Photos by Wayne Edwards.
© Wayne Edwards
Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 8
Black Metal
Ara Solis, Ashvattha (Iron Bonehead 2023)
The debut album from occult black metallists Ara Solis is filled with noise and suffering, Ashvattha.
The origins of the band are a bit murky. As they tell it, “The beginnings of Ara Solis are difficult to trace and are often elusive, since the band was formed from the ashes of other black metal bands and solo projects. The oldest piece of recording is a rehearsal with different members to the current lineup dating from 2015 that never was spread. It is not until 2020 that the lineup becomes stable.” No mention of who is in the lineup, however, except the intimation that they might be a duo (although the band photo would seem to refute that notion).
What’s the album about. Here again, I will rely on published sources. “An altar of golden sacrifice mightily arises ashore the tempestuous waters of Finis Terrae. At the sylvan realms of frost, the holy gate of light and darkness appears erected stone by stone to safeguard the transdimensional portal of heroic resurrection. The Garden of the Hesperides grows around. The ancient tree of life and death [Ashvattha, Yggdrasil] pours the sap of eternity in the ritual copulation of oxygenic and anoxygenic photophosphorylation. Mortals bow their heads toward the arch of heavens. The sword of the warrior reflects the light of the midday amidst the eternal dust of warfare. The moon reflects the light of the sun at night, lightening the hidden paths of the forests beyond reincarnation. War is the Essence. Living souls are reaped where the Phoenix is reborn.” That is a lot to cover in a single album.
There are three tracks on the record. “Tromo Negro do Firmamento” has an ambient beginning, a single note that eventually starts to warble then fades out. Silence. A solitary electric guitar appears, crisp and crackling, then noise loads the frame and sour movement takes over. A shrieking voice can be heard. These elements come and go, then abruptly stop. “Ara Solis” is unrelenting, longer, and similarly styled. There is more and louder screaming on this track, and it is disturbing, especially when paired with a solitary guitar. Yikes. It does have a long cooldown, so you have time to mop your brow.
The anchor piece is the seventeen-minute “Ashvattha: The Tree of Life and Death.” In some ways, this track is a bit like a combination of the first two. I got into the guitar parts more in this third piece, and I am attracted to the ambition of its magnitude. The final few minutes are quietly moving. This album is not for everybody, but if you like noise and black metal and experimentation, this one might be for you.
Ashvattha is out on Friday, May 19th through Iron Bonehead Productions in digital, with a CD coming from Zazen Sounds. Try the links below for more information on the releases.
Links.
Iron Bonehead Productions, https://ironbonehead.de/
© Wayne Edwards
Ascended Dead, Evenfall Of The Apocalypse (20 Buck Spin 2023)
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
Nadir, Extinction Rituals (2023)
Blackened hardcore metal band Nadir extend their reach with their first full-length album, Extinction Rituals.
From Oslo, Norway, Nadir hit the heavy music scene with the debut EP, The Great Dying, in 2020. That record was largely traditional black metal music, although even then you could hear the beginnings of transformations. On the new album, the musicians have gone much further toward embracing their own identity through their creative compositions. Extinction Rituals looks to be the start of something big. The band is Ole Wik (guitar, vocals), Magnus Wiig (guitar), Jonas Bengtson (drums), and Erik Gullesen (bass).
There are ten tracks on the album, beginning with the intro bit, “Void,” featuring bells and wind, leading into “Iron Lung,” a song that hits a ton. The massive guitars and vocals of savagery set an unmistakable mood. It is a mixture of black metal foundations and other metal structures that is very compelling. “The Old Wind” starts in a similar sense – clear black metal underpinnings, modified in a direction curving toward a heavy music center. In this song, the harshness has more of a crackle than the opener, yet it is still in a similar orbit. The music is energetic and charging. Great song. “Absolute” sounds very different, with a large presence at a reduced tempo, at times fostering doom. This song is my favorite of the set.
I am sold on the combination, the amalgamation, of approaches and influences that go into every song on this record. Each track is melded in a different way, and the whole group is variegated with a clear intention. Some of the other songs that I liked best include “Beyond The Shadow Of Death,” for its depth and heaviness, and “A Name On Every Rope,” which, as a concept, is a dark wonder. The closing stride is the title song, “Extinction Rituals,” which seems like music of conquest, or at the very least, endings. I found the entire album enthralling and the band has captured my attention. Recommended.
Extinction Rituals is out on Friday, May 5th. An good place to get it is Bandcamp, at the link below.
Links.
Bandcamp, https://nadircult.bandcamp.com/album/extinction-rituals
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/NadirCult
© Wayne Edwards
Cemetery Moon, Cemetery Moon (2023)
New black metal has emerged from the northeast: Cemetery Moon.
