LASTER did not only stun the audience at Prophecy Fest last weekend with their memorable performance, but the three masked Dutchmen have also revealed ‘Afgelopen tijd’ (‘expired time’ or ‘time run out’) as the final advance single taken from their forthcoming album Andermans Mijne. The stunning new full-length from the avant-garde metal trio is scheduled for release on October 13, 2023.
LASTER comment: “On ‘Afgelopen tijd’, we have pinned down our passion for a hybrid of swing and groove”, vocalist and guitarist Nicky explains on behalf of the trio. “Perhaps it’s the thrust of the drumming, which might wake memories of the ‘Stadsluik’ EP. Those two nocturnal tracks that seemed to be buried in the background of a wacky after-party. However, our guitars flow more than ever as crisp as high speed internet. They are accompanied by prominent bass lines that are eager to reject any atavistic dictate. So what does the clean singing command? Nothing. It should rather be perceived as a free roaming element that gets mixed up with an increasingly repressing harshness.”
Icelandic metal trio FORTÍÐ reveal the video single ‘Þúsund þjáninga smiður’ (‘A Man of a Thousand Sufferings’), which is taken from the forthcoming full-length Narkissos. Narkissos is slated for release on October 13, 2023.
The video ‘Þúsund þjáninga smiður’ depicts the endless cycle of bloody feuding that lies at the core of most Icelandic sagas and continues with usually less physical violence until today.
Watch it here:
Parallel to Narkissos, a 3CD artbook entitled Völuspá, which is featuring all three albums of the original trilogy will also be released. Each album comes with three bonus tracks and the book includes among other items introductions by Einar "Eldur" Thorberg Guðmundsson and Kári Pálsson as well as all lyrics in original language and English translations.
FORTÍÐ comment: “The title ‘Þúsund þjáninga smiður’ is a play of words, which is derived from the common Icelandic term ‘þúsund þjala smiður’; but instead of referring to a ‘man of a thousand traits’, we have changed it into a ‘man of a thousand sufferings’ here", mastermind Einar Thorberg Guðmundsson writes. "The lyrics are more abstract than the video. They revolve around mankind’s thin outer layer of civilization and the pure animal instinct that lurks beneath the surface. It takes little effort to reveal our true nature. The clear cut story-line of the video shows Icelandic farmers fighting over a piece of land. Such family feuds have been very common in Iceland throughout the centuries and lie at the core of our saga literature. Coincidentally, the farmer that so kindly lent me his fence for this video also had a very rough land dispute with the neighbouring farmer. I cannot go into the details, because it is still an ongoing court case that will hopefully get settled in a more civilized manner than what you see in this video.”
TAR POND have just unveiled the fierce video clip ‘SLAVE’ as the next single taken from the Swiss doom visionaries’ forthcoming new album PETROL, which is scheduled for release on September 15, 2023.
TAR POND explain: “Although the video for ‘SLAVE’ was produced simultaneously with the clip for ‘BLIND’’, we approached the visuals in a quite different way”, vocalist Thomas Ott elaborates. “This dark and heavy song rather evokes simple and slow images. I had some interesting shots of jellyfish floating in dark water. So we decided to shoot some additional material of the band performing in the rehearsal room, filled with a maximum of smoke. That quickly turned out to be a bad idea due to the fire alarms installed in the building. Well, with the kind help of some good old friends, Marky managed to procure a much better location in no time. Initially, the video for ‘SLAVE’ was planned with more varied footage, but Fabrizio Merico’s sublime camera work, shot in only one night at the Zukunft Club in Zurich, and the absolute professional editing by Coroner’s Daniel Stoessel made us decide to just let it all go up in smoke! Sometimes less is more!”
TAR POND are now unveiling the fierce video clip ‘BLIND’ as the first single taken from the Swiss doom visionaries’ forthcoming new album PETROL, which is scheduled for release on September 15, 2023.
TAR POND comment: “As an artist and part time filmmaker, I felt, once more, in the right place to take over the job of doing the video for ‘BLIND’, which proved to be a wise decision”, vocalist Thomas Ott writes. “Especially as there was almost zero production budget and not much time left to put something together. The result is a vibrant collage of moving or pulsing pictures. It is shot through the eye of a half blind, crazy man, running through a world you may call ‘HELL’ or simply ‘LIFE’.”
Watch the video for ‘BLIND’ here:
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Although PETROL is clearly drawing inspiration from US doom classics such as SAINT VITUS as way as going all the way back to the British roots embodied by BLACK SABBATH, there are also moments that connect TAR POND with contemporary doom acts such as ELECTRIC WIZARD and ACID BATH. At the same time, TAR POND also exemplify the stubborn streak of Swiss metal that displays a fierce individuality and creative independence as outstanding acts such as CELTIC FROST, CORONER, and ZEAL & ARDOR easily attest.
