Me, voidhanging again, this time with FLESHVESSEL, ONKOS and SARMAT

You know why of all cruel things Nu Metal is a thing again? It's a matter of cosmic karmatic balance, the necessary nuisance, because there's so much excellent merging of Extreme Metal and Jazz out there! And one label (among others) definitely responsible for that wave is I, Voidhanger Records.  My latest little haul of CDs here leaves no doubt about that.

SARMAT - Dubious Disk (CD+DVD) (2023)

"Dubious Disk" is a misleading title for the EP, because this "strictly limited to 200 pcs and never to be repressed" EP actually consists of two discs: One is the CD with one seventeen and a half minutes long track and the second is a DVD (or is it even really with an mp4 file on it?) with the same thing on video plus a couple of short behind the scenes interview snippets.

That doesn't sound like much yet? Let me tell you that it fucking is, because this live studio jam is complete Jazz Death Metal insanity. The members of Sarmat are all active in other projects too, and the most prominent (normally mostly masked) face is bassist Steve Blanco from the mighty Imperial Triumphant, who also adds some grand piano here. Together with two guitar players, drums, trumpet and a Death Metal growler he unleashes an incredibly fluid and just super legit (Free) Jazz Metal inferno that is just spectacularly good. Both sides inform this insanity in equal measure and it's just absolutely glorious, among the best things you'll ever have heard in this direction.

So don't let yourself be held back by the short total running time! This is absolutely worthwhile. Plus you get the bonus of a brilliant artwork, which also - finally! - is printed on matte cardboard. Why not always, I, Voidhanger? Sorry, but the usual glossy digipaks are an aesthetic Irrweg!

It should be mentioned that the EP also documents the first time the band actually came together to play after working apart from each other on their full debut for years. And while the title  of the the track isn't reveales yet, it actually is a drastically enhanced double-length version of "Disturbing Advances" from that now also released album...

SARMAT - Determined To Strike (CD) (2023)

Surprisingly the album doesn't start that ultra jazzy at all. The first couple of tracks are rather full-on technical Death Metal with a lot of sick Nocturnus leads and the guitar providing weird sounding higher counterpoints to the very deep and guttural, yet astonishingly pronounced vocals. The most Jazz-adjacent things happening during the first two (of six) tracks are the typiccal Dissonant Death Metal usage of "Voivod chords", a brief piano intro and some solos / breakdowns with a Masvidalian/Schuldinerian Fusion feeling to it.
Naturally there's more than one part which would also feel at home on an Imperial Triumphant record, but while also being chaotic and brutal the overall sound of Sarmat seems a little bit less monolithic and oppressive and more colourful.

It's only in the middle of the third song "Arsenal Of Tyranny" however that we get into territory the "Dubious Disk" had prepared us for. Yet still the first trumpet solo doesn't actually scream "Look at me, I'm the Jazz thing!", but rather radiates a casual naturalness of that instrument shredding a nasty solo in this context, just as a guitar would do it.
From here on however the floodgates are wide open: Almost as a starting symbol we get meditating android Cynic background vocals, and now the free soloing on this album - by guitars, brass or bass - knows no boundaries. Sickness, brutally and Jazztasy all permanently outdo each other in a brain-melting firestorm vortex, until we reach the Dubious "Disturbing Advances" and the Sarmat circle closes in a final, mental spectacle.

I already know that chosing my favorite Metal albums of the year will be a daunting task in 2023. These Deathjazz cats however are definitely in the running!

ONKOS - Vascular Labyrinth (CD) (2023)

"I, Sycophantom, the fig-bearer, with Acid and Cologne,

My innumerable hands resting reverently on the illustrious Codex Aktinic.

Rummaging around in my giddy head, quivering like sparrows in the belfry."

So you thought we've already reached the end of the Avant-Garde flagpole? That couldn't be further from the truth! *laughs in Onkos*
This former one-man project turned seven-members ensemble goes about the whole Extreme Metal/Jazz  merger in a very singular way, which still was able to really surprise me.

"Vascular Labyrinth" is a holistically coherent package of artwork, cryptic lyrics and a creatively unlimited blend of Metal, Jazz, Acoustic, Folk, Neo Classical, Electronic etc. with one simple twist: While Progressive Extreme Metal is embedded in the core of most structures and arrangements, it's not mirrored in the instrumentation at all. We can hear brass and woodwinds, vibraphone, marimba and keyboards. There are multiple percussion sounds, but not a Rock drumkit. There's a guitar, but it's almost exclusively acoustic. In fact two of the nine tracks on this hour-long album are actually nothing more than this acoustic guitar, yet they are not mere intros or interludes, but feel as whole and important as every other song.

