Yeah, maybe you have even more dark sides than four, maybe you're a truly happy-go-lucky angel. There isn't any real connection between these releases other than that they are all somehow sinister or at least nocturnal stuff and have (or will) come out recently / soon. And their cover artworks make a pretty harmonious, aesthetically pleasing collage, right?
In other words: These are the four latest digital promo invitations of the last weeks I just couldn't resist.
DIABOLIC OATH - Oracular Hexations
Guess the genre by those song titles! Yeah, of course it's absolutely sick and gnarly Blackened Dissonant Death Metal!
It seems to be a mission statement of Sentient Ruin Laboratories to constantly present bands which find successful ways of maximizing the infernal impact of Extreme Metal with a signature twist. Commonly those groups will consist of precise, fast and brutal, skilled musicians, whose performances will be drowned in seemingly muddy and cavernous, often ridiculously distortion-heavy productions to convey the most hellishly chaotic maelstrom of maliciousness.
All this applies to Portland's Diabolic Oath too. Their special sauce however is the use of exclusively fretless guitars, which adds both a layer of uneasy weirdness and advanced musicality. On top of that they're roaring and belling with three vocalist. No chance to lean back in confident anticipation of what's coming next. The only certainty is that it will be sick and brutal.
"Oracular Hexations" brings just the unbound Death metal frenzy I love. This scratches an itch similar to Disimperium, Ch'ahom or Qrixkuor for me. Let chaos reign supreme! Rating: Six out of six unequivocal fuckyeahs echoing endlessly in a maze of torment!
CANCERVO - III (2024)
We're staying completely inside the realm of Metal for one more record, but this time it's traditional Black Sabbath worshipping Doom. The "Intro" sounds as if it comes directly out of Count Dracula's pipe organ lair, but the trio Cancervo actually comes from Italy and is named after a mountain near Bergamo.
So what makes this band and album great? First I love how almost stubborn the fuzzy heavy guitar riffs are played - cavemannish primitivism reminiscent of the mighty Conan. Even when the drums decide to give a brutal Thrash Metal blast a go in the evil repetitive hymn "Burn Your Child", the riff just riffs on unfazed. An old trick, but this band uses it to great effect! *slowly but firmly nodding my head along*
Cancervo cultivate a very classic evil atmosphere, which kind of reminds me of Cirith Ungol, but through very different means concerning the vocals. Because where Baker is famously shrill and excentric, bassist Luka goes for a rather deep, snarling voice. On some tracks it resonates in a clarical way, on almost spoken word performances like "Sacrilegious Mass" it strikingly reminds me of Laibach's Milan Fras on "Jesus Christ Superstars". And yes, that's awesome. Even though everything else is great on this short but sweet album, too - the vocals are the frosting which gives this cake of Doom its special flavour.
I probaly should also check out their properly Roman numbered previous albums "I" and "II"!
LETHE - Alienation (2024)
While the other stuff here has already been released by now, we have to wait until the end of April until the Swiss/Norwegian duo Lethe's third album sees the dim cold light of the full moon night on Dark Essence Records. But it's absolutely worth the wait!
"Alienation" is brilliantly structured. On the first two-and-a-half or three tracks Anna Murphy and Tor-Helge Skei establish the band's sound, which will immediately capture you if you're a fan of artists like Of Blood And Mercury or as a less obscurele example the modern Synth Pop sound of Ulver. Dark drones, lush bright synths, exciting crispy beats. An ethereal angelic voice floating above it all. Yet also some jazzy brass (or brass-emulating?) sounds and rather subtle distorted guitars revealing the Metal background of the artists.
Even though these three pieces already bring different ideas into the forefront, you start to get a sure feeling of what the rest of the eight songs will be like.
And that's when Lethe start throwing curve-balls. "Éternel" first dials up the Metal part significantly, then suddely sounds like a Gggolddd track with break-beats, and finally goes Post Black Metal with a fast male Rap narration, which starts an unexpected ongoing thread of dark French Trip Hop popping up on several instances for the remainder of the album.
No need for me to go further into what else is in store, what details remind my of Archive, Myrkur, Laibach, Klaus Schulze, "Ralf und Florian". It's all wonderful midnight hour headphone fodder to deeply bewitch your ears. Dark Electronic Rock connoisseurs, don't miss this one!
LUSTMORD - Much Unseen Is Also Here (2024)
It's a Lustmord album, but some things are indeed... happening.
Yes, that's it.
Come on, can't you let me have one review of this kind every once in a while? It's Dark Ambient Drone from the godfather of the genre. Who needs me to babble about pitch-black caverns, poisoned abandonded Industrial sights and being lost alone inside a rusty space craft?
As expected this is long and demanding, not an album you'll always have the patience to sit through. But it still somehow is brilliant. And personally I especially deem the eery notion of Doom Jazz during the "Invocation of the Nameless One" rewarding. This album definitely is a promising recipe to get rid of party guests if you want to go to bed. Depending on the crowd you're hanging out with of course. Damn depressed vampires.
