Silence) cd ep 11.98
While ostensibly a black metal band, the UK's Fen, are so much more than that. In fact, take away the vocals, and in a blind taste test we would have been hard pressed to describe them as black metal at all.
The sound is all loping rhythms, soaring chords, the sound majestic and epic, minor key and mathy. The first track sounds more like Isis or Pelican than it does Darkthrone or Deathspell. Well, actually, it does remind us a bit of Deathspell's most postrock moment, the genius Kenose. The band are described as 'atmospheric black metal / post rock' which would be a tad more accurate if you swapped the two descriptors. Even the riffs sound more like something off a Polvo or Pitchblende record, which is not a bad thing at all. In fact, we're a little bit obsessed with Fen. Another band whose sound is one we had always sort of wished for. Nineties math rock black metal! It's really uncanny listening to these three songs how often our ears catch a little Archers Of Loaf or Rodan or Don Cab or Bitch Magnet. And the thing is, the sound may be a bit heavier and more distorted, it's really only the vocals that turn this into black metal. If Fen were an instrumental band, they wouldn't sound all that out of place on Touch And Go. But they are heavy, and they are a bit black, and as if to prove it, the closer is the heaviest, and the least overtly mathy of the bunch. A plodding churning doomy chunk of loping blackened crush. And near the end of the 12+ minute track, the band even actually explode for the very first time into a furious blast beat, and finish off the track thrashing blackly, but even that brief burst is not enough to hide their true sonic soul, the whole track is rife with mathiness, with soaring majestic post rock-ness, just wrapped in a bit of blackness.
None of this is meant to sound apologetic, not in the least, this is absolutely one of our favorite new records, metal, mathy or otherwise. We just wanted to give fair warning to the troo grim hordes out there, who might have been put off a bit by the dearth of true blackness. But for the rest of you, this comes highly recommended. If you ever dreamed about a black metal Polvo (and who didn't) or wished Deathspell had continued on their more post rock path, or if you just can't get enough of that metallic post rock, and maybe wouldn't mind if it sometimes got a bit blacker, well then this is definitely for you...
MPEG Stream: "Desolation Embraced"
MPEG Stream: "The Gales Scream Of Loss"

FEN Ancient Sorrow (Northern Silence) 12" 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While ostensibly a black metal band, the UK's Fen, are so much more than that. In fact, take away the vocals, and in a blind taste test we would have been hard pressed to describe them as black metal at all.
The sound is all loping rhythms, soaring chords, the sound majestic and epic, minor key and mathy. The first track sounds more like Isis or Pelican than it does Darkthrone or Deathspell. Well, actually, it does remind us a bit of Deathspell's most postrock moment, the genius Kenose. The band are described as 'atmospheric black metal / post rock' which would be a tad more accurate if you swapped the two descriptors. Even the riffs sound more like something off a Polvo or Pitchblende record, which is not a bad thing at all. In fact, we're a little bit obsessed with Fen. Another band whose sound is one we had always sort of wished for. Nineties math rock black metal! It's really uncanny listening to these three songs how often our ears catch a little Archers Of Loaf or Rodan or Don Cab or Bitch Magnet. And the thing is, the sound may be a bit heavier and more distorted, it's really only the vocals that turn this into black metal. If Fen were an instrumental band, they wouldn't sound all that out of place on Touch And Go. But they are heavy, and they are a bit black, and as if to prove it, the closer is the heaviest, and the least overtly mathy of the bunch. A plodding churning doomy chunk of loping blackened crush. And near the end of the 12+ minute track, the band even actually explode for the very first time into a furious blast beat, and finish off the track thrashing blackly, but even that brief burst is not enough to hide their true sonic soul, the whole track is rife with mathiness, with soaring majestic post rock-ness, just wrapped in a bit of blackness.
None of this is meant to sound apologetic, not in the least, this is absolutely one of our favorite new records, metal, mathy or otherwise. We just wanted to give fair warning to the troo grim hordes out there, who might have been put off a bit by the dearth of true blackness. But for the rest of you, this comes highly recommended. If you ever dreamed about a black metal Polvo (and who didn't) or wished Deathspell had continued on their more post rock path, or if you just can't get enough of that metallic post rock, and maybe wouldn't mind if it sometimes got a bit blacker, well then this is definitely for you...
MPEG Stream: "Desolation Embraced"
MPEG Stream: "The Gales Scream Of Loss"

FEN Epoch (Aural Music) cd 21.00

FEN The Malediction Fields (Code 666 / Aural Music) cd 17.98
First proper full length from these UK black metallers, who we once described as a black metal Polvo! There are definitely still hints of that here, but the metal this time around is also more furious. With the ep, we stressed that maybe troo grim metalheads might not find a lot to like, as much of that record sounded more like Pelican or Isis than Darkthrone or Deathspell, and even here, the first track begins with some post rocky clean guitar, but almost immediately launches into a seriously blown out squall of blasting buzz. But then a few seconds later, the band slip back into that loping post rock, only to again, explode into epic blackness. The track flits back and forth, and part way through there's even some Katatonia like clean vocals, which adds a definite pop element, and hints at what's to come. So, it's at once heavier and more black than the ep, but still manages to incorporate plenty of post rock rhythms and math rock arrangements, which basically makes this a massive favorite around here, but also means this is probably not black or brootal enough for some metalheads.
And since the opening track might just be the heaviest of the bunch, barring brief bursts here and there, this is the perfect record for the aQ metalhead, who when not enjoying true grimness, likes their black metal fucked up or freaked out or all shoegazey or all post rocky, which means odds are you'll dig this like crazy.
Much of the record follows the same pattern as the opener, long loping instrumental passages with simple drumming and clean crystalline guitars, peppered with bursts of frenetic riffing and wild blasting beats, but there's also plenty of strange haunting folkiness, bits of rainy day sad boy indie jangle, subtly complex math rock rhythms, all perfectly blended with chunks of intense riffery and buzzing black metal fury. And the thing is, the metal this time around IS way more furious, if you stripped out all the clean guitars and croony vocals, this would be some seriously paint peeling blackness, but those parts sound even MORE aggressive and heavy when butted up to some shimmery drift, or some jangly poppiness.
The closer is the other heavyweight here, nearly 12 minutes of roiling ultra heavy black metal, intense and frenzied, but still with plenty of loping midtempo grooves, occasional doom-ed out interludes, a brief flutteryfolky break, and a minor key string-ed outro, that manages to be super dramatic, and the perfect way for this strangely varied and super kick ass record to wind down.
Packaged in a super striking 8 panel digipak, and damn if Fen don't have one of the coolest logos...
MPEG Stream: "Exile's Journey"
MPEG Stream: "A Witness To The Passing Of Aeons"
MPEG Stream: "Colossal Voids"

FENRIZ' RED PLANET / NATTEFROST Engansgrill (Indie Recordings) cd 21.00

FERRIS, D.X. 33 1/3 Series: Reign In blood (Continuum) book 10.95
We've only read the first half so far, but c'mon, it's Reign In Blood, one of the greatest thrash metal records ever. And music obsessives, you should already be reading this series, up close and intimate looks at not bands, but your favorite records, interviews with the bands, the fans, and all sorts of awesome behind the scenes drama!
Anyway, Reign In Blood is still an amazing record two decades later, and metal bands are still finding influence there, some WAY more than others.
This volume digs deep into maybe the most influential 29 minutes of metal EVER. Interviews with the bands, the producers, the engineers, the roadies, and most interestingly, the fans, a who's who of rock luminaries including: Tori Amos, Phil Anselmo, Page Hamilton of Helmet, Danzig, Jack Endino, Larry from Pelican, Angela from Arch Enemy, Kurt from Converge, Charlie from Anthrax, Sean from White Zombie, Matt from High On Fire, Gene Hoglan, rapper Ill Bill, Nergal from Behemoth, Buzz from the Melvins, Ripper Owens, Devin Townsend, Kat VonD, all the dudes from Mastodon, and tons more.
So far a super fun read, most of the series is, we've probably read about half of 'em, but as soon as we finish this review, first thing we do when we get home is to finish reading about REIGN IN BLOOD!

