THKD’s Top 100 Metal Albums #23: Dodheimsgard – A Umbra Omega (Peaceville Records, 2015)

Beginning life as a traditional-sounding Norwegian black metal outfit that featured Darkthrone’s Fenriz on bass , Oslo’s Dodheimsgard have evolved drastically with every release, to the point that if you were to play each of their five full-length recordings to someone who was completely unfamiliar, they’d likely assume they were listening to five different bands. This near-constant state of wild reinvention has made DHG into one of the most fascinating groups to emerge out of Norwegian black metal scene.

After eight long years of silence, the DHG re-emerged with A Umbra Omega, which saw them largely eschewing the industrial trappings of 1999’s groundbreaking 666 International and 2007’s more straightforward but still weird as fuck Supervillian Outcast in favor of a more organic sound that bridged the gap between black metal and dark psychedelia, resulting in five labyrinthine tracks (and a brief intro) that see-saw between light and dark, beauty and ugliness, simplicity and chaos.

Granted, DHG weren’t the first band to attempt psychedelic black metal, but they were the first to pull it off in such a convincing, seamless manner, as there is nothing about A Umbra Omega that feels disjointed or slapped together. There was a tension to Pink Floyd’s best work that often felt like the band was right on the edge of spiraling into madness; DHG answered the question, “what if Gilmour, Waters and Co. had cut loose, piled on the distortion, put on some corpse paint and let the goddamn lunatics run amok?”

A Umbra Omega‘s production scheme is dry and spacious, yet still manages to feel plenty claustrophobic whenever those icy tremolo riffs kick in and Aldrahn starts ranting and raving, at times exhibiting a rickety, clattering quality that makes the full-on black metal sections feel hideously decrepit. The psychedelic sections are impressively layered and mesmerizing; A Umbra Omega reveals new sounds with each and every listen and it’s evident that the album was crafted with the same frighteningly meticulous level of attention to detail that has become DHG’s trademark ever since 666 International.

DHG handily solidified their reputation as the ultimate avant-garde black metal chameleons with A Umbra Omega, delivering one of the genre’s finest albums of the decade in the process. There simply isn’t another band in the Norwegian scene (and arguably beyond) that can top their unwavering dedication to pushing the sonic envelope, and it is this dedication that continues to make A Umbra Omega such a joy to experience.

Read other entries in the THKD Top 100.

20 Years of The Berzerker – s/t (Earache Records, 2020)

What happens when Earache Records signs a hardcore techno DJ based on the strengths of their remixes of Morbid Angel and Deicide tracks and then lets said DJ record a metal album?  The answer is The Berzerker’s pulverizing self-titled debut recording, which turns twenty years old today and still stands as a pillar of wildly creative what-the-fuckery in the annals of extreme music.

Brain Penetration: THKD’s Top 5 Release Entertainment Albums

Over the past few years, I’ve written a bit about Release Entertainment, the long-defunct sub-label of Relapse Records that was dedicated to releasing a variety of experimental music ranging from noise to dark ambient to death industrial and beyond.  It got me thinking about which entries in Release’s sizable catalog were my absolute favorites, which in turn lead me to satisfy my obsession with making lists.  So without further ado and in chronological order, here are my five favorite albums released under the Release Entertainment banner.

Die Krupps – A Tribute to Metallica (Hollywood Records, 1993)

One of the things I miss the most about the nineties is the willingness major record labels had to release totally off-the-wall shit.  From Reprise unleashing the Boredoms’ utterly mind-fucking Pop Tatari on the unsuspecting masses to Columbia striking a deal to market and distribute Earache’s catalog full of ear-shredding death metal and grindcore records, major labels in the nineties exhibited a bizarre fearlessness that was oftentimes downright shocking, flying in the face of the notion that they were corporate, soulless, blood-sucking musical widget factories where underground bands went to sell out, get screwed over and die.

