recent and upcoming releases from BONGRIPPER, DEATH. VOID. TERROR., MUTO, RAHATY and THE SPACELORDS

Oh dear, why is it that I'm on vacation yet feel so stressed? ;)

Well, before I'm going to the next club show, cave festival and a short island vacation - and return with a shitload of stuff to write about -, let's quickly use the tiny window right now to listen to some of the newest (so far) digital-only entries into my music collection! Those are one Bandcamp-exclusive live album and the gratefully granted promos of five recent or upcoming albums and EPs:

BONGRIPPER - Live in Leipzig (2026)

Eleven fucking years! That's how long it has been since I've seen the earth-shattering riff worship steamroller  Bongripper live the last time. It's really overdue to do that again. There's nothing quite like these four dudes from Chicago crushing you with their mammoth instrumental compositions of riffs, riffs, riffs, Doom, Sludge and Drone. My first encounter with them at (my also first) Roadburn 2012 still ranks among the most formative experiences for my musical taste there.

This new digital live album recorded in Leipzig last year does a great job of reminding me why. Three hits from "Satan Worshipping Doom", "Empty" and "Hippie Killer" in one hour and not one wasted minute. This band is just colossal!

RAHATY - Bestial Lustmord (2026)

A band of comparable intensity, yet spewing it into a completely different direction is Rahaty from Belarus. Their debut album is an unholy hellspawn of nine short, but all the more infernal Death Metal outbursts.

"Bestial Lustmord" summons the Old School ferocity of Possessed and dials it up to a point which makes it inevitable that this very short, but all the more monstruous poisonous abomination just has to be a Sentient Ruin Laboratories release. With its somehow cavernous and chaotic, yet also crushingly brutal production it's a prime example for how authentic primitive Death Metal can still be the most deliciously tormenting fun to be had in Extreme Metal.

Smash my brain with this and feed it to the ghouls!

DEATH. VOID. TERROR - To the Great Monilith 2.5 (2026)

There's nothing like being thrown right into the middle of an ongoing series, right? Exactly at part two point five that is in the case of Swiss Black band Death. Void. Terror.'s latest EP. But let's be honest: Even if I new the predecessing record, I'd probably not really dig deep into the concept, right? It's occult, liturgic, mystic stuff of some sorts. Spare me the details, just let me enjoy the atmosphere of the music!

And that music is (of course) dark, tribalistic, hallucinatory. It's also very Swiss, like a mixture of Bölzer's rawness, Samael's sinister majesty and E-L-R's mystical etherealness, but with incantatory Attila Csihar-like vocal eccentricities instead of their more beautiful dreamlike voices.

Only the first two tracks of "To the Great Monolith 2.5" can actually count as Black Metal songs, though. The over fifteen minutes long third and final track "Third Monolithic Manifest" is more like their version of Coven's "Satanic Mass" on  "Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls". A droning urfaustian ritual with hardly intelligible spoken words.

While there is definitely something to the lovecraftian evil vibe it exudes, it makes the whole release feel a little unbalanced. How about a little more actual song material? Well, I guess that's why this is only an EP, heralding the next full album coming in a couple of weeks...

DEATH. VOID. TERROR. - To the Great Monolith III: Rifts (release date: Sep. 25th 2026)

So here it is and we'll just continue!

One other band, which isn't Swiss but - geographically close enough - Austrian, which deserves to be mentioned in the context of Death. Void. Terror. might be the Folk Black Metallers Perchta. Because even more than on the EP the album "To the Great Monolith III: Rifts" carries an overwhelming sense of fantastic Folklore. Right from the opener "Gözdyrey" this music makes you feel as if you where hiding at the edge of a secret mountain valley, observing the strange primal rituals of an obscure Alpine cult.

Mostly dominated by a gravely crawling midtempo, layered with noises, chants and whistles, screams and fanfares, yet also featuring blastbeats and tribal rhythms, this album takes you through a strange haze of ancient tales and faint memories, obscured by mirky mountain mist.

Like a spititually charged harbinger of elemental forces the Experimental Blackened music of Death. Void. Terror. washes over you like a baptism from another exitsential plane. Diffuse but powerful.

MUTO - Muto (release date: Oct. 9th 2026)

We're leaving the Alps southbound now to explore Italy, where we meet composer and guitar player Davide Martiello, who welcomes us on his self-titled debut as Muto, which immediately takes us on a journey beyond our small human comprehension.

Muto's instrumental guitar music isn't necessarily huge in scale, but it speaks in both an untouchable primordial timelessness and a precious vulnerable fragility. The promo says that this album is for fans of Post Rock, Ambient and Jazz, yet one might also add Contemporary Classical music and a pinch of Prog Rock (can't help a certain King Crimson tune sneaking into my ear while listening to "Fermo").

But aside from all these categorization "Muto" is just a touching and elevating contemplation on the beauty of  the being and passing of all things for anyone who has a soul.

THE SPACELORDS - Uranus Omnibus Sanctus (release date: Sept. 18th 2026)

Two simple questions:
1. Do you want to rock?
2. Do you want to trip through space?

If you can answer both of them with a confident yes, you don't even need to read further, because the experienced German Space Rock trio The Spacelords - aided by Didi Holzner on organ - provides in spades!

The four excellently produced instrumental tracks on "Uranus Omnibus Sanctus" simply are everything you can wish for in a band which combines powerful Stoner Rock with Psychedelic harmonies and guitar melodies. This album doesn't intent to reinvent the wheel, but it runs a damn podium-worthy cosmic desert race.
Tonzonen Records definitely is the right label for this stuff, because if there's one thing you can do to this, it is to zone out.

Schwerter, Sax und Zauberei mit CAZAYOUX, CHRIS BISSETTE, JUSTIN K BROADRICK, LILI REFRAIN, SEX MAGICK WIZARDS und mehr

Ach komm, jetzt seid mal nicht zu streng! Es ist echt schwer, vier so unterschiedliche Veröffentlichungen in einer einigermaßen sinnvollen Überschrift zusammenzufassen. ;)

Hier also wieder einmal ein Sammelrezension von Zeug, welches entweder nur in diesem Internet existiert, oder von dem ich die physische Tonträgervariante einfach (noch) nicht besitze:

CAZAYOUX - Alpha Centauri (2026)

Gibt es in Deutschland noch irgendeine Supermarktkette, bei der man Polarknäcke bekommen kann? Als Freund kohlenhydratarmer Brote habe ich mich echt an das Zeug gewöhnt - und nun ist das Zeug überall aus den Regalen verschwunden, weil es anscheinend kein Großhändler mehr aus Schweden importiert. Ich hasse so etwas.