FESTERED Flesh Perversion (Razorback) cd 10.98

FIGURE OF MERIT Vatic (Codebreaker / Earache) cd 15.98
It's always nice for us here to check out something that we got out of the blue, just sent to us, or dropped off, with no expectations, and then really really dig it. Dig it enough that we feel like if we didn't already have it, we'd have to go out and buy one. In fact many all time AQ faves were discovered in just such a manner. And that's also the case with this Figure Of Merit cd. It's something that we'd never heard of before we got a copy in the mail (and the packaging didn't offer to many clues as to what to expect, either). What to make of song titles like "Arrow To The Sun" and "Blackhammer"? Could be metal, maybe. But then there's the not-so-scary title "Overhead Projector" as well. Though we did know it had to be some sort of metal 'cause of the record label it came from. So, it was up to the music to "do the talking" (as it should be). And Figure Of Merit's music turned out to be right up our alley. Heavy duty hardcore ugly rock noisy metal. Kinda like Cavity or Eyehategod with all their feedback intros, weighty riffage and churning, compelling rhythms. FoM's angsty, screamier vox put us in mind of something like the Jesus Lizard though, or maybe the Dazzling Killmen meets Unsane would be a better point of reference. But what especially makes Figure Of Merit a band of merit in our books is the exuberant, metallic majesty that many of their riffs possess. It's truly noble headbanging material, welded to the dirtiest of dirge-core extremes. So, Vatic from this Minneapolis four piece gets an AQ recommendation without doubt.
MPEG Stream: "Aorta"
MPEG Stream: "Blackhammer"

FINAL Afar (Avalanche) picture disc lp 16.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Brand new [in 2009] full length album from Justin Broadrick's (Jesu, Godflesh, etc.) Final project, which in the past was a sort of solo guitar thing, or so we thought. On Afar, the eight numbered tracks are arrangements of processed loops, with nary a guitar in site. Which becomes harder to believe the further we get into the record.
The sound here is dark and mesmerizing, each track a slow cycling soundscape, rife with shifting textures and pulsing almost-rhythms, the sounds super varied, but all woven together into one cohesive songsuite. Fans of Tim Hecker and Philip Jeck will dig bigtime, as well as guitar drone aficionados into stuff like Fear Falls Burning.
Layers of crunch and buzz are locked into swelling, swaying hypnotic rhythms, the textures and timbre shifting gradually, the looped aspect not always immediately noticeable. Deep rumbles beneath softly processed whirs are woven into stretches of haunting cinematic shimmer, fading into swooping backwards melodies peppered with bits of glitch and crackle. Elsewhere slow burning 'guitar' sounds buzz explosively into epic and majestic sheets of buzzing woozy blur, before being scattered by dense tangles of reverberating metallic hum and rumbling low end way off in the distance. A few tracks definitely dip into Jeck territory with stuttery looped vocals and clipped samples and muted skitter, before finishing off with a hushed bit of whispery murmur.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. We get these direct from Broadrick's Avalanche label in the UK, so when we run out it might take a couple weeks to get more, assuming there are still some left. Nice thick picture disc in a thick PVC plastic sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Heart Ache"
MPEG Stream: "Ruined"

FINAL WARNING s/t (Southern Lord) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Out Of Sight Out Of Mind"
MPEG Stream: "Rain Of Death"

FINIS GLORIA DEI Goat: Father Of The New Flesh (Aura Mystique) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "Sphinktes: Le Rite Oublie"
MPEG Stream: "Behind The Rotting Sun Of Human Desolation"

FINNTROLL Jaktens Tid (Spikefarm / Century Media) cd 14.98
A Finnish black metal band, all of whose music is about trolls. Hence the name! This is their sophomore release, their first disc was a concept album apparently about the war between the trolls and the Christians (!) and it was a big favorite of both of AQ's big black metal freaks (Andee and Allan, of course). This new disc is also great. We can't tell you what the concept is this time (the lyrics are all in Finnish, or Trollish maybe) but we're sure it too is about trolls. Heck, their keyboardist boasts the fab moniker Trollhorn! Speaking of the keyboards, that's a big part of their sound -- a rollicking, happy sort of folk metal, kinda like Venom meets an oompah-band. Yes, their record label (who it seems don't care much about selling records) describes Finntroll as the world's first "Polka-metal" outfit! And it's true. A very weird, very fun group indeed. Our favorite track is the one where it sounds like they, keyboards and all, have been submerged in an aquarium (there's some sort of bubble machine going). Huh? It's brutal, it's silly, it's great.
RealAudio clip: "Slaget vid Blodsalv"

FINNTROLL Midnattens Widunder (Spikefarm) cd 14.98
The first disc from these Finnish troll-metallers... Black metal polka at its best. Yup, polka. So great. This album tells the story of the (hitherto obscure) war between the Christians and the trolls.

FINNTROLL Nattfodd (Century Media) cd 14.98
This completely absurd yet amazingly fun Finnish band, whose members pretend they're TROLLS and play a mixture of black metal and the Finnish folk music called "humpa" (which sounds a heckuva lot like polka music) is back. And we have no choice but to raise a flagon of mead and join in another trollish hoe-down with them. Somewhat surprisingly, Finntroll's last three albums have all been minor hits here at Aquarius, not just among the usual staff suspects (Andee and Allan) but with our customers as well. We get mail-orders for Jaktens Tid and Visor Om Slutet on a fairly regular basis! And this new one, Nattfodd, will make a fine addition to anyone's collection of trollish music. Or maybe we should say your trollish music collection ain't complete without it. If you haven't heard 'em yet, imagine growling, grunting, tough sounding 'trolls' doing the vocals in a style not unlike many other black metal bands. Their music is quite heavy and metal as well but simultaneously gets so extremely jaunty and folky and keyboard-happy in the humpa-style that it's impossible not to be swept away. Maybe a good title for a future Finntroll disc would be Anthems To The Lawrence Welkin At Dusk? Listening to this, you'll soon be doing your own approximation of a trollish jig. And there's a few interludes of forest sound effects and indecipherable (to us) troll-talk to further set the scene. It's like Za Frumi meets Uz Jsme Doma meets Falconer meets Satyricon. Crazy Finns!
MPEG Stream: "Fiskarens Fiende"
MPEG Stream: "Marknadsvisan"

FINNTROLL Nifelvind (Century Media) cd 13.98

FINNTROLL Trollhammaren (Century Media) cd ep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We know how into Finntroll some Aquarius customers are (we are too). So we thought we'd better list this, 'cause we definitely don't want to deprive anyone of the chance to acquire every last track by this amazing / ridiculous Finnish black metal band who pretend they're trolls. Trollhammaren is the 5 song cd ep that preceded the release of Finntroll's latest opus Nattfodd, and it features one track from that album plus four entire new, non-album tracks of rollicking humpa-metal as only Finntroll can dish out. Some of the songs here seem especially heavy on the horns, having a grooviness that gives us visions of these trolls up on a bandstand wearing tuxedos! If you love Finntroll already you might well need this, and if you're not yet familiar with 'em, this would serve as a good lil' taster of their hyper hoedown metal stylings!
MPEG Stream: "Hel Vete"

