SHADES OF BLACK: KRIEG, DEATHMOOR, PORTA NIGRA, ZIGOTA

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Jul 022023
 

Here we are again, ready to blacken the Sabbath with some new things you might not have heard, the kind of things that would ruin most people’s days but I hope will turn yours into warming bonfires. Well, maybe not warming, more like incinerating, but still welcome I hope. What’s ahead is a new stand-alone single, a couple of tracks from a forthcoming album, and two just-released full-lengths.

KRIEG (U.S.)

Neill Jameson has made a name for himself as a music writer, often wise-cracking, irreverently cynical, and creatively foul-mouthed but with a finely-honed and widely respected taste that makes lots of people pay attention to his recommendations of underground gems. We’ve benefited from that here ourselves, usually through his year-end lists for our site but also at other times when he’s been moved to send something our way.

But before he made a name for himself in those ways, he and his band Krieg made a name for themselves in the annals of U.S. black metal. Krieg‘s musical output, beginning with their debut album in 1998 (recently reissued by The Devil’s Elixirs Records), ran in a hot, year-after-year torrent through 2018, mostly splits and EPs but with 7 more albums also scattered along the way. Then there was a four-year pause before 2022 brought forth a split with Crucifixion Bell, which demonstrated in electrifying fashion that although Time may have aged Krieg‘s members, it definitely hasn’t dulled their knives or moderated their musical savagery.

And now we’ve got a new Krieg single named “Bone Whip,” which is captured on one of those flexi-discs in the new issue of Decibel magazine (the one with Mizmor on the cover, available for purchase here). As disclosed at Decibel’s site, the song was recorded during the sessions for Krieg‘s next album (the name of which is Ruiner), but won’t be included on that album. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: KRIEG, CRUCIFIXION BELL, TE RUKI, GNIEW, THE SUN’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE NIGHT

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Apr 102022
 

 

Greetings to all on another Sunday. This time I’ve chosen a mix of advance tracks from two forthcoming releases plus two complete records (a new EP and the reissue of an album-length demo). All but one of the bands are known quantities to me based on the high quality of their previous works, and that new one has made a startling first impression. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this varied excursion into the black metal underground as much as I have.

KRIEG (U.S.)

I’m beginning with songs from a new split by Krieg and Crucifixion Bell that will be released on April 29th by UK-based Death Prayer Records (on CD, cassette tape, and digital formats). The split includes four tracks from Crucifixion Bell and three from Krieg. The first of Krieg‘s songs launched for streaming is “Incantations of Suffering Souls“. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: NEILL JAMESON’S YEAR END EGO FEEDING BULLSHIT PT. V: BEST OF THE BEST

 LISTMANIA 2020  4 Responses »
Dec 212020
 

 

(We have reached the end of the 2020 lists prepared by Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood), and he closes with the cream of the crop, a lucky 13. We’re again very grateful to have had the chance to share these lists with you.)

And now, friends, we’ve come to the end of an unusually (for me) long list of “best of’s”. In any given year I tend to challenge people who post top 40 to see if they actually listen to any of the dreck they swear made their year a few weeks after list season is over, so I guess in twelve months I’ll report back. I stand by my initial assertion that industry types are mostly full of shit and don’t actually pay attention to what they put on these lists, save that they want to promote some (usually awful) record or try to appear important on some esoteric scale.

Which one am I? Probably the latter except I don’t have anything to hock this year. I still think people that do top 50 or more lists each year are fucking liars, though.

Here’s the best of the year: Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: NEILL JAMESON’S YEAR END EGO FEEDING BULLSHIT PT. IV: ALBUMS

 LISTMANIA 2020  4 Responses »
Dec 182020
 

 

(We’ve reached the penultimate Part in the 2020 year-end lists by Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood) that we’ve been fortunate to share with you. The focus of this one is Albums (10 of them). The preceding installments can be found behind these links: Part I, Part II, Part III.)

It hasn’t just been because 2020 turned into whatever you want to call it that we’ve seen a massive surge in quality, captivating music, but rather we’re at one of those rare points in time where there’s  an overflowing of talented and creative people who’ve all somehow climaxed at once. I’m sure there’s some kind of joke there but I’m sure most of you were sick of my shit two paragraphs in on Part I (if not earlier) so I’ll just get into the meat of this piece.

Probably a joke there, too. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: NEILL JAMESON’S YEAR END EGO FEEDING BULLSHIT PT. III: MORE DEMOS, EPS, AND SPLITS

 LISTMANIA 2020  1 Response »
Dec 162020
 

 

(We continue rolling out a series of year-end lists compiled by Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood). You can (and should) find Part I here (which was also devoted to EPs, Demos, and Splits) and Part II here (which was devoted to dungeon synth).

I don’t have very much of an eye for detail, no matter how much I bullshit about it on my resume, and because of that I constantly miss things when I do lists like this, plus the first two lists (did you read them? You should, they’re remarkable.) were pretty long and attention spans are short.

Really it’s just because I rushed through it like everything else in life, which is why my chapter in the USBM book stops around 2001. Anyway here’s more EPs, demos, and splits. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: NEILL JAMESON’S YEAR END EGO FEEDING BULLSHIT PT. II: DUNGEON SYNTH

 LISTMANIA 2020  2 Responses »
Dec 152020
 

 

(We are grateful once again to be able to share year-end lists compiled by Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood), which this year comes in multiples parts, of which this is the second one. Part I is here.)