Der texanische Drummer Forrest Cazayoux ist mit seinem dritten Album leider zu Polarvinyl geworden. Die letzten beiden Alben wurden von mehreren Labels (u.a. Worst Bassist Records in Deutschland) vertrieben, so dass man sich daran gewöhnt hat, dass Cazayoux-Alben zum fairen Preis in Europa zu bekommen sind. Klar, man kann "Alpha Centauri" natürlich - genauso wie man das knäckeähnliche Backwerk im Schwedenshop importieren kann - direkt aus Übersee einkaufen. Das kostet allerding knusprige fünfzig Euro Versand. Und dann kommen wahrscheinlich noch Zoll und Servicegebühren obendrauf. Nee, in dem Fall muss der Download dann doch leider ausreichen.

Schade, denn abgesehen von ein paar nervigen Effekten auf dem Gesang des Titelsongs (der überwiegende Rest des Albums ist zum Ausgleich instrumental), haben Cazayoux und sein bis zu zehnköpfiges Big-Band-Ensemble hier wieder eine kurzweilige Wundertüte aus Latin Jazz, Fusion, Funk, Samba und hastenichtgesehen rausgehauen, in der sich keiner der Beteiligten an Gitarre, Percussions, Balafon, Saxophon, Trompete, Hammond usw. als Hauptdarsteller über dem Rest des Ensembles ins Rampenlicht drängelt. Mit ihren elektrifizierenden Grooves und sommersonnigen Vibes macht diese Musik einfach beste Laune auf hohem Niveau.

SEX MAGICK WIZARDS - Suola Ja Noaidi (release: Sept. 4th 2026)

Wir bleiben in der weiten Welt der Jazz Fusion, bewegen uns aber weiter in Richtung experimentellen Rocks, was anscheinend Norden ist, und in die Zukunft - denn das kommende Album der norwegischen Sex Magick Wizards erscheint tatsächlich erst Anfang September.

Das Quartett vermischt krachenden Psychedelic bis Noise Rock mit Avantgarde-Improvisationen in einer ähnlichen Intensität, wie man sie von The Verge und Kanaan, den anderen Bands von Drummonster Ingvald André Vassbø, kennt.

Das herausstechendste Merkmal ihrer lauten und abenteuerlustigen Musik, die manchmal wirkt, als seien die Ideen eines Jörg Schneider-Projekts zu "richtigen" Songs weiterverarbeitet worden, scheint mir allerdings der unter allen Bandmitgliedern aufgeteilte Gesang zu sein, der neben Narration und exzentrischem Punkgeschrei auch mit intensiver Insbrunst vorgetragenen Joik umfasst. Dieser folkloristische Einfluss ist tatsächlich kein Wunder, handelt es sich bei "Suola Ja Noaidi" doch um ein Konzeptwerk über die Geschichte der von Norwegen bis Russland heimischen Sámi.

Musikalisch bringt jener aus Banausensicht oft grob zwischen Kehlkopfgesang und Jodeln verortbare Gesang eine Note von rekontextualisiertem Spiritual Jazz der Marke "The Creator Has A Masterplan" (Pharoah Sanders) hinein und unterstreicht deutlich die Eigenständigkeit der Sex Magick Wizards. Wildes Zeug!

MÖRK BORG Heresy Supreme Original Soundtrack (2026)

Ok, Leute. Ich habe es hier bisher bescheiden im Hintergrund gehalten, aber natürlich ist diese Seite auch ein Gaming-Blog! Muss ja, oder?

Ernsthaft weiß ich überhaupt nicht mehr, wie viele Jahrzehnte es her ist, dass ich irgendetwas gezockt (sagt man das noch?) habe. Mein letztes Spiel könnte Final Fantasy VII gewesen sein - und zwar das Original, und nicht das Remake (oder Remake des Remakes, falls es das schon gibt). Dass sich der Soundtrack zu einem Action Adventure in meine Musiksammlung verirrt, kann also nicht daran liegen, dass ich das Game auf Steam entdeckt habe. Auf jener Seite bin ich jüngst zum ersten Mal in meinem Leben gewesen.

Nein, ich bin natürlich über eine der beteiligten Musikerinnen hierauf aufmerksam geworden. Die großartige Lili Refrain hat eine Soundtrack-EP mit den drei Stücken, die sie zu dem Projekt beigesteuert hat, veröffentlicht. Im Vergleich zu ihrer ebenfalls erst dieses Jahr rausgebrachten "Nagalite"-EP sind diese sehr viel gitarrenlastiger und verbinden ihren msytisch magischen Dead Can Dance-Gesang mit ihren Metalwurzeln. Sehr geiles Zeug, nach etwas über zehn Minuten aber leider auch schon sehr schnell wieder vorbei.

Der komplette Soundtrack ist mit 21 Tracks wesentlich umfangreicher. Er beginnt und endet mit den Stücken von Lili Refrain, die auch im Gesamtzusammenhang Highlights bleiben. Doch zwischen "Heresy Supreme" und "Seventh Psalm" bekommen wir noch je einen Track der der Doom Metal-Band Bong Coffin, des Black-Metal-Soloprojekts Eldur und der Noiserocker Cani Dei Portici - und massenhaft Kompositionen von Chris Bisette, die von fett röttelnden Basslinien und Gitarrenriffs dominiert sein, düster herumdoomen oder den Gothic-Charme des Diablo-Dorfs (ja, das Spiel kenne ich auch noch) heraufbeschwören können. Dabei wechselt die Ästhetik auch stark zwischen direktem Liveband-Sound und der Tradition klassischer Computerspiele.

