SEEN AND HEARD: HATE, ISRATHOUM, SECRET CEREMONIES, CUREZUM

To those of you who will be celebrating Thanksgiving today, Happy Thanksgiving and best wishes for a deep and restful tryptophan coma (though data show that dining on sea lion kidney would get you a bigger dose of tryptophan than turkey). For those who treat this as just another day, Happy Just Another Day.

We’re not planning a lot of posts today, just the premiere we launched a bit earlier and this round-up of new sightings and hearings from my interhole excursions over the last 24 hours. Here we go…

HATE

In mid-October we reported that Poland’s Hate will be releasing a new album named Crusade: Zero on January 15, 2015, via Napalm Records. I was excited about that news even before hearing a note of the music. Now that I have heard many notes, I’m even more eager for the album. You shall hear those same notes in this teaser reel, which excerpts parts of several new songs:

https://www.facebook.com/HATEOFFICIAL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISRATHOUM

Earlier this month I reviewed an excellent two-song 7″ split by the Dutch band Israthoum and the Swedish band Chalice of Blood, featuring spectacular artwork by Held (Ubertragic Art). At that time, neither song was available for streaming over the web, but CVLT Nation has now premiered the Israthoum track, “Ascetic Temples”, and so I’ve included it below.

I’ll repeat what I previously wrote about the song:  It’s a ravaging, warlike assault with whiplash riffs and a riveting bass and drum tandem. But the song also features an eerie and varied vocal performance as well as dynamic changes in rhythm and writhing lead guitar excursions that seem bent on dismantling your sanity.

The split will be released by Daemon Worship Productions and can be pre-ordered here:

https://daemonworship.bandcamp.com/album/ascetic-temples-sacrament-of-death

The bands’ Facebook pages are here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israthoum-official/108606202562464
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chalice-of-Blood/192780330769680

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECRET CEREMONIES

Yesterday’s round-up included a video with behind-the-scenes footage of South Africa’s Wildernessking recording a new song in a beautiful church (now converted into a studio) in Cape Town. The song will appear on a split release involving six South African bands, entitled Secret Ceremonies. After posting that round-up, I obtained more official information about the split, which I’m including here:

“Secret Ceremonies is a showcase of dark and forward-thinking South African music.

http://files.crsend.com/20000/20642/images/K1600_hate_3.JPG

“Conceived in the beginning of 2014, volume I features exclusive songs from Peasant, Wildernessking, Nihil, Aural Sun (an ambient Cape Town project), Strage, and finally the debut studio offering from Ark Synesis.

“Conceptualized by Keenan Oakes
Emblem by Reuben Sawyer of Rainbath Visual/Astral Defect
Artwork by Kevin Gan Yuen of Viraloptic
Audio mastered by Jack Shirley of The Atomic Garden Recording Studio

“Tracklisting and artwork to be revealed shortly. Coming in early 2015 on vinyl!”

This should be interesting, and we’ll be following further announcements closely.

 

 

 

 

CUREZUM

Thanks to a Facebook tip from Kim Kelly, who sometimes strikes me as omniscient, given the breadth and speed of her discoveries, I learned about the formation of a new Portland-based band named Curezum. Your first clue to what these people are up to is in the logo above. Further explanation comes from this post on the project’s FB page (which was launched on Nov 23):

“In the simplest terms possible, Curezum is an extreme metal tribute to the Cure. Both a studio band, as well as a live outfit, Curezum is comprised of, and augmented by, an impressive array of Pacific Northwest metal musicians, all throwing down for their love of the dire music Bob and Co. have been churning out over the years.

“A studio album is currently in production, and live rehearsals are taking place as of this posting. In the near future we’ll have more info regarding releases, show dates and guest musicians, but for now, rest assured that Curezum is a very real and very grim and very awesome thing to behold.

“Witness the black light from beyond the goth club dance floor.”

As a former enthusiastic fan of The Cure, I am both intrigued by this idea and worried about whether the execution will be equally intriguing. But, since this really does appear to be a serious undertaking rather than a goof and because there are some interesting names associated with the project, I’m choosing to be optimistic. Here’s an excerpt from Curezum’s bio from their FB page, which you can access via this link:

“Implausible as it may seem, after a discussion about mutual musical interests, Mort (Megaton Leviathan, Vaital Deul, Alfheimr) and Martti (Barrowlands) discovered they were both, independently, keenly aware of how relatively simple it would be to take the album Pornography by the Cure and make it a black metal record. From those inauspicious beginnings, Curezum was born.

After some initial runs with a handful of trial members, and bit of a hiatus while both Mort and Martti’s other projects released material, Billy Anderson (Blessing the Hogs, Porn, Solodolor) signed on for bass duties, and Amanda Machina (Metal Noam, Barrowlands) was brought on board for lead guitar.”