Light Bearer - "Silver Tongue"

If you're a fan of post-metal and post-hardcore, even if not a fan of those genre terms, then Light Bearer's new one entitled "Silver Tongue" should absolutely not be slept upon. Plain and simple. Huge walls of guitar and coarse vocals with a nice and varied backbone of drums, bass, and atmosphere. All executed superbly. From front to back, beginning to end, "Silver Tongue" tells a story successfully and expertly, as you would expect from this description of the band:

all encompassing DIY art, music and narrative project, based around a story written by their vocalist Alex, who drew influence from the writings of Philip Pullman’s "His Dark Materials" trilogy, John Milton’s "Paradise Lost", and the Book of Genesis.

With defined intros, segue ways, and outros, "Silver Tongue" is a heavy soundtrack to some more refined
creative outlets among the metal masses. Truly something to be experience from front to back in one sitting.

Light Bearer - "Silver Tongue"

- DCKR

Cloudkicker - Fade

really really good. chill epic metal.

[tlr]

DL

Queen Of Heathens - "Ethereality"

Great fuzzy guitars, deliberate drums with a nice dash of reverb, all sorts of drones and feedback noise, squelchy screamy vocals. This is a nice dose of black metal with drone and noise elements thrown in the mixture. Crafted by the one known as The Cartographer, possibly a female - based on the name of this particular project and the overall sound of the vocals - disguised as Queen Of Heathens with the release "Ethereality". Get murky.

Queen Of Heathens - "Ethereality"

- DCKR

Kapala - "Moon Rivers"

Super limited cassette run no longer available, now for free from the super incredible and previously featured Tagobella label. This time from Kapala, who deliver ridiculous psychedelic blackened instrumental drone across a total of 5 tracks. Real good for the headphone laptop work posse as well as the drugged out freakzoids.

Kapala - "Moon Rivers"

- DCKR

Outer Gods - "The Mountains Den" Demo

If you injected Sunn O))) with more straightforward electronics in the form of synth washes and ambient soundscape construction, while also subtracting the truly distorted guitars and occasional growling chants - you would have Outer Gods. Atlanta based ambient drone metal curators and creators definitely giving a nod to Sunn O))) and similar, while taking a slight detour down a path they've paved themselves. "The Mountain Den" demo is heady and uplifting while remaining lonely and sinister sounding at the same time.

Outer Gods - "The Mountain Den"

- DCKR

qwertzuiop - "Rebirth"

Hungarian black ambient drone project from the peculiarly titled one man band qwertzuiop. Orchestral and epic, dark and brooding. Not quite black metal, not quite ambient, not quite drone - but all of those things at the same time. Emotive and emotional.

qwertzuiop - "Rebirth"

- DCKR

Besvikelsens Dystra Monotoni - "Demo I"

Russian one man space black metal and beyond. This is a link to his first demo, as the demos and releases and splits continue on in his discography you get a better sense for what he is trying to accomplish with his sound. Sometimes he succeeds with resounding success, other times it falls a bit short or feels out of place. No matter what, some pretty cool sounds in the ambient / black metal / industrial realms. Check 'em out. Buncha free releases on his site, keep up to date on his Facebook page for even more plus additional information.

Besvikelsens Dystra Monotoni - "Demo I"

Cold Womb Descent - "Rise of Ldaovh"

Incredible ambient space black metal from Cold Womb Descent, two people self-describing themselves and the project as a space ambient project made by two astronomers influenced by observing astral creations and clouds of cosmic dust. That sounds about right. Subtle black metal and industrial tones over heavily emotive, lush, and long drawn out ambient/drone melodies pulled straight from some alien communications recordings. Honestly reminds me of the De Novo Insertion – “UVB-76+” release on Dark Tapes in some places. Real good.

Cold Womb Descent - "Rise of Ldaovh"


- DCKR

December Apparition - "Sea Crypt"

Staten Island, NY isn't the first place that comes to mind when thinking of ambient/black/post metal varieties. The act calling itself December Apparition, though, proves that location isn't everything and that brilliance in any genre of music can be found well outside the geographic location most associated with it. Strange, too, for the metal scene, is the lack of an entry on the ever incredible Encyclopaedia Metallum Metal Archives website - but you won't find one there for this band.

5 tracks of brief yet haunting sort of ambient post black metal for free on their Bandcamp page is all you get, beside a Myspace page that looks to not have been updated in over a year and which shows the band only having 18 friends. Kind of fitting, really, I suppose. These short insights into the mind(s) behind December Apparition are a solid outing, though, and absolutely essential for those long haired smokers who like shit spacious yet heavy, fuzzy yet melodic, hidden yet accessible.

December Apparition - "Sea Crypt"

- DCKR

Nibiru - "2004" Demo

Self described dark, epic and atmospheric astral occultic black metal from Overlord of Crimson Moon, whom I've only listened to a handful of times. Regardless, description is pretty spot on. When the synths are running the show, it sometimes feels like the soundtrack to the coolest video game you've never played. Shit's good.

Sure, it's not hot off the streets, dating back to 2004, but I bet you haven't heard it yet, either. Sold out limited edition physical release, so here you go. Check it.

Nibiru - "2004 Demo"

- DCKR

Wyrm - "Paramount"

Wyrm - "Paramount"

Here's another incredible one man band operating in the supposed black metal realm. Only this time, it's more ritualistic, more outer space, more psychedelic, more droning. But, fuck, it's good. While not quite as prolific as my hero for such relevant things, Gnaw Their Tongues etc, I think Wyrm is going to quickly be one to watch in that regard - incredible out there music and with frequent releases. Wyrm's already got seven on his Bandcamp, along with this one on the incredible Drowning netlabel. Decidedly more ambient and less aggressive than Mories with Gnaw Their Tongues, I can hear Mories with his Seriom project here in places - definitely that kind of vibe.. Anyhow, sorry to always compare things to Mories or Gnaw Their Tongues; but if I am using that comparison it's because the material being compared is quite good. And this definitely is.

- DCKR

Surachai - To No Avail

NEW SURACHAI, HOT OFF THE PRESSES, OUT ON HANDSHAKE INC.


a-beautiful-lotus

download

Amarok - Self Titled

Hi. I'm new here. I'm gonna start slooow and heeeaaavy. Like good sex.

Amarok is a 4 piece outfit from the Westcoast of the United States. They want all your weed, all your whisky, and all your soul. Doom, stoner, death, and sludge metal varieties take center stage here and battle it out for the domineering role. Only to realize that, as it is ideally to be experienced in a live environment, the mention of almost entirely vintage Sunn O))) (the company, not the band) amps as the outlet for this beast should not go unnoticed and all aforementioned horn throwing worthy varieties of metal are welcome to fornicate with one another in an effort to get you off here.

Obviously, you should buy their vinyl. It's sexy. The artwork, alone, is worth the asking price. Hang that bitch up, and when you're not listening to the record (which should be, like, almost never) you can put it in that old Bananarama sleeve you're scared to admit you own the wax for. Win/win. But. Not everyone is going to do that. And, awesomely, Amarok knows this. So they give you the option to have it in 320 MP3 for free. If you don't go to their show(s), however, the bitch on their cover will sever your balls from your body in a downtuned redlined mess of growls, chords, snares, & crashes. And you'll miss one of the most awesome and slept on bands in this/these genre(s) operating today. For shame.

Amarok - Self Titled (download page)

- DCKR