Very few instances remotely resemble any kind of Rock music at all. The only thing which actually always sounds Metal as rotting fuck are the gurgling Death Metal growls. On first listen that's a quite funny contrast, but once you're accustomed to the combination as it is presented here, it's just a very unique and compelling musical language.

Of course - once again - it helps to be accustomed with the John Zorns and Toby Drivers of this world. Or obviously labels like I, Voidhanger Records. But ultimately you won't find many record sounding even close to "Vascular Labyrinth". And that's nothing but an unequivocally good thing, because each and every minute of this huge statement of artistic nonconformism is fantastic! 

FLESHVESSEL - Bile Of Men Reborn (CD) (2020)

As if my brain wasn't already frizzling, here come Fleshvessel with their twenty-five minutes one-track EP, which employs a line-up of special ingridients quite similar to Onkos, yet here the unreadable band logo shirt is turned back from inside out again!

The Death Metal on this multi-part epic is brutal, viscious, cavernous... and paired with Classical piano / flute duets, 70's Prog, Doom, Jazzy Folk, Clerical vocals... well, actually much more musical information than one should be able to process after already voidhanging through the rest of this haul, but yes Baby, this also just is the shit!
No matter which unexpected turn this band takes, it's all done tasteful and expertly. Total freedom of expression in an uncompromising flow from Neoclassical Ambient to pummeling Death Metal grandiosity. Look how far we've come since My Dying Bride released "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" in 1991! This is absolutely magnificent.

And yes, I have noticed that this release is already two years old and Fleshvessel have recently put out a full-length album. But that one I ordered from a different label, so it will reviewed in he next part of my cassette craze chronicles.

Until then please check out all this gloriously sick and amazing stuff! Nu Metal might be the universe's price for the sheer existence of these bands, but that's ok with me. I'm content to pay it. 

KARIN PARK - Church Of Imagination

I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN AN ENGLISH REVIEW OF THIS ALBUM FOR VEILOFSOUND.COM!

Mitte Dezember war es, als meine Rezension für die Pelagic Records-Wiederveröffentlichung von Karin Parks "Church Of Imagination" erschien. Das ist ja gar nicht sooo lange her. Da ist man als Vinylist doch mittlerweile ganz anderes gewohnt.

Ja, Du ahnst es vielleicht schon, das hier wird keine "richtige" Plattenkritik, sondern reine Besitzstandsmeldung, da mein vorbestelltes Exemplar jüngst eingetroffen ist. Und nebenbei natürlich auch eine Gelegenheit, hier zur Abwechslung mal wieder auf deutsch zu schreiben. Was tatsächlich immer noch deutlich schneller geht als angelsächsische Gedanken zu Tastatur zu bringen. Und wenn ich mal auf meine To-Do-Liste schiele, kann etwas Zeitökonomie zwischendurch tatsächlich nicht schaden.

KARIN PARK - Church Of Imagination (single colour edition vinyl LP) (2020/2021)

Ja, hier ist es also, das erstmals 2020 veröffentlichte Gothicartpopsoulkaleidoskop "Church Of Imagination", aka das immer noch aktuellste Solowerk der 2021 zusammen mit Elektrokünstler Lustmord und gemeinsam mit Ehemann Kjetil Nernes im Årabrot-Epos "Norwegian Gothic" gleich doppelt überzeugenden, multidisziplinären schwedischen Künstlerin Karin Park.

Ich habe mich für die schlichteste - und meiner Meinung nach schönste und stilvollste Farbvariante in transparantem Türkisblau (oder ist es minzfrisch?) entschieden: 

Zur wunderbaren Musik dieses Gegenstücks zu - und Zwillings von - "Norwegian Gothic" zitiere ich mich an dieser Stelle einfach mal selbst:

Karins Musik enthält tanzbare Beats neben rauem Alternativrock mit schnarrenden Basslinien. Sie schwillt mit Orgeln, barocken Kammerorchestern und Gospelchören an, doch zerfließt auch zu Passagen mäanderndem Ambients. Park bewegt sich vom großen Gestus Florence Welshs zur dreckigen Direktheit Kristeen Youngs. Sie mag nicht David Bowie sein, wie sie großspurig im mit "Army Of Me"-Energie betanktem "Empire Rising" behauptet, doch der Anteil von Ziggy Stardust in ihr kann wenigstens mit dem in Laurie Anderson  mithalten.

Oder einfach nicht meinem Gesabbel glauben, sondern sich selbst ein Klangbild machen:

cassette craze chronicles XIV (feat. BHPL, HADEWYCH, KIRRIL and METH DRINKER)

Sentient Ruin Laboratories already received the treatment of an exclusive  label post in my cassette craze chronicles back in October. Now it's time for one of those special editions again, this time with the contents of my latest shipment from Tartarus Records.