Cemetery Moon was initially a one-man band created by founder Apparition. After a time working in solitude, the decision was made to bring more musicians into the fold, eventually numbering three: Apparition (vocals, guitar, percussion, synths), Astoroth (bass, synths), and Langeloth (guitar). The music is black metal in overall style, incorporating other lines of thinking as well such as grunge, hardcore, and technical death metal.
Apparition tells us what is behind the new album: “Over the last several years, a giant wave of raw black metal bands has washed over us. From the outset, I was inspired to try my hand at this style but wanted to incorporate some other elements to give listeners something more. Lyrically, I was originally inspired by old stories of New England and all manner of occult mysticism. [O]ver time, however, this evolved into channeling my own experiences and observations about the world. Ideally, you should find a personal meaning in the work that makes it stay with you.”
The set begins with clanging and caution: “Phantasm.” Toward the end of that intro piece, the music rises, presaging “Only Demons,” a fundamental black metal assault with thrumming percussion, trilling rhythm, and hissing vocals. The final half-minute is an eerie cooldown, and then we get a pummeling on “Limitless Contempt.” The rushing surge slows to flooded land suffocating under murky waters, then repeats. “Eyes of the False God” is the longest song of the set, and takes a contemplative initial posture, asking vile questions. There are a number of twists and turns yet to come across a broad spectrum of musicality, each one furthering the cause. The first half of the ten track set ends with the short bit, “You Went the Wrong Way,” a groaning warning of what lurks on side two.
The back half begins with my favorite track on the album, “The Bleak Universal,” which for me has just the right combination of the diverse elements the band has to offer. “Army of Darkness” is a savaging hardcore number that’ll rip your eyelids off if you let it, while “A Voice in the Woods” is on the smoother side, at least at first. “Life’s Enduring Lie” sounds disembodied, and it feels that way, too, as if a chorus of spirits lingers near a crumbling tomb, telling stories. It is a darkly beautiful song. The last nail in the coffin is “I Haven’t Forgotten,” a melancholy serenade of synths. I haven’t heard anything quite like this album so far this year. Give it a listen. Recommended.
Cemetery Moon is out on May 5th – the best place to pick it up is Bandcamp at the link below.
Link.
Bandcamp, https://cemeterymoon.bandcamp.com/album/cemetery-moon
© Wayne Edwards
Eyehategod and Goatwhore at Black Circle, Indianapolis, April 22, 2023
New Orleans sludge beast Eyehategod are on tour celebrating thirty years of their breakout album Take As Need For Pain, and Goatwhore is celebrating with them.
The tour made a stop at Black Circle in Indianapolis to help the locals enjoy Earth Day, and it wouldn’t have been the same without them. Black Circle is a small club / microbrewery that attracts a stunning array of metal bands featuring local, regional, national, and international acts. It is a great venue for fans because of its cozy, laid-back atmosphere, and, of course, the beer.
The night started with Hatesong, a crust band from Indianapolis. Well known among the locals, their brief set was an irresistible aperitif, getting the gears greased and the room warmed up. Their music had strong doom elements, at least to my ears, and the riffs were strong enough to hold up a staggering inebriate.
Hatesong were followed by Vile Iniquity, a black metal trio from Columbus. The music they play drives at a different pace, and it carries the heavy along with it. Leaning toward the thrash side of the black metal spectrum, the relentless guitar sparked the first circle pit of the night – the first of many. Black Circle is a fairly small space, so when a pit begins roiling, everybody in the house feels it. Some beer was lost, unfortunately, but the metal was good.
Goatwhore is one of those bands I have listened to from the very beginning, like Eyehategod. From their earliest album, The Eclipse of Ages into Black (2000), to their most recent, Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven (2022), I have been along for the ride. I have always thought of them as a black metal band, but truly their music has elements of speed, death metal, and thrash, too. They are a genre unto themselves.
We got to hear a few tracks from Arches, and a lot of classic material as well. This is the third time I have seen Goatwhore in the past twelve months, and it is not enough. They played a full set with extremely high energy and the crowd loved them. What more could anyone want?
New Orleans band Eyehategod is revered as one of the early purveyors of sludge. It is often said that they refined the developing sludge sound as part of the specific New Orleans environment in the late 1980s. Low and slow, tortured and dissociated, bluesy and noisy…that is what I think of when sludge comes into my mind.
Eyehategod is touring now in celebration of the thirty-year anniversary of their famous album, Take as Needed for Pain, which is their second full-length record. It is an absolute classic that amazed me when first I heard it. I still have the original CD I bought back in the day, and I spun it again before the show. I had heard that the band was going to play the entire album on the tour. I am not sure we got exactly that, but most of what I remember was there, and a few surprises, too.
It was a great concert. I haven’t seen Eyehategod for a good long while, so I was thrilled to hear them again. Goatwhore is always on my drop-everything-and-get-to-the-show list, and the openers kicked ass as well. There are still a few more dates on the tour so check the poster below and see if they are coming anywhere near you.
Photos by Wayne Edwards.
