Total support to Defiled Light bleakness.
NOTE:
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta black metal. Mostrar todas as mensagens
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta black metal. Mostrar todas as mensagens
sábado, 31 de outubro de 2015
Orgy of Carrion "Perverse Homage to the Rotting Divine"
Fuck this. Fuck that. Fuck you. Fuck Everything. Total Fucking Hatred.
Total support to Defiled Light bleakness.
Total support to Defiled Light bleakness.
quinta-feira, 29 de outubro de 2015
Scáth Na nDéithe "The Horrors Of Old"
Here is another surprisingly good act coming out of Ireland, Scáth Na nDéithe, with their debut EP "The Horrors Of Old" that features four tracks in total, although two of them are basically an intro and a interlude. Still, we have more than 20 minutes of ravaging and pummeling mid-paced black metal that, to me, sounded quite good to be honest. Nothing groundbreaking, I mean, these guys aren't adding nothing new to the show, but I believe it's still a record worth of your time. Ireland has been pulling out great acts lately and this band is no exception. Great gloomy and obscure atmosphere on this one.
sexta-feira, 23 de outubro de 2015
Haxan's Halloween Mixtape V
Yep.
Here's another mixtape for you guys. This time I've decided to unleash it earlier so that you can already catch up the spirit.
Happy Halloween.
segunda-feira, 19 de outubro de 2015
Failure Ritual "Secret Hoard"; "Total Weakness"; "Ineptitude".
If you're an avid follower of my blog, you'll probably remember when I posted about Failure Ritual back in 2012. Well, he's back. And it seems he has been busy, I mean... very busy, since he delivers not one, nor two but... three new whole releases, three! And what can you expect? More of that impenetrable noisy, entrancing blackened doom? Blackened drone? It's hard to classify Failure Ritual's sound. Whatever that may be, it just grabs you and sucks you down to the bottomless pits of Hell. Check it out.
domingo, 4 de outubro de 2015
Bands You Should Be Hearing Pt.VII - Welcoming Oktober.
More news from the underground. Here is what I've been digging.
Cepheide from France delivering that cascadian style of black metal approach with their new release "Respire". Featuring two long tracks with rather alternating rhythm, you can expect some really raw and untamed black metal layered with some serious cold and distressed howls. Fans of good atmospheric black metal acts like Fell Voices, Ash Borer or even WITTR, take notice. Support the band, buy their tape.
Patibulum are a death metal band from Seattle, Washington and introduces us their Demo "Ninurta's Call Heeded" filled with three putrid hymns of some really sick death metal. Their sound really captures that good old school vibe and it's almost impossible not to headbang to it. There isn't much info about these guys out there neither on how to purchase a physical release of this Demo. So all you can do for now is to stream it or download it on Bandcamp. If you're a fan bands like Miasmal or Grave Miasma then you'll love this.
Next is one of, probably one of my favorite Demos of the year. Nyght's self titled Demo released in cassette by Swedish label Ljudkassett holds that black metal I love so much. Raw production, great tunes that stick in your head for hours and that are impeccably played. Nyght is evil, grim and menacing and yet very catchy. The opening track "Begynnelse" reminds me a blend of early Throne of Katarsis but way more raw and those chants that are thrown there in the middle, are absolutely very Urfaust. From the start to the end, this Demo is just fucking addictive. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the cassette seems to be already sold out. And I'm glad that I'm part responsible for it. Ha...
Another band I don't know much about is Shibboleth, from Victoria. Seems like this band has two members only and I must begin by saying that they did a good work here with "Language of the Night". It really captures the essence of that norwegian-second-wave-of-black-metal but splattered here with some punk and maybe some doom, since there's also some very slow, mid-paced sections here. Nothing groundbreaking here, still a very good and recognized effort.
Filthy and rotten death metal from Germany is always good right? And that's exactly what these fine gents brings us. Kriegszittern, from Mülheim, Germany delivering their "Frostbite Demo". No polished production, no big production, nothing. Just filthy, primitive and apocalyptic death metal for your ears.
Keeping the track here on death metal, another great contender for best death metal demo is Altarage from fellow neighbor Spain. Altarage play this fucking visceral and diabolical death metal I mean, these guys have been listening a lot to records of bands like Portal, Mitochondrion, Antediluvian and Blasphemy for sure. If this didn't make you thirsty already, what the Hell are you waiting for? This is fucking destroying everything else out there. Limited edition cassette through Sentient Ruin Laboratories and the always amazing Sol Y Nieve Records.
Another interesting band that caught my attention in this whole new death metal underground spectrum, are Loputon Suo from Finland. Their sound can clearly be described as death metal but they stretch it even more to other territories like black metal. The result is quite pleasing to our ears and so worth of our attention.
And for last I've chosen Witcher from the U.S. Now this Demo is a fucking killer and it got me straight out of nowhere. The drum is just amazing, so fucking relentless and as furious as a war machine... I mean.. this whole band sounds like that. The evil vocal work, the continuous storm of riffs are just fucking incredible and epic. No need to enhance that is one of the best Demos I heard so far in this year as well. Luckily for you you can download the Demo here or even better, you can get a physical copy through Runelore Productions (if interested, email them at runeloreproductions@gmail.com). Highly recommended.
That's all for now. Have a great day.
Cepheide from France delivering that cascadian style of black metal approach with their new release "Respire". Featuring two long tracks with rather alternating rhythm, you can expect some really raw and untamed black metal layered with some serious cold and distressed howls. Fans of good atmospheric black metal acts like Fell Voices, Ash Borer or even WITTR, take notice. Support the band, buy their tape.
Patibulum are a death metal band from Seattle, Washington and introduces us their Demo "Ninurta's Call Heeded" filled with three putrid hymns of some really sick death metal. Their sound really captures that good old school vibe and it's almost impossible not to headbang to it. There isn't much info about these guys out there neither on how to purchase a physical release of this Demo. So all you can do for now is to stream it or download it on Bandcamp. If you're a fan bands like Miasmal or Grave Miasma then you'll love this.
Next is one of, probably one of my favorite Demos of the year. Nyght's self titled Demo released in cassette by Swedish label Ljudkassett holds that black metal I love so much. Raw production, great tunes that stick in your head for hours and that are impeccably played. Nyght is evil, grim and menacing and yet very catchy. The opening track "Begynnelse" reminds me a blend of early Throne of Katarsis but way more raw and those chants that are thrown there in the middle, are absolutely very Urfaust. From the start to the end, this Demo is just fucking addictive. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the cassette seems to be already sold out. And I'm glad that I'm part responsible for it. Ha...
Another band I don't know much about is Shibboleth, from Victoria. Seems like this band has two members only and I must begin by saying that they did a good work here with "Language of the Night". It really captures the essence of that norwegian-second-wave-of-black-metal but splattered here with some punk and maybe some doom, since there's also some very slow, mid-paced sections here. Nothing groundbreaking here, still a very good and recognized effort.
Filthy and rotten death metal from Germany is always good right? And that's exactly what these fine gents brings us. Kriegszittern, from Mülheim, Germany delivering their "Frostbite Demo". No polished production, no big production, nothing. Just filthy, primitive and apocalyptic death metal for your ears.
Keeping the track here on death metal, another great contender for best death metal demo is Altarage from fellow neighbor Spain. Altarage play this fucking visceral and diabolical death metal I mean, these guys have been listening a lot to records of bands like Portal, Mitochondrion, Antediluvian and Blasphemy for sure. If this didn't make you thirsty already, what the Hell are you waiting for? This is fucking destroying everything else out there. Limited edition cassette through Sentient Ruin Laboratories and the always amazing Sol Y Nieve Records.
Another interesting band that caught my attention in this whole new death metal underground spectrum, are Loputon Suo from Finland. Their sound can clearly be described as death metal but they stretch it even more to other territories like black metal. The result is quite pleasing to our ears and so worth of our attention.
And for last I've chosen Witcher from the U.S. Now this Demo is a fucking killer and it got me straight out of nowhere. The drum is just amazing, so fucking relentless and as furious as a war machine... I mean.. this whole band sounds like that. The evil vocal work, the continuous storm of riffs are just fucking incredible and epic. No need to enhance that is one of the best Demos I heard so far in this year as well. Luckily for you you can download the Demo here or even better, you can get a physical copy through Runelore Productions (if interested, email them at runeloreproductions@gmail.com). Highly recommended.
That's all for now. Have a great day.
quarta-feira, 19 de agosto de 2015
BLSSND
Today I'm sharing something that isn't music although it's related to it.
If you're in Tucson (AZ) or even near it, don't miss this event. My friend and most talented artist, Luca Devinu (Blessend) is having his first exhibition tour with Christophe "Lord Of Logos" Szpajdel for the upcoming months. Lots of good work and good music there as well. If you seek an original and fucking amazing logo for your band, seek no more. Check the dates below:
4th September
The Rock 136 N Park Ave with Sacrificial Slaugther and Nuclear Age live show
23rd October
The Rock 136 N Park Ave with Vehemence and Chronovorus live show
Powered by @outsiderindustries (USA) and @asabovesobelowrecords (Italy)
Be sure to follow Luca's work on Instagram: @blssnd
quinta-feira, 16 de julho de 2015
Erraunt "The Portent"
Finally, I mean FINALLY, one of the best Demos you'll hear this year (at least for me it's some of the most awesome and fresh black metal I've heard in quite some time) is available in cassette. Just follow the link below and grab one before it's too late. Don't sleep on this one if you're into some mesmerizing and esoteric black metal. Ugh.
Highly recommended.
terça-feira, 14 de julho de 2015
Moonknight "Valinor"
"Valinor", the new album by LA's depressive black metal entity Moonknight, whose cloak hides the creative mind behind the project, Horus aka Lord Foul who is also (as many of you out there already know) in the barbarian blackened trio, Harassor.
"Valinor" is the third and probably most intimate album in Moonknight's discography, he's been releasing some splits and EP's as well, and after a first listen, I immediately realized that this new release sounds a bit different from the previous albums "Toplov" and "Ligeia". Yet it's true that many moons separate this new material from the oldest, so evolution came naturally. The first thing I noticed is that the tracks in "Valinor" don't sound as raw and menacing, no. But soundwise speaking, there's still a link between them, that fuzzy and murky sound is still Mooknight's trademark although it now seems to weep instead of waving his sword and going out on a killing spree throughout the night. And still he lurks in the shadows but instead of that sword he now holds his cold, dying grey heart.
