20 Buck Spin

Ascended Dead, Evenfall Of The Apocalypse (20 Buck Spin 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Death metal monstrosity Ascended Dead have returned with another full-length album, Evenfall Of The Apocalypse.

The band Ascended Dead are from San Diego, California, although, according to some sources, they spent a bit of time in Portland, Oregon as well. I typically see them referred to as a death metal band, which is not wrong, but also misleads a bit because the speed and aggression of the compositions put them on the extreme end of the spectrum. Gird up your loins before you drop the needle on this album. The band is Jon Reider (guitar, vocals), Ian Lawrence (guitar), Kevin Schreutelkamp (bass), and Charlie Koryn (drums).

It sounds like something bad is about to happen when “Intro / Abhorrent Manifestation” first begins … and then it does happen. A raging chaos of percussion and guitars beats your ears with vile intent, opening a passage for the growling vocals that stride in next. It feels filthy, oily. The music sticks to you. It is belligerent and knows nothing other than to attack. “Ungodly Death” follows and continues the assault. At first the music seems a bit more ordered, but the bedlam did not go far away. There is an underlying mathematics to it all, of course, as it is music. It is just that there is so much going on and at such great speed that it is hard to take it all in on the first go around. “Nexus of the Black Flame,” if anything, kicks the mayhem up a notch. This music will run you ragged.

Drink a bottle of water and meditate for a while before you open the box on this one. The album is relentless – it will cage you in, pin you down, and rub you raw. Every song is a killer. Watch out especially for “Inverted Ascension,” one of my personal favorites, and “Passage to Eternity,” which lures you in with a sorrowful embrace then builds to a massive conclusion that smashes your mind with its intricacies. If you are looking for strong, serious metal, this is the album for you. Recommended.

Evenfall Of The Apocalypse is out on Friday, May 12th through 20 Buck Spin. Punch the links below to check out the possibilities.

Links.

Band website, http://www.ascendeddead.com/

Bandcamp, https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/evenfall-of-the-apocalypse

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063487424591

20 Buck Spin Records, https://www.20buckspin.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Ascended Dead, Evenfall Of The Apocalypse (20 Buck Spin 2023)

VoidCeremony, Threads Of Unknowing (20 Buck Spin 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

VoidCeremony goes even deeper on their new album, Threads Of Unknowing.

California progressive death metal band VoidCeremony has always taken their music in exactly the direction they wanted it to go. Consider their publishing history as an example. Forming in 2013, they released three EPs in a row before recording their first full-length album in 2020. And then, two years later they released a demo. Unusual choices indeed compared to other bands, and it left fans wondering what would come next. To the surprise of almost everyone, the answer was a long-player the very next year, Threads Of Unknowing. The band is Garrett Johnson (Wandering Mind – vocals, guitar), Phil Tougas (Hyperborean Apparition – vocals, guitar), Damon Good (The Great Righteous Destroyer – bass), and Charlie Koryn (C.K. – drums).

The first track of six on the new album is “Threads of Unknowing (The Paradigm of Linearity),” a kind of get-to-know-you top-hat bow. It is a short piece with blistering prog guitar flourishes and rushing percussion, letting you know that, despite the gruff, growling vocals, this music is serious. There is a long fade-in for the second song, “Writhing in The Facade of Time.” It is like watching an approaching army slowly grow larger as the distance between them and you shrinks with their steady approach. The music is wild, untethered. At first it is very difficult to tell what is going on. Near the two-minute mark, a Zappa-esque guitar break enters and offers firm ground before the tectonic plates shift again. At the end the music drifts off into space. “Abyssic Knowledge Bequeathed” comes along next and, after the drubbing we’ve taken in the previous songs, we now feel at home in the apparent chaos.

“Entropic Reflections Continuum” begins the second triplet with a regularized riff – quite a surprise in the existing context. There is plenty of churning and fast moving shifts along the way, so this isn’t a massive change. It’s more of a sideward glance. “At The Periphery of Human Realms (The Immaterial Grave)” is a short bit, reflective and ethereal, that sets up the epic closer, “Forlorn Portrait: Ruins of an Ageless Slumber.” If you are writing an eleven minute song, chances are there will be a few movements, and there is a lot going on here, to be sure. Apart from the tempo changes and the creative dispersions, my favorite parts are when the guitar is in the lead. This is death metal leaning very heavily on the progressive side. If that sounds like what you want to hear, you are going to like this album. Recommended.

