SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: THE WEEK THAT WAS, AND MUSIC FROM NINE BANDS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 012025
 


Marcus Larson (1825–1864) Ocean at Night with Burning Ship (detail)

(written by Islander)

It has been a week in hell. I don’t mean the stuff you’ve seen every day in the national news reports, including the vile treatment of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House yesterday (I’m addressing the 3 of you who can still bear to read the national news), but hellish events closer to home that impacted our putrid precious site.

Specifically, beginning last Sunday night and carrying into Monday the Puget Sound area of Washington where I live got walloped by lightning storms, heavy rain, and very high winds. Windstorms are fairly common during the winter months here, and the results are predictable: In the heavily forested island where I live, trees fall, limbs break off, and they hammer themselves into the power lines, all of which are strung above ground close to trees. And pop! The power goes out!

Which it did in the early hours of last Monday. And when the power goes out here, so does the internet, because my ISP’s local servers and routing stations apparently don’t have generators or human beings close by to keep them going. And when the internet goes out for everyone in my neighborhood (and this time for nearly all of the 30,000 people who live on the island), the strength of cell phone signals drops to borderline non-existent. I guess because everyone is trying to use their phones in place of the stricken net service. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KHANDRA, BORGNE, ADUANTEN, RORCAL & EARTHFLESH, NONE, GHASTLY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 262021
 

 

As you can see, I had enough time to pull together a round-up of new tracks and videos today. It’s the first time I’ve managed to do this during the work-week in ages, usually having to wait until Saturdays before I can pull it off. As I meandered among things I was interested in checking out, the following six items began to cluster together in my head. Other things I enjoyed didn’t fit in this cluster, so I’ll leave them for tomorrow.

What caused these songs to coalesce in my thinking is because all of them seemed made of madness. For sure, they do have their distinctive thrills, but in varying ways they’re almost all a fracturing of sanity in sound.

KHANDRA (Belarus)

The first song I’ve chosen is the first single from a new album by this black metal band from Belarus, whose past music we’ve gratefully premiered and reviewed on two previous occasions. The name of the song gives you fair warning about what’s coming:  “Irrigating Lethal Acres with Blood“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BORGNE — “JE DEVIENS MON PROPRE ABYSSE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 102020
 

 

Originally the solo project of Bornyhake (whose name has been associated with a significant number of other groups), but eventually expanding into a full band, the Swiss entity Borgne released their first album in 1998, and their path since then has resulted in eight more full-lengths. The most recent of those, entitled Y, will be released by Borgne‘s new label Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions on March 6th.

Borgne‘s musical hallmark has been the integration of industrial music into black metal, with an increasingly atmospheric quality that combines with the compulsive mechanical rhythms and intense, ravaging aggression. We have a prime example of these aspects of Borgne‘s music to share with you today, as we premiere the new album’s second track, “Je Deviens Mon Propre Abysse” (I Become My Own Abyss). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: LUX FERRE, GOAT TORMENT, MEFISTO, BORGNE, JOTNARR

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
Aug 092015
 

Lux Ferre cover art

 

Off and on over the last couple of days I browsed the web and links we received via e-mail, hunting for new music that I thought would be worth recommending. I’ve collected some of those here. The songs display different styles, though they are all connected to the traditions of black metal — and I think they are all very good.

LUX FERRE

Lux Ferre are a Portuguese band who somehow eluded my attention until this weekend, despite the fact that they’ve released two full-lengths and have a third one coming out this fall. The new album is entitled Excaecatio Lux Veritatis.

Lux Ferre obviously don’t crank out their albums in a hurry — this new one comes six years after the band’s last record, Atrae Materiae Monumentum, and that one followed their debut album (Antichristian War Propaganda) by five years. Though I can’t comment on the band’s previous releases, the first advance track that has appeared from the new album is tremendous. Continue reading »