Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Progenie Terrestre Pura - promo [2011]

Artist: Progenie Terrestre Pura
Genre: Post-Black Metal / Ambient / Electronic
Country: Italy
Release date: 2011

Track list:
  1. Progenie Terrestre Pura
  2. Sinapsi Divelte
One more "space black metal" album released in 2011, but now with a different approach to music - it sounds less "industrial-esque", with more elements of ambient/psybient and IDM. Can't say this promo is that impressive, but it sure sounds promising. Will wait for their first full-length "U.M.A.", which is expected to be released on April 15th.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Veratu / Naakhum - split [2011]

Artist: Veratu / Naakhum
Genre: Avant-Garde Black Metal (Veratu), Industrial Rock / Ambient (Naakhum)
Country: USA / Spain (Catalonia)
Release date: 2011

Track list:
  1. Veratu - ((M))aligned to more than Stars [Split version]
  2. Naakhum - Humanae Libertas (Revolution)
  3. Veratu - ((High))Priest of the Chituari
  4. Naakhum - Stone of the Five Eras
  5. Veratu - I've Travelled from the Pleiades
  6. Naakhum - Democracia Real
Well, I've already reviewed one of Veratu's releases, but their 3 tracks on this split are clearly their best (and definitely better than their debut album as a whole). As for Naakhum, it's not metal at all, but the concept behind the music of Veratu and Naakhum is pretty much the same (with an addition of some political subjects in case of Naakhum). A great split overall, definitely recommended to anyone interested in space/sci-fi/political-themed experimental music... and what's the best, it's a free (Creative Commons) release!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Veratu - "Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici" [2009]

Artist: Veratu
Title: Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici
Genre: Avant-garde Black Metal
Country: USA
Release date: 2009

Track List:
  1. I. I've Travelled from the Pleiades...
  2. II. The Restless Dead
  3. III. Devils of American Lore
  4. IV. The HAARP of Fallen Angels
  5. V. To Breathe the Bone Dust of Wizards
  6. VI. The Brown Dwarf Rügen
  7. VII. Stomp Me into my Fucking Coffin
  8. VIII. Indrid Cold
  9. IX. Sorcery Incensed by Autumn
  10. X. Gaia Drinks from my Corpse
  11. XI. 322
One-line review of this album: very interesting concept, but rather poor quality of its execution. The opening track, "I've Travelled from the Pleiades" is great - excellent "cosmic" industrial black metal, reminds me of Thy Catafalque. However, the rest of the album turned out to be much less interesting. The quality of production is also much poorer on these tracks (yes, such kind of sound may be very suitable for "true" black metal, but not for avant-garde BM). Anyway, their imagery and lyrics are interesting, as well as their musical ideas, so I hope they'll reach the status of one of the leading avant-garde BM bands sooner or later.


Friday, February 22, 2013

War-Whore - "Surveillance" [1996]

Artist: War-Whore
Title: Surveillance
Genre: Raw Industrial Grindcore
Country: Ukraine
Release date: 1996

Track List:
  1. Intro: Space Assembly
  2. Optimism
  3. Military Mind
  4. Things
  5. School
  6. Parallelism
  7. Try To Contemplate
  8. Offuck
  9. Words
  10. Captor's Defeat
  11. Sordid Unreason
  12. Military Minds (Fix)
  13. Outro: Space Assembly
Another rare cassette release from the 90s that now has reached a cult status in the underground. War-Whore was one of the many projects by T.Sosiskin (funny surname... though I'm sure it was a pseudonym) from Kiev. First I found out about "Surveillance" after reading a review in a now defunct webzine "Resistance by Sound", but couldn't find it anywhere back then (mid-2000s, ~7-8 years ago). The .mp3 rip of the cassette started to circulate since ~2010 and finally reached me. It's sci-fi themed industrial grindcore, obviously influenced by Napalm Death, Godflesh (and maybe Dead World and other early industrial metal bands), with weird vocals (which someone described as "screams from a mental asylum"). The quality of production is of course quite poor, but it was expected from one of the first industrial metal/punk releases of the ex-USSR underground scene.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Xasthur (SGP) - "Hidden Lore" [1992]

Artist: Xasthur
Title: Hidden Lore
Genre: Old School Black Metal
Country: Singapore
Release date: 1992