Threads Of Unknowing is out on April 14th in digital, CD, cassette, and vinyl through 20 Buck Spin. Touch the links below.

Links.

Void Ceremony website, http://voidceremony.com/news.html

Bandcamp, https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/threads-of-unknowing

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/VoidCeremony/

20 Buck Spin, https://www.20buckspin.com/

© Wayne Edwards

VoidCeremony, Threads Of Unknowing (20 Buck Spin 2023)

Kommand, Death Age (20 Buck Spin 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Catastrophic death metal is what you’ll hear on the new Kommand album, Death Age.

Los Angeles death metal band Kommand has been kicking around since 2015. After a couple of early demos, their first long-player was Terrorscape in 2020. Now they are back with a new album that is about a “vision of a dystopian hellscape, cities permanently scarred by heavy weaponry, and those unfortunates who survived the onslaught…”. The band is Ian Logan (guitar), Jesse Sanes (vocals), Tim Shriver (bass), Sam Bosson (drums), and Sam Shriver (guitar).

“Final Virus” sounds like a massive doomscape when it opens. The pummeling percussion and growling vocals go along with the rising guitars to form undeniable death metal. “Chimera Soldiers” is rugged from the jump, blasting drums and unrelenting guitars. After a space is made, the tempo settles into a different regime, and rules from there on out. “Global Death” is the revelation of a master plan in a movie with an unconquerable villain. Determined and deliberate, this metal assault stops for on one.

The flip side gives us “Polar Holdout,” a growling monster wreaking havoc from the edge of the known world. The heavy, thick vocals sell the tale as the sharp lead guitar drives it home. “Fleeing Western Territories” does conjure feelings of flight, and of desperate peril. The tension is present throughout the song, and it has a cumulative effect, turning you ever faster. The last track is “Collapse Metropolis.” From the title I could not help but visualize the old movie, the really old silent film and how this devastating ravagement could play over the action of the catastrophe. It would be perfect. These six songs form an excellent set. I can’t wait to hear even more. Recommended.

Death Age sees the light of day on Friday, March 31st through 20 Buck Spin on CD, digital, vinyl, and cassette. Poke around at the links below.

Band photo by Kris Kirk.

Links.

Kommand website, https://www.kommand.band/

Bandcamp, https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/death-age

20 Buck Spin, https://www.20buckspin.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Kommand, Death Age (20 Buck Spin 2023)

Tribunal, The Weight Of Remembrance (20 Buck Spin 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

The debut album from Tribunal is aswirl with hypnotic gothic doom, The Weight Of Remembrance.

Originating in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tribunal is a relatively new band, having formed only three years ago. Their focus is doom music, and they create it by integrating clean and coarse vocals, big doom guitar riffs, and classical instruments like piano and cello. The resulting composition are absolutely captivating, achieving an alchemical synergy that does not seem quite possible. Tribunal is Soren Mourne (bass, cello, vocals) and Etienne Flinn (guitar, vocals). Session musicians include Julia Geaman (drums), Claine Lamb (piano), and Rory Say (additional vocals).

“Initiation” opens the creaking doors and, given its effect, could not have been better titled because it does not merely introduce you to the music you be hearing for the next many minutes, it also prepares you for it. “Of Creeping Moss and Crumbled Stone” follows with a grand and sweeping hopelessness. The guitars are the driving force, and the vocals add tortured humanity to the music. “Apathy’s Keep” showcases the clean vocal, adding vile emanations to temper the sorrowful elixir. “Remembrance” is a short piano piece that raises the question of jeopardy amongst the decay.

The second half of the album holds more dark delights. “A World Beyond Shadow” is as stark as an arctic desert. Sinister whispers float in from the indeterminant nearness, exposing a dire possibility for the eventual destination of your soul. “Without Answer” pairs strings with gruff voice at its inception. Cautious vocals follow, tempered not by fear but by spiritual gravity. The final movement is the twelve-minute epic, “The Path.” The music is enthralling and, as I said at the beginning, hypnotic. The integration of classical instruments into a modern doom setting has been attempted before but rarely has achieved this level of success. This album should be at the top of the queue for every doom metal fan. Highly recommended.

