Great news comes forth from the throne room! Marco black metal stalwarts Wolves in the Throne Room have just unveiled a song from their upcoming album Celestite. This is set to be a departure from their old sound, yet still a familiar venture for WitTR fans: the duo's new album is going to be an experimental, instrumental work tethered to the themes and vibrations of their seminal 2011 opus, Celestial Lineage. The newly released track, called Celestite Mirror, sounds extremely promising: a vast, expansive ambient journey through dense woods, thick fog and bone-chilling blizzards; atmospheric synths, discrete bits of noise and barely distinguishable electronic ambiances all layer one on top of the other to create a magnificently beautiful work of art.
You can consider me stoked for Celestite, which comes out on July 8th. This is going to be one of the best albums of 2014. Can't wait to hear it all! Check out the new song below and let us know what you think.
I've been sitting here for a while thinking what to write about this album, but who am I kidding? We're no Pitchfork, as much as we like to joke about it. I don't feel up to the task of writing five or six paragraphs about The Haxan Cloak, because words don't do justice to it. It as a minimalistic ambient/experimental album about the afterlife, employing sub-bass frequencies, quiet and unsettling percussion, various creepy noises and discrete strings that bring forth an uneasy feeling. Excavation is a highly atmospheric album and you should only listen to it at night with the lights off, in bed, curled up under a blanket. It will make for the most terrifying sleep you've ever had.
Seriously, this is insanely good. And you can listen to it live tomorrow, in Bucharest. Jelly I can't make it, but at least I'll get to see TZEEEAC writer and sweet bro Daniel Witchfinder play heavy metal in front of an unsuspecting crowd. Should be good.
TAUUSK is the solo project of Răzvan Lazea-Postelnicu aka Zan aka Zann O))), bassist for Romanian psychedelic stoner band Nomega. As the Earth revolves around the Sunn and the other way around, so does TAUUSK cycle between influences, taking cues from the titans of drone and producing an album that's about as pure as drone gets.
When the first song on a drone album reaches a staggering 37 minutes duration and when there are four more tracks to follow, you know you're in for some serious meditation time. Refuge conjures an array of different moods and atmospheres through long, sustained synths and guitars and a knack for contemplative arrangements that will make you feel like driving to the nearest forest and burying yourself under a pile of moss, leaves and dead branches. Song structure and melody are forgone in favor of pure sound and texture, like ethereal sonic veils gently draping and coiling around you until you're immersed in a cocoon of sound. I was also struck to hear how similar some portions of Refuge are to the drone stuff I put out myself a few years ago as Hunting&Gathering - clearly, Zan and I operate on similar frequencies.
Overall, TAUUSK is a welcome surprise and a musical project that invites reflection and introspection. I'm glad stuff like this manages to trickle out of the Romanian scene and hopefully we'll see more bands experiment with sounds more freely. Mioritic drone doom, anyone?
It looks like my activity on this website has reduced to precisely dick these past few months. Normally I'd be pretty bummed about it, but seeing how great life outside blogging about obscure blackened post-drone bands has turned out lately, I'm not too worried. My writing dry spells come and go, as the TZEEEAC years have shown, so I'm pretty sure I'll return to full blogging form at some point in the future.
Anyway, for today's sporadic contribution, I decided to be a bit cheeky and show off some of my own music. My close friends (read: very big nerds that happen to know me for several years) are familiar with the now-legendary În Criptă, my one-man bedroom black metal/ambient/drone band that I was (too) actively involved in about 4-5 years ago. Basically, it was just me fucking around with a guitar and FL Studio while being heavily influenced by BEZNĂ TVCI, the true kings of Romanian bedroom black metal. I've managed to be quite prolific, releasing (read: uploading on Rapidshare and posting on forums about it) 6 albums, mixing black metal, drone, ambient soundscapes and field recordings in various quantities and with varying degrees of success.
