Quite possibly the most exciting thing to come out of Redhill in the last three centuries, Trevor’s Head markedly circle in three distinct orbits around stoner, punk and prog, creating a heavy, sonic vibe quite unlike anybody else out there.
Their new album “A View From Below, released on 5th May via APF Records (Mastiff, Desert Storm, The Brother’s Keg, Video Nasties) is a lean and cohesive expression of the power trio’s precision, which marks the next stage in the genre-bending and ever-evolving sound that is Trevor’s Head. For first single ‘Call of the Deep’, Roger Atkins (guitar/vocals) states,
"These last few years have been tough for us – for everyone – and I have constantly been struck by the strength I’ve seen in others. Whether battling personal loss, mental health difficulties, financial stresses, relationship troubles, whatever. This song is a nod to anyone who keeps fighting through the calm and through the storm. I have unending respect and pride in anyone who can do that, and this song is for them. Even if it didn’t go to plan for the protagonist this time.”
Following the announcement of their forthcoming album Dødheimsgard return with their exceptional first single ‘Abyss Perihelion Transit’. The ten minutes plus track weaves a sombre tapestry incorporating elements of multiple sub genres in the world of Extreme Metal and thematically tackles ideas of epistemological dualism.
Regarding the single Vicotnik had the following to say:
“The whole album revolves subjectively around perception, experience, psychology, objective/subjective reality vs external pressure, tropes, taboos, the laws of motion/causality which influences one’s life. The subjective perception of reality vs the objective causal effects of reality and how they are bound interact. Epistemological dualism.”
Vicotnik continues:
“I guess mental health, or rather instead of health, let’s call it mental condition is a big topic on this record. Not as in a complaining way, or as a good or bad notion, but rather a subject’s study of his own psychology (en)during everything.
Like the ambiguity of Being. What is Being? Is it a meta-physical stratum of subjective emotionally fuelled notions or is Being just explaining a physical object that is, therefore being. Epistemologically I guess these lyrics dwell a lot on naïve realism vs representational realism. Cognitivism vs behaviourism, and then bringing it all to an artist context obviously. So, it is experiential renditioning, not solution driven.”
Accompanying the single is a video and single cover art from visionary artist Costin Chiorenau who brings the disparate and incredibly solemn existence of ‘Black Medium Current’s first single to life. Working together both the song and the video evolve over the course of the ten-minute run time to create something truly visionary both in a sonic and visual context. Costin elaborates on the video below:
“I’ve been following Dødheimsgard for 20 years now, and the genius of Vicotnik always captured my highest focus, being at the same time a huge inspiration, both musically and aesthetically. I always perceived Dødheimsgard being more as an artistic movement than a black metal band, another aspect which excites my creativity and I feel fulfilled that I could express all this passion through the ‘Abyss Perihelion Transit’ art video and single cover.”
He continues: “When I first heard it, I felt that void left behind by the desperation of the root-sense of old structures of perception. That void, which shakes the black matter foundation every time when manifestations tuned with and born in the past overleap the fresh sight of the present which fights hard to penetrate the dense walls of repetition. The main characters of this movie are the absence created by the vanishing old, the observer in search of a new fitting cloth of identity for its avatar and the desperate need of giving shape to the yet-not assimilated nor understood living new.
Secondary characters are different types of glitches in the matrix between self-imposed reality and the golden mean dream state, measuring systems for various types of space found between the layers of perception and the omnipresent shadow. These characters are interfering one with another in a multiverse of contrasts between defined and undefined, forming a brick-dust flavoured whole, at times exotic, at times smoked in bitter nihil. These characters are also the topics spoken but the energy of this song, by the voice of now and I consider the proper ones to be dissected through art.”
‘White Rose,’ the new track from Leeds drum machine-driven racketmongers La Costa Rasa, is about the ‘White Rose Group’ in WWII Germany and specifically about Sophie Scholl.
A German student and anti-Nazi political activist, she was She was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich with her brother, Hans. For her actions, she was executed by guillotine.
Taken from their upcoming debut album, Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief, healthyliving now share a second track; the explosive near-mania of ‘Dream Hive’. A tripped out video was made with the help of Ana López Gómez. Vocalist Amaya comments on the track and the song;
“Dream Hive is one of the last songs we wrote for the album and one of the most colourful and energetic. We worked with our close friend Ana López Gómez who captured the energy of the song perfectly with a wild and wonderful video!
