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And as this neverending virus keeps asserting its presence (despite a corporatized national hubris in trying to reassert an imaginary “status quo” of yore) and a fed up youth actually find some small changes being enacted in the face of protest (for the first time in literal decades), we keep on truckin’ along, waiting for that second stimulus check they kept promising and hoping it actually hits the people this time instead of being yet another golden parachute corporate cash grab.

(groans, facepalm, shakes head in disgust)

…yeah, nothing ever changes, at least not for the better.

So!*  Let’s all force a wry smile and move on to cheerier topics.  You know the kind, the stuff that doesn’t involve all the horrors of the real world and how badly we all find ourselves screwed by said imaginary “status quo” at the end of the day (and the dawn of it, and the middle of it…) or even just how rotten our “fellow man” inevitably turns out to be, whatever their age or demographic.

…(long pause, another sigh)

Yeah, this is why the intros have been quick and to the point of late. There’s really nothing good to report, and the crap on the other side of the battlefield seems to be holding its position, apparently unfazed (though one suspects it’s more of a brave front than any measure of reality).

So!  Yes!* Here’s a few more labels recent output for ya, hot off the presses and dating from around the start of this long lockdown through brand spanking new listings only now lining up for preorder.

* As many a German interviewee and friend oft interject with change of thought or at each prominent pause…dig in to a few Teuton-based interviews in the podcast archive, if you don’t immediately get it.

The Moon And The Nightspirit – Aether (Prophecy) (June 19)

Somewhere between early Cocteau Twins and the likes of Mors Syphilitica, this Hungarian duo work an old school second wave gothic sound, awash in light, airy female vocals, lush but never overstated use of reverb and digital delay and clean toned guitars, piano, synthesizer, violin and unusual local folk instrumentation.

So perfect an approximation of the mid 90’s wave in fact, that were it not for the unwelcome accompaniment of comical sub-Alex Krull growly-shouts from Mihaly Szabo, you’d be forgiven for thinking this hailed from either Cleopatra or Projekt Records back in their glory days, rather than the more understated if still quite classy Prophecy roster of far more modern vintage.

Thankfully, the bulk of what you’ll hear within is dominated by frontwoman Agnes Toth and occasional sprechtgesang accompaniment from Szabo…too bad about the Krull affectations, which utterly ruin the otherwise hypnotic and consuming mood in their intrinsically inept comedy.

Hint for next time, guys.

That bit of goofiness aside, this is some extremely polished, magickally tinged and utterly alluring material, produced with such accomplishment, it’ll put half your collection to shame by comparison. Top tier stuff.

Eye Of Nix – Ligeia (Prophecy) (June 19)

We’d covered these Seattle oddballs for their Black Somnia, and appear to have encountered much the same dilemma.

While a track like “concealing waters” strongly suggests a Siouxsie and the Banshees influence, “ligeia” leans a tad early All About Eve crossed with Garlands-era Cocteau Twins and parts of “pursued” come off much akin to the UK’s late lamented Ritual, there’s simply far too much black metal mixed in – the snarling vox in “pursued”, the symphonic black of “tempest”, the atonal/experimental black of “keres”.

It slows down to more of a Sonic Youth feel on later tracks like “stone & fury” or “adrift”, but that just leaves the listener even more confused. Are we listening to New York No Wave? Vintage gothic rock and darkwave? Straight up black metal? What the fuck is this, and what the hell were these people trying to evoke here?

Admittedly, this one came off far more palatable than Black Somnia all told…but it’s still something of an idiosyncratic mess in the end, neither fish nor fowl.

And I don’t know about you, but I like my foodstuffs distinct in flavor, to be mixed at the end user level…not all slopped together like a child’s “mud pie” or some dogshit “American fusion” hipster joint.

Fuck Tofurkey.

Kall – Brand (Prophecy) (June 19)

Remember those DBSM losers Lifelover?

Yeah. Well, here they are again, this time posing as “the Velvet Underground of black n’ roll”, whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean.

Well…there’s some sax late in the droning “fervour”, which not coincidentally is by far the best thing you’ll find on this sub-Mazzy Star with belch n’ scream “vocals”. I guess it’s supposed to evoke Butoh or some shit. “Look how existentially pained I am.” Yeah, and look how aesthetically pained you’re making the rest of us, having to listen to this self indulgent nonsense.

Sorry, I’m not hearing any “heroin” or “femme fatale”, much less a “venus in furs” here.