Judging from the cover artwork all of these four releases could easily be devastating sludge metal monsters, right? Yet as soon as you know that only of them actually is that, there's little doubt which one... 

METH DRINKER - Meth Drinker (2011/2020)

Yeah, this must be what happens once you drink a little too much meth. Fooooohhhhck! The 2020 reissue of Meth Drinker's debut from eleven years ago sounds exactly as if someone had swallowed a barrel of toxic sludge and vomited it straight into your face. In other words: delicious! Apart from a little breather in the middle, which also shows that these guys don't take themselves too serious, this is all just abhorrent, filthy mayhem. Song titles like "Incurable Illness", "Skull Smashing Concrete" or "Broken Down And Used Up" are perfectly representing the creeping and crushing bleakness and brutality of this reeking mess of a tape. Definitely one to spin when you don't have the time for Primitive Man's "Caustic".

HADEWYCH - Mes (2022)

The enigmatic dark music collective Hadewych celebrates a probably more "sophisticated" kind of post-apocalyptic sound, but that doesn't make them any less impactful.  "Mes" wanders from abyssal ambient to early laibachian industrial and black metal to majestic Sunn O))) meets Ulver drone greatness with cinematic choirs, all accompanied by an ominous Dutch narration.
The tape comes in one of those noble black boxes, which may not be practical for shelving, but damn, I still love them since the luxury editions of Mizmor's studio albums. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT "MES" - I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN A DEEPER DIVE INTO THE ALBUM ON VEILOFSOUND.COM!

KIRRIL - Kirril (2021)

Enough with the guitars now! Kirril's self-titled album shows us how it sounds when a Dutch industrial producer, who's aim is "to make bleak, dytopian, dark psychedelic music, inspired by the turbulent nightlife", loses said nightlife for you know what reasons. The beats are broken, the bass sounds are crumbling, and without noticable rudiments of melody this should be super depressing. And while this suite of closely related tracks, numbered in Roman numerals, without a doubt is the most consistently negative work of this bunch of tapes, its crispy and juicy production makes it an oddly satisfying experience. Imagine you're standing alone in the broken ruins of a discotheque, surrounded by smoke and fire, but someone right beside you tingles your brain with weird ASMR noises. For fans of The Bug and YouTubers rumbling yoghurt pot caps next to your ear drum.

BHPL - BHPL (2021)

I think we have already established that humanity's going down, but unlike Kirril the duo BHPL, named after a gas leak disaster in Bhopal, India, isn't letting it happen without a wild exhausting dance. I must admit that I'm not a big fan of the rather boring distorted industrial metal vocals on this one, but the synths and in your face EBM/techno beats are killer!
It's only a twenty-five minute EP with the same content on both cassette sides, but since this slaps you with every beat, that's just the right lengths before your cheeks begin to bleed. "BHPL" gets a big fuckyeah on my imaginary rating scale.

And yeah, before I forget it: this a picture of my Tartarus haul, which also includes the first music label longsleeve shirt I've ever bought - for obvious feline reasons. Meow.

THISQUIETARMY X AWAY - The Singularity, Part I & Part II

Have you ever actively avoided listening to an album, just because you knew that it would be pretty expensive  to order it with international shipping, customs and all?

Speaking for myself, this actually happens every now and then. And it includes both "The Singularity, Part I" and "The Singularity, Part II" by ambient/drone artist thisquietarmy and Voivod drummer Michel Langevin aka Away. I checked out both records (which came out in 2020 and 2021) only very briefly, and definitely not thoroughly enough to realize how worthwhile it would be to get them.

Luckily Consouling Sounds issued both albums together as a double CD, which motivated me to listen again...

THISQUIETARMY X AWAY - The Singularity, Part I & Part II (2CD) (2021)

With "Part II" being such a coherent continuation of the first album, even carrying on the very specific alphanumeric track titles, I won't even try to view them as separate pieces. There's a reason they share the same title. These albums are very clearly meant to be presented and heard together as one work.

And if you still need any more help to sell the idea to you, the packaging should seal the deal. Both Langevin and Eric Quach (guitar, synths), the man behind thisquietarmy, are also visual artists and saw to it, that this CD digipak looks at least as great as - no surprise here - any recent album from Away's main band.  

But what about the music? Will you automatically love it as a fan of the sci-fi metal legends?

