Your end is near...

New official Xasthur video.

Terrorfied.

Sunday, October 3rd...

Wolvserpent and Locrian at The Enemy in Wicker Park, Chicago. You're going.

Beneath Oblivion - Existence Without Purpose

Three long doom songs. No groove, no weed, no fun. Just doom. It's hard to write reviews for easily described music. Maybe this album just bums me out so much that it sucked all of the artistic insight out of my brain. Anyways, you should download this if you like heavy, slow, bummed out music.

Here.

*repost from 5/13/10*

Sun Splitter - II

Sun Splitter is a new-ish local (chicago) band that has turned me into a goofy little fanboy quicker than a middle school girl with that edward dude from Twilight. Equal parts Swans, Godflesh, Leviathan, and Rwake, these guys will very literaly pummel you to little bits with their live show. Their CD is pretty great as well, so download this then buy some shit from them.

Here.

*repost from 4/28/10*

Ego Trip - 1979

The sun is warming up chicago once again. This means that, just like every other year, my musical pallette shifts ever so slightly from the sad/epic/melancholia that sounds so good in the winter time to the partyin'/sword-wielding/good time jams that feel so great in the summer time. On top of all the nwobhm, thrash, and early black metal (funny that that's 'good time jams' to me), i break out the hip hop once again.

This is a collection of 'the greatest hip hop singles of 1979', according to a mid-ninety's magazine called Ego Trip. They made one of these collections for every year up to 1998, so hopefully i'll get around to posting them. In the mean time, though, enjoy this. Classic old (old, old) - school hip hop. This is strictly for the parties; they had no artistic intentions with it whatsoever. Get some money, grab your girl, and hit up the block parties. Have a blast.

Here.

*repost from 4/1/10*

Gnaw Their Tongues - An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood

I've already posted one Gnaw Their Tongues album back in july. I didn't know how to properly describe it then, and i still don't. It's pure terror. Slow and fast at the same time. Complete depravity. Totally disturbing and awe-some. Or awe-ful.

Here.

*repost from 3/30/10*

Current 93 - Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre

Current 93 have gone through a lot of changes throughout their/his (david tibet's) history: being, in the beginning, an industrial band of the early/mid eighties type (and my personal favorite, at least of the small amount of industrial that i've heard), then, as if purposely changing his pace to usher in the new decade, grandfathering the very ambiguous genre of 'neo-folk' alongside other famous changeling Death in June. This particular album came out in 1994 and is a great starting point for anyone that doesn't know Current 93. My mind changes all the time, but i currently think that 'Of Ruine...' is his most beautiful, most organic, most real and most haunting album. Not very experimental (at least compared to some of his output), just simple acoustic guitar passages played by michael cashmore, and stephen stapleton (of nurse with wound) providing all other musical decorations and din. Tibet's vocals, although beautiful in their own right, can be a bit surprising and maybe even grating to the uninitiated, so be prepared. He doesn't really sing, so much as speak semi-melodically. His lyrics are what do me in, though. He's like watching a crazy corner prophet who believes in what he says so desperately that he winds up convincing you that it's all real; and it is real, every last word.

Here.

*repost from 3/29/10*

Knokkelklang - Kalk & Aske

Fantastic tape. Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. The first track, at 3 and a half minutes, is just piano and vocals. Very minimal, almost improvised sounding. The second track brings the guitars and drums in, still minimal...or minimalist rather; Knokkelklang lean towards the repetitive side of things. I hate to say 'depressive', but it is and it's certainly one the best examples of the (ugh) genre. The recording quality is black metal lo-fi, but very warm at the same time. It all sounds like it was recorded in a cathedral with the tape player on the opposite end of the sanctuary as the band. Really, it's one of the few perfect recordings i have. Highly recommended.

PS - This is not my rip, it's from aesop over at The Cosmic Hearse. Also, the metal archives list this tape as having 4 songs. Aesop says that when he bought the tape, it only had these two songs on it. I've looked for other rips online, and all of them have just the two songs. I also can't seem to find any distros that still carry this tape. If any of you happen to have the supposed other songs that belong to this tape, please feel free to share!

Here.

*repost from 3/25/10*

Arcana - The Last Embrace

This group of swedes plays 'atmospheric medieval ambient' (according to the metal archives). They kind of sound like Dead Can Dance at a renaissance fair. But in a good way.

Here.

*repost from 3/18/10*

Horde - Hellig Usvart

Whatever your thoughts on 'unblack' metal or 'white' metal or whatever you want to call it, you should listen to this album. It came out in 1994, way before any church kids even heard of black metal. It doesn't tread any new ground, and the inversion of inverted christianity is a tiny bit grating at times, but a solid album none the less.

Oh, also, this guy was the drummer for Mortification, if that means anything to anyone.

Crush the bloodied horns!

*repost from 3/16/10*

Arvo Part - Fratres

I'm putting up Arvo Part's whole biography from wikipedia on my other blog (here), so i won't get too far into the details. Just know that Mr. Part makes the most beautiful music that any minimalist composer has ever made. This is way more mandatory than the cover makes it look.