If you really want to give ’em every possible chance, try “fervour” or “hide below”, which are the only listenably mood evocative bits of business herein.

Leading Light – ”It hurts” (Kingart)

Melodic metalcore out of Sweden. The chorus evokes more of a European gothic/symphonic vibe than you’d expect, while the verses are more jagged and screamo afflicted than the last Killswitch album, for what that’s worth.

Given the choruses and a late appearing bridge, definitely shows promise. Wouldn’t mind hearing more from these guys, no.

Aleah – S/T (Svart Records) (July 1)

Here’s another offering relating to the late Aleah Starbridge, of the highly praised Trees of Eternity (whose Hour of the Nightingale recieved due acclaim herein)

We’d also shown due appreciation for her grieving partner Juha Ravio’s Hallatar, whose No Stars Upon the Bridge consisted mainly of extraneous poetry and lyrics she’d left behind.

Here we get a reissue of her self titled 2007 demo, the original 7 tracks appended by a number of acoustic variants and an additional track or two, ultimately fleshing the demo out to a full 15 track affair.

And what you get here may be the most enjoyable of the three albums sent our way for coverage to date, with a lush darkwave sonic palette offering a (mostly) quite grim backing for her whispering close mic vocals. The acoustic tracks are what they are, but it’s the 6 full studio tracks that matter, here…and it’s those to which the listener will inevitably find themselves drawn.

It’s clear Ravio’s loss has locked him into an uncomfortable corner bordering on obsession – it’s been a few years, now, and he’s still dedicating his life to polishing up and releasing Starbridge’s work to the general populace.

Richer, we, therefore…but you have to feel for the guy. For my part, having experienced some traumatic losses of my own in younger days, I just find myself wanting to drop by for a drink and try to break him out of what’s becoming something of a permanent funk, so he can move on with his life.

  

Persekutor – Permanent Winter (Svart Records) (September 4)

hmm. Here’s hoping Ides of Gemini, whose Women made such a favorable impression upon us a few years back, is still a going concern.

Why, you ask? Simply this: their entire back end has been scooped up for this apparently local act, led by a Romanian transplant named Vlad (bleah! He’s come to L.A. to suck your blood!) and working a sort of USBM/biker band take on the usual Venom/Motorhead thing you so often find in said circles.

About the only difference here comes in the clarity and negative space of the production (which vox aside, practically screams Rick Rubin) and more of an NWOBHM vibe than typical for bands playing in this slightly syncretist ballpark.

If you like your hard rock with cuss filled, evil snarl-vocalled vox and a bit more of a sinister and distorted vibe, look no further – this is a pretty decent variant of the same old, same old.

Self Hypnosis – Contagion of Despair (Svart Records) (August 21)

Atonal, throbbing screamo nonsense.

Think some unholy abomination of a marriage between, say, Fear Factory, Brujeria, some shitty atonal (and likely French) black metal act and some even shittier US based “underground black metal” one, you know the type with all the cavernous reverb and screaming over detuned noise…

No idea why shit like this continues to be produced and released. Who the fuck is the audience for this?

NEXT?!?

Kairon; IRSE! – Polysomn (Svart Records) (September 11)

We covered these Finnish oddballs’ Ruination a few years back, and found them much the same as you’ll encounter herein, all drugged out 90’s lo fi post-grunge indie nonsense.

Now, to be clear here, there was more than a touch of Stereolab by way of Lush crossed with a touch of Darling Buds to certain tracks like “retrograde”, which certainly endeared ’em to this black heart (at least during said moments)…but this is a decidedly inconsistent beast, prone to entice in one breath and wander off on some absurdist unrelated track in the next. This leaves them hard to pin down, and even harder to like on the whole.

In fact, most of what you’ll hear here is overly laid back, decidedly stoned (as in mumblecore head under a metaphorical pillow pharmaceutically drugged out, not the more standard smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em thing) and rather ambient indie synth canoodling. Every once in a while they lean back towards the shoegaze of Lush and the electronic trippiness of Stereolab (“altaar descends”), but most of it is just…aimless and disaffecting.

When it comes down to brass tacks, the positives pretty much come down to a few Cocteau Twins gone Stereolab moments in “psionic static”, the real winner here, “retrograde”, and some more Stereolab by way of Lush on “altaar descends”.

