Archive for the ‘Recommended Streams and Videos’ Category

Totnes-scene post-rock/post-punk band Abrasive Trees, who have become regular features on the pages of Aural Aggravation, have announced the premiere of their latest work, ‘Mill Session’ – a short film featuring new songs, interview material and spellbinding visual art, all filmed within an ancient mill.

The five-piece, which includes Matthew Rochford and Ben Roberts from Bella Union project Silver Moth worked with a team of local professionals and producer Pete Fletcher from the Isle of Lewis to produce the 20-minute video which features two unreleased tracks ‘Star Sapphire’ and ‘Tao To Earth’.

As well as the new music there’s also a live version of the previously released ‘Kali Sends Sunflowers’ and interview material sprinkled through the film – guided by music journalist Andy Hill.

458d674aeca54d1ed10d55194a910dcd21d5b260

AA
Visual artist Jess Wooller’s work has also been used throughout to produce a solid document of the band’s current creative direction. Filmed in a centuries-old mill in Totnes, the video was crowd-funded by fans of the band from several countries including Scotland, France, Belgium, and Germany.

Matthew said of the film: “We’d aspired to create this film after meeting earlier this year to discuss what we could and couldn’t do – given our commitments to all of our other creative projects. We had considered going into a recording studio but decided to do something completely different and release some of our new material in this way. Somehow it all came together with the right people at the right time and the right place. We received financial and practical backing from the Abrasive Trees community – so it’s a genuinely crowdfunded project”.

It’s an ambitious project from a musically ambitious band, and you can watch it here:

AA

d1fcb641d8b79e6d6a9e53624774b837ad93cc6a

Well. Bloody hell. If you’re up for a powerful video – one that really hits home and makes you feel strong and wide-ranging emotions – accompanied by a bold, anthemic song, you need this.

No more words are required.

Watch ‘A Ready Defense’ by Feather Trade here:

AA

1647219039606112584

The French darkwave group Divine Shade, has just unveiled their brand new single, ‘Heaven’.

The last single, ‘Oublier’ featured Steve Fox-Harris (guitarist for Gary Numan). These songs will be part of an album, Fragments Vol.1 available in April, 2024.

The album’s theme focuses on the concept of resilience and the inner capacity to fight against self-defense mechanisms and identification with nature. darkness through rebuilding self-esteem and love.

Check ‘Heaven’ here:

AA

7469e874-8a0a-d165-13cd-cb667dadfdb9

It’s been quite the year for Argonaut, as they land the final instalment for 2023 for their ‘open-ended’ album project Songs from the Black Hat, they started back in October of 2022, and which has seen them release a single a month this year, and despite being reduced to a three-piece due to geographical disparities, they’ve maintained their momentum.

One major benefit of doing everything DIY is having no constraints or dictations, and an open-ended album doesn’t have to conform to any rules of cohesion or length, and ‘Christmas No. 1’ is a bit different from the rest of the album to date – namely it’s an overtly Christmas song, replete with a soft-focus, shimmery, tinsel-draped video.

‘Musically channelling all the classic Christmas songs (6/8 timing, jingle bells, key change, anthemic coda singalong!) and lyrically tracing Lorna, Nathan and Deb’s first London Christmas to our last. Please download for free, play alongside Wham Shaky and Macca and have a number one Christmas and a punk rock new year!’

Watch the video here – best enjoyed with a glass of port, or maybe Bailey’s if that’s your thing:

AA

a2886767593_10

Norwegian noise rock innovators Barren Womb have just shared a brand new single off their fifth full-length album titled Chemical Tardigrade, which is set to be released on digital and vinyl formats through Fucking North Pole Records/Blues For The Red Sun on February 16th, 2024.

