Alraune – s/t (Graceless Recordings, 2014)

Featuring members of Yautja and Vesicus among their ranks, Nashville, Tennessee’s Alraune plays a noisy brand of black metal that’s as emotional and atmospheric as it is feral and violent.  The band are preparing to drop their debut full length next month via Profound Lore Records, but in the meantime they’ve unleashed this EP via Graceless Recordings as a harbinger of what’s to come.  It’s a two track descent into the depths of USBM’s grotesque underbelly.

Pissgrave – s/t (Graceless Recordings, 2014)

Being filthy ain’t easy.  Most metal bands that attempt it usually just end up sounding incompetent and under-produced, or worse yet like they’re trying way too hard.  For Philadelphia’s Pissgrave, being filthy is as effortless as falling out of bed.  Their debut demo, which has been committed to tape by the mighty Graceless Recordings, is positively oozing with it; this is no mere affectation, this is who they are.

Crowhurst – Everyone is Guilty (Sol y Nieve, 2014)

When I think of noise, I tend to think of it as the apex of extremity; pure sound so harsh it’s going to melt my brain and cause it to come oozing out of my ears.  Granted, my introduction to the genre was the ultra-abrasive works of Relapse-era Merzbow (Venereology, Pulse Demon, etc) and Masonna (Inner Mind Mystique); ungodly endurance tests which I later came to appreciate for their ability to make even the most abrasive extreme metal seem like child’s play.  Noise certainly has the power to obliterate, but I’ve come to learn that it also has the power to soothe, as evidenced by Crowhurst’s Everyone is Guilty.

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.

Demon Head – Demo 2014 (Caligari Records, 2014)

When traditional/proto-doom is done right, there are few things finer, and few if any bands are doing it better than Demon Head.  The Copenhagen-dwelling quintet recently had a demo tape released by the venerable Caligari Records, and it’s a slow-burning scorcher that quite frankly blows recent big-name practitioners of the style such as Kadavar and Orchid out of the water.  It really is that damn good.

Bandcamp Band Crap #1

Whenever I want to look beyond the promo pile for new music, I inevitably head for Bandcamp.  The site is a veritable world of wonders, a treasure trove of music from across the genre spectrum just waiting to be discovered, and best of all a ton of it is free. The problem is, I discover so much good stuff every time I go on a trawl, it’s nearly impossible for me to write about all of it, or at least, not in a full-on 400 to 600 word review format.  So, I decided to start up a semi-regular feature highlighting my favorite Bandcamp discoveries, some new, some old, some great, some absurd, some evil as hell.  Without further ado, let’s uh, plunge into the first edition of Bandcamp Band Crap.

Ritual Decay – The Conquering Darkness (Caligari Records, 2014)

Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, Ritual Decay are a power trio plying a particularly nasty-ass brand of blackened death metal.  On The Conquering Darkness, their debut demo from the seemingly unstoppable Caligari Records, the band aren’t likely to be accused of being innovators anytime soon, but their patently ugly, primitive assault more than makes up for their staunch traditionalism.  It’s a ripping opening salvo from a trio of musicians who are obviously dedicated to their craft.

Skelethal / Inisans – 2012 Demos (Caligari Records, 2014)

Leave it to Caligari Records to make waves with their first foray into full-on death metal by unearthing not one but two of the gnarliest demos out there and cramming them both onto one cassette.  The label has already proven with just a few releases under its belt that it has a knack for digging up killer black metal, but this nasty little bastard of a tape proves they’re no one trick pony.  In one corner, we have French horde Skelethal and in the other Swedish psychos Inisans; it’s an old school DM battle royal that sees them serving up four tracks each of blood, guts and buzzsaw riffs.

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.

Chthe’ilist – Amechth’ntaas’m’rriachth (Graceless Recordings, 2013)

Chthe’ilist are a duo hailing from Quebec, but judging from their tongue-twisting moniker and the equally challenging title of their debut demo on Graceless Recordings, Amechth’ntaas’m’rriachth, it’s entirely possible that they only claimed Canadian residency after rising from the slimy vaults of Lovecraft’s sunken city of R’lyeh. Of course, one cannot judge a band by name alone, and the otherworldly sounds emanating from this tape only serve to further my theory that they are the death metal servants of Cthulhu.

Fuoco Fatuo – s/t (Caligari Records, 2013)

Caligari Records is quickly shaping up to be a label that can do no wrong.  First, they ripped us to shreds with the black thrashing excellence of DeathCult.  Then, they pummeled the gory remains into dust with the chaotic, noise-damaged black metal of Unru.  Now they’ve unleashed the unholy Italian trio known as Fuoco Fatuo to finish us off with a limited run cassette that collects two impressively gnarly EPs (Fuoco Fatuo and 33 Colpi di Schizofrenia Astrale Nell’Abisso Nero) worth of obsidian doom metal.

THKD’s top 10 Random-ass things I enjoyed in 2013

When I first started thinking about how to approach THKD’s year end shenanigans for 2013, I tried to come up with ideas for different types of lists that would get away from the traditional top albums countdown.  Turns out I’m more scatterbrained than creative, because what I ended up with was a bunch of stuff that really didn’t fit together or adhere to any sort of unifying theme.  Instead of giving up on the idea, I decided to gather a few of these things together under one banner even though it didn’t make any sense whatsoever, just for the sheer joy of it, in addition to a more traditional year end list.  So here it is, the second year end “bonus list” prior to the top metal albums countdown, which will be published on 12/13/13; THKD’s top 10 random-ass things I enjoyed in 2013.

THKD’s top 10 metal cassette and vinyl releases of 2013

2013 is a pretty strange time to be a metal blogger.  Big-time labels won’t send me CDs that probably cost all of a dollar to manufacture, but small labels that probably struggle just to break even don’t hesitate to send me the cassette and vinyl releases they’ve obviously put a great deal of time and effort into, effort that goes far beyond the pressing plant cranking out “product” like so many widgets out of a factory.  With these releases comes a far more intimate relationship; personalized e-mails rather than e-mail blasts from publicists, and a genuine sense that these labels and artists actually care about what I have to say and genuinely appreciate my support.  It’s been an absolute joy to work with the likes of Gilead Media, Sygil Records and Caligari Records, but to be honest when people are so gracious, kind and above all patient, I’m pretty darn hesitant to call my interactions with them “work.”

Is this cassette shit getting out of hand?

I first started covering the resurgence of the cassette tape early last year with a review of Blut Der Nacht’s demo and a mammoth piece on the various wares of the infamous Crepusculo Negro and Rhinocervs labels.  I instantly fell back in love with the format that had enchanted me in my younger years; I was once the proud owner of a big brown Fisher Price tape recorder which I would use to listen to music, interview family members and record skits with friends, eventually graduating to a boom box when I got older. Some of the first metal music I ever owned was on cassette (specifically a single of Metallica’s “One,” aka the song that kick-started this over two decade long love affair with all things heavy).  Granted, the ultra-corrosive black metal of a band like Blut Der Nacht was pretty far removed from jamming Michael Jackson’s Thriller on the Fisher Price in my youth, but I was still reminded of how my initial interest in music was sparked by cassettes.

Unru – Demo MMXIII (Caligari Records, 2013)

Fledgling cassette label Caligari Records has already impressed  me once this year with their maiden release, the nasty-ass blackened thrash assault of DeathCult’s The Test of Time, and just a few short months later they’re back to deliver the black metal tape TKO to the skull of 2013 with the debut demo from Germany’s Unru.