FINNTROLL Ur Jordens Djup (Spinefarm) cd 12.98
Sometimes we're amazed at just how popular this Finnish band has become. Raging, rollicking folk-metal played by people who pretend they're really trolls from the forests of Finland? Sure, that could be a cool curiosity, but a commercial success, spawning even a copycat band (Norway's Trollfest)? Yup. It's not just customers here at AQ -- where Finntroll's back catalog is a steady seller -- that love Finntroll. All sorts of totally random people we've met, who we didn't even think liked any metal, have turned out to be big Finntroll fans.
And all Finntroll fans will be happy that they're back with another album, their fifth. They've also got a new singer, but he's just as gutturally trollish as the previous guy, and their "black metal humppa" sound is the same as ever. Humppa being traditional Finnish dance music, sorta the polka of Finland. So there's banjo and mouth-harp on here, along with loud guitars, thumpin' drums, and swelling, symphonic soundtrack-style synths. You'll want to dance a headbanging jig to this, or swing your mug of ale to and fro. Their blend of dark atmospherics, Wagnerian bombast, and jaunty humppa rhythms is a blast... a bit silly perhaps but really no sillier than most other black metal bands when you think about it, wearing their panda-like corpse paint. Besides, while Ur Jordens Djup ("From The Depths Of The Earth", in English) boasts its expected share of drunken jollies, it also demonstrates that trolls can be scary creatures as well, with plenty of sinister ambience and ultra-heavy blackened brutality, moreso perhaps than past efforts.
MPEG Stream: "Ur Djupet"
MPEG Stream: "En Maktig Har"

FINNTROLL Visor Om Slutet (Spikefarm) cd 14.98
As their name suggests, this is music by, or at least for, Finnish trolls. They should tour with Za Frumi, the Swedish orc band. Their self-described brand of black metal polka (or "humpa", as the Finns call it) has made 'em a fave here at Aquarius where anything less ridiculous gets barely a listen, after all.
This third album from Finntroll sports a sticker on the front reading "Special Price Acoustic Album". Well, the price isn't any more special than their others, and it's also not an acoustic album, so we're not sure what's going on there. It is, however, pretty special! Starting off with ominous forest noises, this soon builds into a doleful (is that an oboe?) square dance for monsters, stomping and growling. That's followed by some rather more lively jigs, that sound a bit like Czech maniacs Uz Jsme Doma, if they had a chorus of grim-voiced trolls backing them up. Other numbers are on the bombastic side, symphonic in scope even, very medieval and fantastical of course.
I guess the deep-woods hoedown aspect is what prompted Spikefarm to label this "acoustic" even when there's obviously lots of non-acoustic instruments (keyboards, electric guitars!) being used along with traditional Finnish/trollish instruments like jaw harps and handclaps... and it certainly is Finntroll's least "metal" album. Finntroll goes in the direction of early In Extremo, cool.
MPEG Stream: "Asfagelns Dod"
MPEG Stream: "Forsvinn Du Som Lyser"

FIRE Could You Understand Me (Skyf Zol) cd 17.98
Good grief! FUZZ. Don't you love it? These guys do. Or, should we say did, since this was recorded back in 1973. Fire were a power trio from Yugoslavia, relocated for the purposes of playing and recording to Holland. Could You Understand Me is the only album they made -- though they cranked enuff fuzz guitar on this sufficent for ten albums! Aside from one run of the mill bar band blues cut (track three), this disc BURNS (as per their name) with heavy duty psych guitar mayhem. The last and gnarliest track here is even called "Flames". It's an instrumental, nearly nine minutes of extremely distorted, repetitive, pedals mashed, goin' for broke brainmelt. Dunno how they recorded it, musta done something wrong, but it's brilliant. They can also pen a decent tune, with the title track fer instance having a nice melodic element amidst the fuzz riffage.
Their influences were most likely Hendrix and Cream and possibly Blue Cheer. But when Fire really get burnin', we think this sounds more like current psych-mongers The Heads from the UK, or Japan's motorpsycho outfits High Rise and Mainliner.
MPEG Stream: "Could You Understand Me"
MPEG Stream: "Flames"

FIRE Could You Understand Me (Killroy) lp 25.00
Now reissued on vinyl!
Good grief! FUZZ. Don't you love it? These guys do. Or, should we say did, since this was recorded back in 1973. Fire were a power trio from Yugoslavia, relocated for the purposes of playing and recording to Holland. Could You Understand Me is the only album they made - though they cranked enuff fuzz guitar on this sufficient for ten albums! Aside from one run of the mill bar band blues cut (track three), this disc BURNS (as per their name) with heavy duty psych guitar mayhem. The last and gnarliest track here is even called "Flames". It's an instrumental, nearly nine minutes of extremely distorted, repetitive, pedals mashed, goin' for broke brainmelt. Dunno how they recorded it, musta done something wrong, but it's brilliant. They can also pen a decent tune, with the title track fer instance having a nice melodic element amidst the fuzz riffage.
Their influences were most likely Hendrix and Cream and possibly Blue Cheer. But when Fire really get burnin', we think this sounds more like current psych-mongers The Heads from the UK, or Japan's motorpsycho outfits High Rise and Mainliner.
MPEG Stream: "Could You Understand Me"
MPEG Stream: "Flames"

FIRE WITCH Critter / Kritta (We Empty Rooms) 3" cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another killer heavy rock outfit from down under. Grey Daturas, Whitehorse, Agents Of Abhorrence, Striborg... In fact it was AQ faves Whitehorse who had been telling us about these guys for a while now, but it wasn't until quite recently that we finally managed to get in touch with them and get our hands on some of their music. And boy are we glad we did. Their label is called We Clear Rooms, which besides being a killer name, gives you a hint as to what you're in for. We were expecting some Whitehorse styled sludge and pummel, and while Fire Witch do indeed bring the noise with plenty of heaviness, they are a bit more moody and melodically subtle. Drums pound, guitars growl and roar, but there are long stretches of moody meandering, dreamy drift, in between the bouts of furious psychedelic freakouts. Two tracks, two versions of the same song. The first is an instrumental epic, a cross between Pelican and Khanate, just the right balance of head caving sludge and minor key post rock, slow building, lots of dynamics, expansive and grand, a massive grooving post sludge psychrock blow out. The second, lengthier track sonically resembles the first, but immediately strikes out on its own, WAY free-er tangent. the drums are way more spread out, the rhythms are much more abstract, the feel is much more plodding and glacial, guitars don't riff so much as they slither and scrape and squeak, a creepy soundscape of strange guitar sounds and a massive layer of low end rumble, letting the drums sit right up front where they belong, alternating between slow motion crush and complex tribalism, the drums offer up a densely woven world of pound and pummel, a tangled web of strangely shifting rhythms, over a blown out psychedelic swirl. Killer!
And the packaging, HOLY SHIT! Super deluxe origami style silkscreened fold-out sleeve wrapped in a vellum slip case. The disc is printed and sits inside beneath a clear plastic insert, beneath yet another printed insert and with a miniature reproduction of an old show flyer where they played with the Grey Daturas. Cool. The packaging says this was limited to "around 100 copies" but according to the band, these are the last 30, that they had been saving specifically for us!
MPEG Stream: "Critter"
MPEG Stream: "Kritta"

