Jun 162024
 

To follow up on yesterday’s personal report: The food cooked deep underground turned out extremely well. Our fire continued to roar. The beer and wine didn’t run out. The forecast thunderstorms and hail didn’t arrive, though ominous clouds constantly raced across blue skies, and in the late afternoon they paused long enough to provide a brief drenching.

That did put a literal damper on our outdoor picnic, followed by scenes of people warming their backsides next to the fire bowl, with hilarious sights of steam coming off the butt-side of wet jeans. Not long after, people started going their separate ways just before sunset.

So, what might have been another late night for me turned into a relatively early collapse into bed. Yet I listened to no music yesterday other than vibrant songs from Mexico and Guatemala pumping from a boom box, with lots of marimba, accordion, and tuba in the mix. Today is also Father’s Day.

With all that, today’s collection of metal like yesterday’s isn’t as extensive as I’d like, but still worth your time (I hope you’ll agree). I’ve launched it with a trio of mind-benders, Continue reading »

Aug 172015
 

IVR045 - TODESSTOSS - Hirngemeer

 

The new seventh album by Germany’s TODESSTOSS is named Hirngemeer, a word you will not find in the dictionary, a kind of jumbled contraction of the German words “Gehirn” (brain) and “Meer” (sea), as if to express the idea of a mind at sea with all moorings lost and no compass to guide it. That turns out to be a fitting title, as you will learn when you hear our premiere of the album’s first track, “Verwehung”, which means “drift”.

The album will be released on September 25 by I, Voidhanger Records, a label with a proven impeccable taste for the unorthodox and the fascinating (and no real regard for genre boundaries). The album is about 75 minutes long, but consists of only three tracks. At more than 28 minutes, “Verwehung” isn’t the longest. And yes, we’re bringing you that song in its complete form, not the kind of edited version that often appears in place of long tracks for fear of overtaxing short attention spans. Continue reading »