Doom] (2014)

Caligari Records | 1-16-14

Holy shit, who knew Caligari Records was releasing such wonderful music? The possibility for exceptional black, death, and doom is very real and just hidden under large rocks in Tennessee. Ritual Decay is a doom influenced black / death act with no ties to established bands nor any preceding qualifications. In fact their resume maybe blank with only an overexposed photograph with a wolf in their promo photo. Regardless, The Conquering Darkness is beyond the qualifications for introductions as Ritual Decay firmly plants themselves as one of the best newcomers for 2014.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Devouring Star – Demo [Finland, Black / Death] (2014)

Sarlacc Productions | 3-2-14

Again, I feel that “dates” are sort of up in the air when it comes to demos. Finish black/death act technically self released their demo in December of 2013 but the 2014 pressing by Sarlacc productions feels like an official date. In demo-land, things are hazy and ambiguous but I have a feeling I want Devouring Star’s first demo included in discussions with 2014.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Eos – L’Avalé [Canada / Black] (2014)

Fallen Empire | 3-14-14

I have not been shy about my adoration for Fallen Empire. Ever since stumbling across the two cassette compilation from SVN-OKKLT, which showcased some fantastic underground black metal including Death Fortress, Witch in Her Tomb, Axis of Light, and Eos, I have been a fan and activley camped out in front of the office doors. Since that compilation, Fallen Empire has released a tremendous amount of material that included the full length from Death Fortress, the massively underrated Premonicion De Guerra by Lluvia, and now a demo from Eos. 2014 seems to be a good year for the Quebec based Eos. What little information is available for this act only adds to the mystery, as their debut demo L’Avalé is one of the better black metal releases of the year.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Urzeit – Der zweite Drei [US, Black] (2014)

Self Released | 1-15-14

I think I would have thought this were a German group if not for catching a few passing mentions of Ash Borer. Urzeit is from Portland, Oregon and contain one of the members in the half atmospheric half second wave black metal act Ash Borer as well as the sludge doom act Hell. Because it is more interesting when outer collaborations differ from the previous acts, Urzeit stands as the orthodox disciple of raw black metal. No frills here, Der zweite Drei is an open wound with gravel rubbed in for good measure.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Sun Worship – Elder Giants [Germany, Black] (2014)

View From The Coffin | 2-28-14

This right here is the reason that randomly searching the internet for music is one of the better hobbies outside shipbuilding. Sun Worship is an unsigned German black metal band with a release on what seems to be the a start up distribution called View from the Coffin. The surprise with Sun Worship and their debut Elder Giants is the level of craft present in the recording contrasted with the band’s almost non existent exposure. Make no mistake, this is one of the better releases this year and I would have missed if if not for accidentally falling into its cold withered arms.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Best of January 2014

We have had our first silent month of Tape Wyrm, which was devoted to finding lesser known yet interesting metal from a variety of places. While most of these articles and reviews will focus on cassette based underground black and death metal, there will be other things such as splits, EPs, compilations, and full length releases from bands encompassing a myriad of styles. It all isn’t doom and gloom. Well, most of it, but not all of it. As of right now, it is just me hoping that I can do articles, reviews, and highlight reels such as this one. Perhaps in the future, Tape Wyrm can acquire more writers who will work for Magic bulk commons. Perhaps junk rares if they make an impressive mark. If not, then it will just be me, huddled around a tape player, passing the time deciphering xeroxed and hand drawn album covers. Either way it will be absolutely fantastic. These are the records that were released in January that have been the most entertaining.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Run After To – Run After To / Gjinn And Djinn [Italy, Doom / Traditional] (1985)

Shadow Kingdom Records | 1-7-14

One of my resolutions this year was to keep an eye out for any potential traditional doom that would be worthy of year end lists. This is to make up for the fact I missed out on Atlantean Kodex until an embarrassing date but to also Android pay attention to a style which sometimes get pressed between power metal and stoner doom. Traditional metal and traditional doom is a relic from the past yet when it is played right it can split worlds apart. No more, things are going to be different. 2014 will be the year of doom…from the late 80’s.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

[Article] In Defense of Elistism

Introduction

Elitism can be defined as the belief that certain persons, classes, or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority. This superiority could be connected to social status, wealth, or knowledge. Over these two years, I have become increasingly interested in the concept of elitism and how it relates to music. While elitism can be seen throughout history as a source of political conflict, musical elitism comes at lesser stakes but still with the same amount of intensity. Somewhere between music and a person experiencing music, there exists a source of conflict. Not between person and music, but rather person and other people listening to the same music This is where we encounter the strange and complicated world of elitism.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.