FUNERARY CALL Fragments From The Aethyr (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98
Fragments From The Aethyr is the latest blast of caustic cinematic black ambience from this Vancouver based audio alchemist, although it's the first FC record to get reviewed on the aQ list, which is strange, since this is the sort of dense black mesmer that many of you can't get enough of. With a sound that lurks somewhere betwixt Gnaw Their Tongues, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Tenhornedbeast, MZ412 and Wolf Eyes, this band weave gristly sprawls of feedback drenched buzz, and keening high end squalls of swirling black psychedelia, the sound driven by what sounds like a violin, but a violin possessed, wreathed in effects and sent spiraling into the ether, a weird sort of droned out black folk drift, that manages to be lilting and lovely, even while being face meltingly brutal. The sound slips into a long stretch of haunting hushed shimmer, laced with chiming minor key harmonics, and lush rumbling drones, and oozes through clouds of blackened sonic murk, growing quite minimal, and almost modern classical sounding, the violin to the fore, soaring above the abyss, a harrowing bit of minimal modernism that broods ominously, and blossoms blackly into a gorgeous blackdrone cinematic epic, that ends up being far too short, even at nearly twenty minutes, before finishing off with a dense sprawl of echo drenched ritualism, processed vox and heavily layered tones, dubbed out and smeared into hazy blurs and almost liturgical sounding chants, seriously sinister and gorgeously grim.
Fans of abject minimal blackness and any of the above mentioned purveyors of sick sonic miserablism, heed the call.
MPEG Stream: "Libation"
MPEG Stream: "Fragments"

FUNEREAL MOON Funereal Moon Is Dead (Nexus Innspillinger) 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.
We were doing some Spring cleaning and discovered a little stash of these tucked away in a shadowy corner of the back room, a 2008 compilation from one of our favorite weirdo black metal hordes, Mexico's Funeral Moon, this compilation gathering up the group's In Communion With Satan ep, previously unreleased, and tacks on two also never before released live jams, recorded in Monterrey, Mexico in 1994.
For those who have yet to discover the twisted blackened glory that is Funereal Moon, just have a gander at what has to be THEE coolest corpsepaint we've seen, the inverted crosses over each eye, the pentagram on the forehead, the weird blackened old man lips, and strange demon veins, it's pretty striking, and was definitely what caught our attention when we first discovered these guys. But if you think the corpsepaint is weird, just wait til you get to the music. Funereal Moon Is Dead starts off with a tripped out intro, all woozy synths, and rumbling demonic vocal gurgles, all very nightmarish and carnivalesque, all set to a heartbeat like pulse, some seriously creeped out ritualistic sonic weirdness, some nightmarish cinematic black ambience, which leads directly into the first proper 'song', tolling bells and weird squiggly synths writhe and wriggle in a twisted tangle over stumbling programmed drum machine, and some creepy female spoken word, it actually sounds more like aQ outsider rock weirdo Fastest, a doomy synth heavy creep, the only signs of 'metal' are the super strange (and dramatically out of place) ultra distorted demonic vokills that surface about halfway through, and growl gutturally over the woozy druggy drift in the background. The final studio track is all crumbling buzzing synth drones, over which a deep vocal croaks and cackles, sounding a lot like aQ faves Ride For Revenge or Will Over Matter. Which is most definitely a good thing.
The actual metal doesn't happen until the live tracks, the sound appropriately lo-fi, the sound still all synthy and swirly, droned out and druggy, but here, the vocals are definitely raspy and black metal, the drums a pounding dirge, the riffs gnarled and downtuned, but the whole first track nearly swallowed up by some awesome thick low end pulsations, that transform any black metal into something much more psychedelic and tripped out. Finally, the record finishes off with a track that ends up sounding more meta than it was meant to, with the crowd sound cacophony almost as loud as the band, the band in full on buzzing black blast mode, but it's blurred into a twisted droned out thrum, that only occasionally transforms into a synth driven creepy black doom lope, and like the first live track, the whole thing seems to be wreathed in another pulsing low end throb. So weird, and so fucking awesome. Like all FM stuff, totally recommended, although very likely too weird/whatthefuck for more middle of the road metalheads...
LIMITED TO 666 COPIES, each one hand numbered, long out of print, we have about a dozen left and once they're gone these are gone for good.
MPEG Stream: "Demon Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Night Cry"

FUNEREAL MOON Satan's Beauty Obscenity / Grim... Evil... (Autopsy Kitchen) cd 13.98
The first thing you notice about Funereal Moon, a long running black metal horde from Mexico City, is main man Impure Ehiyeh's amazing corpsepaint, each eye in the center of a black upside down cross, a pentagram in the center of his forehead, his nostrils painted huge and animal like, the mouth outlined like a dripping bat, the whole face lined with cracks, making him appear as some 100 year old demonic black metal ghoul. Which suits the music, as their sound is totally unhinged, a raw, lo-fi, fucked up grim black metal that has more in common with a band like Necrofrost than any of the classic Scandinavian elite, which is most definitely a good thing. Murky, mysterious, stumbling, damaged, the guitars washed out and muted, the vocals a raspy croak, the drums solid and simple, the whole sound twisted and off kilter, the sounds panned dramatically from left to right, so sometimes the band swerves back and forth making the music totally dizzy and unhinged.
This collection gathers up 4 newish tracks from 2007, and 5 more tracks from a 1996 demo. The first four tracks are, as described above, woozy, and gloriously fucked up, long stretches of Abruptum-like ambience get all tangled up in blasting black weirdness, giving way to droning plodding black doom, finally turning into some strange sort of spaced out abstract psychedelia, growled vox over noodly reverbed guitars and swirling spaced out effects. Weird, and so cool.
It's the older stuff where it gets REALLY weird. The guitars impossibly processed and lo fidelity, pulsing like some strange electronic transmission, the vocals even more croak-like, doused in echo, it's an intro of sorts, but maybe our favorite track here. The next track is more straight ahead, but again the production is insane, the vocals louder than anything else, the drums and guitars tumbling and roiling way down in the mix only occasionally exploding to the surface. It's all very droney and hypnotic and textural. And somehow it only gets weirder, culminating in a seriously amazing and fucked up two song finish, first, the tripped out "The Lust", with its stumbling tribal drumming, its droning electronic buzz in place of guitars, and haunting female spoken words, while a voice growls and grunts demonically in the background, and another female moans in ecstasy! And finally the 11 minute "I Came From Darkness To Conquer", a woozy synth drone, with some troll like vocals over the top, what sounds like programmed drums and flute (?), the vocals get weirder and weirder, high pitched and alien one second, growled and cookie monster like the next, finally the drums drop out, and the record closes out with synthesized strings and an orchestra of growls and grunts and howls, easily one of the most seriously fucked up ambient black metal rituals ever.
If you read this far we shouldn't even have to say it, but yet another essential record to add to your collection of freaked out, far out, damaged and demented, confusional and inspired genius black metal what-the-fuck. Which means ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL!
MPEG Stream: "The Last Prophecy"
MPEG Stream: "Black Sphere"
MPEG Stream: "Witchery"
MPEG Stream: "Forbidden Rites"

FUNGAL HEX s/t (Galerie Jeleni) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fungal Hex is doom-lord Stephen O'Malley (of Khanate, Burning Witch, Lotus Eaters) doing music for an art installation by Brooklyn artists which showed in the Czech Republic last year. His graphic design and guitar playing talents are both evident on and in this cd release, an "installation document with audio supplement". Musically, it's a 40-minute session of eerie drone and scrape, rather quiet and unsettling stuff, similar in spirit if not sound to the much heavier and more metallic output of O'Malley's band projects. The gallery in Prague printed only 500 of these discs to accompany the exhibit, and they're all gone now -- we've got just *four* copies, so act fast if you think you're gonna want one. (In other words, use the phone.)
RealAudio clip: "track 2"

FUNGAL HEX s/t (Aurora Borealis) 2 x picture disc lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
WOW! This has to be one of the best looking picture discs, we mean DOUBLE PICTURE DISCS, we've ever seen. Two nice thick full color lps housed in a lovely vellum sleeve.
We had a cd of this a while back which is long gone, but it hardly compares to how totally overwhelming and amazing this double lp set is. For those who don't know, Fungal Hex is doom-lord Stephen O'Malley (of Sunn 0))), Khanate, Burning Witch, Lotus Eaters, etc) doing music for an art installation by Brooklyn artists which showed in the Czech Republic last year. His graphic design and guitar playing talents are both evident on and in this release, an "installation document with audio supplement". Musically, it's a 40-minute session of eerie drone and scrape, rather quiet and unsettling stuff, similar in spirit if not sound to the much heavier and more metallic output of O'Malley's band projects. The artwork is beautiful, a striking and super creepy closeup image of a mouth with tongue extended, each disc differentiated by the color of the mouth and which rune like symbol is placed on the tongue. Ewww. So cool. And the vellum sleeve is a gorgeous abstract swirl of blues and metallic silvers. So completely amazing.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, WE GOT 75 AND WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET MORE, SO IF YOU WANT ONE ACT FAST. ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!

FURISUBI Three Armed Mary (Last Visible Dog) 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.
Furisubi is the experimental guitar drone/psych/noise project of Kris Lapke, on this release a one-man band playing guitar and (sometimes) drums. The two tracks found on this hour-long cd-r basically sound like Japanese distorto-psych rockers High Rise or Mainliner covering Black Sabbath. Actually, track two actually *is* a Black Sabbath cover -- maybe we should say 'interpretation' -- a nearly half-hour version of Vol. 4's "Snowblind"! Well, actually, perhaps inspired by Sabbath's own in-concert jams/medleys, he works "Snowblind" over for about 15 minutes, and then deviates into some other symptoms of the Sabs' universe, like "Paranoid" and what sounds like a super-sped up version of "Smoke On The Water" which isn't even a Sabbath song (though Sabbath HAS performed it) before returning to finish-up the world's most stretched-out version of "Snowblind".
That's all after the preceeding 30 minutes of the disc's first track, which borrows no Black Sabbath riffs but certainly could have! So, whether covering Sabbath or not, Lapke's modus operandi here is pretty much utter distorto guitar drone demolition, motorpsycho guitar in the Makoto Kawabata zone, but heavier, darker, dronier... yes!! Our kind of guitar hero. But he's obviously not a drummer, though, as his timekeeping skills are, shall we say, poor...but the fucked-up drumming gives this a bit more of a damaged charm anyway...and he bothers to drum only about half the time as well (so it's better than a live Electric Wizard show, who's drummer is notoriously drunk and incompetent). Lapke also allows the occasional ragged vocal to (barely) surface amid the howl of guitar and feedback, helping to place one in the flow of Sabbath tuneage. This is what "stoner rock" *should* sound like... There are other, more 'experimental' Furisubi releases, but we liked this 'rockier' one the best and so decided to feature it. Plus, who can argue with extended Sabbath-inspired jamming? We're glad of whatever possessed him to record this, in all its wonderfully blown-out and messed-up glory.
RealAudio clip: "Snowblind"

