Blut aus Nord, et al. - Dissociated Human Junction

by Cosmo Lee

I never thought I'd hear bands that sounded like Blut aus Nord or Deathspell Omega. Yet Dissociated Human Junction (Panik Terror Musik, 2007) has three, plus BaN themselves. Fortunately, it's pretty much impossible to copy BaN or DO, so this split is a product of inspiration, not theft. Spain's Bloodoline turn in three tracks of disharmonic bliss. Some moments evoke BaN's demented vacuum cleaner riffs, while others are more melodic. All are stinging, running jazz chords through clouds of distortion and sadness.

Bloodoline - Kristallkrush
Blut aus Nord - Part 1
Karras (Fra) - Xenoglossy (excerpt)

Frenchmen Reverence tender two tracks touching on Deathspell Omega's darkly bejeweled chords. Blut aus Nord contribute three tracks from an ultra-rare 10" released in 2004. That was right after Work Which Transforms God, so expect similarly tweaked glory. Best of all is BaN side project Karras, which closes the split with an amazing 11-minute opus that combines BaN's seasick riffs with the heft of Deathspell Omega's Kénôse. Ogre-like vocals, a hail of blastbeats and rolling percussion, guitars piercing from above, below, and within - this is the way forward for black metal.

I originally got this split for its rarity (only 1000 pressed), but now I can't get enough of it. Aquarius Records has a few copies in; Reckless Records in Chicago and the AJNA Offensive also currently have it.

Buy:
Aquarius
Reckless Records
The AJNA Offensive

Foscor - I Tornà de les Cendres

Catalan black metallers Foscor have released a video for "I Tornà de les Cendres", from their album The Smile of the Sad Ones, which I wrote about here. The video takes place in a spa in Catalonia called the Balneari de la Puda (built in 1870, abandoned in 1958). Its atmosphere is thick like caked blood. A girl wanders the halls of the decaying complex, encountering shadowy figures - or is it all in her head? The prostrate poses and old world vibe recall Morbid Angel's video for "God of Emptiness". The colors match the music: gritty, duskily beautiful. It's refreshing to see black metal sans panda paint. I'm a big fan of Foscor, and wonder why they aren't huge.

Buy:
Foscor
The End

Foscor - The Smile of the Sad Ones

Black metal can be both the ugliest and most beautiful kind of metal. I've never bought into the glowering demeanors and spiky wristbands; the more armor one wears, the more vulnerable one feels. This frailty has yielded some of the most gorgeous guitars I've ever heard. Strip away the distortion, and you hear guys sitting alone in their bedrooms, plucking out minor chords.

Life's Death Code
Gebre

On The Smile of the Sad Ones (Temple of Darkness, 2007) Spain's Foscor bleed scarlet guitars. Guitarwise in black metal, only Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord have affected me more. Foscor are hardly so esoteric; they mostly use minor chords, but from them they wring tears and blood.

"Life's Death Code" has been a frequent soundtrack for me, a reminder there is something beyond 9 to 5, M to F, dollars to ashes. I love it when black metallers' hands form jazzy shapes; see the chords that skate up and down at 3:06. Sadness swoons at 4:09 that even blastbeats can't hide. At 2:22, "Gebre" reaches upwards, only to hit heaven's glass floor. Licking wounds begins at 4:36. This record is mostly in Catalan, but that's only one of the languages it speaks.

The Smile of The Sad Ones is available in Germany at Ván, in Australia at Asphyxiate, in the UK at Code7, and in the US at Graveless Slumber and The End.

Antigama, Throne of Katarsis, Get Thrashed, and more

Antigama

A bunch of new writing up - at Metal Injection, I've got reviews of Polish grinders Antigama, Norwegian black metal band Throne of Katarsis, and Los Angeles prog metallers Redemption, as well as interviews with Spanish band NahemaH and shredder Laura Christine from San Diego death metallers Warface.

Antigama - Neutral Balance
Naglfar - The Darkest Road
Stalaggh - Projekt Misanthropia (excerpt)

At Stylus, I've reviewed Rick Ernst's excellent documentary film, Get Thrashed: The History of Thrash Metal. I also have dual reviews of black metallers Naglfar/Nagelfar and the literally insane Diagnose: Lebensgefahr/Stalaggh. Stalaggh is hands down the scariest sound I've ever heard. Coil's Hellraiser themes, the original Omen soundtrack, Prussian Blue - all pale in comparison.

Nahemah, Flesh reviews

My review of Nahemah's new album is up at Stylus. After many listens, I realized that Nahemah was like a lusher, less repressed Isis.

Up at Metal Injection is my review of old-school (and excellent) Swedish death metal act Flesh.

Nahemah - Phoenix
Flesh - Baptised on the Demon's Throne

Wormed - Planisphaerium

Geodesic Dome
Pulses in Rhombus Forms

Macabre Mementos
2005


The promotional copy for this album is hilarious: "Wormed constantly pummels you with a massive onslaught of super brutal death metal throughout this release. There is some crazy concept behind this album that deals with space travel and the human consciousness. The heavy guitars scratch through your ear drums, the powerful blast beats pound on your skull, and those low growls from the gut sink into your head." I want whoever wrote this to do my eulogy.

Don't be scared off by "super brutal death metal." Sure, it has the requisite pig squeal vocals, but otherwise this album is more like a Willowtip release in its precision and technicality. No gory artwork, no drum machines, no disgusting lyrics. Instead, you get Tron artwork and lyrics like "Reconstruction in the amorphous line of time / Powerful emanation of energy / I see the constellations changing colour / Mathematical combination of triangular visions." How you can not love this band?

Planisphaerium is only 25 minutes long (the reissue adds six bonus demo and promo tracks), but that's the perfect length for this material. The drumming reminds me a lot of Flo Mounier, especially in the "ba dunk, ba dunk" grooves that sound like someone falling down stairs at high speed. "Geodesic Dome" even has a Cryptopsy-esque discordant clean guitar break. Thus, this isn't the most original album in the world, but I can't stop listening to it. The songs are short and unpredictable, sometimes busting out with random clean guitar or bass breaks. The riffs are hairy, the drums are crisp, and the production perfectly balances these aspects.

Supposedly this Spanish band is working on new material, but until that surfaces, this is its only album. Distribution for it is next to nonexistent, so you can get it from its website.