"Valinor" embraces sorrow allowing it to drag slowly through mourning and grief territories. Opening track "An Initiation" starts out with some kind of a droning buzz where soon those seesaw guitar riffs spread out and give way as the perfect greeting card opening way further into the album. The vocal is still harsh and follows the same style as heard in Moonknight's previous works, a screaming mixture of anger, distress and pain. While tracks "With Bright Knives" and "Aconitum" drags us deep into the somber pit of sorrow, "Helplessness" is a bit more cold-blooded and brings to the surface a bit more of that anger that flows in the veins of Mooknight. But don't keep your hope, soon we're pulled down again with "Pleasure Funeral" and the beautiful "Broken Blade" that to me is just one of the best tracks featured here, the environment created by this track is absolutely dreamy and so, so cold. It really can pull our mind into the most haunting and desolate of Winter landscapes. Very in the likes of bands like Thou Shell of Death if you seek some comparisons. Beautiful atmosphere. "Western Shores" is served as a cold instrumental and is the perfect motto for another great and best track here, a track that gives name to this album. I can sense that "Valinor" is very personal, not just by it's lyrics but soundwise and how the whole track is constructed. All about personal feelings that surface from time to time. Personal and intimate experiences that are locked down inside our cold hearts. The notes of "Valinor" sway and takes us gently inside the cold heart of Moonknight, there we can almost see a little glimmer of light, a light that keeps on burning and keeps Moonknight alive in order to deliver us the best depressive bleak tunes. I swear to God that I got goosebumps the first time I heard this track. The melodic notes in the middle of the track are simply beautiful.
"Valinor" is another great milestone into the discography of Moonknight and also very worthy of your attention. It's just how depressive metal should be, cold, bleak yet served sharp barbs. No life, no joy, no fun.
"Valinor" will be out soon through Rising Beast. Keep an eye out for both digital and physical editions.
terça-feira, 9 de junho de 2015
Bands You Should Be Hearing Pt.VI - Bleak June
Greetings! Been digging through the underground and this is what I've found.
First we get Erraunt, a mysterious one man act created by Oneiric. I really enjoy everything here. From the image of the artwork to the sound itself. There isn't much distortion here, no inverted crosses, no thunderstorms of goat blood. No. Just this ethereal, mysterious, magical and original kind of black metal atmosphere that Oneiric successfully creates with "The Portent". The tracks are really amazing. From the opener "Emerald Vision" which leaves me completely mesmerized as I stare into that artwork, passing through the instrumental "At the Docks" (that transports us to some distant, dreamy landscapes) to "The Portent" this is really one of a kind. Judging by the quality here, I truly believe we will see Erraunt added to some very well known label soon. Look forward for a physical format to be released. Will grab this one for sure.
Eigenlicht are a black metal band from Olympia, Washington, that introduces us their first Demo entitled "Sacral Regicide" compost by two track only, in a total of almost 23 minutes. Eigenlicht's sound is quite interesting. They blend black metal with death metal but, to me, what really stands out (besides the quality of the music here) is the use of keyboard. It's hard not to bring some comparisons to the band False.. you know: female vocals, the keyboard and all the song structure, really kinda reminds me of them. But... This Demo is really, really good. The only negative aspect here is really the lack of more tracks. Keep an eye on this band. With a handful of good tracks and with the right studio sound production.. bliss.
Cicuta, a very unknown act related to the Norwegian underground label Obscure Propaganda. There isn't much info about this band out there, so the best thing is for you to hear "Apiaceae & Algae" and reach your own conclusions. Cicuta's sound is all about long, almost droney, hypnotizing kind of riffs that extend and swirl into this toxic haze of atmospheric black metal. The vocals are barely noticeable unless you have well trained ears. A very different yet interesting approach here for those who are in love with the void.
Also from Obscure Propaganda, comes another interesting release from the band Ys. Delivering only two tracks, that together reach around half an hour, "Vast" introduces us some good mid-paced black metal with some really harsh and haunting vocals. Nothing mind-blowing or innovative here but still very, very dark... and I think that's what matters.
Next is Nahtrunar, from Austria. Nahtrunar brings us that classical approach to a more Northern European black metal as we know it. Very good atmosphere, great recording and great fucking tracks with riffs that will haunt you for days. Cold, grim and evil. The way it should be. A conceptual album that serves several interludes between songs, dedicated to the nights at the turn of the year, known as “Rauhnächte” in old European customs and traditions. A CD is planned to be released very soon by Altare Productions from Portugal. Good stuff.
Now this next one is probably one of my favorites for this year, since it has been playing non-stop almost every week. "Chapter II: The Ritualist" by Shaidar Logoth, a black metal band, for those who don't know, is formped by S.H. (ex-Iron Thrones) and A.C. (Wolvhammer and also ex-Iron Thrones). Now these guys have been around from 2010, but only know my attention was caught by this EP. It basically just took one listen to that first track "Drink Thine Wretched Wine" for me to be totally surrendered to the whole thing. Entrancing and powerful are the words that come immediately to my mind when I seek words to describe this EP. It's like plunging into revolving dark waters and not knowing what menaces lies underneath. You really have to listen to this. Really. I would hate to throw comparisons to some well known bands out there. Get into this. Now. A tape is about to be released by Sol Y Nieve if I'm not mistaken..
This one is still hot... Vindkast is probably just an unknown name for you. For now. But I see a bright future for this German band. In the last years we've seen very good acts coming out of Germany like Unru, Sun Worship and most recent case, Antlers. So this might be another case study for what is happening up there. Fans of the bands I mentioned, MUST check this band out. Great epic atmospheric black metal forged in total Darkness. Check them out.
And I saved some of the best for last. Another great album that has been playing in a almost daily basis is the debut album from Antlers (doooooon't mistake them for that indie band or whatsoever who goes under the same name). Antlers are a band from Germany as well, Leipzig, whose members also play in some known acts like Sangre De Muerdago and Ekkaia. At first I thought this was going to be another post black metal act from Germany, bla bla bla... and after a first listen, boy... I was sooo wrong. Right after the intro "Reverence" I got my chest literally ripped apart by "Carnival Of Freedom And Betrayal" that is one of the best tracks featured here. The balance of the aggressiveness with some melodic riffs is fucking epic. Another huge favorite is "Hundreds", i just love the epic rhythm that this song goes by and the lyrics just fucking slay me... Antlers created a fine black metal opus with "A Gaze Into The Abyss". A modern black metal album that pledges allegiance to Gaia with deeper roots in the most classical Northern Black metal influence. An album that easily could've been made in grim Norway or even Finland. Amazing. A must-buy for this year. Highly Recommended.
Sekte from the Netherlands, introducing us "Six rites in the praise of the beauty of Death" as described by the band on their Bandcamp. Well.. from those six, there's only five there, so... I guess one of them was probably absorbed by "Rite I" that has 26 minutes length while the other tracks last around from 7 to 8 minutes. Dark, raw, ritualistic black metal filled with the stench of death all over. Only true fans of the genre and devotees to black magic will truly appreciate this offering. I need to get this.
And I saved some of the best for last. Another great album that has been playing in a almost daily basis is the debut album from Antlers (doooooon't mistake them for that indie band or whatsoever who goes under the same name). Antlers are a band from Germany as well, Leipzig, whose members also play in some known acts like Sangre De Muerdago and Ekkaia. At first I thought this was going to be another post black metal act from Germany, bla bla bla... and after a first listen, boy... I was sooo wrong. Right after the intro "Reverence" I got my chest literally ripped apart by "Carnival Of Freedom And Betrayal" that is one of the best tracks featured here. The balance of the aggressiveness with some melodic riffs is fucking epic. Another huge favorite is "Hundreds", i just love the epic rhythm that this song goes by and the lyrics just fucking slay me... Antlers created a fine black metal opus with "A Gaze Into The Abyss". A modern black metal album that pledges allegiance to Gaia with deeper roots in the most classical Northern Black metal influence. An album that easily could've been made in grim Norway or even Finland. Amazing. A must-buy for this year. Highly Recommended.
terça-feira, 2 de junho de 2015
Forever Cursed Interviews: Mizmor
"Mizmor (מִזְמוֹר): a psalm, a melody."
Haxan: Hi A.L.N. How and why the need to create Mizmor?
A.L.N. : I’m glad you phrased it this way, for Mizmor truly is music created out of need. I started playing instruments around age 8, writing songs with friends in bands only a year or two later. I have written and recorded my own music as a one-person entity since I was 12 years old. In younger years it was more for fun, whereas in later years it was because of grief. But it’s not like 12 year old me was releasing music to the greater public. Most of those songs, no one will ever hear. But I made them anyways. I have always felt the need to be creative and to get my emotion out. It is the sorrow in my heart and the musings in my mind that compel me to create Mizmor, the music I am making now.
A.L.N: This is something I have come across before in the years of Mizmor. I will not say that there is no comparison to HELL, for that would be false. But I will say that if that is all you hear, or where your listening stops, you are gravely mistaken and missing the point. I created Mizmor entirely independent of HELL (which MSW created). I had moved to Germany to pursue my religion and wasn’t paying my old friends much mind. It was shortly after I returned that my heart changed and I began making Mizmor. This was all just in my bedroom in Portland, where most of my friends lived and made music in Salem (an hour south). It’s true that I provided some vocals on the first HELL album (prior to Germany), but we hardly knew what we were doing. MSW has made his own one-person music for the majority of his whole life as well, and one day he just invited me over to do vocals on a new song he had made. Pesanta Urfolk Records wasn’t part of the picture, the name HELL wasn’t even present. It was just buddies working on a song. A long time later, MSW gave me a HELL “I” record, reminding me of the songs I did and showing me how it had become something. I, being religious at the time, was actually quite appalled by it. It hardly spurred me to action in making my own, similar music.
But, MUCH has changed since then. I am happy to admit that MSW’s music (for as long as I’ve known him, not just with HELL) is some of the best music I’ve ever heard, and he has influenced my own music in many ways. After the religious veil was torn from my eyes and I sat down again with all three HELL albums. I was blown away. HELL became my favorite band. The best doom metal I’d ever heard. MSW and I have played in bands together since being 14 and 15 years old. We started getting into heavy music simultaneously, and our bands got heavier. I am not surprised that his fingerprints are on my music. I’m even proud of them. But Mizmor came from my own experiences and mind, just like HELL came from MSW’s, and they sound quite different to me. The first Mizmor album, the self-titled full-length, is played almost entirely in the black metal style. There are moments of doom and drone, but to me it’s a black metal album. I began writing in this style because it expressed so much sorrow and yet yearning and a certain kind of beauty. Also, it is a largely anti-Christian genre and, even though my music is much more agnostic in philosophy than anything Satanic or overtly atheistic, it is a lashing out against God nonetheless and it seemed to fit quite nicely.