In other words: These are the four latest digital promo invitations of the last weeks I just couldn't resist.
DIABOLIC OATH - Oracular Hexations
"Rusted Madness Tetherig Misbegotten Haruspices"
"Serpent Coils Suffocating the Mortal Wound"
"Winged Ourobouros Mutating Unto Gold"
Guess the genre by those song titles! Yeah, of course it's absolutely sick and gnarly Blackened Dissonant Death Metal!
It seems to be a mission statement of Sentient Ruin Laboratories to constantly present bands which find successful ways of maximizing the infernal impact of Extreme Metal with a signature twist. Commonly those groups will consist of precise, fast and brutal, skilled musicians, whose performances will be drowned in seemingly muddy and cavernous, often ridiculously distortion-heavy productions to convey the most hellishly chaotic maelstrom of maliciousness.
All this applies to Portland's Diabolic Oath too. Their special sauce however is the use of exclusively fretless guitars, which adds both a layer of uneasy weirdness and advanced musicality. On top of that they're roaring and belling with three vocalist. No chance to lean back in confident anticipation of what's coming next. The only certainty is that it will be sick and brutal.
"Oracular Hexations" brings just the unbound Death metal frenzy I love. This scratches an itch similar to Disimperium, Ch'ahom or Qrixkuor for me. Let chaos reign supreme! Rating: Six out of six unequivocal fuckyeahs echoing endlessly in a maze of torment!
CANCERVO - III (2024)
We're staying completely inside the realm of Metal for one more record, but this time it's traditional Black Sabbath worshipping Doom. The "Intro" sounds as if it comes directly out of Count Dracula's pipe organ lair, but the trio Cancervo actually comes from Italy and is named after a mountain near Bergamo.
So what makes this band and album great? First I love how almost stubborn the fuzzy heavy guitar riffs are played - cavemannish primitivism reminiscent of the mighty Conan. Even when the drums decide to give a brutal Thrash Metal blast a go in the evil repetitive hymn "Burn Your Child", the riff just riffs on unfazed. An old trick, but this band uses it to great effect! *slowly but firmly nodding my head along*
Cancervo cultivate a very classic evil atmosphere, which kind of reminds me of Cirith Ungol, but through very different means concerning the vocals. Because where Baker is famously shrill and excentric, bassist Luka goes for a rather deep, snarling voice. On some tracks it resonates in a clarical way, on almost spoken word performances like "Sacrilegious Mass" it strikingly reminds me of Laibach's Milan Fras on "Jesus Christ Superstars". And yes, that's awesome. Even though everything else is great on this short but sweet album, too - the vocals are the frosting which gives this cake of Doom its special flavour.
I probaly should also check out their properly Roman numbered previous albums "I" and "II"!
LETHE - Alienation (2024)
While the other stuff here has already been released by now, we have to wait until the end of April until the Swiss/Norwegian duo Lethe's third album sees the dim cold light of the full moon night on Dark Essence Records. But it's absolutely worth the wait!
"Alienation" is brilliantly structured. On the first two-and-a-half or three tracks Anna Murphy and Tor-Helge Skei establish the band's sound, which will immediately capture you if you're a fan of artists like Of Blood And Mercury or as a less obscurele example the modern Synth Pop sound of Ulver. Dark drones, lush bright synths, exciting crispy beats. An ethereal angelic voice floating above it all. Yet also some jazzy brass (or brass-emulating?) sounds and rather subtle distorted guitars revealing the Metal background of the artists.
Even though these three pieces already bring different ideas into the forefront, you start to get a sure feeling of what the rest of the eight songs will be like.
And that's when Lethe start throwing curve-balls. "Éternel" first dials up the Metal part significantly, then suddely sounds like a Gggolddd track with break-beats, and finally goes Post Black Metal with a fast male Rap narration, which starts an unexpected ongoing thread of dark French Trip Hop popping up on several instances for the remainder of the album.
No need for me to go further into what else is in store, what details remind my of Archive, Myrkur, Laibach, Klaus Schulze, "Ralf und Florian". It's all wonderful midnight hour headphone fodder to deeply bewitch your ears. Dark Electronic Rock connoisseurs, don't miss this one!
LUSTMORD - Much Unseen Is Also Here (2024)
It's a Lustmord album, but some things are indeed... happening.
Yes, that's it.
Come on, can't you let me have one review of this kind every once in a while? It's Dark Ambient Drone from the godfather of the genre. Who needs me to babble about pitch-black caverns, poisoned abandonded Industrial sights and being lost alone inside a rusty space craft?
As expected this is long and demanding, not an album you'll always have the patience to sit through. But it still somehow is brilliant. And personally I especially deem the eery notion of Doom Jazz during the "Invocation of the Nameless One" rewarding. This album definitely is a promising recipe to get rid of party guests if you want to go to bed. Depending on the crowd you're hanging out with of course. Damn depressed vampires.
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