Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Cracked Core - "PsychoPath" [2010]

Artist: Cracked Core
Title: PsychoPath
Label: Mental Excitement
Genre: Electronic / IDM /Industrial / Digital Hardcore
Country: Russia
Release date: 2010
Size: 76 mb

Track list:
  1. Memory Error (feat. Terror Panicus)
  2. Un10cked 7ri@1
  3. Militarity Theme
  4. Night Assault (feat. Terror Panicus)
  5. SoAT
  6. Blood as Ink
  7. The End
  8. Militarity Theme (minimal mix)
  9. t_error 404 - Killdozer [Trancemix by Cracked Core]
  10. (Project) Ritual Noise - Rollback of Life [Back2life mix by Cracked Core]
"PsychoPath" is the newest release by an industrial/electronic musician from Moscow, who uses the moniker "Cracked Core". The main themes of this release are war, hate and (guess what?) psychopathy. The music, while ranging from ambient and IDM to breakcore and digital hardcore, became more agressive and industrial-oriented when compared to his previous release, "Audiolog". I think PsychoPath >> Audiolog - but it's only a matter of personal tastes, 'cause both albums are good. And of course, free distribution of all his releases is encouraged.

Eltan Renaxy - "Weird Ballads In My Town" [2007]

Artist: Eltan Renaxy
Title: Weird Ballads In My Town
Genre: Dark Folk / Gothic Ethereal
Country: China
Release date: 2007
Size: 40 mb

Track List:
  1. Intro
  2. A Ballad
  3. Jordi
  4. Renaxy
  5. Lorida
  6. Maria
  7. Shel's
  8. Karffen
  9. The End
Eltan Renaxy is an another Chinese dark folk project which was founded in 2006 by Bai Shui (also in 白水, Bloody Woods) and Lamia (who also has a project called The Whisper Of Tears). Don't know what the name "Eltan Renaxy" means, but it sounds very beautiful - just like their music. Such a shame it currently has less than 500 listeners on last.fm... in my opinion, ER deserves over 9000 listeners at least. And who said that the dark folk is only the european music?... Chinese people can play it even better! And not only Bloody Woods and Eltan Renaxy prove it... just look at Vergissmeinnicht, Gol Dolan, or The Golden Bough.

Bloody Woods - "Women In The Hole" [2006]

Artist: Bloody Woods
Title: Women In The Hole
Genre: Dark Folk
Country: China
Release date: 2006
Size: 35 mb

Track List:
  1. Intro
  2. Love of the Fall
  3. Body-Chain
  4. You Can Smile
  5. Flower Pool
  6. Hidden Funeral
  7. Ride On
  8. Women In The Hole
Hmm... Chinese neofolk? Not bad, not bad. It was the first Chinese dark folk album I ever heard, and I still like it a lot, despite its quality of production (it really sounds like a home-made demo... but who cares?) My personal favourites on this album are "Body-Chain", "You Can Smile" and "Love of the Fall" (even though the voice in the last mentioned track sounds a bit weird). Beautiful music, the truly melancholic atmosphere... check it out!

From last.fm: "Bloody Woods is a Chinese neofolk project started in early 2005 by Bai Shui (白水, Eltan Renaxy). Late december 2005, Gu Dao joined Bloody Woods as guest vocalist. August 2006 saw the selfreleased EP “Women In The Hole”. One month later, Go Dao and Bai Shui’s roads diverged again, making Bloody Woods a one-man project again". Don't know if Bloody Woods are still active, but Eltan Renaxy are very good too, and I'm going to post their album right now.