Track List:
  1. Intro: Xasthurisma...
  2. Hidden Lore
  3. Grant the Pedastry
  4. Ceremonial Oath
I'm not a big fan of black metal in its "true" form,but it doesn't stops me from enjoying some rare 1st & 2nd wave BM demos. This particular demo was recorded in 1992 (according to some other sources, in 1994) in Singapore by a band named "Xasthur" (which was formed in 1986, way before the well-known American band under the same name). As you could expect, this demo features raw blackened thrash metal influenced by such bands as Mayhem, Rotting Christ, Blasphemy, and even My Dying Bride (the closing track, "Ceremonial Oath", has some solid riffs that could very well be used by any doom metal band). Before listening to "Hidden Lore" I didn't knew anything about Singaporean black metal scene (which turned out to be unexpectedly big, and mostly comprised of raw "bestial" BM bands). Xasthur split up in early 1998, and never released anything beside "Hidden Lore" and a single track called "Empowered Thy Throne" (6:42, recorded circa 1993).


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Sworn - "Tended High" [2006]

Artist: Sworn
Title: Tended High
Genre: Symphonic Metal
Country: Armenia
Release date: 2006

Track List:
  1. Once A Rainy Solitude
  2. In My Soul Despair
  3. Church Obliteration
  4. I Am Of Night
  5. Yearning
  6. Tended High
  7. Nothing Lasts
Just like in case with Diaokhi, the discovery of this band was a positive surprise for me. So far I knew only of two Armenian metal bands (not counting bands with diaspora Armenians in their lineup): Blood Covenant (Christian metal) and Rahvira (NSBM). Even though their music isn't that bad, both of these bands are quite far from me ideologically, that's why I was happy to find out about another Armenian band which played metal since the mid-2000s (!). AFAIK, they were playing atmospheric black metal on their first demos, but this LP features progressive/symphonic metal with only some black metal overtones. In may 2010 they've changed their name to "Sacrond", as there already was a Norwegian black metal band using the name "Sworn".

Adramalech - "They Who Bring Death" [2012]

Artist: Adramalech
Title: They Who Bring Death
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal
Country: Georgia
Release date: 2012

Track List:
  1. They Who Bring Death
  2. Being
  3. Blind Believers In The Lie
  4. They Hope For Nothing
  5. The Last Days When On The Earth Walks The Sin
According to the official bio, Adramalech was formed in January 2009 in Tbilisi as a duo, but now runs as an one-man project; main lyrical themes are depression and the beauty of nature. Honestly the musicianship on this album isn't perfect, and the song structure somewhat lacks coherency. Despite these obvious flaws, it isn't bad for an one-man project, especially for a project from a country that's not rich with metal (and underground music in general). If you're interested, check out the official blog.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Im Nebel - "Vitriol" [2008]

Artist: Im Nebel
Title: Vitriol
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
Country: Georgia
Release date: 2008

Track List:
  1. Intro
  2. Inconsistent Thoughts
  3. Faded Mankind
  4. Zeitgeist
  5. Unbeliever's Script
  6. The Journey to the Center of I
  7. Exodus
Progressive/symphonic black metal from Tbilisi, Georgia. Just like in case with Diaokhi, I was surprised by the quality of their music (I mean songwriting, not the quality of recording - although it's okay too...) Back in 2008, the band consisted of 5 members, but only one of them had a Georgian surname (others had Russian, German, and Armenian ones). Likewise, don't expect to hear any folk motives on this album - it's decent European style sympho-black metal, but nothing in the music betrays its country of origin.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Shakram Rogue - "Agh Burzum Ishi Krimpatul" [2002]

Artist: Shakram Rogue
Title: Agh Burzum Ishi Krimpatul
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Black Metal, Ambient
Country: Russia
Release date: 2002

Track List:
  1. Balferd Baldrs
  2. Jesus Tod
  3. Ea, Lord Of The Depths (acoustic)
  4. Ea, Lord Of The Depths
  5. Hermodr A Helferd
There's a lot of Burzum tribute albums made by various bands from all around the world, and Dizorder eventually decided to make his own one too. There are 3 more releases made under the moniker "Shakram Rogue", but they're (generally) not as good as this one.

