Castevet - Mounds Of Ash

This has been my obsession for the past 2 weeks or so. Cannot get enough of this. I start thinking about the riffs in my head when I'm listening to other stuff, it's that good.

I think I may have touched on it briefly in my Howling Wind post, but if not, Profound Lore is probably the bets metal label out there right now. Thanks god they're Canadian. And thank god for their love of New York and Colin Marston and all of these amazing bands that they keep snatching up.

To be fair, calling Castevet just Black Metal isn't quite exact (did I call it that yet?). It is, but it isn't. The drumming is fucking amazing, more along the lines of modern hardcore, same with the vocals, sort of grunted and shouted out... far from your blast beats and witchy screams. But the riffing... fast, repetitive, is pure BM. They also share some similar traits to their other hometown BM peers in Krallice & Liturgy in that there's aspects of progression. These riffs aren't just on spin cycle for 4 or 5 minutes. They grow, expand and become something else all the while never feeling like they've entirely changed the outcome of the song you started listening to. The songs all have space to breathe too. Sometimes a band like Liturgy can become a bit daunting since they're pretty much moving at hyper-speed at all times. A band like Krallice requires a lot of attention because the guitar inter-play is so intricate and ever-changing and songs can change direction in a second. Castevet allows their songs some room to move. There's no claustrophobia here. You're not going to feel like you're being choked out by the music. They throw in sort of post-hardcore angular riffs here and there. The bass lines are sparse and heavy as hell, and go figure, audible. They've also thrown in horns for the last 2 tracks.

I can't say for certain or not if this new wave of USBM, coming of out New York predominantly, will have any lasting effect on what's happening in metal music, but if anyone's been paying attention to any of the trends, pretty much all modern heavy music lately has encountered a good handful of young artists borrowing styles and influences from everywhere and just sprinkling them into their bands' sounds. I think it's to the benefit of heavy music... moves it forward, changes its shape a bit and keeps it fresh. I wouldn't call it cross-over entirely... it's not death-core, blackened death or anything that clear cut. Would you say Converge are just a hardcore band these days? This past decade even? At the heart of it sure, 'cause they're not as full on metal as some metal bands... but they're usually more vicious than most metal bands, so where do they belong? They're just heavy as fuck aggressive music. I think a band like Castevet fits that bill too... not so much the heavy as fuck bit, but I think you get what I'm saying. They have their feet planted firmly somewhere, but they can lean in any direction they want... maybe even take a full step if they want.

Listen: Red Star Sans Chastity

You can pick this up from Profound Lore (I'd recommend doing that very much) or just DL it here.

Castevet Myspace

Tracklist:

1. Red Star Sans Chastity

2. Mounds Of Ash

3. Grey Matter

4. Red aura

5. Stones

6. Wreathed In Smoke

7. Harvester

Stolen from http://www.alldark.org/blog/

Oh, and for being a 3-piece, this band sounds HUGE.

Masakari - The Prophet Feeds

Just discovered this beast the other night. I'm pretty sure I'd seen the cover shot at the Southern Lord website, but that image alone really does nothing to stimulate my interest in this band.

The brief description on some dude's blog, a blog that used "profit" instead of "prophet" in the album title, more distinctly summed up what these guys were gonna sound like... "mixes Hardcore, Crust, DM & maybe a little BM without sounding like it's chasing the underground zeitgeist".

It's pretty much a full-on rager all the way through, but it's the amazing mixture of REALLY heavy metal riffage, mostly death-metal-esque, and some punk-ish melodic riffing mixed so perfectly with serious bad-ass hardcore style drumming. Everything is moving at full speed with intent to destroy. It's sort of a pulverizing experience but soooo much fun!

I'd think fans of heavy hardcore (Integrity, Converge, Trap Them) would enjoy this as much as fans of old-school death metal or early grind (Napalm Death, Grave), maybe even early Mastodon and stuff like that.

Listen: Tempt Providence

You can always pick it up at the Southern Lord store or download it here.

Masakari Myspace

Tracklist:

1. Rapid Dominance

2. Pain Conceived As A Tool

3. Tempt Providence

4. Salvation Reigns

5. Echoes

6. The Voiceless

7. Nausea

8. The Abandoned

9. Echelon

10. Untitled

Stolen from http://thenobletimbre.blogspot.com/

Zola Jesus - Stridulum EP

This EP is just so fucjking good. IU'm totally druhnk and don't give fuck . Seriously thouygh. I 've ha dthis thing gfor like 3 or 2 months now and think its awesome any time I pu tit on.

I've been on a serious full-on metal kick as of recently and couldn't give two shit asabout much else, but randomly scrolled thorugh my iPod tonight and came to this and sais "yeah, that's cool, I;';l do this".

It was the righ tchouice pretty mcuh. The coice on this girl is sooooooooo good. I'be given a listen top her older stuff but thought it wa sa little too intentionally fuzzed out or distorted or whatnot. This however is nicely clean and vocals up-front. the song sare mostly breif with great repetetive vocals, but hat's cool.

I'd say if you like 80's dark-wave or new bands like say Big Pink or some shi tlike that than this will appeal to you. If you don' likt e that shit then yer proabbly just fucking an idiot or something and don't deserve to hear mucsic as sweet as this.

