Very cool. Definitely gonna have to check it out. Thanks for the heads up.
Also, speaking of Agalloch, the ex-members have formed two new bands. John Haughm is is leading a band called Pillorian and they have an album out, which is on Bandcamp (https://pillorian.bandcamp.com/), while Don Anderson, Jason Walton, Aesop Dekker and an ex member of Giant Squid formed Khôrada, who haven't put anything out yet.
...I am coming to the weird realisation, quite late perhaps, that Stephen O'Malley is a scene unto himself.
He really is. He even did a record with Mika Vainio (RIP) called Through a Pre-Memory this is definitely up your alley, if you haven't heard it already. It even has Alan Dubin of Khanate on vocals.
Also, I was watching an interview/lecture of Stephen O'Malley and I was kinda surprised how soft spoken he was.
The title track from Yob's Catharsis is maybe the best traditional doom metal track I have heard in literal years. It's nearly twenty-four minutes long and it uses every minute perfectly.
So I was looking up whether Adam Kalbach of Jute Gyte notoriety's thoughts on Ligotti—apparently he does like his work, but considers most of it a prelude to The Conspiracy Against the Human Race—I found this really fascinating interview with him in the Quietus about the breakdown of Romanticism in music and philosophical consideration.
The title track from Yob's Catharsis is maybe the best traditional doom metal track I have heard in literal years. It's nearly twenty-four minutes long and it uses every minute perfectly.
OK, so Demilich's Nespithe is a really fucking good early tech-death album, absolutely insane and brutal and catchy, but apparently it's their only album. Their only album! Laaaaaaaame.
My only complaints are that there could be more diversity in the vocal approach—it's all gurgle all the time—and the super nerdy part of me thinks some of those crazy guitar motifs would have been even more awesome if they were played on a distorted saxophone à la Transmission or Masada. But this is '90s death metal and I can only ask for so much.
I don't know a whole lot about them but the descriptions I've read are so utterly bizarre that I have to recommend them. To summarise: They started out as a Demilich worship act (well duh), then turned into a hybrid brutal tech-death/IDM outfit. I'm not making this up.
If you like skull-crushing doom with a slight black/crust edge, noisy electronics and bursts of frenzied free-jazz sax, these are your dudes. (Also, apparently their name actually means something in another language, possibly Turkish, and isn't simply a ludicrous spelling of "cunt," but what it actually means I have not ascertained—quite possibly something very un-metal like "teapot.")
Content warning for the deceased rat on the cover, but I'm putting a pin in this. I never expected to actually find a band that sounds like an unholy fusion of Khanate and Portal, but apparently one Jared Moran, under the guise Yzordderrex—it's from Clive Barker's Imajica series, Google informs me—has decided to fill that void. His work is a wee bit rough around the edges, but I appreciate what he's going for immensely even if the ideas might need to cook longer.
Brulvahnatu's Menstrual Extraction Ceremony was delicious. Very necro, hard-to-classify black metal with some really ambitious instrumentation and structures combined with truly ghoulish vocals and gnarly playing and production. Apparently this guy used to play guitar for A.M.S.G. and bass for Antediluvian, and now he makes records by himself that sound like this. Good.
Also he drums for Fleshpress and is literally the only member of Stabat Mater, both of whom I checked out without knowing he was involved. What a strangely prolific man. What a strange man in general, really. He kind of creeps me out and fascinates me at the same time. I listened to the latest Fleshpress LP earlier this evening; it's exceedingly good stuff.
I think I am coming to a conclusion which I already knew long ago but had become confused on and only recently reaffirmed, which is that really evil doom metal is my favourite kind of metal. Black metal is a close second and I think that adding black metal concepts and vibes to other extreme metal species tends to bring out the best in them (including doom), but fuck, I love savage, tortuous doom metal so fucking much. Especially funeral doom when it's really fucked up and miserable. I listened to Wormphlegm's sole LP last night and those fucking vocals, my god, fantastic. Like if the Virgin Prunes learned to death-growl and got really, really into it.
This little demo here is seriously bizarre. Basically, the underpinnings here are in really fast crossover thrash, but the extreme minimalism (voice, lone guitar, simple drum machine), abysmal recording fidelity, psychotic performances and harsh effects make the whole thing sound more like power electronics. And mind you, this came out a year before Napalm Death's Scum. This is really came out of nowhere.
