Anthropic Records is a Philadelphia record label “obsessed with heartbreaking chest crushing noise and doomed psychic soundscapes”. That’s what they say, and I believe it. Yesterday, I discovered via Facebook that they made available a compilation by the name of Anthrosphere IV. It’s free, except it only comes free with a purchase from the Anthropic web store, so I guess it’s only “sorta free”. But I’ll tell you what, at least in my case this doesn’t function as a bonus, but as a main draw.

Anthrosphere IV features 10 tracks by 10 Philadelphia bands, as well as the excellent cover art you see above by Mike Wohlberg, who has done work for the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Children of Bodom, and The Acacia Strain. All 10 songs are brand new and they were all mastered by Chris Grigg (Woe). I’m only familiar with three of the bands on the line-up, but those three are really fuckin’ good, which made me quite interested in the other seven.

One of those four is Ashencult (the other two being Infiltrator and Sadgiqacea), and in a flash of fortunate coincidence I deduced (okay, I’m guessing) that the Ashencult song, “My Tenth Death”, must be the track that Ashencult contributed to Opus Serpens, the forthcoming vinyl split with Sweden’s Mephorash — whose own contribution we premiered just a bit earlier today (here). Man, “My Tenth Death” is a riveting piece of music, with dark, magnetic riffs that exert their hold from the first seconds and vocals that burn like a napalm storm. Seriously, it’s a great song.

And it’s not the only great song on this release. How do I know? Because all 10 of the tracks on Anthrosphere IV are streaming on Bandcamp. Continue reading »