Jul 292015
 

gatefold

 

(Another month is in the history books, and so it’s time for KevinP to name the releases from last month that most impressed him.)

As I prepared to write this month’s column, my initial thought was:  the lack of releases in July as compared to the rest of the year.  I quickly realized that I had listened to 30 albums, and what a ridculous notion that was.  If I “only” listened to 30 per month (normally it’s somewhere in the 40+ range), that would equate to 340 per year, which is borderline insane.  Ok, on with the festivities…. Continue reading »

Jul 142012
 

Yesterday I started putting up short posts during brief windows of time permitted by my fucking day job, just trying to spread the word, for your entertainment and edification, about new videos, new music, and news that I’d seen yesterday. I got two of those posts up on the site and ran out of time before I could finish the third one. So here it is, a day late but no dollars short.

DARKTHRONE

I saw on the Terrorizer web site that this Norwegian duo have finished recording their next album, the first one since 2010’s Circle the Wagons, and that it’s scheduled for release later this year. You can bet that it will make waves and draw lots of attention, because it’s Darkthrone. What I wouldn’t venture to predict is what it will sound like, except it won’t be black metal, because Fenriz has kind of a “been there, done that” attitude about the band’s musical roots. The Terrorizer report did quote guitarist/vocalist Nocturno Culto, as follows:

“The album will be called The Underground Resistance. I can’t speak for Fenriz, but I think he’s going for more epic lyrics. I can only speak for myself and this time around they are very personal lyrics. It’s the first time I’ve ever tried this and it’s difficult to do it nicely and put it into good words. There was a lot of hate and people trying to ruin your day and I had stuff to say for my sake.”

Of the album, he adds: “Our music now is basically just metal, it will be a step away from the last album as usual.” Yup.

While I’m on the subject of Darkthrone, I’ll mention that the Peaceville label has re-issued the band’s 2001 album Plaguewielder as a special 2-CD set, with the second CD consisting of lengthy track-by-track commentary from Fenriz. It also includes new cover artwork by the amazing Zbigniew M. Bielak, which is right after the jump, big as life. Continue reading »

Jul 052012
 

Yeah, I know I did one of these MISCELLANY posts just two days ago, but I had so much fun doing it that I’m just gonna fuckin’ do it again! And even though I included a refresher on the rules of MISCELLANY in that post, I’m doing that again, too:

I randomly pick a few bands whose music I’ve never heard and whose names are new to me. I listen to one recent song by each band (I try to limit myself to just one song, but I sometimes I get carried away). I record my impressions here, and then I stream the song(s) I heard so you can make up your own minds about whether to explore the music further. That’s it.

Today’s bands: Indesinence (UK), Vimana (U.S.-Colorado), and Shajol (Equador).

INDESINENCE

Truth be told, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of this band before, but I’ll be damned if I can remember how or when. I do know I’d never heard their music before this MISCELLANY expedition. What put them on my radar was the revelation a few days ago of the album cover art you see above. It was created by Jaume Mayans & Daniela Kropeit, and it’s apparently only part of a larger image that will grace the hardcover digibook (which will include a 24-page booklet!) for this band’s new album, Vessels of Light and Decay, which Profound Lore will be releasing in late August.

Speaking of Jaume and Daniela, they also did the artwork for a forthcoming album on the Dark Descent label that I’ve heard good things about by a UK band named Binah. Check that out right after the jump. Continue reading »