Was ich natürlich nicht weiß, ist wie genau all diese Musik im Spiel eingesetzt wird. Da es von den meisten Titeln die Varianten "A" und "B" gibt, unter denen sich jedoch sehr unterschiedliche Stimmungen verbergen, gehe ich mal davon aus, dass dies die Hintergrundmusik verschiedener Levelabschnitte ist, die zum Hack'n'Slay (oder was immer so tut) in Endloseschleife gespielt wird. Es gibt hier dementsprechend auch kaum vollende Songs, sondern eher Aneinanderreihungen geiler Parts, die irgendwann schnell ausfaden. Das bedeutet für den anderthalb Stunden langen Sountrack als Ganzes, dass man sich kaum gezielt hinsetzen wird, nur um sich auf diese Musik zu konzentrieren. Dann entstehen nämlich durchaus hier und da Längen.

Ist man aber beschäftigt, braucht einen Soundtrack nebenbei - und einem ist nach düsterer Atmosphäre und derben Metalriffs, dann funktioniert dieser Scheiß ganz hervorragend.

JUSTIN BROADRICK - Solo Guitar, 1997 (2026)

Auch der letzte Release in diesem Reigen hat Soundtrack-Charakter, allerdings auf ganz andere Weise. Was wir in diesen vierzig, bis auf wenige Ausnahmen nur bis ein oder zwei Minuten kurzen Tracks erleben, ist wahrscheinlich einfach ein natürlicher Teil von Justin Broadricks (Godflesh, Jesu, Final) Songwritingprozess. Eine fragmentarische Sammlung von Gitarrenideen, von denen ich mich nicht wundern würde, wenn die eine oder andere es irgendwo in fertige Songs seiner zahlreichen Projekte geschafft hätten.

Der Verdacht der Resteverwertung liegt hier nahe, doch tatsächlich bilden diese extrem reduzierten Aufnahmen aus dem Jahr 1997 erstaunlich gut als vollwertiges, experimentelles Ambient-Album mit Shoegaze-Einschlag. Wer Alben wie Emma Ruth Rundle's "Electric Guitar One" mag oder einfach ein Fan von Broadricks enorm produktivem Schaffen ist, der macht auch hier nichts verkehrt.

Odes to Lentitude with GÛLDUR and HET CONCREET

Do you have time? And a little patience? Here are two recent digital-only treats from Bandcamp for you:

HET CONCREET - To Be Held For A Long Time [live at Roadburn] (Download) (2026)

Maybe I've missed something, but I think this is the first official Live at Roadburn release featuring this year's edition. And it's probably the longest of its kind, since who else ever performed at the world's greatest festival for three hours without a break? So in that regard the recording of Het Concreet's tribute to "Composition 1960 #7" by La Monte Young even beats the three show marathon of Seven That Spells from 2019.

Of course this free Offroad performance in Tilburg's St. Jozefkerk was far from any normal Roadburn show - whatever that even means. I've witnessed over two hours of it live and wrote about it extensively back in April. Admittedly I corrected a couple of mistakes now. The organ was actually a harmonium - and I dismissed one person on stage as some sound guy, while he was actually also a musician operating tapes and electronics. (Other instruments included were electric and pedal steel guitar and cello.)
So yes, it's possible to overlook details, even if you have a lot of time and the music is as minimalist as it gets, which in this case meant: only two notes "To Be Held For A Long Time".

Other observations I made however are affirmed by this recording, like the huge role the ambient noises of footsteps, closing doors or someone coughing in the vast church hall played especially during the quiet build-up, when not even all musicians were participating in the Drone during the first half hour.

I can also recall and recognize some very distinct details in the textures, which I experienced intensly sitting right next to a speaker behind the stage during that later phase when I was wandering around in the space.

The release divides the performance into four movements, and even though I've been there I'm actually surprised of how interesting the many subtle developments in density, form and volume are keeping this Experimental Avantgarde piece, especially since it explicitly features no rhythm, no melody, no "event". Is the latter really true though?

Naturally, just like Kali Malone's "Does Spring Hide Its Joy" this will hardly become an album in my regular rotation, at least not the unbroken whole of it. But if you give it the necessary amount of attention it certainly can be quite a rewarding experience.

GÛLDUR - Ode to the Cold Star (Download) (2026)

From the Neo-Gothic cathedral in the Netherlands to another church: The Church of Noisy Goat has tested my patience lately. I'm all for promoting your stuff on Bandcamp and using the newsletter to do so, but the Brazilian label releases so much and sends so many mails, that I've been tempted to unsubscribe, because it sometimes just feels like a wave of spam and I honestly delete most of it immediately. There are exceptions though, like when the familiar name Gûldur popped up recently.

After the Dungeon Synth project's last release "Between the Moons, the Dead Rivers" I was quiete keen to hear more - and "Ode to the Cold Star" doesn't dissappoint.

Not too far from its predecessor, but a bit darker with a stronger Black Metal spirit at its foundation this hour of slowly meandering Dark Ambient is a creepier experience, which somehoew still emits an eery distant beauty. There is a low-fi feeling to the Synth performance, which includes some almost awkward pauses, where many producers would probably intervene and ask Do you really want to keep it like that? But exactly those deliberate imperfections - and of course the videogamesque medieval sequences every now and then give these nine contemplative soundscapes their own special charme - and ultimately justify the categorization as Dungeon Synth in the first place.

And in case you feel like copying the tracks onto a cassette the download actually comes with a printable J-card for that.

Digital Summer Dance Hits with KALAMATA, KARIN PARK, PAON and PICASTRO

Yes, no. Of course these aren't actually all Dance artists. Maybe I should established a durable name for this kind of column. But you know what this is: If there's digital in the title, I'm talking about releases, which are either only available as download / streams - or of which I personally just don't own a physical copy (yet).

KARIN PARK - Evo (2026)

Karin Park is back with the first of what is going to be a trilogy of digital EPs. After the trajectory of her last albums "Church Of Imagination" and "Private Collection" saw her moving into a more Norwegian Gothic and solemn, introspective direction, these new four tracks created with French producer Anthony Belguise mark a return to a decidedly more danceable Electronic Music format, but without neclecting the formerly established contentual depth.

In these only slightly over fifteen minutes the Swedish-Norgwegian singer shows almost all her strengths. Rich in variety and excellently produced the EP unites exciting sounds, Park's wonderful signature vocals delivering piercing emotions and addictive hooks, internally and outwardly moving songs... what else do you need except for of course more?

That break followed by the escapist dancefloor finale in the heart piece "Sing Your Sorrow" alone is everthing.

