TERRA - Mors Secundos

Terra - Mors Secundos (2016, Code666)

As everyone’s getting tired of Blackgaze, and West Coast Black Metal of the likes of Wolves In The Throne Room and Panopticon, East Coasters of Krallice are calling it their most prolific era with another record coming up in December, a little known band from Cambridge, England, Terra are following the experimental path of the later band. It is not a surprise that the record was mastered by Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, Behold… The Arctopus, Byla) and goes beyond lo-fi Black Metal with elements of Drone and Post-Rock.

[Throwback Reviews] SUNN O))) & ULVER - Terrestrials

Note from the editor: this review was first published at my main blog and since I moved here I've decided to edit and repost those archived reviews once in a while just to get the database complete and give a second life to those earlier writings.

Sunn O))) & Ulver - Terrestrials (2014, Southern Lord Records)

In the vein of Godspeed You! Black Emperor!, Sunn O))) has always been a reference in Drone music exploring patterns, textures, sonorities, and the musical boundaries of sound and noise. On the other side, Ulver with an early Black Metal trilogy and a triptych of experimentation, in the extremities of not only Metal but also Rock, have come to a second collaboration with Sunn O))).

VANAD VARJUD – Dismal Grandeur in Nocturnal Aura

Vanad Varjud – Dismal Grandeur in Nocturnal Aura (2016, Symbol of Domination Prod.)

Coming out of Estonia, Vanad Varjud is a dark ambient/funeral/doom/drone/black metal trio that seems to be trying to make beautiful yet aggressive dark music. Their tremolo guitars riffs are counter balanced by a meditative simplistic piano/keyboard soundtrack and the traditional Black metal chants.

HERSCHER – Herscher

Herscher – Herscher (2015, self-release)

With the tsunami of doom metal outfits releasing more and more albums, the Black Sabbath inspired genre has made so many followers in the likes of Electric Wizard and Windhand.

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR – Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress (2015, Constellation)

The outfit of Godspeed You! Black Emperor has never hidden its allegiance to their positions, politics, or views on the world. However, the post-rock group never really caressed the desire to break into mainstream or the music business. Without any announces their most recent releases ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend Ascend! and Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress were good records but not groundbreaking as Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven.

LOCRIAN – Infinite Dissolution

Music Review : Locrian – Infinite Dissolution (2015, Relapse Records)

While most Black metal bands are centered about the dark themes in human nature, the new generation of American black metal bands have taken an approach near light and the human introspection. This anti-conformism of a very conformist and hermetic genre is giving a fresh breath to a genre that could have stayed deeply rooted in its origins of Satan worshipers and underground influenced bands like Discharge and Black Flag.