Buñuel recently announced their fourth full-length album Mansuetude, and first release outside their outlandish trilogy of albums. Today, they share a second preview of the album in the form of ‘Fixer’, a track featuring the snarls of Couch Slut vocalist Megan Osztrosits.
Listen here:
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The music on Mansuetude warps and buckles with complexity, freedom, tenderness and primaeval energy all at once. The album includes a handful of exciting collaborations, with ‘Fixer’ being the first taster of this combined energy. About the track the band comments;
“Following a Breaking Bad trajectory and owing this account largely to a friend of his who had been called The Crystal Meth King of Oklahoma by the FBI, the FIXER follows a drug czar’s Man Friday as he cleans up that which inevitably needs cleaning up when you’re living a life of crime.”
Megan Osztrosits of Couch Slut adds;
“When Eugene hit me up to ask if I wanted to do vocals for a track, I said yes without even hearing it. He rules and I am psyched for this absolute ripper of an album.”
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(BUÑUEL, L-R: Franz Valente, Xabier Iriondo, Andrea Lombardini, Eugene S. Robinson | By Annapaola Martin
It was in my early teens that I discovered goth, and Mick Mercer’s Gothic Rock Black Book was something of an early bible for me. Mercer has built a career on being a huge authority on the genre, and things in the post-punk sphere. So the fact that the latest release from History of Guns – a ‘maverick’ industrial act from Hertfordshire leads with a quote from Mercer, describing them as “by far, the most inventive UK band to have got their hands caught in the Industrial threshing machine,” is quite a strong sell. The strongest sell, of course, are the wares themselves, and highlighting just how unfettered by convention History of Guns are is the fact that Drug Castle isn’t just another video single, another lyric video, another ‘vizualizer’ (thank fuck). No, this is, they explain, ‘a short film for one of the more experimental parts of their latest album, Half Light, in which they take their instruments to the beach, and experiment with different audio and emotional frequencies, in an effort to contact beings from another world.’
If this sounds utterly deranged, the context counts for a lot, and to provide this, I shall quote at length:
‘Drug Castle was the nickname given to a facility in England where they used to conduct experimental, often unethical psychological procedures during the 60s and 70s. No one’s quite sure of its exact location, other than it was near the sea, and some of the sessions happened out on the beach. Different psychologists and psychiatrists could effectively book it out, and then take patients or unwitting volunteers down there for however long, and do whatever they liked. There are stories from people who received really helpful, life-changing treatment there, but it’s probably more famous for the awful horror stories and reports of extreme abuse and deaths. Apparently, there was very liberal use of experimental drugs and techniques, hence the nickname. One of the experimental treatments was called Frequency Therapy which involved using sonic frequencies to match or harmonise with emotional frequencies, which would cause a third frequency to be created which caused some quite profound healing and bizarre experiences. One survivor of a group of a group reported making contact with alien creatures.’
Sourcing information about ‘Drug Castle’ is virtually impossible, but then, that’s hardly surprising given the nature of the operation. We know that the CIA’s operation MK Ultra ran from 1953 well into the 1970s – but there’s also a lot we don’t know. This is how conspiracy theories are born – though the known existence of government conspiracies. While most of the documents relating to MK Ultra were destroyed, those which survived and were declassified, despite heavy redactions, contained staggering and truly terrifying revelations.
‘Staggering and truly terrifying’ happen to be fitting descriptors for this dark, challenging audiovisual excursion. Scaping, droning, groaning, tectonic-plate-shifting heavy industrial churns and grinding metallic noise and dissonance provide the sonic backdrop to a menacing spoken-word piece. The vocals layer upon on another and the experience grows increasingly uncomfortable. Strings swirl and build, but what may, done differently, be a soothing experience, creates nothing but tension.
The guys looks like they’re participating on some ritual as they sit, cross-legged, on a beach. That beach becomes the location of a washed-up emptiness further on, and then transition to acoustic-led neofolk-tinged darkness in the later parts of thee tune a dramatically alters the trajectory of this work. The pleasantry of the surroundings transition to unsettling territory.
It’s quite apparent that History of Guns have gone way, way deep into their excavations in shaping dark domains of Drug Castle. Dark and uncomfortable, this is remarkable art.
