PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[pentd]

Bettye Swann is fantastic. My first real exposure to soul music, learning ther

Tiny Topsy!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhTvi88eOBY
then some Neznamo + ac/dc powerage + bad brains...

[david lloyd jones]

Church Of Misery "And Then There Were None" (Rise Above, 2016)

"We hate trend. We hate corporate attitude. We hate the word 'stoner.' Death to false doom metal."

     Well, I had high hopes for this one because all the other guys had left Tatsu behind and left him to restart Church Of Misery from the ground up, this time with foreign devils such as Scott Carlson of Repulsion and Cathedral fame. Although the formula is in theory a great one, being that the Church have always avoided the typical stoner bullshit in favor of the best theme for music; serial killers. Previous vocalists/multiinstrumentalists have always had a tough old-school death metal edge to compliment the rough fuzz of the guitar sound, and sadly this just isn't the case. Not only does the guitar tone no longer match up to the vocal performance (especially with Carlson's American rasp), Carlson's bass tone is about 15% less audible than previous performances by previous members on older recordings - disappointing to say the least. Another detracting factor is that the pieces don't feel nearly as cohesive as past albums -- this is a collection rather than a fully-thought-out album, and although some of the pieces are great (like "River Demon" about Arthur Shawcross), they don't hold one's attention in a demanding manner like albums such as The Second Coming, Master of Brutality, or Thy Kingdom Scum. Church of Misery with new members may still satisfy hardcore fans of the band, but hardcore fans of the subject matter may be a little disappointed by the newfangled lack off gritty fuzz and sleazy power electronics synthesizer effects. Hell, there are even times I wasn't thrilled by Carlson's vocal delivery, although the moments where he attempts a more Melvins-style cleaner tone definitely surprised and impressed me. Although I found this album to be a huge letdown, it won't necessarily stop me from checking out what happens in the future with this band. Any band which removes the despised element from a great style of music and adds in something more vital and threatening will hold my attention until they've proven more conclusively that the torch should be passed. Until then, I'll just hope for the best. This one is something like 7/10 from a typically 11 band.

Wondered what Mikko had thought of this one since the Church had a record or two out on Kult of Nihilow.

sounds like the band is now the Tatsuo experience, where, as with other bands there is one original member and where the original was more than the original whole.
remember seeing them ages ago in uk with first original member replaced by a us sludge band player. obviously downhill since then.
disappointment would be akin to seeing acid king without lori

[Baglady]

Dug out some old Kansas death metal because why not.

NEPENTHE - The Conqueror Worm - CS
This is a real rager, and quite different from the later stuff under the Nepenthe moniker and Ligeia which they sort of transformed into. Very guitar driven. Melodic in a not so melodic way, if that makes any sense. And the vocals are over the top, sounding a bit like Ihsahn on the Emperor / Enslaved split from 1993. The close relation this band had to what later became Vulpecula is very apparent here.

NEPENTHE - Ligeia - 7" (Eternal Darkness Productions)
Title track from the demo above sounds alot more brutish here with the vocals of Alex Blume (later in Ares Kingdom). Just as good, but in a different way. The melodic guitars are somewhat buried in the mayhem here, giving way to the overall force of the rest of the band. Flipside has a nice rendition of Tiamat's "In The Shrine Of The Kingly Dead". Great EP.

LIGEIA - In Death Overshadow Thee - 7" (Dauthus)
The morphed later version of Nepenthe. The style is reminiscent, but this is way more subdued soundwise. Not that violent anymore, just very weird.

SERAPIS - Rehearsal '96 - CS
Only three of this one exists, I think. A band that never happened, sort of. Mike Miller of Order From Chaos on drums + Joe, who sang on the Nepenthe demo above and some other guys. Very promising stuff, and again very much in line with the Kansas death metal sound (OFC, Ares Kingdom, Vulpecula). Too bad Serapis never took off.

[Baglady]

I actually only have a copy of the demo (but made from the master for me by the vocalist). Wouldn't mind stumbling upon a copy of the "official" tape though, or even a decent scan of the j-card.
I love the live tape, Live At Howard's, as well. Just forgot I had it when I pulled those other items out earlier. Rough sound but fitting sound quality, which isn't that big a deal if one know the songs. That tape is still quite cheap I believe.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Church Of Misery "And Then There Were None" (Rise Above, 2016)
Wondered what Mikko had thought of this one since the Church had a record or two out on Kult of Nihilow.

