I didn’t post anything on our site yesterday, which makes only the sixth or seventh day in more than 6 years when I’ve fallen down on the job. As was true most of those other times, I was suffering from a really late Friday night (which included a visit to the first metal show I’ve seen in more than a month) in which I managed to poison myself with the demon alcohol. I think I needed to blow off some steam, but I paid severely for my fun.

Anyway, I will attempt to make up for letting the site go dark on Saturday with this collection of new songs (plus a new video) that I want to recommend, all of which lurk in various corners of the black realms. There’s a lot of music here, and so I’ve restrained my usual verbosity. Presented in alphabetical order by band name.

ASHBRINGER

The second album of Minnesota’s Ashbringer is named Yūgen. It will be released on June 7 by Avantgarde Music on digipak CD) with vinyl coming later via Vendetta and a cassette edition via Broken Limbs Recordings. The first advance track, “Oceans Apart”, appeared early this month and I finally got around to checking it out. It’s as striking and memorable as the album’s cover art. Continue reading »