My dear friend and fellow metal blogger The Love Cow Ov Metal (who doesn't update his amazing blog nearly as often as I should like, by the way) and I have a small habit of sending shit to one another.
By "shit" I mean stuff we're sick of and is just cluttering the place up. This is the latest batch of CDs I got, which arrived about two months ago. Along with a variety of other items, including a condom. The good news is it wasn't used, the bad news is it was too small. I'm told "small" is the only size available in Finland.
First off we have the 2009 EP Apeiron by Welicoruss. Never heard of 'em. According to Metal Archives they are a Russian symphonic black metal band.
Not really my cup of tea, but it's not too bad. If you're into Dimmu Borgir or something along those lines this could be something for you.
(zip) Welicoruss - Apeiron (2009)
The next is more up my alley: the 2008 album Let The Empires Fall by Canadian blackened death metallers Grimbane. Some pretty ripping stuff on here. Not sure why they've put the intros on separate tracks though. That's a bit annoying.
Track #4, Obscurity Reigns is the stand-out for me. Probably because the opening riff reminds me Angelcorpse's Phallelujah, one of the most badass tracks ever recorded. You can find it on my Friday MP3 Shuffle #7, where it sits comfortably next to fifteen other excellent tracks.
(zip) Grimbane - Let The Empires Fall (2008)
Then there's depressive/depressing Australian black metal duo Wither and their self-titled promo disc from 2008.
This type of snail-paced black metal with shoegaze flourishes and post-rock guitars is something I'm usually all over, but it's just not the right time of year to listen to this. The same way I can't listen to Kyuss in the middle of the winter, I can't listen to this in the middle of the summer. It just doesn't fit when I'm sitting here with my shirt off (stop drooling, Love Cow) and a cold drink in front of me.
I'll get back to this in Decemeber when I will surely love the shit out of it.
(zip) Wither - S/t (2008)
I don't know who Dajana Winkel is, but she sure is good at hyperbole and just being pretentious in general. The promo sheet she's written for Sidewaytown's 2007 album Years In The Wall is so exaggerated I'm almost convinced it's a joke.
It starts with "When an oppressed soul seeks salvation and the hungry mind restlessly reaches for the new, the it's time to narrow the present, separating the past from the future..." and it only gets worse from there.
Apparently this is a project by Markus Baltes (who?) from the band Autumnblaze (who?). If you say so, Miss Winkel. Some sort of post-rock with shoegazy stuff in it. Usually something I'd dig, but Sidewaytown just rubs me the wrong way somehow. It's sound like someone got some records by My Bloody Valentine and Explosions In The Sky for Christmas and decided to form a band and missing the point completely. Very atmospheric, but no songs to speak of.
If you're into this stuff, give it a go. Perhaps you'll like it better. Personally, I'll just keep listening to The Constants.
(zip) Sidewaytown - Years In The Wall (2008)
Brown Jenkins' 2007 EP Dagonite was exactly what I needed to rinse my ear of that slimey muck that calls itself Sidewaytown.
Noisy, underproduced doomy black metal with all levels in the red. So trebly it's sure to crack your speakers. Very excellent and very recommended. Why this works in the summer as opposed to Wither is beyond me though.
(zip) Brown Jenkins - Dagonite (2007)
More black metal, this time from Austria. I haven't really had the time to properly listen to this one - Vobiscum's 2007 album Berchfrit - but the album cover and songtitles such as Norland and Mordgang live up to any black metal fan's expectations. They even have the obligatory unintentionally amusing band photo.
Just had a quick listen to it, and Freydregg Ild is a great song. I'm sure there's more goodies to find, I should listen to this more closely one of these days.
(zip) Vobiscum - Berchfrit (2007)
I'm gonna save the worst for last: Zuul FX's 2007 album Live Free Or Die. Overproduced, thrashy industrial stuff (or is that industrial thrash stuff?). This is a promo which has three tracks missing. Thank fuck for that.
Pseudo-heavy riffs, a pseudo-angry singer, pseudo-technical arrangements. A pseudo-record from a pseudo-band.
For pseudo-metal fans only.
(zip) Zuul FX - Live Free Or Die (2007)
Alright, that's it for now.
Keep an eye on your mailbox, Love Cow. You should get a neatly wrapped packet of goodies in the next few days.
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