Maitreya Dusk - "id complex" [2006]

Artist: Maitreya Dusk
Title: id complex
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Rhythmic Noise
Country: Russia
Release date: 2006

Track List:
  1. Тайна Итиля
  2. Битва За Солнце
  3. Тибет
  4. Tribal Monkey
  5. id complex
  6. Крушение Осени
The last and the most "mature" project of Dizorder, started in 2006. I have no idea if he still makes music, because all his blogs are deleted and his site wasn't updated since late 2008, and there are no news from him since then. I still have his mailing address, though, but I'm not sure if it's still valid. As for this album, it's rhythmic noise, but its concept is more suitable for a neofolk (or tribal ambient) project, as it's strongly influenced by Indian and Tibetan mysticism.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Наташкин Атомный Мусоропровод - "Внутренняя Сторона Арматуры" [2002]

Artist: Наташкин Атомный Мусоропровод
Title: Внутренняя Сторона Арматуры
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Experimental, Industrial, Noise
Country: Russia
Release date: 2002

Track List:
  1. Внутренняя сторона арматуры
  2. Яркое пламя заката
  3. Полночная роса
  4. Тихое солнце
The last EP by Н.А.М, released in 2002. There's a significant difference between their earlier releases and this EP, because this one sounds much less "aggro" and much more experimental/noisy. Track names like "Quiet Sun" or "Midnight Dew" also show a deviation from Dizorder's usual lyrical themes (cyberpunk/sci-fi/post-apocalyptic).

The End Of The Cyberworms - "Кибермутация'2019" [2002]

Artist: The End Of The Cyberworms
Title: Кибермутация'2019
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Experimental, Industrial, Noise
Country: Russia
Release date: 2002

Track List:
  1. Шумовое Подавление Мембраны (a.rps 15.08)
  2. Время Ритуала (sp.dss-5.segment)
  3. Очищение Хаосом (j8-js8)
  4. Пророчество Избавления (13-13.data)
  5. Ярость и Боль (sp.dss-14.segment)
  6. Танец Смерти (9.00.8.0)
  7. Отрешение Бога (j8-js04)
  8. Агрессия Одиночества (f.02.segment)
  9. Обретение Безысходности (a.rps 14.19)
  10. Разрушение Мембраны (13-09.data)
Another experimental/noise project of Dizorder (Maitreya Dusk, Shakram Rogue, Наташкин Атомный Мусоропровод, The A.I. of Rah), active during 2002-2003. Like most of Dizorder's releases, this album is sci-fi/cyberpunk-themed. I have two more albums of TEotC, but they're not as good as this one.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Наташкин Атомный Мусоропровод - "Техноязычество" [2000]

Artist: Наташкин Атомный Мусоропровод
Title: Техноязычество
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Aggro-Industrial, "Cyberpunk"
Country: Russia
Release date: 2000

Track List:
  1. Жизнь - это радиация
  2. Атомарный страх
  3. Техноязычество
  4. Ненависть сильнее голода
  5. Микросхемы
  6. Техно-Идол
  7. Шествие НТП
  8. Пылающие астероиды
  9. Никого нет
  10. Войны сознания
  11. Сумерки человечества
  12. Низвержение человеческого хаоса
  13. Величие планетарного самоуничтожения
...Well, the name of this band is absolutely hilarious (don't even know how to properly translate it), yet they have quite serious lyrics. НАМ was one of the first projects of Dizorder and his friends, started in the second half of the 90s (therefore being one of the first Russian aggro-industrial bands), and put on hold in 2004. During their existence they have released 3 albums and 1 EP. Here's their first and the most well-known release, "Техноязычество" ("Technopaganism"), released in 2000 and remastered in 2002. Yes, the sound is quite "amateur" and simplistic, but that's what's good about it - what else you should expect from an underground industrial punk band? I think the label "cyberpunk" fits their music pretty well, since their sound is a combination of simplistic punk and aggro-industrial of late 80s - early 90s, and their lyrical themes are mostly about the usual cyberpunk and (post-)apocalyptic stuff. Track #4 is my all times favourite, sadly the other albums aren't as good as this one. To give you an idea of how they sound - here's a track from their 3rd album:

Friday, February 1, 2013

The A.I. of Rah - "Вектор Восприятия" [2001]

Artist: The A.I. of Rah
Title: Вектор Восприятия
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Electronic
Country: Russia
Release date: 2001

Track List:
  1. Мечта О Солнце Убивает
  2. Синтез Пентаграммы
  3. Создатель
  4. Сожжение Хром
  5. Он Сидит В Центре Города И Думает, Что Дождь - Это Грустно
  6. Вектор Восприятия
The first demo recordings by The A.I. of Rah, released in 2001. Of course it's very amateur stuff, but I like it nevertheless. Some of the songs from this demo were later re-recorded for their last album "Фатальная Бесконечность Счастья" (2004) - but I personally didn't like it, as well as their last single ("Children Must Believe in Fate", same year).