Hearing everything again after all these years is weird and slightly endearing. Some of the songs are terrible, while others are amazing and they make me wonder "damn, you magnificent bastard, how the hell did you record these sounds?". A Forest of Ambiances is În Criptă's most ambient-sounding release and also the most soothing one, relying heavily on synth pads, simplistic programmed drums and some field recordings. I've probably fallen asleep while listening to it multiple times in the past.
And now you can too! I've discovered it's still up on my Mediafire account, so you can download it, have a listen and tell me what you think. I'm currently uploading the other albums too, so I might make a follow-up post and include the full discography. I am not above self-promotion.
Stealing the spotlight for this week’s rather arbitrary
choice of music slab is the one man ‘band’ (and I say this lightly, mind you)
Desiderii Marginis, an entity solely composed of ONE man (duhh), by the name of Johan Levin,
who has been proudly releasing material under this moniker since 1993. I
personally discovered D.M at about the time this album was released and it was
also the first ambient recording I ever listened to, so it’s safe to say it had
a terrible impact on me (on the good side of terrible, that is).
I said ambient, didn’t I? Well that would be the simple way
to look at D.M.’s offerings; a more complicated explanation would be that it resembles
Chester’s choices of music that sounds like bears fighting with trash cans
inside an electrified cage, only slowed down to the point that you can actually
approach the bears, tap one on the shoulder and say “Herp derp, buddy bear,
mind if I join the ruckus? ”
Non-serious rambling set aside, Strife is an album that
holds only eight tracks, each and every one of them taking on the form of an apocalyptic
soundtrack to modern life, ranging from the dramatic crescendos on Blackout, to
melting your ears with repetitive_ machinery_ sounds_ that_ melt_ your_ ears on
A Failure at Liberty, rushing (more or less) rapidly through the mine inflicted
terrain and bomb runs on Nightraid and finally opting for a sojourn in which you
become a witness to apotheosis in the final track, The Sweet Hereafter (and
what a perfect name it takes on).
Boy, was that a mouthful. But the rest is up to you to
discover, since I’m not really the one to give too many spoilers. So find it,
listen to it, get all wrapped up in the drone infested atmosphere and finally
come back and tell me what a great recommendation this was. WORD.
Pros:
everything
Cons:
nothing
Highlights:
Blackout, Deceit, The Sweet Hereafter
Rating:
10 (Yes, I’m not afraid to say it, I can’t fault this album, try as I might. It
just IS that good in its genre.)
Track List:
Forlorn Pt
2
Blackout
A Failure
At Liberty
From Glory
To Where
In A
Nameless Place
Deceit
Nightraid
The Sweet
Hereafter
P.S: This was, by far, the most
listened to piece of music that I used while I was studying for my exams. I
used to get up at 3 or 4 AM and do a final revision for whatever a subject
matter, put my headphones on and set Strife on repeat while I read my notes. I
guess that says something about the album (or about the fact that I’m a
complete weirdo, but there’s no spoiler here).
Majoritatea celor care sunt familiari cu Les Légions Noires consideră că cele mai bune trupe din sânul grupului subunderground de muzicieni francezi au fost Vlad Ţepeş şi Belketre, însă, deşi March of the Black Holocaust e unul din cele mai sălbatice şi scârboase albume black metal înregistrate vreodată, rivalizând cu muzica lui Ildjarn, meritul de a fi cea mai bună trupă din cadrul LLN cred că îi revine lui Aäkon Këëtrëh.
Aäkon Këëtrëh atinge cam toate punctele specifice unei trupe din LLN: are un nume greu de pronunţat, a lansat numai demo-uri, a împărţit demo-urile respective numai pe la rude şi prieteni, astfel că o casetă cu Aäkon Këëtrëh este mai rară decât giulgiul din Torino şi se bazează pe un sunet abraziv şi primitiv, ca revoltă împotriva a orice e sfânt, sacru şi vândut la mall pe lumea asta.