FIRE WITCH I Spit Lies (We Empty Rooms) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've yet to get a record from these guys that wasn't super limited, and this one is no different. We were meant to get 50 copies, but only got 15. But we'll keep trying, for now, at least a handful of you can get your mitts on this one...
Fire Witch are a guitarless, two bass and drums killing machine from down under, who weave delicate soundscapes of low end drift and simple pounding rhythms, peppered with blasts of skull crushing heaviness, free noise splatter, and gorgeous shimmering ambience. Their sort of aligned with bands like Whitehorse and the Grey Daturas, but somehow, what these guys do is way different.
I Spit Lies is split into two looooong tracks, "I Spit" and "Lies". The former is a slow burning gradual build, with bass feedback draped over a throbbing low end pulse and a simple shuffling rhythm, with occasional lapses into sludgy doom, before resuming the lugubrious groove. Right in the middle there's an extended stretch of delicate drifting low end swirl, that eventually gives way to some seriously hooky propulsive post rock crunch.
The latter is equally mathy, almost groovy, another simple rhythm underpinning soaring bass melodies all held together by the pulsing bass #2. Eventually, things gradually break apart, into epic expanses of space, with just the occasional chord or drum hit. It's doomy, but more in the way Low or other slowcore bands are doomy. A gorgeously abstract ultra minimal deconstructed slow motion math rock, that by the end of the song has turned into a grinding heavy, almost metal groove. Fucking awesome!
Usually we lament the fact that bands choose to jettison the guitar, there are so many bass and drums duos out there, many of which would sound so much better with a guitarist, but one of the bassists in Fire Witch swings his bass like an axe and it makes all the difference in the world!
Packaged in a strange accordion style fold out sleeve, thick silk screened paper attached to little textured wooden (or wood-like) squares.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES! We got 15... You do the math.
MPEG Stream: "I spit"

FIRE WITCH Japan (Wantage USA) 10" 8.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
The return of these Aussie low end heavies. Two basses, drums, NO guitar, recorded on the tail end of their recent Japanese tour, more of what we love from these guys, mathy, doomy low end heaviness.
The A side is all one track, and it's a beaut. The basses loooow slung, thick and syrupy, streaks of feedback everywhere, the drums scattered, the whole thing gorgeously abstract, the bass lines sound woozy and warped, it almost sounds like one of the basses is being played with a slide, part way through it erupts into a full on free for all, drums going nuts, basses buzzing and roaring, the band managed to sound super tight, but also loose and improvised, slipping from droney to super complex to mathy to space-y to sparse and plodding to freaked out and frenzied.
The flipside begins heavy and downtuned and mathy, sounding like a more metal ruins, super tight, locked into impossible grooves, before slipping into another stretch of drifting abstract free jam, before finishing off with a super rocking jam that is total early nineties Homestead worship. Awesome!
Beautifully hand screened covers, black and metallic silver on white (peep the inside of the cover, they're all printed on recycled Oxes / Arab On Radar sleeves, haha), each one hand numbered and signed, LIMITED TO 355 COPIES! Includes a photocopied insert too.

FIRE WITCH LIARS! (We Empty Rooms / Bro Fidelity) cd 13.98
Finally available again, now on a proper cd, the first two long out of print cd-rs, I Spit Lies and Critter / Kirtta, from Aussie heavies Fire Witch, a bad ass guitarless, two bass and drums killing machine from down under, who weave delicate soundscapes of low end drift and simple pounding rhythms, peppered with blasts of skull crushing heaviness, free noise splatter, and gorgeous shimmering ambience. They're sort of aligned with bands like Whitehorse and the Grey Daturas, but somehow, what these guys do is way different.
I Spit Lies is two looooong tracks, "I Spit" and "Lies". The former is a slow burning gradual build, with bass feedback draped over a throbbing low end pulse and a simple shuffling rhythm, with occasional lapses into sludgy doom, before resuming the lugubrious groove. Right in the middle there's an extended stretch of delicate drifting low end swirl, that eventually gives way to some seriously hooky propulsive post rock crunch.
The latter is equally mathy, almost groovy, another simple rhythm underpinning soaring bass melodies all held together by the pulsing bass #2. Eventually, things gradually break apart, into epic expanses of space, with just the occasional chord or drum hit. It's doomy, but more in the way Low or other slowcore bands are doomy. A gorgeously abstract ultra minimal deconstructed slow motion math rock, that by the end of the song has turned into a grinding heavy, almost metal groove. Fucking awesome!
Critter / Kritta is two tracks, two versions of the same song. The first is an instrumental epic, a cross between Pelican and Khanate, just the right balance of head caving sludge and minor key post rock, slow building, lots of dynamics, expansive and grand, a massive grooving post sludge psychrock blow out. The second, lengthier track sonically resembles the first, but immediately strikes out on its own, WAY free-er tangent. The drums are way more spread out, the rhythms are much more abstract, the feel is much more plodding and glacial, guitars don't riff so much as they slither and scrape and squeak, a creepy soundscape of strange guitar sounds and a massive layer of low end rumble, letting the drums sit right up front where they belong, alternating between slow motion crush and complex tribalism, the drums offer up a densely woven world of pound and pummel, a tangled web of strangely shifting rhythms, over a blown out psychedelic swirl. Killer!
Usually we lament the fact that bands choose to jettison the guitar, there are so many bass and drums duos out there, many of which would sound so much better with a guitarist, but one of the bassists in Fire Witch swings his bass like an axe and it makes all the difference in the world!
Housed in a super swank, hand screened origami style cardstock sleeve, with a printed insert, LIMITED to 500 COPIES, each one hand numbered of course...
MPEG Stream: "I spit"
MPEG Stream: "Critter"
MPEG Stream: "Kritta"

FIRE WITCH Live At The Townie 2004 (We Empty Rooms) cd 9.98
An oldie but a goodie (well oldie as in 2004) from Aussie low end sludge doom terrorists Fire Witch. Recorded live at a hotel in Melbourne, in, you guessed it, 2004, this set shows more sides of the band than we've seen. Very little of this is actually sludgy and slow motion, instead it's dense and chaotic and mathy, convoluted and HEAVY. The opener is a two minute burst of bass heavy groove, with a killer staccato break down, all machine gun snare and swooping crumbling bass. After that, the band stretch out and channel a bit of Lightning Bolt through their drums vs. low end arsenal. The drums a constant splatter, tribal and intense, fills everywhere, pound and pummel relentlessly while various chunks of bass throb and grind, all three players in some vicious fight to the death.
Unlike the usual breed of modern doomlords, the vibe here is way more math rock and Amphetamine Reptile than SUNNO))) or Boris. A super sludgy, groovy and convoluted mathdoom workout, slathered in low end and sent careening into the sweaty crowd. As is the case with most bands like this it's all about the drummer, and Jem Fire Witch is a demon behind the kit alternating between simple propulsive pound and wild off kilter chaos, but never losing sight of what the two basses are doing. A few of the tracks slow way down, and the band begins to sound like some strange bass heavy doomed version of the Necks.... which we shouldn't have to tell you is a very good thing indeed.
Should definitely hit that math-doom-post-spazz-psych-bass-power-trio-sludge-metal spot, assuming you have a spot like that... We sure as heck do!
Packaged in a super swank fold out card stock digipak.
MPEG Stream: "What A Ball Tearer"
MPEG Stream: "Rat"

FIREBALL Blessed Be (High Roller Society Records) 12" 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK -- second pressing! Here's what we said about the first pressing:
Vinyl-only (limited to 500 copies) debut release from an all-girl garage-fuzz five-piece band that takes their record collector obsession with mystical '70s heavy psych stoner rock to an insanely distorted, primal extreme -- these four songs rumble along like an unholy hybrid of Comets On Fire, Angelblood, Hawkwind, Harry Pussy and Amon Duul II. And we sure are sure about the latter 'cause they cover the slayin' "Archangels Thunderbird" from ADII's Yeti album on the b-side of this, and do it so well (the vocals are perfect!), it's worth buying just for that alone, though the other three tracks are great too. They also give thanks to the Edgar Broughton Band, the James Gang, UFO (really early UFO weed, I mean, we'd guess), and you can hear that strain of heavy, hippy, boogie/space rock here, but updated into the grungy lo-fi avant-punk now (either that or cast back into the prehistoric past!). Did we mention the utter utter distortion in which this whole record is bathed? 'Cause they're women, somebody has said that they sound like "hot tar being poured onto the Go-Gos." But not in a torturous way at all, we should hasten to add. It's love, this sound. One song here it titled "Witchy Ways" and yes, these young ladies from Brooklyn are a new wave coven conjuring noisy psych rock grunt.
On 180 gram vinyl, packaged in a hand-screened cover with insert. Get one while you can... and then, like us, wait expectantly for a full-length.