PAON - Philosophie Du Soi (2026)

Plus c'est plus! This five-track EP s a wild exuberant fever dream of Experimental Electronic Future Jazz Fusion, flute and flamboyant Chanson vocals by videogame singer Pernelle. She's a real person though, don't worry!

Her project Paon with composer / arranger Lemm is bursting with a spirit of musical adventure, as if someone had condensed the epic double album playing time of Janelle Monáe's "The ArchAndroid" to twenty-five minutes and injected it with an extra high concentrate of Jazz history and a neon-sparkling dose of sci-fi metropolis / Space Opera aesthetic.

Weird and... a lot. Yet also very enticing. This wonderful mindblower is another bold win for the exceedingly great Jazz year 2026.

PICASTRO - Double On Time (2026)

Picastro have been around for decades, but 'm starting into this new EP of the Canadian project led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Liz Hysen without any previous knowledge. And alongside the immediate realization that this is defintely isn't as suited for the club much as the two releases above, my mind goes to the most Experimental tracks of Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys, to Jarboe, to the minimalist singer/songwriter version of Chelsea Wolfe, to the darkest side of Björk... to various other artists in the field of slow burning Avantgarde or Alternative Folk music, which actually come closer to what I'm hearing here. I just don't know who they are. I know that certain parts of these five rather short tracks remind me of familiar music, but I just can't grab it. Damn.

So instead of fitting references I can only give you my honest recommendation for this short but eery collection of sparsely arranged pieces. You don't find such a smoothly stripped down, delicately sinister gathering of piano, synths, strings, guitars, samples and vulnerable vocals at every corner. Give in and float through this shadow!

KALAMATA - Zenosyne (release: June 26th 2026)

Yeah, one could ask whether this actually belongs here: It hasn't been released yet. It's not an EP, but an album. There's no female band member - and not even a singer. But I make the rules here, so fuck it.

The reason "Zenosyne" even caught my attention was a vague familiarity with the the name Kalamata. And indeed I've written about the German Stoner Rockers almost eleven years ago, when they played as the first of seven bands on my first Pink Tank Festival in Itzehoe.

Of course I don't remember that show even remotely good enough to judge the group's evolution from then to now, but what I can say is that these five tracks called "There", "Is", "No", "Coming" and "Back" are all fantastic examples of how to mix heavy Desert Rock riff fuzzery with great guitar hooks and instances of beautiful Post Rock elation.

Even though the cover rather speaks German winter, this perfectly works as the soundtrack to a sunny fair weather cruise. And that's all from me tonight. Audio Ohlsen Overkill bringing you all the hits for the summer holidays! Please tune in again when we're back on air for more! 

KAZUYA ISHIGAMI - For Postcard

The FMOA Audio Postcards series by the Experimental label Fifteen Minutes of Anonymity is a nice example of pairing an otherwise completely digital release with a limited physical item.

In this case it's only - you just read it - a postcard with some debossed and silver-foiled details. Nothing spectacular, but nonetheless something which lets the release seep from the digital realm into the real world, adding sentimental value to it. And even with international shipping it only costs four US dollars, which is of course less than you would pay for many downloads anyway. I like ideas like this!

KAZUYA ISHIGAMI - For Postcard (postcard / download) (2025)

However, I didn't order this card from the American one-man label, but got it as free bonus directly from Kazuya Ishigami, featured artist on this eighteen's edition of the series, when I ordered a tape (more on that in the upcoming next part of my cassette craze chronicles!) from his Japanese label NEUS-318.

The EP is a twenty minutes long collage of birdsongs, civilizational noises, computerized and Electronic sounds. The beautiful randomness of field recordings merging with a decidedly vague sence of intent, a mixture definitely more sonic installation and Ambient exploration than music in the common person's understanding. In my ears this kind of Electroacoustic sound design demands at least as much artistic choice and musical sensibilty as any kind of "real" music, so I can enjoy it just the same.

Ishigami's recording "For Postcard" is an interesting soundscape, which of course recommends itself for being experienced with headphones.

And as a final note to save you the time: That Bandcamp download code  below is of course already taken, so don't bother! ;)

MARTIN STÜRTZER - Dyson Sphere Beta

Verwechslungsgefahr: Die Ähnlichkeit des Covers ist zwar unübersehbar, doch dies ist nicht das brilliante aktuelle Album von Ivan The Tolerable!

Musikalisch gibt es durchaus Parallelen, zumal Dub Techno / Ambient-Produzent ebenfalls sehr krautig psychedelisch unterwegs ist. Verwechseln könnte man seine Musik auf "Dyson Sphere Beta" allerdings viel eher mit Klaus Schulze und Tangerine Dream.

MARTIN STÜRTZER - Dyson Sphere Beta (download) (2026)

Ich möchte nicht vollkommen ausschließen, dass mir schon einmal ähnliches widerfahren ist, bin mir aber zu mindestens neunzig Prozent sicher, dass dies das erste Album in meiner Sammlung ist, auf welches ich durch einen Rant über Sperrungen auf Spotify durch absurde Urheberrechtsansprüche, welches mir der YouTube-Algorithmus in meinen Feed gespült hat, aufmerksam geworden bin. Und das, obwohl mir der Künstler, auch Teil des Ambient-Duos Sphäre Sechs, vorher - soweit ich mich erinnern kann - noch nie begegnet ist.

Martin Stürtzer spielt ab und zu improvisierte Livestreams aus seinem Studio, und dies ist die Aufnahme eines solchen von seinem letzten Geburtstag. Deswegen haben die neun im Schnitt ca. zwanzigminütigen Tracks auch statt eines Namens die jeweile Zeit (zwischen 22:00 und 01:00 Uhr), in der sie im Stream gespielt wurden, im Titel.

Aufgrund der Sperre auf dem von mir ohnehin nicht genutzten Ausbeuterstreamingdienst hat Stürtzer den dreistündigen kosmisch meditativen Fluss nun an meinem Geburtstag neu auf Bandcamp veröffentlicht. Da konnte ich doch schlecht nein sagen, zumal das Ganze auch noch geschenkt bzw. name your price ist.

Von daher gehe ich jetzt auch gar nicht weiter ins Detail zu den einzelnen Tracks. Was hindert dich daran, selbst nachzuhören? Wer elektronische Berliner Schule dieser Art mag, der kann hier ohnehin nichts verkehrt machen. Und wer (noch) Skeptiker ist, den kostet es maximal auch nur, was er zahlen möchte.