Human Impact, the New York-based outfit founded by Chris Spencer (Unsane) and Jim Coleman (Cop Shoot Cop), who recently announced their sophomore album, Gone Dark (Oct. 4, Ipecac Recordings), have released the final preview of the album in the form of ‘Corrupted’.
The track is a jeering stab at the power hungry corporations who leave destruction in their wake in pursuit of something material and useless, featuring see-sawing guitars and a call to action in the form of Spencer’s instructions to "Follow the sound … the future is now". About the track, the bands says;
"Corrupted: The insatiable greed of big pharma which has forced a large segment of the population into addiction, homelessness, mental illness, and desperation.
While the track was written looking at this endless dehumanising vampirism on a more widespread level, the video for Corrupted specifically looks at the opioid epidemic, and its evolution into the prevalence of Fentanyl and Meth. This crisis was created by corporate design, aggressively sold to medical professionals, health insurers and patients, and has permanently altered our society, culture and families. Additionally, our history of criminally prosecuting addicts rather than providing treatment provides cheap labor for a privatised prison system – yet another inhuman method of generating more profits."
There are many reasons I’ve long been drawn to the obscure, the underground, the DIY – and many of those same reasons are why I try, wherever possible, to use my platform to champion those acts who fall within these broad brackets. And another thing I endeavour to use my platform for is the broader topics which relate to the releases – because during my life, I’ve become acutely aware of just how personal a thing music is, both to artist and listeners.
I suppose I first really tuned into this when I was around the age of fifteen: I’d started getting into goth and alternative stuff when I was twelve or thirteen – back when the weekly singles charts and Top of the Pops rules, and the likes of Killing Joke and The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission would make incursions into these realms – and was getting into live music. None of my mates were into the same stuff, so my choices were, go on my own, or don’t go. I decided I didn’t need my mates, but I did need to see the bands. This essentially set the template for my life, taking a position of a willing outsider.
Not everyone gets to be so willing in the place they find themselves, and while Rip Space’s biographical info is sparse, there’s a clear sense that they’re here as much out of compulsion as choice, describing themselves as an ‘anonymous autistic Scottish multi instrumentalist’. They outline how ‘Thank These People is an EP inspired by the catharsis of overcoming otherisation, public humiliation and otherwise targeted acts of evil that resulted ultimately, in official diagnosis in 2021… So this EP is called Thank These People. We make lemonade from the lemons life gives us. And in ways, we can decide to be thankful for the lemons.’
It’s hard not to find this apparent level of positivity and optimism quite staggering and more than a little overwhelming, as I fight the personal urge not to frame my own experiences as, rather than ‘thank these people’, but ‘fuck these cunts’. Ripspace has already demonstrated that they’re a better, less bitter human being than I before I’ve even heard a note… And then I heard a note, and I love Ripspace all the more. Amidst a roaring blast of lurching, distorted black metal guitars and crashing percussion there’s that anguished vocal howl. This… this is the sound of rage, of fury. Thanks? Yeah, right. This is a throbbing middle finger. This is what you’re thinking, what you want to say but muzzle because you don’t want to rile your boss. Because your boss is a twat.
Thank These People contains just three songs, and has a running time of under ten minutes – meaning it would fit comfortably on a 7” in old currency (when a 7” cost a couple of quid, although I’m not about to embark on a nostalgia trip, not now of all times, when nostalgia for the time of £1 pints costs £350 a ticket).
‘The Green Ripper’ really captures the vibe of Touch & Go and Am Rep in the 90s, but with a keenly Scottish lilt, and transitions from spoken word to full metal fury in a blink. And you feel the fury as it seethes and rages and roars, a pure, splenetic outpouring. ‘Welcome to Mother Earth’ is a noise-rock math-mash thrash-frenzy, Metallica in a three-way high-speed collision with Shellac and And So I Watch You From Afar. Thank These People spits, roars, foams, burns. And I have to agree when they add that ‘also, the music video is really good.’
Phoenix-based metal band Buried has just released a gripping lyric video for their single ‘No Saviors,’ off the band’s forthcoming debut EP, Infect and Replicate.
‘No Saviors’ is just a taste of what’s to come from their debut EP, set for release in early 2025. With this powerful introduction, Buried is poised to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the metal world.