My guess is nah, because the droning synths and noisy guitars here are very far from any phase of Voivod. The only kinship I can detect is one with the big cosmic wall of sound on "Phobos", where I could indeed imagine shorter versions of the "Singularity" tracks as interludes / instrumentals.
But the general sound will be much more accesible to you, if you're not coming from the Voivod angle, but think more in terms of psychedelic noise rock, ambient and drone.

Especially during the slower parts it's almost unavoidable to think of the hypnotic pulse of modern Swans, as thisquietarmy is building looping layers upon layers of thick atmosphere. Meanwhile Away is enjoying the artistic luxury of not even being necessary, because everything would already sound complete and great without drums, living up to material like Justin Broadrick's Final project. Which of course doesn't mean that you cannot improve anything here. And improve he does!

Given the rather minimalistic structures he's working with, Langevin's performance is quite versatile. We have tracks, where you wouldn't recognize him, because he sticks very close to the demands of the music, which can result in - again - dramatic swansy swells, doom metal stomping or krautrocking roboter automatik.
But then there are also those pieces, where he just says fuck it and powers straight through his full-on Voivod thrash metal style, as if he was indeed accompanying actual bass and guitar riffs of his bandmates. Or he just burst into soloing. That sounds a little bit weird and off at times, but ultimately always comes to a satisfying conclusion which absolutely makes sense. And the ending of the whole thing actually reminds me of the 90's classic "Anti Body" by Fetish 69.

All in all the get-together of these two artists successfully creates a very unique take on the drome/ambient/noise genre. The whole double album has a fantastic feel, flow and dramaturgy. There's nothing I don't like about this. Great stuff!

MISHA PANFILOV SOUND COMBO - Days As Echoes

Only very recently I discovered the works of a jazz big band called Travis Sullivan's Björkestra, which exclusively plays long jazz renditions of - surprise! - Björk classics. It's quite brilliant. And it has nothing to do with the record I'm reviewing here.

Well, at least almost. Obviously this is also very jazzy. But then also when I heard it for the first time, with the Björkestra still fresh in my ears, I couldn't help but think that the chorus melody of the opener and title track "Days As Echoes" very much reminds me of "Venus as a Boy".

And now that I got this observation from my chest, let's see what else the Misha Panfilov Sound Combo has in store!

MISHA PANFILOV SOUND COMBO - Days As Echoes (LP) (2020/2021)

Led by Misha Panfilov, who makes the Estonian music scene look like a one man job, as he is also part of the krautrock group Centre El Muusa and the once funky, now rather space doom-jazzy Estrada Orchestra, the Sound Combo touches on some of the directions of his other projects, yet also adds some more.

While each of the six mostly instrumental tracks explores a different nuance, I think it's pretty save to overall categorize the album as a mixture of psychedelic rock with spiritual jazz, ambient sounds and library music. My teenage self would probably rather have rolled his eyes based on this description than be intrigued by it - and thus have prevented himself from listening to a brilliant piece of music. Sounds like Fickfilmmusik. Yet today especially the jazz in combination with library music part stirs my interest. Rightfully so.

Panfilow himself handles all synths, pianos, guitar, bass and more duties like percussion and "cassette effects". He is accompanied by two alternating drummers, a female vocalist , flute, saxophone and on one track also trumpet. Half of his bandmates here also performed on Estrada Orchestra's "Playground", which should already count as a guaranteed seal of quality. 

And "Days As Echoes" fully delivers on this promise. Actually quite similar to playground in that regard, we hear a flawlessly performed combination of musical styles, without the technicalities of instrumental skills and categorization standing in the way of enjoying the main attraction, which is the mood.

A mood which is rooted in longing melancholy, yet ultimately feels light and breezy like a feather. So the main takeaway of this album is mainly an overwhelming: CHILL!!!

And chill I must. It's just wonderful.

Something that mood-wise easily sits between Futuropaco's self-titled debut and the sheer beauty of Miles Davis' "Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud".

"Days As Echoes" was released 2020 and I have no complaints about the recent (simply black) second vinyl pressing from this year. The cover looks awsome too, so all in all Misha Panfilov's Sound Combo has earned my full recommendation.

recently repressed feat. CAUSA SUI, HILLS, CARPENTER BRUT and EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU

Here's some stuff which I slept on or missed for other reasons last year (and in one case before), but which luckily got new pressings in 2021.

CAUSA SUI - Szabodelico (transparent red 2LP) (2020/2021) 

With a gatefold cover design looking like the detail of a 70's wallpaper with a lava lamp pattern in the colour scheme of my Ikea bed linen, last year's new Causa Sui double album set all signs on relaxation. The Danish instrumental psychedelic masters not only abstain from stoner rock heaviness, but for the most part also forego space trips and also their typical miles davis-infused jazziness.