Going back to the crossroads of time, everything seemed to change when Martin Ain, bass player of the iconic CELTIC FROST and one of the founding members of TAR POND passed away in October 2017. Before this tragic day, the Swiss legend had already recorded the debut album together with the other founding members, the former CORONER drummer and lyricist Marky Edelmann, and the renowned scratchboard artist and vocalist Thomas Ott.
Dymna Lotva unveil the highly symbolic video ‘Death Kisses Your Eyes’ (Смерць Цалуе Ў Вочы) as the second single taken from the Belarus duo’s forthcoming new album The Land under the Black Wings: Blood (Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў), which is slated for release on August 4, 2023.
Watch the video here:
DYMNA LOTVA comment on ‘Death Kisses Your Eyes’ (Смерць Цалуе Ў Вочы): “This song is dedicated to the memory of the Belarusian protest activist Roman Bondarenko, who was killed by the Lukashenka regime”, vocalist Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich states. “Roman’s last words were a message in the neighbours’ chat, ‘I’m going out’.
When unknown people arrived in his yard and began to destroy protest art and national symbols which were jointly created by the residents of nearby houses, he could not stand aside. When Roman Bondarenko left the house, he was brutally beaten and abducted by unidentified men wearing black clothes and masks. Roman died from his injuries the next day, on November 12, 2020. On the same day, the first demo of this song was mixed. The song’s lyrics which are carrying the words ‘those who wear midnight will take you away’ and ‘let’s go’ were too reminiscent of his story. The video clip was created by the photo artist Jay Flokker. It was not originally conceived to be shown alongside this song, but we felt it to be very appropriate as it is a strong reminder of the struggle of the people of Belarus and their national symbol, our flag with its white, red, and white stripes.”
FEN release the dark monumental track ‘Wracked’ as the final single taken from the East Anglians’ forthcoming album Monuments to Absence, which is chalked up for release on July 7, 2023.
FEN comment on ‘Wracked’: “There are days when one is struck by a sense of such overwhelming black despair that it strikes almost as a physical force”, mastermind Frank “The Watcher” Allain writes. “We are literally wracked with sorrow, so overcome with the deepest sadness that it hits like a blow – staggering one backwards, grinding us to a halt. At such moments, one can only wait for the wave to subside, to retreat into the dark, yawning chasm of one’s own mind; and hope that the storm will pass as swiftly as possible. ‘Wracked’ speaks of those days.”
XASTHUR unveil the next sinister single, ‘A Future to Fear II’, taken from the forthcoming double-album Inevitably Dark, which is set up for release on June 23, 2023. The stylistically highly diverse American outfit instigated by multi-instrumentalist Scott Conner has created a kaleidoscopic double-album that is ranging from acid folk to black metal.
A visualizer of the eerie track ‘A Future to Fear II’ is available here:
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There is hardly a more fitting title for the new XASTHUR compositions than "Inevitably Dark". Darkness is the element that holds all the tracks together despite the fact that they are expressed in a multitude of genres, which even includes black metal. This time. Be warned: this album is neither meant as a return to black metal of mastermind Scott Conner, even though he does this time, nor a guarantee that it will happen again next time – although, he might. Maybe.
This monolith of musical darkness that is balefully towering in the shape of a monumental XASTHUR double album has been made from sonic granite. Like the intrusive igneous type of rock, it is coarse-grained, composed from different minerals that have formed from magma erupting to the surface from infernal depths, and has a high content of metal oxides that do not always show at a superficial glance.
Instead of quartz, alkali feldspar, and other types of rock, Conner has used black metal, dark ambient, acid folk, doomgrass, and other genres to express what he has seen and felt, as well as a way to find his own sound or style at a point in time – for example when he was without a steady home and often living in hotels or cars. His insights into the underbelly of the American dream are reflected in the lyrics of "Inevitably Dark", which are there even though there is no singing on the album. Conner is taking a look into the minds of the mentally ill. The puzzle of people that he encountered on the road and that might be homeless because they are ill, or whose minds shattered when they lost their homes.
Documenting what he has heard and seen, Conner recorded all the tracks of "Inevitably Dark" live and by himself, which might make it sound coarse to modern ears, but it is just the grit and stain of unfiltered reality. His way is the old hard way of a live sound and not the fake glitter of a perfectly polished product. XASTHUR are sounding exactly as the mastermind has envisioned his album to be: real.
FEN release the epic and constantly shape-shifting track ‘Truth Is Futility’ as the second single taken from the East Anglians’ forthcoming album Monuments to Absence, which is slated for release on July 7, 2023.