Watch the video here:
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Founded by the creative forces of Preston Wilson (bass) and Alex Valdés (guitar), they sought to channel their vast array of influences into a sound that melds multiple genres. In search of like-minded bandmates, they brought on Erik Scott, a powerful drummer with a diverse style, and Ben Rosputni, a fierce vocalist who had shared the stage with Preston in a band 15 years prior. Their reunion added a layer of depth and history to the band’s formation, grounding Buried in both experience and renewed passion.
Buried’s music can be described as a mix between the heavy, doom-laden riffs of Black Sabbath and the aggressive intensity of Burn the Priest. Infect and Replicate is set for release in early 2025, promising to introduce their powerful sound to metal fans everywhere.
Huge Molasses Tank Explodes will release their new album III on 6th September via Tidal Wave Records.
They have now shared ‘Distant Glow’, a track that starts with a slow and soothing mood reminiscent of 60’s psychedelic pop, accompanied by layers of mellotron and Farfisa, and it later evolves into space-rock, where fuzzed-out guitar echoes and trippy synths take over. The song’s soundscape is simultaneously melancholic and colourful, creating a perfect canvas for its themes of isolation and distance.
Listen here:
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‘Distant Glows’ follows previous singles ‘Bow of Gold’, a track built upon contrasting kraut-derived sequenced synth lines, spacy textures, jangly guitars drenched in reverb and full psych fuzz-driven drone walls, and ‘Indeterminate’, a song driven by a motorik rhythm sustained by a stubborn synth bass sequence on top of layers of synths, spacey guitars and vocoder vocals.
An immersive psychedelic reverie. This is what Huge Molasses Tank Explodes has to offer: a liquid continuity of landscapes, as envisioned by the minds of Fabrizio De Felice (voice, guitar, synth), Giacomo Tota (guitar), Luca Umidi (bass) and Gabriele Arnolfo (drums, now played by Michele Schiavina). The Milan, Italy-based band offers us a kaleidoscopic experience, ranging from rugged and evocative beats to dreamy soundscapes, inspired by post-punk and psych-wave. With a hypnotic and almost serene sound in mind, transfiguring humanity with new electronic streaks and vocal blends, the brand-new album ‘III’ showcases ethereal, yet powerful, musical canvases that celebrate the band’s influences, taste and psychedelic vision.
Once again, following the release of a four-way split showcasing local talent a few months ago, Stoke proves the be the spawning ground of more off-kilter noisy noise, this time from no-wave duo Don’t Try with their second EP. As an additional point of note, and also something of a recommendation / hype point, the EP’s artwork is courtesy of Dan Holloway, of USA Nails/Eurosuite/Dead Arms fame, who worked with the band previously on their 2018 single ‘JWAFJ’. To accompany the release, Dan has also realised a video in his own inimitable style.
Like ‘JWAFJ’, their first EP, Elvis Is Dead was released in 2018, meaning it’s been a full six years since they last released anything, suggesting that on the output stakes at least, they’ve been living up to the band’s name.
Lead track ‘my grazed knee’ with its gritty yet poppy synths and urgent, determined beats isn’t actually a million miles from the sound of The Eurosuite. It reminds us of the proximity of new wave to punk, and the reasons why new wave and post-punk are essentially interchangeable terms. And while punk did, undoubtedly, spawn some great tunes (I’d perhaps contend less great bands, in that many punk acts, with a few notable exceptions like The Ruts and Adverts, produced only one or two outstanding or even memorable sings, and were unable to deliver the entirety of a solid album, let alone a career), it was post-punk where things got interesting, after things had evolved from three-chord stomps. If punk was predominantly pissed-off, railing against boredom and just off the rails, what followed explored a greater emotional range, and was more articulate, both musically and lyrically. For all its rebellion and antagonism toward conventions and norms, punk very quickly established its own conventions and norms: post-punk broke down those definitions to explore in myriad different directions, fragmenting and evolving into countless new genres.
It’s been a long time since the advent of both punk and new wave now, and in theory, any contemporary exponent of either is liable to tie themselves to certain tropes. But contemporary punk bands, more often than not, seem to be so limited in their scope, whereas many current acts who align themselves with post punk / new wave offer a broader range – even the ones who have been lazily lumped into the bracket of Joy Division imitators. I mention this as I discovered both Interpol and Editors because they were constantly being compared to Joy Division, and while I came to like both bands very much, my first reaction was dismay laced with disappointment over how unlike Joy Division either act sounded.