Also, bei akutem Entschleunigungs- und Entrückungsbedarf: Nichts wie rüber in die Dyson-Sphäre! Timewave Far-Below-Zero!

SULA BASSANA - Time Travel

Dass sich Dave "Sula Bassana" Schmidt gesundheitsbedingt aus seinem Sulatron Records-Label verabschiedet hat und fortan etwas kürzer tritt, bedeutet nicht, dass er mit Musik in Zukunft nichts mehr am Hut hätte.

Trotzdem ist seine neueste (bislang nur digitale) Veröffentlichung eher rückblickender Natur, versammelt er auf "Time Travel" unter dem selbsterklärenden Untertitel "Rare & Obscure Tracks From The Decades" doch einen anderthalbstündigen Strauß unterschiedlichster Stücke, die zuvor entweder gar nicht oder nur auf seltenen CD-Rs und Samplern veröffentlicht wurden.

SULA BASSANA - Time Travel (download) (2026)

Die Reise durch die Jahrzehnte beginnt in der jüngeren Vergangenheit mit seiner aktuellen Liveband. "Ridin'" ist eine lässig leichtfüßig fuzzende Fortsetzung der Split mit Skyjoggers, wurde es doch ebenso wie die beiden Sula-Stücke des Livealbums auf dem Dazed & Spaced Festival 2024 aufgenommen.

"Krachgarten" von 2012 hält das Energielevel des coolen Einstiegs dann mit einer Kombination aus fast schon funky groovendem Krautrock mit ein paar ganz schön *huiibuuh* gruseligen Synthies.
Jene werden noch freakiger im deutlich schrägeren, aber immer noch schön mitheadbopkampatibel nach vorne gehenden "Arkelanfall".

Ob man "Animal Farm" besser nicht spoilern sollte oder im Gegenteil ausdrücklich vor dieser auf Tiergeräuschen von einer Klangbibliotheks-CDs basierenden Spielerei warnen sollte, das mag evtl. eine die Bassana-Hörerschaft spaltende Frage sein. Es ist definitiv eine der albernsten Aufnahmen des Meisters - verzichtet aber dennoch nicht auf ein paar sehr schöne Analogsynthiesounds.

In den folgenden Stücken treten dann spacige Gitarren in den Vordergrund, ehe wir in den aus Tangerine Dream-Ambient und programmierten Beats gespeisten "Fiebertraum" gleiten. Wunderbar!

Danach geht es im bis dahin mit knapp dreizehn Minuten längsten Stück "Paranoid?" aus den späten Neunzigern mit viel Reverb und Experimentierfreude beim Mix mit einer immer wieder in andere Richtungen wabernden Kombination aus Schulze- und Kraftwerk-Klängen weiter, ehe es - inspiriert von nebligen Winterspaziergängen auf der finnischen Insel "Suomenlinna" noch einmal ganz spooky faszinierend atmosphärisch wird.

Kommen wir nach dieser mystischen Wanderung noch einmal in die realere Welt der Rockmusik zurück?
Die über halbstündige Antwort des zehnten und letzten Tracks "Pilzwald" ist ein nö!, wie es deutlicher nicht sein könnte. Hier haben Sula und Alexander Bulgrin, Sänger seiner damaligen Band Liquid Visions, einfach mal einen Haufen kleiner Instrumente um sich drapiert - von Flöten, Glockenspiel, Kalimba und Regenmacher zu Synthesizern und Drummaschine -, zwei Mikros aufgestellt und sind mit Hilfe von Hall- und Multieffekten komplett und ohne Rückfahrticket in die mykolgische Anderwelt jenseits von Bewusstsein und Traum aufgebrochen. Was für ein Trip!

Jeder Verdacht, dass es sich bei dieser stimmigen Compilation um ein Großreinemachen handelt, bei dem Putzfrau Schmidt einfach alte Reste nach draußen auf den Bandcamp-Hof kehrt, ist komplett unbegründet. Ganz im Gegenteil: Wenn "Time Travel" eines verdeutlicht, dann dass der Krautmeister sein Ding seit Jahrzehnten auf verdammt hohem Niveau durchzieht. Eine derartige Archivmaterialsammlung ohne Füller (ok, über "Sex Farm" äh "Animal Farm" darf man vielleicht diskutieren) hat wahrlich nicht jeder Mucker einfach mal so in der Schublade liegen.

Gute Zeitreise!

digitale Resterampe 2025 mit DROFNOSURA, HEXROT, NOÉ JUNE / HÉLOÏSE FRANCESCONI und UNDERSAVE

Ok, im Prozess des allmählichen Schließen des Deckels über das Vorjahr habe ich jetzt mal nachgeschaut, welche digitalen Veröffentlichugen von 2025 noch bislang unrezensiert den Weg in meine Sammlung gefunden haben. Und tatsächlich waren da noch vier Downloadcode-Goodies von Transcending Obscurity Records und Arsenic Solaris. Beginnen wir mal mit den satten drei Alben, die mich zusammen mit der CD von Veilburner erreichten:



Sehr eigenwillig krank geht es bei den Kanadiern DROFNOSURA auf "Ritual of Split Tongues" zu. In überwiegend über zehnminütigen Tracks zwängt sich dissonante Sludge-Masse mit Einflüssen aus Death-, Black- und Post Metal durchs Gehör. In dieser Art kriechendem Midtempo erwartet man als Basis eines maximal sicken Sounds ja vielleicht eher den gruftig duftenden Doom-Death von Autopsy, bekommt hier jedoch eine von 45 auf 33 rpm heruntergebremste Version von Blut Aus Nord inklusive einer gewissen mystisch-meditativen Note. Das ist dann auf erfrischend erstickende Weise - trotz unterschwelliger Erhabenheit und gelegentlichem Klargesang -  vergleichbar ungesund wie Ghostsmokers "Inertia Cult". Räudig und mächtig!

Nein, das Cover von HEXROTs "Formless Ruins of Oblivion" kommt nicht nur Dir bekannt vor. Deep Purple, Dead Can Dance, Sun Ra Arkestra und - insbesondere auch den Höllen-Flügel des Gemäldes nutzend Celtic Frost sind nur einige von unzähligen Bands, die schon ihre Alben mit dem "Garten der Lüste" von Hieronymus Bosch verpackt haben. Nun also auch diese amerikanischen Avantgarde-Metaller.

