Velvet Lucifer - The Electric Residence 1920-1975

 01.Cellar Recording One

02.Cellar Recording Two

03.Sound Experiment One

04.Sound Experiment Two

05.Sound Experiment Three

06.Unnamed Piece

07.The Residence Performance VII

Vincent LaDama (Electronics, Field Recordings)

The Members of the Electric Residence (All Instruments)

All that survives from the strange world of the Electric Residence, allegedly are two acetates, one reel to reel tape and a cassette tape.

These are taken from the cassette tape, I would imagine the sound experiments were from the late 1960's and the Residents performance from 1973.

Anyway, its weird stuff, NOT easy listening.

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Of Perception - So Join Mr Dreams (1991)

1991 rock album, full of great ideas that didn't quite hit the mark.

Hard Rock, acid house, protest songs all mixed in with keyboards, guitars etc, hell even a sitar!

Got 2 Ks from Kerrang! mag back in the day.

 Album was produced by A. Arthurs (Neil Christian/Crushed Butler).

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Gaylord - Crown Of Joy (A Sublime Sun Thriving Amongst Dying Stars) (CD Review)

GAYLORD - CROWN OF JOY (A SUBLIME SUN THRIVING AMONGST DYING STARS)

01. Lay Down

02. Ghost Me

03. Dread

04. Shit Scene, Shit Bands

05. White Night Gaslight

06. High and Mighty

07. Grey Rainbow

08. Coiled in Dust

09. Obfuscation of Intent

10. Ten Wing Angel

11. Nailed Deity

12. Again and Again

13. None / Nothing

14. Judgement and Justice

15. Slitting Their Throats

16. Kvlt After School Xbox Kommando

17. Sublime Sunshine

Richard Alan Weeks (Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths, Percussion)

Guests:

Sally - Freelance R&B Vocalist

Alena Yashkina - Vocalist for Wicked Cat, Splitmind

Junayed Hossain Rayhan - Lead guitarist for Metal Fakir

thetrashyourmomthrewout - Freelance Voice Actress

Sevlier - Freelance Jazz Vocalist

Olga Nuit - Vocalist for Ara'Kus

Kieran Scott - Vocalist for Ashen Crown

Ember O'Woody - Freelance Metal Vocalist

Karl Willetts - Memoriam, Ex-Bolt Thrower

Aaron Marko - Frontman for The Swine

Rodrigo C Giacon - Lead guitarist for Sorrow In Vain

Nate Lewis - Bassist for Ante-Inferno, Bassist and Vocalist for Petrichor

Amara Wears - Vocalist for Aubzagl, Guitarist for Petrichor

Marc Hood - Vocalist for Cadaver Soiree

Baradiel - Freelance Metal Musician

Best known for their divisive debut, 2018's "THE BLACK METAL SCENE NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED", the band have decided to continue their assault on black metal as a scene and genre this time by merging black metal with many genres of "non-kvlt" music.

Frontman Richard explains: "With THE BLACK METAL SCENE NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED we used genre trappings to assault black metal with its own aural aesthetics. Raw guitars, sloppy riffs, gurgled vocals, and the bass turned way down. This time around we wanted to 'pervert' this 'sacred' music by pairing it alongside genres that most 'true' fans hate."

CROWN OF JOY (A SUBLIME SUN THRIVING AMONGST DYING STARS) has all the anger and ferocity of previous albums THE BLACK METAL SCENE NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED and WINGS OF THE JOYFUL but merges that fury with genres like trap, RnB, jazz, j-pop, hip-hop, and hyper pop to create a unique experience that old school black metal fans will absolutely abhor.

 Well 'Lay Down' may start in a traditional distorted, funeral doom style but something a little different is thrown in.

'Ghost Me' has some sweet harmony vocals intercut with some technical Death Metal whilst 'Dread' is a pretty straight forward Blackened Death Metal assault.

Some symphonic styled Black Metal with 'Grey Rainbow' is well executed and followed by some rappy stuff backed with nice piano playing.

'Obfuscation of Intent' just sounds like Dethklok!', Nailed Deity' mixes some beautiful piano with basic Metal.