FURZE Necromanzee Cogent (Apocalyptic Empire) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We haven't had these in ages, but since Furze is some of our favorite far-out black metal EVER, we figured we oughta relist it since we just now managed to get some more copies (and we might not be able to get any more after this as the label is pretty much sold out!). Here's how much we love this stuff (from when we listed it the first time a few years back):
We've been trying to track down music from this mysterious Norwegian black metal one man band for ages now and finally managed to get enough to list. We're constantly extolling the virtues of retarded / damaged / fucked / outsider black metal (see the Benighted Leams review elsewhere on this site) and we're always on the lookout for more. And Furze definitely fits the bill. In fact, we've been touting Benighted Leams as "perhaps the most retarded black metal band ever" for years now, but it seems like Furze might be just sneak in and steal that 'honor' for themselves. Let's talk about the packaging first. The cover is all black except for some weeds laid out next to each other. The back is all white (!) with a photo of what appears to be two young trick or treaters, one dressed like a witch, the other like a ghost. The Furze logo on the back is printed over three witches brooms. the back of the booklet has a very South Park-like painting of a white sign under a blood dripping sky, The sign reads: "Come, come sit listen to our cogent black metal necrosis". Inside the booklet, Mr Furze is carrying a lantern through a snowy forest.
While Necromanzee Cogent is black metal, sonically it sounds way more like a doom record, slow doomy riffs, one track even sounds exactly Black Sabbath, but played by a grade school music class. The whole record starts off with haunting Jandekian mumbling before erupting into clumsy, mid tempo doooooom. Totally random drumming, fuzzed out atonal organ melodies and anguished heavily reverbed moaning, not really metal so much as some strange Scott Walker / Jandek / Nick Cave caterwaul occasionally whispering ominously but more often gurgling and squealing and yelping. There are occasional blasts of -actual- black metal, but it's almost as if he can't manage to play that fast for that long and is forced to slow down and often abandon song structure all together, resulting in lots of creepy ambient bits, with scraping reverbed guitar strings and all sort of weird sounds. Most of the record is a sludgy doomy, plodding thud rock, almost like some long lost Amrep band, but filtered through the frosty blackened mind of some Norwegian black metal troll. Also, somewhat surprisingly there are some really gorgeous blissed out post-rocky guitar ambience, keening guitar melodies suspended in a massive blackened emptiness. Everything up until this point has only served to get you ready for the massive 20+ minute final track "Sathanas' Megalomania". From high end chiming shimmer, to slow building droning creepiness, to church-like organ and plodding drum with deep chanting and scary demonic screeches, to full on epic black metal with REALLY loud monster vocals, to haunting funereal doom until the end of the song where levels and song structure and vocals all seem to go haywire. As the metal maelstrom dissipates, the song becomes a chaotic swirl of weird sped up disembodied voices, snippets of crappy AM radio, snatches of distorted orchestra, squealing feedback and groaning downtuned guitars. Phew. Yikes. After listening to this record we feel like we've been dragged naked over rocks and thistles, through a snowy forest, into a fiery pit where we were quickly eaten by a huge demon, and promptly shat out. You know what we're talking about: tired, filthy, demoralized, violated, bruised and battered. But surprisingly really really good.
MPEG Stream: "Seance"
MPEG Stream: "Necrosaint Black Metal"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Starlight"

FURZE Necromanzee Cogent (Candlelight) cd 16.98
This all time AQ damaged and demented outsider black metal fave has just been reissued, with spiffy new artwork, a deluxe slip cover and more! If you missed out on this first time around, now's your chance to right that wrong, or if you're like us and are just such a massive Furze nerd that you need a new version just for the artwork (or to have a back up copy or just to have double the bizarre grimness) then we've got you covered. Just how much do we love Necromanzee Cogent? Here's us gushing about it when we first got it in a few years back:
We've been trying to track down music from this mysterious Norwegian black metal one man band for ages now and finally managed to get enough to list. We're constantly extolling the virtues of retarded / damaged / fucked / outsider black metal and we're always on the lookout for more. And Furze definitely fits the bill. In fact, we've been touting Benighted Leams as "perhaps the most retarded black metal band ever" for years now, but it seems like Furze might just sneak in and steal that 'honor' for themselves. Let's talk about the packaging first. The cover is all black except for some weeds laid out next to each other. The back is all white (!) with a photo of what appears to be two young trick or treaters, one dressed like a witch, the other like a ghost. The Furze logo on the back is printed over three witches brooms. the back of the booklet has a very South Park-like painting of a white sign under a blood dripping sky, The sign reads: "Come, come sit listen to our cogent black metal necrosis". Inside the booklet, Mr Furze is carrying a lantern through a snowy forest, brrrrrrr. (The new version has some new artwork too!)
While Necromanzee Cogent is black metal, sonically it sounds way more like a doom record, slow doomy riffs, one track even sounds exactly Black Sabbath, but played by a grade school music class. The whole record starts off with haunting Jandekian mumbling before erupting into clumsy, mid tempo doooooom. Totally random drumming, fuzzed out atonal organ melodies and anguished heavily reverbed moaning, not really metal so much as some strange Scott Walker / Jandek / Nick Cave caterwaul occasionally whispering ominously but more often gurgling and squealing and yelping. There are occasional blasts of -actual- black metal, but it's almost as if he can't manage to play that fast for that long and is forced to slow down and often abandon song structure all together, resulting in lots of creepy ambient bits, with scraping reverbed guitar strings and all sort of weird sounds. Most of the record is a sludgy doomy, plodding thud rock, almost like some long lost Amrep band, but filtered through the frosty blackened mind of some Norwegian black metal troll. Also, somewhat surprisingly there are some really gorgeous blissed out post-rocky guitar ambience, keening guitar melodies suspended in a massive blackened emptiness. Everything up until this point has only served to get you ready for the massive 20+ minute final track "Sathanas' Megalomania". From high end chiming shimmer, to slow building droning creepiness, to church-like organ and plodding drum with deep chanting and scary demonic screeches, to full on epic black metal with REALLY loud monster vocals, to haunting funereal doom until the end of the song where levels and song structure and vocals all seem to go haywire. As the metal maelstrom dissipates, the song becomes a chaotic swirl of weird sped up disembodied voices, snippets of crappy AM radio, snatches of distorted orchestra, squealing feedback and groaning downtuned guitars. Phew. Yikes. After listening to this record we feel like we've been dragged naked over rocks and thistles, through a snowy forest, into a fiery pit where we were quickly eaten by a huge demon, and promptly shat out. You know what we're talking about: tired, filthy, demoralized, violated, bruised and battered. But surprisingly really really good.
MPEG Stream: "Seance"
MPEG Stream: "Necrosaint Black Metal"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Starlight"

FURZE Necromanzee Cogent (Apocalyptic Empire) 2lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've got a VERY FEW copies of this on double lp, in a super nice gatefold sleeve. And by a VERY FEW, we mean less than 10. And we probably won't be able to get more any time soon, if at all. So if you're interested don't dawdle.
We've been trying to track down music from this mysterious Norweigian black metal one man band for ages now and finally managed to get enough to list. We're constantly extolling the virtues of retarded / damaged / fucked / outsider black metal (see the Benighted Leams review elsewhere on this list) and we're always on the lookout for more. And Furze definitely fits the bill. In fact, we've been touting Benighted Leams as "perhaps the most retarded black metal band ever" for years now, but it seems like Furze might be just sneak in and steal that 'honor' for themselves. Let's talk about the packaging first. The cover is all black except for some weeds laid out next to each other. The back is all white (!) with a photo of what appears to be two young trick or treaters, one dressed like a witch, the other like a ghost. The Furze logo on the back is printed over three witches brooms. the back of the booklet has a very South Park-like painting of a white sign under a blood dripping sky, The sign reads: "Come, come sit listen to our cogent black metal necrosis". Inside the booklet, Mr Furze is carrying a lantern through a snowy forest.
While Necromanzee Cogent is black metal, sonically it sounds way more like a doom record, slow doomy riffs, one track even sounds exactly Black Sabbath, but played by a grade school music class. The whole record starts off with haunting Jandekian mumbling before erupting into clumsy, mid tempo doooooom. Totally random drumming, fuzzed out atonal organ melodies and anguished heavily reverbed moaning, not really metal so much as some strange Scott Walker / Jandek / Nick Cave caterwaul occasionally whispering ominously but more often gurgling and squealing and yelping. There are occasional blasts of -actual- black metal, but it's almost as if he can't manage to play that fast for that long and is forced to slow down and often abandon song structure all together, resulting in lots of creepy ambient bits, with scraping reverbed guitar strings and all sort of weird sounds. Most of the record is a sludgy doomy, plodding thud rock, almost like some long lost Amrep band, but filtered through the frosty blackened mind of some Norwegian black metal troll. Also, somewhat surprisingly there are some really gorgeous blissed out post-rocky guitar ambience, keening guitar melodies suspended in a massive blackened emptiness. Everything up until this point has only served to get you ready for the massive 20+ minute final track "Sathanas' Megalomania". From high end chiming shimmer, to slow building droning creepiness, to church-like organ and plodding drum with deep chanting and scary demonic screeches, to full on epic black metal with REALLY loud monster vocals, to haunting funereal doom until the end of the song where levels and song structure and vocals all seem to go haywire. As the metal maelstrom dissipates, the song becomes a chaotic swirl of weird sped up disembodied voices, snippets of crappy AM radio, snatches of distorted orchestra, squealing feedback and groaning downtuned guitars. Phew. Yikes. After listening to this record we feel like we've been dragged naked over rocks and thistles, through a snowy forest, into a fiery pit where we were quickly eaten by a huge demon, and promptly shat out. You know what we're talking about: tired, filthy, demoralized, violated, bruised and battered. But surprisingly really really good.
MPEG Stream: "Seance"
MPEG Stream: "Necrosaint Black Metal"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Starlight"

FURZE Psych Minus Space Control (Fysisk Format) cd 17.98
Back in the day, when we wanted to talk about the most fucked up and damaged black metal EVER, we generally reference weirdo Norwegian black metal one man band Furze, whose records were pretty much completely nuts, demented and warped, but somehow utterly genius as well. The last Furze record, Reaper Subconscious Guide, found him cranking up the weirdness, but in a truly unexpected way, offering up that record as a tribute to his favorite band, Black Sabbath. In retrospect, we really should have made that a Record Of The Week, cuz the aQ metalheads were totally obsessed with that record. And even non-metalheads found it intriguing. A twisted homage, right down to some seriously Ozzy like vox, but so warped that it was like listening to Sabbath through a funhouse mirror. We weren't really sure if that was a one-off thing, or if Furze would return to the world of buzzing blackness, until we got our hands on this, Psych Minus Space Control, the latest maniacal musical missive from Woe J Reaper, aka Furze, and it is in fact, still an homage to the classic days of heavy metal, and Sabbath in particular, with extensive notes on each song, detailing the instruments used, the inspiration behind each song, all heartfelt and totally confusional and completely genius! Opener "Occult Soul, With Mind", is some lumbering Sabbathy doom for sure, total old school doom, with Furze teaching the riffs to some other guitar player called LFM "in order to have some more dynamic guitar sound", with Reaper also playing Mini-Moog and Mellotron, and explaining in the liner notes: "Why is the soul occult? Ain't the mind just as occult? Please be my guest to let this question roll on... PolyTriad Fingerprints are tapping up! Vol. 3 of the Triad is always outside the circle - the circle..." Woah, umm, okay. The same notes also ask "Do we WORSHIP BLACK SABBATH LIKE A KNELL or do we ride out there with pride??'
"Psych Mooz Space Control" is up next, and the notes explain that "This 'mooz' word is 'zoom' read backwards. Psych Mooz Space Control means 'to zoom neither IN nor OUT' - on reality - in order to grasp and define itÉ" It goes on, in great detail to explain how the meaning has a lot to do with people who oppose religions, and why 'mooz' wasn't used in the album title. The first few minutes of the song are a haunting sprawl of spare solo guitar, droney riffs and spidery melodies drifting in wide open expanses of emptiness, very meditative and mesmerizing, it's not until about 5 minutes in that the song kicks in proper, this time laced with some super creepy (and cool) electric violin, another woozy druggy classic doom jam, that slips from churning murky downtuned chug, to some soaring downright poppiness that s impossibly catchy yet doesn't sound at all out of place.
We could go on, song by song, we almost want to reprint the notes in their entirety, but needless to say, they're super fun and funny, and offer a sort of twisted insight, that really actually does add to the listening experience, the rest of the record continues in a similar fashion, slipping from doomy churn, to cosmic blackened psych, no sign of black metal AT ALL (well maybe a wee bit on the last track), so fans of the old Furze, unless you have a soft spot for Sabbath, and appreciated a twisted off kilter homage, then steer clear, for the rest of us, there's all sorts of Sabbathy weirdness, some killer riffing some strange instrumentation (glockenspiel!), plenty of flanger, some seriously tripped our FX heavy vox, all woven into a seriously twisted slab of outsider psychedelic doom, that definitely does Furze's sonic forebears proud!
Awesome cover art, tons of liner notes, and a sticker on the front that reads: "Do not upload nor copy this cd. Doing so you kill what you support."
MPEG Stream: "Occult Soul, With Mind"
MPEG Stream: "Psych Mooz Space Control"
MPEG Stream: "Reaper Subconscious Guide"