The Weight Of Remembrance is out now through 20 Buck Spin. Touch the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/the-weight-of-remembrance

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/TribunalDoom/

20 Buck Spin Label, https://www.20buckspin.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Tribunal, The Weight Of Remembrance (20 Buck Spin 2023)

Worm, Bluenothing (20 Buck Spin 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Florida swamp doom band Worm cast off into the unknown with Bluenothing.

One year after the massive and tectonically heavy Foreverglade, Worm is back with a mightily impressive EP, Bluenothing. Off now in a different direction, Phantom Slaughter (vocals, guitar, bass, and synth) and Wroth Septentrion (guitar) are joined by session musicians to complete the presentation: Nihilistic Manifesto (guitar, “Shadowside Kingdom”), Necreon (bass, “Shadowside Kingdom”), L. Dusk (drums, “Bluenothing” and “Centuries Of Ooze II”), and Charlie Koryn (drums, “Shadowside Kingdom”).

The first song is the title track, “Bluenothing,” and it starts out appropriately sorrowfully. This is the kind of music you could play after a wake. In addition to the expected granite cliffs of rhythm guitar and the proportionately dreary vocals, the elegant lead guitar provides beautiful interludes through the saturating darkness. The song is incredible, and if you hear only it from the record you have benefitted to an almost gratuitous level. I don’t want to over-hype it, but this is one of the best tracks I have heard this year.

“Centuries of Ooze II” leads with an organ as the advance troupe heralding ocean-deep guitars. A taste of eastern mysticism tinges the composition as the glacial flood of incalculable loss overtakes you in the listening. “Invoking the Dragonmoon” is a short transition piece leading to “Shadowside Kingdom.” The final track is a curiosity that could be the soundtrack to a scene in a dark fantasy movie where a magician is conjuring something you can tell will be bad for everyone involved. The chanting backs up the sentiment, and the wan guitar guarantees a dark future that arrives promptly with black metal vileness. These four songs are layered artifacts, shimmering themselves and portending an inevitable continuation. Recommended.

Bluenothing is out on Friday, October 28th through 20 Buck Spin. Have a look through the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/bluenothing

Worm Bandcamp, https://wormgloom.bandcamp.com/merch

FFMB review of Foreverglade, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2021/10/20/worm-foreverglade-20-buck-spin-2021/

20 Buck Spin Records, https://www.20buckspin.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Worm, Bluenothing (20 Buck Spin 2022)

Mournful Congregation, The Exuviae Of Gods – Part I (20 Buck Spin 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

On the cusp of thirty years in, Mournful Congregation begin their two-part EP series with The Exuviae Of Gods – Part I.

Australian doom band Mournful Congregation is a pillar of the funeral doom mausoleum. From the very beginning with the Weeping demo in 1994, they have set their own boundaries. A second demo appeared the very next year then, a few years on, Tears From A Grieving Heart, their first full-length album. Since then, there has been a steady, well-paced flow of much-needed doom. The band is peopled by Damon Good (vocals and guitar), Justin Hartwig (guitar), Ben Newsome (bass), Ben Petch (guitar), and Tim Call (drums).

Exuviae Of Gods will be released in two parts, the second appearing later this year. Part I contains three long tracks starting with “Mountainous Shadows, Cast Through Time.” An organ fades in playing sinister tones leading in short order to a confrontation with a massive wall of guitar riffs. The vocals that ensue have a sound of distance in them, gruff and croaking. Slow and deliberate. The guitar solo enters in its own time and, when it does, it is genuinely enthralling.

“The Exuviae Of Gods” is a deeply moving instrumental piece soaked in sorrow. At merely seven minutes long, it is sandwiched between two behemoths. The vocalizations in “An Epic Dream Of Desire” are spoken word, offering unmuddled direction in the narrative. Halfway through, a lead guitar embarks on a deeply emotive dirge of mystical wonder. Beyond is the eventuality of existence and nonexistence. The space that Mournful Congregation inhabits in the land of funeral doom music is most compelling. Recommended.