Saedus Darknight - "Empty" [2008]

Artist: Saedus Darknight
Title: Empty
Label: SCT Records
Genre: Raw Black Metal
Country: Hong Kong
Release date: 2008
Size: 75 mb

Track List:
  1. They Live
  2. Blackened Pits Of Darkness
  3. Blades Of Hell
  4. Epicrise
  5. Eternity Of Nihility
  6. Limbs Of Trees
  7. Obey
  8. Sin
Saedus Darknight is an one-man raw back metal band from Hong Kong, and it's most probably the only HK black metal project up to date. Don't know why the metal scene is so underdeveloped in such a westernized city with much more liberal laws than in mainland China, but I couldn't find any other Cantonese BM bands. As for Saedus Darknight, their music isn't quite my thing (I don't like raw black metal that much), but the fans of true Chinese black metal (haha) wouldn't be disappointed. The music is extremely chaotic and creating a very gloomy atmosphere, with prominent bass guitar parts (which isn't very typical for black metal), and the vocals in general aren't much like the standard BM screaming. Even though I didn't like two first tracks, "Blades of Hell" is very good, and the rest of the album isn't bad anyway.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Xe-None - "Cyber Girl" [2010]

Artist: Xe-None
Title: Cyber Girl
Genre: Electronic Metal
Country: Russia
Release date: 2010
Size: 15 mb

Track List:
  1. Cyber Girl
  2. Summertime
  3. North Capital
  4. Cyber Girl (remix)
The music of Xe-None has been labeled "industrial metal", but for me it's hard to call it metal or industrial. Let's call it just dance metal or pop metal. "Pop" - in a good sense of this word. If only all the pop music was like this... ;) And it's not the generic and boring dark electro which you can hear on the majority of "industrial" parties. It's like Scooter meets The Kovenant! You may like their music or not, but it's really original - at least I know no other band like Xe-None. "Cyber Girl" is their most recent single, freely available for download from their site... ah, wait, the link is not working anymore for an unknown reason, so I decided to re-upload it on mediafire. Enjoy!

The Midnight - "23:61" [2010]

Artist: The Midnight
Title: 23:61
Genre: Progressive Metal
Country: Azerbaijan
Release date: 2010
Size: 100 mb

Track List:
  1. Ease
  2. Splitting World
  3. Escape
  4. Red Haired
  5. Unudulmuş
  6. Reincarnation Pt.1
  7. #4
  8. Infinity
The Midnight are a new progressive metal band from Azerbaijan, recommened to me by Farid (see my previous post). They gave away their debut album for free on rutracker.org, and I decided to cross-post it to my blog. It's really very good stuff, feel free to download it ;) The Azeri metal scene is still very small, so any kind of your support is welcome.

Diaokhi - "To Raise The Iron Throne" [2000]

Artist: Diaokhi
Title: To Raise The Iron Throne
Genre: Melodic Black/Pagan Metal
Country: Georgia
Release date: 2000
Size: 100 mb

Track List:
  1. Prologue
  2. Universe, Arise!
  3. A Night of Doleful Farewell
  4. A Long Road Starts For You From Here (The Last Night's Sacrifice)
  5. The Wave Murmured My Name...
  6. Brothers in Arms, Companions Mine
  7. The Twilight of an Age
  8. Behold the Barren Kingdom of the Graves
  9. They Know not Whose the Voice is Which They Hark (Stormclouds over the Caucasus)
  10. The Reign of the Iron Crown (Epilogue)
One more black metal release from a very unexpected place. If this album was released by, for example, a Finnish band, it most probably would be considered good, but nothing special. But symphomic black/pagan metal from Georgia... it's something really outstanding. As far as I know, the underground music scene in the whole Caucasus is very small. The only Georgian industrial project I know is Post Industrial Boys - and it's not really industrial, just minimal/synthpop. According to Farid from Mechanic Fist, there's no industrial in Georgia, and MF is the one and only industrial project from Azerbaijan. The Caucasian metal scene may be bigger, but only a little, that's why I was so excited to find this album by Diaokhi. Their lyrics deal with Georgian mythology and ancient history, too bad I know only a very little about these subjects... And the music is actually quite enjoyable for any fan of melodic black metal. Don't know if the band is still active today (on Metal-Archives it's listed as active), but looks like this album is their only release.