Fen comment on ‘Truth Is Futility’: “The title says it all: the quest for truth is a futile one and even when presented with self-evident realities, our species will violently reject anything that contradicts enshrined dogma and the fragile beliefs to which many desperately nail their sense of identity to", mastermind Frank “The Watcher” Allain muses. “History has shown time and again that the purveyors of knowledge, the seekers of understanding, and those who challenge conventional wisdom are persecuted and stigmatised. At the very core of most of us lurks the kernel of one actual truth that many of us dare not even admit to ourselves: we do not desire to know the fundamental truths of ourselves and our world. We do not want our cosseted egos and comfortable safety blankets to be disturbed in any way – even by the revelations of enlightenment. Against such cemented defence, what is real truth if nothing but futility? Musically, this song is a true Fen ‘journey’. We feel that ‘Truth Is Futility’ embodies the balance of intensity, encroaching despair, and the primordial roar of rage that can be the only genuine reaction to such hopelessness.”
Today I did something that was pretty alien to me: I took a break. Having dropped the car at the garage for a service, I walked some four miles back into town, and with another mile and half to get me back home, I stopped in at a pub and sat on the first floor with a pint, just looking out of the window watching people drift by on the street below. There were some interesting tunes being aired through the hidden speakers, from early New Order to The Jesus and Mary Chain. At some point, Dum Dum Girls’ cover of ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’ came on and not for the first time in recent months, began to reflect on The Smiths, since I recently offloaded my entire vinyl collection of their works. It wasn’t just that I need the money – and the £800 I raised was certainly useful – but this was an act of purging. That Morrissey is a monumental cunt had certainly been bugging me for some time, but then I have many records by people who have long been known to be monumental cunts and I haven’t felt the compulsion to jettison their junk. No, his cuntdom was just the tipper after I came to the conclusion that these records no longer spoke to me and hadn’t been played much since I left my teens, and the death of our monarch, which led to the obvious song gaining ubiquity on my social media feeds simply left me weary.
But on hearing this cover, I found myself thinking ‘but this is a great song’. And so, arriving home to find Spiritual Front’s cover of ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ in my inbox felt somewhat serendipitous.
Taken from their upcoming album of Smiths covers, The Queen is Not Dead, it’s a very straight cover that not only pays homage but great attention to detail in terms of the arrangement, mostly only adding swathes of strings near the end. And it, too, is – still – a great song. Although not all of The Smiths’ songs were great – the albums included a a lot of pap, like ‘Frankly, Mr Shankly’ – but it’s hard to fault their singles and the craft. Perhaps, then, it does come back to the issue being Morrissey, his cuntiness and his adenoidal tones which my wife always hated so – meaning that, ultimately, at least for me, it becomes a question of context, and hearing covers of the songs is preferable and less problematic than hearing the originals.
As the bio which accompanies the release details, ‘With The Smiths carved so deeply into the Romans’ collective heart that they had played full shows featuring the English rockers’ classic hymns in recent years, it was only a short step to record a full tribute album when taking a break from touring. Spiritual Front went about their task with the explicit aim to pay a respectful homage yet at the same time to stay away from cloning. Across the album’s fifteen tracks, which many consider sacred, the Italians stayed true to the original recordings, while pulling those songs closer to the sonic world of Spiritual Front for example by adding strings and horn parts.’
This, of course, is the ultimate pull of The Smiths: anyone who has endured those awkward teenage years as an outsider, who’s been sixteen, clumsy, and shy, will feel that connection to these songs. And for a band whose recent output, dubbed ‘nihilistic suicide pop’ has drawn comparisons with Nick Cave, Swans, and Scott Walker, it still makes sense that The Smiths would be there in the background.
But to hear the weathered, tattooed Simone Salvatori enunciating ‘ah-ho, la-la, ladadada’ – well, it does seem somehow incongruous. For all that, he pulls it off well, and while I’m on the fence with the video, it’s a solid cover that suggests the album will be worth hearing.
Austere are back. The Australians return with their third album – and they are as laconic and without any pretensions as when they went into extended hibernation after the release of their sophomore full-length To Lay like Old Ashes in 2009.
Entitled Corrosion of Hearts, the new tracks stay true to the path that Austere have carved for themselves out of solid black metal bedrock. The multi-layered and harsh yet often dreamlike guitar tapestries woven by Mitchell Keepin are complemented by the emotive drumming of Tim Yatras, who also contributes keyboard splashes and cinematic soundscapes. Both also contribute vocals that cover the full spectrum of their genre and range from throat-ripping growls via desolate screams to clear voices. In the typical manner of these Australians, their songs are still meandering, flowing streams of musical thought of epic proportions.
The sonic heritage of Austere is apparent. Their inspiration derives from the early Norse black metal scene and its depressive offspring, but also stretches further to the gentler and more emotional approach of blackgaze. Despite or maybe even because of the width of the influences, the Australians have found their own answers to the musical paradox inherent in this style, which is both fast and slow, aggressive and melancholic.
On Corrosion of Hearts, Austere ‘s brand of black metal has evolved into a more mature and defined form of expression, which is hardly surprising as both musicians were active in other bands during their hiatus. The duo also took more time to craft their new songs into exactly what they were supposed to sound like than before. With greater experience comes more determination.
As a taster, they’ve unveiled ‘A Ravenous Oblivion’.
Aural Aggravation 