Harm’s Way – Posthuman (Metal Blade Records, 2018)

I wasn’t terribly familiar with Harm’s Way prior to getting the promo for Posthuman, but I was somewhat aware of the buzz their previous album Rust had garnered, so I decided to give them a try.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Posthuman is a burly-as-fuck collection of non-stop mosh riffs mixed with electronic elements that wouldn’t be out of place on a late-nineties Godflesh record.  It’s an odd combination to be sure, but I’ll be damned if Harm’s Way doesn’t make it work.

See All You Were: Beyond the First Four Danzig Albums

For many metalheads, Danzig’s discography ends with either III: How the Gods Kill or 4p. I on the other hand, celebrate Danzig’s entire catalog. While there’s no doubt that many of his latter-day works signaled a shift away from the bluesy, metallic hard rock that the Evil Elvis made his name on, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad albums, it just means they’re different.  So without further ado, let’s dig beyond the first four Danzig albums; deep, down you go…

Sewer Goddess – Painlust (Malignant Records, 2015)

My first exposure to Sewer Goddess came back in 2013 in the form of Mutilation Process, a thoroughly unsettling live recording released on cassette by the always great Graceless Recordings.  Ever since that initial taste of their harsh electronic depravity, I’ve longed to hear more from the band, but tracking down their releases is no easy task.  Fortunately, they’ve opted to release Painlust, their most recent studio assault, through high profile noise/electronic/industrial label Malignant Records, making it much easier for schmucks like me to track down this half-hour long exercise in mechanized malevolence.

Brighter Death Now – With Promises of Death (Familjegraven, 2014)

At the end of 2014, I began to reacquaint myself with music outside of the metal spectrum.  I’d been pretty much completely immersed in the genre since starting THKD back in 2009, and it was time to change things up; variety being the spice of life ‘n’ shit.  At the forefront of this change in listening habits has been an unhealthy obsession with Brighter Death Now, the pioneering death industrial project of former Cold Meat Industry head honcho Roger Karmanik.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Karmanik released With Promises of Death, the first BDN full length in a number of years back in October of 2014 via his new label Familjegraven, and it is every bit the sickening listen fans have come to expect from him.

I can’t think of another artist that’s able to evoke feelings of total dread the way that Brighter Death Now can. Karmanik’s patented blend of distorted synths, hypnotic oscillations and mechanical clatter is not so much the stuff of which nightmares are made, but rather the palpable mix of abject terror and helplessness you feel after waking up from a particularly vivid one.  It only takes a few listens to tracks like “Tempting Murder” and “Incomprehensive Evil” to realize that this knack for crafting aural manifestations of our least desirable emotions is in full effect on With Promises of Death.  For forty-five minutes, Karmanik immerses you in a lifetime’s worth of fear and loathing.

With Promises of Death is less overtly aggressive-sounding than previous BDN releases such as Obsessis or Innerwar, but what it lacks in power electronics-influenced aggression it makes up for with suffocating, pitch-black atmospheres, wearing you down slowly and steadily as opposed to flat-out pummeling you with noise.  Karmanik takes his time, letting the waves of distortion slowly wash over you; the music isn’t exactly catchy, but for some inexplicable reason these willfully monotonous soundscapes work their way into the very fabric of your being, lodging themselves in your skull like foggy, distant memories of that aforementioned nightmare creeping into waking life.

Whereas so many artists refer to their music as “extreme,” yet root their work in pure fantasy, Brighter Death Now touches a very real, very raw nerve.   In this respect, Karmanik has released yet another touchstone of the death industrial genre with With Promises of Death and in spite of a lengthy period of inactivity, has proven that he’s still the master of creating sounds that reflect mankind’s most abhorrent and unsettling inner thoughts.  Fear the return.