The song in itself is about toxic positivity inundating our lives and how it hinders personal growth and perpetuates power imbalances. It attempts to capture a false perception of euphoria.”
Fire and brimstone from Icelandic Black Metal band Altari, as their volcanic new album Kröflueldar erupts via Svart Records on 14.04.23. Named after a series of eruptions that happened at Krafla in Iceland in 1975, Kröflueldar represents the constant threat of ash that Altari’s music lives under. Kröflueldar was a 9 year series of eruptions, and since the album took almost 9 years to create, Altari felt that it was a fitting title for their scalding and ferocious music.
Now the band have shared the Virus inspired new single ‘Leðurblökufjandinn’ with Óskar Þór commenting, “It’s the oldest song on the record and by far the strangest one considering the overall time pattern. I thank Virus for the inspiration, since it’s from the time I spent most of my listening time on Virus and Ved Buens Ende.
There’s not much to say really, other than the lyrics from that point on became more romanticized throughout the record. It deals with an entity bent on stealing your beauty, be it inner or outer whichever is preferred.
I can safely say that it deals with my past addictions, which prompted me to steal myself away from those closest to me.”
Following the first single of ‘Bortgang’, Mork reveal ‘Tilbake Til Opprinnelsen’ the second offering of Dypet.
Representing a musical journey that reveals more as the track goes on, ‘Tilbake Til Opprennilsen’ begins with melancholic Black Metal tones that are accompanied by an eerie synth theme, which as Thomas Eriksen describes “is representative of the nerves running through the earth.”
The concept of regeneration is key to idea of the song which continues to gather momentum until the atmospheric breakdown which is a sonic representation of the beginning of the rebirth.
Eriksen mentions: “‘Tilbake Til Opprinnelsen’ is an epic track about the world as a whole regretting everything it has made and become, resulting in it erasing everything on its own to then rebuild it all from scratch. The breakdown represents the shift. where the world starts to retract everything and everyone. The high point is when the vocal choir sets in. That is when the oceans are filled, rivers are made, mountains are raised, and the moon is hung upon the night sky yet again. A fitting epic to finish off the album.”
Accompanying the single comes a visualiser created by Matthew Vickerstaff.
Watch the video here:
‘Dypet’ sees Mork create a miasma of grim and frost-bitten riffs and harsh vocal melodies, marking the next logical evolution to come from the brilliant mind of Thomas Eriksen. The album simultaneously pushes new ideas forward yet still retains the signature foundations of ice cold hypnotic Black Metal.
Eriksen comments “It is with great pride that I am able to present and experience the release of my sixth full length album. I put every single drop of myself into the process of shaping MORK’s music. Perhaps even more so with this new album. As the album title, which translates to “The Deep”, something from the depths has been brought to the surface, “Dypet” was inspired by my life over the last couple of years, the thoughts, feelings, passion and the evolving of creative free will. Dive in and let yourself sink into the abyss. “
The album also features a special guest appearance from HJELVIK, the former singer of fellow Nordic legends Kverlertak, on ‘Hoye Murer’. It also delves into the world of analogue synth’s adding a different but no less hellish soundscape to Mork’s palette.
‘Dypet’, Norwegian for ‘abyss’ promises to ring true to its name delivering eight brand new tracks that feature Thomas Eriksen’s signature Black Metal howls and caustic guitars. The album was once more performed, recorded and mixed by Eriksen with engineering assisted by Freddy Holm whilst mastering was carried out by Jack Control at Enormous Door (Darkthrone).
David Thiérrée also makes his return now on his third collaboration with Mork. His artwork that has become just as synonymous with Mork’s sound. The piece is inspired by the album’s theme of “Draugen/Cthulhu”; also featured within the art is a crest created by Jannicke Wiese-Hansen.
The inspiration behind the album’s title track lies in H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos but with a Nordic twist. Using the Norwegian coastline as it’s setting, the artwork illustrates a mysterious cult that now worships the ‘Draugen’ (a mythical sea ghost in Norwegian lore) paying homage to the sea dwelling beast of Cthulhu.
‘Dypet’ is not a concept album and the themes of hatred, death, betrayal, inner demons and misanthropy will find fans of Black Metal right at home.