FIREBALL MINISTRY FMEP (Small Stone) cd ep 8.98
LA stoner rockers Fireball Ministry are like a more metal version of Queens of the Stone Age: same irresistibly catchy songwriting, same fuzzed out heaviness, same laid-back vocals, but with much more of a denim clad, iron fisted, devil sign waving, Sabbath-worshipping vibe. Indeed this new ep, in addition to three new FM tunes, includes covers of two '70s metal classics: Alice Cooper's "Muscle of Love" and Judas Priest's "Victim of Changes"! Plus three's three more bonus covers taken from the various tribute cds FM has contributed to in the past (Blue Cheer, Misfits, and Aerosmith). So, their dedication to the metal gods of the past can't be doubted (although the wisdom of trying the Priest cover might be -- it's a great song, but it's hard for any mere mortal to handle the Rob 'Metal God' Halford role, although FM's singer gets an A for effort!) and their own material holds up well in such company. Can't wait for their upcoming sophomore full-length, which will mark their debut with new bassist Janis Tanaka of Hammers of Misfortune infamy! In the meantime, "FMEP" is a blast of quality '70s style metal from one of AQ's favorite stoner rock outfits.
RealAudio clip: "Maidens of Venus"
RealAudio clip: "Victim of Changes"

FIREBALL MINISTRY Ou Est La Rock? (Bongload) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Don't worry about the French title, this disc is in fact pretty darn good. Simply put, if you like the post-Kyuss project Queens Of The Stone Age, you'll probably like this. We do. Fireball Ministry sounds A LOT like the catchy stoner rock of QOTSA, with maybe a little bit more of a metal-ly Sabbath (circa '74) vibe. Almost irrelevant guest musician info: ex-members of The Obsessed/Goatsnake and Megadeth (!) contribute to this album...

FIREBALL MINISTRY The Second Great Awakening (Nuclear Blast) cd 11.98
LA stoner metal templars Fireball Ministry return with their 2nd full-length album, first with former Hammers of Misfortune (and current Pink!) four-stringer Janis Tanaka on board. There she is, right on the cover, alongside the rest of the band in the fantastical comic book vision of a rock n' roll revival meeting that adorns the disc. Pretty cool, and a lot to live up to, but Fireball Ministry deliver the goods, if you're in the market for some retro-styled, rawkin', grungy stoner tunage. They're kinda like Queens of the Stone Age gone denim and leather, teasing out more of the Sabbath vibe while remaining totally radio-ready. Who knows, they're on a bigger label now, maybe MTV fame and fortune are just around the corner. In the meantime they can be new cult heroes for those already into the likes of QOTSA and Spirit Caravan...
MPEG Stream: "King"

FIREBIRD s/t (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
British death-metal icons Carcass have, since their break-up, spawned a whole bunch of bands, as their ex-members pursue their own projects. Strangely, none stuck with the gore-grind that made Carcass famous. Instead, you've got Jeff Walker's death-n'-roll band Blackstar, Michael Amott's several projects, among them the Deep Purplish Spiritual Beggars, and now, Bill Steer's Firebird, who, like the Spiritual Beggars, seem more at home in the '70s than in today's "extreme metal" scene. Both band's use of organ is the tip-off, I guess. Totally retro "stoner rock", almost too perfectly '70s (they even cover a Steve Winwood song!!), with Bill's guitar and (rather surprisingly good & authentic) vocals backed up by friends from the bands Cathedral and (hey!) Spiritual Beggars. Not super-heavy or anything, but really well-done and able to satisfy anyone's laid-back, retro rock needs.

FISTULA Goat (Crucial Blast) cd 10.98
The first we heard from Fistula was on a split with Bay Area sonic brutalizers Burmese, and as we mentioned then, it takes some pretty serious sonic balls to hold your own on a record with a band like Burmese, and these guys pulled it off big time. Unleashing a torrent of grinding downtuned doom drenched SLUDGE. So here's the latest from these Ohioan bruisers, a 5 song ep based on the story of Ohio serial killer Anthony Sowell (they found 11 decomposing bodies under his house!) a la Church Of Misery, complete with samples of news reports, but UNlike CoM, these guys are not about groove, just punishment and pummel, a thick, filthy, blackened crawl, Sabbath at 16rpm, howled demonic vox over caustic riffage and Neanderthal drumming, occasional bursts of frenzied crunch and thud, but always returning to that glacial grinding lumber.
Think Eyehategod, Bongzilla, Thou, Cough, Moloch, that sort of thing, but also more classic sludge doom outfits like Winter, Autopsy, Frost, but all filtered through Fistula's twisted and cracked sonic lens, the result a furiously brutal collection of blown out, in-the-red, slow motion, ugly chugging grim dirgery, that definitely belong in the doom-sludge pantheon alongside the above mentioned sludgelords. Fucking awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Ohio Death Toll Rising"
MPEG Stream: "One Chair And An Electrical Cord"

FLAMES OF HELL Fire and Steel (Draconian Records) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We managed to get, like, 5 copies of this mysterious cd reissue the first time around, and the disappeared in a flash, we've been on the hunt for more ever since, and just found a distributor who happened to have 5 more copies. So like before, act fast if you want one, as we won't be getting any more. Unless we get very very lucky. Again. And we sure wish we could though, 'cause this is thee best doomy DIY black metal album recorded in 1987 in the basement of a YMCA building in Iceland we've EVER heard!!
So lo-fi and raw and fucked up it's amazing, with tons of cult '80s atmosphere (a la Hellhammer) and truly bizarre vocal stylings, as on the chugging, erupting "Evil". What strange wretched howlings and absurd rasping shrieks! Like, Tim Baker of Cirith Ungol with more than one frog in his throat. Musically this both shreds and sludges, in both cases clogged with lo-fi production (not helped by this reissue's dodgy mastering from what sounds like a crackly vinyl original) and off kilter outsider aesthetics. But that's all part of the charm. It has to be heard to be believed.
If you liked, say, some of the other eccentric '80s metal artifacts like Black Hole or Dark Quarterer that we've reviewed, and want to hear the "Venom" version of a band like that, this is for you.
MPEG Stream: "Evil"
MPEG Stream: "Flames Of Hell"

FLASKAVSAE Eclipse In Tides (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super raw, lo-fi black metal
brutal, buzzing US un-BM....
MPEG Stream: "Head First Into Oblivion"
MPEG Stream: "Wars Developed From Ignorance"