Burial Hex – The Hierophant (Handmade Birds, 2014)

As a reviewer, tons of releases come across my desk every year, but few of them actually make me stop and say “Wow, this album is really something.”  Burial Hex’s The Hierophant is just such an album; its seamless mixture of disparate tones and textures is simply unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.  Please believe it when I say this is not another case of music journalist hyperbole, this is simply one of the most stunningly unique, beautiful and unsettling recordings ever to ravage my unworthy ears.

Out now: Sterilizer

I’m typically not one to post news, but when one of my talented friends releases a new project, that’s pretty big fucking news and more than worthy of a post.  After a few years of silence on the musical front, my friend, collaborator and co-conspirator Brandon Duncan has finally unleashed Sterilizer.  It’s twenty-five minutes of technological terror that spot-welds industrial and electronic music onto a stainless steel skeleton of razor-sharp thrash; think mid-nineties Die Krupps getting sodomized by late-eighties/early-nineties Ministry and you’re halfway there.

The album is available for streaming and paid download via Bandcamp, or as a limited edition cassette with two different cover art options (male or female).  The tape is already going like gangbusters, so if you want it get on it, and pick up some of Herr Duncan’s incredible artwork while you’re at it.  And be sure to tell ’em THKD sent ya (insert maniacal Large Marge style laughter)!

http://sterilizer.bandcamp.com/

Emptiness – Nothing but the Whole (Dark Descent, 2014)

Underground metal is a land of extremes.  Bands playing so fast that a human drummer can’t keep up, bands playing so slow they make a glacier look speedy, bands trying to play the heaviest, the most technical, the most brutal, the most… ah, fuck it, you get the idea.  What I’m attempting to get at is, there’s typically no such thing as subtlety in the circles we travel in.  This is what makes Emptiness’ Nothing but the Whole such a refreshing album.  Where other bands seek to crush your soul in the first thirty seconds, Emptiness would rather watch it slowly wither and die.

Street Sects – Broken Windows, Sunken Ceilings (self-released, 2014)

2014 will be remembered as the year that actually got me excited about extreme music again.  I haven’t exactly been bored, but it seems like this year I’m finding so many exciting young bands that are doing something truly interesting within the genre paradigm.  One such band is Austin’s Street Sects, who are releasing the second part of their “serial album” in the form of Broken Windows, Sunken Ceilings.  The duo creates what can best be described as electronic hardcore; violent, jarring and noisy as hell, like a factory full of automated machinery going haywire and collapsing on itself, the machines still trying desperately to function however imperfectly amidst the burning wreckage.

Bad Psychic – Soon (Sygil Records, 2014)

It’s been a little while since we last heard from Sygil Records, in fact it’s been just over a year since I reviewed one of their releases (Charnel House’s excellent Black Blood).  I’m pleased to say that after an all-too-lengthy silence, the label is back with yet another recording that challenges our perceptions of what dark and heavy music can be.  That recording is Soon, the debut full length from Bloomington, Indiana’s Bad Psychic.

Sun Splitter – Live on WFMU (Sol y Nieve, 2014)

Longtime readers of THKD know that I’m typically not big on live recordings. But, I am big on Sol y Nieve; the upstart Idaho-based label has already released two of this year’s finest slabs of black metal in the form of Nemorensis’ The Lady in the Lake and Hellebore’s Anouof Thwo, so if they deem a live release to be worthy of the same treatment, then I’ll sure as hell give it a listen.  I’m glad I did, because Sun Splitter’s Live on WFMU is a sonic nightmare of ultra-corrosive industrial metal that’s more than managed to win me over in spite of my admitted prejudice towards live material.

The Sun Through a Telescope – I Die Smiling (Mutants of the Monster, 2013)

I first made mention of the one-man experimental metal madness that is The Sun Through a Telescope as a band to look out for back in 2011, when Bandcamp was just beginning to worm its way into the hearts and minds of metalheads.  While those early TSTAT releases skewed toward corrosive, feedback-drenched drone, the project took a drastic step forward later on that year with the release of the Summer Darkyard EP, which saw mainman Lee Neutron beginning to incorporate elements of black metal and electronic/industrial music into its apocalyptic framework.  But even that massive evolutionary leap couldn’t prepare me for the all-out insanity of I Die Smiling, which is not only TSTAT’s first full length release but also Herr Neutron’s most compelling and cohesive work to date.

