SHADES OF BLACK: GROZA, SPECTRAL WOUND, INCESSANT, CONCRETE WINDS, OPPRESS., VANQUISHMENT, XHELAT, GREAT LAKES DUNGEON SIEGE

 Album Reviews, Metal News, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 302024
 


Groza

As I mentioned yesterday I’m flying to Iceland tomorrow to be present at Ascension Fest. I need to figure out what to pack, decisions like whether I should bring one change of underwear and socks for the week or 7. I’ve noticed from past Ascensions that people there don’t smell as bad as at U.S. festivals, so maybe more than one change, eh?

I’ve also got a couple of premieres to write for posting tomorrow before I leave, and some clothes to wash, and I might should spend some time with my spouse, to increase the iffy odds she’ll still be here when I get back.

So, even though it’s been two weeks since the last time I did this Sunday column and therefore I have an especially mountainous pile of new music to choose from, this will have to be short — at least in terms of my own words. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CONCRETE WINDS — “DEMONIC TRUCULENCE”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Nov 012021
 

Good morning class. Today we have a case study for you, a study in paradox. The paradox in question is how musicians who have clearly taken leave of their senses are able to create sonic sensations that are utterly maniacal, and yet make their stupendously berserk convulsions somehow sound… catchy? Yes, catchy! (Although it’s possible we’ve taken leave of our senses as a result of listening to this.)

The subject of the case study is a track named “Demonic Truculence” (bonus points for using “truculence” in a song title, and for making music that merits the word, especially when modified by the adjective “demonic”). The two evident maniacs who made it (Jonatan Johansson and Mikko Josefsson) go by the name Concrete Winds. The album that includes the track goes by the accurately descriptive name Nerve Butcherer. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: BLUT AUS NORD, MARW, ZEIT, THE EMBER THE ASH, TOTENGEFLÜSTER, CONCRETE WINDS

 SHADES OF BLACK  7 Responses »
Aug 112019
 

 

Although you can’t tell from the title of this post, it’s the first part of another two-part installment of this column. I didn’t call this “Part 1” because I dusted off a long-dormant strategy for the second one, which has its own long-dormant Category tag, and I’m using that instead of Part 2. All will become clear when I’m able to finish and post the second segment, hopefully later today but possibly on Monday morning.

Here, I’m beginning with a notable news item and then marching ahead with the music, which includes an EP, a new song and video, and advance tracks from forthcoming releases.

BLUT AUS NORD

Part of the thrill afforded by a new Blut Aus Nord album is the process of discovery, because BAN has rarely followed a straight and steady path from one record to the next, and predicting how their path might twist and turn requires a crystal ball. In the case of their new album, Hallucinogen, Debemur Morti Productions has announced that it “begins a new era,” “ending the cycle of clandestine industrialised dissonance that culminated with previous transmission Deus Salutis Meae and moving skyward into freshly melodic territories of progressive clarity”. Continue reading »