The first HELL album, on the other hand, sounds like a Black Sabbath record on the wrong speed of your turntable. It’s a stoney, plodding, doom album. HELL rarely dips into black metal. There are a couple blast beats in the entire discography. I don’t think my early work as Mizmor shares much at all with HELL, other than the doomy-droney parts. MSW’s influence can be most clearly heard on Mizmor songs VI and VII, for he helped record VI with much of his own equipment, and entirely recorded VII, even providing vocals on it. These songs sound most like HELL to me. It’s funny to me that you compare the earlier Mizmor works to HELL when, if anything, I hear the comparison most in the middle of the project.
My main point is that Mizmor and HELL have no necessary innate comparison, being created by two different individuals for different reasons at different times virtually unbeknownst to one another. But there is overlap due to a long friendship of music making and respect. I’m tired of reading reviews of my music that are quick to compare it to HELL and stop short of saying much else, especially when there are other groups of musicians out there who incestuously play in each other’s horde of bands, and are praised for their similar but barely different esthetic and work.
For the first time here on Forever Cursed, I'm introducing an interview with one of my current favorite band from across the Ocean. I'm talking about Mizmor and the man behind the project: A.L.N. who's also behind other well known projects such as heavyweight doomsters Hell and vicious black metal band Urzeit. Since day one, right after the release of the self-titled album and "Untitled Winter EP", a very dedicated cult quickly grew around Mizmor, and release after release, all Mizmor material quickly sold out in days. So, what's the secret for his success? Where and why did this band came from? I've traded some questions with A.L.N. for you to discover more about the band itself, the Dying God hoax, the new edition of "Untitled Winter EP" on vinyl and pleasant good news about what's in the works. Check it out.
Haxan: Hi A.L.N. How and why the need to create Mizmor?
A.L.N. : I’m glad you phrased it this way, for Mizmor truly is music created out of need. I started playing instruments around age 8, writing songs with friends in bands only a year or two later. I have written and recorded my own music as a one-person entity since I was 12 years old. In younger years it was more for fun, whereas in later years it was because of grief. But it’s not like 12 year old me was releasing music to the greater public. Most of those songs, no one will ever hear. But I made them anyways. I have always felt the need to be creative and to get my emotion out. It is the sorrow in my heart and the musings in my mind that compel me to create Mizmor, the music I am making now.
Haxan: The name Mizmor intrigues me. Is there any story behind why you chose that name?
A.L.N. : Yes, there is definitely a story that probably helps better answer your first question as well. The music of Mizmor was necessitated from a religious time in my life. I spent a serious amount of time seeking answers to the primal questions of life and ultimately depending on a god I came to believe in. This time came to an end… a bitter end, and I turned my back on the beliefs I had cultivated. The sorrow, disillusionment, confusion, bitterness, and disappointment were so intense that I honestly felt I could die. The rug had been torn from beneath my feet, revealing a different and truer world I had failed to see before. The best friend I l came to love dearly turned to ash in my arms. I began to write songs in the black metal style to express this terror and save my sanity. After making a few songs I realized I should name this thing. I decided upon a name that was close to the heart of the experience I was having.
Mizmor means psalm (as in song, poem, prayer), which is exactly what I was writing. Some may not realize this, but the Psalms of the Bible are hardly solely joyful. Many are filled with sorrow, questions, and rage. It seemed the perfect name for these upward-directed cries I was writing. Also, if you look at the Hebrew characters closely (מזמור), it eerily resembles my name (Liam), a detail I later noticed that gave me chills and confirmed it as the project title. I know a lot of people cannot relate to the theistic element of this story, but I’ve come to find over the years that this resonates with many more than I thought (yes, even in the metal community). Nowadays, Mizmor is far from writing songs that specifically address god, as if on the stand with me as the prosecutor. But the sorrow I feel everyday over the conundrum of my own existence produces the same contemplative, questioning psalms.
A.L.N. : Yes, there is definitely a story that probably helps better answer your first question as well. The music of Mizmor was necessitated from a religious time in my life. I spent a serious amount of time seeking answers to the primal questions of life and ultimately depending on a god I came to believe in. This time came to an end… a bitter end, and I turned my back on the beliefs I had cultivated. The sorrow, disillusionment, confusion, bitterness, and disappointment were so intense that I honestly felt I could die. The rug had been torn from beneath my feet, revealing a different and truer world I had failed to see before. The best friend I l came to love dearly turned to ash in my arms. I began to write songs in the black metal style to express this terror and save my sanity. After making a few songs I realized I should name this thing. I decided upon a name that was close to the heart of the experience I was having.
Mizmor means psalm (as in song, poem, prayer), which is exactly what I was writing. Some may not realize this, but the Psalms of the Bible are hardly solely joyful. Many are filled with sorrow, questions, and rage. It seemed the perfect name for these upward-directed cries I was writing. Also, if you look at the Hebrew characters closely (מזמור), it eerily resembles my name (Liam), a detail I later noticed that gave me chills and confirmed it as the project title. I know a lot of people cannot relate to the theistic element of this story, but I’ve come to find over the years that this resonates with many more than I thought (yes, even in the metal community). Nowadays, Mizmor is far from writing songs that specifically address god, as if on the stand with me as the prosecutor. But the sorrow I feel everyday over the conundrum of my own existence produces the same contemplative, questioning psalms.
photo by M.Garcia
Haxan: Ok, so keeping in mind what you've just said behind the concept of the name "Mizmor", do you agree that it functions as an antithesis to the music we listen to, i.e. a balance between the sacred and the profane. Taking the present and based on your past experiences, does religion continues to serve as your main inspiration?
A.L.N. : By “the music we listen to” I assume you mean most metal. So, Mizmor: the antithesis to most metal? I would say hardly. I think the antithesis to metal would be… I dunno… Christian worship music, haha. Although religion served as an inspiration for my early work, Mizmor is the documentation of my journey AWAY from god (or at least my confusion over the matter), and in that sense there is a certain irony to the name. And though religion can be credited for inspiration, it was never the point of the music. It is the sorrow and woe that drove me to score these lamentations; the feeling of having your heartbroken and mind ripped to shreds, of which my beliefs at the time were the cause. Nowadays, I don’t write as much about the idea of god. I contemplate that still… am even haunted by it still. But my own existence, depression, the human condition, and the perplexing law of survival have inspired me most in my latest writing. I do feel Mizmor has differences to some metal that’s out there, however.
My music, and most heavy music that I like, is cathartic… something made out of necessity, an audible grieving process. There is much release involved. It could even be seen as healthy in a way. Sure, it brings you down when you listen to it, but only to show the listener what I am feeling, which is often something they can relate to. There is another type of music that has the goal of destroying you. People who maybe started out making metal for release, but now just exploit the feeling of personal sorrow, seeking to bring others into a place of disgust for no purpose other than that - music that is unnecessarily negative because it’s funny, cool, or the norm. Sorrow and depression make good music, there’s not doubt about that, but they aren’t things to be desired or sought after. It’s not a place to wallow. I mean… I’m plenty dark and depressed as it is, for heaven’s sake! I don’t need someone else breeding in me negativity. Maybe it’s to get a rise out of the listener; maybe they just want people to suffer with them. I’ve witnessed those who self-sustain their own depression and that filth, whether intentional or not, is contagious, and that’s not the type of music that resonates with me. Don’t get me wrong, as far as musical terms in the metal world go, I like my music to sound “filthy” and “crushing,” etc. And I don’t think metal needs to be redemptive or have a message. Fuck that. Urzeit is completely irreverent music.
But I’m sprinting in the other direction of religion for a reason that’s from experience, not because upside-down crosses and pentagrams look cool/intense and are traditional in metal. It’s a hard distinction, and I don’t have some definitive guide. I even like plenty of seemingly offensive, gross bands. There’s a bad feeling I’ve gotten from certain individuals/bands though. I guess it’s more to do with motive and integrity. To use the words from your question, I see mourning as having a certain “sacred” place in an individual’s life (we who like heavy music can all commune over it in a certain way) and I don’t much appreciate that being turned into something “profane” because someone is too shallow a human to have their own real grief. I can’t explain it much better than that.
A.L.N. : By “the music we listen to” I assume you mean most metal. So, Mizmor: the antithesis to most metal? I would say hardly. I think the antithesis to metal would be… I dunno… Christian worship music, haha. Although religion served as an inspiration for my early work, Mizmor is the documentation of my journey AWAY from god (or at least my confusion over the matter), and in that sense there is a certain irony to the name. And though religion can be credited for inspiration, it was never the point of the music. It is the sorrow and woe that drove me to score these lamentations; the feeling of having your heartbroken and mind ripped to shreds, of which my beliefs at the time were the cause. Nowadays, I don’t write as much about the idea of god. I contemplate that still… am even haunted by it still. But my own existence, depression, the human condition, and the perplexing law of survival have inspired me most in my latest writing. I do feel Mizmor has differences to some metal that’s out there, however.
My music, and most heavy music that I like, is cathartic… something made out of necessity, an audible grieving process. There is much release involved. It could even be seen as healthy in a way. Sure, it brings you down when you listen to it, but only to show the listener what I am feeling, which is often something they can relate to. There is another type of music that has the goal of destroying you. People who maybe started out making metal for release, but now just exploit the feeling of personal sorrow, seeking to bring others into a place of disgust for no purpose other than that - music that is unnecessarily negative because it’s funny, cool, or the norm. Sorrow and depression make good music, there’s not doubt about that, but they aren’t things to be desired or sought after. It’s not a place to wallow. I mean… I’m plenty dark and depressed as it is, for heaven’s sake! I don’t need someone else breeding in me negativity. Maybe it’s to get a rise out of the listener; maybe they just want people to suffer with them. I’ve witnessed those who self-sustain their own depression and that filth, whether intentional or not, is contagious, and that’s not the type of music that resonates with me. Don’t get me wrong, as far as musical terms in the metal world go, I like my music to sound “filthy” and “crushing,” etc. And I don’t think metal needs to be redemptive or have a message. Fuck that. Urzeit is completely irreverent music.