FURZE Psych Minus Space Control (Fysisk Format) lp 26.00
Back in the day, when we wanted to talk about the most fucked up and damaged black metal EVER, we generally reference weirdo Norwegian black metal one man band Furze, whose records were pretty much completely nuts, demented and warped, but somehow utterly genius as well. The last Furze record, Reaper Subconscious Guide, found him cranking up the weirdness, but in a truly unexpected way, offering up that record as a tribute to his favorite band, Black Sabbath. In retrospect, we really should have made that a Record Of The Week, cuz the aQ metalheads were totally obsessed with that record. And even non-metalheads found it intriguing. A twisted homage, right down to some seriously Ozzy like vox, but so warped that it was like listening to Sabbath through a funhouse mirror. We weren't really sure if that was a one-off thing, or if Furze would return to the world of buzzing blackness, until we got our hands on this, Psych Minus Space Control, the latest maniacal musical missive from Woe J Reaper, aka Furze, and it is in fact, still an homage to the classic days of heavy metal, and Sabbath in particular, with extensive notes on each song, detailing the instruments used, the inspiration behind each song, all heartfelt and totally confusional and completely genius! Opener "Occult Soul, With Mind", is some lumbering Sabbathy doom for sure, total old school doom, with Furze teaching the riffs to some other guitar player called LFM "in order to have some more dynamic guitar sound", with Reaper also playing Mini-Moog and Mellotron, and explaining in the liner notes: "Why is the soul occult? Ain't the mind just as occult? Please be my guest to let this question roll on... PolyTriad Fingerprints are tapping up! Vol. 3 of the Triad is always outside the circle - the circle..." Woah, umm, okay. The same notes also ask "Do we WORSHIP BLACK SABBATH LIKE A KNELL or do we ride out there with pride??'
"Psych Mooz Space Control" is up next, and the notes explain that "This 'mooz' word is 'zoom' read backwards. Psych Mooz Space Control means 'to zoom neither IN nor OUT' - on reality - in order to grasp and define itÉ" It goes on, in great detail to explain how the meaning has a lot to do with people who oppose religions, and why 'mooz' wasn't used in the album title. The first few minutes of the song are a haunting sprawl of spare solo guitar, droney riffs and spidery melodies drifting in wide open expanses of emptiness, very meditative and mesmerizing, it's not until about 5 minutes in that the song kicks in proper, this time laced with some super creepy (and cool) electric violin, another woozy druggy classic doom jam, that slips from churning murky downtuned chug, to some soaring downright poppiness that s impossibly catchy yet doesn't sound at all out of place.
We could go on, song by song, we almost want to reprint the notes in their entirety, but needless to say, they're super fun and funny, and offer a sort of twisted insight, that really actually does add to the listening experience, the rest of the record continues in a similar fashion, slipping from doomy churn, to cosmic blackened psych, no sign of black metal AT ALL (well maybe a wee bit on the last track), so fans of the old Furze, unless you have a soft spot for Sabbath, and appreciated a twisted off kilter homage, then steer clear, for the rest of us, there's all sorts of Sabbathy weirdness, some killer riffing some strange instrumentation (glockenspiel!), plenty of flanger, some seriously tripped our FX heavy vox, all woven into a seriously twisted slab of outsider psychedelic doom, that definitely does Furze's sonic forebears proud!
Awesome cover art, tons of liner notes, and a sticker on the front that reads: "Do not upload nor copy this cd. Doing so you kill what you support."

FURZE Reaper Subconscious Guide (Agonia) cd 15.98
We've long loved Norwegian weirdo one man black metal horde Furze, aka Woe J. Reaper. In fact, in our love of and obsession with the most twisted, warped, fractured and fucked up black metal, we would rank Furze pretty damn close to the top. Three records in (Trident Autocrat, Necromanzee Cogent, and UTD) and few can reach the heights (depths?) of Furze's sonic dementia. Just have a look at past Furze reviews on the aQ site, to see just what sort of confusional brilliance this guy is capable of.
So when we discovered that the new, fourth Furze was meant to be an homage to seventies era Black Sabbath, a sonic tribute to the band that is, according to Woe J. Reaper himself, the reason Furze exists at all. The question really was, would the new record simply sound like a Furze record, and be dedicated to the spirit of Sabbath, or would it sound like Sabbath, with Reaper doing his best to evoke the same mood and might and majesty? Howabout a little of both?
Right off the bat, Reaper Subconscious Guide finds Furze doing his best Sabbath, but unlike the legions of Sabbath worshipping wannabes, Reaper is capable of capturing that seventies sound, the vibe, and the first track, while not sounding like Sabbath per se, it definitely sounds like it could be some demented lost seventies private press metal artifact. The riffing old school and Sabbathy, but everything else pure Furze, the drumming is super strange, mathy and stuttery and busy, the vocals, even weirder, a crooned mewl, no screeching or voKILLS, but proper (sort of proper) singing. The track is all over the map too, gongs, clean guitar strum, and finally, some black metal, but only sort of, instead, it sounds more like galloping classic metal, pounding and relentless, before the track shifts back to that Sabbath styled chug and croon, but this time lacing the sound with glockenspiel. Yep, glockenspiel. We can't think of a Furze record that would appeal to classic metal purists, and while this one might not either, it's about as close as Reaper will ever get.
The rest of the record follows a similar path, old school seventies hard rock guitar parts, wild chaotic drumming, the strange doomy croon vocals, some seriously killer riffs, twisted squiggly leads here and there, and it's Furze, so there's lots of random weird shit going on, not the least of which is the chiming bell like glockenspiel which surfaces at the oddest times.
The thing is, without the black metal baggage, if this was some recently unearthed lost doom artifact, people might be freaking out, the perfect balance of classic metal, damaged naivety, and freaked out psychedelic weirdness, makes this a twisted classic. Definitely the least black metal of all the Furze records, but just as awesomely weird and brilliantly baffling!
Lots of strange liner notes, and super swank sparkly reflective cover art/logo that ought to appeal to little girls everywhere.
MPEG Stream: "Earlier Than The Third Might Of The Cosmos"
MPEG Stream: "It Leads..."
MPEG Stream: "Immortal Lecture"

FURZE Trident Autocrat (Apocalyptic Empire) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We haven't had these in ages, but since Furze is some of our favorite far out black metal EVER, we figured we oughta relist it since we just now managed to get some more copies (and we might not be able to get any more after this as the label is pretty much sold out!). Here's how much we love this stuff (from when we listed it the first time a few years back):
Everybody went so nuts for the newest Furze record we listed recently we figured we oughta track down the first one as well. And it's just as freaked out and damaged and totally brilliant. Unlike the weird droning doom of Necromanzee Cogent, Trident Autocrat is all black metal. But that doesn't mean it's not as bizarre, because it most definitely is. The song titles again are totally perplexing: "Zaredoo Knives Endows Thy Sight", "Devacamo Possessed Black", "Witchboundator", "Scolopendraarise" and the lyrics and imagery are quite ridiculous as well. The logo, which features three witches brooms and the slogan: "Trident Black Metal Feast", the back of the record that features a long exposure swirl of light in a spooky hallway, and lines like "The overall vibration of the preacher, The way of sneaking teeth and hypocrisy, It's the destruction ritual of the holy trinity" all combine to form the perfect framework for one of the coolest weirdest black metal records ever. All the BM hallmarks are present, buzzing riffs, growled vocals, chaotic lightning speed bast beats, but the black metal of Furze turns these seemingly typical elements into completely insane musical madness. The growling vocals squirm and morph from demonic growl, to howled distant anguish, heavily reverbed as if they were being recorded at the bottom of a well, to maniacal gremlin like chatter, and creepy cartoony chanting. The riffs, are super affected and sometimes sound totally heavy, sometimes completely brittle, lo-fi and tinny one minute, buzzing and snarling the next. The most surprising thing is how damn catchy some of these riffs are. The first song has been stuck in my head like crazy, and unlike most black metal, you'll no doubt find yourself humming along. Only a half hour long, but so much wonderful weirdness is crammed into those 30 minutes you definitely won't be left wanting.
MPEG Stream: "Zaredoo Knives Endows Thy Sight"
MPEG Stream: "Devacamo Possessed Black"

FURZE Trident Autocrat (Candlelight) cd 13.98
We used to stock this when it was out on the Apocalyptic Empire empire label, sadly it went out of print but now Candlelight has reissued it (in a nice slipcase) along with Furze's other album Necromanzee Cogent (listed last time) so now y'all have another chance to dig the fucked up blackness of Trident Autocrat. Unfortunately, it's more expensive than it was before, but it's worth it, and at least we can get 'em at all!
Here's how much we love this stuff (from when we listed it the first time a few years back):
Everybody went so nuts for the newest Furze record we listed recently we figured we oughta track down the first one as well. And it's just as freaked out and damaged and totally brilliant. Unlike the weird droning doom of Necromanzee Cogent, Trident Autocrat is all black metal. But that doesn't mean it's not as bizarre, because it most definitely is. The song titles again are totally perplexing: "Zaredoo Knives Endows Thy Sight", "Devacamo Possessed Black", "Witchboundator", "Scolopendraarise" and the lyrics and imagery are quite ridiculous as well. The logo, which features three witches brooms and the slogan: "Trident Black Metal Feast", the back of the record that features a long exposure swirl of light in a spooky hallway, and lines like "The overall vibration of the preacher, The way of sneaking teeth and hypocrisy, It's the destruction ritual of the holy trinity" all combine to form the perfect framework for one of the coolest weirdest black metal records ever. All the BM hallmarks are present, buzzing riffs, growled vocals, chaotic lightning speed bast beats, but the black metal of Furze turns these seemingly typical elements into completely insane musical madness. The growling vocals squirm and morph from demonic growl, to howled distant anguish, heavily reverbed as if they were being recorded at the bottom of a well, to maniacal gremlin like chatter, and creepy cartoony chanting. The riffs, are super affected and sometimes sound totally heavy, sometimes completely brittle, lo-fi and tinny one minute, buzzing and snarling the next. The most surprising thing is how damn catchy some of these riffs are. The first song has been stuck in my head like crazy, and unlike most black metal, you'll no doubt find yourself humming along. Only a half hour long, but so much wonderful weirdness is crammed into those 30 minutes you definitely won't be left wanting.
MPEG Stream: "Zaredoo Knives Endows Thy Sight"
MPEG Stream: "Devacamo Possessed Black"

FURZE UTD: Beneath The Odd-Edge Sounds Of The Twilight Contract Of The Black Fascist / The Wealth Of The Penetration In The Abstract Paradigms Of Satan (Candlelight) cd 13.98
We talk a good game about different black metal bands being the weirdest or most fucked up, the most damaged, even the most retarded, and there are plenty of bands vying for that top spot, whether they know it or not. But the count is finally in. and Furze are the hands down winner. This latest blast of whatthefuck grimness proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Let us count the ways. This new record is in fact TWO new records, making the full title of the album UTD: Beneath The Odd-Edge Sounds Of The Twilight Contract Of The Black Fascist / The Wealth Of The Penetration In The Abstract Paradigms Of Satan. Phew. Then there's the song titles: "Demonic Order In The Eternal Fascist's Hall", "Beneath The Wings Of The Black Vomit Above", "Deep In The Pot Of Fresh Antipodal Weave"... and it only gets stranger. Besides the baffling lyrics inside there is also a warning: "Don't stop the Furzement! 'Furze' is the name of the blade on The Reaper's scythe. Furze is the one and only trademark of the one and only Reaper, made (that vibration in the whole wide world called) "music" !!! That fire which burns (Candlelight) and that which penetrates golden walls by organic thorns (Furze) supports to take heed approach the Reaper." Indeed. Then there is a completely confusing thanks list, some truly strange iconography, and finally the center panels of the booklet are simply an advertisement for Furze's other two albums (because apparently the original artwork, featuring a drawing of Jesus fucking Mohammed, was just too shocking). Alrightee then. All of that would be a bunch of pretentious crap, if the music didn't sound just as fucked up and demented. But it does, maybe even moreso.
It's hard to even explain what this sounds like, it is obviously black metal, lots of buzz, loads of distortion, blast beats, growled shrieked vocals, but every one of those elements is totally tweaked. The guitars first and foremost, tinny and razor sharp, slippery and all tangled up, impossibly convoluted riffs, produced in some weird way that allows the guitar to go from ear piercingly loud to murky and muddy, often in the same phrase. Then there are the drums, insane and splattery, blasting and octopoidal, sometimes a blast way down in the mix, sometimes a stumbling fill spilling out all over the next part. The vocals are similarly damaged, shrieking, growling, mumbling, howling, sometimes super distorted, sometimes sounding like they are being shrieked from a hundred yards away, sometimes it sounds like they are being spat right in your ear. And the production?! Holy fuck, drums explode swallowing the rest of the sound whole, before the song eventually blasts forth, the guitars duel with the vocals, a damaged dance to the death, it's almost like Faxed Head producing Benighted Leams, with occasional guitar contributions from Greg Ginn and a doped to the gills Yngvie, mix in some drunken fretless bass and some underwater yodeling vocal bits and some freaked out psychedelic guitar skree, all played through a tiny practice amp. The sounds, and the recording, and the concept, is it possible that this is all just accidental? No, it's TOO weird, too bafflingly obtuse, too perfectly skewed -- this guy is a genius. And the thing is that even within all this confusional sonic damage and demented blackness, these songs are catchy, really catchy, how can some convoluted buzzing slippery buzz saw riff get stuck permanently in your head? Or some shrieked line of obtuse black poetry? Only Woe J. Reaper, the man who is Furze, knows for sure.
So completely and utterly recommended. Black metal record of the year for sure...
MPEG Stream: "A Life About My Sabbath"
MPEG Stream: "Demonic Order In The Eternal Fascist's Hall"
MPEG Stream: "Mandragora Officinarum"

