A FEW SONGS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE EXISTED THIS WEEK FEB 9 – FEB 15
Hi there, great to see you but I can't see you so I guess I'm blind. Keep safe.
If you're new to this metal blog of bones you can also check out the various interview projects I have going on as well as the weekly recommendation posts. And if you'd like to keep abreast of the latest, most pressing developments follow us wherever I may roam (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Bluesky, etc), and listen to my, I guess, active? (no) podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple), and to check out our amazing compilation albums. You could also possibly 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. It's probably a bad idea, but to each their own. ON TO THE LIST.
Piss Baptism – "Relapse Straight Back to Hell," from Vol 3: Relapse Straight Back to Hell (Black Metal/Punk – Transylvanian Recordings). If I had to pick a track that made my week, albeit in a very shitty week where it seems my world and your world too is closer to imploding into a bloodbath of meaningless violence (even more so, I should say), it would be this track and this release. I in fact wrote, I guess, in a roundabout way about Piss Baptism when I reported on their excellent split with Carrion Bloom last year, but I didn't really write about them as I highlighted the Carrion Bloom side. But this short, very short, three-track release has that special magic. And this, it's title and closing track, is where that magic comes together, where the primal violence of the few minutes that lead up to it dissipates into a cloud of sadness. Yup, that sounds just about right.
NyreDolk – "Hård og kold," from Barndommens hjem (Black Metal/Black n' Roll – Caligari Records/Styglyd Records). Speaking of shit that made my week, I think the way this album is recorded made my week. I mean, everything about it is great regardless, amazing and very versatile vocal work, quick transitions between mid-tempo black metal and what sounds almost alt-metal-y, and great, dynamic music. But this SOUNDS amazing too, the drums, the bass, the guitars, like you're watching the best, best mixed, live show ever. Incredible stuff.
Pelican – "Cascading Crescent," from Flickering Resonance (Post-Metal/Instrumental – Run for Cover Records). The kings of instrumental metal that isn't quite weed-laden but isn't really ween un-laden are back with their first full-length album since 2019's Nighttime Stories. Have they changed much? Not sure. Do they need to change? Again, unsure. At this point of Pelican's musical life and, more importantly, at this point in my long-time relationship with the Chicago quartet, I don't need much from Pelican other than them being Pelican. They seem like good people, they're the best at what they do, and they are probably more responsible for people getting into all manner of weird-ass music than they will probably ever get credit for. All hail Pelican, and can't wait for the rest.
The Blood Mountain Black Metal Choir – "Televangelism," from Demo I (Black Metal – Independent). A fantastic first demo from what seems like a new (and beautifully named) project. Folky moments followed by more aggressive ones, all coming together to create a tender-yet-assertive atmosphere that's a) very beautiful and b) very rare and hard to do. This is no fake bravado, this is real people feeling real things and expressing them via the technology of black metal. More please.
Continuum of Xul – "The Dark Star," from Voratore (Prog Death/Black Metal – Independent). The Italian priests of weird black metal are black, somewhat different and still pretty weird. I wrote about their 2022 EP here, and obviously was very into to it. Since then, they've changed drummers (swapped a Nero di Marte with a Defacement, an embarrassment of riches, as it were), and on their full-length debut went HARD into the kind of off-kilter, unnerving death metal that I associate with mid 90s and early 2000s mind fuckery. It sounds great, it feels great, and it makes want to both go hit the gym (not going to happen) and worship a pagan god (might happen).
Thin – "Every Day a New Atrocity," from The Overlapping Nature of Thing (Grindcore/Screamo – Learning Curve Records). The great Thin are back from the victory lap that, specifically, was their previous full-length Dusk, but, more generally, the victory lap that has been their entire career thus far. Have been a huge fan since 2020's Dawn, and this new EP too sounds like it could rip an orifice in the space-time continuum. Which, I think, is what the space-time continuum deserves at this point. Peak fury music.