But I’m sprinting in the other direction of religion for a reason that’s from experience, not because upside-down crosses and pentagrams look cool/intense and are traditional in metal. It’s a hard distinction, and I don’t have some definitive guide. I even like plenty of seemingly offensive, gross bands. There’s a bad feeling I’ve gotten from certain individuals/bands though. I guess it’s more to do with motive and integrity. To use the words from your question, I see mourning as having a certain “sacred” place in an individual’s life (we who like heavy music can all commune over it in a certain way) and I don’t much appreciate that being turned into something “profane” because someone is too shallow a human to have their own real grief. I can’t explain it much better than that.
Haxan: Initially, I felt, as a listener, that in the two first releases, soundwise speaking, Mizmor's sound was almost a clone of Hell although splattered with some hints of black metal. And now listening to your latest, I feel that there is clearly an evolution that separates Mizmor from that initial shadow of Hell. Looking back, do you also feel that?
A.L.N: This is something I have come across before in the years of Mizmor. I will not say that there is no comparison to HELL, for that would be false. But I will say that if that is all you hear, or where your listening stops, you are gravely mistaken and missing the point. I created Mizmor entirely independent of HELL (which MSW created). I had moved to Germany to pursue my religion and wasn’t paying my old friends much mind. It was shortly after I returned that my heart changed and I began making Mizmor. This was all just in my bedroom in Portland, where most of my friends lived and made music in Salem (an hour south). It’s true that I provided some vocals on the first HELL album (prior to Germany), but we hardly knew what we were doing. MSW has made his own one-person music for the majority of his whole life as well, and one day he just invited me over to do vocals on a new song he had made. Pesanta Urfolk Records wasn’t part of the picture, the name HELL wasn’t even present. It was just buddies working on a song. A long time later, MSW gave me a HELL “I” record, reminding me of the songs I did and showing me how it had become something. I, being religious at the time, was actually quite appalled by it. It hardly spurred me to action in making my own, similar music.
But, MUCH has changed since then. I am happy to admit that MSW’s music (for as long as I’ve known him, not just with HELL) is some of the best music I’ve ever heard, and he has influenced my own music in many ways. After the religious veil was torn from my eyes and I sat down again with all three HELL albums. I was blown away. HELL became my favorite band. The best doom metal I’d ever heard. MSW and I have played in bands together since being 14 and 15 years old. We started getting into heavy music simultaneously, and our bands got heavier. I am not surprised that his fingerprints are on my music. I’m even proud of them. But Mizmor came from my own experiences and mind, just like HELL came from MSW’s, and they sound quite different to me. The first Mizmor album, the self-titled full-length, is played almost entirely in the black metal style. There are moments of doom and drone, but to me it’s a black metal album. I began writing in this style because it expressed so much sorrow and yet yearning and a certain kind of beauty. Also, it is a largely anti-Christian genre and, even though my music is much more agnostic in philosophy than anything Satanic or overtly atheistic, it is a lashing out against God nonetheless and it seemed to fit quite nicely.
The first HELL album, on the other hand, sounds like a Black Sabbath record on the wrong speed of your turntable. It’s a stoney, plodding, doom album. HELL rarely dips into black metal. There are a couple blast beats in the entire discography. I don’t think my early work as Mizmor shares much at all with HELL, other than the doomy-droney parts. MSW’s influence can be most clearly heard on Mizmor songs VI and VII, for he helped record VI with much of his own equipment, and entirely recorded VII, even providing vocals on it. These songs sound most like HELL to me. It’s funny to me that you compare the earlier Mizmor works to HELL when, if anything, I hear the comparison most in the middle of the project.
My main point is that Mizmor and HELL have no necessary innate comparison, being created by two different individuals for different reasons at different times virtually unbeknownst to one another. But there is overlap due to a long friendship of music making and respect. I’m tired of reading reviews of my music that are quick to compare it to HELL and stop short of saying much else, especially when there are other groups of musicians out there who incestuously play in each other’s horde of bands, and are praised for their similar but barely different esthetic and work.
photo by Josh Martines
Haxan: Where do you feel Mizmor stands in the actual metal scene in the USA?
A.L.N. : That’s a good question… what, again, are the stands one can have in the metal scene? Haha. If you mean popularity/fame/renown, I think Mizmor will always be limited and slightly under the radar due to my utter lack of live performance and touring. I think that I have gained a name for myself, however small it may be, over the years of creating the music of Mizmor, and I’m very happy about that. My intention was never to climb a ladder and reach a certain place, but rather to simply create out of necessity, like I’ve always done. The fact that I now have vinyl out and a label to release my music from blows my mind. I see the project gain more momentum each year that goes by, but if it goes nowhere else, I’m still totally satisfied. To have your dark journal of sorts… a thing you were going to make anyways, be used for a purpose, inspiring others and coming back to you with more reason to keep going… I think that’s so cool. What more could you want? I don’t know if I answered your question, haha. Where does Mizmor stand in the metal scene? I guess it’s more for others to decide.
A.L.N. : That’s a good question… what, again, are the stands one can have in the metal scene? Haha. If you mean popularity/fame/renown, I think Mizmor will always be limited and slightly under the radar due to my utter lack of live performance and touring. I think that I have gained a name for myself, however small it may be, over the years of creating the music of Mizmor, and I’m very happy about that. My intention was never to climb a ladder and reach a certain place, but rather to simply create out of necessity, like I’ve always done. The fact that I now have vinyl out and a label to release my music from blows my mind. I see the project gain more momentum each year that goes by, but if it goes nowhere else, I’m still totally satisfied. To have your dark journal of sorts… a thing you were going to make anyways, be used for a purpose, inspiring others and coming back to you with more reason to keep going… I think that’s so cool. What more could you want? I don’t know if I answered your question, haha. Where does Mizmor stand in the metal scene? I guess it’s more for others to decide.
Haxan: How was the initial feedback from the people in the beginning?
A.L.N. : The feedback from people in the beginning was encouraging. I made the self-titled full-length with no intention for it. Literally none. I was going to pocket it like all the other one-man recordings I had done over the years. A buddy of mine told me this was stupid. “You aren’t even going to put it online?” He asked. I remember showing MSW the first couple songs and being really excited. “Yep, that’s heavy man. I can tell you were really feeling something, you know, going through some shit. I feel it.” He encouraged me to use my initials, ALN, because he had credited me that way on HELL “I” and thought people may have fun finding it and connecting the dots. So I put the four original Mizmor songs online, still with nothing further planned. After a while someone contacted me from Greece inquiring about the album. He claimed he literally MUST have a physical copy of this album. I told him digital would have to do, that there was no physical copy. He replied in similar fashion to his first message, saying he was a collector and MUST have a hard copy. I thought, “Fuck it, why not?” I found some art in a couple old books I had, and went about crafting him a CD. I decided I would make 10, so I (and a couple friends) could have one too. Over the next couple months, I received similar requests for CDs. I would hand make them, one by one, as the orders came in. Originally, there was no “edition of” or release information. I just made a CD if someone wanted one. Eventually I joined HELL’s live band to do drums/vocals, and we started touring. I decided to give the CD a little more justice by making up 50 of them to take on our first weeklong tour with the new lineup. In total, there were 73 CDs made and because of this experience, I was inspired to make more music for the project. That’s been the formula for Mizmor. It’s very much fan necessitated. I put something out there, and ever since I am filling this apparent need that certain people have for more of my music, while myself filling my own need to make it. I’m very thankful for everyone who likes my music, for if they didn’t exist, there wouldn’t have been another Mizmor release for the public to hear.
Haxan: Tell me a bit about what occurred with the Dying God Records episode? How do you feel about someone using your work as a magnet to draw people and then rip them off?
A.L.N. : Fuck. I feel rage, man. I feel so awful about being taken advantage of, having my fans be taken advantage of, and having it all be associated with my name. I met Joseph Martinez (he would like you to believe his last name is Merrick, but it ain’t) at a HELL show in Atlanta, GA. Prior to meeting him, he had purchased a chunk of tapes from me to sell on his label’s site, “Dying God.” I was excited to put a face to the name I had communicated with, and the dude drove 8 or 9 hours up from Miami to see the show. He bought tons of HELL and Mizmor merchandise, and it was genuinely nice to meet him. He told me this, “Let me know when you guys are ready. You know, for vinyl. I’d love to put it out.” I explained to him how HELL is Pesanta Urfolk exclusive, but that Mizmor has yet to receive an LP pressing. I pursued him when we returned home and we decided upon my 2013 tape, “Untitled Winter EP,” to be the album he would press. I had no reason to be suspicious of him. He had now done more than one successful business transaction with both HELL and Mizmor, and his website looked legit and seemed to be doing well. Eventually, he started a preorder for the record (it ran for a whole year). His updates got less frequent and customers began to talk on the Internet. Still, every once and a while he would get back to me with an update, and I’d have no choice but to defend him and keep waiting.
Finally, I started seeing comments pop up about him having behaved suspiciously in the past with a label, Tycho Magnetic Anomalies. Someone had tracked him, pieced it together, and was ready to accuse him of being a con artist. This is when his communication with me grinded to a halt. I was very conflicted. It was easy to pass off his reasons for delays as excuses and lies, but he had also mailed me test pressings of the record, so I knew not EVERYTHING was total bullshit. Maybe he was a con artist, maybe just a flaky guy who was genuinely trying but lacked the constitution to follow through when life’s storms hit. I began to feel less entitled about my record, and more sad for the person he was. I tried to find him: multiple email addresses, Facebook, telephone, even letters to his PO box and relative’s house where he once told me he was staying. I contacted his band from Florida who reported that Joseph receded from them as well, and they all felt very weirdly about it. He could be in jail or dead for all I knew. The message I was trying to get him was an ultimatum stating that if he did not give me an update and provide me with proof of the record by a certain date, I would consider it a total abandonment of the project and start my own production, officially ending Dying God records. Well, as you know, that’s what happened. I started group emails with Pirate’s Press and Joseph.
They confirmed the project, saying that Joseph had even approved the test pressings, but then went out of contact months ago. I worked with them to fix art issues and get the record set for final production, but the fact still remained that we needed Joseph’s approval on it because he paid the deposit. Finally he replied, from a new email, saying he had been “away for personal reasons,” and would pay extra for this and that, how he was writing a lengthy email of explanation to me and the fans, etc…. That never happened and Pirate’s Press got to witness his lies first hand. They agreed to switch the project entirely over to me (though I had to start over financially), enabling me to finish the record and disabling Joseph from ever finishing it. I have sent Joseph a final statement, forbidding him to ever use my music in any way, shape, or form again. I have not heard from him.