FLASKAVSAE Philosophies (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another blast of unblack metal, from the heartland, the Midwest, where it seems most of these unblack hordes reside. A glowing white beacon of buzzing brutality, amidst a sea of evil and blackness. This is the first full length from the one man band Flaskavsae, and like much of the unblack stuff we've been obsessed with, it's not so much about just making black metal Christian, as it is totally twisting the sounds of black metal into something entirely new. And so far, Flaskavsae, the man and the band, have pushed this unblack sound to it's furthest reaches.
Where many of the other bands, particularly Light Shall Prevail, demonstrate a similarly varied, and gorgeously obscured sonic palette, it often seems that those particularly obfuscated sounds are more a result or recording limitations than an actual sonic vision. Of course, it's obvious that those other bands embrace the strange production and all over the map sonics, but Flaskavsae seems more like a daring sonic adventurer, using black metal merely as a jumping off point. Like Wold for instance, the root sounds are buzzing guitars, and blasting drums, but it's how those sounds are twisted and colored that make all the difference.
From the first track, it's easy to tell this is so much more than (un)black metal. A dense, roiling staticky wash of crumbling downtuned guitars, and drifting mournful melodies, buried beneath layers of hiss and fuzz, with all sorts of tape dropouts and recording inconsistencies that make it sounds like some black metal Basinski piece, constantly throbbing and changing pitch, cutting out and warbling unsteadily, all the while weaving a super dark and emotional landscape of sound. This is the sort of black metal that fans of Tim Hecker and Philip Jeck and Basinski could easily get into.
On some tracks, the drums are more pronounced, and thus, the sound is slightly more traditionally (un)black, but even then, the buzz and pummel is bombarded on all sides by thick swaths of fuzzed out sound, hissy static like the sound of some sonic downpour, while way back in the distance, streaks of high end drift by, offering brief glimpses of the mournful melodies underneath. This may be heavy, and brutal and grim or whatever, but it's hard to tell as everything is just dripping with tons of FX and wrapped in dense clouds of swirling murk and blurred shimmer, which ends up making it sound dark and sad and so so beautiful instead.
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Reminiscent Of Slumber"
MPEG Stream: "Parallels To Nothing"
MPEG Stream: "Eating Light"

FLASKAVSAE / LIGHT SHALL PREVAIL split (E.E.E. Recordings) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's take a couple years and about a million cd-r's, but here it is, the first proper actual cd (not cd-r) release from both of these groups, two of our favorite UN-black metal bands. And for those out of the loop, un-black is another name for white metal, which is another name for Christian black metal, which does indeed seem like an oxymoron, but avid readers of the list by now are well familiar with the sound, and the groups, Glaciial, Agathothodion, Drommer, Elgibbor, Offerblod, Njiqahdda, and of course Flaskavsae and Light Shall Prevail.
LSP is the work of EEE records head honcho W.S. and prolificacy is so extreme, he fronts or is a member of at least 5 different outfits. LSP seems to be his main one and is definitely one of our favorites. Like on past releases, the sound here is a mix of classic grim black metal, and all sorts of fucked up lo-fi production, the core being a relentless buzzing riff, and furious blasting beats, but the sound is wrapped in strange sheets of hiss, and layers of murk and mire, the drum machine is strangely processed, the cymbals unleashing sprawling clouds of hiss, the guitars always buried in varying degrees of fucked up buzz or fuzz, turning riffs into streaks of blurred sound. The first LSP track here offers up a super strange, arpeggiated melody, very sing songy and major key, right in the middle of a roiling sea of blast and buzz. Ends up sounding quite mysterious and haunting. The big change this time around are the vocals, that are a dead ringer for Wrest from Leviathan's hellish corrosive howl, but within LSP, those vokills are simply another layer in the droning hypnotic buzzscapes, and that weird sing songy melodic element resurfaces throughout the other three tracks as well, culminating in the 15 minute closer, a sprawling, woozy and warped black metal, the guitars super blown out and washed out, the sound more of a blurred drone than black metal, even the drums are so static and relentless that they evoke a sense of mesmer as well.
Flaskavsae (a one man band, whose one man plays in Glaciial with Mr. LSP) are a perfect match, a similarly twisted take on (un-)black metal, but instead of speed and aggression, offer up something more depressive and midtempo, the guitars warbly and the distortion crumbling, the drums buried in the mix, except for the cymbals, that like LSP offer up sizzling streaks of hissy sibilance. Even when the songs launch into more furious tempos, something about the sound still manages to remain lugubrious and druggy, the riffs, less insectoid, and more blackened melting psychedelic. The final Flaskavsae track begins with a creepy almost classical sounding circusy melody, over a lurching almost industrial sounding rhythm, before the blackness and buzz seeps up from below, transforming the track into a weird droned out black buzzscape.
Packaged in a super glossy full color digipak.
MPEG Stream: FLASKAVSAE "Hymns Of Praise"
MPEG Stream: LIGHT SHALL PREVAIL "Epicism"

FLESHPRESS III (Kult Ov Nihilow) cd 11.98
Back in stock! And these might just be the last copies we're gonna get!
Oh man. This is a good one. A really good one. This is one of those records we've been waiting for, a band that takes the sound of SUNN0))) and Earth, that soon to be done to death slow motion guitar dirge doom, to a whole new level. It's still heavy and glacial, dense and totally overwhelming, but there's just something about it, that sounds, maybe clean, spacious, open? The guitar tone and the composition and the recording all mesh in some magical way to make the guitars float and drift. III isn't sludgy the way we thing of sludge, it's crystal clear, the guitars sharp and well definied, the riffs barbed and glinting in the moonlight the vocals like thorns through soft flesh. But it's all still so heavy. REALLY HEAVY. Maybe even moreso for the perfect production and sonic spaciousness. It's almost dreamy in a way, while somehow remaining dark and ominous and massively brutal. It's hard to explain exactly how they did it, or what -exactly- it is, but this record just really hit the spot in a way few of the many doom-dirge-drone clones have managed lately.
Packaged in a gorgeous silkscreened duotone cd sleeve with a tiny sealable flap! The image is a misty mysterious forest with metallic print and a huge stone figure hunched over in the woods. Appropriately haunting and creepy!
MPEG Stream: "Cold Dawn"

FLESHPRESS III (Kult Ov Nihilow) lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oh man. This is a good one. A really good one. This is one of those records we've been waiting for, that takes the sound of SUNN0))) and Earth, that soon to be done to death slow motion guitar dirge doom, to a whole new level. It's still heavy and glacial, and dense and totally overwhelming, but there's just something about it, that sounds, maybe clean, spacious, open? The guitar tone and the compostion and the recording all mesh in some magical way to make the guitars float and drift. It's almost dreamy, while somehow still being dark and ominous. It's hard to explain, but this record just really hit the spot in a way few of the many doom-dirge-drone clones have managed lately. Packaged in a cool silscreened vellum sleeve!

