2009: a summary

That would be my last post this year, and I want to say thanks to all of you who are reading my blog. I haven't expected there would be so many readers - now my blog gets about 450 his and 200 unique visitors every day. Most of these visitors come from the United States, but there are also many people from Russia/Ukraine, Italy, and Greece. France and Germany are also present, as well as Spanish-speaking world (especially Chile). But I expected some more visitors from Scandinavia (due to powerful crust scene in Nordic countries), China and India (due to great population of both these countries). The majority of Asian visitors of my blog come from Japan, and there aren't any visitors from Africa (except for Egypt). 

It's also good to see that many people come to my blog by typing in Google: "RABM" or "anarchist black metal" - it indicates that they're aware of the growing RABM movement. But it's surprising to see people from Japan or Israel searching for NSBM blogs, or search queries like "christian nsbm" (though I wouldn't be surprised if there are any ;))

It's most likely there wouldn't be any updates in the next 10 days - I want to have some rest, and I have some things to do beside this blog. See you next year, stay tuned!

Meti Bhuvah & Örk Bastards - split (2009)

METI BHUVAH / ORK BASTARDS "split 2009"

Year: 2009
Genre: Raw Black Metal (Meti Bhuvah) / Blackened Crust, Thrash Metal (Örk Bastards)
Country: Russia
Label: Karjalan Bunkkeri

Track List:

Örk Bastards

1. Dead Walking Hog
2. Final Price
3. Cold and Ruined Stones
4. Unstoppable Raid
5. Dancing With Shiva
6. Fucking City (Curt & The Contras cover)

Meti Bhuvah

1. Untitled I
2. Untitled II
3. Untitled III
4. Untitled IV
5. Untitled V
6. Christ Fire (Von cover)

DOWNLOAD

FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU--!!! I've just wrote a very detailed review of this release, when my computer hang up and all I've wrote was lost. Well, in short: this split is my very recent discovery. Both of these bands are from Karelia, and they're a part of north-west Russia's punk/metal scene (as well as Antimelodix, 4 Scums, All The Cold, etc.). Meti Bhuvah ("Axis of the World" in Sanskrit) are a typical Ildjarn-like raw black metal band with satanic/occult-themed lyrics. I'm not very interested in such kind of music, but on the other side, Ork Bastards definitely caught my attention. They're consisting of members of some other local metal and punk bands, and they're playing thrash/black metal with punk/hardcore influences - very powerful and energetic, I must say. It's nice to hear a song "Fucking City" (originally by Curt & The Contras) on this split, and to see Antimelodix, Darkthrone, Children of Technology, Nuclëar Fröst and Hotbild on their myspace friendlist. BTW, they were featured in the "Band of the Week" blog by Fenriz (Darkthrone). And what's regarding their name... this map says it all:

Of course, Karelia is a part of Mordor (=USSR), and it's inhabited by orcs :)

P.S. Ork Bastards also have a tape called "Final Price", released by a Thailand-based label WHP KVLT Productions, but I haven't found it yet.

Epithanatios Ronghos - split w/ Poria Sto Perithorio (2005)

EPITHANATIOS RONGHOS "split with Poria Sto Perithorio"

Year: 2005
Genre: Blackened Crust 
Country: Greece

Track List:

1. Ekkofantiki Siopi-Anagennisi
   
2. Aoratos Polemos
3. Psithyri
4. Teleftees Kravges
5. Aenao Psychos

DOWNLOAD

Epithanatios Ronghos are a very obscure crust band from Greece, who did a split with another band called Poria Sto Perithorio in 2005. Unfortunately I don't have the other side of the split, and I couldn't find any further info about Epithanatios Ronghos, but at least these 5 tracks are fine.

March Into The Void - demo (2009)

MARCH INTO THE VOID "demo"

Year: 2009
Genre: Blackened Crust, Crust Metal
Country: Greece
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Recollection Of Pain
2. Under Pledge Of Revenge
3. Inflamable Balance
4. Sacred Wasteland
5. Vigillant Eye
6. Disguised Enemy
7. Defy, Destruct, Rebuilt
   

DOWNLOAD

Well... now I'll post some Greek blackened crust, just like I promised. We all know how powerful Greek anarchist movement is nowadays, and it's naturally to expect many good bands to come from Greece. This release is very good for a first demo, there are 37 minutes of atmospheric metallic crust. Hope the next release would be even better!