K.O.N. label is my friends label (although site hosted on my domain). My connections to Church Of Misery are much smaller. I own and like early records and seen them live many times, but more recent more clean it becomes, less I have been interested.

I don't so actively follow "sludge", since vast majority of even the celebrated biggest names tend to bore me to death. Don't care much for bong themed art, neither I usually feel much common with endless repetition of riffs nor much of groovy style. However, there is good sludge wibe stuff, mostly in Finland, what ends up to my stereos.

WOODRUE "Low on Luck", so far issued on LP and tape. Some of the very best in sludge. Not only "jamming", not only slow, but good song writing, good riffs, aggression, groove and basically all. Also nice sound. Tape sounds much better than link below, though. I got tape for sale even if not on list. If someone happens to be interested, can contact me.
http://woodrue.bandcamp.com/album/low-on-luck

CHESTBURSTER have done both raw and little more "clear" recordings. I guess they started as more or less sludge, but it has become to be raw distorted rock, with rather antisocial and perverted lyrics/themes. Similarly to Woodrue, it's noise "noisy rock" in a way of just churning some shitty jams on boombox, but they actually have good tracks. Maybe not so explicitly "serial killer" like Church of Misery, but a lot of tracks seems completely different from bong worship sludge, more of forest rapists and small town misery.
https://thetruechestburster.bandcamp.com/
Perhaps among favorites is their most distorted recording. Originally tape. I may have still one LP for sale..
https://thetruechestburster.bandcamp.com/album/secret-sex-tape

[eyesofsatan]

More reviews, then a break for a few weeks to focus on regular everyday life  stuff:


Ligature "Claustrophobe" CS (Joy De Vivre)
    Electroacoustic and musique concrete used as an approach to power electronics. This is very good shit from the Ascetic House operator, Chris Hansell, also of other projects like punk band Warthog. Right away, the dynamics of this A-side piece include very unidentifiable mid-range tones cutting up which immediately remind me of the Romance side of the Romance/Shift split cassette. In the background, field recordings of human voice chatter and chirping birds blend together. This is not unlike New Juche Whores of Leith. Some disturbing deep notes intrude as the feedback subsides and obvious tape warping presents itself. I could favorably compare this approach to odd moments in longer Ultra tracks, which is perhaps the highest compliment I could give this project; as Ultra form a solid idea of perfection in my opinion. As far as the whispered and secretive vocal performance, this is not unlike St. Degeneratus as well - Augmented by C. Spencer Yeh's violin contributions.
The B-side track begins with reverberated footsteps and the shifting around of hollow but heavier objects. Very good. Things quickly go south mood-wise as a perditious opioid synthesizer melody loop starts warping and distorting itself. Beautiful gutter field recordings are again introduced making this music I could fuck to. This track actually reminds me of one of my own, not to sound like a complete asshole. This track, rather, is unsettling as opposed to harsh. Think Tarkovsky's "Stalker" in terms of atmosphere over out-and-out weirdness. The way in which the violin, cassette treatments, and water sounds interact is absolute perfection and something I have only otherwise heard in Arv & Miljo, Zone Nord, Alchemy of the 21st Century, and my attempts. Following this section, spoken word is interrupted by aggressive and skilled junk metal abuse - I'm only bothered that I can only make out one or two words at a time. I'd of course track down more material from this project like a 12-point Buck. Gutter filth purists need not apply - but those who've wondered how it'd sound if Lettera 22 were a power electronics act, this might be what you want. Totally recommended.

Damn, thank you for the kind words!

[holy ghost]

Well, I had high hopes for this one because all the other guys had left Tatsu behind and left him to restart Church Of Misery from the ground up

The last album they did I liked was The Second Coming and being honest I rarely pull that one out. I could be totally happy with re-listening to the Early Works 2xCD and Master of Brutality (loooooove that BOC cover!!) and ignoring basically everything else. Just me.... but nothing has really interested me that they've done. I even shelled out for the Volume 1 LP when Leaf Hound released it and it's okay - Chilli Grave and the Gun cover are ripping but overall that record is somewhat unmemorable.

