Cinema Cinema have unveiled a video for ‘Walk Into the Ocean,’ from their collaboration with polymath percussionist Thor Harris (Swans, Xiu Xiu, Shearwater), their seventh full length, Mjölnir. Recorded at historic BC Studio in Brooklyn, NY with legendary noise producer Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, John Zorn, Boredoms). The album will be released on 14th July as a limited edition red 12” vinyl LP, digital download and via streaming platforms by Nefarious Industries.
Have a look at the video for ‘Walk Into The Ocean’ here:
Following the announcement of the band’s new live album, ‘Live: Eastern Forces of Evil 2022’ and first single ‘Mayonaka no Kaii’. The band have unveiled their next track to come off the live album ‘A Victory of Dakini’.
The track is taken from the band’s visionary album ‘Scorn Defeat’, which the band will be performing in full, later this year at the UK’s Damnation Festival. The track, reminds us of the band’s beginnings and explores their more primitive style that would come to progressive into the fully fledged Sigh sound we know now.
The song details the story of a Japanese goddess ‘Dakini’ that rides on a white fox, according to Buddhist religion. Kujaku-Ou is a Japanese manga published around 1988 – 1991 and in it featured a lot of oriental occultism and were often the inspiration behind Sigh’s early material. Originally Dakiki is a goddess from India that would eat human flesh, however in Japan she is considered to be the goddess of sexual lust.
Mirai elaborates below:
‘A Victory of Dakini" is the opening track of our debut album "Scorn Defeat". I believe the first track of the first album is something special for most bands, and this is true to our case, too. Of course the song is way more primitive and simpler than what we are doing today, but obviously it’s got a magic feeling, which we will never ever recapture. "Dakini" is a goddess riding on a white fox in Buddhism. I wrote this song inspired by a Japanese manga, "Kujaku-ou".
‘A Victory of Dakini’ kicks off the live performance with ominous chanting before Sigh’s signature Death Metal crawl begins, conjuring all manner of otherworldly entities. The song itself is a masterful blend of Japanese culture with angular Death Metal precision, a style that has only been improved upon with each release right up until 2022’s ‘Shiki’.
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.”
French/Irish alternative rock-metal outfit Molybaron, known for their energetic, hard-hitting sound, return with their most intense track to date, the aptly titled ‘Something Ominous’.
‘Something Ominous’ is an explosive, riff laden track, describing a fabricated invasion unleashed upon an unsuspecting public. Designed to instil widespread panic, meticulously orchestrated events are broadcast, creating a convincing illusion of extraterrestrial aggression, strategically deploying staged encounters and simulated attacks. As fear spreads, the population succumbs to the manipulation, allowing the state to exploit the chaos and implement their agenda of control.
FRAYLE deliver a beautiful take on SOUNDGARDEN’s ‘Head Down’, fueled by the mystery of Gwyn Strang’s haunting vocals and down-tuned frying guitars. The fast-rising doom act from Cleveland, OH has furthermore illustrated this dark song with a stunning video, which you can see here:
The massive double album Superunknown Redux has been scheduled for release on July 14.
Parallel to Superunknown Redux, Magnetic Eye Records will release the by now customary companion album entitled Best of Soundgarden Redux that contains further 15 cover versions of deep cuts and all-time classics from across SOUNDGARDEN’s extensive catalogue recorded by more exciting artists.
FRAYLE comment: "Soundgarden was an integral part of our development as musicians from an early age with brillant songs such as ‘Fell on Black Days’,”’Black Hole Sun’, the list just goes on and on", singer Gwyn Strang writes and multi-instrumentalist Sean Bilovecki continues: "For ‘Head Down’, we deconstructed the song and switched its timing to 4/4. The song as recorded by Soundgarden has overlapping drum parts and complicated timings for example. We stripped it down and gave the track elements of tribal drumming, while we added layers of vocal harmonies and voices coming at the listener from all angles."
THE NOISE WHO RUNS presents the single ‘New York To L.A. In 2-And-A-Half Minutes’, underlining the urgency of frenetic and rhythmic energy. Here, the speed of travel is symbolic as the sign of progress that, like so many technologies, save us time at the expense of experience, possibilities and chance. Upon moving from northern England to Lille, France, IAN PICKERING (of SNEAKER PIMPS and FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY) formed this duo together with Brazilian-French guitarist FELIPE GOES. The duo’s newly-released Preteretrospective album has received critical acclaim, including from us here at Aural Aggravation.