Haxan: Are you going to bring that guy to justice? Considering the damage he has made to all the people who bought from him?
A.L.N. : The way in which I am bringing justice to this situation is by pressing my own record that ripped-off fans can receive for free. I am happy to report that after over a year of this bullshit, “Untitled Winter EP” will be available to the public June 1st, 2015 on my website – mizmor.virb.com. Anyone who can provide me with a receipt of their purchase from Dying God is entitled to a free record from me. I have already received many of these, but if you are reading this now and this is news to you, please email me and I will get you one! Both Pirate’s Press and Bandcamp were notified of his theft, Pirate’s Press transferring the project to me, and Bandcamp taking my record down from Dying God’s page. I wish it were easier to bring legal action against Joseph. My partner studies the law and explained to me that it can be difficult to bring charges against someone across state lines, especially when he is nowhere to be found, and successfully avoided PayPal claims through exceeding the time applicable frame due to the preorder nature of his shenanigan.
I wish I could say that bad things don’t happen to good people, and good things don’t happen to bad people, but that is simply not the case. I would encourage any band that has been wronged by Joseph to take similar actions against him like I have. Dying God certainly will not proceed, but may we all be on our guard for his next name change and heist. I may not be able to bring him down, but I can right the situation with my fans, which is what I am doing with this new record. I want my fans to trust my name and feel safe being my customer. I regret working with, even meeting, this guy, and promise this will NEVER happen again.
I vow to only work with trusted labels run by my personal friends, or release things independently in the future. I’m sorry it turned out this way, but excited for the new record and all who get to receive one, whether for free because they were wronged, or for purchase as part of the general public. Joseph: You’re a piece of shit.
Haxan: What are your future plans for Mizmor?
A.L.N: Up next, Pesanta Urfolk will be releasing the self-titled full-length from 2012 on cassette tape. There will also be vinyl pressings of both the Mania/Mizmor and Mizmor/Dross splits later this year. I think the answer you are more digging for is this: I am currently finishing the recording process of Mizmor full-length number 2, and that’s all I will say about that for now. There is another yet unheard/unannounced Mizmor release coming soon too, but I cannot say more.
Haxan: Would you consider doing another completely different project? Like something non-metal related for example?
A.L.N. : Yes I would consider doing a completely different project, though at this point in my life, the music I’m making simply isn’t non-metal (perhaps non-metal will come again someday). Though I have HELL, Mizmor, and Urzeit taking up my energy and creativity, as HELL’s activity slows down, the opportunity for more music creation opens up a little more. There’s nothing set in stone right now, but another project is quite possibly in the cards, having already been discussed between me and another individual.
Haxan: What have you been listening to lately?
A.L.N. : I just got the new Bell Witch album and it’s phenomenally written and recorded. Also, Spectral Voice’s “Necrotic Doom” is a recent favorite. Those are probably the most current pieces of music I’m taken with right now. Other than that I listen to a lot of Black Sabbath.
Haxan: And now for the latest and most cliché question in these sorts of interviews. Any special message you would like to put out there to the people who are reading this?
A.L.N. : Haha, well as cheesy as it may seem, I want to thank everyone who supports and likes Mizmor. You are appreciated. And thanks Artur for the opportunity to speak.
A.L.N. : The feedback from people in the beginning was encouraging. I made the self-titled full-length with no intention for it. Literally none. I was going to pocket it like all the other one-man recordings I had done over the years. A buddy of mine told me this was stupid. “You aren’t even going to put it online?” He asked. I remember showing MSW the first couple songs and being really excited. “Yep, that’s heavy man. I can tell you were really feeling something, you know, going through some shit. I feel it.” He encouraged me to use my initials, ALN, because he had credited me that way on HELL “I” and thought people may have fun finding it and connecting the dots. So I put the four original Mizmor songs online, still with nothing further planned. After a while someone contacted me from Greece inquiring about the album. He claimed he literally MUST have a physical copy of this album. I told him digital would have to do, that there was no physical copy. He replied in similar fashion to his first message, saying he was a collector and MUST have a hard copy. I thought, “Fuck it, why not?” I found some art in a couple old books I had, and went about crafting him a CD. I decided I would make 10, so I (and a couple friends) could have one too. Over the next couple months, I received similar requests for CDs. I would hand make them, one by one, as the orders came in. Originally, there was no “edition of” or release information. I just made a CD if someone wanted one. Eventually I joined HELL’s live band to do drums/vocals, and we started touring. I decided to give the CD a little more justice by making up 50 of them to take on our first weeklong tour with the new lineup. In total, there were 73 CDs made and because of this experience, I was inspired to make more music for the project. That’s been the formula for Mizmor. It’s very much fan necessitated. I put something out there, and ever since I am filling this apparent need that certain people have for more of my music, while myself filling my own need to make it. I’m very thankful for everyone who likes my music, for if they didn’t exist, there wouldn’t have been another Mizmor release for the public to hear.
Haxan: Tell me a bit about what occurred with the Dying God Records episode? How do you feel about someone using your work as a magnet to draw people and then rip them off?
A.L.N. : Fuck. I feel rage, man. I feel so awful about being taken advantage of, having my fans be taken advantage of, and having it all be associated with my name. I met Joseph Martinez (he would like you to believe his last name is Merrick, but it ain’t) at a HELL show in Atlanta, GA. Prior to meeting him, he had purchased a chunk of tapes from me to sell on his label’s site, “Dying God.” I was excited to put a face to the name I had communicated with, and the dude drove 8 or 9 hours up from Miami to see the show. He bought tons of HELL and Mizmor merchandise, and it was genuinely nice to meet him. He told me this, “Let me know when you guys are ready. You know, for vinyl. I’d love to put it out.” I explained to him how HELL is Pesanta Urfolk exclusive, but that Mizmor has yet to receive an LP pressing. I pursued him when we returned home and we decided upon my 2013 tape, “Untitled Winter EP,” to be the album he would press. I had no reason to be suspicious of him. He had now done more than one successful business transaction with both HELL and Mizmor, and his website looked legit and seemed to be doing well. Eventually, he started a preorder for the record (it ran for a whole year). His updates got less frequent and customers began to talk on the Internet. Still, every once and a while he would get back to me with an update, and I’d have no choice but to defend him and keep waiting.
Finally, I started seeing comments pop up about him having behaved suspiciously in the past with a label, Tycho Magnetic Anomalies. Someone had tracked him, pieced it together, and was ready to accuse him of being a con artist. This is when his communication with me grinded to a halt. I was very conflicted. It was easy to pass off his reasons for delays as excuses and lies, but he had also mailed me test pressings of the record, so I knew not EVERYTHING was total bullshit. Maybe he was a con artist, maybe just a flaky guy who was genuinely trying but lacked the constitution to follow through when life’s storms hit. I began to feel less entitled about my record, and more sad for the person he was. I tried to find him: multiple email addresses, Facebook, telephone, even letters to his PO box and relative’s house where he once told me he was staying. I contacted his band from Florida who reported that Joseph receded from them as well, and they all felt very weirdly about it. He could be in jail or dead for all I knew. The message I was trying to get him was an ultimatum stating that if he did not give me an update and provide me with proof of the record by a certain date, I would consider it a total abandonment of the project and start my own production, officially ending Dying God records. Well, as you know, that’s what happened. I started group emails with Pirate’s Press and Joseph.
They confirmed the project, saying that Joseph had even approved the test pressings, but then went out of contact months ago. I worked with them to fix art issues and get the record set for final production, but the fact still remained that we needed Joseph’s approval on it because he paid the deposit. Finally he replied, from a new email, saying he had been “away for personal reasons,” and would pay extra for this and that, how he was writing a lengthy email of explanation to me and the fans, etc…. That never happened and Pirate’s Press got to witness his lies first hand. They agreed to switch the project entirely over to me (though I had to start over financially), enabling me to finish the record and disabling Joseph from ever finishing it. I have sent Joseph a final statement, forbidding him to ever use my music in any way, shape, or form again. I have not heard from him.
Haxan: Are you going to bring that guy to justice? Considering the damage he has made to all the people who bought from him?
A.L.N. : The way in which I am bringing justice to this situation is by pressing my own record that ripped-off fans can receive for free. I am happy to report that after over a year of this bullshit, “Untitled Winter EP” will be available to the public June 1st, 2015 on my website – mizmor.virb.com. Anyone who can provide me with a receipt of their purchase from Dying God is entitled to a free record from me. I have already received many of these, but if you are reading this now and this is news to you, please email me and I will get you one! Both Pirate’s Press and Bandcamp were notified of his theft, Pirate’s Press transferring the project to me, and Bandcamp taking my record down from Dying God’s page. I wish it were easier to bring legal action against Joseph. My partner studies the law and explained to me that it can be difficult to bring charges against someone across state lines, especially when he is nowhere to be found, and successfully avoided PayPal claims through exceeding the time applicable frame due to the preorder nature of his shenanigan.
I wish I could say that bad things don’t happen to good people, and good things don’t happen to bad people, but that is simply not the case. I would encourage any band that has been wronged by Joseph to take similar actions against him like I have. Dying God certainly will not proceed, but may we all be on our guard for his next name change and heist. I may not be able to bring him down, but I can right the situation with my fans, which is what I am doing with this new record. I want my fans to trust my name and feel safe being my customer. I regret working with, even meeting, this guy, and promise this will NEVER happen again.
I vow to only work with trusted labels run by my personal friends, or release things independently in the future. I’m sorry it turned out this way, but excited for the new record and all who get to receive one, whether for free because they were wronged, or for purchase as part of the general public. Joseph: You’re a piece of shit.
Haxan: What are your future plans for Mizmor?
A.L.N: Up next, Pesanta Urfolk will be releasing the self-titled full-length from 2012 on cassette tape. There will also be vinyl pressings of both the Mania/Mizmor and Mizmor/Dross splits later this year. I think the answer you are more digging for is this: I am currently finishing the recording process of Mizmor full-length number 2, and that’s all I will say about that for now. There is another yet unheard/unannounced Mizmor release coming soon too, but I cannot say more.
photo by M.Garcia
Haxan: Would you consider doing another completely different project? Like something non-metal related for example?