FURZE UTD: Beneath The Odd-Edge Sounds Of The Twilight Contract Of The Black Fascist / The Wealth Of The Penetration In The Abstract Paradigms Of Satan (Candlelight) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We talk a good game about different black metal bands being the weirdest or most fucked up, the most damaged, even the most retarded, and there are plenty of bands vying for that top spot, whether they know it or not. But the count is finally in. and Furze are the hands down winner. This latest blast of whatthefuck grimness proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Let us count the ways. This new record is in fact TWO new records, making the full title of the album UTD: Beneath The Odd-Edge Sounds Of The Twilight Contract Of The Black Fascist / The Wealth Of The Penetration In The Abstract Paradigms Of Satan. Phew. Then there's the song titles: "Demonic Order In The Eternal Fascist's Hall", "Beneath The Wings Of The Black Vomit Above", "Deep In The Pot Of Fresh Antipodal Weave"... and it only gets stranger. Besides the baffling lyrics inside there is also a warning: "Don't stop the Furzement! 'Furze' is the name of the blade on The Reaper's scythe. Furze is the one and only trademark of the one and only Reaper, made (that vibration in the whole wide world called) "music" !!! That fire which burns (Candlelight) and that which penetrates golden walls by organic thorns (Furze) supports to take heed approach the Reaper." Indeed. Then there is a completely confusing thanks list, some truly strange iconography, and finally the center panels of the booklet are simply an advertisement for Furze's other two albums (because apparently the original artwork, featuring a drawing of Jesus fucking Mohammed, was just too shocking). Alrightee then. All of that would be a bunch of pretentious crap, if the music didn't sound just as fucked up and demented. But it does, maybe even moreso.
It's hard to even explain what this sounds like, it is obviously black metal, lots of buzz, loads of distortion, blast beats, growled shrieked vocals, but every one of those elements is totally tweaked. The guitars first and foremost, tinny and razor sharp, slippery and all tangled up, impossibly convoluted riffs, produced in some weird way that allows the guitar to go from ear piercingly loud to murky and muddy, often in the same phrase. Then there are the drums, insane and splattery, blasting and octopoidal, sometimes a blast way down in the mix, sometimes a stumbling fill spilling out all over the next part. The vocals are similarly damaged, shrieking, growling, mumbling, howling, sometimes super distorted, sometimes sounding like they are being shrieked from a hundred yards away, sometimes it sounds like they are being spat right in your ear. And the production?! Holy fuck, drums explode swallowing the rest of the sound whole, before the song eventually blasts forth, the guitars duel with the vocals, a damaged dance to the death, it's almost like Faxed Head producing Benighted Leams, with occasional guitar contributions from Greg Ginn and a doped to the gills Yngvie, mix in some drunken fretless bass and some underwater yodeling vocal bits and some freaked out psychedelic guitar skree, all played through a tiny practice amp. The sounds, and the recording, and the concept, is it possible that this is all just accidental? No, it's TOO weird, too bafflingly obtuse, too perfectly skewed -- this guy is a genius. And the thing is that even within all this confusional sonic damage and demented blackness, these songs are catchy, really catchy, how can some convoluted buzzing slippery buzz saw riff get stuck permanently in your head? Or some shrieked line of obtuse black poetry? Only Woe J. Reaper, the man who is Furze, knows for sure.
So completely and utterly recommended. Black metal record of the year for sure...
MPEG Stream: "A Life About My Sabbath"
MPEG Stream: "Demonic Order In The Eternal Fascist's Hall"
MPEG Stream: "Mandragora Officinarum"

FUTUR SKULLZ s/t (Kemado) lp 21.00
It's taken us a while to get enough of these in to list, but it was well worth the wait, the debut full length from this Bay Area metal crust thrash outfit which features our pal Josh Smith, formerly of legendary SF black metal horde Weakling as well as the Fucking Champs and garage popsters the Makes Nice, as well as members of Face Down In Shit and Look Back And Laugh. The label has this to say about Futur Skullz: "They wish they sounded like Anti Cimex crossed with Whiplash, but in reality they probably sound more like Bad Brains and Metallica.", which we're guessing is a (not so?) humble way of saying they sort of sound like all of those. The Metallica thing is big for sure, but we're talking Kill Em All of course, the same sort of classic thrash riffing, plenty of chug, and some surprising hookiness, but the crust element is pretty huge too, which ultimately might eclipse their metal side. Are they punky metal, or metallic punk? Hardly matters really, the songs are heavy and metallic enough that most metalheads should be too busy headbanging to debate the finer subtleties, while this is definitely punk enough to hit the spot for the same folks who have been digging Acephalix, No Funeral, and the most recent spate of Southern Lord signees, all of which seems to be crust punk.
Did we mention solos? Smith gets to unleash the beast as they say, spitting off some seriously shredding solos, which definitely up the metal ante, and are Futur Skullz major selling point, but then that's all balanced by the vocals, a painful glass gargling throat shredding below that goes from gruff howl to near hysterical shriek.
Heavy as fuck and totally kick ass, and thus recommended for metalheads and punks alike.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, vinyl only, includes a download coupon.
MPEG Stream: "Five Year Plan"
MPEG Stream: "Waste Not Want Not"
MPEG Stream: "Funemployment"

FYRNASK Bluostar (Temple Of Torturous) cd 13.98
This is the debut from a one man black metal band from Germany with the odd moniker Fyrnask, and some of the coolest, weirdest most striking cover art we've seen in ages. In fact we were pretty much sold based on the artwork alone. A gorgeously drawn man, who on first glance seems to have a huge golden beard, but on closer inspection, those torrents of tangled hair are emerging from his eyes, and flip it over, and a similar explosion of 'hair' seems to be emerging from a body, like tentacles emerging from the face, and wrapping the body in their creepy golden embrace. We figured with artwork that weird and distinctive, the music would probably have to be too. And considering this is the same label that released the Echtra record (reviewed elsewhere on this week's list) as well as those killer Spectral Lore records from a while back.
And the sounds inside do not let us down, the opening intro is a gorgeous buzzing droned out opener, all clean steel string guitar and warm shards of effulgent shimmer, an almost post rock feel to the slow build, when the second track does finally kick in, it's dense and gnarled and furiously blackened, the riffing a black blur, cyclical and hypnotic, total tranced out heaviness, which occasionally blossoms into soaring melodic majesty, before slipping right back into that relentless buzz. And within that song, the sound shifts constantly, with clean choir like vocals, a loping midtempo stretch before some spare fluttery almost folk, and a final blast of frenzied black riffing.
And so it goes, darkly ominous super cinematic drones give way to dirgey black doom, which in turn explodes into roiling black buzz, all the various parts hot through with subtle (and not so subtle) melody, some stretches sound almost choral, others swirly and psychedelic, still others creepy and otherworldly, the best parts of the record where the metal and non metal parts bleed into one another, like on the nearly 11 minute title track, which finds the metal slowed down to a dirge like crawl, while those choir like vocals surface beneath the swirling buzz, the result darkly dramatic and strangely lovely.
MPEG Stream: "At Fornu Fari"
MPEG Stream: "Evige Stier"
MPEG Stream: "Bergar"

G.A.T.E.S, THE Total Death (DIWPhalanx) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Black cover, gothic font, song titles like "Long Live Evil", "Filth" and "Demon Crusade". Some scary metal, what? Yep, brought to us by the DIW Phalanx label, home to Boris, Green Machine and Church of Misery. And indeed it's members of Japanese doom merchants Church of Misery in The G.A.T.E.S, allowing their love of '80s thrash and, especially, Motorhead full reign on this slayin' side project. 'Tis ass-kicking thrash n' roll, full of pounding, prowling intensity. And weirdly/awesomely enough, the heavy stoner-rock guitar of CoM still somehow bursts out in this assault. Y'know how Boris has morphed the Venom logo into their own for T-shirts and picture discs? Well this sounds like what the imaginary Boris version of Venom might sound like... Heavy as heck, classically-riffed, and rockin' at speed -- complete with a Lemmylike gargle for vocals. Gives Japan's other '80s metal worshipping throwbacks Metalucifer/Sabbat a run for their money.
This import cd combines all the tracks from two rare The G.A.T.E.S releases (the High Society Satanic Rock 12", that we're told was limited to 300 copies and the Demonliction 1 demo cassette, limited to 77) plus a bonus track -- the disc's raging closing cover of Motorhead's "Overkill", appropriately enough. If High On Fire's latest Blessed Black Wings gets (rightly) tagged as doom metal meets thrash meets Motorhead, this slots right in there too, and is a purer, more basic, in yr face distillation of said influences. Play loud, headbangers!
MPEG Stream: "G.A.T.E.S"
MPEG Stream: "Sacrifice"

GAAHLSKAGG Erotic Funeral (No Colours Records) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Very fucked up black metal nastiness from members of Gorgoroth (so if you thought *they* were fucked up, wait 'til you hear this evil noise).

GADGET The Funeral March (Relapse) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Choked"
MPEG Stream: "Feed On Lies"
MPEG Stream: "Requiem"

GALLERY OF THE GROTESQUE Issue 5 magazine 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the man behind two of our favorite labels, the now defunct Starlight Temple Society, and post STS label Khrysanthoney, comes this hefty metal tome. We're discovering GOTG on issue 5, perhaps the final issue, for now at least, we're a little late to the party, not sure how we missed the first four, cuz this definitely has tons of awesome stuff in it, and seems like anyone who has been digging Oaken Throne (R.I.P.), Rape & Honey, The Convivial Hermit, Forgotten Path, not to mention the recently compiled / reissued Slayer mag as well as all the other recent (and not so recent) kick ass underground metal mags, would definitely dig this too.
Nicely laid out, the whole thing printed white on black paper (very metal), with lots of pix, and band logos, and drawings, a handful of record reviews, with reviews often separated into different categories, with different reviews for production, music and vocals, and he even reviews a bunch of his own releases. But the crux of the mag is interviews, this time around with Destruktor, Black Witchery, Nyogthaeblisz, Yosuke from Nuclear War Now!, Forgotten Woods / Joyless, Velvet Cacoon, Jon from Full Moon Productions, Nightbringer, Perversor, Ignivomous, Dead Congregation, Deiphago, John Mincemoyer, who is 1/2 of the team that produced all time aQ beloved metal zine Oaken Throne, Black Majesty, Ares Kingdom, Crimson Moon, Goatlord, Maledicere, Profanatica, Roba El-Khaliyeh, Wolfhetan, the Ajna Offensive, and finally an interview with black metal illustrator Kramer (who also plays in Grand Belial's Key and runs the musically cool but otherwise highly problematic Satanic Skinhead Propaganda label), plus probably most strangely of all, an interview with, and a bit of brutal erotica / S&M fiction from, the writer Maija, whose story is accompanied by some high school binder style pencil drawings of a woman being tied up and hung from hooks. Well the magazine IS called Gallery Of The Grotesque, after all.
For the most part, essential metal reading for sure. And it has us definitely hoping for an issue six...
Comes with a cd sampler of releases on the Hell's Headbangers label...

