Bands You Should Be Hearing Pt.II

First, and to start in a good way, I bring you the putrid sonic attack by Wørsen. A primitive, raw black metal punk band from Florida. This "Rehearsal" tape was released on Primal Vomit Records and the band seems to be writing new stuff at this point. Here we get, basically, six tracks of filthy, disgusting  and raw-to-the-bone style of black metal that will please fans of bands like Black Apparition, Raw Moon, Ancestors, etc. Check'em out.

Wørsen

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Next is a young band from Zurich, Switzerland, Æsop, with their debut EP "Weltengänger". Entirely recorded and produced by the band itself, "Weltengänger", contains three tracks that together, result in a total of 20 minutes length. Although it was all crafted under a very DIY spirit, the result is really astonishing. The sound is great, all the instruments are perfectly combined, the vocals and the songs are really good and interesting. Æsop's sound drinks from atmospheric sludge to post metal with some hints of black metal in the middle. Fans of bands like Year Of No Light (back from when they used vocals), Rorcal or Kehlvin for example, should keep an eye on them. A very solid and strong EP by Æsop. Look forward to hear what the future will bring.

Aesop

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Now it's a band I've talked about some time ago, Grue. This time Grue, delivers "Rake" EP although I recommend you to look back into their stuff and hear the album "Casualty of the Psychic Wars". I'm glad to hear that the band continues their style of ravenous and epic black metal, specially here on the "Rake" EP where the band unleashes two incendiary tracks: "All Mortal Greatness Is But Disease" and "Rake", burning down every little sparkle of hope and life. Soundwise, Grue's sound is very accessible, reaching out not only the usual avid black metal fundamentalist kind of fans but also the usual heavy music fan that seeks new bands and that, once in a while, likes to dig in deep inside the black metal specter. The drum seems a little bit low in the mix, nevertheless you can still feel that it's there. The big highlight for me is indeed the vocals. It's really different from what we usual get from the most standard black metal bands out there, not the usual style of harsh or grim kind of vocals, and that's why it stands out. It's clear yet filled with hate and powerful. Very good stuff, check them out.

Grue

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Next is Naught, a doom metal band from Iceland. Now, we're all used to think about black metal when we relate "Iceland" and "metal". This time, we get to see another side of the cold and desolate landscapes of Iceland. Naught presents us with "Tómhyggjublús", a beast formed by three sluggish, mournful, despairing songs that clock around 7 to 11 minutes long, all filled with this draining negative energy. These guys play really slow... so slow that you can almost see your beard growing along the playing of "Tómhyggjublús". And that's how doom is meant to be: fucking slow and evil. Check them out.

Naught

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Yith, a black metal project from the U.S. that seems to already have a solid cult around it, as every tape that is released is already sold out. Soundwise, Yith blends the best of two worlds: black metal and doom. And you can see the justification for all the adoration around this band: Yith's tracks are really above the average, speaking of a an unknown band, that probably many of you out there never heard about before. Yith sound here is perfect. It really matches that artwork and it's suitable for those cold, foggy Winter days. A very interesting release for you to discover. 

Yith

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For the last, but not the least, I present you Hedge Fund from Boston, MA (Somerville). Hedge Fund play this brute and noisy hardcore punk in the style of bands like Mind Eraser, Rival Mob or Full Of Hell, so that you can get the picture. "Apeiron" was all self recorded and released in cassette that, I think is still available. When Hedge Fund aren't busting heads with their brutal "mongocore" hardcore, they're fucking up with our brain making up some noisy and violent sort of power electronics as heard on the tracks "We Have Transgressed" and "Of The Crooked Timber". I think it works rather well here. I mean, it's the fusion of these two that makes "Apeiron" one hell of a good release. So what the hell are you still waiting? Go and buy the tape Goddamn it!!!

Hedge Fund

                     

Grue / Word of Unmaking "Lo, the Curse of the World Cometh" Split

Here is an interesting release between two unknown bands to date. Grue's mystical anti-humanism black metal inspired by Sargeist, Profanatica, H.P. Lovecraft and Word of Unmaking's haunting and frozen funeral doom.

While Grue bring in their luggage four themes (which one counts as an interlude), Word of Unmaking bring us just one theme but a theme about 15 minutes long. I must say that at a first audition Grue's tracks didn't left me very fascinated, but the more i listen to the tracks the more they seemed to grow in me. My attention was absolutely focused on "Ascending the Necrolith" that revealed to be a great and solid track. The turn that this track takes around the mark of 2:50 is absolutely wonderful. Very epic, yet dramatic. It isn't a complex track, full of tricks and artifices. It's simple, effective and filled with an ambitious anger that suddenly turns into sorrow.

After this we get more of that melancholic feeling invading our soul with the interlude "Lament of the Spheres", where we can hear such instruments like a cello that really bring that gloomy atmosphere to this track. "In the House of Nemesis" and the ending track "Across Black Seas of Infinity" are other fine examples of what Grue are capable of. Grue's black metal finally convinced me. It's filled with real and honest emotions, charged with a raw anger that flow naturally to the surface of the skin.

On the other hand we have doom. Gloomy, cold and haunting doom. Word of Unmaking track, "Tombs Our Only Monuments" is full of a energy so negative that during those fifteen minutes that lasts this track, the only thoughts that cross our mind are only death, desolation and loneliness. Like a funeral march, this track takes us through the tortuous paths of doom metal. Slow decaying riffs meander through a sinister and misty voice that whispers among old tombstones. This track has a lot of changes over the last fifteen minutes that it lasts, having enough room for even that same cello lend an air of its grace. In the end it seemed to me that "Tombs Our Only Monuments" still has some loose ends to remedy, perhaps in a future record ... who knows. It started in a good way...

Two very opposite directions, yet nice proposals, in this independent/self release split tape ($5 shipped in the States, and/or downloadable for free from Bandcamp).

Grue | WOU