Noise

Bergtrollets Gravferd – Bergtrollets Gravferd [Sweden, Experimental] (2020)

Standard

Self Released | 6-18-20

I would like everyone to be aware before entering into this record that looks like raw black that you are stepping into a world of dark ambient, post punk, blackwave, and noisy goth. Things are about to get weird and spooky in the realm of abstract bats and conceptual castles. Welcome Bergtrollets Gravferd, a new outfit that has just released this tape today and I feel I am staring at a non euclidean building and its giving me anxiety. I will be honest in saying I do not know what this demo is trying to be but I believe it is operating on a parallel time frame from a intrademension.

Continue reading

RUTSA / POHJAMUTA / CICUTOXIN – Cold Case [Finland, Sludge / Punk / Noise] (2018)

Standard

Rämekuukkeli-levyt | 2-1-18

…and here we are in some far flung corner of the world with a three way split of things that may or may not be metal. I do not think it matters as it is 100% effective. I adore not only the quest for weird and caustic thing but also when there is a breakdown between genres to achieve an end goal. The Cold Case split is a three way collaboration with three Finnish underground acts whose seems united in their own unorthodoxy.

If there was any track to catch attention it would be RUTSA with its bombed out landscape of noise and terror. Outside of the aesthetic of harsh noise that populates the air like a swarm of hornets, the structure of the music is a churning machine of broken gears and mechanical fluid. Further investigation into the band’s demo tapes reveal a similar sound but without the level of abrasiveness present in this recent split.

I could not find the selection by CICUTOXIN in any streaming form though the band’s sludge / doom seems fitting for the collaboration. POHJAMUTA, on the other hand, does have their song available which is horrifying amalgamation between sludge and some sort of rabid punk which sees vocals screamed with irreverence and tensions wound tight around necks. All three make up a motley crew of Finnish underground acts which seem to pledge to the same monstrous god which lives in sewers and in runoffs next to graveyards. The unaligned seems to be a theme with a split that can certainly be used to scour the grime from metal.

Continue reading

Vessel Of Iniquity – Vessel Of Iniquity [UK, Black / Noise] (2017)

Standard

Xenoglossy Productions | 12-29-17

Something I always enjoyed about this time of the year was the complete lack of caring by labels and bands for end of the year lists. December is usually a dead zone for larger labels and bands as most of the year lists are being generated. there are some who do not care about frivolous cycles of release and there are others who will wait until the last hours of the year unleash terror.

Continue reading

Wilt – Buried Amplification [US, Noise / Electronics] (2017)

Standard

Self Released | 12-03-17

Before we begin, let us state for the record this release is technically 2010. From the Bandcamp: “Original cassette only available at the Heavy Focus festival in April 2010. Limited to 5 hand numbered copies.” The one video from Heavy Focus Festival is so bizarre and flabbergasting, the whole thing sort of makes sense. Buried Amplification is at this moment, a record that is for a small audience traveling to an intimate place miles below whatever graveyard we entered.

Continue reading

WADJ – WADJ [Canada, Black / Noise / Ambient] (2017)

Standard

Self Released | 09-01-17

Let us be completely honest and say that WADJ is not going to be on any end of the year list. This release is here just out of weirdness and absurd obsession. There is little hope in saying that it is going to change any face of extreme metal and will most likely survive out of idiosyncratic wonder. With all of that said, this is fucking bizarre.

Continue reading

Noctis – Gamaliel [US. Black / Noise] (2017)

Standard

Self Released | 01-26-17

One song releases are difficult to assess in terms of potential. For the most part single and 1 track demos are made by the dozen but hardly ever covered due to their insubstantial nature. there just isn’t that much one can do with 1 track that is even less than 5 minutes. what one can do is look at past works and compare the single track to surmise where the music could potentially travel. If one was doing that for Noctis, the answer would be the depths of chaos.

Continue reading

Tome Of The Unreplenished – Cosmoprism [Cyprus, Ritual Ambient / Noise] (2017)

Standard

I, Voidhanger Records | 2-3-17

Back in 2015, Tome Of The Unreplenished sounded different. It isn’t that much of a change but the Cypriot born now British band’s debut was much more geared towards atmospheric black metal that frayed at the edges of concrete. Cosmoprism: The Theurgy – Act I shatters all bonds with the material world and travels towards the celestial nothingness with an EP that attempts to fathom the unknowable and reign in the horror of the indescribable. This, of course, will not be done in 4/4 time or with any sort of musical structure.

Continue reading

Fange – Poisse [France, Sludge / Noise] (2014)

Standard
Self Released | 4-14-14

Zugzwang Productions | 4-14-14

Yes. Yes. Yes. This is what I like to hear. Fange is a three piece French act who plays impossibly loud sludge to the point of becoming a noisy act of violence. Sludge has always been very confrontational by design though Fange has decided take the angst and misanthropy which nurtured the style and make it monstrous. What is contained within Poisse are looming spires of hate and misery which rain down on listeners like crumbling hell rain. That is right — hell rain.

Continue reading