CD

A short one, for this review is meant as a preview on an upcoming one for the very same band…

[release date: March 25th 2014]

Phil Illsley used to be the lead vocalist in Lordaeron for several years, and he’s involved with bands such as Taken By The Tide or Death Tripper too. But as A|V, he recently started the project Abduction. This solo-outfit is modestly productive, for Abduction recently released a new full-length album, the third one in nearly two years. The working title of that recording is All Pain Is Penance.

Recently I got in touch with one Verst, a guy from the Wiltshire region (U.K.) who runs the (small yet interesting) label Ancient Trail Recordings. He’s the guy behind Instinct as well; quite recently I did publish a review for Instinct’s newest album Manifesting The Dark Rural Ethos (Schattenkult Produktionen; for the review, follow this link: http://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/instinct).

Even though this recording was released two and a half years ago, yet seen that I do not give a f*ck about writing about new or old stuff, I have the politeness and goodwill to focus on Lingering Voidwards right now. This material is really worth (my) attention; ere wie ere toekomt!

You know, the Dutch collective Rock Company exists for more than three decades in the meantime, and as an underestimated yet upcoming label it is part of NoReSt as from 2010. Rock Company is home to several known and lesser known bands, especially specialized in Hard Rock and (Heavy / Power) Metal, and all related genres. Part of the roster is Legion, a band from the U.K. (a country once part of Europe before being incorporated as 51^st state of the U.S.Aarghhh).

Several years ago, I came in touch with an American human being, who ran the Volk Lore Music collective. He was the same guy involved with several projects, especially solo-outfits, dwelling within the most obscure corners of the music(k)al spectrum. I wrote a couple of reviews for some of his projects (Visoteric, Herrenvolk, Endoki Forest), but then things faded away into silence. Until now…

I admit that the ‘Western Worlds’ do have a lot to offer when it comes to (Dark) Ambient and Drone material. But the ‘real’ followers of the scene cannot but recognize the superiority of the East-European / Russian scene too. It would be too stupid to sum up all those great projects at the one hand, or influential labels at the other, but to my opinion the scene ‘out there’ deserves much more support, promotion and attention.

Danthor ‘Wildcrow’ Bjårmyr aka W. is a guy from Norway; more specifically Svalbard, a group of islands far North in the Arctic Sea, also known as Spitsbergen. He started playing the guitar at a very young age, and he did win several conquests. W. is also active in several other bands and projects (see further), mainly as guitar player, often as singer too. But he’s most productive under the moniker Uten Håp, which is Norwegian for ‘hopeless’.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…

When the Greek Death Metal outfits Deceptive Incarnation and, following, The Deepest, were put to rest, Georg Davelas (Ntavelas) started a new outfit, Demonic Obedience (which can be considered the successor of The Deepest). In the meantime, FYI, Georg moved over to Scotland, and that’s where he recorded this newest album.