Outstanding track 'Again & Again' is a fantastic brutal Death Metal attack which evolves into some great techno, this is followed by another great track 'None / Nothing', slow piano and narration into mid paced Death Metal, the mix really works well creating the perfect balance.

'Judgement and Justice' is weird, sort of hip-hop rappy thing, vocal works well but somehow sounds slightly comical.

Metal meets Pop with 'Slitting Their Throats', again suffers from bad mixing, nothing wrong with the metal meets pop idea, but just sounds like two separate songs randomly cut together.

'Kvlt After School Xbox Kommando' is so far the only track that sounds like Black Metal from ye olde tymes, I'm guessing the lyrics are not serious.

Finally we end on 'Sublime Sunshine' another mainstream melodic Death metal tune.

Mr. Weeks is clearly a talented musician, but the subversion of Black Metal is not apparent, there was a chance to be as innovative and controversial as Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park were to mainstream metal back in the day, it just hasn't worked.

I will have to wait for someone to come up with a Black (metal) Eyed Peas.

Rating 7/10

For Fans Of: Dethklok, Ghostemane, Siberian Meat Grinder, Mora Prokaza

Wij - Dziwidlo (CD Review)

Wij - Dziwidło

01. Żmij

02. Dziwidło

03. Czarny Lew

04. Czerw

05. W Przymierzu Z Diabłem 

06. Wielki Martwy

07. Peperuda

08. Kat

09. Madame

10. Łapacz Snów

11. Tyrania Trupa

Maria (Vocals)

Grzegorz (Guitar)

Miko (Drums)

Something different grabbed my attention, a minimalist heavy metal styled band without a bassist from Poland.

It is suggested that we "imagine the White Stripes if Jack White had learned his blues from Tony Iommi instead of Son House", pretty sure White owed his style to Jeff Beck however I get the point being made.

Wij (pronounced ‘veey’) is the Polish spelling of “Viy”, the title of a supernatural horror story by Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. It is also the Polish word for Myriapod, a centipede-like species which thrives in darkness and lives off decay.

‘Dziwidło’ (pronounced ‘gee-vee-dwoh’), on the other hand, is a monstrous tropical plant called Amorphophallus titanum, common name being the 'corpse flower’.

This is their first full-length release, featuring ten band originals plus a cover of 'In League with Satan' ('W przymierzu z diabłem'), by legends Venom, all produced by Haldor Grunberg known for his work with Behemoth, Dopelord and Moanaa.

 Blasting off with 'Zmij' and I do mean "Blasting", one helluva sound is crashing through the speakers, raw, heavy and powerful, the vocals, oh wow, full of screaming power!

The title track is a different beast, dirty proto doom meets some sludge, slow, brooding and the screaming vocal is toned down to some beautiful tones.

After some heavy blues with 'Czerw' comes the utter madness that is 'In League With Satan', a freaky intro and then that drum pattern kicks in, the vocals are crazed, in Polish the words seem even more angry and dare I say 'Venomous', oh and some killer riffing in there as well.

'Wielki-Martwy', another proto doom monster and then with 'Kat' its full on thrash assault and that guitar, at times it sounds like a distorted bass.

For a perfect mix of Doom, Psych and Heavy Metal then crank up 'Lapacz Snów' another superb vocal rings out! And the final song does the same.

To sum up: It may be sung in Polish that makes no difference, the performance is such that it can be enjoyed at full volume!

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of: Lucifer, Pusron, Octopus, The Sabbathian, Cathedral, Electric Wizard, Death Penalty

Record label Bandcamp Page

Enigmatical -Transmissions (CD Review)

Enigmatical - "Transmissions"

01.Cosmic Domination

02.Wormhole

03.Call From The Void

04.We Are The Demons

05.E.T.A.I.

06.Dark Energy Entities

07.Zero One (Infancy of Infinity)

08.Enstrangled Cosmic Spirals

09.Ekpyrotic Gateways

The Entity (Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Samples & Programming)

The Voice (Vocals)

 Cosmic Black Metal from Sweden? Well that's what the bio said and it grabbed my attention.

There are few bands who can blend Black metal, Industrial metal and Electronica and create a finished product.

This CD comprises of three previously released Transmission EPs, titled Transmission I, II, and III, now released digitally as a remixed and remastered compilation album.

