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