Instead the main inspiration here is obvious from the song titles alone, which feature "Gabor's Path" and of course the title track "Szabodelico", both pointing towards the album being an homage to the Hungarian jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó, who mixed his European heritage with so much Latin feeling, that even Santana borrowed from him.
The dreamy levitating psych part Causa Sui still injects into these thirteen tracks is within their own discography probably most reminscent of their 2013 album "Euporie Tide".

"Szabodelico" definitely one my most chill contemporary purchases in recent memory. An album made for summer - or to invoke it. Wonderful stuff.
The 2021 repress comes in a slightly transparent red and with an obi strip. One more very beautiful El Paraiso Records release.

elparaisorecords · Causa Sui: "Szabodelico"

HILLS - Frid (blue vinyl LP) (2015/2021)

Of course this modern psych classic has been on my radar for a long time, since their spellbinding Roadburn appearance in... 2016 (already? Damn, how time flies.), which has also been captured on a live album.

Rocket Recordings keep repressing Hills' "Frid" in always new colours. And if you judge from what goes well with the gatefold artwork there are luckily endless variations still possible. The simple light blue one i got may not be the most spectacular version of all, but at least I got it without the usually quite high import shipping costs.

The music on "Frid" is repetive and hypnotic, very 60's/70's like, space, high, orientalisms and all. Honestly Hills have always been one of those psych bands, which I can barely write anything clever or insightful about. There's not much to explain about this record. It's just amazingly fucking good!

CARPENTER BRUT - Blood Machines OST (LP) (2020/2021)

I've already written a review for the digital version of this synthwave soundtrack over a year ago, yet somehow I totally missed the vinyl release, just as I still haven't seen the space opera movie itself yet. But then... where the hell can I even watch it? I'd really love to.

Carpenter Brut on vinyl is always an awesome, superbly produced experience, and this mixture of creeping horror score and Brut's typical danceable power sound is no exception from this rule. The repress is just black and doesn't come in a gatefold like the fancy first edition, but the artwork still slays.

Addictive!

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU - May Our Chambers Be Full (dark purple vinyl LP) (2020/2021)

So, this one... Yeah, I had ordered the first special edition and my retailer just didn't get enough copies. So I I waited for the next colour version and shortened the waiting time with the album's sister EP "The Helm Of Sorrow".

Since the EP was recorded during the same sessions - and all that stuff had been developed for the commissioned live premiere at Roadburn 2019, which I attended, the whole sound and most of the seven songs on "May Our Chambers Be Full" were already more or less familiar to me.

Most of the time this sounds like Emma Ruth Rundle is performing either solo just with her guitar (or with her own band), but a giant sludgy monstrosity is engulfing and trying to suffocate her, laying tons of riffs right on her licks and screeching pustules on her voice.

It almost seems like ERR and Thou are in an ongoing battle with shifting front lines, often oppressive and beautiful at the same time. The hands-down best moment of the album though is the nine minutes long finale "The Valley", in which Emma clearly prevails for most of the time, and even when Thou throw in all their doom and brutality, they do so fully at her will.

This album may not be the easiest listen - probably harder than the EP with it's more diverse song selection -, but it quickly grows on you, if you let it. A unique marriage of larger than life heaviness and haunting melancholic gloom.

-S- - Zabijanie Czasu I (reprise)

Besitzstandmeldung:

Eine der besten Veröffentlichungen des letzten Jahres ziert nun endlich auch als physischer Tonträger meine Sammlung!

Eine willkommene Gelegenheit für mich, noch einmal auf diesen obskuren, aber unglaublich großartigen Scheiß hinzuweisen.

Ja, CD und Booklet mit Texten in polnisch und englisch geben der sechsundzwanzigminütigen 1-Track-EP "Zabijanie Csasu I" von - S - tatsächlich noch einen deutlichen Mehrwert über die ohnehin grandiose Musik hinaus.

Eigenständiger und wilder kann man Bass, Schlagzeug und Klarinette jenseits von bei dieser Besetzung erwartbarem Jazz nicht in Szene setzen. Wobei Jazz durchaus eine Rolle spielt. Aber eben auch Punk, Doom und Black-Metal-Ästhetik.

Zieht es euch rein! Sonst kaufe ich es noch einmal und nerve euch endlos damit, bis ihr endlich Einsicht zeigt! Harr!

cassette craze chronicles II (feat. A/LPACA, ANGEL OLSEN, DHIDALAH, HIERONYMUS DREAM, LANA DEL REY, SOW DISCORD and THROWING BRICKS)

 

Still nothing to see here. Just a bunch of recently bought tapes, including some purchases from last Bandcamp Friday.

