NINE SONGS I LIKED THIS WEEK IN LIST FORM – MAY 12 – MAY 18

Hey all. Published a very important interview, for me, personally, this week with Howls of Ebb. And while it's part of the Albums of the Decade series, we don't actually talk about any one album but about the artistic process that culminates in a singular, original act of expression. It taught me a lot, and helped me figure some of my own shit out. Hope it does the same for you. Keep safe.

As always, check out my various interview projects and other cool shit. And if you'd like to keep abreast of the latest, most pressing developments follow us wherever I may roam (FALSE!) (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and now also a tape-per-day series on TIK TOK!), and listen to my, I guess, active (?) podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple), and to check out our amazing compilation albums. You can support my unholy work here (Patreon), if you feel like it. Early access to our bigger projects, weekly exclusive recommendations and playlists, and that wonderful feeling that you're encouraging a life-consuming habit.

1. Inconcessus Lux Lucis – "Temples Colliding in Fire," from Temples Colliding in Fire (Black Metal/Heavy Metal – I, Voidhanger). Yet another rare case of trad/heavy working well with black metal to the point of feeling like a forgotten tape by a Swiss black metal band from 1987. Just the third full-length from this English band of which I had never heard, but that's obviously on me. Dynamic and intriguing black metal with heavy metal vibes and the odd avant-garde twist. Pretty cool. FFO: Predatory Light, Malokarpatan.

2. Sovereign of Conquest – ״Incense, Candles, and Flowers," from Lamentations of Supernatural Revelation (Black Metal – Independent). Another possible entry into the Negative Plane school of black metal that sounds like it was written with white high-top sneakers on. Though this is a much more dark, much less jangly take on the format, when compared, say, to the band immediately above this blurb. Which is to say – "Yes, still black metal that's written in a blaze of trad glory, but much scarier." Very cool. FFO: Negative Plane, Funereal Presence.

3. Oppress. – "Rotisserie Christ," from The Subtle Art of Turning Gold into Shit (Avant-Garde Black Metal – K.V.N.T. Kolektiv). More weirdo black metal! Yes. Perhaps the Spirit of Howls of Ebb has really dominated me this week, since this new release from Oppress. is really kind of my shit right now. Pretty sure I wrote about these dudes at some point in my life, but regardless they are well worth your time and – importantly – your money. Unique, disturbing, windy stuff. FFO: Akercocke, Virus.

4. Oxygen Destroyer – "Shadow of Evil," from Guardian of the Universe (Death/Black Thrash Metal – Redefining Darkness Records). Your favorite Kaijū-themed thrash/death A bomb of energy and riffs is back for another spin on your flat head since 2021's beautiful and beautifully titled Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind. There are philosophical musings on the topic of "Uh, I wonder what the new Oxygen Destroyer album is going to sound like?" You know exactly how it's going to sound like, and you're going to love it. FFO: Enforced, Svpremacist.

5. Ulva – "The Unavoidable Reality," from Wounds : Reclaimed (Black Metal/Crust – Vita Destibilitis / Fiadh Records / Nothing to Harvest Records / Pyrrhic Defeat Records). Another one of those cases where I enjoy an album and so buy it and realize I didn't write about it. It's funny how that happens, and I was ready to write a whole paragraph on the topic but then realized no one cares, Ron, shut your ho ass up and make some recs. So, yet another emotional, profound release from the good people over at Fiadh/VD that sounds very much in line with some Fall of Efrafa vibes mixed with a more black metal take. Oh, and there's violin, too. FFO: Being angry and being consumed by anger at the same time.

6. Robert Carl – "Infinity Avenue (2015) for Laptop and Improvising Ensemble," from Infinity Avenue (Modern Classical – Neuma Records). I'm not a smart man, nor am I clever. Proof: I have no idea who Robert Carl is, I have never heard of him, and the composition in question is from a compilation album (I think), all of which marks me as very uncool. But, given my ignorance and poser status when it comes to modern classical music, this shit is straight fire. Droning, uncomfortable, at times dissonant music that makes you feel like you're dying. FFO: Dying?

7. Hull of Light – "Soul," from Gilded Liminal Shrines (Post-Punk/Black Metal – Independent). One of the most anticipated releases of the year just dropped out of the desert sky like manna. You head it first on the most recent MILIM KASHOT comp, but here it is in all its glory, a post-punk mini masterpiece featuring members of 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker), Suffering Hour, Zeresh, and multitudinous others. And since a certain formerly respected publication asked me to write about an album I was especially waiting for in 2024, received my text, and then proceeded to ghost me, I think it's only fair I include that text here:

Hull of Light [Hull of Light banner drops in the background] are a lot of things that I love in one place. Firstly, artists whose work is the altar at which I worship, who, each in their own way, refuse to be anything settled, who are the nomads of our musical wasteland, who go for that jagged jugular of sound that comes close to having no shape at all, before finally materializing as a terrifying, beautiful shape. But, aside from whatever it was I just wrote, the beauty of Hull of Light, who released their first track via Machine Music’s annual charity compilation and who are set to release their debut EP this year, is that they cram all that shapeshifting and ambition into a small, and very human form – one that ranges from the rollickin’ rock of Midnight Oil, the almost ritual post-punk weirdness of This Heat, to the anti-black metal of bands like Emptiness or Virus. And for that I declare them [confetti going off in the background] my “Metal Band to Watch in 2024!” [mic and speaker both disappear, the wooden stage collapses, leaving a misty maroon swamp].

Get it now. FFO: Life-affirming music.

8. Whisper – "Immortal Eyes, from Xenogenesis (Death Metal – Independent). Shout out to the internet's most groovy metal enjoyer, JT Extreme, for this recommendation. Not to slight the most recent Tomb Mold. because I liked that record, for the record, but this is the second death metal release this year that had me going "Kind of wish that record sounded more like this." Pummeling, progressive in that pummeling way, alien-obsessed and very cool. FFO: Blood Incantation, Tomb Mold.

9. Dead Memory – "Forever Under," from Embrace the Soil (Death Metal/Sludge – Transylvanian Recordings). Immediate joy. That's what I felt from the very opening riff of this green monstrosity, and all the way to the final melodious notes. So much about this is exactly what I love about music – it's both a moment, pinned by and into flesh – as well as a grander environment or atmosphere. It's the violence and the landscape in which said violence takes place, the blood and the fog. Haven't heard the rest of this, but if all of it is this good this is some AOTY type shit. FFO: Thou, Vastum.

FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

ONE: A new Oranssi Pazuzu album seems closer than ever.

TWO: Agalloch are reissuing The Mantle, pre-orders already up.

THREE: New kinda sorta ambient track from Esoctrillihum. Which I love.

FOUR: Next post might come with me inside the United States of America. You have been warned.

FIVE: Vendetta have been having an atmospheric black metal year for the ages. The new release from Sjæ​leangst is just further proof of that fact.

ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: Profound Lore just announced a new depressive-sounding / doom album from Balwezo Westijiz that sounds pretty fucking awesome (feat. the never-ceasing Swartadauthuz).