Numai că Aäkon Këëtrëh este unul din puţinii ambientalişti din Legiunile Negre, preferând să creeze dark ambient (e o terminologie foarte modernă, având în vedere materialul audio, şi nu se potriveşte foarte bine, dar fie şi aşa) în loc să producă black metal semiinteligibil. Astfel, Aäkon Këëtrëh îşi construieşte sound-ul folosindu-se de nişte pasaje de chitară aproape enervant de simpliste, câteva clape pe ici, pe colo şi băgând la înaintare vocea sa. Big up pentru acest din urmă element, căci Aäkon Këëtrëh reuşeşte să ofere unele din cele mai torturate zbierete pe care le-am auzit vreodată. Pasajele vocale se combină miraculos cu chitarele, care pendulează constant între acorduri "curate", melancolice, şi progresii sinistre, disonante, distorsionate, care te învăluie într-o stare de nelinişte şi nesiguranţă. În acest fel iau naştere cântecele lui Aäkon Këëtrëh, adevărate monumente închinate celor mai întunecate sentimente pe care le poate încerca o fiinţă umană.
Atunci când reuşeşti să priveşti dincolo de liniile melodice simpliste, de durata scurtă a pieselor, atunci când te laşi în voia muzicii sale, acceptându-i convenţiile şi lăsând la o parte absolut totul în afară de sunetele pe care le auzi, descoperi unul din cei mai talentaţi muzicieni ai Legiunilor Negre, care şi-a dat seama că puţin cu puţin face mult şi care a creat o muzică extrem de atmosferică, terifiantă şi, pe alocuri, tristă, folosindu-se doar de nişte banale instrumente cumpărate, probabil, la mâna a doua. Aäkon Këëtrëh predă o adevărată lecţie în muzică: nimic nu este mai important decât sentimentele pe care i le induci ascultătorului, iar Aäkon Këëtrëh este unul din acei oameni rari care au ştiut exact ce corzi să atingă pentru ca ele, la rândul lor, să atingă alte corzi.
De multă vreme sunt fascinat de un anume domn din Polonia, pre numele său de scenă Wojnar, care face o muzică foarte plăcută pentru urechile mele, un blend interesant de folk şi ambient. Basically, îs melodii relativ simpluţe la keyboard/chitară, acompaniate de ceva tobe războinice, având pe fundal uneori diverse zgomote de bătălii, săbii încleştându-se, serbări câmpeneşti şi altele, totul asezonat din plin cu vocea marţială, dar totuşi duioasă, a lui Wojnar. Versurile şi titlurile pieselor îs în dulcele grai leş, deci nu prea am idee despre ce cântă, dar oricum, probabil îs legende locale şi povestiri cu tentă mitologică.
Recomand din toată inima, mai ales că se potriveşte atât ca soundtrack pentru vreo activitate mundană precum efectuarea de traduceri la miezul nopţii, cât şi ca full-time listen, pentru că oferă nişte momente extrem de faine celor care îi dedică întreaga lor atenţie. Nu a mai lansat nimic din 2009, dar cele trei demo-uri şi trei albume full-lenght ar trebui să vă satisfacă din plin poftele inumane de ambient şi pagan folk.
Dark ambient minimalist, repetitiv, ritualistic şi sumbru de la tăticii Beherit (sau ce mai rămăsese din Beherit, oricum). Da, The Oath of Black Blood e megatare şi are una din cele mai şmekere coperte din univers, iar Drawing Down the Moon se numără printre albumele mele preferate de black metal (Summerlands, fuck yeah), dar H418ov21.C, cu melodiile sale bizare, synth-urile care se repetă încontinuu şi vocile sale procesate, este unul din albumele mele favorite ale tuturor timpurilor. Chiar dacă există unele momente când pare făcut de mântuială, sub auspiciile unei leni crunte (de care n-am fost nici eu străin, ştiu ce rău e), H418ov21.C rămâne unul din cele mai atmosferice albume ambientale făcute vreodată. Singurul defect pe care i-l pot găsi este că nu este mai lung, pentru că unele piese sunt atât de faine încât meritau să se întindă pe cel puţin 10 minute.
We are all under the one sky
And the sky is beautiful
Dark and beautiful...