Inspired by commentary about the space probe observing the sun, Pickering says of the new single, “That line – ‘New York to L.A. in 2-and-a-half minutes’ – instantly just starts painting pictures of an insane future, good or bad, at a certain cost, which is now too much, gone too far, that maybe what matters is not just everything that we take for granted, but more everything that we’re always complaining and bellyaching about. From that line, it pretty much all fell together.”
Finland’s Hexvessel return on 22nd September (Svart Records) with their sixth album, Polar Veil, a cold, metallic hymn to the Sub Arctic North. Haunted by primal forest spirits, Mat “Kvohst” McNerney summons the ghosts of his past in a jaw-dropping, unheard-of rebirth of style and sound. At once unmistakably Hexvessel, Polar Veil is also steeped in the nocturnal atmosphere of McNerney’s past, churned in the cauldron of Black Metal, Ritual Folk Psychedelia and Doom Rock, and echoing with shivering Gothic undertones.
From their inception in 2009, Hexvessel, created by Mat McNerney as what he described to Decibel Magazine as “a free spiritual journey and a musical odyssey with no boundaries”, have captivated audiences and listeners with their evolution.
Holed up in a home-made studio in his log cabin during the winter of 2022, McNerney drew on all the fundamental elements of his music career as a shamanic shapeshifter, with only the isolation of nature’s solitude as inspiration. Painting an aura with Polar Veil which resonates with solitary reflection and themes of personal spiritual transcendence, Hexvessel’s new album is a bold statement from an artist who continues to reinvent and explore nature mysticism through music.
“Nature represents freedom, darkness and the call of the wild. Black Metal has always been at the borders of my sound and playing, at the heart of everything I do. Tradition, nature, ritual, mythology, mysticism and philosophy, along with clashing and jarring chords have always been synonymous with Hexvessel. It was natural with Polar Veil, finally now as we reach the zenith of the journey, that these influences surface to the human ear, and with the freezing cold guitar sound that the climate here demands.”
A track such as ‘Crepuscular Creatures’, with unhinged, discordant guitar chords, as bassist Ville Hakonen’s hand snakes up and down the frets, is at the more avant-garde end of the album. Long term drummer Jukka Rämänen thundering the toms like never before, as McNerney croons Scott Walker-esque lyrics, somewhere between Edith Södergran and Ted Hughes.
Whereas ‘Listen To The River’ with its ominous M.R James/Folk Horror lyrics of perilous environmental warning, featuring Ben Chisholm main collaborator and multi-instrumentalist with Chelsea Wolfe on lush, haunting keys and strings, could have appeared on Hexvessel’s sophomore album No Holier Temple, albeit with a sound of that era, progressing out of Folk.
Polar Veil features Nameless Void from Negative Plane, performing the guitar solo on the song ‘Ring’ and on ‘Older Than The Gods’, Okoi from Bølzer provides guest vocals. At first an unlikely partnership but one that makes total sense as the album deepens, and threads can be drawn that reveal the place Polar Veil is coming from.
On the process of recording Polar Veil, McNerney explains:
“I built a studio at home in the log hut on our field, surrounded by large trees, called Pine Hill, to escape from everything and everyone. Polar Veil is what a spiritual home sounds like.”
When the components of the medicine are familiar but brewed in a completely novel concoction, the resulting side effects can be deliriously intoxicating. Peer behind this Polar Veil for a breath of fresh tundra air with the video for Hexvessel’s new single ‘Older Than The Gods’. Watch it here:
Darkplace is a mysterious new Swedish dark dream pop/post-punk group who created a conceptual debut album inspired by the bleak landscape of the Stockholm suburbs that birthed them.
Centred around an alternative reality – or just the grim present and future? – and entitled About The End Of The World, the album is being unveiled gradually over the coming months via a series of imaginative visuals based on animated digital paintings for each of its eleven tracks.
Having recently released ‘Arken över Hesselby’ (The Ark Over Hesselby), the video for which presented the outskirts of a city haunted by an unknown aerial presence, the clip for brand new single ’Fearmonger’ takes us into the heart of that city, presenting an apocalyptic scenario as ominous sirens wail and a lone soldier flees the prying ‘eye in the sky’ of an airship.
The Swedish national alarm system is still tested on a quarterly basis by the army. A familiar sound to all Swedes, the sound of the siren has the nickname ‘Hesa Fredrik’. Darkplace state: “After trying to improve Hesa Fredrik, the government learned that the new horns scared the shit out of people.”
Although rooted in late 80s/early 90s indie styles, Darkplace incorporate a variety of other genres into their sound. However, for the members of this highly secretive group, it is not just about the music. They perceive themselves as more an art project that happens to be exploring and commenting on the state of the world through their chosen mediums of music and video.