Suicide Nation - "A Requiem For All That Ever Mattered" (2001)

SUICIDE NATION "A Requiem For All That Ever Mattered"

Year: 2001
Genre: Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: Scorched Earth Policy

Track List:

1. Upon Deaf Ears
2. A Message Betrayed
3. A Part Of Me Died Today
4. 1000 Curses
5. I Am Disease
6. Requiem
7. Circle Of Fools
   

DOWNLOAD

Release notes:

Recorded in the thirty hours within two days at the Living Head Studios in Phoenix, AZ. Second album.

And finally, one of the first examples of pure anarchist black metal I've heard about only very recently. If I'm not misinformed, Suicide Nation were considered anarchist at the time, and their music was one of the main sources of inspiration for A.Lundr (Panopticon). I don't have any further info about Suicide Nation, but music is good. Even very good.

That's enough for today, I think. Though I don't have any more "pure" RABM right now, I have LOTS of blackened hardcore and Greek blackened crust, and I'm going to upload all that stuff after the new year. Stay tuned!

Chambre Froide & The Austrasian Goat - split (2009)

Year: 2009
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal 
Country: France
Label: 213 Records (Co-released by C.V.E. (Nor), Carbonized Cells (Fra), At War
  With False Noise (UK), Nuclear Thrash (Fra) and Wee Wee (Fra))

Track List:

The Austrasian Goat

1. In the Arms of the Win
   

Chambre Froide

1. Isolement Suicidaire
   

DOWNLOAD

As far as I know, Chambre Froide (Cold Room) is an anarchist black metal project by the same people who're responsible for Gasmask Terror (d-beat/crust) and Ravensdöm (ABM).  Chambre Froide are from Bordeaux (France), and only a very little info is available about them, but their music is surprisingly good. There are at least one more release by them (a split tape with a band called Corbillard), but I haven't found it yet.

On the other side, The Austrasian Goat - a rather strange band which sound is in the intersection between black metal, post-rock and funeral doom. They also have did a split with The Dead Musician, so I guess they're anarcho-friendly.

Plainwords - "Overgrow To Overthrow" (demo, 2009)

PLAINWORDS "Overgrow To Overthrow"

Year: 2009
Genre: Blackened Crust
Country: USA
Label: Lundr Records

Track List:

1. Composition
   
2. Warehousing Children
3. A Letter From the Former United States

DOWNLOAD

You all might know A.Lundr, the only member of Panopticon. Plainwords is one of his side projects, and for now he's a drummer. This 3-track demo features very good blackened crust/hardcore sound with the same distinctive style of drumming you can hear on Panopticon's albums. Don't know if they plan to release a full-length album, but at least recently they have recorded a new song called "Opacity".

If you like Panopticon (and I think most of you do), feel free to check out this demo. Very decent stuff indeed.

Timebomb - "Fury" (1994)

TIMEBOMB "Fury 7''"

Year: 1994
Genre: Hardcore
Country: Italy
Label: S.O.A. Records

Track List:

1. The Human Side
   
2. Break It Down
3. The Right To Love
4. The Real Enemy
5. Incoherence
6. Hardblood

DOWNLOAD

"We released a 7" called "Fury" in '93 on S.O.A. recs., wich is probably one of the worst records of all ages..." - from an interview with Timebomb. To be honest, it's not "one of the worst records of all ages", but it's definitely only for die-hard fans of Timebomb. Overall it's a hardcore (not metalcore/BM) album like "Hymns for a Decaying Empire" - though the quality of production is slightly worse.

Just FYI: I have one more album by them ("The Beat Is Here Fellas" - but it sounds nothing like any hardcore or metal), and their split with Redemption, containing 3 tracks previously featured on "Hymns for a Decaying Empire". Great thanks to my Greek comrade for sending me all these very, VERY hard-to-find releases!

