Hear here.

just came back from morgoth... I've developed a chemical imbalance there

Later than anticipated, but I have a legitimate excuse as I caught a case of Voivod at Underground Arts here in Philly. A ridiculous set with one minor blemish. You can guess the song and it ain’t “Rebel Robot.” Set list for the evening was, and maybe, memory isn’t piecing things together in exact order but it certainly opened on “Killing Technology” and ended with “Voivod.” “Obsolete Beings,” “Macrosolutions to Megaproblems,” “Synchro Anarchy,” “Thrashing Rage,” “Rise,” “Nuage Fractal,” “Holographic Thinking,” “Rebel Robot,” “Sleeves Off,” “Pre-Ignition,” and the mighty “Fix My Heart” round it out. Only truly missing sequences from post society and target earth.

Shall we get down to business?

Second track off forthcoming Thantifaxath Hive Mind Narcosis dropped. Once you pick your jaw off the floor, check the first song on the Dark Descent bandcamp page. Brilliant.

From a technical cacophony to an entirely different sort of turbulent black metal noise…. Thanatomass - Hades. Old school aesthetic and recording technique. Blast beats, whammy bar abusing solos, vocals drenched in reverb and delay, riffs that are hardly discernible beneath the chaotic din. Sarcofago, early Deiphago, Nuclear Death, you’ll love it.

Slowing things down considerably with Post Luctum. Immaculately executed and firmly in the school of early Anathema, My Dying Bride, Mar De Grises sorrowful introspective melodic epic death doom. No frills, no bullshit, boiled down to the purest essence of the style: Stately, elegant, elegiac.

Keeping the doom groove and giving it a mud bath with a new release from fauns. Surcease is a two song ep that has the downtrodden dirge, some of the UK/Euro sorrowful melodic edge and a touch of Winter grit and grime, particularly during “Ashen” to its plod and trod.

Another band of sci-fi tech metal misfits from Slovenia? What? An act other than Teleport / Siderean? Cordura have been doing their thing for over a decade, too, and doing it well. Nibiru X is breakneck out of the gate - an unfettered, enraged beast. This is Atheist, Theory in Practice energy and musicality shot out of a railgun. Designed to destroy and bewilder. This trio also work together in black metal circles as members of Cvinger.

Washington DC’s Goetia have a Morbid Angel slant to their sound but aren’t afraid to break out from the aforementioned style and go grind or old school thrash in spots. Typically they do these switches on a dime for most neck snapping effect. Guitar solos aplenty from full on mayhemic noise to tasteful control. Vocals are more of a black metal snarl dead center of an extremely busy drum performance with a muscular bass tether and guitars given wide spread. Exceptional lively recording and production to enhance all the wares.

Too soon for Metal Archives at this time to gather intel, the Sombre Ciel debut is a roiling miasma of sound culling from raw, atmospheric, cosmic black metal schools for maximum disorientation. Just what the fuck is going on beneath this hissing ambience? Jackhammer drum beats, reverbed out vocals, more reverb piled upon reverb, threads of guitar… are there synths or more guitar effects? Absolutely dizzying. Probably no middle ground you’ll either love this or hate it. This is early Wolok levels of fucked up. As Trash says in Return of the Living Dead, “I like it. It's a statement.”

Keeping within realms of sonic abuse, Inverse Solar Reqvriem offer Ierfeweardian Oþfeallan Snytrucræft. There are discernable riffs at play here, but, they are wobbly and woozy beyond compare. 2 songs and a trio of ambient pieces (2 of which bordering on my first casio dungeon synth variety). Stay for the 11 minutes of reckless black metal abandon, tune out the 4:30 of synth.

The return of The End of Six Thousand Years after a decade. Italian post everything and back with discordant vengeance.

New track from Ceremonial Bloodbath. With that name you should have an inkling of what you’re about to receive: the business end of a spiked bat. Death metal done guttural and filthy, bordering on bestial war metal and warped.

The hellish calliope Eye of Mensis is self described as a “cyclical dream” when it should be rewritten as “cyclical nightmare.” This appears to be the initial taste of the Dousing the Flames full length. Fractured, discombobulated, eerie as a Sleepytime Gorilla Museum meets mods carve the pig Thought Industry carnival ride.

please support: Everything Went Black, The Metal Dad and his fiendish five podcast, No Clean Singing, Stereogum: The Black Market, The Devil’s Mouth, Aversionline, Invisible Oranges, Horror Wolf 666, Into the Necrosphere, Sol Nox Podcast, The Book of Very Very Bad Things, Plague Rages, Thrown to the Abyss Podcast, Freedom Has No Bounds, and Doktor Dismemberment’s Midnight Murderplex…. these sites update daily and weekly, probably more frequently than what I do here.

Once again enlisting Aenigmatum skinsmith Pierce Williams Morkera deliver Aggravations. Album number two from this Croatian black metal entity which I’ve yet to fully immerse myself in. This was an instant purchase given what I know of the first album and seeing YouTube footage of Williams allowing a sneak peek at what he was furiously tracking for this particular outing.

The big deal release of the week breaches the portal and comes in the shape of Impetuous Ritual. You know damn well what you’re getting, no sense giving my two cents.

Swede post sludge hammer KOLLAPS\E offer Phantom Centre as name your price.

The BFI edition of Enys Men arrived. I’ve yet to delve deeply into the extras on the blu ray. It is a well known fact that red rain coats are forever tied to Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. It is a lesser known fact that yellow rain coats are inexplicably tied to Alice, Sweet Alice. Enys Men has both red and yellow rain coats and director Mark Jenkin filmed this much like 1970s horrors and used a 16mm camera to lend it a visual quality authentic of the time period. This movie is a slow burner, time and memory twister. Could almost be thought of as a Benson/Moorhead reimagining of the old BBC Stone Tape. Doomed atmosphere and creeping dread in minimalist style offering very little in the way of dialogue and is purely cinematic. Again, cue Trash in Return of the Living Dead, “I like it. It's a statement.”