Just like the magnificent debut album Epistemological Despondency and 2004’s Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum, Esoteric’s The Maniacal Vale (also reviewed in this section) gets released on vinyl by superior Doom-label Aesthetic Death. Eternal thanks and gratitude to label owner Stu for sending me this great material.
Ancient Moon are quite a mysterious project for the three members act under the names of J, O and B, and nothing more is known. Apparently these guys hail from Belgium, France and Switzerland. I think Vvltvre is their first mutual effort, and it consists of one single piece, called Preastigitum Altareas, clocking almost half an hour.
[personal note: I do appreciate the fact that the sole track and the album itself do have another title]
On April 24th 2015 we did upload the review for Deprive’s Into Oblivion, which undersigned did appreciate a lot. As a matter of fact, I am quite ‘fan’ of several things created by Erun; think: Hrizg, Briargh, CrystalMoors, Moonshine, Eldereon, Forestdome and many more. And as you could have guessed in the meantime, Stormstone too is a project by Javier ‘Erun-Dagoth’ Sixto, once again a solo-outfit.
As a teaser for both bands’ upcoming albums, Hypnotic Dirge Records did release a split-EP on vinyl with one track from those full lengths. Based on the result, Doom-fans must watch out for the upcoming material!
One of the most mysterious projects from Spain lately is this one: Hic Iacet, known from quite an interesting demo (Hedonist Of The Death, released on vinyl too), and the 7”EP Prophecy Of Doom. And now this project returns with the first full studio album, which lasts for thirty eight minutes (six tracks).
Since Xtreem Music did climb up to the ultimate top of the worldwide (Death) Metal scene since a couple of years (I can list up some hands full of fabulous albums that have been released by this Spanish label in 2013 and 2014), I am always excited when I receive or buy a new album via this label of David ‘Rotten’ Gonzalez. This time it’s Swedish combo Dråp I am referring to: not the defunct Black Metal commando, but a Grind / Crust / Hardcore four-man army from the northern city of Sundsvall.
He’s quite a productive guy, this Dirk Serries, and quite experienced since he’s active within the spheres of Aural Art for several decades. His best known outfits might be vidnaObmana and Microphonics, but he created many other things under different monikers, or in collaboration with same-minded artists. Very recently, on June 8th 2015, we did upload the review for the album Buoyant, which was a collaborative work in between Dirk and Dutch colleague Rutger Zuydervelt.
This band surely does not need any introduction anymore. It’s them who made the whole Black Metal scene more accessible to an ignorant audience, with both positive and negative aspects in consequence. My personal opinion – no, I won’t go deeper into this subject. Let’s say that, despite the catchiness and commercial aspects, this band created a handful of acceptable compositions in mean time, especially during the earlier years. Lots of pulp too, unfortunately, but – no, I promised myself to censure…
One of the things I do appreciate when talking about Cold Raw Records is the fact that they do re-release many stuff that otherwise never would have the opportunity to reach an audience that might appreciate that material. Several of their releases are demonstrational material, previously released on tape or digitally by the band, or distributed only locally. A couple of examples: Nocturnal Sacrifice, Uluun, Chaos Altar, Milicia Oscura etc.
There are a couple of (German) bands with the moniker Todgeweiht, but this one deals with the duo from Thuringia, Grimwald and BluothArn. They started more than a decade ago, but didn’t release but two demos (one was even never officially distributed) as well as one full album. That album, called Pestilenz, was initially supposed to be part of a split with Winternight, nowadays known as Wintarnaht.