Murder - "Back To Hell" (2008)

MURDER "Back To Hell"

Year: 2008
Genre: D-Beat / Crust Metal
Country: Ukraine

Track List:

1. Back to Hell
2. Betrayal
3. Clone The Cloned Clowns
4. Mass Media Murder
5. No Escape
6. Hard To Breathe
7. High Youth
8. Nuclear War Cocksucker
9. Plastic Thoughts
10. You Suck We're Punk
11. Fade Away

DOWNLOAD

And one more crust punk release from the ex-USSR scene - now it's from Kiev, Ukraine. Murder were formed in 2007, and now they're considered one of the best crust/d-beat bands in Ukraine. If you like Driller Killer or Extinction Of Mankind, you'll definitely like Murder. Their sound seems to be very metallic to me (though not particularly BM-influenced). As for their lyrics, they're rather simplistic and written in not so grammatically correct English... but of course it's forgivable, since English isn't their first language.

Warborn - s/t (2009)

WARBORN "Warborn"

Year: 2009
Genre: Blackened Hardcore / Neocrust 
Country: Russia

Track List:

1. Рождённый Войной
2. Оковы Судьбы
3. Погоня За Смертью
4. Вы Все Равны
5. Внутри Меня
   

DOWNLOAD

Well, I haven't forgot about my secondary mission - to bring the best releases of an ex-USSR crust scene to your attention. Just like Antimelodix and 4 Scums, Warborn are from north-west of Russia (St.Petersburg, to be precise). So, the vast majority of the best Russian crust bands come from North-West region, and I guess it's because of proximity to Finland and Scandinavia (and to Murmansk too - there are many good black metal bands that come from Murmansk, including All The Cold).

The music of Warborn is generally considered to be dark hardcore, but it contains some elements of neocrust and blackened crust as well. And they're far more good than the majority of other crust bands from Russia (E123, Trotyl Equivalent Dissonance, Step To Freedom, I Have A Gun, etc.)

Noise of Hatred - "Keep The Fire Of Hate Burning" (2009)

NOISE OF HATRED "Keep The Fire Of Hate Burning"

Year: 2009
Genre: Raw Blackened Crust / Grindcore / Power Violence
Country: Russia
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. 2012
   
2. Как мне выжить в этом мире
3. Кремниевая жизнь
4. Люди без мнения
5. Научите меня служить
6. Убей государство
7. Что ты будешь делать?

DOWNLOAD

Noise of Hatred are a Moscow-based duo who claims to be a satanic anarchist black metal / power violence / noisecore band. Honestly I didn't like their first demo that much: it's home-made and recorded very roughly, and it lacks the raw hatred and misanthropy which is supposed to be present in such kind of music. Nevertheless, if you're into noisecore and powerviolence, you may find this release interesting.

A Cloud Forest - "Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep" (2010)

A CLOUD FOREST "Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep"

Year: 2010 (2009 internet release)
Genre: Melodic Black Metal
Country: USA

Track List:

1. As The Sun Descends
2. Metamorphosis
3. As Embers Turn To Ashes

DOWNLOAD

Recently, I was contacted by Eric (Contravene, A Cloud Forest), who asked me to download the first release by A Cloud Forest and to review it in my blog. Well, here it is. The sound is surprisingly melodic, and comparable with Alda or Lake Of Blood. Of course I can't compare it with WITTR or Panopticon, but it's good enough for a first release - though all 3 tracks are a bit short (I used to >6-7 minutes-long tracks in atmospheric black metal). Hope for a full-length release by them in the future, it's good to see more and more members of anarcho-punk community going black metal.

See you next week, stay tuned!

UPD: if the archive seems to be broken, you can download all 3 tracks from last.fm.

Dancehall Satan - "Beyond Good & P.C." (2006)

DANCEHALL SATAN "Beyond Good & P.C."