A.L.N. : Yes I would consider doing a completely different project, though at this point in my life, the music I’m making simply isn’t non-metal (perhaps non-metal will come again someday). Though I have HELL, Mizmor, and Urzeit taking up my energy and creativity, as HELL’s activity slows down, the opportunity for more music creation opens up a little more. There’s nothing set in stone right now, but another project is quite possibly in the cards, having already been discussed between me and another individual.
Haxan: What have you been listening to lately?
A.L.N. : I just got the new Bell Witch album and it’s phenomenally written and recorded. Also, Spectral Voice’s “Necrotic Doom” is a recent favorite. Those are probably the most current pieces of music I’m taken with right now. Other than that I listen to a lot of Black Sabbath.
Haxan: And now for the latest and most cliché question in these sorts of interviews. Any special message you would like to put out there to the people who are reading this?
A.L.N. : Haha, well as cheesy as it may seem, I want to thank everyone who supports and likes Mizmor. You are appreciated. And thanks Artur for the opportunity to speak.
Haxan: No, I thank you so much for making this interview possible, especially to clear things about that bad luck incident with that scumbag from Dying God Hoax. Wish you all the best for the future.
- "Untitled Winter EP" 12'' LP OUT NOW -
Edition of 500: 400 black, 100 grey w/ black splatter, both 180 grams. Comes in standard slip LP jacket with double-sided 6"x12" insert. Includes digital download.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN INDEPENDENT RELEASE MADE BY MIZMOR ITSELF. SUPPORT THE REAL MUSIC ARTISTS.
The "Untitled Winter EP" Limited Edition 12" Vinyl is already out, do yourself a favor and grab a copy right here on Mizmor page before it runs out (it will.. trust me). If you're too slow.. well you can always end up listening to all Mizmor releases on the band's Bandcamp. But don't despair! Keep an eye open for it's future releases. Support the artists who create all this great music.
domingo, 15 de fevereiro de 2015
Mizmor/Dross "Split"
I was stoked to hear that Mizmor had another split on the works, this time with Arizona's blackened doom band Dross. For Mizmor, this is the final split in a trilogy of splits while this is Dross' first split release. I've been tracking Mizmor since day one, besides being a huge Hell fan too, I absolutely every single thing A.L.N. puts his hands on.
Mizmor's side features "IX - Crestfallen Usurper", a fifteen minute track that marks it's beginning with a blood chilling inhuman scream, as the environment thickens creating the perfect atmosphere for the ritual we're about to face in the next minutes. It doesn't take long until we're throw into the middle of this black metal vortex summoned by Mizmor. Raging blastbeats open way thru this nefarious wall of distortion totally controlled by the harsh and haunting screams of A.L.N. that once in a while, through the track, pulls off these insane squeals that are simply out of this physical world. Right in the middle of the song, the harsh and brutal rhythms open way to a more paused, and crushing doom-laden atmosphere. That kind of atmosphere that only Mizmor know how to do and got us used to in all of its previous releases. Although I feel there's a clear evolution on Mizmor sound, that grew naturally since the self-titled or "The untitled Winter EP", the black metal spectrum is getting stronger and it's becoming more present on every new release although it walks always hand in hand with the doom spectrum.
Nevertheless, the percentage of black or doom being used on this formula here, you can always hear it and clearly identify it as Mizmor's unique sound. And the sound recording on this track is just amazing. It presents us a more, let's say, expansive or kind of wider sound for the instruments, giving us a full audio experience with "IX - Crestfallen Usurper" that fills completely our eardrums and reaches every dark corner of our brain. This is the outstanding result of a collaboration with A.L.N. itself with Sonny DiPerri, a long time Hell and Mizmor fan, who mixed this track for this split.
Mizmor's side features "IX - Crestfallen Usurper", a fifteen minute track that marks it's beginning with a blood chilling inhuman scream, as the environment thickens creating the perfect atmosphere for the ritual we're about to face in the next minutes. It doesn't take long until we're throw into the middle of this black metal vortex summoned by Mizmor. Raging blastbeats open way thru this nefarious wall of distortion totally controlled by the harsh and haunting screams of A.L.N. that once in a while, through the track, pulls off these insane squeals that are simply out of this physical world. Right in the middle of the song, the harsh and brutal rhythms open way to a more paused, and crushing doom-laden atmosphere. That kind of atmosphere that only Mizmor know how to do and got us used to in all of its previous releases. Although I feel there's a clear evolution on Mizmor sound, that grew naturally since the self-titled or "The untitled Winter EP", the black metal spectrum is getting stronger and it's becoming more present on every new release although it walks always hand in hand with the doom spectrum.
Nevertheless, the percentage of black or doom being used on this formula here, you can always hear it and clearly identify it as Mizmor's unique sound. And the sound recording on this track is just amazing. It presents us a more, let's say, expansive or kind of wider sound for the instruments, giving us a full audio experience with "IX - Crestfallen Usurper" that fills completely our eardrums and reaches every dark corner of our brain. This is the outstanding result of a collaboration with A.L.N. itself with Sonny DiPerri, a long time Hell and Mizmor fan, who mixed this track for this split.
On the other side, we have Dross with "Verdant" a thirteen and half minute track of the most bleak black doom. To me, I think that this band/track fits perfectly here along with Mizmor, since both tracks belong in this pallet of depressive doom that is constantly splattered with hints of black metal. "Verdant" has this kind of live recording sound, almost as if it was recorded in a very bleak and cold environment, that's what exactly this track passes to me. From the rhythm it moves on, really slow paced to the sound of the instruments itself. And I must say that the vocals, oh the vocals... always creeping out from the background almost as if the instruments are playing right in front of us and the vocalist is one or two rooms below, so he has to shout his lungs out in order to those phantasmagorical screams be heard. The main thing on "Verdant" is the atmosphere. The stifling and claustrophobic atmosphere, that the band successfully manages to make it reach into our inner-selves.
This is a split release between Mizmor's A.L.N. and Cloister Recordings. 150 copies (already sold out!! Urrgghhh..) with locally printed art on metallic card-stock, featuring the artwork done by one of my favorite artists, Bryan Proteau (Cloven Hoof, Natvres Mortes), all hand-numbered. Each tape comes wrapped in parchment with a very good looking wax seal, half sealed with ALN logo, half sealed with Cloister Records logo. So good to see artists concerning also with the aesthetics of their releases, making these tapes a very unique item in our collection. Both tracks can be streamed below.
Old Witch "Come Mourning Come" Special Edition
Old Witch. I've talked about this band some years ago, some of you might remember that. I ended up by making a full review of the amazing "Come Mourning Come" for Cvlt Nation after, here:
Bleak, depressing, anguished, tormented. All of these are adjectives that I could use to describe this next album I’m about to introduce. A blistering mix of black, drone and doom layered with some beautiful atmospheric parts, all blended perfectly that will leave you under the spell of Old Witch.
“Funeral Rain”, the track that opens the album, appears charged with an immense negative energy, like a dark cloud on the horizon approaching increasingly stuffed with drone noises that completely transform the landscape, darkening it and giving rise to a bleak and desolate scenario now dyed in tones of gray, dominated under a powerful doom that crawls at a snails pace. The rough voice fits perfectly in, this record, and judging by the band’s name I almost imagine it coming from the mouth of a an old mystical and sinisterly contorted figure, forgotten by time, wandering painfully through this forest made of anguish. From here, and during the next half hour we are about to lose ourselves in the dark old forest that is “Come Come Mourning“.
Tracks like “This Land Has Been Cursed” that lead us to the territories of a painful drone sounds and that thick and buzzing doom that drag us through scenes of desolation and sorrow, always bearing a very negative energy within, not showing any light of hope or joy. “God Ov Wolves” which is inarguably one of the best tracks of this album, and personally speaking, one of the best doom tracks I had the pleasure of hearing this year, begins immersed in darkness as the voice whispers almost an ancient prayer to the Old Spirits of this Earth:
“THERE ABOVE ANCIENT WOODS,
OLD GODS ROAM THE TWILIGHT,
OLD SPYRITS HAUNT THE THICKETS,
WHERE OUR BLOOD NOURISHED THE EARTH…”
Although Old Witch’s music may sound dreary and negative, it carries great and powerful emotions, and the band passes that successfully throughout the whole album. And this track is a perfect example of that, an extremely beautiful composition that pulls great similarities to the work of bands like Salem’s Hell or even Thou in their slowest tracks. An authentic catharsis of emotions wrapped in mystic and black outlines. Just the beginning of it, gives me goose-bumps.
In the middle of the album we are gifted with the instrumental “Leaves Fall in Autumn“, a beautiful track, filled with instrumental details that remind me a little bit of “Tomhet” by Burzum, unveiling a slumber atmosphere that appeal to solitude. Another highlight of this album is the brilliant track that closes the album “Olde Spirits Haunt The Thickets“, in which the notes slowly emerge throughout this fog that dwells in Old Witch’s dark and old forest. A track that moves sinuously through rather slow and atmospheric rhythms carrying a huge burden of an almost mournful, melancholy feeling, that makes me stare at the picture of the album cover and for a few seconds it’s like your mind is actually there. Brilliant.
The way that Old Witch fuses all of these drone, doom and atmospheric black metal influences in their cauldron is extremely well executed; adding to that formula a very good sound production, this album is undoubtedly one of the most interesting must-listen drone/doom albums that all avid fans of the bands that I’ve mentioned above (and of course, of this gender) must hear. Old Witch’s “Come Mourning Come” is a dark, mystical and beautiful journey into the vast and unknown territories of heavy music.
source: http://www.cvltnation.com/come-mourning-come-old-witch-review/
Bleak, depressing, anguished, tormented. All of these are adjectives that I could use to describe this next album I’m about to introduce. A blistering mix of black, drone and doom layered with some beautiful atmospheric parts, all blended perfectly that will leave you under the spell of Old Witch.
“Funeral Rain”, the track that opens the album, appears charged with an immense negative energy, like a dark cloud on the horizon approaching increasingly stuffed with drone noises that completely transform the landscape, darkening it and giving rise to a bleak and desolate scenario now dyed in tones of gray, dominated under a powerful doom that crawls at a snails pace. The rough voice fits perfectly in, this record, and judging by the band’s name I almost imagine it coming from the mouth of a an old mystical and sinisterly contorted figure, forgotten by time, wandering painfully through this forest made of anguish. From here, and during the next half hour we are about to lose ourselves in the dark old forest that is “Come Come Mourning“.