The rest of this, while inoffensive to be sure? Isn’t going to do much for you, unless you’re planning a slow suicide dropping your folks’ stolen meds.

I did really dig those three tracks though, particularly having spent a month or two revisiting my shoegaze albums earlier this year.

Polymoon – Caterpillars of Creation (Svart Records) (September 4)

Speaking of shoegaze, here comes a rather Ride by way of Traced in Air-era Cynic affair out of Finland.

As you might imagine from those points of reference, it’s questionable whether these guys lean more towards the druggy introspection of shoegaze or the mutedly proggy but far more deliberate inward glance of Buddhism espoused by Maisvidal and Reinert (or for that matter, John McLaughlin before them)…but you’ll certainly hear strong audio elements of both bands and genres herein.

Even so, you can trust the rather abstract choice of cover here – the overarching approach is very much that of vintage shoegaze, all trancey, delay and chorus-bedecked guitars with ringing lead lines and overdriven yet lawnmower-thick roaring tones of the Dinosaur Jr. school (or more to the point, that of My Bloody Valentine).

Don’t get the wrong idea, though – we never get too far into Kevin Shields or J. Mascis territory, because that late Cynic progginess is there to keep things trippier, busier, more light and airy in tone.

Is shoegaze making a comeback bid? Because we’ve been encountering enough bands skirting the borders and appropriating some of the tropes thereof in recent months.

I know one musico who’d be well chuffed if so. Cough.

Obnoxious Youth – Mouths Sewn Shut (Svart Records) (May 15)

umm…and this is on Svart Records?

(shakes head in disbelief)

…well, I guess if this were on Hell’s Headbangers or NWN, you’d take it as less of a bizarre complete anomaly…

So yeah, this is a Bobby Ebz’ Genocide sort of punk/metal borderline affair, with puking drunkard vox and sloppy sorta USBM biker/Bathory meets Venom by way of Motorheadish riffing and drumming that dances on the border of blackened thrash and who gives a shit punk rock spirit (though tracks like “funeral” lean pretty heavily on the blackthrash side of that equation).

Is it bad? Nah, not at all. Kinda liked it and its fuck you attitude, actually.

But what the fuck is it doing on an otherwise fairly classy label like Svart?

Astral Sleep – Astral Doom Musick (Saarni Records) (May 22)

Well, it’s not exactly Ahab…but there are definite elements and points of similarity herein.

A lumbering Finnish take on doom, there are lengthy phases of clean guitar and sad clean vocals in tracks that run between 9 1/2 and 12 minutes apiece…and even a moment or two of stoner doomlike 70’s rock (the solo section of “integration”). All so far, so great.

The problem comes in when they decide to go darker…and this is where an unfortunate cross between too much of a black metal influence and some surprisingly subpar for the genre and style production combine to knock ’em down several notches on the ladder.

Those “raw” vocals are pretty damn bad…the tone is overly thin throughout. And what’s that comedy-style screwing around near the end of “schwerbelastungskorper”?

It’s not funeral doom, but somewhere between funeral, gothic and progressive doom in the end, and it’s the clean toned affectations of the latter end that really work here.

Definitely worth a listen…just brace yourself for the ill fitting snarling and thin distorted guitar bits that pop up to shit all over what was otherwise a rather winning release every now and again.

Taake / Deathcult – Jaertegn (Edged Circle) (July 10)

Now this was a nice surprise! Some decidedly old school second wave Norwegian black metal from the generally quite spotty Taake (whose prior incarnation as Thule tends to get more play around my place, which should say a lot) and Norway’s Deathcult.

Both bands get one original and one cover, and it’s interesting that the band with the lesser original (Taake) delivers the far stronger cover (of Darkthrone), while the far superior original (Deathcult) drops a mediocre take on Beherit. Split decision therefore, though I’d think it better to bear better originals than be a stronger tribute band!

Either way, this is pretty damn old school in feel and by intent, and well worth your hard earned dollar if classic early to mid 90’s Norwegian black metal is your thing.

The Glorious Dead – Into Lifeless Shrines (Bindrune Recordings) (September 4)

Heads of the Bindrune and Eihwaz labels join forces and show their more hands-on side. We’d covered their Imperator of the Dessicated last summer, and found ourselves chomping at the bit for more…and here ’tis.

This time, I’m catching some Morgoth and Unleashed to tracks like “tenebris arca”, the title track and “the noise of gravediggers” alongside the early Benediction, Gorefest and light Sinister influences sussed out last time around. Hell, there was even a dash of Desultory hiding amidst “cranial festering”.