Herrlich dissonant geht's auch hier zu, allerdings mit stärkerem Death-Metal-Geist - und jeder Menge irre technisch verfrickelter Arrangements, in denen neben schwefelschwadigem Black und ganz schön garstigem Thrash Metal ebenfalls elekronische Spielereien eine kleine Nebenrolle spielen. Geiles mit den Synapsen seilspringendes, dynamisches neurotisches Zeug, welches eigentlich nur eine Laufzeit von fünfunddreißig Minuten hat. Zur digitalen Version hat das Label aber großzügigerweise einfach mal mit vier Bonustracks die komplette "Gloomwrought"-EP von 2022 mit obendrauf gepackt. Sauber!

Auch das dritte Transcending Obscurity-Album, "Merged In Abstract Perdition" von den Portugiesen Undersave, bietet Dissonanten Death Metal und schließt für heute die Beweisführung ab, dass es innerhalb dieses Subgenres doch ganz schön unterschiedlich abwechslungsreich zugehen kann.

Anders als Hexrot und Drofnosura wirft diese Band kaum andere Metalspielarten ein. So ziemlich alles, was auf diesem vierzigminütigen Brett runtergedroschen wird, lässt sich als reines Todesblei klassifizieren. Das ist inklusive vieler für Morbid Angel typischer Gitarrenquietscher einerseits vielleicht tradioneller, wozu auch das Klischee der ausnahmslos überlangen Nile-Gedenksongtitel wie "Unconscious Assimilation... Path To Tangible Reality" oder "Fathomless Contempt Nourished By Unrealistic Predictions" passt - anderseits mit seinen herrlich prügelnden Versen und gelungenen kranken Doppelleads im Ulcerate-Stil aber auch sehr frisch. Zu Meckern gibt's jedenfalls nichts. Macht Bock!

Wer meine Vorstellungen hier der Reihe nach hört, der muss sich nun auf eine Bremse einstellen und sollte schon einmal das dritte Auge öffnen, denn mit dem selbstbetitelten Split-Release der beiden Ambient-Künstler NOÉ JUNE und HÉLOÏSE FRANCESCONI wird es abstrakt, experimentell und auch ein wenig meditativ, wenn man sich darauf einlassen kann.

Die "Modular Session #1" von Noé June stellt sich mit ihrem fünfzehn Minuten lang vibrierenden Analogsynthie-Puls gleich als das Herzstück der Veröffentlichung vor, während "The Very Pulse of the Machine" unorganisierter als Sammlung gespenstischer Ur-Industrial-Fragmente daherkommt.

Die Francesconi-Seite beginnt geradezu programmatisch mit "Pazienza", also Geduld, und außer einem ausdauerndem satten Drone passiert hier tatsächlich lange nur sehr wenig außerhalb der subtilsten Ebene. Und "Osyters" führt uns klanglich schließlich - wär hätte es gedacht? - ganz entspannt an die Meeresküste, wo wir an der felsigen Steilküste in eine Kristallgrotte hineintauchen. Schön mächtige, spirituell entschleunigende Weltflucht. Physisch ist diese Split exklusiv als Kassette erhältlich. 

DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Demo MMXXV

Filthy f**ing f***! But why not? After their annual New Year's Eve release Dead Neanderthals didn't even wait one full day of 2026 to follow it up with a sick new EP.

DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Demo MMXXV (download) (2026)

Three tracks, together only a little over twelve minutes. Played on drums and keyboard, with lots of distortion and blasting overdrive and unintelligible guttural vocals. And there's actually quite a lot happening, each track goes through multiple different parts.

What the Dutch duo is playing on this digital EP could basically be many different things between Crust Punk, Industrial, Post Hardcore or Doom Metal, who knows? Because, whatever it is, there's so much mould and dirt in the production that everything turns to brute Drone and noisiest Noise Rock anyway.

This sounds like a rusty probe being stuck in your cerebral cortex. And who would have thought that this particular medical problem feels so good? 

DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Evocations

Yes, I'm stacking up posts during a time when most people don't give a shit about the internet at all. But who cares? I'm just happy to get at least most of my 2025 reviews done within the year.

And who would have thought, but the very last one of those is of course dedicated to the Dutch duo which always delivers something on December 31st every year?

DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Evocations (download) (2025)

With this mini album Dead Neanderthals provide a digital supplement to their latest album "Incantations". Which means: two more tracks of ultra-minimal tribal drumming and synth Drone goodness.

I don't know if these two evocations have the same practical use as the four incantations from the album, since conjuring both the Momentary Divine and the Everlasting Spirit doesn't really sound helpful for any daily chore, while riding a Spectral Steed and turning men into swine are activities I could practice at least twice a week.

But aside from that these track are a cool extension to the predecessing album. And in a manner fitting to the release date at the very end of the year, this EP may have the best ending of all releases I've heard in 2025. Such a dry yet satisfying boom - and that's it. Perfection.

CLIPPING. - Dead Channel Sky Plus

Ok, since I've just mentioned it in my last review anyway, let me quickly cover the extended "Plus" version of Clipping.'s latest Experimental Hip Hop masterpiece "Dead Channel Sky"!

CLIPPING. - Dead Channel Sky Plus (download) (2025)

So mid September Clipping. released this new digital version of the album which came out a couple of months prior. The already pretty long work has been extended with four tracks, which were inserted at different spots into the tracklist, starting at the half-way point of the original sequencing of twenty tracks with "Mirrorshades pt. 1". Given that it had already been played live and its second part is a highlight of the original album, this surely was the most obvious addition. A little more subdued than part 2, but also with a hypnotic four to the floor dance beat under Daveed Diggs' smooth  rap performance it gives the album a whole new structural arc between track 10 and 19.

Before the stripped down funeral scene poetry of "Polaroids" now comes "Forever War", another pushing straight-forward banger with fast vocal flow and some especially atmospheric space Ambient synth in the chorus.

Clipping. live in Hamburg 2025 

The interlude "And You Called" is now followed up by a short one-minute track called "Hard-Eyes", probably the least necessary of the new tracks, but it also doesn't harm anyone, so I'm cool with it. (He's cool with it.)