"how do they sing without damaging their vocal cords"
whenever this topic comes up, the first thing that springs to my mind for me is how, back in the halycon days of like 2008-2012-ish, there was a running thing where metalcore/deathcore vocalists would damage their vocal cords because they had no proper training
I do kind of wonder how one can sustain one's vocal integrity when mastering shrieks and wretched screams, though. There is a certain amount of epiglottal and pharyngeal activity there, especially in wretched vocals, but there's a much stronger laryngeal component than in death growling or gurgling. (I know this from personal experience.)
Today I learned: The live bassist for the punky Watership Down-preoccupied raw black metal band El-Ahrairah was the original vocalist for Veil of Maya.
I guess the common denominator is they're both huge nerds?
"All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed."
A cool thing that exists: A feminist death metal album about witchcraft. It's apparently really, really good, but I'm listening to The Slow Death now so I can't check it out myself yet. >.>;
Comments
Also, speaking of Agalloch, the ex-members have formed two new bands. John Haughm is is leading a band called Pillorian and they have an album out, which is on Bandcamp (https://pillorian.bandcamp.com/), while Don Anderson, Jason Walton, Aesop Dekker and an ex member of Giant Squid formed Khôrada, who haven't put anything out yet.
...I am coming to the weird realisation, quite late perhaps, that Stephen O'Malley is a scene unto himself.
Also, I was watching an interview/lecture of Stephen O'Malley and I was kinda surprised how soft spoken he was.
vimeo.com/65684720
The Curator from Portal has one hell of a performance aesthetic.
SO GOOD.
The title track from Yob's Catharsis is maybe the best traditional doom metal track I have heard in literal years. It's nearly twenty-four minutes long and it uses every minute perfectly.
My only complaints are that there could be more diversity in the vocal approach—it's all gurgle all the time—and the super nerdy part of me thinks some of those crazy guitar motifs would have been even more awesome if they were played on a distorted saxophone à la Transmission or Masada. But this is '90s death metal and I can only ask for so much.
the saxophone is actually the most metal instrument because it sounds like the screams of the damned
Saxophone is metal as fuck if you're doing it right.
I don't know a whole lot about them but the descriptions I've read are so utterly bizarre that I have to recommend them. To summarise: They started out as a Demilich worship act (well duh), then turned into a hybrid brutal tech-death/IDM outfit. I'm not making this up.
If you like skull-crushing doom with a slight black/crust edge, noisy electronics and bursts of frenzied free-jazz sax, these are your dudes. (Also, apparently their name actually means something in another language, possibly Turkish, and isn't simply a ludicrous spelling of "cunt," but what it actually means I have not ascertained—quite possibly something very un-metal like "teapot.")
Mikko Aspa is the current vocalist of Deathspell Omega.
Mikko Aspa, of Grunt and Freak Animal Records notoriety. Power electronics doyen Mikko Aspa.
What.
How did I not know this.
This little demo here is seriously bizarre. Basically, the underpinnings here are in really fast crossover thrash, but the extreme minimalism (voice, lone guitar, simple drum machine), abysmal recording fidelity, psychotic performances and harsh effects make the whole thing sound more like power electronics. And mind you, this came out a year before Napalm Death's Scum. This is really came out of nowhere.
You would think this was a surreal joke, but this actually happened.
Still, need to read that.
Found this video on how Metal singers can scream without damaging their vocal cords.
whenever this topic comes up, the first thing that springs to my mind for me is how, back in the halycon days of like 2008-2012-ish, there was a running thing where metalcore/deathcore vocalists would damage their vocal cords because they had no proper training
I do kind of wonder how one can sustain one's vocal integrity when mastering shrieks and wretched screams, though. There is a certain amount of epiglottal and pharyngeal activity there, especially in wretched vocals, but there's a much stronger laryngeal component than in death growling or gurgling. (I know this from personal experience.)
I guess the common denominator is they're both huge nerds?
metal as fuck
I've been meaning to bring Cemican to you attention for a while, but I keep forgetting, so I'm posting them here now.