Entitled ‘Bachelor Of Puppets’, you can hear it here:

“’Bachelor of Puppets’ came together through a swift writing process, mostly by jamming round this crude beat with definite husky tendencies,” says Barren Womb’s drummer/ vocalist Timo Silvola. “It became something we felt sure to be the envy of cavemen everywhere. The title came before the lyrics and they were written very much like a jam as well: late night with beers and a demo version blasting loud through our PA system, comparing notes and reading through the lyrics for Master of Puppets.
”The result became a sordid tale of a Chemical Tardigrade, a half-fictional dope fiend struggling to escape the stale grip of the bourgeoisie. Both being huge fans of The Mandalorian, yelling ‘this is the way’ as a chorus made for a perfect trashy Trailer Park Boys-esque punchline.”

ea5fee15-9cd5-ca67-6716-3fcbc946360a

AA

Barren Womb released their fourth album Lizard Lounge, a bombastic slab of modern noise rock in the vein of Daughters, Metz and Viagra Boys, to critical acclaim through Loyal Blood Records in 2020. They have played close to 300 shows in the US and Europe so far, sharing stages with among others Entombed A.D., Voivod, Conan, Nomeansno and Årabrot, and have played festivals like SXSW, by:Larm, Tallinn Music Week, Øya and Pstereo.

AA

37ac0235-2354-7d38-98dc-69c18461e7fd

Chicago-based electronic pop artist Brittany Bindrim has released her debut single, ‘Obelisk’, today on Metropolis Records, accompanied by a beautiful yet dystopian video directed by Simona Noreik. Known for her catchy melodies and powerhouse vocal performances in the post-industrial rock band I:Scintilla, Bindrim now ventures into foreign sonic terrain as a solo artist with this hard-hitting, edgy song packed with punishing beats and harsh synthesisers.

This new chapter of Bindrim’s career takes her into experimental territory along with producer Matt McJunkins (A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, Eagles of Death Metal, Poppy). While the lyric for ‘Obelisk’ explores themes of tribalism, political divides, collective trauma and a surrendering to peace, Bindrim states that its music “is an interplay between the words and harder-edged, percussive musical elements. The heavier drums and the main driving bass synth line were written first, which then inspired a pleading vocal melody. I had previously written a lyrical seedling that was close to what ended up in the chorus lines, which I thought fit perfectly and helped spawn the rest of the lyric in conjunction with the harder, marching energy of the music.”

‘Obelisk’ is included on an album entitled ‘Velella Velella’ that is set for release on 8th March 2024. “The songwriting process for every song was a little different, but I didn’t try to force ideas or overthink things,” she continues. “Each song developed very naturally and instinctively."

From moody, ethereal ballads to gritty dance bangers, ‘Velella Velella’ showcases both the versatility and evolution of Bindrim’s work. Channelling transformation, sociopolitical climates and explorations to understand the darker side of human nature, her vulnerable and unapologetic lyrics showcase themes of self-discovery, empathy, apathy, disillusionment and growth.

Watch the video for ‘Obelisk’ here:

AA

aecc66569168663fb177d808391eb0aca555bbb0

Two years following the release of their Dead End EP, Portuguese melodic death-metal group KARNAK SETI are ready to drop a new EP titled Restos on January 12th.

Throughout four new tracks, the four-piece now comprised of António Jesus on guitars, Cláudio Aguiar on bass, Luís Erre on vocals and Luís Freitas on drums, continue to churn out a powerful and melodic combination of thrash and death metal elements.

Listen to leading single and title track ‘Restos’ here:

AA

Since 2001, Karnak Seti have consistently blended all the very best elements of thrash and melodic  metal, having released three demos, four studio albums and their latest EP Dead End, proving they’re one of most resilient and determined coming from the Portuguese island of Madeira.

AA

42bcc6dd-d401-ad9d-0c49-e7d5129d6fb2

Cold in Berlin steps back into the spotlight with the second track taken from The Body Is The Wound EP … aptly entitled ‘Spotlight’.

Once more combining the tribal post punk beats of 80s goth with a crushing chorus of doomy fuzz, CiB delivers another gothic anthem for the ages.

The band comment, “’Spotlight is a lullaby about a haunting. We took the metre of a Victorian dirge and added our potent mix of post punk and gothic doom. We knew the visuals would have to feature a dancer and we’re very grateful to Amanda Dufour for her mesmeric performance. (Instagram @mandymakesshapes )

We found the perfect filming location at The Cavendish Arms – South London’s best pub and venue! There we could lean into the retro Music Hall vibes and Twin Peaks colour schemes.”