Listen: Night

But i t here... or just DL it here.

Zola Jesus Myspace

TRACKLIST:

... no... fuck I can't evebn tyo0e right...

Stolen from here... http://music.is-amazing.com/2010/03/6/zola-jesus-stridulum-ep-2010

Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle Part II

Anyone familiar with Nachtmystium knows that they've changed considerably over time, and in fact taken giant leaps with the past 3 albums. Their "breakthrough", 2006's Instinct: Decay still gets constant high marks for it's mixing of vicious black metal with a hint of psychedelia. 2008's Assassins: Black Meddle Part I pushed things a little further with cleaner production and letting the Pink Floyd influence really show through. It was the beginning of them starting to lose old fans and gain new ones.

This new one, Addicts: Black Meddle Part II has officially polarized fans. Some are on the hate train moving away from these guys as fast as possible, yet it's damn near impossible to find any critics who'd say this is less than a 8 or 9 out of 10. Sure, what do critics know, right? But I figure if it's your job to listen to tonnes of stuff, stuff you probably most times could care less about, but can hand out 8's or 9's out of 10 to something that just passes your way for a review, it must have had some sort of impact. Nevermind that though, the truth is this album is the best of Nachtmystium's career thus far.

On this one, they bring back a slightly more muddied production value... though muddy doesn't sound right really... maybe it's just more... warm? I know, black metal warm? But I think it's a nice balance between Instinct and Assassins for production value. Blake Judd has definitely allowed his musical influences to shine through more than ever as well. He's made no bones about his interest and fondness for post-rock/hardcore and 80's bands and the dark-wave sound, etc. His bandmates/co-workers have rubbed off on him. Jeff Whitehead (aka Leviathan, aka Wrest, aka Lurker Of Chalice) was a primary influence for getting Blake into bands like Interpol (a band he admits he would've scoffed at had he not actually heard them). Sanford Parker (Minsk, Twilight) tried out things with drum machines and keys that Blake originally thought were cheesy but then they put it in the song and everything fit nicely.

This album has a pretty broad scope all the while staying distinctly metal. Black metal even. I doubt there's any indie-rock band who could tread the line between what they do and metal, but for whatever reason, metal bands seem to be granted the freedom to incorporate more sounds into their music and get away with it. It seems to me that metal bands such as this could care less about what can or can't be done within the confines of the all too narrow metal genres. You can combine metal with metal, metal with punk, metal with rock... but don't combine it with pop. Unless you're Nachtmystium.

Without a doubt there's something very "catchy" about this record. "Nightfall" and "No Funeral" both have these great dance-able rhythms that could be associated with bands like Franz Ferdinand or some more keyboard-centric indie-rocker. "Then Fires" and "Addicts" have a slower and darker feel something along the lines of The Cure or Joy Division or something like that. There's the bizarre "Blood Trance Fusion" that is like a twisted Alice Cooper song (lyrically) that starts off odd musically and comes off as a hardcore thrasher for the second half. "Ruined Life Continuum" I'm convinced, has a repeating guitar riff that Broken Social Scene must've written for him. That's not to say that he's written a fun clap-along sing-along song here, it doesn't unfold like that, but guitar passage is 100% bonafide indie-rock.

I should warn you however, the album opens with a pretty metal rager that is probably put at the start just to fuck with you. Just to mess with all the naysayers who gave this a shot hoping they'd have returned to old form. That one song probably had their fist in the air, rockin' with joy, but as the album would continue, that fist would still be in the air but now it'd be shaking and cursing Nachtmystium for not staying Trve or Cvlt enough.

I don't know if I've convinced anyone to listen to this or not. The album artworks screams metal. The back cover has a girl with a needle in her arm. The song titles don't sound friendly. And anyone afraid of metal or Black Metal in particular will probably not be convinced in any way to give this a try. But people like that will never understand why metal music is probably, in my opinion, the most creative music out there, hands down. The best artists steal and borrow and copy and make something new and move forward always expanding the boundaries of heavy music. Take a look and rock, indie, hip-hop, pop, punk (if you can even call it that anymore)... hell, jazz, blues... they're all treading water and have been for some time now. In most eyes, metal would be doing the same... but I would say most haven't heard Addicts: Black Meddle Part II yet.

This should do for them what Board Up The House did for Genghis Tron.

Listen: Ruined Life Continuum

You can purchase the CD and/or LP (with a bonus track) @ Century Media or download it here.

Nachtmystium Myspace

Tracklist:

1. Cry For Help

2. High On Hate

3. Nightfall

4. No Funeral

5. Then Fires

6. Addicts

7. The End Is Eternal

8. Blood Trance Fusion

9. Ruined Life Continuum

10. Every Last Drop

Stolen from http://doomblackblogspot.blogspot.com/

Grave - Burial Ground

This past week I have been obsessed with all things metal. If it's blackened and deathy and all kinds of horrible awesome, then I've been craving it.