Most of the short instrumental pieces on the forthcoming album were written with specific storyboards in mind, with the band revealing that “we started creating the art before we had the music for both singles to date, so the tracks were written as soundtracks to the animation.”
The art itself is a multi-layered process that involves photography, sculpting, oil painting, digital editing and animation. Using apps like Nomad Sculpt to create it before exporting scene specific angles and imported into Procreate to be painted, they add: “we use oil paintbrushes and paint over the photo. It is layers upon layers and it gets messy. Exporting gets even messier since we want depth in the scenes and need to export them in layered depths. A few scenes in this project have been animated frame by frame and it has taken almost two years to complete.”
Former Sound of Contact members Simon Collins and Kelly Nordstrom returned this year with their new band eMolecule and their debut album The Architect which was released in February (InsideOutMusic).
Today the band have shared the video for ‘Prison Planet’ which you can watch here:
The Architect, the debut album from new progressive rock outfit eMolecule (former Sound of Contact members Simon Collins and Kelly Nordstrom) is out now! Their newest visual offering ‘Prison Planet’ is a rebellious anthem that speaks to the struggle of being confined to a system that doesn’t allow for growth. It’s a call to action for those seeking autonomy and true freedom, even within the confines of our current world.
The two long-time collaborators met in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 2005 and have been working together ever since. Originally brought together to work on Simon’s solo career, the spark of creativity between Simon and Kelly was undeniable. They soon began writing original material together, much of which would end up on Dimensionaut.
With a successful progressive rock album under their belts, Simon and Kelly were determined to continue the work they started with Sound of Contact. During the UK production of Simon’s 4th solo album Becoming Human, Kelly recorded a demo of the song ‘eMolecule’ in a flurry of inspiration. With this new offering, Simon and Kelly decided their way forward was as a duo and they would pool their best material under the name eMolecule.
In the summer of 2020, eMolecule decided it was time to begin work on their debut album and that it was to be a concept album. Meeting in person at Simon’s studio in Ireland, the duo spent a solid month writing the concept and music start to finish. Over the following months, they completed writing, producing and performing The Architect both remotely and together in Ireland.
The Architect features intense, heavy guitar and drum performances as well as deep, atmospheric and emotionally driven arrangements. From start to finish, eMolecule’s first offering captivates the listener with infectious vocals, dynamic guitars and ultra-modern production from the epic opening track ‘eMolecule’ to the powerful climax of the closing track ‘Moment of Truth’. This band and album are set to take the listener to another dimension.
OXBOW recently announced the arrival of their first new music in six years with the anticipated release of Love’s Holiday, to be released via Ipecac on the 21st July. They have shared their second single and video for album track ‘Icy White & Crystalline’ and announce further live shows in the UK and mainland Europe – dates and details below.
About the making of the video Eugene S. Robinson comments, “Funny going all the way to a UK-based filmmaker/journo from Belfast in Kiran Acharya for directing the video for ‘Icy White & Crystalline’ but if you take the same elements and expect something different, you’re on the road to madness. Which is precisely why we used wildly disparate elements to visualize our first ‘live’ music video for Love’s Holiday. Sixteen takes all the way through… ‘you don’t know how…hearts burn’ is the opening lyric. For probably the best of all reasons here: this video almost killed us to make.”
Niko Wenner continues, “’Icy White & Crystalline’ began as a blown-out ferocious rehearsal phone-recording we’ve aimed to match in high fidelity, the bridge another improv, the two joined make a classic Oxbow banger we’ll doubtless rock live for as long as we plug-in. Enjoy!”
Watch the video here:
AA
XBOW LIVE DATES SEPTEMBER 2023
Friday, September 01, 2023 UK Glasgow Broadcast Saturday, September 02, 2023 UK Birmingham Supersonic festival Sunday, September 03, 2023 UK Leeds Brudenell Social Club Monday, September 04, 2023 UK Bristol Exchange Tuesday, September 05, 2023 UK London Studio 9294 Wednesday, September 06, 2023 BE Kortrijk Wilde Westen Thursday, September 07, 2023 BE Brussels Botanique Friday, September 08, 2023 NL Nijmegen Merleyn Saturday, September 09, 2023 LUX Tetange Human’s World festival (free entry) Sunday, September 10, 2023 DE Bochum Die Trompete Monday, 11 September 2023 AT Vienna Volkstheatre Rote Bar Tuesday, 12 September 2023 PL Wroclaw Liverpool Wednesday, 13 September 2023 PL Warsaw Hydrozagadka Thursday, 14 September 2023 DE Berlin Roadrunners Paradise Friday, 15 September 2023 DE Hamburg Hafenklang Saturday, 16 September 2023 DK Aalborg Lasher fest
Aural Aggravation 