İlkim Oulanem - "İblisbilim" [2009]

Artist: İlkim Oulanem
Title: İblisbilim
Label: self-released
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Turkey
Release date: 2009
Size: 16 mb

Track List:
  1. Arýnma
  2. Boþluðun Leþ Ruhlarý
  3. Iblisbilim
  4. Asil Varoluþ (Bonus Track)
One-person female black metal band from Turkey... wow, it's one of the things I least expected! Moreover, her music is quite good for a demo. Even though it's unoriginal and nothing really special, it's still much better than I expected. And can you say she's from an islamic country, just by looking at her?..

Dernier Martyr / Lifeless Sorrow / All The Cold - "The Plague Of Our Lands" [2009]

Artists: Dernier Martyr, Lifeless Sorrow, All The Cold
Title: The Plague Of Our Lands
Label: Self Mutilation Services
Genre: Depressive Black Metal
Country: South Africa / Russia
Release date: 2009
Size: 118 mb

Track List:
  1. Follow the River, Towards the Sea...
  2. This is the Last Time He Talks to Birds...
  3. Angels' Throats
  4. Plague of our Land
  5. Of Desolate Winds
  6. Dissociative Twilight
  7. Suicidal Vapour
  8. Coldness of Another Universe
  9. Smile of the Grim
This split album features three DSBM bands - two from Russia (Dernier Martyr, All The Cold) and one from South Africa (Lifeless Sorrow). By the way, it was the first South African metal band that I heard, but I can't say much about their music - it's pretty generic lo-fi depressive black metal, and the whole compilation wouldn't be worse without their tracks. On the contrary, both Dernier Martyr and All The Cold are great (even though the vocals in Dernier Martyr's tracks are a bit annoying). I never expected such good atmospheric black metal to come from Russia! My favourite track on this split is "Coldness of Another Universe" by All The Cold - but it's not DSBM, it's rather industrial metal. And I also need to mention that this compilation is completely free from any NSBM crap (which unfoutunately is too common on the Eastern European, and particularly Russian black metal scene...)

Songe d'Enfer - "My Visions in the Forest" [1995]

Artist: Songe d'Enfer
Title: My Visions in the Forest
Label: self-released
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Brazil
Release date: 1995
Size: 18 mb

Track List:
  1. Et Vidit Quod Esset Bonum... (Sublime Blasphemy)
  2. My Lady Princess of Hell (Conjuration to Gordon)
  3. My Visions in the Forest
Surprisingly good black metal from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Even though there was a significant black metal scene in Brazil as early as in the mid-90s, I don't like most of Brazilian BM bands. But Songe d'Enfer and Luxuria De Lilith are the exceptions. This 3-track demo is the only release by Songe d'Enfer (if their like DVD doesn't count), later re-released by Evil Horde Records as a split album called "Visions Of Nocturnal Tragedies" with another Brazilian BM band, Miasthenia.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Raism - "Aesthetic Terrorism" [1997]

Artist: Raism
Title: Aesthetic Terrorism
Label: Osmose Productions
Genre: Industrial Black Metal/Punk
Country: Finland / Greece
Release date: 1997
Size: 57 mb

Track List:
  1. Survival of the Fittest Scum
  2. S.O.T.F.S.- Destructive Club Version
  3. Aesthetic Terrorism
  4. A.T.- Distorted Reality Cyberspace Version
  5. Gluttony
  6. G.- Carnivorous Commercial Version
  7. Negative
  8. Hate You
  9. Politically Incorrect (Non P.C.)
  10. P.I.- Goverment Approved Explicit Version
  11. Nexus
  12. N.- Multiple Personality Psychoid Version
Raism was a project by Magus Wampyr Daoloth (a well known person in the Greek metal scene, the frontman of Necromantia, also participated in Septic Flesh and several other projects) and Mika Luttinen (Impaled Nazarene), initially known as Diabolos Rising. To be honest, I'm surprised how little known this band is. Yes, the music of Raism is very simplistic when compared to other industrial black metal bands, but minimalism isn't always bad. In short, Raism played some kind of nihilistic electro-black metal/punk, and they did it quite good. "Negative" is a little masterpiece.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