Singer-songwriter and visual artist Emma Ruth Rundle has released her new video ‘In My Afterlife’ today. Self-directed with John Bradburn, the visual is “an expiration of insanity, a lot of Sagazan and influence from Julie Taymor’s circa 2000 film rendition of Titus,” Rundle tells.
“I developed the character, makeup and costume myself, which I made by painting and modifying found articles while I was in the UK. This mask or character is supposed to represent what is left after life ends, wandering the halls of their own existence, reliving little joys, and sufferings. They are a demented and unsettled character.”
Watch the video here:
Rundle’s latest and riveting album Engine of Hell is stark, intimate, and unflinching. For anyone that’s endured trauma and grief, there’s a beautiful solace in hearing Rundle articulate and humanize that particular type of pain not only with her words, but with her particular mysterious language of melody and timbre. The album captures a moment where a masterful songwriter strips away all flourishes and embellishments in order to make every note and word hit with maximum impact, leaving little to hide behind.
Rundle has always been a multifaceted musician, equally capable of dreamy abstraction (as heard on her debut album Electric Guitar: One), maximalist textural explorations (see her work in Marriages, Red Sparowes, Nocturnes or collaborations with Chelsea Wolfe and Thou), and the classic acoustic guitar singer-songwriter tradition (exemplified by Some Heavy Ocean). But on Engine of Hell, Rundle focuses on an instrument that she left behind in her early twenties when she began playing in bands: the piano. In combination with her voice, the piano playing creates a kind of intimacy, as if we’re sitting beside Rundle on the bench, or perhaps even playing the songs ourselves.
New Zealand singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Fazerdaze (real name: Amelia Murray) has shared an addictively hooky new song ‘Flood Into,’ making the previously vinyl-only track available across all platforms for the first time.
‘Flood Into’ appears on Fazerdaze’s first project in over five years – the powerful and cathartic ‘Break!’ EP – out now via section1.
Listen here:
In Amelia’s words, “‘Flood Into’ is about a deep love and loss, and the reclamation of myself at the end of that cycle. It’s the feeling of my own energy rushing to fill me back up again. I wrote Flood Into in anticipation of a break up. The song embodies all the melancholy I felt from letting go of someone I loved in order to walk my own path and learn to stand in my own frame again.”
Fazerdaze’s debut LP, 2017’s Morningside, launched Amelia onto the global stage with rave reviews from publications like Pitchfork and Mojo and tours to the other side of the world from her previous home base of Auckland. But the wheels were coming off behind the scenes. A combination of unhealthy personal relationships, feelings of unworthiness regarding her burgeoning success and general mental exhaustion soon began to manifest in her musical output; for years, Amelia found she couldn’t finish a single song. That is, until she relinquished resilience as a badge of honor and let herself crack open.
Break! was completed during a three-month long lockdown in NZ while Amelia was living in solitude for the first time, and directly in the aftermath of a nine year long relationship. Taking stock at an emotional bottom, the EP crafts an empowering portrait of surrender and personal reclamation. Break! is a vital release for Amelia, who wrote it whilst on a journey of rediscovery as both musician and human.
Philadelphia rockers Soraia have dropped a music video for "Jokers, Thieves and Liars" off their recent LP ‘Bloom.’
Check out the video here:
Filmed December 10, 2022, at Kung Fu Necktie in Philadelphia, PA.
"’Jokers, Thieves, and Liars’ is the kickoff track to our newest album, "Bloom" (October 2022). It’s about all the personalities I encountered when I was falling in love with one guy, in particular. And about getting caught up in playing the game back," says front woman ZouZou Mansour.
The band will kick off their ‘Bloom’ Spring Tour on March 9th in Wayne, PA. The trek runs through May 6th, and features support from special guests The Idiot Kids.
BEBORN BETON reveal ‘Last Chance’, a cool new clip taken from their forthcoming full-length Darkness Falls Again. The performance video of the groovy synth pop hit ‘Last Chance’.
BEBORN BETON comment:”Troubled boy meets emotionally depraved gynoid beneath silvery moon which then, for no adequately explored reason, fails to explode”, vocalist Stefan Netschio writes on behalf of the trio. “Last Chance!”
Aural Aggravation 