As foretold in the first chapter of these lists (I’m trying to get into character), this part in our 2020 journey will be solely dungeon synth releases, of which there have been 16 released just since I typed that first sentence.

This genre has become fucking overwhelming, especially with people being stuck at home, so it feels like there’s a glut of new projects clogging the drain, causing a sewage overflow of forgettable cassettes that are selling out simply because people like buying shit that’s “limited”. And the culture that’s grown up around dungeon synth? That’s another article someone will bitch about that I don’t need to write.

That’s not to say there aren’t great things being released and I know I missed a great deal of them, so this is more just a list of my favorite releases this year and very obviously limited in scope. Enjoy. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2019: A YEAR-END LIST BY NEILL JAMESON (PART 2)

 LISTMANIA 2019  2 Responses »
Dec 242019
 

 

(For the sixth year in a row, we’re grateful that Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood) accepted our invitation to share with us and you a list releases from the past year that made an impact on him. His lists always provide welcome discoveries, and the one this year — which is divided into two parts — is no different. You can find Part 1 here.)

I knew the moment I hit “send” on the first part of this that I’d remember a few records I wanted to write a bit about. That’s one of the nicer things about years like this: there’s so much out there worth listening to that you somehow forget all of it when you’re pressed to talk about it. Like I said previously, this is more of an “odds & ends” part of the shit I filled my ears with in 2019. So rather than fill space with more pointless exposition let’s just get right to it: Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2019: A YEAR-END LIST BY NEILL JAMESON (PART 1)

 LISTMANIA 2019  2 Responses »
Dec 232019
 

 

(For the sixth year in a row, we’re grateful that Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood) accepted our invitation to share with us and you a list releases from the past year that made an impact on him. His lists always provide welcome discoveries, and the one this year which is divided into two parts — is no different. Look for Part 2 tomorrow.)

Going over my year-end thing from last year I’m struck with how dour of a tone it takes and I’m reminded of how difficult I found putting that list together. Not that the choices I made were bad, far from it, but those were the only records I could pull out of last year that I felt anything for. Only two of them remain in rotation, maybe three. Kind of self-fulfilling since nearly every time I’ve been given the honor to thrust my tastes at you I always warn of how people don’t actually pay attention to the records on these lists a few weeks after the new year starts. I guess this means I’m not better than any of you since I’m guilty of the same thing, and now my entire world is crumbling. Also I quit smoking a week ago.

Any of this only matters because I’ve had a much more difficult and, honestly, awful year than I have in… well… years, and yet the only reason this list is a lot tougher than 2018 is because this has been an incredible year for music and I’ve only scratched the surface with this list. Much like 2017, I have to do two pieces for shit I think you should give a listen to. Hope you get something out of them. This first part will focus on the full-lengths while the second part will be the fucking myriad odds and ends this year that kept dropping like a rat shitting in a hoarder’s dining room. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2018: A YEAR-END LIST FROM NEILL JAMESON

 LISTMANIA 2018  6 Responses »
Dec 272018
 

 

(For the fifth year in a row, we’re grateful that Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood) accepted our invitation to share with us and you a list releases from the past year that made an impact on him. His lists always provide welcome discoveries, and this year is no different.)

I have to be honest, this year I really didn’t listen to a lot of new records. I guess there’s a bunch of reasons why, each one more boring than the last. Sort of like most of the year-end lists I’ve seen on social media the last six weeks. Am I just getting too old and burned out to enjoy some of this shit? I mean that seems like a solid enough reason rather than just coming out and saying a lot of “popular” (I guess) metal this year felt disposable, and while a lot of you will rise up to tell me I’m a fucking moron I’d be willing to put a solid six or seven dollars down that you won’t be listening to the majority of your year-end list in two years.

Last year I had a massive list and I still stand by the bulk of it. 2017 was a great year for new music. 2018? I dunno, I’ve been distracted. I haven’t even listened to the new Drudkh yet. I’m sure it’s great. I’m sure a lot of great stuff happened this year and I’m sure a lot of it is under my radar and possibly yours too. I don’t want anyone to have the impression I feel like I have superior tastes to you when I do these lists; I don’t. And neither do you. We all should listen to what we enjoy without having to worry about what some asshole a few seats over is going to think. Continue reading »

INTEGRITY AND KRIEG: A SPLIT

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jul 272018
 

 

(This is Todd Manning’s review of the new split by Integrity and Krieg, which will be released by Relapse Records on August 3rd.)

Oftentimes, split recordings are an opportunity for two lesser known bands to introduce each other to their respective fan bases. It is representative of the camaraderie of the underground, and one of both Metal and Hardcore’s most beloved formats. What we don’t see as often are two well-established acts doing a split together. While there are a few examples, such as Napalm Death’s work with the Melvins and Converge, these exceptions prove the rule.

The latest exception now comes from the pairing of Hardcore legends Integrity and Black Metal juggernaut Krieg. It’s unlikely these groups got together as some sort of calculated marketing move, but rather out of a mutual respect for one another. Continue reading »

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