Cawatana - Advocation for Privileges

An apocalyptic folk band from Hungary, compared to their other material this is more "pop" sounding, in the sense that it's a lot more accessible to anyone who has not really delved into the genre. A lot more ambient and classical influence is evident as well. In terms of sound, think Belborn meets :Of The Wand & The Moon:

Easily one of the (if not the) best neofolk release of 2010.

MF [vbr]

Test, "s/t"

 

Free jazz freak out. Man, do I love this.  As I mentioned in the avant jazz thread, I saw this free jazz collective open for Sonic Youth in NYC back in 94 or so and they blew my mind, especially the drummer, Tom Bruno, who also provides voices on this CD.  Dude's intense, and something of a legend in the contemporary NYC free jazz scene.  This was recorded in 96 and released by Ecstatic Peace (Thurston Moore's label).I really think some of you will enjoy this so give it a shot.

Buy it here.

DL it here.

Leeches of Lore - S/T

A band hailing from New Mexico. They play a blend of stoner rock fused with 'western music', thrash, psychedelic, etc.

These guys are everywhere when it comes to genre, almost like they wrote several separate stoner, country, thrash, and psychedelic albums then cut up the music and pasted it back together. Except it works, and sounds great.

MF

Igor Wakhevitch - Docteur Faust

It's really hard to sum up an album like this. The six tracks (excluding the intro) range from Throbbing Gristle-esque passages overlaying spoken word segments, to progressive psych-rock with tribal chanting, to bone-chilling modern classical reminiscent of Krzystof Penderecki or Gustav Holst. Overall it's a superbly constructed mindfuck, so give it a shot.

Nails - Unsilent Death

Mega infuriated metallic hardcore.
10 songs 13 minutes
Get on it.

BlackHolePit - Portals

Darkwave/Industrial Doom from South America. Only one album was released before the project was abandoned in favor of other efforts (which are all industrial as well, but take a good amount of influence from extreme metal).

This is a heavily atmospheric release, in the right environment it can be either terrifying or soothing.

I highly recommend this, give it a listen.

Download

Supernaut - s/t

I stumbled onto this band via a friend who showed me one of their tracks on youtube. Supposedly they were a UK proto-doom act that was poised to be signed to Vertigo records but were dropped on account of being "too heavy".

I say supposedly because it's debated on whether or not this is actually a "real" band or a hoax from the label "Kissing Spell'.

In any case, it's pretty good stuff, recorded in 1974 and released in 2005 from the afore mentioned label. Take it with a grain of salt.

MF

v/a - Vinland vs. Finland

The clear winner for me is Vinland, but it's all pretty good. Bone Awl's part is what anyone has come expect of them with their raw black metal goodness. Hammer was surprisingly good. Volkurah created some good rifs, but Vordr. No. That was pretty bad. The vocals, Oh god, the vocals. They sounded horrible, and some of the isntrumentation sounded like there was a cat scratching on a scratching post in the background. Luckily, it wasn't bad enough to ruin the whole split, but especially during "Sabbath of Ruin" my ears were not happy when I was listening to it. So, this is a great compilation... if you just skip Vordr's part.

Hail, "Permafrost" and "Seeds"

Don't know if anyone is gonna be into this at all, but these are ultra-limited and thus ultra-rare demos from one of the other bands of L'Acephale's Set Sothis Nox La. They only exist in CDr editions of 30 each, and somehow I got lucky enough to buy them from some dude in South America dirt cheap. I have the full-length "Crimson Madrigal" as well if anyone is interested, but that's not as limited (edition of 93) and can be found elsewhere on the interwebs (I think).

They consist of neo-folkish ambient metal noise, so yeah, they can't really be categorized. But they are amazing, that's for damn sure. A very different experience than L'Acephale, but equally as rewarding. Check 'em.

Permafrost

Seeds

Warmarch - The Declaration (2007)

Featuring the guitarist of Rites of Thy Degringolade, Warmarch continue in much the same vein, with a slightly more progressive touch. The production is cleaner, the songs are more adventurous, and "The Lake" features one of my favourite riffs of recent history. None of the visciousness and uncompromising brutality has been sacrificed in this equation, though in this case the attack comes more in the form of sardonic, twisted riffs than outright blastbeats, and the result is very satisifying. Personally I enjoyed this more than Begrime Exemious' recent debut, and it certainly contains that same otherworldly atmosphere. I'm sure most of you have heard Mitochondrion (rectify that as quickly as humanly possible if you haven't) and I see a lot of the same creative spark in these guys. Unfortunately, Canadian War Metal bands seem to have an incredibly short half-life, and this band split up shortly after releasing this album. Here's hoping the minds behind this album and Rites... will form another band post haste (someone slap me if this has already happened).

For now, enjoy:
Rapidshit (ask for an alternate site and I'll try to upload it there)

Disembarkation - Rancorous Observision (2000)

For those of you who wanted Cynic to have balls, look no further. The jazzy, mid-tempo riffage of Focus is preserved here, sans any (at the much less) further progressive tendencies or vocoder bullshit, and while not every song is as inspired as the opener "Aushwitz", it's still a damn fine listen.

This flew under the table when it was first released, and still hasn't managed to surface above more interesting buried gems like Nespithe or the Timeghoul demos, but I see no reason for this to go entirely unnoticed, especially when Decrepit Birth's latest has been recieving so much praise.