Here.

*repost from 3/8/10*

De Magia Veterum - Spikes Through Eyes

This album sort of sounds like if you took a Yes record, autotuned it to minor keys, sped it up a whole bunch, then had Eikenskaden write a record covering those songs. It's crazy and chaotic and orchestral and kind of pretty but real scary under the surface. Also, this is the same guy that does Gnaw Their Tongues...now you know what you're getting into.

Here.

*repost from 3/4/10*

Andrew Wilkes-Krier

These are the two best releases by Andrew Wilkes-Krier:


"Ancient Art of Boar - Terrestrial Optical Resonance Resistors" is total mid-nineties style noise. Over-blown recordings of metal on metal banging, weird outsider keyboards, and some electronics with a teenaged Andrew yelling about something on top of it. Harsh and improvised, but full of fantastic subtleties that seems to be lost on this current generation of bored suburban noise makers.

Screee!

This record is the most fun you will ever have in your life. I can't stress that enough.

Get wet!

*repost from 2/25/10*

Nachtmystium - Live 10/06/08

This is a recording i made of Nachtmystium playing at the King Cobra in Seattle back in 2008. I recorded it with a small tape recorder from the 80's hidden inside of my vest pocket, so don't expect great quality. The set starts off with songs from Assassins, then goes into some choice selections from Instinct: Decay, Demise, and Eulogy IV. The set ends with a song that Blake says is really old and then yells it's name, but i can't understand what he says and i don't recognize it, so i couldn't title the file. If you're a Nachtmystium completist and you have all of their crappy early demos and you happen to recognize what song they're playing, let me know and i'll re-upload the file with the proper title. Hope you enjoy!

Here.

*repost from 2/23/10*

Arizmenda - Within the Vacuum of Infinity

There isn't much left to say about the Black Twilight Circle that hasn't been said already. A lot of people love them, a lot of people hate them. I love them. This is Arizmenda, one of the members of the circle. He/they definitely sound akin to everything else the circle has released, so you know what you're in for, but i personally think this is the best (that i've heard at least). Very, very, very recommended.

Here.

*repost from 2/8/10*

Nadja - Bliss Torn from Emptiness

I got to see Nadja about two years ago open up for Asunder in Seattle. I haven't listened to them since then, mostly because their live show was so impressive and utterly crushing that i didn't think they're recorded output could match it. But then i found this. I wasn't prepared for what was to come. It's a sasquatch of a record - giant walls of sound, lurching percussion, completely fuzzed out, frightening and beautiful at the same time. Totally recommended.

Here.

*repost from 2/5/10*

Fleshpress - III: The Art of Losing All

My good friend Jeremy just moved to portland. I was totally bummed because he was one my few 'metal' friends in chicago. Jeremy was famous for a couple of things - 1) his freakishly intense body and facial hair and 2) his insane cd collection. When i lived with him, he would come home two or three times a week with huge stacks of cd's from reckless records. I still have no idea how he paid rent. Anyways, when he moved to portland, he asked me to hold on to his cd's until he could get the money to get them shipped to him. Obviously, i was excited. I've been spending the last month or so going through the eight milk crates full of cd's (!), finding the ones i wanted and putting them on my computer.

Fleshpress was one these cd's. Two tracks (the first is 15 minutes, the second is 25 minutes) of funeralesque stoner doom. It's hypnotic, but has enough changes in it to keep the whole family occupied. I've already listened to it three times today. Definitely one of the highlights of Jeremy's collection.

Here.

*repost from 2/1/10*

Lachrymal Quietus - Days of Being Aflame

I stumbled upon this guy's myspace on a completely unrelated google search. His name sounded cool so i clicked on it and it blew me away. At the core of his songs there is an undeniable sense of needing to run and not being to move at the same time. He sounds like Hank Williams, Sr., Scott Kelly, and Aidan Baker formed like Voltron, bedroom music-style. Now go pour some more vodka in your coffee and get totally bummed.

Here.

*repost from 1/19/10*

Om - God Is Good

This is a new release, and really easy to find, so why am i putting this up? Much like the Graves at Sea & Asunder post, this was one of my Christmas presents, so i'm sharing it with you. Om was ex-members of Sleep (the bassest and drummer), though recently the drummer left and was replaced by the drummer from Grails. So, there you have it. I don't need to say anything else. Get stoned and listen to this at night really loudly.

Here.

*repost from 12/29/09*

Graves At Sea & Asunder - Split

I know, i know. You already have this. Everybody already has this. But i got the newly reissued vinyl for Christmas so i'm going to share it with you. Hopefully it'll make you listen to it and enjoy it once again. Or, on the small chance that you don't know this record, get it now. This is one of my favorite doom records. Like, top 5 material. Two giants of the scene making giant songs to give me a giant boner.

Doom Boner.

*repost from 12/29/09*