Pit of Dicks – "Buried," from Into the Pit (Sludge/Noise Rock – Independent). Some would say "Pit of Dicks" is the kind of name that should make a serious person as myself (I am a serious person) to steer clear off of a certain Bandcamp weird album cover, and yet I am, in seeming contrast with the above-written parenthetical remark, not a serious person at all. And thus I clicked the pit of the aforementioned dicks, and rejoiced. Because whatever their pit is filled with, I want it all. Futuristic noise rock-via-sludge that sounds like it was projected into Earth from a dislodged satellite. Cool ass shit.
Iron Lung – "Lifeless Life," from Adapting // Crawling (Grindcore/Hardcore – Iron Lung Records). Iron Lung have emerged from their kinda-sorta silence with their first full-length in over a decade (they had a single out last year, but, you know). And that's a good thing, that's a good choice by the Seattle twosome because it feels like a lesson in "murdering music in less time that one requires to think about maybe murdering music" is in desperate order. A masterclass in doing a whole lof of shit (God, aren't you glad I'm writing about music? What an enriching experience this must be for you) in a very short time, which, as I've preached before, might be my favoritest musical super power.
Blood Abscission – "I I – I I I," from I I (Post-Metal/Black Metal – Debemur Morti Productions). The Roman-numeral-obsessed Blood Abscission have re-ascended through their sombre existence into an assonance-crazed society. Their previous album – yes, you guessed it, I – was pretty cool, and I think was a pretty big contender for 2023 AOTY for some people I know. I liked it, though not as much as that, but did end up digging it more as time went on. So this is me recognizing a new album is coming, liking the first single, and waiting to see if it grows on me too. If you like Aara, you'll probably like this too.
Khost – The Fifth Book of Agrippa," from Many Things Afflict Us Few Things Console Us (Experimnetal/Industrial – Cold Spring). In the break-neck world of break-neck music, writing about an album that came out five or six months ago is pure insanity and sepia-fuzzy nostalgia. But I have to say that I haven't heard this most recent Khost album, and I probably also didn't notice it coming out. But I did do, however, is spend the whole damn week listening to it and thinking about how appropriate it is to my world right now. Yes, Mediterranean winters aren't the worst. We have many sunny days, not that many days of rain, and there's a beach. But the air we actually breathe, the gasses that enter our actual systems, aren't what we see but what's actually there. And what's actually there is death, so much death, and anxiety, and worry, and more death, and more anxiety. So, it might be the case that atmospheric black metal is what I see with my eyes quite often, but what I breathe is Khost. Also, side note, not sure I've heard something this good along these general lines, since Necro Deathmort.
Christian Necromancy – "The Leistae," from The Pederast (Avant-Garde Black Metal – Putrefactive Recordings). I've seen this kind of around social media with some Jute Gyte comparisons so I had to check it out. And the Jute Gyte thing is warranted. I mean, I'm not mister smart, but there's a good chance of some micro-tonal fuckery going on here. But the real comp, I think, would be something like Mastery. Which might be splitting hairs, but as long as we're splitting them puts this weird-ass album into a very rare grouping of albums as crazy and as good as Mastery. Pretty intense shit, but worth the headache.
SHORT FACTS ABOUT THINGS
Fact #1: Brucia Records have announced they're winding down. Not hugely surprising, but still a bummer. I have been fortunate enough to cover their blessed activities since Derhead's (masterful) Irrational I, and have been even more fortunate to collaborate with them many times since. They're great people, great musicians, and the world will be poorer without their taste and curatorship.
Fact #2: I had a shitload of great new Caligari Records releases that I didn't have space for, so just go to Caligari and basically buy everything.
Fact #3: Nite have a new album coming, and a new interview with the great Ian Chainey.
Fact #4: Have had it queued up for a second week in a row, but there's a new Divide and Dissolve album coming and it sounds pretty great.
OH OH ALMOST FORGOT: Thecodontion are doing a comp of their early stuff. Buy the CD here.
LAST THING I SWEAR: As should be your habit every week, be sure to check out Ian Chainey's wonderful substacks (plural): Wolf's Week for your weekly jams (a lot of gems always, but this week was stacked and I'll get to some of that stuff next week I hope) and Plague Rages for more in-depth stuff.