Immediately after that the mighty warm Soul voice of regular collaborator Counterfeit Madison dominates "Night of Heaven", another piece that makes you wonder why it hasn't already been featured on the initial version of the album.

And that's my complaint about releases like this:
The fan has already bought the thing earlier and has to do it all again just a couple of months later. If an extended version like this exists, just release it immediately, even if it may not fit onto the physical copy (this would probably have been too much for the double LP) - then just include them in an accompanying digital copy! Please?

That being said "Dead Channel Sky Plus" definitely is my go-to version when I'm listen digitally, because more awesome Clipping. material is always... a plus. And it makes an already outstanding album even better.

Jazz Variations with STEVE BLANCO and YAZZ AHMED

Two very different album highlights of the year got great accompanying releases providing alternative takes on their music.

I actually could have extended this review to three releases, since there's also the longer "Plus" version of Clipping.'s AOTY contender "Dead Channel Sky", but even though I love the result it still bothered me to putchase the whole digital album twice, so I'm not feeling like dedicating a review to it yet. And of course it would be too much of a stretch to sell that one as Jazz.

Not a problem for the artist of our first EP here, because who could possibly be more Jazz then Yazz? 

YAZZ AHMED - A Paradise In The Hold (Remixed) (download) (2025)

There were two indicators to be confident that this EP by the British-Bahraini trumpet player and composer would be worthwhile:

1. Very few releases of 2025 come close to Yazz Ahmed's stunningly beautiful Jazz Fusion collection and interpretation of Persian tales on "A Paradise In A Hold".
2. Her choice of artists to rework her material traditionally is also strong, so remixed tracks of hers are not just a forgettable gimmick mostly entertaining for those who make them.

The rLr remix of the album closer "Waiting For The Dawn" is sped up to an instrumental rollercoaster of Break Beats and Oriental Disco. Very energetic.

With five minutes the Khalab remix of the title track has only half the length of the original version, but also compensates with a fast-paced danceable rhythmic approach. While the beauty of Ahmed's brass stays untouched, a powerful electronic bass pumps below it, while Afro-Arabic drums and handclaps irresistably drive it forward.

A slower, bass-heavy and a bit glitchy groove finally carries the Ahmed/Langley/Singh remix of "Mermaid's Tears", which also leaves fragments of the original's vocals floating around.

If you subtract the original album versions, which are also featured on the EP, this only adds up to a total of slightly over thirteen minutes. If you can dig a creative, vivid Jazz/Dance Music crossover however, those are still definitely worth it.

STEVE BLANCO - Imprints of Man - Steve Blanco Plays the Music of Imperial Triumphant (download) (2025)

The New York-themed Dissonant Avantgarde Black/Death Metal band Imperial Triumphant of course approaches Jazz from a completely different angle than Ahmed. Even if Metal fans with a narrower horizon might miss it, their brutal sound actually is deeply rooted in Jazz skills and knowledge. And as if that needed further proof, the trio's bass player Steve Blanco has recorded this solo piano album with new interpretations of material from "Goldstar" and also older albums like "Spirit Of Ecstasy", "Alphaville", "Vile Luxury" all the way back to "Abyssal Gods".

So it's a pretty comprehensive representation of the band's discography, all transformed into virtuoso piano pieces between Jazz and Contemporary Classical Music.
The only track which isn't a dramatic story of six to nine minutes length - and also the only one not reinterpreting Imperial Triumphant - is the seventh and final piece, the "F# Minor Fugue" by Johann Sebastian Bach, which calmly closes an album that should easily speak not only to fans of Blanco's nonconform Extreme Metal, but also to friends of Keith Jarrett and congeneric Piano Jazz. Remarkably good!

Of course it would be nice to add one of the limited vinyl copies of "Imprints of Man" to my collection, but unfortunately it wasn't out yet when Imperial Triumphant were playing in Hamburg in October, and transatlantic shipping, you know... So I guess the digital version must do this time.

a digital quad feat. BORIS, BRUTUS, CHURCHLICKERS and EMMA RUTH RUNDLE

Yeah. Fittingly on the day after Bandcamp Friday here's a quartet of my recent digital purchases.




CHURCHLICKERS - Live at MS Stubnitz - 2025/07/17 (2025)

At this point the MS Stubnitz, an event ship moored close to bridges over the Elbe, is hands down my favorite live music location in Hamburg. The only thing which sucks about it is that the booking is so good, that there are just too many worthwhile shows to visit.

One night I missed was the latest performance of Hamburg's own Churchlickers there back in July. Thankfully the trio is giving us this live EP from that show now. Two tracks of great instrumental Post Rock with some Punk vibes and Metal intensity, played without bass on guitar, drums and keys, which gives their sound a distinct note.

Great stuff for paywhatyouwant bucks - so what are you even waiting for?

BRUTUS - 2015 Collected (2015/2025)

The Belgian Post Hardcore Punk Metal and whatnot trio Brutus takes us back to the beginning of their discography with a compilation of their first four 7" singles, which were originally released in 2015 - plus one short new bonus track - with new mix and mastering.

And what do you think? Yes, of course it's unmistakably Brutus - and it's great. Stijn's creative guitar, Peter's rumbling bass and as always front and center Stefanie's wild and emotional performance on drums and vocals already come together in their very regognizable unique way, which they have only perfected further in the following decade.

These seven tracks however already kick ass as if there's no tomorrow.

BORIS - Japanese Heavy Rock Hits (Re-Master) (2021/2025)

An actually very similar kind of reissue is this remastered compilation of Boris's four 2021 singles, also extended with bonus tracks. I already own three of those singles - each of them in Kiss fashion presenting one band member on the cover - while the fourth one just was too expensive on the second-hand market.

Stylistically these nine tracks, which add up to fifty minutes playing time, are all over the place in the best way, from pure Noise celebrations and Drone Metal crunch to silly party bangers and what's probably the band's own twisted version of Glam Rock to a stunningly beautiful piece with Wata on vocals.

A great, positively weird collection of Japanese Rock hit heaviness.

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE - Music From The Bella Vista (2025)

Finally it's time for something more mellow. This has been out there over half a year and even been released on vinyl. Yet that pressing was quite limited and is recently offered for 425 Euro on Discogs. No thanks, I'm content with the download then.