And so, circuitously, we arrive back with Don’t Try. ‘my grazed knee,’ as I was starting to say before I embarked on my obligatory and epic detour, is a fuzzy, low-fi keyboard-driven cut that boasts a monstrous throbber of a grindy synth bass groove that lands between Suicide and Cabaret Voltaire’s ‘Nag Nag Nag.’ But it’s a lot harder, harsher, noiser, more aggressive, more antagonised. Punkier? I suppose it’s representative of the point at which that nascent industrial sound began to evolve, but there’s also a manic hardcore edge to it, which is more apparent on the harsh assault of ‘climax in the imax’. Here, everything is ratcheted up in its volume and intensity, there’s a clattering metallic snare sound that crashes like a bin lid through the song’s duration, and about two-thirds in, it sounds like someone’s started up a drill and it all suddenly goes slower and heavier and you start to feel like things are getting dark and tense. This is very much a positive, in case you’re wondering.
There’s a clear trajectory to this EP, a sonic evolution which moved forward with each track, and things turn full-on industrial on the third track, ‘ritual’, which manifests are a monstrous, relentless rhythmic pounding reminiscent of mid-80s SWANS and the heavy grind of Godflesh. The crazed, anguished vocals are howled, yelped, drawled, hinting at the manic howl of the Jesus Lizard (and so, equally, Blacklisters). After hitting what feels like a locked groove around the mid-point, everything explodes and the track – and EP – climaxes in a slamming wall of ear-blasting noise. None of it’s pretty. All of it’s good.
The ever-enigmatic Godspeed You! Black Emperor have announced their new album in suitably oblique form – only, their message is loud and clear here. There’s no press hype for the album in their accompanying statement, but no explanation is required when it comes to the their focus: the album’s title alone speaks for itself. NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD. This is, of course, the number of Gazan casualties since 7th October 2023. That number now stands at in excess of 41,000.
The final track on the album, ‘GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS’ is an expansive seven-minute piece which balances darkness and hope.
The accompanying statement reads as follows, and you can hear the track below:
THE PLAIN TRUTH== we drifted through it, arguing. every day a new war crime, every day a flower bloom. we sat down together and wrote it in one room, and then sat down in a different room, recording. NO TITLE= what gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? what context? what broken melody? and then a tally and a date to mark a point on the line, the negative process, the growing pile. the sun setting above beds of ash while we sat together, arguing. the old world order barely pretended to care. this new century will be crueler still. war is coming. don’t give up. pick a side. hang on. love. GY!BE
29 Sep 2024 • London UK • Troxy 30 Sep 2024 • Glasgow, UK • Barrowlands 01 Oct 2024 • Manchester UK • Ritz 02 Oct 2024 • Bristol UK • Marble Factory 03 Oct 2024 • Coventry UK • The Empire 04 Oct 2024 • Tourcoing FR • Le Grand Mix 05 Oct 2024 • Esch-Alzette LU • Kufa 06 Oct 2024 • Paris FR • Le Trianon 08 Oct 2024 • Nantes FR • Stereolux 09 Oct 2024 • Nancy FR • L’Autre Canal (Jazz Pulsation Festival) 10 Oct 2024 • Zürich CH • Volkshaus 11 Oct 2024 • Lausanne CH • Les Docks 12 Oct 2024 • Frankfurt DE • Zoom 14 Oct 2024 • Berlin DE • Huxleys 15 Oct 2024 • Amsterdam NE • Paradiso 16 Oct 2024 • Brussels BE • AB 18 Oct 2024 • Athens GR • Floyd
NORTH AMERICA NOV 2024 04 Nov 2024 • Hamilton ON • Bridgeworks 05 Nov 2024 • Toronto ON • History 06 Nov 2024 • London ON • London Music Hall 07 Nov 2024 • Grand Rapids MI • Elevation 08 Nov 2024 • Chicago IL • The Salt Shed 09 Nov 2024 • St Paul MN • Palace Theater 11 Nov 2024 • Lawrence KS • Liberty Hall 12 Nov 2024 • Fayetteville AR • George’s Majestic Lounge 13 Nov 2024 • Nashville TN • The Basement East 14 Nov 2024 • Knoxville TN • Bijou Theater 15 Nov 2024 • Atlanta GA • The Masquerade 16 Nov 2024 • Charleston SC • The Music Farm 17 Nov 2024 • Saxapahaw NC • Haw River Ballroom 19 Nov 2024 • Washington DC • 9:30 Club 21 Nov 2024 • Brooklyn NY • Pioneerworks 22 Nov 2024 • Norwalk CT • District Music Hall 23 Nov 2024 • Boston MA • Roadrunner 24 Nov 2024 • Philadelphia PA • Union Transfer 25 Nov 2024 • Montréal, QC • MTELUS
