Rorcal "VILAGVEGE"

Holy shit.... Rorcal are back. And they are pissed.

"Világvége, Armageddon, Fin du monde, Weltuntergang, Apocalypse, Ragnarök... No matter the language or origin, the 'End of the World' has always been a huge theme of discord since men were born. 

After illustrating the decadence of a Roman Emperor with HELIOGABALUS in 2010, RORCAL is back with a third album whose guideline just appeared to be obvious. 

Like its source of inspiration, RORCAL music has no boundaries and VILAGVEGE is here to prove it. When Doom turns into Black, you can't expect anything but chaos: 8 tracks straight to the point, nervous and furious like never before. 

Released in 2013. Vinyl through Cal of Ror Records, SickManGettingSick Records & Lost Pilgrims Records. Tape through Wolves and Vibrancy Records. 12'' LP with cover. 180g black vinyl. 333 copies. Hand-numbered."

I took knowledge of this release for quite some time, I pre-ordered it immediately and now I sit here impatiently for my vinyl of "VILAGVEGE" to crash, which i believe it can happen any day now, but the main reason i'm only putting this only today is because the album is already in its entirely on the band's Bandcamp available for your hearing.

With "VILAGVEGE", Rorcal lift up their black hoods and reveal their darkest facet. Imagine the biggest tragedy that could fall upon us and multiply it by 1000, still... you wouldn't get close to what "VILAGVEGE" sounds like. If this is the evilest face of Rorcal, man, i'm going back to their older stuff in order to find some peace.. really. You have no idea what to expect here. Simply, one of the best and most anticipated releases for this year. May we all go down in flames at the sound of  "VILAGVEGE" for this is the soundtrack of the Apocalypse.

Like i said before on this blog about Rorcal, the band basically does it all, they have put some of their previous works that, like this new one, were forged with blood, sweat, tears and of course money. And still the band puts this up for free. So the only retribution you can do is supporting them. Spread the word. Buy the vinyl, tape, merch, Bandcamp donations, etc. But please... support this amazing band. We all love Rorcal don't we? 

VLGVG

Profond Barathre & Rorcal & Malvoisie

Greetings! Things are running a little bit slow here on FxC but i have not forgotten all you guys & gals out there, so today i bring you one of my latest addictions, this collaborative release between Profond Barathre & Rorcal & Malvoisie. 3 bands, 3 tracks, 3 approaches. In the aim of creating something special (or uncreating for others), this collaborative work has been a very long process to visualize something more than just a gathering of songs with single identities. But rather to shape a story through 45 minutes of darkness, atmospheric, violent and hysterical waves of sound and screams. Opening with Profond Barathre, followed by Rorcal and finalized by Malvoisie. 3 chapters to be discovered in one straight listening. I'm unfamiliar with the work of Profond Barathre and Malvoisie, i only know Rorcal from this triad. Although i love Rorcal to death, definitely one of the best sludge/doom acts coming out of Europe, i still believe that this band isn't getting the attention they really deserve, seriously, they have done some amazing work, and they just keep on getting better and better, and proving that is their track on this release... simply amazing. Rorcal is one amazing beast of its kind. They have done a lot of hard work, carrying a very praising DIY attitude, so the least you can do is support them by buying something. You won't regret it, trust me.

This collaborative release is available for free, although i strongly advise you to get a physical copy here. It's limited to 200 copies and released by their hand through CALOFROR Records. Highly recommended.

listen | triad of doom

Rorcal "Heliogabalus"

Rorcal's "Heliogabalus"... this isn't particularly new, but i was asked to review it some time ago. What's the concept behind "Heliogabalus"? It's based on the life of a young Roman emperor that ascended to the Imperial power at a very early age, fourteen years old, if i'm not incorrect. He ruled until he was murdered at eighteen years of age. Although short, his imperial reign was considered very controversial due to religious/sexual issues. 

Rorcal are, for those who never heard about them, a Sludge/Doom band from Switzerland, that in pair with AmenRa, i must confess, are one of my favorite European Sludge bands. With "Heliogabalus", Rorcal bring us a colossal one hour track filled with great epic moments and some interludes that perform their task of almost dividing the track in "acts". So this could be almost a musical, where Rorcal interpret the ascension and fall of that young emperor. 

It takes about 1 minute until the first riff completely smashes us, and from there on, a slow funeral march takes its place along with anguished screams of pain and despair. The use of samples/synthesizer reinforces even more that dense atmosphere that transports us back to the Roman Empire years. Heavy riffs are thrown into the air and fall in a very slow motion, i mean, very slow. This slow and grieve march continues until a musical interlude that takes place just before the next "act" of the story. The kind of music the interludes brings us, sound very tribal, making me think how would ancient Roman music sounded like? I bet it would sound just like this. "Heliogabalus" has it's own unique character, the kind of character that we might consider timeless.. people years from now will still speak of this and how epic it was/is. The more we sink into this track, the thicker the environment gets, and more and more and more, almost suffocates us. Many of you might run away from a track this long, but i can assure you that this is a real masterpiece, something like you never heard before, it's true that isn't no easy task, but effectively, Rorcal did their task very well. Take my advice and head dive into this one. You won't be sorry. The album is available to purchase through the bands website here, although, as a nice band these guys are, they also provided the album as a Free Download. But nothing beats a physical copy.

thrown to the lions

Rorcal & Solar Flare

After being locked down for 3 days in a humid basement, to write and record a collaborative track sounding as heavy as it could be with 2 basses, 3 guitars and supported by drums and vocals from the Mordor. The final result is at sight. A fierce collaboration between the belgian sludge doomsters Rorcal and Solar Flare. Basically Solar Flare brings cold and dark ambient themes, but if at a first listen you think it's dull wait until you hear the last collaborative song track with Rorcal... it will crush your skull. As said by the band itself:

"As concept and guideline, we found inspiration in the poem “La Ronde sous la Cloche”, taken from the book “Gaspard de la Nuit” and written by the french poet Aloysius Bertrand… although the legend says that this book was probably written by the devil himself. His text drags you into a world between nightmare, hallucination and darkness which we tried to reproduce musicaly."

All has been mastered again by Raph Bovey who produced the masterpiece "HLGBLS", the release is presented in a handmade digifile CDr format featuring tracks from Solar Flare and the collaborative song. Support this awesome band by buying their stuff here.

the day the sun didn't rise