But let's start this with an emotional double whammy of my almost-namesake Angel Olsen:

ANGEL OLSEN - All Mirrors (2019)

I've had this one on my long I-should-get-this-one-day-list since it came out in 2019. Since that was before I started using this medium again, I surely wouldn't have bought it on tape. But now with a song titled "New Love Cassette" did I even have a different choice anymore?

Having released several works between the realms of reduced, almost folky singer/songwriter material and equally guitar-centered indie rock, "All Mirrors" was the album, where Olsen dialed up bombast and production to the maximum. The larger than life big sounds and strings could almost wash a lesser artist's performance away, but Angel Olsen sits in it very comfortably and uses especially the epic vintage arrangements to her full advantage to create a sparkling experience which channels the emotional integrity of Emma Ruth Rundle through the lens of Shirley Bassey.
Sincere, cinematic, huge!

ANGEL OLSEN - Whole New Mess (2020)

As big, shiny and glamourous "All Mirrors" had been, the album never fully relied on its fassade, but was rather an experiment in how far Angel Olsen could takes the songs, which were initially written just with her voice and guitar, into this aesthetic direction without "losing" them.

The raw and intimate "Whole New Mess" seems like the radical counterdraft. A break-up album, recorded inside a church, using the room's acoustics to create distorted, dirty echoes. Even though it's technically a rather stripped-down recording of mostly the same songs with slightly altered titles, the sonic imperfections and underlying depressive tone make it feel much heavier than "All Mirrors".

In fact the recording of "Whole New Mess" predates the previously released work, so you could view this as a demo version. The term could be misinterpreted as diminishing though. Which would be a shame, because this is in no way a "lesser" version. Just a very intense, different take. I think I might actually even like this a little more. Both albums are great, no question.

A/LPACA - Make It Better (2021)

There's also no question that the debut album from these punky Italian krautsters ist great, because d'oh, I just reviewed it two weeks ago. I broke my promise to order it on violet vinyl though. You know why. If you dig Karkara, Slift and the "Nonagon Infinity" direction of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, do yourself a favour and through this into your tapedeck!

DHIDALAH - No Water (2017)

The five year old tape from the Japanese power trio Dhidalah, which I was lucky to find an affordable copy of in the Discogs shop of Burning World Records, feels familiar for different reasons, as these two heavy stoner doom metal spacerock crossover jams refresh the memories of a killer Roadburn show in 2018. Ripper!

THROWING BRICKS - What Will Be Lost (2020)

And now lets get just a megaton angrier with a release I ordered on last  Bandcamp Friday from the leading tape label in my young collection, Tartarus Records.

The sludgy, droning blackened post hardcore doom quintet Throwing Bricks proves that Dutch shit smells the nastiest. The nine tracks of "What Will Be Lost" are a journey through everything distorted and oppressive. Oathbreaker, Cult Of Luna, Mizmor, Sunn O))), Vattnet Viskar, their label mates Farer and in their melodic moments also Alcest are all names this multi-faceted ferocious beast brings to mind. Crushing, noisy, desperate, overwhelming. A punch into the face which disintegrates it like the one on the cover artwork.

SOW DISCORD - Quiet Earth (2021)

Continuing with the punishing art of discomfort, the list of bands from which the industrial black noise project Sow Discord recruits its guest musicians on the dystopian (or probably rather realistic/pragmatic) stocktaking "Quiet Earth", already reads like the promise of a world of pain: The Body, Primitive Man, My Disco. Fuck!
Somewhere in the sweet easy listening spot between JK Flesh, Merzbow and early Laibach vibes, yet with its own variation of dark spoken words vocals, this album wants you to rightfully hate humanity and does a pretty good job at it. But come on, David Coen, the man behind the rusty spikey curtain, is also the electronics guy of Australian doom steamrollers Whitehorse. So what else can you really expect but brilliant bleakness!

HIERONYMUS DREAM - Clairvoyance (2020)

Too much oppression now? Need someone to lift you up again?

Just when I thought I had already spend enough money on Bandcamp Friday and the week before, here come the sodding Psych Lovers on facebook guiding my attention to a special super-limited re-release of last year's debut EP "Clairvoyance" from the Greek instrumental band Hieronymus Dream, which included not only the "Weird Beard Tapes" strip for braggers, a beer mat and a nice t-shirt with a depiction of said beer mat, but above all with "Second Trail Of Alcyone" a new 13 minute bonus track on the B-Side.

What made me immediately buy this however is the sweet crystal-clear and warm sound. This floyd-fueled kraut engine runs so smoothly... you just tie yourself to its rear with a yarn thread and float in its wind like a happy kite in love. "Dream" in the band's name approved!