New Heavy Sounds recently announced a new multi-record project by Cold in Berlin ‘The Wounds’’  Consisting of an EP, The Body is the Wound, and an album, due in 2024, The Wounds is a musical vade mecum of what is to come in a fresh era for the band.  The Body is the Wound EP launches the next chapter in CIB’s journey.

Released on 19th January (New Heavy Sounds), the four tracks cover diverse musical ground, drawing ideas from krautrock, post-punk and doom, but always with the requisite  amount of weight. 

The Body is the Wound EP is the first new material from the band since the lauded 2019 album Rituals of Surrender.

The lyrical themes dance around sex, murder, suicide and broken dreams, brought together in loose storytelling that allows listeners to add their own experiences and bring personal meaning.

“I wanted to loosely tie the lyrics around two ideas,” explains Maya. “Psychology, which tells us the body houses the trauma we experience and carry with us – and Buddhism, which suggests there is no growth unless from pain; we choose to hold on to suffering even though we can learn not to, and so we continue in disillusionment – aware but not aware.”

The Body is the Wound was recorded at Dalston’s Bear Bites Horse studio by Wayne Adams (Green Lung – Woodland Rites) and is an exciting precursor to a new album in 2024.

Watch the video for ‘Spotlight’ here:

AA

CIB

Two years following the release of their ‘Infernal End/Intracranial Form’ single, Helsinki-based death-metal quartet Soul Incursion now return with a new five-track EP titled Eternal Darkness, which is set to be self-released on December 15th.

Recorded by Tomi Uusitupa at Oxroad Studios & Oskar Bruun at Vallila ’87 Studios, mixed by Tomi Uusitupa at Oxroad Studios, and mastered by Matias Nastolin at Louhinta Studios, Eternal Darkness features the artwork of Vermin Graphics and sees the band distilling a brutal and vicious death-metal with a increased focus on crushing and heavy riffs and pummelling rhythms.

Listen to the EP’s leading single and title track here:

AA

Hailing from Helsinki, Soul Incursion was formed in early 2020, when guitarists Oskar and Henri started writing songs in the vein of old school death-metal bands like Pestilence, Death and Demolition Hammer, highlighting a penchant for an unrelentingly heavy, catchy riffage.

The band’s first studio recording, the ‘Infernal End / Intracranial Form’ single was released in late 2021 and found the Finns intertwining fast thrash-inspired riffs with a decimating death-metal attack and some catchy melodies.

With new member Arttu Turunen behind the drum kit, Soul Incursion returned to the studio to record five songs for a new EP and if their previous single suggested the path they might tread, this new EP confirms it and shows that Soul Incursion know how to write some serious and potent death-metal.

AA

c1f2611e-646f-a776-2433-5c5743a6e027

Following on from Marthe’s incendiary debut Southern Lord full-length, Further In Evil, released this October, she now teams up with †The Lord† (Greg Anderson) to release two brand new collaborative tracks, ‘The Eye Of Destiny’ and ‘Wisps of the Black Serpent’.

Marzia comments on this collaboration:

“Collaborating with The Lord was an exciting challenge, and something new, and stimulating to me. I don’t usually deal with such soundscapes and when Greg asked me to add vocals and drums to ‘The Eye of Destiny’, I accepted. The track was intended by Greg to be a tribute to Quorthon (Bathory), an artist who has been a huge influence on my moods. I had started to add in battle-drum beats, but soon faced the hard task of using words to describe what (to me) is the most talented artist of all time. How to contribute in words what I can’t even process in emotions?”

She continues, “There’s the person behind it, and along with the talent there’s the reality of the loss, since he’s not here anymore to witness the legacy of his sound. What’s left of his feelings on his blog, his emotions, his development as an artist and as a person and that spark in his eyes. The eyes are the mirror of the soul, we say. And I was reading some notes he left on a letter and it went something like "may the eye of destiny be wild with you and show you the right way through life". "The Eye of destiny" was an evocative image to me, to picture in my mind the aura of his memory, as a human being and a musical genius. As words are dominant in a tribute, it was impossible, in the most humble way, to find words for him. So, I took his own words: checked all the lyrics and made a caviardage of words that in the end composed a tribute in what I considered the most honourable way possible. I love the final result, it’s my small tribute to a musical giant.”

Listen to ‘The Eye of Destiny’ here:

AA

a2467399362_10