CANIS DIRUS: “BY THE GRACE OF DEATH”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 082024
 

(Here is Todd Manning‘s review of the latest album by Minnesota-based Canis Dirus, which will be unleashed December 21st on LP by Bindrune Recordings and on CD by Alte Seelen.)

Bindrune Recordings have long been one of the most trusted yet still thoroughly underground labels of the 21st century, specializing in all things atmospheric metal. Their latest release from Canis Dirus, By the Grace of Death, keeps the label’s excellent standard of quality alive with their folk-infused take on black metal.

Album opener, “Once Cursed Path Glistens in the Sun”, is an epic black metal piece constructed from a minimal number of parts. The primary riff is mid-paced and heavy, yet also meditative and melancholy. They eventually find a blast beat and display their ability to conjure violence as well. Yet a synth line underneath the maelstrom keeps the atmosphere intact. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY, PART I: A-G

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Oct 262024
 

(written by Islander)

We’re creeping toward the end of 2024, not too far away from the time when the denizens of our miserable site and the visitors who come slumming here will begin focusing on year-end lists. But there’s still more than two months to go before we ring in 2025, and a lot of new music is still coming out, and will come out.

I was brutally reminded of that fact when trying to sort out what to recommend today, especially because a short vacation prevented me from making as big a compilation last week as I usually do. By the time I had sorted out what I thought would be worth exploring with you today, I had 16 picks, far too many to cram into a single column.

So, I divided this giant collection into two parts. Rather than try to figure out what kind of musical flow might make sense, I took the easy road and alphabetized everything. This post is roughly the first half. Roughly the second half will arrive tomorrow, barring some personal catastrophe. And I have ambitions to bring forth another SHADES OF BLACK collection tomorrow as well, but we’ll see. Might be a case of biting off more than I can chew.

In the meantime, chew on these choices. Most of them in this two-parter are singles, but with a few complete releases in the mix. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): DEEMTEE, DARK FORTRESS, CANIS DIRUS, IZTHMI

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Dec 222019
 

 

You can tell from the title of this post that I have ambitions for putting a lot of black/blackened metal in front of you today. As I explained in yesterday’s post, the torrent of new music hasn’t let up just because we’re on the brink of the holiday season and the turnover from 2019 to 2020. So I’m trying to make the most of this weekend for round-ups of new music before the new week makes me focus again on LISTMANIA and premieres.

DEEMTEE

Did you miss Deemtee’s debut album when it was released last June? If you did, and you’re also a fan of such bands as Deathspell Omega, Oranssi Pazuzu, Valborg, Blut Aus Nord, and Ved Buens Ende, it’s well worth carving out some of your year-end time to check it out. We premiered a full stream of Flawed Synchronization With Reality, and I’ll excerpt only these words from the very wordy review which accompanied that: Continue reading »