Gazing Upon the Dead Horizon While Trying to Buy Weird Metal Tapes Jul 5 11

How's it going? Great. Here's music.

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, TIKTOK 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.

Neptunian Maximalism – "Devānām madhye nāgabhūtaṃ dṛṣṭvā te bibhyati – XIIII," from Nāgabhūtaṃ (Improvization/Avant-Garde Metal – I, Voidhanger Records). Éons remains a watershed album in this shitty life, and as much as I love everything NNMM and/or associated acts (such as ZAÄAR, who also featured on my compilation a while back) it never got as cosmic or as good as that album. But this new album is a whole lot of stampeding steps in the right direction. It has that "music from an alien planet thing" I have been missing, and I can't stop listening to the damn thing. Get it.

Iskandr – "Pilaren van de Zuivere Blik," from Sacraal (Drone/Experimental – Eisenwald Records). Friend of the show and human fountain of eerie music Omar Kleiss returns with his "no longer doing black metal" version of Islandr, and you should all be grateful. Not because he stopped doing black metal with Iskandr, that was a shame because they were amazing, but because everything he touches turns sour and beautiful, beautifully sour. Music for people who know the dead.

Some Dead Bodies – "Rotting Flesh," from Spread the Murder (Cosmic Death Metal – Nobody). If you're into Cabinet and that general Bloodymountain Records sound of riffs that sound like death rays in a 70s sci-fi movie then you should very much enjoy this. Didn't know this project, which is clearly on me. You know what else is "on me"? That's right, the dead.

Cabinet – "Sparging Until Eruption (bloated and burst)," from Deracinated Into Soiled Reliquaries (Sarcophagus Odyssey) (Death Metal – Bloodymountain Records). Speaking of friends of the show and metal freaks Cabinet – there's a new Cabinet album! Ah yes, just when the world couldn't seem to get more terrifying and more despair-crushing, the most terrifying and despair-crushing of bands this side of Portal comes back with some new shit, sounding fresh, rejuvenated, and, naturally, fucking evil. Bang, wang, some-of-the-best-death-metal-of-the-year bajang.

Sněť – "Kladivo ve tmě," from V bažinách vědomí (Death Metal – Me Saco Un Ojo Records). One of the best new-ish death metal bands on earth, and one that I have been personally a fan of for quite some time (I got the demo!) is back after quite the gap from their debut back in 2021. And right off the bat, off the what? I don't have a bat! Are we talking the animal? Those I have. Right off of them, then, a brilliant first single of just well-executed, beautiful and somewhat middle-eastern death metal. The best of all dead worlds.

Скотина – "Пёсья," from Бессовестный (Screamo/Grindcore – Independent).  I When you're cloaked in a thick layer of emotional numbness and despair there are only certain kinds of sperm-heads that can penetrated you viscous shield wall. Weirdo Hungarian modern classical music does the trick, to no one's surprise and Yellow Eyes/Krallice. That's it. But when someone shrieks and yelps in what seems like anguish while a drummer goes nuts in the background, well, that works too. 

Moonspell – "Far From God," from Far From God (Goth/Doom Metal – Napalm Records). I was not counting on checking out a new Moonspell album. Huge fan of their 90s work, all of which changed my life for real. But I have been badly out the loop. So why do I write about now? Well, because I really like this song, and it made me think about how much the new wave of goth/kinda-metal (Rope Sect and the like) really owe to Moonspell. So, this is my appreciation to them and their influence. And, yeah, cool track too. Also weirdly might be my favorite Eliran Kantor cover in a very long while. Dude can paint.

Echo Zero – "Pierwszy szczebel," from E0 (Avant-Garde Black Metal – Pest Productions). I don't love many things as much as I love my twisted Kraków black metal, and here comes a new project from one of that scene's most shining black stars. Welcome a new member to the Biesy/Odraza/Gruzja family of absolute weirdos. I would not have known about this, due to, well, being fucking tired and fed up, by prime reader and prime mover George pulled my collar and I'm better for it. So, many thanks to George, and get on the wild ride.

Cinder Well – "Beyond the Pale," from A Blooming Body (Singer-Songwriter – Hen House Studios). Patrick Walker had sung Cinder Well's praises and I tried it for a while but, for whatever reason, it never clicked. But I respect his tall opinion and so I saw a new release and I clicked it, thinking I would just skip it and look for some more existential black metal. But I didn't. Two immaculate tracks that made me think of some truly beloved voices and artists, probably Neko Case most. Simple, shimmering voice, and just stunning. Also, apropos Patrick the cover kind of looks like the couple on the cover of Rituals of Shame before they were suffocated by that plastic sheet. Good times.

FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

ONE: Fluisteraars released the pre-order for the new album along with a single, which was amazing and of which I would have written but they took it down. Shame.

TWO: It would still be wise to listen to that new Emptiness album as soon as it releases. Trust.

THREE: Is this a legit Theatre of Tragedy Bandcamp page? Maybe. Still a great excuse to listen to them.

FOUR: Pretty great sludge metal from Cypriot band Saint Disgustus. 

FIVE: Do you enjoy Chilean death metal? You might dig Sulphuric Death.

ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: New Ch'ahom coming via 20BS. GET HYPE.