Yesterday I stumbled upon a blog that wrote sweet things about the new Grave record. I then hunted it down on another blog for download. MAN! This is exactly the kind of death metal that I love! OLD-SCHOOL. Totally true death metal here. It's what you'd come to expect from Swedes... well, at least what you would've expected of them in the early 90's. And guess what, Grave were there when that was all going down too. Burial Ground is pretty ballsy, bad-ass death metal with sweet bad-ass riffs. And since it's old-school, y'know it's devoid of all that fret-board wankery that passes for death-metal these days. It's not trying to blind you with breakneck speed either. I'd say if yer into that early 90's death metal vibe or like the second-coming of old-school death metal, like Death Breath, Dead Congregation, Hooded Menace, Obliteration, etc then this is for you.

Listen: Liberation

You can pick it up from Regain Records or download it here.

Grave - Myspace

Tracklist:

1. Liberation

2. Semblance in Black

3. Dismembered Mind

4. Ridden With Belief

5. Conqueror

6. Outcast

7. Sexual Mutilation

8. Bloodtrail

9. Burial Ground

Stolen from http://brutalzone.blogspot.com/

The Howling Wind - Into The Cryosphere

The Howling Wind was just discovered by myself barely a few days ago. I'd never even heard them or heard of them. Then I decided to do some online record store browsing. I hit up Profound Lore (quickly becoming my go-to destination for all things awesome and new in metal) and found this and another band (Castevet) that I'll post later.

This band is great. I've read some hit or miss reviews but they're all wrong. Y'see, it's 'cause The Howling Wind is most identifiably classified as black metal. A lot of metal people don't even seem to like black metal. Then there's those who swear they LOVE black metal and hate when anyone fucks with the formula. That's kinda what The Howling Wind does. They fuck with it a bit. There's some mixture of sludge and maybe some proto-death metal in there. It's a little thicker than your typical black metal. That pisses a lot of people off. I don't know why, I think it works just fine. I LOVE black metal too... but I love it most when it gets fucked with a bit, y'know? Keeps it on its toes. Some of those riffs man... like second half of Teeth Of Frost? I wish that riff was a whole 10 minute song to itself.

These guys are yet another stunning example of what's happening in New York right now with black metal. Others you'll see posted here eventually would be Castevet, Krallice, Liturgy, Black Anvil, etc. Other states may have had bands doing BM first, but New York has re-envisioned it. They're giving it new life and that's always all I ask of my music... stay alive! Don't get all boring and just die.

Listen: Teeth Of Frost

Anyway... buy it @ Profound Lore or download it here.

The Howling Wind - Myspace

Tracklist:

1. The Seething Wrath of a Frigid Soul

2. Teeth of Frost

3. Obscured Pyramid

4. Ice Cracking in the Abyss

5. Will is the Only Fire Under an Avalanche

6. Impossible Eternity

7. A Dead Galaxy Mirrored in an Ice Mirage

Stolen from http://thelivingdoorway.blogspot.com/

Mix Tapes

I found these via Vice magazine's music blog. I could post all the links here for download and junk, but they have a pretty sweet write-up for each one of them, and each one is different and awesome.

For those not in the know, Fenriz is the drummer from Darkthrone. Darkthrone are one of the pioneers of the second generation of black metal that came from Norway in the early 90's. Darkthrone are amazing and Fenriz has always been very vocal about his passion for metal, and even non-metal music. He's long been involved in the tape-trading circuit and has an amazing collection of music to pull from to make these sweet mixes. Most of the music is obscure to me... probably being that he's Scandinavian and had a lot more exposure to the European and world music market than I could ever hope to know. Nice thing is, he balances things between each mix, from full on black/thrash/death to early 70's psychedelic rock to a mix he shared with a dude from another Norwegian band called Obliteration.

I think the mixes are awesome and they're all made with two turntables and have that awesome crackly old vinyl sound. Which is a sweet sweet sound. I'd say for the non-metal enthusiast, at least give mix II a listen... it's really not at all what I would've expected and it's amazing.

Trapped Under Vice Vol. I

Trapped Under Vice Vol. II

Trapped Under Vice Vol. III

Trapped Under Vice Vol. IV

Monolith / Voyager

So here's one I found last night. Two bands, one from Boston, one from Philadelphia. Both are described as being post-rock and very much in the same vein as Neurosis, Isis, Mouth of the Architect... isn't that what ALL post-rock is comparable to? Anyway, it's really pretty good. If I had the money, I'd probably buy it. You can buy it @ this new label called Science of Silence.

OR, you can cheap out like me and just download it here.

Listen: There is no Hope

Monolith Myspace

Voyager Myspace

Tracklist:

1. The Blinding Light - Monolith

2. Shipwreck - Monolith

3. Backbreaker - Voyager

4. Cold (Cure cover) - Voyager

5. There Is No Hope - Voyager

6. Stasis (digital bonus) - Voyager

Stolen from http://ribsout.blogspot.com/

Here's what I'm gonna do...

I'm going to steal from other blogs to make mine awesome. I peruse music blogs pretty much daily to discover new and awesome music for myself. If I come across something awesome, I will post it here for everyone else to enjoy. As always though, like with all music blogs, I would highly recommend you seek the item out for purchase. When possible, I will post such links. Enjoy.