Sewer Goddess – Mutilation Process (Graceless Recordings, 2013)

I’ll be the first to admit, I know Jack and shit (and Jack left town) about death industrial, power electronics and noise (aside from the most obvious/popular noise artists such as Merzbow, Prurient and Wolf Eyes), so Sewer Goddess’ Mutilation Process was something of a revelation for me when I received it in the mail from the fine folks at Graceless Recordings.  This twenty-three minute live recording is seriously filthy and fucked up, uglier and more unsettling than approximately 99.9% of the metal albums I’ve heard in the past year or so. Evidently there’s a whole wealth of nastiness and depravity out there waiting for me to explore, but for now let’s focus on this, my first foray into a world of shit.

THKD’s Top 100 Metal Albums #9 & #10: Ministry – Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (Sire, 1992) and Ministry – Filth Pig (Sire, 1996)

Ministry was the first band that scared the shit out of me.  Al Jourgensen and his henchmen released Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (aka ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ) in 1992, a full year before I would hear death metal for the first time, but even when I finally did experience the likes of Morbid Angel and Entombed, they didn’t freak me out like Ministry did.  The video for “N.W.O.” depicted scenes of war and civil unrest yanked straight from the nightly news, and Jourgensen walking through the smoke and rubble aftermath with his hands in his pockets, no fucks given about the world around him coming apart at the seams. This wasn’t the typical nonsense that heavy metal bands depicted in their videos, this was real fucking life.

Diapsiquir – A.N.T.I. (End All Life Productions, 2011)

As an unfortunate byproduct of growing up in the asshole of the Midwest, I live in a city, but I’ve never truly experienced The City. I’ve spent pretty extensive amounts of time in places like Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, but I’ve never fully immersed myself in the everyday chaos that is living in the clutches of of a wasteland dominated by skyscrapers and surrounded on all sides by unforgiving concrete and steel. I’ve never lived in that grotesque, hyper-active human funk that I imagine city life to be; I’ve only been a long-term guest at best, a lame-ass tourist at worst. Fortunately I can live vicariously through Diapsiquir’s A.N.T.I., an album that epitomizes what I imagine existence in the bowels of urban Hell to be.

Anaal Nathrakh – Vanitas (Candlelight, 2012)

I haven’t exactly been keeping up with Anaal Nathrakh.  Sure, I’ve heard a track here and there over the years, but the last time I actually listened to a full album was 2004’s Domine Non Es Dignus.  It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested in the band, in fact quite the contrary, I absolutely loved the balls-to-the-fucking-wall slab of filth-grinding extremity that was The Codex Necro, and the aforementioned Domine… received a glowing review from yours truly when I was writing for my college paper.  But the way Mick Kenney and Dave Hunt continuously crank out albums, especially when the music is so patently assaultive, is extremely overwhelming; I have a hard enough time keeping up with metal as it is.  So, here I am revisiting Anaal Nathrakh with Vanitas after missing four full lengths, and damn it feels good to be back.

Nachtmystium – Silencing Machine (Century Media, 2012)

Over the past several years, Chicago black metallers Nachtmystium have made a career out of throwing musical curveballs.  It all started with the USBM acid trip that was 2006’s Instinct: Decay, followed by 2008’s Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1, a blackened psych rock odyssey with hints of punk, and finally culminating in the disco-damaged cocaine rodeo of 2010’s Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. 2.  They are among the most wildly unpredictable bands  in the scene, and although their experimentation occasionally falls a little short of the mark, it is always made up for by the sheer enthusiasm they exude while fucking with the black metal program; one can easily imagine Nachtmystium’s instruments being powered by the tears of tr00 kvlt internet message board warriors.