The Exuviae Of Gods – Part I is out on Friday, May 27th through 20 Buck Spin digitally and on CD, with vinyl to follow a bit later on. Osmose Productions is handling the album outside of North America.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://mournfulcongregation.bandcamp.com/album/the-exuviae-of-gods-part-i

Website, https://www.mournfulcongregation.com

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/mournfulcongregation

20 Buck Spin, https://www.20buckspin.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Mournful Congregation, The Exuviae Of Gods – Part I (20 Buck Spin 2022)

Predatory Light, Death And The Twilight Hours (20 Buck Spin 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

The second full-length album from Predatory Light will shatter your expectations about technical blackened doom: Death And The Twilight Hours.

It has been six years since Predatory Light released their self-titled debut long-player. That is a tough wait for fans, but they have truly come through on the new one, which is one of the best albums I have heard so far this year. The musicians in the band seem to prefer going by initials alone, so we don’t know that much about them, except what we can discern by listening to their compositions. When we do we find elements of black metal, doom, and technical expressions that cannot be achieved by just anyone. The alchemy they practice is rare indeed.

“The Three Living And The Three Dead” is like a walk through a deadly carnival. Bright lights and dark delights splash at you at first, but eventually you see deeper in and the doom descends. The metal does not relent despite the nearly fourteen minute running time. This is a decadent suite of sinister wonders. The next track, “Wracked By Sacred Fires,” is very different in tone and execution, even though the first bars seemed like a callback. It is more explicitly in the black metal mold, and still the differences that Predatory Light own are astonishing. The music is aggressively engaging, but not with hooks or even riffs, really. Still, it is the construction of the guitar parts that pushes the songs to the next level.

“Death And The Twilight Hours” rolls out the doom at the front with sweeping, lead-heavy riffs and ponderous percussion. A minute and a half deep, the growling comes in and that indefatigable guitar, asserting and claiming new ground. The doom does return but does not overtake the established reality for long. And then there is the final track, “To Plead Like Angels,” which commits at the jump to pace and ingenuity. This exceptional album surprised me at every turn, on each and every one of its four tracks. Excellent. Highly recommended.

Death And The Twilight Hours is out today, Friday, May 20th through 20 Buck Spin. The quick snap is Bandcamp, and you can also get it at the label’s website. Links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/death-and-the-twilight-hours

20 Buck Spin, https://www.20buckspin.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Predatory Light, Death And The Twilight Hours (20 Buck Spin 2022)

Worm, Foreverglade (20 Buck Spin 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Florida gloom band Worm continues further down the path of deep dark doom on their third album, Foreverglade.

Formed around 2014, Worm’s early music was more oriented toward a straight-forward black metal tint. As they moved along, the doom emerged and quickly intensified into a lead-heavy oppression. Evocation of the Black Marsh came out in 2017, followed two years later by Gloomlord. The driving force behind Worm is an entity known as Phantom Slaughter whose work is enhanced on the new album by Nihilistic Manifesto, L. Dusk, and Equimanthorn. I wonder if those are their real names.

Foreverglade opens with the title track, sure in its stance and determined in its eeriness. It is a creeping combination of funereal guitar riffs, muffled death metal vocals, and ethereal, almost ritualistic sounds. On “Murk Above The Dark Moor” the composition has moments that are choir-like in their dirge and reverence, positioned against passages slightly paced up and massive in their density. And then, unexpectedly, there is a lead guitar break that is transportive. Side one closes with “Cloaked In Nightwinds,” the longest track on the album. It is a churning, clompy excavation of darkness.

“Empire Of The Necromancers” has an active beginning volley that is positively rapid compared to the tracks that came before. Excellent lead work early on in the song is a memorable highlight, as are the lyrical keys. “Subaqueous Funeral” is a single-length dark beauty with a pulse and flow that is engaging and mesmerizing in the guitar. “Centuries Of Ooze” brings the curtain down on the set, returning to the solemnness of the opening but even more mysteriously. I am a funeral doom fan and this music could fit in that category for its sheer heaviness, but it is more active than the typical strain and so creates its own description and enigma. Recommended.