Rapidshite

Nonesuch Explorer Series - Golden Rain (1969)

Prepare to get yer noggins boggled folks! This is some of the fastest gamelan ever recorded! Gamelan is traditional Indonesian microtonal gong music. This particular recording was recorded live in the jungle by David Lewiston. The tribesmen go from a spinechilling brooding pace to what sounds like 200bpm with so much musical feeling it makes any death/doom band weep in a corner.
The third track is another live recording from a different Balinese tribe. It's called the Kecak Monkey Chant. It's a large group of people chanting like monkeys, with a finale that will give the even the most hardened noise expert a boner. You simply have to hear it to believe it!

So be sure to try this out whenever you're in an open-minded exploring mood.

Sleepwalker - I

Fell Voices + Ash Borer = Sleepwalker

If you don't already have it, Go fetch it.

Sgt. Sunshine - Sgt. Sunshine (2007)

So this is a rather funny name for a band regardless of what they play. In this case we have a german band with members coming from diverse ethnic backgrounds (at least hispanic I suppose, since there's a couple lyrics written in spanish) that play some sweet ass stoner in the vein of Kyuss or Sleep. However evident their influences are (which is a lot in Sgt Sunshine, really) they don't limit themselves to just copying Holy Mountain and Sky Valley, and they put together a really good album that is nicely diverse with no song that sounds exactly like any other, and while not inventing anything new, at least it's done with great skill, lots of good ideas and killer riffs everywhere.

Summer is definitely the best time for stoner rock. In a coupe days I'm gonna go for a week of holidays in the beach and the sun, and I think I'll be playing this on repeat all the time.

peace

Noisy Sins of the Insect

Awesome screamo from Turkey.
In the vein of Saetia//I Wrote Haikus About Cannibalism In Your Yearbook.
Semi-lo-fi with sweet guitar parts and harsh shrieked vocals.
Very somber instrumentals too.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Ravens Wing- Through the Looking Glass

The band in question is Ravens Wing. Hailing from Australia, Ravens Wing is an epic RAC/folk band. I'm not totally familiar with RAC, it always just seemed to me to be guys putting on labels and making statements to cover up for their lack of talent. Ravens Wing definitely confirms my beliefs.
Ok, so back story. Any time there is a discussion over whether or not Destroyer 666 is racist, someone brings up Ravens Wing. KK Warslut, guitarist and vocalist for D666 did guest guitars on this album. And I must ask WHY?!?!? Remember that "America, Fuck Yeah!" song from Team America? Their vocalist sounds EXACTLY like that. I honestly thought this shit was a joke when I first heard it. Cheesy galloping riffs and this dudes terrrrrrible vocals. The album slowly becomes way more folk oriented and there are some nicer spots, but of course he has to ruin it with the vox.
I dunno, I figured I'd share because this is a pretty rare and unknown release and to just share something different...

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8YRVS9RO

Priesticide Lust - Pride of Ignorance (1994)

"It's like being hit with a sack of hammers that were fans of Incantation." - Funeralmass

Priesticide Lust, aside from having an amazing band name play extrememly kvlt death doom from Poland. This shit is fucking crushing. They pummel you into oblivion and then just when you can't take any more they change the pace with a blasting death section. The vocalist is of Demilichian flavor. Well enough rambling, hit this shit up.

peace

Elder - Elder (2008)

Country: USA
Genre: Sludge/Doom


This album is quite possibly some of the grooviest, and most solid sludge/doom that has ever entered my ear canals.
Lyric excerpt:

earth behind me
universe in front
so grab your matches man
and take a hit of the cosmic blunt

I think I just blew a megaup"load".

When - Death in the Blue Lake (1988)

When - Death in the Blue Lake(1988)
experimental/post industrial/psychedelic

When is a solo project of Norwegian musician Lars Penderson. He began the musical project under the curious name "Hospital Blimp" in 1983 before settling on the bands current enigmatic moniker in 1987.

Death in the Blue Lake is Penderson's sonic answer to André Bjerke's pschological thriller novel of the same title. Although I haven't read the novel (it appears to be difficult if not impossible to find in english) Penderson's work definitely caries a foreboding and schizophrenic atmosphere that wouldn't be out of place in a tale of murder and madness. The album being Norwegian and from the late 80's also has the significance of enjoying quite a bit of popularity among the country's second wave black metalers. Perhaps the album inspired Varg to flirt with dark ambient? That's just conjecture on my part though. What I do know is that Satyricon sampled the title track of Death in the Blue Lake to use as the intro on their debut full length Dark Medieval times.

So forget all of that, what does the album sound like? Well the album ultimately carries many pop sensibilities. They are however obscured by the dark atmosphere and dissonance that create a patina of decay above everything else. The album begins with a grueling journey through a 20+ minute sound scape. All hope seems to be lost, but when the next track begins the album reveals it's true colors as catchy hooks and melodies begin to surface. The album works best as a cohesive whole so I recommend listening to it all the way through. Otherwise you will miss the contrasting elements.

peace

Aorlhac- Opus I (2009)

Artist - Aorlhac
Album - Opus I
Year - 2009
Country - France
Genre - Blackened Folk Metal

Ahh yes, French black metal. From the unsavory sounds of Peste Noire to the soft shoegazing of Amesoeurs, we have surely got quite a bit of different things coming from the country. But what is this? Epic, folky dudes Aorlhac have quite a different formula then the other bands. Unlike most other folk metal bands, these guys create an epic atmosphere minus the saccharine wankage of keyboards and/or various other instruments, sticking to the good ol' acoustic and electric. Woe be the person standing above me during the song "Aorlhac", I cannot help but fist pump to the powerful chanting of the vocalist. This album comes out like a cannon ball in Versailles and ends with a bang (Ulver cover!). So yes, this album is a must for anyone remotely interested in black metal or folk metal. Listen here.