Year: 2006
Genre: Blackened Ska ("Satanic Trash-Ska")  / Crack Rock Steady
Country: Germany
Label: Trash Compost Records

Track List:

1. Blue Feelings
2. Kot Couture
3. Nazi Spaceshi-hip
4. Kill Yer Scene
5. Wait Until They're Crispy
6. Wag Tha Pitbull
   

DOWNLOAD

Charles D. Ward, did you want some blackened ska? Here it is! "Beyond Good & P.C." by Dancehall Satan is one of the most epic... no, EPIC releases I've ever heard. It's exactly like how I've described it - a hybrid of black metal and ska / crack rock steady, using the BM aesthetics and anarchist ideology. Are you crazy enough to appreciate this? Then feel free to check out "Beyond Good & P.C.", but you have been warned ;) 

Release notes:

"BACK TO THE RADICAL!!!
we hate: capitalism, racism, patriotism, globalization, homophobia, sexism, religion, people defining themselves as "unpolitical" (in a world with millions of influences and impacts, EVERYBODY has to take a stand)
we are pro: communism, anarchism, choice, animal
if you got a problem with that: stop listening to us and kill yourself!
NAZI PUNKS FUCK OFF!!!"

And take a look on the album artwork, it's beyond awesome:

Peregrine & Auryn - "Green Scare Benefit" (split, 2009)

Year: 2009
Genre: Death/Black Metal (Peregrine), Hardcore (Auryn)
Country: USA
Label: FC Records

Track List:

Peregrine

1. Reduced To Ashes
2. Sacred Hunt Defiled
3. The Final Act

Auryn

1. Titan's Eyes
2. Silphion's Spell
3. Like Roaches
4. Untamed Sun
   

DOWNLOAD

You might already know Peregrine, a very radical anarcho-primitivist blackened death metal band from the United States. Here's their latest release, a split album with a hardcore/metalcore band called Auryn. I must admit it's an excellent release. The quality of production is great, much better when compared to "The Agrarian Curse". And it's much more black metal release than the previous album (which was more like death metal/grindcore). Enjoy!

Wolves In The Throne Room - demo (2005)

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM "demo 2005"

Year: 2005
Genre: Cascadian Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Queen of the Borrowed Light
2. Daggers of Amethyst Crystal
3. (A Shimmering Radiance) Diadem of Twelve Stars
   

DOWNLOAD

I assume you're familiar enough with WITTR, and I don't need to explain what they sound like. Just like any other release by WITTR, this demo features a few long atmospheric black metal compositions with weird titles. I'm pretty sure that WITTR don't have any other releases besides those 4 albums and two demos (if the "Live at Roadburn 2008" album doesn't count), so I have their full discography now.

Alda - demo (2009)

ALDA "demo"

Year: 2009
Genre: Cascadian Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. The Seed and the Hailstone
2. The Evergreen Womb
3. Fimbulwinter

DOWNLOAD

Alda is a very young 4-piece Cascadian black metal band. I found their demo (which was available for free at their live shows, btw) in the same blog where I've found albums by Mania. If you like WITTR or Skagos, you'll definitely like Alda. Their sound isn't very brutal, but rather melodic, and despite they aren't comparable with the best Cascadian metal bands, they're a very promising band. Can't wait to hear their first LP (which was released only a month ago).

I haven't found any explicit political statements by them. But according to this text, they're undoubtedly environmentalists, so I think it's safe to post their demo under the "green anarchist black metal" label. Overall it seems like their beliefs very much resemble the beliefs of aforementioned bands (WITTR, Skagos, etc.)

P.S. And by the way, how do you pronounce "Alda"? I believe it's like "Альда", just like how it's pronounced in German.

Mania - "Endless Hunger" (2008)

MANIA "Endless Hunger "

Year: 2007
Genre: Cascadian Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: Woodsmoke

Track List:

1. Endless Hunger
2. Collapse Of Spiraling Iteration
3. (bonus track)

DOWNLOAD

It's a cassette-only release limited to 100 white tapes, and I think it's the best release by Mania so far. Besides these 3 albums, Mania has two splits (which I don't have now), and a "best of" compilation. Maybe later I'd post some Leech, but I haven't heard any albums by them yet.