Tracks like “This Land Has Been Cursed” that lead us to the territories of a painful drone sounds and that thick and buzzing doom that drag us through scenes of desolation and sorrow, always bearing a very negative energy within, not showing any light of hope or joy. “God Ov Wolves” which is inarguably one of the best tracks of this album, and personally speaking, one of the best doom tracks I had the pleasure of hearing this year, begins immersed in darkness as the voice whispers almost an ancient prayer to the Old Spirits of this Earth:
“THERE ABOVE ANCIENT WOODS,
OLD GODS ROAM THE TWILIGHT,
OLD SPYRITS HAUNT THE THICKETS,
WHERE OUR BLOOD NOURISHED THE EARTH…”
Although Old Witch’s music may sound dreary and negative, it carries great and powerful emotions, and the band passes that successfully throughout the whole album. And this track is a perfect example of that, an extremely beautiful composition that pulls great similarities to the work of bands like Salem’s Hell or even Thou in their slowest tracks. An authentic catharsis of emotions wrapped in mystic and black outlines. Just the beginning of it, gives me goose-bumps.
In the middle of the album we are gifted with the instrumental “Leaves Fall in Autumn“, a beautiful track, filled with instrumental details that remind me a little bit of “Tomhet” by Burzum, unveiling a slumber atmosphere that appeal to solitude. Another highlight of this album is the brilliant track that closes the album “Olde Spirits Haunt The Thickets“, in which the notes slowly emerge throughout this fog that dwells in Old Witch’s dark and old forest. A track that moves sinuously through rather slow and atmospheric rhythms carrying a huge burden of an almost mournful, melancholy feeling, that makes me stare at the picture of the album cover and for a few seconds it’s like your mind is actually there. Brilliant.
The way that Old Witch fuses all of these drone, doom and atmospheric black metal influences in their cauldron is extremely well executed; adding to that formula a very good sound production, this album is undoubtedly one of the most interesting must-listen drone/doom albums that all avid fans of the bands that I’ve mentioned above (and of course, of this gender) must hear. Old Witch’s “Come Mourning Come” is a dark, mystical and beautiful journey into the vast and unknown territories of heavy music.
source: http://www.cvltnation.com/come-mourning-come-old-witch-review/
The reason I decided to unbury this again is due because of this fantastic tape edition developed and crafted by Octobers Ritvals. Besides featuring the whole album, on side B there's an extra. The B Side features a contemporary take on the HP Lovecraft classic, "The Picture In the House", as read by Glen Hallstrom and scored by the mind that created Old Witch and is exclusive to this version only.
I was super stoked because someone FINALLY had put that magical album in a format and with all the extras it really deserved. It's so fucking great to see people like Chad (Yhe mind behind Octobers Ritval), that are truly devoted into this art. Giving all their sweat, money and time to create these unique pieces, these artifacts in order to give us not just only an audio experience but a whole full sensorial experience as well. This amazing tape edition comes in this screen printed velvet pouch that holds many secrets inside. Basically it contains the tape (of course) inside a painstakingly handmade screen printed and multi-layered "O" card with a die cut and a very awesome wax seal with the logo of OR. It also includes two spiral transparent art pieces which, when placed over accompanying tea candles and nag champa incense cone, will be set into spinning motion, casting shadows and eldritch symbols onto your ceiling and walls, creating an overall experience. Below is a photo taken by me preparing the ritual.
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This pack is just beautiful. I mean, it has got to be one of the best I have right now on my tape collection. It's amazing to see that are still persons like Chato from Octobers Ritvals putting all their effort in creating these amazing pieces for our pleasure. Amazing work here.
But there's more.
It seems that some copies of this release will be buried in the Chicagoland and Southern Wisconsin areas and later on posts with pics and directions in riddles will be shared on the Facebook page for you to try to find them. Really awesome idea, right?
For more info on this, please head to Octobers Ritvals Facebook page, and check the Bandcamp as well.
NOTE: In case anyone is still looking for one of our now SOLD OUT First Ritval Old Witch Cassettes, Medusa Crush Recordings has got a few available.
I was super stoked because someone FINALLY had put that magical album in a format and with all the extras it really deserved. It's so fucking great to see people like Chad (Yhe mind behind Octobers Ritval), that are truly devoted into this art. Giving all their sweat, money and time to create these unique pieces, these artifacts in order to give us not just only an audio experience but a whole full sensorial experience as well. This amazing tape edition comes in this screen printed velvet pouch that holds many secrets inside. Basically it contains the tape (of course) inside a painstakingly handmade screen printed and multi-layered "O" card with a die cut and a very awesome wax seal with the logo of OR. It also includes two spiral transparent art pieces which, when placed over accompanying tea candles and nag champa incense cone, will be set into spinning motion, casting shadows and eldritch symbols onto your ceiling and walls, creating an overall experience. Below is a photo taken by me preparing the ritual.
This pack is just beautiful. I mean, it has got to be one of the best I have right now on my tape collection. It's amazing to see that are still persons like Chato from Octobers Ritvals putting all their effort in creating these amazing pieces for our pleasure. Amazing work here.
But there's more.
It seems that some copies of this release will be buried in the Chicagoland and Southern Wisconsin areas and later on posts with pics and directions in riddles will be shared on the Facebook page for you to try to find them. Really awesome idea, right?
For more info on this, please head to Octobers Ritvals Facebook page, and check the Bandcamp as well.
NOTE: In case anyone is still looking for one of our now SOLD OUT First Ritval Old Witch Cassettes, Medusa Crush Recordings has got a few available.
sábado, 14 de fevereiro de 2015
Godhole " Self Titled Double EP"
Holy fucking shit. Think of Mind Eraser. Think of His Hero Is Gone. Think of Full of Hell. Think of Man Is the Bastard. You're getting there? Good. Godhole play fucking brutal powerviolence with some hints of black metal and crust from Edinburgh, Scotland. Perfect soundtrack to those days where everything seems to just fail... or not.
Sareth Den " Arcadian Wanderer Demo"
Sareth Den is a enigmatic act from Dahlonega, Georgia whose sound can be described as dark ambient drone as we can hear in the opening track "Wanderer Through Static Fields", an obscure track that leads us into the most abstract and hazy corners of our mind. But he doesn't simply closes its circle there and also branches to some black metal like in "Sunlight Burns My Eyes", where we are feasted with this thick harsh wall of black metal noise sound until we are thrown back to another complete different record in "Riverside Evening Suite", a more dreamy and atmospheric fifteen minute track that lifts up our soul by letting some rays of light into this dark colored pallet. One of the members plays in the ambient/drone band Outer Gods, whom I've talked about too here on Forever Cursed. Please check both bands out.
Wreaths "Demo"
Wreaths from San Antonio, Texas are a black metal band that with this Demo, introduces us to four themes of some really great and quite interesting style of black metal that can be really rabid and straightforward, as heard in the track "Nightmare Perpetual" to the most shoegaze/90's-style-emocore like we can hear with "From All Light". The band plays definitely black metal but also injects into it some really solid shoegaze influences. I'm pretty sure this won't matter to the most fundamentalist/close-minded fan of black metal but fuck.. I really liked this Demo from Wreaths. Quite refreshing and interesting. Check them out below.
quinta-feira, 11 de dezembro de 2014
Forever Cursed Best Of 2014 - The Haxan's Choices
Here we are again.
Personally, it was just another fucking year, just like the last 4 or 5 last years. Time seems to fly. As a matter of fact, it flies so fast that I barely have time to slow down, and look back.. well, some things aren't worth looking back, so... 2014 was all about work, dedicate time to family, friends, buying new music and just enjoying it and most of all, always learning. Music has always been there for me, in good and bad times. It's that safe harbor where I go so many times to be in total solitude and just let my spirit feast with all that magic essence that pours down through every note. I've learned so much through music, whether it's metal or not. Along the years it has also molded me into what I am today, my personal tastes and character.
And once again 2014 proved to be a great year, at least... in the field of heavy music, although so many good albums were also released in another fields of music. Did I enjoyed YOB? Yes I did! Did I liked the new Blut Aus Nord? At first I was a bit sceptic with the sound of it, but the more I listened to it, the more it grew on me, so yes. Did I loved Sinmara? Oh fuck yes! You know what I feel about Icelandic black metal and this band is no exception. The releases I'm about t show you are mostly releases that I've been emerged into mostly this year, so I hope to help you find some new and interesting music that may grab and sweep you from your shoes as well.
I had to make a Top 21, it may sound silly, but I wasn't expecting one of these specific releases would come out so soon. I was counting for it only in the beginning of next year, but since I've heard it in advance... it immediately climbed its own way to the top and I really didn't want to cut out one of the releases I already had figured for my own personal Top. Enjoy.
#21
Towers "II"
Towers are a Portland duo whose demolishing sound basically consists on just a bass and drum. And the apocalyptic visions they can cause with just that, is absolutely crushing. I really loved the whole sound of this album. The whole depth and atmosphere. Killer.
#20
Profetus "As All Seasons Die"
Profetus from Finland return with a majestic tribute to the real funeral doom sound. Crushingly heavy, an authentic mournful ode to sadness, grief and pain. Perfect to hear in those cold Winter days in total solitude.
#19
Wrekmeister Harmonies "Then It All Came Down"
One of the most emotionally crushing releases of this year, "Then It All Came Down" features J.R. Robinson joined by members of Indian, Corrections House, Twilight, Yakuza, Anatomy of Habit, Come, Mind Over Mirrors, Bloodiest, as well as Wrest (Leviathan) and Ryley Walker. With such collaboration the result is at sight: an amazing introspective journey into our soul.
#18
11 Paranoias "Stealing Fire from Heaven"
New supergroup featuring members from Ramesses, Bong and Satan's Wrath. "Stealing Fire from Heaven" gathers the right amount of psychedelic doom I just need to hear sometimes. A very smokey and trippy journey indeed with the right dose of heaviness imbued.
#17
Harassor "Into Unknown Depths"
"Into Unknown Depths" marks the return of blood thirsty barbarians Harassor. The vicious blend of black metal, punk, death metal is just fucking killer. You won't get two songs alike in this album which proves the heterogeneity and the ability of Harassor to shift the direction of the songs without never losing fucking control. Fucking killer I said!!
#16
Nuclearhammer "Serpentine Hermetic Lucifer"
Probably one of the most underrated blackened death metal that came out this year. Canada's Nuclearhammer really hits the nail on this. You just need to look into that artwork to realize that this album will bring total bestial and cosmic devastation.
Listen
Probably one of the most underrated blackened death metal that came out this year. Canada's Nuclearhammer really hits the nail on this. You just need to look into that artwork to realize that this album will bring total bestial and cosmic devastation.