Regardless, it’s all in obvious tribute to, and designed to appeal to aficionados of, all those wonderful (if admittedly second tier and oft less celebrated) death metal bands of yore.

Consider this author well pleased.

Eave – Phantoms Made Permanent (Bindrune Recordings) (September 4)

A bizarre cross between Blut Aus Nord and Sonic Youth, if you can even picture such a thing.

On the surface, this is more atonal black metal nonsense…but like Sonic Youth, with enough intrinsic self-harmony and structure to leave an end result that makes an odd sort of musical sense. Anyone who’s listened to albums like the self titled or Daydream Nation, much less comparatively “melodic” classics like Evol and Goo, will understand exactly what’s being said here.

Consider them “classical modern” – like Bela Bartok or Stravinsky, they push the borders without bringing true offense, and without losing all sense of purpose, gravitational center or sense in the process.

And yeah, I’m all about that. It’s not pushing at strictures and expanding boundaries that’s the problem…it’s the idiots who pretend they don’t exist, and go flying off into unlistenability and unpalatabilty for whom all righteous ire is reserved, month after month.

This? Actually, this sounded pretty damn good, overall.

Tip of the hat, gentlemen. Even with the shriek n’ scream vox and some questionable moments along the way (as in the earlier moments of “ablaze and unyielding”, for example), you passed with ease and aplomb.

Fellwarden – Wreathed in Mourncloud (Eisenwald) (June 26)

We’d covered this UK act’s Oathbearer, and found it both appropriately grandiose and while very much of the Cascadian school, more than a tad reminiscent of the early second wave Norwegian acts in its focus on nature and the smallness of man in the face of same.

Here that stormy buffeted by blizzard winds vibe is very much present in one standout track (“scafell’s blight”), but the rest seems to be of a far mellower (and in most ways, more Cascadian) variety.

Even closer “upon stone”, for all its bombast at times, seems awash in clean toned guitars and lush reverb, appended by synthesizer tones rather than the expected tremelo guitars and relentless blastbeat or double bass drumming.

Nothing wrong with it…but if you like what you hear with “scafell’s blight”, realize that it’s an anomaly.

The rest of the album hails from a very diffrent headspace.

Mosaic – Harvest: Songs of Autumnal Landscapes and Melancholy (Eisenwald) (July 24)

Wow, talk about aimless and pointless!

15 tracks…and only two even try to contain any form of music (“as the fields call from the grave” and “bittersweet odour”).

The rest is spoken word with a very vague ambient “accompaniment”…and by “accompaniment” I mean the sort of droning sting they put behind talking heads in Rescue 911 or whatever crap TV special to influence gullible viewers’ moods, not any actual tunes or musicianship.

Oh, and spoken word?  In German. Delivered in a mocking, deliberate tone, as if played off some vintage 78.

Here, I’ll translate.

“Sucker! YOU bought this. You feel like an IDIOT, no? Ha, ha.”

(shakes head, tosses this stinker over the shoulder straight into the ever-burning Pile of Dead Bards)

FWOOSH!

…next?

Osi and the Jupiter – Appalachia (Eisenwald) (July 31)

We’d covered these Ohioans rather Ren Faire Nordlige Rúnaskog, and much of that sound is retained herein…but.

Those jonesing for the likes of Nick Drake? Check out the title cut.

And then there’s the expansive, dramatic and rather dark neofolk by way of Cascadian to post-black metal of the EP’s decided standout track, “the binding will of mountains”…which is 12 minutes of sheer depressive bliss.

Yeah, this one definitely topped their last full length, and with panache.

Winterfylleth – The Reckoning Dawn (Candlelight/Spinefarm) (May 8)

We’d covered their Dark Hereafter and Hallowing of Heirdom and much preferred the more traditional UK black metallisms of the former to the sub-Kveldssangerness of the latter, while acknowledging the undeniable intrinsic quality of both.

Here the band is back up to snuff, working a full on British black metal affair that incorporates elements of symphonic, folk and Cascadian/atmospheric while retaining an identity all their own. Acoustic tracks and moments abound, but always as filler, setup, bridges to the more powerful and affecting blasts of bombast and harrowing aides to inner journeys and spiritual introspection such music is best known for.

Damn good stuff, from a band long celebrated for good reason.