SEEN BUT (MOSTLY) NOT HEARD: TAU CROSS, GOATWHORE, OF WOLVES, F41.0, URN, ROTTEN SOUND, COSMIC REEF TEMPLE, SOLAR TEMPLE

Tau Cross

 

As I begin typing these words I’m on an airplane just entering the air space of Michigan, and if all goes well will be landing in Baltimore in 1 hour and 52 minutes. Maryland Deathfest awaits.

I spent the first part of the flight scrolling through the NCS in-box, adding to my very long list of music to check out. As you know, that’s a ridiculously long list. I don’t expect to get much blogging done while MDF is in progress, so I impulsively decided to write this thing.

Since the wi-fi on this jet isn’t good enough to permit streaming, I haven’t heard most of what I’m putting in this post, nearly all of which I found during that e-mail reconnaissance. I encourage you to leave a comment with reactions, since I have almost none (so far).

 

 

 

TAU CROSS

I picked this first song for what should be obvious reasons — because it’s by Tau Cross. Its name is “Deep State” and it’s from the band’s new album Pillar of Fire, which will be released by Relapse Records on July 21. The song is accompanied by a video by Jakob Moth.

The press release tells me this:

“Recorded in three different countries and co-produced by “The Baron”, Pillar of Fire further expands the group’s unique musical approach ranging from dark folk witchery to industrial punk metal brutalism; a moody melting pot of Killing Joke’s metallic post-punk and Motörhead’s anthemic, hard rock with flourishes of traditional instrumentation and an infusion of 16th century English mysticism.

“Pillar of Fire is a musical unearthing of TAU CROSS’s philosophical preoccupations: mythological motifs, ultra-terrestrial hypotheses, surreal, social political landscapes and the endless search for meaning in a controlled Universe.”

I loved the band’s first album and hope to love this one too.

http://taucross.bandcamp.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOATWHORE

It should also be obvious why I picked this next song and video — because it’s by GOATWHORE! As you probably know, their new album Vengeful Ascension is set for release by Metal Blade on June 23rd. They will also be performing at the NCS-sponsored Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle, which is coming up very fast.

This is a lyric video that premiered today for a song called “Chaos Arcane”. It was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Nyarlathotep character.

http://www.metalblade.com/goatwhore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OF WOLVES

This next item is the only thing in this whole post that I’ve actually heard — because we’re disclosing it to the public right here for the first time. It’s a teaser for the new album by Chicago’s genre-bending heavy-hitters, Of Wolves, which will be released later this year by Cimmerian Shade.

I included a previous teaser here back in March. Like the last one, this one continues to make me eager for this album… and frustrated that the excerpt of music is so short. Thanks a lot guys.

Seriously, though, I’m expecting big things from this record, the kind of things that will punch hard on multiple levels and take a fair share of twists and turns along the way.

https://ofwolves.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/ofWOLVES/
https://cimmerianshaderecordings.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F41.0

I thought I had heard this next song when starkweather sent me a message about it, but it finally dawned on me that I hadn’t.

The song is “Alpha” and the name of the album is BÜRDE. It’s by a German solo project named F41.0. The creator describes the music this way on Bandcamp:

F41.0 is a miasmic outlet of Initiator Hysteriis to display pitch black soundscapes and horrifying canticles prasing our fears as mephitic driving forces in our so-called lifes.

PITCH BLACK, PEOPLE!
PITCH BLACK IT IS!

I don’t find that terribly informative, but I do find it terribly enticing. And on top of that, the cover art for BÜRDE is incredible. And on top of that, starkweather vouches for this track. So here it is.

P.S. The entire album is also available for streaming and purchase at the first link below; it was released by Geisterasche Organisation on May 19.

https://geisterasche.bandcamp.com/album/f410-b-rde
https://www.facebook.com/pg/F410-162921373778308/
https://f410.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

URN

Iron Bonehead Productions will release the fourth album by the Finnish black metal band Urn on July 28th. Its name is The Burning.

Two of the three current members of Urn are new to the line-up, plus this is the band’s first album in nearly a decade, so I’ll be curious to hear what it sounds like. This song is “Sons of the Northern Star”.

https://www.facebook.com/Urnofficial/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROTTEN SOUND

Next up is a new video from the Finnish grindcore band Rotten Sound, whose rotten sounds have nourished my diseased mind for many years. This is described as a live video for the track “Trashmonger“, captured during the band’s most recent tour. The song appears on Rotten Sound’s latest full-length, Abuse to Suffer, which we had the pleasure of premiering.

https://rottensound.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COSMIC REEF TEMPLE

I decided to end this post with two temples. The first of the two is a band from Santa Cruz, California, named Cosmic Reef Temple, and their name alone is the reason why I’ve included them here.

And in addition to that, the artwork is by the maestro Paolo Girardi, and it’s wonderful.

And in addition to that their new album Age of the Spaceborn will be released by Oakland’s Transylvanian Tapes (on June 16th), whose releases always seem to be well worth exploring.

All three of the long songs on the album are now available for streaming, and so I’ve included all of them below. As explained at the outset, I can’t tell you anything about what it sounds like, but I do want to share the tags that appear on the Bandcamp page:

black metal death metal doom experimental freakout grindcore metal psychedelia psychedelic psychedelic doom psychedelic rock sludge space rock surf metal

https://transylvaniantapes.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-reef-temple-age-of-the-spaceborn

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOLAR TEMPLE

To conclude this selection of new music I have Rays of Brilliance, which is the first release by a two-person Dutch group named Solar Temple. I don’t know whether to call it a single or an EP — it’s a song that’s more than 15 minutes long. It was released on May 24th and is available digitally and on vinyl through Fallen Empire in the U.S. and Haeresis Noviomagi in Europe.

These words appear on the Bandcamp page:

– Initiation into the Dionysian realms –
– Swallowed by the cosmic firmament

There’s also a “black metal” tag on the Bandcamp page. And beyond that, you’ll have to figure this out for yourselves (and then tell me).

https://solartemplehn.bandcamp.com/album/rays-of-brilliance