"Music From The Bella Vista" is a companion piece to interdisciplinary artist Emma Ruth Rundle's first poetry collection. Its two each twenty minutes long tracks are calm collages of improvised piano music, ambient field recordings and spoken poems.

Dipping her toes into Contemporary Classical music Rundle has created an in comparison to "EG2: Dowsing Voice" completely different and for many listeners probably far more accessible full-on Experimental album here, which radiates peacefulness and quiet contemplation. Subtle and beautiful!

Digital Delights feat. CYNIC, EXDIRECTORY, FRENDZ, GÛLDUR, LAIBACH and mʊdʌki

Ok, it's time for one of those collective write-ups again! Let's take a look at what has accumulated in the last weeks and months in the way of previously unreviewed small digital purchases and promos of 2025 releases:

GÛLDUR - Between the Moons, the Dead Rivers (2025)

We're easing ourselves into this slowly and steadily with an hour-long Ambient soundtrack for exploring mystical forgotten landscapes and ancient ruins. A lot of this mostly synth-based is beautiful, yet with a touch of eery dark suspension. And since there's not only a certain depressive bleakness in the song titles at play, as well as the Black Metal aesthetics of the artwork, yet the music has that certain nerdy, sometimes almost a bit cheesy tabletop role-playing game vibe and intentionally unpolished production, we don't ever call this Ambient, not even Dark Ambient, but Dungeon Synth!

Breaking this rule thrice is severly punished by either being whipped by a demon, being burned to a crisp by a dragon or being tickled by a horde of goblins! But no worries, despite its misty nocturnal qualities one witching hour of Gûldur's sonic pagan fantasy should be enough to heal you from any mental and bodily wounds those penalizations could cause. 

LAIBACH (feat. BIJELO DUGME) - Die Kanone (2025)

Let's move from one hour of music to just three minutes:

Laibach have released a stomping short single celebrating both the fiftieth birthday of the famous Jugoslavian Folk Rock band Bijelo Dugme with a old school germanized cover version featuring the original artist - and somehow also the recent shift of German industry from cars to weapons, which has always been a good sign, right? (Please visualize this as the famous Anakin & Padme meme!).

The primitive sexual innuendo of lyrics like "I 'll buy a cannon / Someday, sometime / And then I'll be yours / Someday, sometime" is far from subtle, especially when delivered with such a pompous militaristic swing, which makes "Die Kanone" feel like a musical callback to "National Reservation" from Laibach's 1994 classic "NATO".

This song comes in stark contrast to the recent orchestral album "Alamut", which highlights a very different aspect of the Slovenian group's spectrum. Not top material for Laibach's eternal hall of fame, yet still a well executed, silly - yet somehow under the surface actually more serious than you want it to be - catchy little kitschy bombastic ditty.

CYNIC - Earth Is My Witness (2025)

Cynic's latest single actually is an old one, featuring both late band members Sean Malone and Sean Reinert. The very proggy "Earth Is My Witness" had been the bonus track on a special edition of the 2014 album "Kindly Bent To Free Us", which had just been too overpriced for me at the time. But now that this song has finally been released on its own, I gladly take it.

Of course the song could have easily fit on the regular album, but somehow the band had decided that it didn't fit with the overall flow of the album. I don't know... it may bear a little more resemblance to the Spiritual Prog Metal songwriting during the "Traced In Air" phase, but it absolutely wouldn't have bothered me on the album. No question, I'm happy it's finally out there as an official release.

FRENDZ - The Strain (2025)

The Canadian duo frenDZ' debut mini album "The Strain" is one of those releases which makes you think you have figured it all out after a couple of minutes - an Electronic instrumental depiction of a simple little dystopian Sci-Fi story - only to throw you the first curveball with a detour into contemporary Jazz including a smooth trumpet performance.

And as soon as the second track "Tricillium" starts with piano, even more brass and an inkling of Dub, yet then develops into a not quite synthwavy, but still very 80's soundtrack vibe, only to conclude in "Dark Side Of The Moon" Rock atmosphere, you know that anything could happen here. And it does!

Weirder, glitchier, more experimental Electronics, funky guitar licks, Berlin school Ambient mixed with Doom in the style of Pinkish Black, mr. bungleish upbeat Jazz Bass freak-outs, wild jumps from genre to genre all around. This highly entertaining half hour could hardly fly by faster. What a wild ride! There are even some arrangements which sound like Voivod, yet with a non-Metal instrumentation.

The latter should actually be the least surprising part of all, since one half of this project is none other than Voivod bassist Rocky Laroche, whose brilliant performance is mostly very different to what he usually does in the band, yet also impressively solidifies why he's the perfect match over there as well.

I don't know if it's the lack of a physical release, but this amazing side quest should attract way more attention than it's doing so far!

EXDIRECTORY - Vitamine (2025)

A much more 70's-heavy breakfast of Stoner, Prog and Psychedelic Rock is brought to us by the Cologne quintet Exdirectory. With unstoppable grooves, swirling organ (later also smooth electric piano) and space-battling guitars this band doesn't waste much time to jump into full wild action. Given the sheer amount of perfectly executed gradual playful shifts and sudden twists and turns in a relatively short time, it's actually quite remarkable that the whole three-track EP is taken from a completely improvised live session.

Even if you like your Psych to evolve at a more steady pace over longer distances the well-attuned chemistry of these guys is just undeniable. "Vitamine" definitely recommends Exdirectory as a band to look out for live. 

mʊdʌki - The Labyrinth (2025)

Last but not least let's go oomph!oomph!oomph! with some very Experimental dystopian Electronic sounds from Belarussian producer (living in Czechoslovakia) Polina Khatsenka aka mʊdʌki!

This stuff definitely isn't the easiest material to listen to from this bunch, and over sixty minutes of these often very angular loops over stomping, yet not always reliable beats can either be either too damn demanding if you're not in the mood for a sonic post-apocalypse - or an in all its discomfort still hypnotic revelation. Weird and uneasy, but also undoubtly atmospheric. I cannot claim it doesn't intrigue me.

Shout-out to Stoned To Death, who are always very generous with free surprise promos, as I got the download for this - and a couple of older releases by Jah Cuzzi, Jan Tomáš and Klamm & Pelikán with my latest order of cassettes from the label!