Links.
Eyehategod, https://eyehategod.ee/
Goatwhore, http://www.goatwhore.net/
Vile Iniquity, https://vileiniquity.bandcamp.com/
Hatesong, https://hatesong.bandcamp.com/music
Black Circle, https://www.blackcirclebrewing.com/
Photo Gallery.
More Goatwhore photos, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/04/30/photo-gallery-goatwhore-at-black-circle-indianapolis-april-22-2023/
© Wayne Edwards
Photo Gallery: Goatwhore at Black Circle, Indianapolis, April 22, 2023
Photos by Wayne Edwards.
© Wayne Edwards
Main article about the show: https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/04/30/eyehategod-and-goatwhore-at-black-circle-brewing-indianapolis-april-22-2023/
Decipher, Arcane Paths To Resurrection (Transcending Obscurity 2023)
Decipher throws down crushing dark menace on their debut album, Arcane Paths To Resurrection.
Greek black metal band Decipher came into being in 2017. They released an EP in 2019, Of Fire and Brimstone, and the new record is their debut long-player. Undeniably a black metal band, their music exists under a fairly broad umbrella that welcomes in heavy metal fans of many stripes. The band is Mick Leventellis (vocals, chants), Kostas Gerochristos (guitars, bass, vocals, chants), Kostas Xatzis (guitar), and Nodas Chatzopoulos (drums).
“Chants Of The Unholy” is a willing assault, and the exact best way to start the set. Ripping and tearing, rushing at a shred, then pulling up and shortening the tempo to deal some dooming death before ramping up again. Witheringly brutal with the occasional groove thrown in. More than occasional, actually, which is a mannerism I came to appreciate in this music. As hard and rugged as it is, you can exist in it. “Lost In Obscurity” opens with a riff that could work in an Anthrax song. Roughened up in every other respect, Decipher charts its own dark way. “Arcane Paths” is a mystical transitory piece leading to “Enslaved To Be,” a belligerent grinder with masterfully melancholy guitar work.
“Altar Of The Void” is an epic song, and the centerpiece to the set. While we have heard hook and groove intertwined with black metal throughout, this song perfects the melding. The long form allows for nine minutes of wandering through adjacent lands and related spaces, telling a deeper tale. “Penance” is monstrously heavy, and “Sanctum Regnum” highlights the underlying style while showcasing the flashier points. Good work here at the end. Recommended.
Arcane Paths To Resurrection is out on Friday, April 21st through Transcending Obscurity Records. In the US, Bandcamp is a great place to pick up the album and merch. Links below.
Links.
Bandcamp, https://decipherbm.bandcamp.com/album/arcane-paths-to-resurrection-black-metal
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/decipherbandgr
Transcending Obscurity Records, https://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/
© Wayne Edwards
Moon Oracle, Ophidian Glare (Signal Rex 2023)
Moon Oracle channels hoary dark wonders on their new album, Ophidian Glare.
Moon Oracle is a black metal band from Finland. They have only been around for a couple years, but have already released their debut long-player, Muse of the Nightside (2021), and a split with Sombre Figures, not to mention the latest and the subject at hand, Ophidian Glare. Their style is DNA-altering primeval metal – maybe even primordial. Reaching back, reaching deep and bringing forth horrifying sounds not heard before. According to The Metal Archives, the band is U (drums, synth), Sûrya-Ishtara (guitar, bass), and Harald Mentor (vocals).
There are six songs on the new record, beginning with “The Numinous Gate Opens.” The music is an unregulated attack. The tempo slows to chop the meat halfway through, then picks up again for more devastation. “A Vision in the Mansion” is equally aggressive. The tempo shift in this one has more of a groove to it than the first track, although there is a space for reflection, too. “Nethereal Axe,” which I misread as “neanderthal” at first, seems to have a mind of its own, casting about and swinging a spiked black metal mace at whatever catches its eye. “Serpent’s Word” begins on doom feet of stone, breaking out from that firm posture into a blistering chaotic assault. “Weddersinnes – Against the Current” throws a fake then thrusts a spear directly at your head. The growling vocals are a visceral threat.
The set concludes on the eleven-minute epic “Abysmal Crimson Desert.” I have often confessed my weakness for longform metal music, so I was looking forward to this one. It is a fantastic composition, pacing itself and expressing diabolical notions throughout. The ethereal passage in the middle might make you question the reality you experience. The ultimate resolution will leave you sated. Recommended.
Ophidian Glare is out through Bestial Burst and Signal Rex on Friday, April 14th. Links below.
Links.
Bandcamp, https://moonoracle.bandcamp.com/album/ophidian-glare
Signal Rex, https://signalrex.com/store/
Bestial Burst, http://www.bestialburst.com/
© Wayne Edwards
VoidCeremony, Threads Of Unknowing (20 Buck Spin 2023)
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
Flying Fiddlesticks Music Blog 