NORTH AMERICA APR/MAY 2025 25 April 2025 • Austin, TX • TBA 26 April 2025 • Dallas, TX • Granada Theater 28 April 2025 • Denver, CO • Ogden Theater 30 April 2025 • Los Angeles, CA • The Bellweather 01 May 2025 • Santa Ana, CA • The Observatory OC 02 May 2025 • Tijuana, B.C., Mexico • Cine Bujazán 03 May 2025 • Ventura, CA • Ventura Music Hall 04 May 2025 • San Francisco, CA • Curran Theater 06 May 2025 • Portland, OR • Wonder Ballroom 07 May 2025 • Portland, OR • Wonder Ballroom 08 May 2025 • Seattle, WA • The Neptune 09 May 2025 • Seattle, WA • The Neptune 10 May 2025 • Vancouver, BC • Vogue Theatre 12 May 2025 • Kelowna, BC • Revelry 13 May 2025 • Calgary, AB • Palace Theatre 14 May 2025 • Edmonton, AB • Midway
Following the announcement of their new album Syv and the release of the wonderfully brutal first single ‘Utbrent’ last month, Norwegian black metal masters Mork are back today with their latest instalment of filth and misanthropy, ‘Heksebål’. An epic and progressive piece journeying back to the old times of judgment, fear and witch burning, ‘Heksebål’ arrives alongside a haunting new video by Matt Vickerstaff.
Watch the video here:
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When asked about the new single, Mork creator, frontman and mastermind Thomas Eriksen said “A depiction of mankind destroying what they don’t understand. Witch-hunts and witches at the stake burned to a crisp. Probably one of the more progressive songs with spellbinding riffs of witchery. May the spell curse those in doubt to a lifetime of bad luck and misery!”
Now marking twenty years since inception – which has seen a strong rise through the tiers of the black metal scene – Mork was created by Thomas Eriksen in 2004 & was primarily a side-project from inception until the debut album, Isebakke, in 2013. Since then, with a constant flow of releases and live performances spanning various continents including a hugely successful slot at this year’s Hellfest, the band has rightly earned the accolade as one of the top Norwegian black metal acts of recent years.
UPCOMING MORK SHOWS
14th September – Royal Metal Fest, Aarhus, Denmark
21st September – John Dee, Oslo, Norway (SYV release show)
28th September – The Bell Festival, Enebakk, Norway
12th October – California Deathfest, Los Angeles, USA
30th January -> 2nd February – 70.000 Tons Of Metal, Miami, FL – Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Norwegian hardcore/noise-rock innovators Hammok have just released the video for their latest track, ‘One Minute.’ Known for their explosive energy and genre-pushing sound, Hammok takes a step in a different direction with this release, offering a moment of calm after the storm that was their debut album, Look How Long Lasting Everything Is Moving Forward For Once.
‘One Minute’ is a collection of thoughts, feelings, and observations from the past two years of traveling and playing shows. Written early in the process of creating Long Lasting, the song didn’t quite fit with the rest of the album but always felt like it deserved to be heard. Now, presented in isolation, this track stands as the odd one out—an introspective piece devoid of screams, offering a different side of Hammok’s musical journey.
The band comments: “The calm after the storm that was Long Lasting. This is one of those songs that just slips out of you when you least expect it. While writing the Long Lasting album this song was finished early in the process but never really fit the album but there was always a feeling the song deserved to be put out for people to hear. The song is a collection of thoughts, feelings and observations throughout traveling and playing shows the past two years. Both the good and the bad. So here it is, presented in isolation, the odd one out. NO SCREAMS THIS TIME!!!!!!!!”
