Austria

Brånd – Wo draht da Weg? [Austria, Experimental Black / Punk] (2022)

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Self Released | 2-4-22

This is positively bizarre black / punk from Austria. Wo draht da Weg? is a completely out-there EP in five tracks. Though raw black metal on paper, the vocals completely eschew the typical harshness of either black metal or punk. There’s baritone prostrations to whatever god of Faust might be listening at the moment. Perhaps it’s better to describe this as black / post-punk. The title track certainly demonstrates this, with an echoing guitar lead that is slowly buried under the cacophonous percussion and lo-fi aesthetic. And then it rips right back into tupa-tupa-tupa beats that place it alongside a deranged Raspberry Bulbs. Give this a listen if you enjoy your black metal raw and wriggling.

Wo draht da Weg? by Brånd

Weathered Crest – Blossoming Of The Paths [Austria, Raw Black] (2021)

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Self Released | 10-13-21

Somewhere in the dark forests (?) of Austria lies a hovel in which a creature stirs. This creature has bene apart of projects like Brånd and Kinga and is the work of Vritra. While also running the label that releases work from all of these projects, Vritra seems to be at the center of a dark and uncaring world. Blossoming Of The Paths is the first full length from the project Weathered Crest and similar to other entities, it is a sharp and crude extension of unprocessed emotions. With a wall of noise that the music barley breaks, Weathered Crest makes music in the same way objects fall downhill with the momentum of emotion and mood dictating the direction. Abrupt starts and stops are only respites from an avalanche of black poison which is at the center if this recording. I have already expressed my love for noisy black metal and the tone employed by Weathered Crest is so fitting to its atmosphere as Blossoming Of The Paths is the underside of a cinder block left out in some cold field for years. It is ugly, raw, and entirely cathartic.

An Old Sad Ghost – Der Letzte Koenig | Der Erste Koenig [Austria, Dungeon Synth] (2019)

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Gondolin Records | 12-29-20

This is a 2021 review of a 2020 tape release of a 2019 release by the Austrian artist An Old Sad Ghost. It is without a proper year which is why it feels so at home drifting in the passages of time and space. I remember An Old Sad Ghost’s contributions to the Dungeon Synth Compilation project in 2017 and how amazed I was at their attentiveness to atmosphere. Looking at the discography from the artist , one is cast into a world of gothic gloom with monochrome releases which reach out of darkness like tombstones. Der Letzte Koenig | Der Erste Koenig is a set of releases from 2019 which has been enshrined as a tape release from Gondolin Records. Initially popular upon its release, An Old Sad Ghost is adorned with another round of attention to this amazing release which has not lost any of its grim luster as it still conjures images if tall spires in mist and outlines of skeletal trees. This is dungeon synth for fans of classic depressive atmospheres that is enhanced by its attention to detail. This is neoclassical dungeon synth which plays melodies from pipe organs in the distance.