And while we're already up in the air now...

LANA DEL REY - Chemtrails Over The Country Club (2021)

Damn, eight tapes is a lot to talk about for such a little collective review. And after all that experimental and krauty and noisy mainstream stuff, I'm glad to finally support the underdogs once more and close this post with the new tape of a promising young American singer, who I really believe will one day be selling her albums also on CDs and vinyl all over the world.

It's a new Lana Del Rey album, so the expectations are pretty much set - and met. "Chemtrails Over The Country Club" starts close to where "Norman Fucking Rockwell" left off, with Del Rey's hightened pop persona equally ripened to a state that expertly balances the naiveté of her ex-lolita image and her typical piling of pop culture references with a healthy dose of cynicism - and above all a flawless vocal performance and damn good instrumental arrangements, which leave nothing to be desired and feel even more like one consistent band throughout the whole album this time.

The "features", which were a mixed bag on "Lust For Life" are back again, but this time Lana's three singer/songwriter sisters Nikki Lane, Weyes Blood and Zella Day, who join her on "Breaking Up Slowly" and even close the album on the Joni Mitchell cover "For Free", fit right into the organic, dreamy, nostalgic folk ballad appeal of this once again perfect summation of how great pop music can actually be.

There are brutal earworm battles being fought between Lana and Angel Olsen in my head right now for sure.

Resterampe 2020 (mit BLUES PILLS, JESU und MIZMOR)

Ok, die Überschrift klingt jetzt ein wenig despektierlich. Ist aber gar nicht so gemeint. Hier frühstücke ich einfach noch ein paar Musikveröffentlichungen des letzten Jahres ab, die erst kürzlich in meine Sammlung eingegangen sind.

Den Anfang macht ein Bündel aus vier Wiederveröffentlichungen des Black/Sludge/Funeral Doom- Metal-Projekts Mizmor:

MIZMOR - Mizmor (Tape) (2012/2020)

MIZMOR - Mishlei (Tape) (2018/2020)

MIZMOR - Yodh (Tape) (2016/2020)

MIZMOR - Cairn (Tape) (2019/2020)

Das überwiegend auf Kassetten spezialisierte Label Tartarus Records hat letztes Jahr alle drei Studioalben von Mizmor in luxuriös anzuschauenden Versionen im schwarzen Karton inklusive Booklet mit Texten und Artwork neu herausgebracht. Dazu kommt die erstmals 2018 erschienene Compilation "Mishlei", welche alle Tracks der Split-Releases zwischen Debüt und "Yodh" vereint und faktisch auch ein vollwertiges Album darstellt.

Alle vier zusammen gibt es mit Rabatt und inklusive Logo-Patch als Set. Und weil mein bisher einziger Mizmor-Tonträger die "Yodh: Live at Roadburn 2018"-CD gewesen ist, war der Versuchung, hier zuzuschlagen, einfach unmöglich zu widerstehen. Zum Glück!

Denn diese räudig mächtig epochale, musikalisch so bösartige, aber inhaltlich durchaus sehr ernsthaft durchdachte Diskographie, hat einfach keinen Schwachpunkt. "Cairn" ist ganz klar das krönende Meisterwerk, doch alles davor zeigt schon sehr deutlich den Weg dahin.

Wer sich in Black Metal getunkte Yob, Conan und Bell Witch vorstellen mag, auf Longtracks und auf extreme Vocals mit Wiedererkennungswert steht (diese aus einem hohlen Baumstamm zu kriechen scheinenden Growls klingen, wie das ikonenhafte Cover von "Yodh" aussieht), der bekommt mit Mizmor eine wunschlos beglückende Vollbedienung.

Und dieses Tape-Quartett ist natürlich ein Juwel in meiner jungen Sammlung.

JESU - Never (blue in white vinyl 12" EP) (2020)

Neulich im Review des neuesten Jesu-Albums "Terminus" hatte ich ja noch zu Protokoll gegeben, die vorangegangene Comeback-EP des Justin-Broadrick-Projekt ausgelassen zu haben, da es mir zu effektüberladen experimentell war und ich mich einfach noch nicht hineinhören konnte.

Inzwischen habe ich mich dann doch mal getraut, das immer noch in Farbvarianten erhältliche Vinyl zu bestellen. Anders als die als Beikauf mitgenommene Final-CD "Reading All The Right Symbols Wrong" von 2009, die mich auf Anhieb abholte, bleibe ich auch dabei, dass es sich bei "Never" zumindest für mich um das vielleicht bislang schwierigste Werk Broadricks (in meiner Sammlung; ich bin weit davon entfernt, Komplettist zu sein) handelt. Das Ding musste ich mir schon relativ mühsam erarbeiten.