GALLHAMMER Gloomy Lights (Goatsucker / Diablos) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hmmm... This band should be an easy sell, really. Start with this: DOOM. A la Hellhammer (Tom G. Warrior's adolescent pre-Celtic Frost outfit that helped pioneer death/doom metal from a basement in Switzerland back in the early eighties), Eyehategod, and maybe Corrupted too. They're Japanese (so we can make more Corrupted comparisons). And this trio consists entirely of girls. One of our distros described Gallhammer thusly: "All female Japanese Hellhammer worship Band. Not ugly girls doing ugly, ugly music!". The high-contrast black and white photo on the back cover of band members Mika Penetrator (guitar/vocals), Vivian Slaughter (bass/vocals), and Risa Reaper (drums) reveals that "not ugly" comment apparently to be correct, with some vaguely corpse-paint-like mascara adding to their sex appeal. Not that that should be the selling point. After all, listening to this, you'd have *no idea* they were female. Throaty, demonic screams belch forth amidst pummelling drum battery and distorted, feedbacking guitar. Female? Male? They don't even sound human, really. Though the emotions expressed are all too human. Nihilistic bleak hateful depressive stuff. It's raw, primitive doom that captures that Hellhammer vibe by following a similar learning curve as those guys did back in the '80s -- Gallhammer's offical bio on their website states: "Feburary 2003: We start Gallhammer" followed by "Feburary 2003: Each member start to play instrument." And then Gloomy Lights was recorded in 2004. Yep, what Gallhammer does is simple and effective: heavy, plodding music and rough, croaking vocals, with plenty of ominous ambience in the breaks and build-ups. There's eight grim and spooky tracks here culminating in the 10-minute "Color Of Coma", which features a great deal of atmospheric drone. Think Hellhammer meets Angelblood, perhaps.
Look out for a new Gallhammer album this year to be released by Peaceville.
MPEG Stream: "Crucifixion"
MPEG Stream: "Endless Nauseous Days"

GALLHAMMER Gloomy Lights (Peaceville) cd 17.98
REISSUED, in a new, deluxe edition! This was the debut from these Hellhammer worshipping Japanese ladies. (We bet they all got copies of the Only Death Is Real book reviewed elsewhere on this week's list!) This new edition of Gloomy Lights comes packaged in a fancy hardback digibook kind of thing, all white with metallic silver and black print.
And it boasts 2 rare bonus tracks, "Blossom In The Raven River" and "Lust Satan Death". Nice. Here's what we wrote about it when we first heard Gallhammer, five years ago:
Hmmm... This band should be an easy sell, really. Start with this: DOOM. A la Hellhammer (Tom G. Warrior's adolescent pre-Celtic Frost outfit that helped pioneer death/doom metal from a basement in Switzerland back in the early eighties), Eyehategod, and maybe Corrupted too. They're Japanese (so we can make more Corrupted comparisons). And this trio consists entirely of girls. One of our distros described Gallhammer thusly: "All female Japanese Hellhammer worship Band. Not ugly girls doing ugly, ugly music!". The high-contrast black and white photo on the back cover of band members Mika Penetrator (guitar/vocals), Vivian Slaughter (bass/vocals), and Risa Reaper (drums) reveals that "not ugly" comment apparently to be correct, with some vaguely corpse-paint-like mascara adding to their sex appeal. Not that that should be the selling point. After all, listening to this, you'd have *no idea* they were female. Throaty, demonic screams belch forth amidst pummelling drum battery and distorted, feedbacking guitar. Female? Male? They don't even sound human, really. Though the emotions expressed are all too human. Nihilistic bleak hateful depressive stuff. It's raw, primitive doom that captures that Hellhammer vibe by following a similar learning curve as those guys did back in the '80s - Gallhammer's offical bio on their website states: "February 2003: We start Gallhammer" followed by "Feburary 2003: Each member start to play instrument." And then Gloomy Lights was recorded in 2004. Yep, what Gallhammer does is simple and effective: heavy, plodding music and rough, croaking vocals, with plenty of ominous ambience in the breaks and build-ups. There's eight grim and spooky tracks here culminating in the 10-minute "Color Of Coma", which features a great deal of atmospheric drone. Think Hellhammer meets Angelblood, perhaps.
MPEG Stream: "Crucifixion"
MPEG Stream: "Endless Nauseous Days"

GALLHAMMER Ill Innocence (Peaceville) cd 16.98
May as well re-list the cd while we're at it (the brand new import vinyl version is being listed nearby).
Ok, hopefully all of you into dooooooooooooooooom have heeded our recommendations in the past ("best band EVER" we may have said, in a moment of infatuation) and are already well acquainted with this cult Japanese band who exude a magnificently miserable mixture of slow, atmospheric doominess and crusty black metal thrashing, inspired by the likes of Celtic Frost/Hellhammer (natch), Amebix, and Corrupted. This is their 2nd full-length studio album, following 2004's Gloomy Lights debut and last year's The Dawn Of Gallhammer demos n' live cd+dvd collection. That's the one where we busted out the Simpsons Comic Book Guy impersonation in our review, but it's this album that really seals the deal, when it comes to Gallhammer's position in the pantheon of most depressive doom bands ever, anyway. They're up there, no doubt about it, as is proved by this collection of ten tracks, each one of 'em often (but not always) a slow-motion trudge through the depths of emotional bleakness in the form of monotonously massive low-end guitar riffage, wretched cookie monster screams, and simple, gloomy melodies. Several of the song titles are quite indicative of their sound: "Long Scary Dream", "SLOG", "Ripper In The Gloom"... Many of these varied tracks feature a dynamic combination of knock-you-over-with-a-feather soft n' sad prettiness setting you up for some smash-you-with-a-hammer heaviness, or even manage both at the same time. It's the former element, this band's almost post-rock instrumental mesmeric moodiness, for which we think Gallhammer should be best noted. Not that it has any of post-rock's usual complexity, this is raw and primal and ritualistic, perfectly encapsulated by the way the stark, repetitive slowcore acoustic guitar part at the start of "Ripper In The Gloom" suddenly, shockingly gives way to a full-on punk rock assault.
It also seems possible that Gallhammer, along with their interest in underground '80s doom-crust, also shares some of the Velvet Underground fixation displayed by their contemporaries from the Japanese psych-rock scene, like LSD-march and Doodles. Heck, track one, the nearly eight minute "At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair" seems to have echoes of VU's "Venus In Furs"... If one of Gallhammer's songs wound up on a PSF Tokyo Flashback comp someday we'd be surprised, yes, but only a little. Though it sure wouldn't be a track like "Killed By The Queen" or "Blind My Eyes", two of the punked out, filthy metal blitzes on here, the latter of which throws in some uncharacteristic Melt-Banana style yelping, dogwhistle vocals along with the usual guttural grunting and growling.
Hey, we made it all the way to the end of this review without mentioning Gallhammer's major non-musical selling point... we said they're a "cult" band above, but were tempted to say "cute", as this trio just happen to all be attractive young Japanese ladies, their looks further enhanced by the tasteful application of gothy corpsepaint makeup. No this fact doesn't make Gallhammer's music sound any better (or worse) but it's, um, interesting. Happily, though, Peaceville isn't using Gallhammer's sex appeal to sell this album, there's not even any pictures of the band at all included in this classy-lookin' white-and-silver digipack. Recommended nonetheless!
MPEG Stream: "SLOG"
MPEG Stream: "Killed By The Queen"
MPEG Stream: "Ripper In The Gloom"

GALLHAMMER Ill Innocence (Peaceville) 2lp 28.00
NOW ON VINYL! We like this band so much, Allan ordered a Gallhammer poster all the way from England for Andee's Christmas present... They're totally deserving of the deluxe double gatefold import vinyl treatment. This is their most recent album, here's the review of the cd version when we first listed it last year:
Ok, hopefully all of you into dooooooooooooooooom have heeded our recommendations in the past ("best band EVER" we may have said, in a moment of infatuation) and are already well acquainted with this cult Japanese band who exude a magnificently miserable mixture of slow, atmospheric doominess and crusty black metal thrashing, inspired by the likes of Celtic Frost/Hellhammer (natch), Amebix, and Corrupted. This is their 2nd full-length studio album, following 2004's Gloomy Lights debut and last year's The Dawn Of Gallhammer demos n' live cd+dvd collection. That's the one where we busted out the Simpsons Comic Book Guy impersonation in our review, but it's this album that really seals the deal, when it comes to Gallhammer's position in the pantheon of most depressive doom bands ever, anyway. They're up there, no doubt about it, as is proved by this collection of ten tracks, each one of 'em often (but not always) a slow-motion trudge through the depths of emotional bleakness in the form of monotonously massive low-end guitar riffage, wretched cookie monster screams, and simple, gloomy melodies. Several of the song titles are quite indicative of their sound: "Long Scary Dream", "SLOG", "Ripper In The Gloom"... Many of these varied tracks feature a dynamic combination of knock-you-over-with-a-feather soft n' sad prettiness setting you up for some smash-you-with-a-hammer heaviness, or even manage both at the same time. It's the former element, this band's almost post-rock instrumental mesmeric moodiness, for which we think Gallhammer should be best noted. Not that it has any of post-rock's usual complexity, this is raw and primal and ritualistic, perfectly encapsulated by the way the stark, repetitive slowcore acoustic guitar part at the start of "Ripper In The Gloom" suddenly, shockingly gives way to a full-on punk rock assault.
It also seems possible that Gallhammer, along with their interest in underground '80s doom-crust, also shares some of the Velvet Underground fixation displayed by their contemporaries from the Japanese psych-rock scene, like LSD-march and Doodles. Heck, track one, the nearly eight minute "At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair" seems to have echoes of VU's "Venus In Furs"... If one of Gallhammer's songs wound up on a PSF Tokyo Flashback comp someday we'd be surprised, yes, but only a little. Though it sure wouldn't be a track like "Killed By The Queen" or "Blind My Eyes", two of the punked out, filthy metal blitzes on here, the latter of which throws in some uncharacteristic Melt-Banana style yelping, dogwhistle vocals along with the usual guttural grunting and growling.
Hey, we made it all the way to the end of this review without mentioning Gallhammer's major non-musical selling point... we said they're a "cult" band above, but were tempted to say "cute", as this trio just happen to all be attractive young Japanese ladies, their looks further enhanced by the tasteful application of gothy corpsepaint makeup. No this fact doesn't make Gallhammer's music sound any better (or worse) but it's, um, interesting. Happily, though, Peaceville isn't using Gallhammer's sex appeal to sell this album, there's not even any pictures of the band at all included in this classy-lookin' white-and-silver package. Recommended nonetheless!
MPEG Stream: "SLOG"
MPEG Stream: "Killed By The Queen"
MPEG Stream: "Ripper In The Gloom"

GALLHAMMER Ruin Of A Church (Peaceville) dvd 12.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Every metalhead we know has been freaking out over Hellhammer worshipping all girl crusty black metal outfit Gallhammer. And for good reason, the dew spit up a filthy sludgey blackened pound, that pays proper homage to the 'Hammer that came before. But truth be told, there is a bit of novelty to their appeal, hard to argue with three young cute Japanese girls in bullet belts and Amebix shirts, adorned in spikes and smeared black raccoon eye makeup, making this gloriously unholy racket. And we'd be lying if we didn't admit to at least a few aQ staffers having a bit of a metal girl crush on Ms. Vivian Slaughter.
Thus, those not afforded the luxury of actually seeing Gallhammer play live, have been clamoring for a live video. The music is awesome, but somehow more awesome when that harsh hellish howl is coming out of such a diminutive frontwoman, and this din is being produced by this all female trio. So here you have it, Gallhammer, performing live, like the title says in "the ruin of a church", the band set up upon the altar, in front of glowing stained glass windows, pretty striking visually for sure, and the sound is fantastic, thick and chuggy, pounding and blackened, the vocals a blasphemous presence in this house of God. BUT, the band aren't all that exciting to watch play. They don't headbang, they don't jump around or thrash wildly, and to be fair, maybe this music doesn't lend itself to that sort of action. Instead the band sort of sway back and forth, entranced, occasionally stepping to the mic to bellow hellishly (and it's revealed that both axeslingers have wails that could peel paint!). So minus any sort of extreme action, it is mesmerizing, helped along by the massive riffs and pounding rhythms, the whole band conjuring up some early eighties demons and channeling them into filthy crusty buzz.
There are plenty of extras, two other live shows, a bunch of videos (that are mostly the band rocking out live, but they rock out WAY harder for the camera), a photo gallery (!), and a band interview, but again, it's slow going as it's subtitled, and being translated, so there's plenty of waiting for questions, answers, and nothing wild or shocking, just a mellow conversation, interesting for sure, but not mind blowing.
But so what. It's GALLHAMMER!!! And for all our minor kvetching, this disc is pretty cool, and for now, as close as we're gonna get to sweating and swaying wildly in the pit at a Gallhammer show, and certainly as close as we'll ever get to actually talking to Vivian. Swooooon. So yeah, recommended.

