SARTEGOS, MITOCHONDRION, PROTEAN COLLECTIVE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 062013
 

We’re going to be a little light on content today because your humble editor will soon be embarking on a drive with his spouse to Vancouver, BC, where we will then engage in various entertaining activities that do not include blogging. I do have one very unusual premiere to bring you a bit later this morning, one guest review, and this round-up of items that tunneled their way into my head yesterday and left its meager contents in a state of satisfying disarray.

SARTEGOS

The ghastly words sound as if they’re bubbling up through a lava pool in a caldera, the air rendered opaque with the suffocating stench of sulphur. Primitive occult riffs vibrate with unholy energy. The muffled thump of drums roll like an avalanche of skulls hitting a barren plain. A twisted guitar melody echoes like the recital of a satanic liturgy across the vault of a hellish cathedral. And damned if the thing won’t hook you right through the gills. That’s “Meianoite No Jardim De Deus”, a song by Sartegos.

Sartegos are one of the few metal bands I’ve ever heard of who make their home in Galicia, an autonomous community in northwest Spain with its own language. In English, the song I heard means “Midnight in God’s Garden”, and it’s as dark as the name sounds. It appears on a 2013 EP entitled As Fontes Do Negrume (“The Origin Of Darkness”) that was recently released on CD by Bloody Productions and is about to get a vinyl treatment by I, Voidhanger Records.  Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MESHUGGAH, ENSLAVED, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, ERIC CUTLER (AUTOPSY), MARK RIDDICK, MITOCHONDRION, AND DEIPHAGO

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Nov 132012
 

Here’s a collection of items that came my way over the last 24 hours that I thought were worth sharing — in addition to all of the awesome posts that already graced the site yesterday.  (I can use the words “awesome” and “graced” without tarnishing my well-known reputation for humility because I’m not directly responsible for any of ysterday’s posts, even though this post will also be awesome.)

TOURISM: MESHUGGAH AND ENSLAVED

I saw via Heavy Blog Is Heavy the rumor that Meshuggah will be touring the U.S. along with Animals As Leaders and Intronaut early next year. The rumor is based on a flyer for a date in Minneapolis that you can see above.Yes please.

That same photo up there also provides evidence of another tour that I read about previously. This one is official: Norway’s Enslaved will be returning to the U.S. and Canada in early 2013 for a headlining, 20-show “Winter Rite” tour joined by U.S. doom metallers Pallbearer and occult rockers Ancient VVisdom (and both of those bands are killers).

The tour begins January 30 in Philadelphia and ends February 22 in New York City. The full schedule can be seen after the jump. And in case you missed our earlier post yesterday, Osmose Productions has just uploaded three older Enslaved albums for streaming and download on Bandcamp for the first time. Continue reading »

LIVE IN SEATTLE: MITOCHONDRION, LOSS, WORM OUROBOROS, AND BELL WITCH

 Concert Reviews  23 Responses »
Nov 112012
 

Last night, November 10, 2012, a couple of friends and I ventured out in a butt-freezing Seattle night to catch the live performances of Profound Lore stable-mates Mitochondrion, Loss, Worm Ouroboros, and Bell Witch at The Highline bar. This was the second stop on a West Coast tour by Loss and Worm Ouroboros that will have different bands sharing the stage with them as the tour progresses.

Before leaving home I spent an hour finally studying the user manual for my hot-shit digital camera in an attempt to improve the quality of my live-show photos. I even typed up a cheat sheet about various settings that seemed like they would be useful, because the shit was so complicated that I knew I’d never remember it. And then I left home without the cheat sheet — and I was 100% right: I couldn’t hardly remember any of it. But I took pics anyway, and the best of a sorry lot are in this post.

I met my friends at a Vietnamese restaurant before the show. I’ll call her S and him O. O is a metalhead and a vocalist who’s working on a new DIY album. He has eclectic tastes and a preference for physical formats; his latest purchases are CDs by Inquisition, Kreator, and Sargeist. S listens to some metal, but she’s not really into the head-wrecking stuff. I think Worm Ouroboros was the main draw for her last night.

