SEEN AND HEARD: LEVIATHAN, LYCHGATE, IMPLODES, SVIN, KEEP OF KALESSIN

Presented below, for your entertainment and edification, is a collection of songs and videos I discovered this morning. All but one are new. All are recommended. No two of them sound alike.

LEVIATHAN

Within the last couple of days Noisey published an interview of Leviathan’s Jef Whitehead by Drew Millard, preceded by Millard’s thoughts about the subject of the interview (“Whitehead’s a scary guy”). If you want to read that, the link is below. But the main point of attraction to me was an accompanying premiere of a new song from Leviathan’s forthcoming album, Scar Sighted (due for release by Profound Lore on March 3). Below, I’ve included the Soundcloud stream for that, too.

The name of the new song is “Within Thrall”, and it comes with another piece of Whitehead’s art for the album (visible at the top of this post). The intro to the song is surprising, and what comes after is a full-throttle, head-thumping romp, an amalgam of stomp and blast with threads of eerie cosmic melody emerging here and there. I got sore neck banging to the end of the song, too (I could have used another minute of that, though I did like the noise at the end). Damn cool.

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/the-devil-and-jef-whitehead

 

 

 

 

 

 

LYCHGATE

Within the last 24 hours, Finland’s Blood Music label announced the signing of the band Lychgate and the release later this year of the band’s second album, An Antidote for the Glass Pill. It will be available on vinyl, CD, and digital formats.

The album will draw attention because the band features Esoteric’s frontman and founding member Greg Chandler on guitar and vocals (he also handled the engineering duties). It will also draw attention because, as the label says, the record is “perhaps the only black metal album in history that features full accompaniment by a professional church pipe organist throughout.” These pieces of information certainly got my attention. But what spoke even louder than those words to my feeble mind was a song from the album that became available for listening today.

The song’s name is “Letter XIX”, and yes, the pipe organ makes its presence known immediately, and throughout. The music often has the stately air of a processional, and not only because of the organ — but it’s a dark and serpentine ceremony and one that unfolds in unpredictable ways, becoming more bombastic as it progresses. And it includes one of the most protracted and hair-raising shrieks I’ve ever heard. It’s a striking piece of music that has gotten me very intrigued about what else the album holds in store.

https://www.facebook.com/Lychgate
http://www.blood-music.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMPLODES

Yesterday I received a newsletter from the wonderful Gilead Media label, and it included the news that on about February 24 Gilead will be releasing an EP entitled Reverser by a band named Implodes. The EP will include two songs from the recording sessions for Implodes’ last album, Recurring Dream (2013), plus two newly recorded songs.

I wasn’t familiar with Implodes, but Gilead has launched a song for streaming on Bandcamp, and so I listened. Glad I did.

The name of the song is “Lazy Skull”. It’s slow and steady, coated in fuzz and hypnotic in its otherworldly ambience. The ghostly whispers and phantasmagorical clean vocals meld beautifully with the instrumental music, which flows like the passing of a wraith around and through you and ends in the droning tones of lost souls. I want more of this.

Reverser will be released as a 45 rpm 12″ with a download code included. It is limited to 375 copies on black, purple, and golden yellow vinyl. Order here.

https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/reverser
https://www.facebook.com/Implodes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SVIN

Yesterday’s e-mail brought a notice about a self-titled album by a Danish band named Svin (the album is their third full-length). It was released digitally last November, but the Danish label PonyRec will be releasing it in physical format throughout Europe on April 3. What made me pause and explore further were these words in the e-mail:

“On this, their 3’rd, release SVIN has cut to the bone and sends cascades of pshycedelic drones into the atmosphere through thunderous drums, oriental guitars and melodic horns.”

That sounded interesting. The e-mail also included a link to a video by Mathias W. Kjeldsen released last October for a song from the new album named “Maharaja”. The video is creepy. The music is magic — a repeating motif of clanging, chiming guitars and pounding percussion, punctuated by even more compulsive rhythmic patterns and the seething flow of poisonous riffs.

There are no voices and I hear no horns, but I sure like this. The rest of the album awaits on Bandcamp.

https://svin.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/SVINmusic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KEEP OF KALESSIN

I’m so far behind in my listening. We’ve had the promo for the new Keep of Kalessin album Epistemology for a long time, and although I’ve been a longtime fan of that band, I still haven’t heard the album. But thanks to a tip from our friend Vonlughlio, I learned that the entire album began streaming yesterday, in advance of its February 16 release by Indie Recordings.

I still haven’t heard the album. But I thought I would share the link to the site where the album can be heard in its entirety:

http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/news/2015-02-12/norway-s-epic-metallers-keep-of-kalessin-stream-new-album-in-full

If you have any thoughts about it, or anything else in this post, please leave a Comment.