GALLHAMMER The Dawn Of Gallhammer (Peaceville) cd + dvd 16.98
In the voice of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons: "Best band EVER."
No, we're not actually implying an endorsement of Gallhammer by Comic Book Guy. But, IF Comic Book Guy was into old school death/black/doom metal and crusty punk (which, we'd imagine he probably isn't) -and- was really into cute Japanese girls (which, chances are, he is), then, well, Gallhammer would be one of his favorite bands. We can't help but like 'em lot ourselves. We reviewed their debut cd Gloomy Lights back on list 235, and pointed out then that while a trio of cute, Japanese girls with raccoon eyes playing in the style of '80s doom pioneers Hellhammer was an obvious high-concept selling point, from -listening- to it you sure couldn't tell they were cute or even female. But you could tell that their music was utterly grim and wretched and heavy as hell, which for us was enough to recommend it. Glacial riffs, pounding drums, atmospheric breaks, deathly croaks... raw and primitive and very effective!
We also reported that they'd gotten signed to Peaceville, who have cleverly determined that the best way to introduce Gallhammer to the masses isn't with a new album (still upcoming) but with this, a collection of demos and rehearsal tracks. Oh, and with a DVD disc of live performances. That's the clever part. Once you see vocalist/bassist Vivian Slaughter in her Celtic Frost t-shirt, staring blankly into space and grunting inhumanly into the microphone, you'll be smitten. Or watch drummer Risa Reaper thrash her kit, providing back-up screams too. Or witness guitarist Mika Penetrator (Amebix t-shirt for her) crank out the riffage whilst contributing blood-curdling vokills as well... it's all over. Is there a fan club? Where do we sign up? Seriously, though, the live footage is convincing. They're a killer band. And have a great sense of theatrics, looking so much like those spooky girls you always see in Japanese horror films with their long black hair and hollow eyes.
The DVD features 24 songs from six shows filmed at various venues in Japan between 2005 and 2006. Some are pro shot (the show at Okayama Pepper Land which is presented in its entirety) and others are more bootleggy lookin' but still perfectly acceptable. And there's also a photo gallery of stills to stimulate more fanboy drool.
Meanwhile, on the audio disc, you get twelve tracks including two exclusive demos of (brutal) brand new songs, along with rarities going back to before the Gloomy Lights album. If you've heard Gallhammer before, you know this is gonna be crushing. Far from cartoonish. If you haven't heard 'em, this a good place to enter their haunted world of misanthropic moody metal. Imagine if Unsane, Corrupted and Zeni Geva got together in a cave to make the soundtrack to some freaky J-horror flick, after listening to nothing but Tom G. Warrior's earliest output and the occasional Velvet Underground album for inspiration. Cool, eh?
MPEG Stream: "At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair"
MPEG Stream: "Beyond The Hate Red"

GALLHAMMER The End (Peaceville) cd 17.98
This ultra kvlt (and, we must admit, quite kvte!) all-girl Japanese band who play the blackened "metal of death" in a most dirgey and crusty stylee, inspired by (no duh) '80s death/doom pioneers Hellhammer, have returned after 4 years with a new album - titled with some finality The End, though let's hope it ain't. If you're an AQ customer with a pulse, at all into the doomy and dank, you're probably already a Gallhammer fan and are 'adding to cart' as we speak. If at all hesitant, the abysmal buzz and clank of going nowhere not so fast opener "The End" ought to convince you! With that title track out of the way, the Gallhammer gals (now the duo of bassist/vocalist Vivian Slaughter & drummer Risa Reaper, former guitarist Mika Penetrator having left after 2007's Ill Innocence) pick up the pace a bit on the next even more brutal number "Rubbish CG202" (one of several weird, partly numeric song titles on the album, btw), and vary between a flashing stroboscopic throb and molasses creepy crawl throughout this disc, the rhythms more a function of fluctuation in the overlaying distortion field than anything else. The vokills vary too, from rasping guttural anguish to some disturbing yelps (on "Aberration") and even almost actual singing (on "Sober").
The truth is, Gallhammer aren't really so much a metal band, as they are purveyors of nihilistic noise rock, having as much or more in common with the likes of Kevin Drumm, Wolf Eyes, Prurient, Sister Iodine, Aufgehoben No Process, Brainbombs, etc. as they do with the aforementioned Hellhammer, and other old school metal/punk artists whose T-shirts they're often seen wearing, like Amebix. The final cut, the ten+ minute "108=7/T-NA" is perhaps the weirdest, most WTF?, featuring some frightening saxophone textures, played by Ms. Slaughter... but don't worry, this is neither smooth nor jazz!! Just more grinding terror, the end of The End going to the utter extreme of experimental yet primitive doomdrone metal. Damn. We're falling in love with Gallhammer all over again.
MPEG Stream: "The End"
MPEG Stream: "Rubbish CG 202"
MPEG Stream: "Aberration"

GAMA BOMB Citizen Brain (Earache) cd 16.98
Everything we've read about these Brits says thrash, thrash, thrash, and lists Nuclear Assault and Sodom as possible comparisons. Hmm, not untrue, but we're also hearing some weird, super-fun frat party version of early Slayer and Metallica. Lyrically, it's all beer and thrash. Yeah! Song titles like " Zombie Blood Nightmare," "Sentenced to Thrash," and "In the Court of General Zod" kinda say it all. Okay, maybe the most distinctive moment is on "Zombi Brew," on which they talk about "beer and brains." Yes, it's a zombie party where they're getting all "I love you, man!" and eyeballing people's brains. The band also encourages listeners to "put on your bullet belt, time to thrash like it's 1986." They're putting it out there. You're either into it, or you're not. But if you are, this is pretty fucking awesome! Includes bonus DVD while supplies last, haven't watched it yet, probably lots of gore and/or beer being spilled.
MPEG Stream: "Zombi Brew"
MPEG Stream: "Sentenced to Thrash"

GAMMELSAETER, RUNHILL Amplicon (Utech) cd 16.98
She of Thorr's Hammer fame!

GANGRENATOR Tales From A Thousand Graves (Apocalyptic Empire) cd 8.98
You kinda know what you're getting into with a band name like Gangrenator, and a title like Tales From A Thousand Graves, not to mention the eye popping cover art, some sort of demonic battle between a feather headed monster (that looks a bit like Iron Maiden's Eddie), and a huge muscled and horned behemoth, surrounded by rainbow colored skulls, blue faced yetis, and sword wielding Viking skull demons, okay, maybe you don't know -exactly- what you're getting into, but it's a safe bet, it's gonna be heavy and brutal. Which Gangrenator's debut indeed is, a blasting thrashing grinding onslaught of howled, glass gargling vokills, that sound a bit like a way meaner and blackened Lemmy; churning downtuned riffage; and some seriously chaotic skull caving programmed drum damage. A swirling frantic avalanche of grinding death metal / metallic grind, depending on the track, some jams are furious metal blow outs, complete with wild howling guitar leads; others are gnarled blasts of tangled grind freakout, super complex arrangements and some serious metal chops all wound into a crusty blackened crush.
Make sense really as these just aren't any grinders, these guys have a serious metal pedigree: Dodheimsgard, Decrepit Spectre and Code among others, big time aQ faves, but here, ditching their avant metal leanings and getting filthy, indulging in some serious downtuned caveman pound and pummel, and we're digging it big time.
MPEG Stream: "Taste The Skull"
MPEG Stream: "Irradiated Renegades"
MPEG Stream: "Dr. Mangler"

GARADAMA 1 (Alchemy) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Garadama is a hitherto unknown to us, super heavy metallic rock trio from Japan, making their debut on Osaka's Alchemy label (home to albums by Hijo Kaidan, Merzbow, Masonna, Angel 'In Heavy Syrup among others). They're not unlike a more modern-sounding version of prior Alchemy recording artists and retro '70s psych heavies Subvert Blaze (which makes sense, since we just figured out that this is the new band of the guitarist/singer of Subvert Blaze). Less obscurely, Garadama specialize in Sabbathy riff-doom, with every song managing to remind us of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man", no bad thing. A FIEND IS LIVING IN MY BRAIN!!! (That's one of their song titles, and I believe it...) For fans of Boris, EyeHateGod, Zeni Geva, and the abovementioned!
Note we said: for fans of Boris.
RealAudio clip: "A Fiend Is Living In My Brain"
RealAudio clip: "The Sun Rises"

GARADAMA II (Fiend's Shrine) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A couple years ago, all the Boris / Corrupted / Eyehategod / Zeni Geva fans here at AQ were pleased to discover the debut cd from this band Garadama, released on the Osaka based, eclectic noise/psych label Alchemy. Super heavy riffage, distorted fuzzed out walls of DOOOOM guitar, crashing into your brain with the force of a frantic fiend (as per their song "A Fiend Is Living In My Brain"). Great stuff for everyone into the HEAVY (and no surprise, seeing as how the band featured the former singer/guitarist from the very Sabbatherian outfit Subvert Blaze). So, we've been waiting, and had begun to wonder what had happened to them. Well, suddenly and thankfully, we've got import copies of their brand new second album, as you can tell by the title. Again it's an onslaught of monster dirge crunch distorto sludge, swinging from Sabbathy groove to spooky, droning ambience... plus a dose of that special Japanese weirdness we love. Tracks like "Dogma" parts 1 and 2 are ultra-spooky and almost black metal, while the band display their rockin' side on the likes of the riffy "Who Does Try To Kill A Man?".
The album is not over-long, but their doom is deep, and we're sure Garadama would hold their own in any contest with countryfolk Green Machine and Boris... We should mention also that the nasally strangled doom vocals and the twistedness of their heaviness here reminds Andee of old faves Alice Donut! Recommended, doom fanatics.
MPEG Stream: "Dragon's Shrine"
MPEG Stream: "Soliloquy"

GARDEN OF WORM s/t (Shadow Kingdom) cd 14.98
Two words: Finland, Doom. Think Reverend Bizarre style doom, specifically. That's where this Finnish band is coming from, on their debut full length for the Shadow Kingdom label (who remind us, in a handwritten note: "Shadow Kingdom always puts out unique metal"). Garden Of Worm, a trio that includes two members of post rock prog metallers Blueprint Human Being, whom you'll remember from their Paradigms release, aren't so unique that they don't remind us of those aforementioned fellow Finns Reverend Bizarre (RIP), with deep, declamatory vocals and heavy Sabbathy riffage, but they do have their own way of doing the doom thing, the guitar parts having a sometimes urgent, eerily off-kilter psychedelic post rock edge to 'em (reminding us of the genius of the late great Ved Buens Ende at times), with post rock loud-soft dynamics factoring into the songwriting as well, Garden Of Worm being blissfully dreamy and/or utterly crushing depending on just where you drop the (virtual) needle on a track like "Psychic Wolves". Elsewhere, experimental droneworks veer right into raging headbanging fare (specifically, towards the end of one of this disc's several epics, "The Black Clouds"). And one of the tracks here, "Rays Of Heaven", is entirely a placid, all-acoustic instrumental. Yet as post- and prog- as they can be, GoW are first and foremost a trudging traditional doom metal band, conjuring up the old school likes of The Obsessed (with a smidge of a Pentagram-y riff mixed in) on "The Ceremony", for instance. A band that's melodic, emotive, intelligent, maybe we'd even call them "psychological", what with some of the lyrics. But all in all to sum 'em up, with another word that's none of those, nor doom, nor Finland: there's something GLORIOUS about this band. Gloomy but grandly glorious. Recommended, especially if you like Reverend Bizarre, The Obsessed, Apostle Of Solitude, Fall Of The Idols...
Very nice b&w Justin Bartlett cover art, too, by the way! (Presumably that's a PSYCHIC wolf.)
MPEG Stream: "Spirits Of The Dead"
MPEG Stream: "The Ceremony"
MPEG Stream: "The Black Clouds "

GARFIELD STEEL Darkness Freedom (Karkia Mistika / Super Metsa /Tosi Raju) cd 14.98
Here in America, the name Garfield makes us think of an assassinated 19th century President, and a cartoon cat - and not necessarily in that order. Some might also recall that Garfield is Henry Rollins' real last name. But fans of the tongue-in-cheek musical genre from Finland known as the "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal", spawned by several Circle side-projects, should know another Garfield - Garfield Steel, the distinctive, drawling lead singer of NWOFHM standard bearers Steel Mammoth. And now here we have Garfield Steel's solo debut! Like his work in Steel Mammoth, this both is and isn't exactly metal; a (parodic?) sort-of-metal is part of it for sure but there's a lot more going on. Weird, synth-laden indie pop boogie would also describe it, a bit.
Several "synthesizerists" are listed in this album's credits, and boy do they synthesizerize. Also quite often the electronic drums and/or drum machines are locked in overdrive - the track "Memory Rhythm" gets almost Digital Hardcore with its noisy, speedy distortion/destruction. But this onslaught of eccentric electro-metal & lo-fi synth punk is very poppy too, head noddingly so, mellowing out at times as well. Along with all the electronics, Garfield Steel's hoarse melodic crooning is of course also a big part of the sound, delivering (just as he does in Steel Mammoth) some truly ridiculous lyrics to go with great, silly song titles such as "Nuclear Retard" and "Skullfist Emperor".
Fans of Steel Mammoth's over the top absurdity and catchy riffing and occasional detours into dreaminess will be right at home here, in other words, even if the sonic palette of GS's solo effort is a little bit different. And it becomes evident that the NWOFHM 'thing' is as much Garfield's doing, as it is Circle's...
Oh, and fyi, NWOFHM fans, Jussi from Circle also has a new, VERY metal band called Arkhamin Kirjasto. Their debut cd Torches Ablaze just came out on his Ektro label, we have just a few in stock right now...
MPEG Stream: "Boogie Eclipse"
MPEG Stream: "Memory Rhythm"
MPEG Stream: "Second Sign Of The Shark"

GARGANTULA Infinitasm (Gargantula Music) cd 14.98
Debut from the band that used to be Spaceboy! Very Spaceboy-like, a weird space-punk-metal mix.