Foreverglade is available on Friday, October 22nd through 20 Buck Spin. Ordering information can be found below at the label’s website and Bandcamp for the digital, CD, and cassette versions. There is a vinyl edition that is due January 28th, coming out later because of the well-known worldwide vinyl backlog.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://wormgloom.bandcamp.com

20 Buck Spin, http://www.20buckspin.com

Worm, Foreverglade (20 Buck Spin 2021)

Atræ Bilis, Apexapien (20 Buck Spin 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

The first full-length album from Canadian Death Metal venturers Atræ Bilis is a warning shot across the bow of musical mediocrity.

Formed in 2018, Vancouver Death Metal band Atræ Bilis released its first album last year, Divinihility, through Transcending Obscurity. That EP was an earth-shaker that created anticipation for what the band might do next. Apexapien answers that question. The band is Luka Govednik (drums), Jordan Berglund (vocals), Brendan Campbell (bass), and David Stepanavicius (guitar).

The opener is a two minute stabbing attack, “Theta.” Absolutely furious. Death Metal vocals break through in the next rack, “Lore Beyond Bone,” featuring harmonies and frenetic percussion and guitar accompaniment. It is like a flock of birds in rapid flight, undulating and twisting but somehow always retuning to a recognizable form.

The album treads this line throughout, the chaos-in-order brutal technical Death Metal. While the style is present on every track, variations abound. Blackened harmonic vocals interact synergistically, especially on tracks like “Hymn of the Flies.” These are some of my favorite moments on the album, but I am impressed overall by the ability and ingenuity of the musical enterprise.

You can hear all manner of labelable crystals in the music from the discordant to perpendicular angularity to experimental avant-garde. To make these diverse ingredients into a workable whole is an accomplishment in and of itself, but to make them musically sound is nearly impossible because if you make one wrong step then it is just noise. Atræ Bilis never take a wrong a step. Recommended.

Apexapien is out on Friday, October 8th through 20 Buck Spin. The vinyl will be out a little later as all record labels deal with the backlog at the vinyl pressers.

Band photo by Derek Carr.

Links.

Atræ Bilis Linktree, https://linktr.ee/atraebilis

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/atraebilis

20 Buck Spin, https://www.20buckspin.com/

Atræ Bilis, Apexapien (20 Buck Spin 2021)

Ghastly, Mercurial Passages (20 Buck Spin 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Death and doom boil to the surface in Ghastly’s newest album, Mercurial Passages.

Ghastly hails from Finland and Mercurial Passages is their third full-length album following Carrion Of Time (2015) and Death Velour (2018). As three-piece metal bands go, Ghastly creates a full and heavy sound than you might imagine possible, achieving unexpected penetration and breadth. Ten years in, they still seem to be gaining momentum.

There are seven tracks on the album. It starts off doom-centric with “Ouroborus,” a song that does give you a feeling of perpetual struggle. “Out of the Psychic Blue” follows and has a fast clip throughout thereby giving the listener a more direct taste of the Death Metal aspect of the band. It is “Sea of Light” that strikes me as the first song of the set that represents the core of the band and its compositional approach with its big builds, growling vocals, and frenetic outburst that punctuate and disrupt the steady state.

The album is anchored by two big tracks at the end, “Dawnless Dreams” and “Mirror Horizon.” The former is a dark story filled with Eldritch secrets and lurking, fell beasts while the latter is an even darker story with a saturating heaviness and hopelessness that drives you down into the endless abyss. The guitar in the second half of “Mirror Horizon” is playing you off into eternity and the dual vocal performance is hair-raising in its creepiness. This is the stuff of the most desolating, dreaded dreams. Recommended.

20 Buck Spin releases Mercurial Passages on Friday, May 28th. Look to the label website or Bandcamp for all the possibilities.

Band photo by S. Kujansuu.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/mercurial-passages

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ghastlydeathmetal

20 Buck Spin, https://www.20buckspin.com/products/ghastly-mercurial-passages-cd

Ghastly, Mercurial Passages (20 Buck Spin 2021)