FLESHPRESS No Return (Kult Of Nihilow) cd 10.98

FLESHPRESS Pillars (Kult Of Nihilow) cd 17.98
We love our doom. The slower, the doomer, the more o's the better. But it's easy to get burned out. Much like the wave of guitars-against-amps drone outfits who seemed to come out of the woodwork on the heels of the sudden popularity of Earth, SUNNO))) and other dronelords, lately it seems like everyone and their brother has a "doom band". Lots of non-metal bands suddenly seem to be sprouting doomier appendages, side projects, home recorded one offs, in part, because it's a sound that's easy to emulate. Tune your guitar really low, play really slow, and that's it. You're a doom band. But as with any other musical movement, it's not what you do, it's how you do it, and the simpler something seems, the harder it is to actually do it in a way that stands out, that separates it from the hundreds of other bands doing the same thing.
So in the world of ultra doom, or many o'd doom, or whatever, it's obvious which bands are doing something special, Boris, SUNNO))), Moss, Bunkur, and of course Finland's Fleshpress. And as much as we love all of those bands, we have a special affinity for Fleshpress, not just because they're Finnish (although there is that), but that they throw all doomic convention to the wind, and do whatever the fuck they want. Even if it's distinctly not doomy. Play fast. No problem. Blast beats, near grindcore, sure. Play soft and pretty, explore post rock, absolutely. Which is what makes them such a refreshing doom outfit. Or conversely, makes them not a doom band at all, rather a weird band that incorporates doom into their all-over-the-map sound.
Either way, Fleshpress rule, they're heavy, weird, slow (when they want to be), fast and furious (when they don't), they deftly craft mysterious soundscapes, they can also unleash huge torrents of soul crushing megadoom. And they do all of that and more on Pillars. Every record, gets a little weirder, a littler more expansive, a little less traditionally doom, and Pillars is no exception.
The first track is almost like Fleshpress's far out sound encapsulated into a single track. Beginning with minutes of spare guitar strum, lots and lots of space, ambient whir, the guitar letting loose distorted riffs, and letting them drift into the darkness. The bass comes in, and does nothing but offers a spidery framework for the seemingly abstract riffs, then the drums come in, a single crash, every few seconds, there is no real rhythm to speak of yet, finally the band lurches into a doomy plod, somewhere between Monarch slow motion sludge and Harvey Milk glacial groove, complete with weird woozy melody and strange slippery riffage, harsh vocals, drifting fields of feedback, briefly we're trudging through a wasteland populated by like minded mavens of doom. Khanate, Burning Witch, MossÉ But soon, the doom recedesÉ leaving just soft billows of sound, when suddenly the band launch into some full on crusty metallic grooves, eventually finishing off with two minutes of grinding hyperspeed buzz. Pretty all over the place, but the parts are all so deftly arranged that it doesn't sound like a bunch of random bits thrown together, it sounds like small varied pieces of the far out whole. That track is quickly followed by 5 minutes of soft flutter and whir, a detuned guitar plucking out a stumbling rhythm, all around, bits of hiss and hum, the sound of rain and wind maybe, all washed out and soft focus.
Then it's the record's massive two song one two punch, two tracks, both about twenty minutes, back to back, the first, begins all grim black metal buzz, furious fuzzed out riffage and harsh hellish vocals, before slipping into a brief mathy groove and then shifting into a midtempo Burzumic black trudge, which of course partway through gives way to more massive and epic and wide open dooooooooom, plodding drums, crushing sludgy dynamics, and a fluttering guitar melody droning along underneath, eventually building to an epic minor key psychedelic crescendo. The second track, is more of a post rocky drift, with clean guitar and a shuffling rhythm, the vocals still howled and harsh, but the main riff, warm and fuzzy, and subtly propulsive, the tempo a bit warbly and seasick, very hypnotic and repetitive, eventually slowing down, but not into a crushing doom plod, but instead, a sprawling space rock sludge, the drums slow and insistent, the guitars building into squalls of psychedelic freakout, like the outro to a Hawkwind track, before the band launches into a super metallic mathy jam, the FX getting thicker and more dense, the band playing harder and faster, the last 5 minutes or so sounding more like the Heads or White Hills, a gorgeous outer space trip through throbbing bass lines, clouds of spacepsych guitar, and killer chaotic drumming.
The final two tracks both clock in at about nine minutes each, and again, demonstrate some totally other side of Fleshpress' doomworld. The first, is a loping post rock dirge, the guitars ringing out, the rhythm more like the Slintish blackness of Ved Buens Ende, a head nodding mathy groove peppered with vocal howls and an awesome epic buzz drenched coda. The final track is all drone, a murky subterranean trawl, all slow building sludgy swells, dense metallic shimmer, strange bits of industrial sonic detritus and some mysterious backwards percussion right at the end.
Seriously mind blowing. It almost does it a disservice to call Fleshpress a doom band anymore, although those are the folks who will be most inclined to love this. But fans of weird black metal and freaky outsider heaviness might also have found one of their records of the year.
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"

FLESHPRESS Pillars (Kult Of Nihilow) 2lp 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We love our doom. The slower, the doomer, the more o's the better. But it's easy to get burned out. Much like the wave of guitars-against-amps drone outfits who seemed to come out of the woodwork on the heels of the sudden popularity of Earth, SUNNO))) and other dronelords, lately it seems like everyone and their brother has a "doom band". Lots of non-metal bands suddenly seem to be sprouting doomier appendages, side projects, home recorded one offs, in part, because it's a sound that's easy to emulate. Tune your guitar really low, play really slow, and that's it. You're a doom band. But as with any other musical movement, it's not what you do, it's how you do it, and the simpler something seems, the harder it is to actually do it in a way that stands out, that separates it from the hundreds of other bands doing the same thing.
So in the world of ultra doom, or many o'd doom, or whatever, it's obvious which bands are doing something special, Boris, SUNNO))), Moss, Bunkur, and of course Finland's Fleshpress. And as much as we love all of those bands, we have a special affinity for Fleshpress, not just because they're Finnish (although there is that), but that they throw all doomic convention to the wind, and do whatever the fuck they want. Even if it's distinctly not doomy. Play fast. No problem. Blast beats, near grindcore, sure. Play soft and pretty, explore post rock, absolutely. Which is what makes them such a refreshing doom outfit. Or conversely, makes them not a doom band at all, rather a weird band that incorporates doom into their all-over-the-map sound.
Either way, Fleshpress rule, they're heavy, weird, slow (when they want to be), fast and furious (when they don't), they deftly craft mysterious soundscapes, they can also unleash huge torrents of soul crushing megadoom. And they do all of that and more on Pillars. Every record, gets a little weirder, a littler more expansive, a little less traditionally doom, and Pillars is no exception.
The first track is almost like Fleshpress's far out sound encapsulated into a single track. Beginning with minutes of spare guitar strum, lots and lots of space, ambient whir, the guitar letting loose distorted riffs, and letting them drift into the darkness. The bass comes in, and does nothing but offers a spidery framework for the seemingly abstract riffs, then the drums come in, a single crash, every few seconds, there is no real rhythm to speak of yet, finally the band lurches into a doomy plod, somewhere between Monarch slow motion sludge and Harvey Milk glacial groove, complete with weird woozy melody and strange slippery riffage, harsh vocals, drifting fields of feedback, briefly we're trudging through a wasteland populated by like minded mavens of doom. Khanate, Burning Witch, MossÉ But soon, the doom recedesÉ leaving just soft billows of sound, when suddenly the band launch into some full on crusty metallic grooves, eventually finishing off with two minutes of grinding hyperspeed buzz. Pretty all over the place, but the parts are all so deftly arranged that it doesn't sound like a bunch of random bits thrown together, it sounds like small varied pieces of the far out whole. That track is quickly followed by 5 minutes of soft flutter and whir, a detuned guitar plucking out a stumbling rhythm, all around, bits of hiss and hum, the sound of rain and wind maybe, all washed out and soft focus.
Then it's the record's massive two song one two punch, two tracks, both about twenty minutes, back to back, the first, begins all grim black metal buzz, furious fuzzed out riffage and harsh hellish vocals, before slipping into a brief mathy groove and then shifting into a midtempo Burzumic black trudge, which of course partway through gives way to more massive and epic and wide open dooooooooom, plodding drums, crushing sludgy dynamics, and a fluttering guitar melody droning along underneath, eventually building to an epic minor key psychedelic crescendo. The second track, is more of a post rocky drift, with clean guitar and a shuffling rhythm, the vocals still howled and harsh, but the main riff, warm and fuzzy, and subtly propulsive, the tempo a bit warbly and seasick, very hypnotic and repetitive, eventually slowing down, but not into a crushing doom plod, but instead, a sprawling space rock sludge, the drums slow and insistent, the guitars building into squalls of psychedelic freakout, like the outro to a Hawkwind track, before the band launches into a super metallic mathy jam, the FX getting thicker and more dense, the band playing harder and faster, the last 5 minutes or so sounding more like the Heads or White Hills, a gorgeous outer space trip through throbbing bass lines, clouds of spacepsych guitar, and killer chaotic drumming.
The final two tracks both clock in at about nine minutes each, and again, demonstrate some totally other side of Fleshpress' doomworld. The first, is a loping post rock dirge, the guitars ringing out, the rhythm more like the Slintish blackness of Ved Buens Ende, a head nodding mathy groove peppered with vocal howls and an awesome epic buzz drenched coda. The final track is all drone, a murky subterranean trawl, all slow building sludgy swells, dense metallic shimmer, strange bits of industrial sonic detritus and some mysterious backwards percussion right at the end.
Seriously mind blowing. It almost does it a disservice to call Fleshpress a doom band anymore, although those are the folks who will be most inclined to love this. But fans of weird black metal and freaky outsider heaviness might also have found one of their records of the year.
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FLESHPRESS Rebuild / Crumble (Kult Of Nihilow) cd 10.98