GARGOTHERON Black Metal Supreme (200mg) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another killer release from the 200mg label, this one a seriously grim slab of raw primitive black metal from of all places, Arizona. Just to make sure you know where this blackness hails from, the opening track begins with a seriously desert-y intro, all rattlesnake rattles and howling coyotes, chirping crickets and croaking frogs, while all around swirl haunting black rumbles and a growling monstrous like demonic rasp, a distant pulse beats like a black heart, until the band finally kicks in. Suddenly we're in a swirling squall of ultra raw buzz and thrash. Think Bone Awl, Ildjarn, Zarach'Baal'Tharagh, the guitars furiously buzzing, the drums spastic and hyperkinetic and way up in the mix, giving the music at times, a Lightning Bolt / Ruins vibe. Imagine a black metal Ruins, or Brian Chippendale drumming for Bone Awl.
The tracks are separated by brief ambient interludes filled with random clatter and amp buzz, room noise and tape hiss, it's weird, most bands unfurl some weird creepy drones as interludes, but here it sounds like the band just kept the tape running between tracks, while they adjusted, tuned, futzed around, but weirdly enough it has a similarly ominous effect.
The songs though, exhaustingly relentless, furiously buzzy, insanely fast and thrashing, a snarling gnarled mass of noise drenched complex mathy blackness, that spends as much time locked into looped sounding repetitive riffing as it does spazzing out. What else can we say, if we didn't have you at "Lightning Bolt meets Bone Awl" then we give up. Needless to say, fucking awesome.
LIMITED TO 106 COPIES! Packaged in a cool oversized screenprinted cardstock booklet, inside a 12 page printed black and white booklet with lyrics and stark images of forests and mountains, the whole thing held between two pieces of cardboard, the front printed with the band name and record title, all tied up with rough twine.
MPEG Stream: "Enter Into The Necrowash Of Darkness"
MPEG Stream: "Forest Of Grimness In The Necro-Desert"

GATES OF SLUMBER The Ice Worm's Lair (Slumbering Souls/Superhero) 12" 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
These Midwestern doom kings unleash a limited edition, vinyl-only 4-song 12" ep, boasting a cool, creepy, splattery cover painting of the titular Ice Worm. The A-side consists of the track "Ice Worm" from their recent Conqueror opus, natch, plus a new song called "Something You Can Never Know", also an uber-heavy number solidly in GoS's tradition of old school, "Conan crushing doom" metal.
Another GoS tradition is doing worshipful covers of songs by bands that have influenced them, such as St. Vitus, Manilla Road and Samhain. So, the B-side here features two kick ass cover tunes reflecting GoS's deep respect for their slightly less underground metallic forefathers from back in the '80s - they do "Flight Of Icarus" by Iron Maiden and "Egypt (The Chains Are On)" by Dio!! Way cool.
LIMITED to 500 copies.

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE Conqueror (Profound Lore) cd 14.98
Indiana's The Gates Of Slumber, by dint of sheer old school "trueness" are quickly becoming the most happenin' American traditional doom metal band around, with a weighty onslaught of releases, this latest coming our way via Canada's equally happenin' Profound Lore label. It's another slab of sludgy yet melodic heavy metal in the downer-psych tradition of St. Vitus and Reverend Bizarre... with all the usual ye olde cult metal and pulpy literary influences. What makes 'em so true is that they play for a very defined audience of likeminded souls, caring more about doing their doom RIGHT than any other more conventional measure of rock n' roll success (radio play? magazine covers? groupies? no, definitely not, this is way too geeky). It's almost emo that way. So serious and sincere.
Vocally this has got strains of Wino (Spirit Caravan, The Obsessed, you know), and lyrically TGOS are inspired mainly by Swords & Sorcery fiction, though topical subjects like the genocide in Darfur are also addressed. The album's grand finale is a 16 and a half minute long "Dark Valley Suite" dedicated to Conan creator Robert E. Howard, even including a section with words taken from a Howard poem... we like that the song is really more about Howard the tragically mortal human being, and is not simply another celebration of his mighty and barbaric fictional hero.
The cd booklet is interesting, in addition to lyrics for every song, a detailed track-by-track commentary is provided, almost making review-writing redundant when the band's vocalist/guitarist is describing each song as having certain influences or whatnot. For instance, talking about the track "Ice Worm", he says "the riff reminds me of Orodruin and Cirith Ungol fighting with Budgie and Quartz... Ross The Boss steps in playing a Dio hook for the chorus"... well that's all of course too good to be true but still if you know and care about the artists he mentions there, then there's a good chance you're gonna dig The Gates Of Slumber!! Likewise, if you're into R.E. Howard & Conan and stuff like that...
MPEG Stream: "Trapped In The Web"
MPEG Stream: "Children Of Satan"

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE Hymns Of Blood And Thunder (Rise Above / Metal Blade) cd 14.98
Much as their biggest literary inspiration, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian, rose from mere vagabond thief and freebooter to command armies and then become King, Midwestern underground doom sensations Gates Of Slumber seem to be set unerringly upon the path of glory, treading the jeweled thrones of Earth under their sandaled feet. Bigger labels, more press, they do seem way more popular than when we first encountered their obscure, import-only debut some years back. This new cd release even boasts a slipcase. And while their rise in popularity is well deserved and awesome (couldn't happen to a doomier bunch of guys), it's also a bit of a surprise... who knew that there was such a healthy demand for their brand of true doom? Well there is, and The Gates Of Slumber deliver, overtly influenced as always by old school heavy metal, and metal-related things like weird pulp fiction and Frank Frazetta fantasy artwork (the song "Death Dealer" here is actually ABOUT a Frank Frazetta painting as a matter of fact).
Perhaps the sheer sincerity of these guys won people over. Plus for a heavy band into barbarian muscle-metal, they're remarkably emotional and sensitive seeming, their music often quite melodic and full of gloomy atmosphere. Also, they rock. The one-two punch of opening tracks "Chaos Calling", followed by "Death Dealer", is a bit of a shocker. Were Gates Of Slumber ever this speedy before? They almost sound like High On Fire, or Early Man. A killer NWOBHM/thrash mash. But, then, "Beneath The Eyes Of Mars" slows things down and gets way doomier, more like we were expecting, throwing in some subtle Dr. Who synths to boot, and that's when anyone new to TGOS can begin to appreciate the moody side to this band.
Their long standing allegiance to Saint Vitus is most evident on the Lovecraftian epic "Descent Into Madness" (the longest track here), while elsewhere they get into prog and folk just a bit, no really, there's even some female vocals on the penultimate track "The Mist In The Mourning", shades of Hammers Of Misfortune.
Don't worry, though this album has its acoustic interludes, and all-instrumental tangents, and sad singing and sweet soloing, they sound plenty tough too, ferinstance "The Bringer Of War" is a brute. And you gotta love "Iron Hammer", reprised from an early out of print ep, it's of those songs paying tribute to their influences with lyrics entirely composed of the titles to their favorite classic metal songs and albums.
Further pumped up with solid, Sanford Parker production, this is HEAVY metal that cannot be denied. Maybe we will see 'em on a (metal) magazine cover yet - Decibel did just make this album of the month in their new issue, with a 9/10 rating! And we can certainly see fans of High On Fire and The Sword enjoying this just as much as those into the more underground likes of Reverend Bizarre and Electric Wizard.
MPEG Stream: "Chaos Calling"
MPEG Stream: "Beneath The Eyes Of Mars"
MPEG Stream: "Iron Hammer"

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE Hymns of Blood and Thunder (Rise Above) 2lp 34.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now also on (import) gatefold vinyl!!
Much as their biggest literary inspiration, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian, rose from mere vagabond thief and freebooter to command armies and then become King, Midwestern underground doom sensations Gates Of Slumber seem to be set unerringly upon the path of glory, treading the jeweled thrones of Earth under their sandaled feet. Bigger labels, more press, they do seem way more popular than when we first encountered their obscure, import-only debut some years back. And while their rise in popularity is well deserved and awesome (couldn't happen to a doomier bunch of guys), it's also a bit of a surprise... who knew that there was such a healthy demand for their brand of true doom? Well there is, and The Gates Of Slumber deliver, overtly influenced as always by old school heavy metal, and metal-related things like weird pulp fiction and Frank Frazetta fantasy artwork (the song "Death Dealer" here is actually ABOUT a Frank Frazetta painting as a matter of fact).
Perhaps the sheer sincerity of these guys won people over. Plus for a heavy band into barbarian muscle-metal, they're remarkably emotional and sensitive seeming, their music often quite melodic and full of gloomy atmosphere. Also, they rock. The one-two punch of opening tracks "Chaos Calling", followed by "Death Dealer", is a bit of a shocker. Were Gates Of Slumber ever this speedy before? They almost sound like High On Fire, or Early Man. A killer NWOBHM/thrash mash. But, then, "Beneath The Eyes Of Mars" slows things down and gets way doomier, more like we were expecting, throwing in some subtle Dr. Who synths to boot, and that's when anyone new to TGOS can begin to appreciate the moody side to this band.
Their long standing allegiance to Saint Vitus is most evident on the Lovecraftian epic "Descent Into Madness" (the longest track here), while elsewhere they get into prog and folk just a bit, no really, there's even some female vocals on the penultimate track "The Mist In The Mourning", shades of Hammers Of Misfortune.
Don't worry, though this album has its acoustic interludes, and all-instrumental tangents, and sad singing and sweet soloing, they sound plenty tough too, ferinstance "The Bringer Of War" is a brute. And you gotta love "Iron Hammer", reprised from an early out of print ep, it's of those songs paying tribute to their influences with lyrics entirely composed of the titles to their favorite classic metal songs and albums.
Further pumped up with solid, Sanford Parker production, this is HEAVY metal that cannot be denied. Maybe we will see 'em on a (metal) magazine cover yet - Decibel did just make this album of the month in their new issue, with a 9/10 rating! And we can certainly see fans of High On Fire and The Sword enjoying this just as much as those into the more underground likes of Reverend Bizarre and Electric Wizard.
MPEG Stream: "Chaos Calling"
MPEG Stream: "Beneath The Eyes Of Mars"
MPEG Stream: "Iron Hammer"

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE Like A Plague Upon The Land (Hellride Music) 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.
From Indiana, USA, here's a doom metal band for those who like their doom old school, Saint Vitus style. That is, like Black Sabbath but dragged down deeper into the mire. This ostensibly five-track ep (it's longer than that, due to several hidden bonus tracks) has got all the depressive atmosphere, widdly solos, guitar effects, anguished Wino-like vocals, and sledgehammer heaviness you desire. These guys are obviously dedicated doom fans first and foremost, and like their Finnish brethren Reverend Bizarre they do their influences proud, and they make it pretty obvious who those influences are. There's a cover of "Ask No More" by Pentagram, and one of the hidden tracks is a version of St. Vitus' "War Is Our Destiny"... And if this disc turns you into a fan of The Gates Of Slumber, they've helpfully provided a bonus embroidered TGOS patch for your denim vest! We'll be wearing ours proudly.
MPEG Stream: "Iron Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "The Leech"

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE Suffer No Guilt (I Hate Records) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Axe smashing, bare chested, mega muscled, mighty thewed, old school DOOM metal here! Just take one glance at Ken Kelly's Frank Frazetta-styled cover painting and one listen to the opening attack "Angel Of Death" (no, not a Slayer cover, it's more like a Cirith Ungol track!) and you'll know this third cd from Indiana doom trio The Gates Of Slumber is one for cultish, denim n' leather garbed fans of Saint Vitus, Reverend Bizarre, Manowar, Electric Wizard, and of course ye olde Black Sabbath -- especially if you're a reader of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. If you are, perhaps you knew that "Suffer No Guilt Ye Who Wield This In The Name Of Crom" is the motto inscribed in runes on the sword that belonged to the father of Howard's famed Swords & Sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian? And Conan of Cimmeria is indeed the subject of this album's 14 minute long title track. But TGOS also take this "Suffer No Guilt" theme further elsewhere on the album, in the lyrics to the 20 minute long (!) "God Wills It" tying the idea of not suffering guilt for the sins of one's culture's past to their views on the (historical) Crusades and the current "clash of civilizations" that some see as occurring in this age of War on Terror, War in Iraq and sundry other Middle Eastern conflict. So, some deep thoughts here... but also plenty of blood and thunder entertainment, in the form of heavy riffing and psychedelic soloing, with pulpy escapism as its purpose.
By the way, Allan saw these guys this past summer at the Alehorn Of Power festival in Chicago. They were the opening band for a bill that included Bible Of The Devil, Twisted Tower Dire, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, and freakin' Manilla Road! TGOS definitely set the "heaviness bar" pretty high for the night.
MPEG Stream: "Suffer No Guilt"
MPEG Stream: "Riders Of Doom"

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE The Awakening (Final Chapter) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Debut full length from these St. Vitus style doomsters. For fans of Reverend Bizarre.