Well I'm pretty much blown away by this, first couple of songs certainly blend electronics with Black Metal, but for me 'Call From The Void' just levels up. Great synth sounds, full on drum patterns, screaming deathly vocals, wall of pure guitar noise, yes this is the stuff! and then towards the end it goes all weird with synths and samples, perfect ending!

This never ending aural assault continues, lifted on occasion with some simple yet effective synths such as on 'E.T.A.I.'

'Zero One' creates that rarest of paradox', a danceable, techno black metal onslaught, which we return to on the last song 'Ekpyrotic Gateways', fucking amazing!

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of: Axis Of Perdition, NON, Meads Of Asphodel, Blut Aus Nord, Aborym

ESSES - Bloodletting for the Lonely (CD Review)

ESSES Bloodletting for the Lonely

01. The Source

02. Pierce the Feeling

03. Four Corners

04. Infinite Void

05. Before the Blight

06. Little Mouse

07. Faceless Past

08. Caged Beasts

09. Schism  

Miss Kel (Vocals)

Dawn Hills (Guitars)

Skot B (Guitars)

Scout Leight (Bass)

Kevin Brown (Drums)

Formed in 2014, Esses has gradually become one of the pillars in the thriving Oakland and San Francisco underground. Encompassing elements of deathrock and dark post-punk shrouded under a veil of forbidding doom.

The Oakland five-piece, featuring current and former members of Altar de Fey, Black Ice, The Phantom Limbs, Red Voice Choir, and The Holy Kiss — carry through transcendently dark live performances with surreal and sublime vitalities.   

A follow-up to the 2018’s EP, 'Offering', this album deals with the topics of mental health, memory and trauma.

Starting with 'The Source' and culminating in 'Schism' the record progresses with a continuous storytelling approach throughout nine meticulously ordered numbers.  

Album really kicks in on track two with 'Pierce the Feeling' with its heavy, dark and twisted approach and some stunning vocals.

'Infinite Void' is another superb example of how, when done right, you can take all the influences, wear them on your sleeve and yet still be original.

 A much heavier approach on 'Little Mouse', this is screaming, guitar laden, drum thumping, goth/metal delivered with confidence that it will hit every sense at the same time with a sledgehammer.

Creepy ambience is served cold with 'Faceless Past', followed with some more (slightly) upbeat rhythms for 'Caged Beasts' before our last song 'Schism' which blends mid paced instrumentation with haunting vocals.

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of: Siouxsie & The Banshees, Christian Death, Toyah, Radio Werewolf, Danielle Dax, The Cure  

Sorry, Heels - She (CD Review)

Sorry, Heels - "She"

01.Through The End

02.She Burns

03.Follow Signs

04.Something Real

05.The Spell´s Ballad

06.My Dolls House

07.Another Lapse

08.The Void

09.The End Of Desire

Davide Messina (Guitar, Keyboards)

Simona Pietrucci (Vocals)

Additional Musicians:

Ettore Pistolesi (Vocals, Guitar)

Filippo Strang (Drums)

Bubi (Vocals)

Italian band formed in 2010, Various line-up changes mark a radical change in Sorry, Heels' sound, abandoning rock standards and diverting their compositions towards electronic music, while maintaining references and sounds linked to new wave and early post-punk.

This album is a work dedicated to the love journey of a woman who faces infatuation, falling in love, disappointment and frustration. Both the lyrics and the sounds were written in an attempt to evoke all the various stages she has gone through.

 So we have the concept Starting from infatuation, 'Through the End' and passion with 'She Burns'.

These are delivered with haunting vocals, minimal synth and drum backing and occasional guitar, each perfectly balanced to create quite a cold electronic ambience.

We continue with rejection on 'Something Real', my fave track so far, all the previous elements are still present this has the added aural pleasure of some dark gothic guitar work.

Obsession gets two songs, 'Follow Signs' and 'The Spell's Ballad' as does loneliness, with 'My Doll's House' and 'Another Lapse'. The latter of which becomes my second fave song here with more dark and disturbing gothic undertones and some great Bass riffs.

Finally, repentance with 'The Void' followed by a somewhat depressing acceptance that nothing will change with 'The End of Desires'.

Rating 8/10

For Fans Of: Portishead, This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins, Black Tape For A Blue Girl