This is a rarity — a combination of two track premieres from two separate albums, one by Satanath and one by We Hate You Too. There is a connection between them, but only because the same label is involved in the two album releases. But the idea of combining them was my own.
The idea occurred to me because both tracks (and albums) represent a divergence from the kind of extreme metal that’s our usual meat and potatoes around here. But I found both tracks very intriguing, and thought you might enjoy the change of pace that each of them represents.
SATANATH: VIGTIO
Satanath is a Russian solo project devoted to a style of dark “space ambient” music. The creator behind the project is Aleksey Korolyov, who is also the label boss at Satanath Records as well as the man behind Abigorum. The new Satanath album is named Your Personal Copy and consists of 20 tracks and nearly 80 minutes of music. It will be co-released by the Belarusian label Grimm Distribution and Craneo Negro Records (Mexico). The track we’re presenting is “Vigtio“.
There is considerable variety among the tracks on Your Personal Copy — as you’ll find if you listen to the other two previously released tracks we’re including with this one. “Vigtio”, for example, includes layering of electronic beats — it bounces and dances, although the dissonant flickerings of piano melody and assorted other pulsating, shimmering, flailing, and floating sounds in the song give it an alien aura… and there are also times when it gives off a chilling eeriness, cold and perilous to the touch. But mainly, this ought to put a smile on your face.
Interesting side note: The booklet for the limited CD edition of the album is made in a form that allows its owner to personalize it by coloring the designs (created by Dmitry from Bulldozer Arts) pencils or felt-tip pens — and so this perhaps explains the album’s name. Each edition is also numbered and signed by Satanath.
Check out “Vigtio” below, along with previously released tracks: “Peitefuv” (a free download at Bandcamp) and “Onihmas“.
Pre-order:
https://grimmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/010gd-satanath-your-personal-copy-2017
https://www.facebook.com/ixcraneonegroxi
Satanath Bandcamp:
https://satanath666.bandcamp.com/
WE HATE YOU TOO: RELICS OF RESTLESSNESS
The next song premiere differs dramatically from the first one, but it’s also quite different from our usual metal fare.
We Hate You Too is a duo of French musicians (vocalist/lyricist Hangsvart and multi-instrumentalist Camille) who experimentally draw upon a variety of musical traditions, including jazz, classical, metal, and dark ambient. Their new album is Howling Scars. You’ll get an advance idea of how wide-ranging the sounds are by perusing this list of instruments that Camille has used in making the music:
Piano, keyboards, clarinets, ocarinas, oboe, english horn, bassoon, duduk, harp, recorders, gemshorn, flute, piccolo, french horn, trombone, theremin, bass trumpet, baritone horn, saxophones, viola, tuning forks, melodica, bass, bells, percussions
The croaking, growling gutturals in “Relics of Restlessness” aren’t welcoming. Pair those cavernous, near-inhuman spoken words with piano melodies that are themselves haunted (as well as hypnotic) and you have a recipe for the feeling of a wintry breath on the back of your neck. The song includes other instrumental accents that enhance the music’s otherworldly aura… as well as beautiful (but also haunting) horn and string passages that deepen the track’s gloomy spell.
Once again we present not only our own premiere but also two previously released tracks, “The Ghosts Are Here” (a free download at bandcamp) and “The Dawn Star“, both of which are also strangely intoxicating.
Pre-order:
https://grimmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/011gd-we-hate-you-too-howling-scars-2017
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/WeHateYouTooFrenchDuo/