Listen
#15
Nux Vomica "Nux Vomica"
Another one straight out of Portland. Nux Vomica perfect blend of post metal, crust, doom results in the most amazing atmosphere. To prove that, "Reeling" is simply one of the best tracks I've heard this year. Epic.
Listen
Another one straight out of Portland. Nux Vomica perfect blend of post metal, crust, doom results in the most amazing atmosphere. To prove that, "Reeling" is simply one of the best tracks I've heard this year. Epic.
Listen
#14
Sun Worship "Elder Giants"
I've been following the moves of Germany's Sun Worship since day one, and so far they haven't disappointed me. 2014 is marked by their full-length "Elder Giants" a brilliant, passionate and relentless album that sweeps me away every time I play it. Brilliant.
Listen
I've been following the moves of Germany's Sun Worship since day one, and so far they haven't disappointed me. 2014 is marked by their full-length "Elder Giants" a brilliant, passionate and relentless album that sweeps me away every time I play it. Brilliant.
Listen
#13
Kriegsmaschine "Enemy of Man"
Another great album that passed under the radar of many. Kriegsmaschine "Enemy Of Man", one of the most brilliant black metal albums that came out this year. If you love the dissonant atmospheres of bands like Deathspell Omega or the cold atmopshere of Mgla (who shares a member in this band, in case you didn't know) I strongly recommend you "Enemy Of Man". Perfect.
Listen
Another great album that passed under the radar of many. Kriegsmaschine "Enemy Of Man", one of the most brilliant black metal albums that came out this year. If you love the dissonant atmospheres of bands like Deathspell Omega or the cold atmopshere of Mgla (who shares a member in this band, in case you didn't know) I strongly recommend you "Enemy Of Man". Perfect.
Listen
#12
Laster "De Verste Verte Is Hier"
After a very well received Demo, Dutch black metal band Laster return with a brilliant album that provides perfect freezing cold atmosphere, perfect for those cold and rainy Winter days. I really love the passion that is behind every riff, every blastbeat and the vocals that just slay me.
Listen
After a very well received Demo, Dutch black metal band Laster return with a brilliant album that provides perfect freezing cold atmosphere, perfect for those cold and rainy Winter days. I really love the passion that is behind every riff, every blastbeat and the vocals that just slay me.
Listen
#11
Walk Through Fire "Hope Is Misery"
Desolation. Despair. Depression. These are all words that come to my mind whenever I hear "Hope Is Misery". Many of you out there aren't familiar with this band from Sweden. Their minimalist approach to their sludge doom is just one one of the most heavy I've heard this year. I'm a sucker for this kind of sound and "Hope Is Misery" proved to be a very unpleasant (in a very sadistic way) company.
Listen
Desolation. Despair. Depression. These are all words that come to my mind whenever I hear "Hope Is Misery". Many of you out there aren't familiar with this band from Sweden. Their minimalist approach to their sludge doom is just one one of the most heavy I've heard this year. I'm a sucker for this kind of sound and "Hope Is Misery" proved to be a very unpleasant (in a very sadistic way) company.
Listen
#10
Spectral Lore "III"
We all know that, when it comes to black metal, Greece hides many secrets. One of them is precisely Spectral Lore. Don't know why I don't see this name floating more around. "III" quickly grew on me and proved to be one fantastic journey into the realms of atmospheric black metal. The fury of those blastbeats that walk hand in hand with some beautiful melodies. A very beautiful album that, if you don't know yet, then you must discover.
Listen
We all know that, when it comes to black metal, Greece hides many secrets. One of them is precisely Spectral Lore. Don't know why I don't see this name floating more around. "III" quickly grew on me and proved to be one fantastic journey into the realms of atmospheric black metal. The fury of those blastbeats that walk hand in hand with some beautiful melodies. A very beautiful album that, if you don't know yet, then you must discover.
Listen
#9
Funereal Presence "The Archer Takes Aim"
One of the most played here on the Haxan's den. Funereal Presence "The Archer Takes Aim", an album with a very unique and distinctive atmosphere, brought to us by the mind of Negative Plane's Bestial Devotion. It's one of those albums I will never grow tired of hearing. Excellent.
Listen
One of the most played here on the Haxan's den. Funereal Presence "The Archer Takes Aim", an album with a very unique and distinctive atmosphere, brought to us by the mind of Negative Plane's Bestial Devotion. It's one of those albums I will never grow tired of hearing. Excellent.
Listen
#8
Skáphe "Skáphe"
One of this year's surprise, brought by the hand of Fallen Empire. Skáphe, a mysterious band involved in a very dense and intoxicating mist, handing us a sample of a very original black metal filled with claustrophobic atmospheres. Addictive.
Listen
One of this year's surprise, brought by the hand of Fallen Empire. Skáphe, a mysterious band involved in a very dense and intoxicating mist, handing us a sample of a very original black metal filled with claustrophobic atmospheres. Addictive.
Listen
#7
Funerary "Starless Aeon"
"Starless Aeon", the debut album of Funerary. I was amazed by this debut, Funerary's funeral doom approach is quite memorable and I just get the riffs of "Beneath The Black Veil" stuck in my head for hours. This track is just remarkably beautiful and it strikes me on the inside like no other. "Starless Aeon" is a very emotional, mournful and introspective journey into the cosmic valley of doom.
Listen
"Starless Aeon", the debut album of Funerary. I was amazed by this debut, Funerary's funeral doom approach is quite memorable and I just get the riffs of "Beneath The Black Veil" stuck in my head for hours. This track is just remarkably beautiful and it strikes me on the inside like no other. "Starless Aeon" is a very emotional, mournful and introspective journey into the cosmic valley of doom.
Listen
#6
Thantifaxath "Sacred White Noise"
The artwork doesn't reveal much on what is the story here. But as soon as we fall into the downward spiral of "Sacred White Noise" we soon realize that we're pulled into a maze of twisted riffs that don't obey any conventional black metal guideline. It's just Thantifaxath doing the best they can do. And it's just amazing.
Listen
The artwork doesn't reveal much on what is the story here. But as soon as we fall into the downward spiral of "Sacred White Noise" we soon realize that we're pulled into a maze of twisted riffs that don't obey any conventional black metal guideline. It's just Thantifaxath doing the best they can do. And it's just amazing.
Listen
#5
Swallowed "Lunarterial"
It only took one audition to this album to realize that I was in front of my favorite death metal album for 2014. It took a while to get here but finally did. Finland's Swallowed unleash the most lunatic and deranged death metal I've heard. Like a crossbreed between Teitanblood and Cultes Des Ghoules. Can you imagine that? The result is at sight: "Lunarterial". Fucking Awesome.
Listen
It only took one audition to this album to realize that I was in front of my favorite death metal album for 2014. It took a while to get here but finally did. Finland's Swallowed unleash the most lunatic and deranged death metal I've heard. Like a crossbreed between Teitanblood and Cultes Des Ghoules. Can you imagine that? The result is at sight: "Lunarterial". Fucking Awesome.
Listen
#4
Rotting Sky "Sedation"
Rotting Sky is a side project from Tim Messing from Nux Vomica. As Rotting Sky, Tim brings us an excellent formula that mixes black metal, doom with drone, noisy atmospheres. "Sedation" is simply hypnotic and I just want to listen to it in repeat forever.
Listen
Rotting Sky is a side project from Tim Messing from Nux Vomica. As Rotting Sky, Tim brings us an excellent formula that mixes black metal, doom with drone, noisy atmospheres. "Sedation" is simply hypnotic and I just want to listen to it in repeat forever.
Listen
#3
Fórn "The Departure of Consciousness"
With was with great pleasure that I was aware the Fórn were going to release their first full-length this year. I really loved their EP (featured here last year) and I was looking forward to hear "The Departure of Consciousness". All my expectations were exceeded when I finally heard the full album. Crushing, devastating and beautiful harmonies from these young doomsters. Just fucking stellar.
Listen
With was with great pleasure that I was aware the Fórn were going to release their first full-length this year. I really loved their EP (featured here last year) and I was looking forward to hear "The Departure of Consciousness". All my expectations were exceeded when I finally heard the full album. Crushing, devastating and beautiful harmonies from these young doomsters. Just fucking stellar.
Listen
#2
Thou "Heathen"
Well.. it's fucking Thou! What else is to be said about one of the most heavy bands to walk this Earth nowadays. A very ambitious album that proved to us that this band has no match. I really how this album brings back that initial Thou sound and song structure mixed with their most recent material. Excellent.
Listen
Well.. it's fucking Thou! What else is to be said about one of the most heavy bands to walk this Earth nowadays. A very ambitious album that proved to us that this band has no match. I really how this album brings back that initial Thou sound and song structure mixed with their most recent material. Excellent.
Listen
#1
Sonance "Blackflower"
Finally, the cherry on top of the cake. An album that caught me by surprise and just climbed its way all by himself to my heart. I really loved what Sonance had brought with "Like Ghosts" but to me, "Blackflower" has just raised the bar. Slightly different from their previous but still you get it's Sonance. The whole melody that evolves us and leads us into the most catastrophic of scenarios is just heartbreaking. With "Blackflower", Sonance have accomplished something that is very rare nowadays. Try to figure what that is.
Listen
Finally, the cherry on top of the cake. An album that caught me by surprise and just climbed its way all by himself to my heart. I really loved what Sonance had brought with "Like Ghosts" but to me, "Blackflower" has just raised the bar. Slightly different from their previous but still you get it's Sonance. The whole melody that evolves us and leads us into the most catastrophic of scenarios is just heartbreaking. With "Blackflower", Sonance have accomplished something that is very rare nowadays. Try to figure what that is.
Listen
Besides these releases, I've been a lot this year into a lot of stuff, but I feel I must enhance Northward "IJsgang", sadly the last breath of this great band. Australia's Total Control with "Typical System", a very great record that successfully pulls that early 80's punk spirit and blends it with the most contemporary post punk as well, an album filled with great and eclectic songs. Vaniish "Memory Work", probably the best post-punk album that came out this year. Brilliant. Vorde "Vorde", another Fallen Empire release, saw many folks complaining about the vocals on this one, but I think it totally gives a different aura to Vorde's black metal sound. An album that intrigued me a lot at first, but the more I listen to it, the more it grows on me.
That was it for now. Wish you all the best. Let's raise our chalices up high and wish for a better year of MMXV. Hail!
†H†
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