[bitewerksMTB]

"...and the Noise Record of the Year goes to Skin Crime for the "The House on the Cliff" LP!"

Holy crap,  this a great record! Side 1 is graveyard atmosphere with subdued feedback, some heavy low-end, lots of static n' crunch which threatens to get nasty. Side 2 opens with heavy, slow metal abuse then builds into the style of harsh noise S.C. is well known for. Recommended!

Self Abuse is having a sale so it's the perfect time to buy this LP:

http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=7452.0

[sportfan]

Taeter - Glorious Paraphalia - I was not really impressed with the other release I have heard from Taeter, Parasite, but I am reall yliking this release.  I think the best part is the use of the saxophone and some stringed instruments.  The saxophone is played very freely, something I would expect to hear in free jazz, but it goes really well with the vocals. 

[Dr Alex]

endless repetition of riffs

Sounds like heaven to my ears. I like endless repetition of riffs + slow and heavy drumming. I don't care about marijuana (I've never try any kind of drug) and bong themes but I like sludge and stoner as well.

currently:
some Harmonia, first two Kraftwerk, first 2 Neu! albums + some obscure krautrock bands.
and Can - Mother Sky few times per day. Rhythm for that track sounds so industrial!

[david lloyd jones]

"...and the Noise Record of the Year goes to Skin Crime for the "The House on the Cliff" LP!"

Holy crap,  this a great record! Side 1 is graveyard atmosphere with subdued feedback, some heavy low-end, lots of static n' crunch which threatens to get nasty. Side 2 opens with heavy, slow metal abuse then builds into the style of harsh noise S.C. is well known for. Recommended!

Self Abuse is having a sale so it's the perfect time to buy this LP:

http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=7452.0

love side one. psychedelic in it's tones.
side two rougher and noisier

[Ashmonger]

Various Artists - Power Electronics Against Communism (tape, Vanguard Productions): Mirroring RAC in PE, interesting approach, nice booklet too, hehe. There are quite some names I hadn't heard about before. Interesting compilation, looking forward to which projects will be on the second part that should be released sooner or later, but I think maybe a bit more quality control might be good, because for some projects I felt they were there exclusively for their ideology.

Gangrene - Cleaning the Wound (tape, Obscurex): Collaboration of Edge of Decay & Unclean, while not bad, I feel like both have better output separately...

Concrete Mascara - Perennial Disappointment (CD, Malignant Records): I really liked the The Pursuit of Hedonism... tape, but this seems less to my liking. Harsh PE indeed, but some of the tracks have a kind of beats which I'm not too fond of. Second track is pretty good, though. Will give some more spins, but I don't really expect it to grow on me much. I hope to be proven wrong of course.

Solco Chiuso - Human Textures (CD, Lost Empires Records): First album of this rather new (I think?) Italian Industrial act. Overall a pretty good start, but I feel like the tracks are a bit uneven, f.e. the last track doesn't seem to fit in with the rest. I'm also not too fond of the distortion sound, a bit too crispy maybe?

Various Artists - Poison Vol. 1 (C35?, New Approach Records): Cool concept, cool packaging, music is nice, though not too fond of Shikabala & Hogra.

[Scat-O-Logy]

Concrete Mascara - Perennial Disappointment (CD, Malignant Records): ...beats...

Could someone confirm whether "History Of Ruin" and "Caustic Realities" have any of these beats? Some prefer their coffee black, I prefer my PE without techno.

[cr]

Listening to lots of MANIA in the last couple days, older and new, e.g. 1 Gun, 100 Graves, Eros+Massacre, If they move...kill them, Decrepitude, Hate like hell, Ultra-Negative, Grim Conditions, Together they're murder split with The Rita,...

Even if it might sound a bit strange, I must say that I somehow always enjoyed Mania a bit more than Taint (though I'm far from a completist of both projects)


What else?
Diapsiquir, Kickback, new Institution D.O.L.

Nice weekend.

[david lloyd jones]

Concrete Mascara - Perennial Disappointment (CD, Malignant Records): ...beats...

Could someone confirm whether "History Of Ruin" and "Caustic Realities" have any of these beats? Some prefer their coffee black, I prefer my PE without techno.

whilst cannot conclusively deny techno beats on said lp, from memory this is not so.
beats/rhythms are not all techno, just like a splash of guitar does not make it rock and roll