64Revolt - "Ballads Of Malice And Discontent" [2006]

Artist: 64Revolt
Title: Ballads Of Malice And Discontent
Label: D-Trash Records
Genre: 8-bit / Industrial / Digital Hardcore
Country: Sweden
Release date: 2006
Size: 15 mb

Track List:
  1. Neat Girl
  2. Next Generation
  3. Alice, Sweet Alice
  4. Moving Backwards
Just like the most releases of D-Trash Records, this EP is freely available on the internet (long live copyleft!) and features 4 new songs from Swedish 8-bit punks 64Revolt. When compared to their debut release, "Ballads Of Malice And Discontent" are less noisy and more melodic, but of course it doesn't make this EP any worse. "Next Generation" and "Alice, Sweet Alice" are just great! As far as I know, 64Revolt have released a couple more albums up to date, but I haven't listened to them yet.

"We are not the next generation revolutionaries,
You are, you are!
We are not the next generation at all,
You are, you are, you are!"

64Revolt - "64 Revolt" [2005]

Artist: 64Revolt
Title: 64 Revolt
Label: D-Trash Records
Genre: 8-bit / Industrial / Digital Hardcore
Country: Sweden
Release date: 2005
Size: 33 mb

Track List:
  1. Rebel Day
  2. Second Attack
  3. Analog Abomination
  4. Hurricane
  5. Last Day In Life
  6. Martyr
  7. Resistance
  8. Resurrection
  9. Defender
  10. Radical People
“64revolt was initially formed by believing in the power of machines. And NOT believing in society as it is today. Our lyrics aren’t as direct as many fellow dhc-acts because we think that the audience is fed up with stage performers who think they can dictate what is right and what is wrong. We do admire that kind of effort but we have chosen another path”

Yeah, machines are vastly superior to humans, it's an obvious fact for every industrial artist ^_^ What can I say about 64Revolt? They basically are the 8-bit version of Atari Teenage Riot, who were known for their noisy sound, distorted male and female vocals, and lyrics calling for an anarchist revolution. 64Revolt does all that kind of stuff even better than ATR, and their tunes are extremely catchy. Of course, there are some tracks which I didn't like ("Second Attack" or "Hurricane", for ex.), but the rest are just amazing - especially "Rebel Day" and "Resistance". That's how true digital hardcore/electropunk should sound like.

7th Arena Band - "Zakhmi" [2007]

Artist: 7th Arena Band
Title: Zakhmi
Genre: Ethnic Hip-Hop
Country: Iran
Release date: 2007
Size: 31 mb

Track list:
  1. Yadeteh
  2. Daghayegh
  3. Boghze Sard
  4. Zakhmi
  5. Bemir Ya Bemoun
  6. Fargh Hast
  7. Manzoomeh Shamsi
  8. Pasho Bia Hamram
  9. Oghianous
  10. Faselato Hefz Kon
7th Arena Band is an Iranian political folk/hip-hop project. I don't know a single word in Farsi, so I can't tell you what their lyrics are about, but it seems like they support the radical opposition to Ahmadinejad's regime. But even if you have absolutely no interest in the politics of Iran, you may find this album very enjoyable - especially if you like both oriental folk music and rap/hip-hop. My personal favourites are "Yadeteh" (some kind of a ballad, sounds very beautiful and not much like hip-hop) and "Boghze Sard" (more agressive stuff, really catchy).

Hope you'll enjoy this piece of rebel folk/rap music from Iran... not "Islamic Republic of Iran", just Iran. I have one more album by 7th Arena Band, called "National Security", but I don't like it as much as this one. However, I can upload it if you're interested.