SHADES OF BLACK (AND OTHER SHADES): THE STONE, COSCRADH, VALLENDUSK, THULCANDRA, SULPUR, FUOCO FATUO, CROSS VAULT, CTHONICA, EHNAHRE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Mar 072021
 

 

I want to thank those of you who have left comments or sent messages expressing sympathy and support for my current day-job misery. I was also surprised, and admittedly a bit disappointed, that a lot of people checked in on yesterday’s post even though I didn’t have the time to write about any of the music — or even listen to it! So I thought, what the hell, let’s do that again.

This column is usually devoted to black metal, and so I’ve started that way but also diverted from it. But yesterday one of our supporters (rodney) left a comment with some recommendations, and I thought I would include some of those here at the end, because he included some enticing descriptions of the bands and their music. Some of that music would seem to fit SHADES OF BLACK and some might not, which is true of my own choices

I again haven’t listened to any of this. As was true yesterday, I’m gambling, but these all seem like good bets. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CTHONICA — “III VI: …NOT AS THOSE WHO SERVED AND PREACHED IN OBEISANCE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 032019
 

 

The name of the abominable two-headed Venezuelan black/death entity Cthonica is an acronym, in its longer form manifesting as Claiming the THrone Of Noxious Illuminative CAtharsis. The members took their first steps under the name Okkvlt, but evolved and twisted their creative impulses into more ravaging forms under the name Cthonica, soon to be revealed through their debut album Typhomanteia: Sacred Triarchy of Spiritual Putrefaction.

The album is composed of three main tracks divided into acts, which represent three aspects or steps for what the band call “Spiritual Putrefaction”, or “pneuma-morphosis into corruption”: “Act I: The Chalice” (Will: To drink from the cup of Sin), “Act II: The Lantern” (Light: To enlight the paths of Acherontic teachings…), and “Act III: The Verb” (To Dare: As the alchemical / magical principle, to point the sword high and spread the seeds of damnation). We’re told that the remaining tracks result from the continuation of the first ones, all in order to “serve as bringers of the leviathanic breath (and winds) of Typhon towards Tehom”.

What we present today is Act VI, which represents a continuation of Act III. Its name is “…Not As Those Who Served and Preached In Obeisance“. Continue reading »