Nicht, dass es sich hier um besonders komplizierte Musik handelt. Allerdings wurde die an sich auch emotional sehr direkte und eingängige Basis der vier Stücke dermaßen durch den Pixelschieberfleischwolf gedreht, dass der Mix aus Shoegaze und Elektro schon einen sehr fragmentarischen und künstlich distanzierten Eindruck macht.

Jetzt, da der Knoten geplatzt ist, kann ich den surreal träumerischen Charakter von "Never" auch voll genießen. Für Newbies, die nicht eh schon Fans sind, halte ich die EP allerdings für sehr herausfordernd. Da erschließt sich das stilistisch deutlich geerdetere Full-Length-Album mit Sicherheit trotz des langsameren Durchschnittstempos schneller.

BLUES PILLS - Holy Moly! (2CD Digibook) (2020)

Zum Abschluss nun noch ganz andere Töne. Die Gemeinsamkeit zu Jesu ist, dass ich auch hier zunächst skeptisch war und lange mit dem Kauf (bzw. dem Hinzufügen auf meine Geburtstagswunschliste) zögerte.

Blues Pills ohne die naturtalentiere Wundergitarre von Dorian Sorriaux? Fehlt da nicht eines der wichtigsten Markenzeichen?
Dazu kommt die Neigung der Band, sich als erste Single gerne Stücke auszusuchen, die sehr formelhaft und on the nose sind und mich für sich erst einmal nicht allzu mächtig umhauen.

Letztendlich waren hier aber alle Sorgen müßig.

Der seit jeher für die zeitgeistige Authentizität verantwortliche Musiknerd und Hauptsongwriter Zack Anderson wechselt vom Viersaiter auf die Gitarre, was natürlich - in gar nicht so dramatischen Ausmaß - nicht mehr ganz so filigran und brilliant daherkommt, allerdings u.a. durch mehr direkten Dampf ausgeglichen wird. Sehr schnell wird klar, dass "Holy Moly!" das bisher am stärksten rockende Album der Band geworden ist.

Die von mir so hochgeschätzten Motown/Soul/Gospel-Elemente von "Lady In Gold" sind allerdings nicht verloren, sondern blitzen hier und da weiterhin hervor. Und wie!
Elin Larsson wird ja gewohnheitsmäßig von Album zu Album (und wenn live gespielt werden darf auf den Touren dazwischen) immer besser, und das gilt hier besonders für die hohen Soul-Schreie wie in "California", einem der Songs, die aus dem vorherrschenden Powertrio-Uptempo ausbrechen.
Zu jenen gehören auch das dunkle "Dust", das bittersüße "Wish I'd Known", der mit Piano und Streichern zu unerwarteter Größe wachsende "Song From A Morning Dove" und die abschließende Bluesballade "Longest Lasting Friend".

Moment! Habe ich da etwa tatsächlich "Trio" geschrieben? 

Technisch ist das für "Holy Moly!" korrekt, denn Neu-Bassist Kristoffer Schander posiert bisher nur auf Bandfotos und in Videos. Bis auf die überschaubaren, aber stets umso wirkungsvolleren Gastmusikereinsätze hören wir hier also tatsächlich das Trio LarssonAndersonKvarnström.

Vermutlich war es für die Band auch wichtig, im kleinen Kreis an diesem Ding zu werkeln. Das Resultat zeigt auf jeden Fall eine eng zusammengeschweißte und gewachsene Gruppe. Das Wunderkinder-Image früherer Tage ist komplett abgestreift und weiterer Souveränität und Songwritingqualität gewichen.

Ein großartiges Album. Vielleicht sogar das beste der Blues Pills. Allerdings  müsste man die Songs wohl live erleben, um diesen Eindruck zu verifizieren.

Eine deutliche Steigerung zur Debüt-EP "Bliss" von 2012 ist "Holy Moly!" ohne Frage. Komische Aussage, ich weiß. Darauf komme ich auch nur, weil eben jenes vergriffene Teil der Digibook-CD-Version des Albums als Bonus beiliegt.

Angesichts der vielen Neuaufnahmen und Liveversionen der hier vertretenen Hits "Bliss", "Astral Plane", "Devil Man" und "Little Sun" halte ich das Ding nicht zwingend für den allerheiligsten Gral, aber es ist halt wie es ist: Auch wenn man ein Blues Pills-Song schon neunundneunzig mal gehört hat, ist er halt beim hundertsten Durchlauf noch super.

Ok, "Devil Man" war mir in der Vergangenheit durchaus schon mal über, haha.