FLESHPRESS s/t (Shifty) cd 11.98

MPEG Stream: "Rise Of The Superior"
MPEG Stream: "...All Things Broken"

FLESHPRESS Worm Dirges (Kult Ov Nihilow) cd 14.98
Is there no end to the doom and sludge in sight? We sure as hell hope not. We raved about the newest record from these Finnish sludge lords a while back and were super psyched to discover their first record Worm Dirges was getting reissued on cd. Unlike their newer one, III, which we described as clean and spacious and open (not words you'd expect to find in a review of a sludgy doom record) Worm Dirges is much less polished, much more primitive and primal, and not nearly as slow, but still plenty sludgy and heavy. Plenty of Eyehategod-isms for sure, but these two extended mostly instrumental jams don't sound metal as much as they sound sort of krautrocky, or post rocky or even post punky in a weird way. Very reminiscent of Dutch hypno metallers Gore, a simple riff repeated over and over and over and over. Completely and utterly hypnotic. Both tracks devolve into dreamy drones here and there before lurching back into sludge mode, but the interesting thing is that the main riffs in each track (two tracks, two riffs!) don't sound metal so much as they sort of sound like Black Flag. Seriously. Maybe Black Flag at 16rpm. You can -almost- imagine them sped up with Rollins ranting over the top. But c'mon, Black Flag at 16rpm?!?! If that doesn't sound like the best fucking thing ever to you, there's something seriously wrong.
Obviously this is essential for the drone doom dirge faithful, SUNNO))), Earth, Boris, Corrupted, etc. as well as fans of the new post rock/metal hybrids (Isis, Conifer, Tides, Baroness, Buried At Sea, Pelican) But other folks into stuff like Circle or Salvatore or the more extreme end of the post rock spectrum might really dig this too.
Packaged in a cool tri-fold printed cardstock sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Asphalt"

FLESHWROUGHT Dementia / Dyslexia (Man Alive!) 10"+7"+patch 35.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest recording from SF avant death metal outfit Fleshwrought, who besides offering up some head spinning, ultra complex, outsider death metal madness, also has produced what might be the most over the top packaging we've ever seen.
First up, the sounds. Fleshwrought, aka Navene Koperweis has managed what is essentially a full length, spread out over a 10" and a 7" (more on that in a moment), of furious, ultra complex, super intricate, fierce and furious and fucked up death metal. Twisted and proggy, the songs pack a million parts into a space most bands would reserve for 2 or 3, grinding, blasting, chugging, churning, the guitars thick and distorted, the vocals a guttural grunting growl, the drums, totally nuts and impossibly intense and mathy, the arrangements over the top, basically this is some next level death metal for sure, easily setting FW miles above the DM masses, plus, besides being heavy and proggy and intense, its also super weird, strange bits of grooviness, stretched out streaks of electronic drone, even some seriously out of place saxophone, all wound into super dense tangles of death metal madness that totally destroys.
And all appropriately housed in some of the most elaborate packaging EVER.
The cover is a single color screenprint, printed in ink infused with Koperweis' blood! The inside features a 4 color screen print by SF artist Amy Trachtenberg. The jacket is assembled from 2 pieces of cardstock, laser cut, then folded, glued, scored and bound with twine, all by hand, the sides were stamped by hand on each label, includes both a laser cut stencil, and a screen printed canvas patch, the whole thing folds up like an elaborate hand made book, the sleeve hand numbered AND letter pressed. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! Holy shit! Incredible and insanely limited, and kick ass, both packaging and the sounds inside, so grab one before they're gone!
MPEG Stream: "Mental Illness"
MPEG Stream: "Inner Thoughts"
MPEG Stream: "Final Nausea"

FLEURETY Department of Apocalyptic Affairs (Supernal Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've heard a lot of strange black metal related discs, but this is among the strangest...On this album, metal is only one (important but small) component of the whole, which also involves free jazz and trip hop...Released on the same label that brought us the infamous Benighted Leams, and you can see how this truly fucked-up "so bad it's weird and so weird it's bad and so weird and bad that it's kind of amazing" band would appeal to the same minds that thought the Leams were genius. Formerly a medieval 'forest-is-my-throne' epic black metal band a la Ulver (and we think still sharing some members with that Norwegian Ulver/Ved Buens Ende/Dodheimsgard axis), now these guys are wearing suits, carrying automatic weapons, and programming beats. But they've gone beyond the Mr. Bungle tendencies of say, an Arcturus (who seem "ordinary" in comparison!), and created something that even we at AQ can't quite understand, or judge. Every time we put this on, our reactions vary from being blown away at how bizarre and great it is to being appalled at the (same!) dismally bad and wrong moments. Great packaging, with the lyrics in the form of a miniature intelligence "dossier". Essential for those compelled to always increase the utter weirdness quotient of their cd collections, and very definitely for fans of Arcturus, Solefald, and recent Dodheimsgard.
RealAudio clip: "Fingerprint"

FLIED EGG Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Shooting Machine (Phoenix) cd 17.98
Another reissue of freaky early '70s psych rock from Japan here folks, one we've had before, but that was a more expensive version, out of print for a while anyway. But now this has been reissued again, not by Bamboo (who recently reissued the same band's 2nd album, Goodbye, a few months back) but by another UK label, Phoenix... though we sorta suspect they're the same label anyway.
In any case, good to have it available again. This one, with a truly hard-to-beat title, was Flied [sic] Egg's debut, released originally in 1972, on Vertigo - with Flied Egg one of the few, if not only, Japanese acts to appear on the roster of that legendary UK-based label known for proto-metal, jazz-prog and other "hairy funk" delights. This album dishes such delights all over the place, ranging from the Blue Cheer meets Uriah Heep heaviness of "Rolling Down The Broadway" to the weird choral interlude of "15 Seconds Of Schizophrenic Sabbath" to the classical prog flourishes of "Oke-Kus" (sounding like a warped version of ELP) to the sheer hippie psych-pop lunacy of the title track. And more! All in all, this is quite as crazy as its Dali-esque cover painting indicates. Definitely an essential for our Japanese '70s psych section, and anyone who loves them some acid rock guitar!
This new reissue comes in a cardboard "wallet" style sleeve, a numbered limited edition of 1000.
MPEG Stream: "Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Shooting Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Burning Fever"

FLIED EGG Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Shooting Machine (Phoenix) lp 24.00
And now a vinyl reissue of this, for you folks into freaky early '70s psych rock from Japan here folks. This record, with a truly hard-to-beat title, was Flied [sic] Egg's debut, released originally in 1972, on Vertigo - with Flied Egg one of the few, if not only, Japanese acts to appear on the roster of that legendary UK-based label known for proto-metal, jazz-prog and other "hairy funk" delights. This album dishes such delights all over the place, ranging from the Blue Cheer meets Uriah Heep heaviness of "Rolling Down The Broadway" to the weird choral interlude of "15 Seconds Of Schizophrenic Sabbath" to the classical prog flourishes of "Oke-Kus" (sounding like a warped version of ELP) to the sheer hippie psych-pop lunacy of the title track. And more! All in all, this is quite as crazy as its Dali-esque cover painting indicates. Definitely an essential for our Japanese '70s psych section, and anyone who loves them some acid rock guitar!
Gatefold sleeve, 180 gram pressing.
MPEG Stream: "Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Shooting Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Burning Fever"