I’d never had Vietnamese food before. I followed their lead, except ordering twice as much food as they did because I wanted to explore. It was damned good, and I ate most of it. With my fucked-up ankle and a bloated belly, I tried to convince O to carry me on his back for the two-block walk to The Highline, y’know, as a test of friendship. He passed the test, merely chuckling instead of telling me to go fuck myself. Continue reading »

TUESDAY TUMULT: MITOCHONDRION, RETALIATORY MEASURES, PAROXSIHZEM, VON, AND VOYAGER

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Oct 302012
 

Here’s another daily round-up of tumultuous metal (and artwork) that caught my attention while I rooted around the interhole over the last 24 hours. In no particular order:

MITOCHONDRION

These Vancouver-based beasts have two releases on the near horizon. First, Dark Descent Records will be releasing a 7″ single named Antinumerology that includes two new Mitochondrion songs: “Insummation” and “137 (Antinumerology)”. The striking artwork has been created by Richard Friend (Loss, Father Befouled), and you can see it on the right (click the image to see a larger version). I haven’t found a release date yet, though it looks like sometime in 2013.

Second, Siege Engine Records will be releasing a double LP version of the band’s 2011 album, Parasignosis. The label is giving away a free test press copy of the LP, though you have to be on Facebook to enter the contest. To do that, “Like” the Siege Engine Records Facebook page and then click on the “Contest!” link toward the top of the page and enter the e-mail address associated with your Facebook account.

The artwork for the LP was created by Alexander L. Brown, and apparently will include a Parasignosis poster that looks stunning (not sure if this will be sold with the LP or separately). A detail from the poster is up above. A photo of the whole thing is just after the jump, and more detail shots can be seen here. This is really great work. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC: MARDUK, MITOCHONDRION, AND DEATH GRIPS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  28 Responses »
Mar 282012
 

Work, work, work.  That’s me right now, though I would rather be blog, blog, blog. So this will be short.

MARDUK

You know Marduk. They’re from Sweden. They play tumultuous black war metal. They have a new album coming on May 28 called Serpent Sermon. The album cover is after the jump. So is the first song from the album, which premiered yesterday on Metal Hammer. It’s called “M.A.M.M.O.N.”

It’s not exactly what I was expecting from Marduk, which is not a bad thing at all. Yes, there are bile-vomiting vocals. Yes, there are weapon-like blast beats and double-bass. Yes, the guitars come in menacing waves. But there are changes of pace in which the guitars also ring out slow, chiming melodies while the bass audibly bounds along beneath them in a jazzy progression. Interesting. Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS: MITOCHONDRION

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  26 Responses »
Feb 222012
 

Over the last few days I saw two pieces of art that caught my attention, in part because the art is great and in part because both pieces relate to Mitochondrion, whose music has left wounds all over me that won’t heal.

The artwork above was created by Jeremy Hannigan (who’s also the vocalist of the doom band Funeral Circle). He created it for a new double-LP version of Mitochondrion’s 2008 debut album, Archaeaeon, which will be released by Dark Descent Records. According to the band, this special vinyl release will include the full lyrics in proper order, song descriptions, lyrical meanings, and a brief history of the album.

Archaeaeon was originally self-released by the band, but Dark Descent picked it up last August for re-issue as a CD, following a re-master of the music by Colin Marston (Krallice, Dysrhythmia, Behold… The Arctopus), and now we’ll have the vinyl. Of course, I still don’t own a turntable, but I think just about any news concerning Mitochondrion is worth repeating, perhaps especially when the news concerns Archaeaeon.

I first discovered Mitochondrion through their second album, Parasignosis, which got a Profound Lore release in January of last year. It blew my shit away, to put it mildly. I came to Archaeaeon much later, and found it equally compelling, though different in some respects from Parasignosis.  (more after the jump, including the second piece of art and Mitochondrion music . . .) Continue reading »

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