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE The Wretch (Rise Above / Metal Blade) cd 13.98
Egads. What's that rumbling, lumbering sound? The Gates Of Slumber, of course. The Midwestern true doom stalwarts return with their 2nd slipcased album for Rise Above/Metal Blade, at least their fourth full-length release overall. If you like your metal HEAVY then you know these guys already. Traditionalists at heart, they don't mess much with their basic modus operandi, once more this is barbaric thud that Conan himself would enjoy blasting on his stereo, if they had such technology in the ancient Hyborian Age...
Snail's pace opening track "Bastards Born" is VERY Vitus-y, the influence of '80s Sabbath disciples Saint Vitus always having been a big part of TGOS's sound, but here really taken to an extreme of emulation, it could easily be a track left off of final (for now) Vitus masterpiece Die Healing. Except that the vocals by TGOS guitarist Karl Simon aren't quite so godly as those of Scott Reagers. He's a bit more "wretched" sounding (natch, this album is titled The Wretch after all) and comes closer to sounding like the other significant Vitus vocalist, Wino.
Heck we're preaching to the choir here, making references to Die Healing and Reagers and Wino... if those names mean anything to you, you probably already know if you're interested in TGOS's latest or not. In any case, we can't imagine that TGOS weren't thinking of this as their "Die Healing" song when they were writing it.
As an statement of purpose, "Bastards Born" says: "Sludge". And sludge they do, as the rest of the album oozes forth. But some tracks ooze faster. Track two "The Scourge Of Drunkenness" is one such relatively uptempo rocker... Later on "Coven Of Cain" conjures up the high spirits of the NWOBHM, while conversely "Castle Of The Devil", another mid-album number, takes things in a relaxed, almost artily atmospheric direction, a nice breather amidst the more crushing cuts.
TGOS's true doom devotion to sheer lamentation and misery is utterly fulfilled by the end of the album, with the epic - and even more epic - tracks "The Wretch" (8:18) and "Iron And Fire" (12:14) both slo-mo, sorrowfully emo trudges to leave you suicidally spent, when all's said and doomed.
Pretty darn good, though you kinda have to be in that "doomed" mood. So if we admitted that, right at the moment, we'd rather be listening to those reissues by Alaskan '80s metal band Pandemonium that we made Record(s) Of The Week, we don't think the TGOS guys would be at all offended. After all, they're nothing if not worshipful of their heavy metal forebears themselves, the cd booklets to most previous releases usually featuring Karl Simon's analysis/admissions of each song's musical inspirations (whereas here, his liner notes are all about how this time, they got more "personal" rather than "fantastic" in terms of lyrics and mood, hence titles like "The Scourge Of Drunkenness", presumably).
MPEG Stream: "Bastards Born"
MPEG Stream: "Coven Of Cain"
MPEG Stream: "Iron And Fire"

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE The Wretch (Rise Above ) 2lp 39.00
NOW ON IMPORT GATEFOLD VINYL!!!
Egads. What's that rumbling, lumbering sound? The Gates Of Slumber, of course. The Midwestern true doom stalwarts return with their 2nd slipcased album for Rise Above/Metal Blade, at least their fourth full-length release overall. If you like your metal HEAVY then you know these guys already. Traditionalists at heart, they don't mess much with their basic modus operandi, once more this is barbaric thud that Conan himself would enjoy blasting on his stereo, if they had such technology in the ancient Hyborian Age...
Snail's pace opening track "Bastards Born" is VERY Vitus-y, the influence of '80s Sabbath disciples Saint Vitus always having been a big part of TGOS's sound, but here really taken to an extreme of emulation, it could easily be a track left off of final (for now) Vitus masterpiece Die Healing. Except that the vocals by TGOS guitarist Karl Simon aren't quite so godly as those of Scott Reagers. He's a bit more "wretched" sounding (natch, this album is titled The Wretch after all) and comes closer to sounding like the other significant Vitus vocalist, Wino.
Heck we're preaching to the choir here, making references to Die Healing and Reagers and Wino... if those names mean anything to you, you probably already know if you're interested in TGOS's latest or not. In any case, we can't imagine that TGOS weren't thinking of this as their "Die Healing" song when they were writing it.
As an statement of purpose, "Bastards Born" says: "Sludge". And sludge they do, as the rest of the album oozes forth. But some tracks ooze faster. Track two "The Scourge Of Drunkenness" is one such relatively uptempo rocker... Later on "Coven Of Cain" conjures up the high spirits of the NWOBHM, while conversely "Castle Of The Devil", another mid-album number, takes things in a relaxed, almost artily atmospheric direction, a nice breather amidst the more crushing cuts.
TGOS's true doom devotion to sheer lamentation and misery is utterly fulfilled by the end of the album, with the epic - and even more epic - tracks "The Wretch" (8:18) and "Iron And Fire" (12:14) both slo-mo, sorrowfully emo trudges to leave you suicidally spent, when all's said and doomed.
MPEG Stream: "Bastards Born"
MPEG Stream: "Coven Of Cain"
MPEG Stream: "Iron And Fire"

GATES OF SLUMBER, THE Villain, Villain (Metal Supremacy) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Circle Of True Doom standard bearers The Gates Of Slumber just rumbled through town a couple weeks ago, on tour with Slough Feg. They stopped into the store, and we snagged a couple copies of their hard to find Villain, Villain double cd collection from 2007. Really, just a couple. So we're not gonna spend much time on this review! For those who might be interested, Villain, Villain (which of course takes its title and cover concept from Judas Priest's Hero, Hero) brings together a 16 early demo tracks, alternate versions, reedits, live songs, covers (no less than 3 of 'em songs by their heroes Saint Vitus!), etc. etc.
Obviously, this is for mega TGOS fans only, and you might already have -some- of this stuff in one form or other. But probably not all of it, especially if you missed out on some of their earlier, now out of print releases. You know how to use Encyclopedia Metallum, you can figure out what this has got that you do not, eh?
The cd booklet, in typical TGOS tradition, features notes on each and every track (except their Samhain and Manilla Road covers, for some reason) by guitarist/bandleader Karl Simon. Who, by the way, is a very cool guy, with a definite sense of humor for one so doomy.
MPEG Stream: "The Awakening"
MPEG Stream: "To Walk The Night (Samhain cover)"

GAUCHISTE s/t (Little Black Cloud) lp 21.00
You'd probably never guess listening to this, the debut from a mysterious trio called Gauchiste, that one of the guys here plays guitar in Loincloth, whose recent Iron Balls Of Steel record for Southern Lord was a huge hit around here, but even with that sort of metal pedigree, one that does in fact extend to all three members, you won't find any churning math rock metal mayhem here, or even pounding downtuned chug, instead, this trio specializes in a haunting hybrid of minimal electronics, abstract soundscapery, and droned out avant metal, that more resembles some strange soundtrack than a metal record proper, the whole thing meticulously assembled mostly via computer, using the various sounds in different ways to produce all manner of timbres and textures, evoking a gorgeous hauntological dread, that is seldom found in more traditional metal.
The opener is a noxious cloud of blurred guitar buzz, skittery cymbal shimmer, and buried double kick drumming, that initially sound more like some strange chittering insect, it's definitely metal, but a sort of smeared abstract offshoot, with those drums fading out gradually, eventually leaving dense slabs of heaving chordal thrum and post industrial shimmer. The follow up track starts out like it's gonna ooze into some sort of dense doomic creep, but instead blissed out into a billowy cloud of ethereal ambience, washed out drones, and buried processed vox, while elsewhere on the record, deep rumbles pour forth like some sort of downtuned sonic avalanche, the occasional metal vokills, are appropriately growly and gruff, but they're suspended in a sort of blackbuzz stasis, with the most metal moments more reminiscent of a group like SUNNO))), or even more appropriately, like some obscure Cold Meat black ambient outfit.
Guitars seem to be the main instrument, but they're rarely left in their distinctly guitar-like form, instead, deftly transformed into what sounds like whirring organs, or smeared blackened hum, over which the group lace skittery glitches and machinelike rhythms, rarely propulsive, or even strictly that rhythmic, more another textural element, to add to the already bleak atmosphere that infuses pretty much every moment.
The last two tracks probably best sum up the group's sound, slipping from glimmering dreaminess, almost orchestral at moments, to blurred blackened ambience, and finally to super dense drone, a harsh, haunting, abject sprawl of super cinematic malevolence, that should most definitely appeal to metalheads and dronelords alike.
The packaging is stunning, the lp in a deluxe, heavy paper, weirdly cut multi-panel jacket, the cd-r (why a cd-r and not a real cd we do not know), in a cool hinged metallic case, with a plastic front panel, the disc visible through the plastic.
MPEG Stream: "Viols"
MPEG Stream: "Choeur L"
MPEG Stream: "Autist Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "Stop Believin"

GAUCHISTE s/t (Little Black Cloud) cd-r 11.98
You'd probably never guess listening to this, the debut from a mysterious trio called Gauchiste, that one of the guys here plays guitar in Loincloth, whose recent Iron Balls Of Steel record for Southern Lord was a huge hit around here, but even with that sort of metal pedigree, one that does in fact extend to all three members, you won't find any churning math rock metal mayhem here, or even pounding downtuned chug, instead, this trio specializes in a haunting hybrid of minimal electronics, abstract soundscapery, and droned out avant metal, that more resembles some strange soundtrack than a metal record proper, the whole thing meticulously assembled mostly via computer, using the various sounds in different ways to produce all manner of timbres and textures, evoking a gorgeous hauntological dread, that is seldom found in more traditional metal.
The opener is a noxious cloud of blurred guitar buzz, skittery cymbal shimmer, and buried double kick drumming, that initially sound more like some strange chittering insect, it's definitely metal, but a sort of smeared abstract offshoot, with those drums fading out gradually, eventually leaving dense slabs of heaving chordal thrum and post industrial shimmer. The follow up track starts out like it's gonna ooze into some sort of dense doomic creep, but instead blissed out into a billowy cloud of ethereal ambience, washed out drones, and buried processed vox, while elsewhere on the record, deep rumbles pour forth like some sort of downtuned sonic avalanche, the occasional metal vokills, are appropriately growly and gruff, but they're suspended in a sort of blackbuzz stasis, with the most metal moments more reminiscent of a group like SUNNO))), or even more appropriately, like some obscure Cold Meat black ambient outfit.
Guitars seem to be the main instrument, but they're rarely left in their distinctly guitar-like form, instead, deftly transformed into what sounds like whirring organs, or smeared blackened hum, over which the group lace skittery glitches and machinelike rhythms, rarely propulsive, or even strictly that rhythmic, more another textural element, to add to the already bleak atmosphere that infuses pretty much every moment.
The last two tracks probably best sum up the group's sound, slipping from glimmering dreaminess, almost orchestral at moments, to blurred blackened ambience, and finally to super dense drone, a harsh, haunting, abject sprawl of super cinematic malevolence, that should most definitely appeal to metalheads and dronelords alike.
The packaging is stunning, the lp in a deluxe, heavy paper, weirdly cut multi-panel jacket, the cd-r (why a cd-r and not a real cd we do not know), in a cool hinged metallic case, with a plastic front panel, the disc visible through the plastic.
MPEG Stream: "Viols"
MPEG Stream: "Choeur L"
MPEG Stream: "Autist Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "Stop Believin"