Mania - "Death Of Birth" (2007)

MANIA "Death Of Birth"

Year: 2007
Genre: Cascadian Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. The Sound of Hell
2. No Escape
3. No Future
4. No Home
5. The Death of Birth
6. The Birth From Death

DOWNLOAD

"The endless struggle to survive is what Mania is about. Primitivism is the key. No amount of leftist 'anarchist' and 'vegan' ideas will change this world; only personal fulfillment to better you and your immediate community can change your life. A never-ending, all encompassing, urban sprawl of technological infrastructure will engulf all life and there is no fighting it.. only embracing it and using it to further your immediate needs until it collapses. Don't miss the point here. Nature is important, however Cascadia is just like the rest of the world. A symbolic longing for a life of nature is all we have here."

Yes, these guys are very radical. I can't say I support their beliefs to a full extent, but their music is damn good. The first LP by them features more clear sound than "Current Chaos", and it's more depressive and doom metal-influenced, when compared to most of other Cascadian black metal (only in my opinion, of course).

Mania - "Current Chaos" (demo, 2006)

MANIA "Current Chaos"

Year: 2006
Genre: Cascadian Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Hope in a False God
2. Distorted Views
3. Planetary Holocaust
4. Suicidal Complex
5. Living in Human Mistakes From the Past
6. Choke
   

DOWNLOAD

Mania is a vegan, primitivist, misanthropic and anti-christian black metal band formed in 2004 by members of various Cascadian black metal bands (including Leech). Now Mania is an one-man project of Nate Myers (also a member of Flesh Amulet, Leech, River, and Vault Dweller).

Honestly I haven't heard anything about Mania before someone left this link in my blog. However I enjoyed "Current Chaos", it's very good for a first demo. The quality of sound may not be perfect, but it creates a very gloomy and dark atmosphere. Check this out!

Terror Squad - "Chaosdragon Rising" (2006)

TERROR SQUAD "Chaosdragon Rising"

Year: 2006
Genre: Blackened Thrash Metal
Country: Japan
Label: World Chaos Production

Track List:

1. Chaosdragon Rising
2. Helldozer
3. Sonic Riot
4. Tokyo Metal Anarchy
5. Metal Psycho Machine
6. Fight Forever
7. We Bite
8. Gimme Fire
9. Hellbound Deathboogie
10. Soma
11. やみよりふかく (Yami Yori Fukaku)
    

DOWNLOAD

Current line-up:

• Kouichi "SonicRiot" Udagawa - vocals
• Keiji "Lord Of Nightmares" Ouzeki - guitars
• Hiroyuki "Anarchy Beast" Maekawa - bass
• Hirofumi "Joker" Fujioka - drums
• Hesomoge - responsible for the beautiful album artwork
  

And one more discovery from Japan... a very unexpected discovery, i must say. I can't remember where exactly I had seen the title "Tokyo Metal Anarchy" at first time, but it catched my attention and I decided to find more info about the band. And what I've found - a thrash metal band from Japan, whose lyrical themes are: "Death, Metal, Anarchy, Fighting" (according to Metal-Archives). 

Their sound is very chaotic, obviously influenced by chaotic hardcore bands like Converge and early blackened thrash metal bands such as Bulldozer (and Abigail [JPN], of course!). Overall I can call it "chaotic progressive thrash metal". The punk overtones are also present, especially on "Tokyo Metal Anarchy"... though the list of influences ranges from black metal to classic rock. So it's a very interesting release, though somewhat hard to get into from the first listening. Hope someday I'll hear a pure anarchist black metal band from Asia...

P.S. Click here to get all the artwork that Hesomoge has done for Terror Squad.

Shikabane - "Why Do You Live?" (2004)

SHIKABANE "Why Do You Live?"

Year: 2004
Genre: Blackened Crust / Grindcore / Experimental
Country: Japan

Track List:

1. Ash-Bone
2. Why Can't Obstacle Disappear In This Society?
3. Nihilism
4. Coming Apart ...
5. Breakdown Of Mental Balance (I Dive In A Foward Looking Attitude)
6. What Do You Take Responsibility This My Suffering?
7. I Can't Try
8. The Last Myself 

DOWNLOAD

Since many of you liked "Ego & Desire" by Shikabane, I've decided to post one more album by them. It looks like their last release, at least I don't know anything about their albums after 2004. I also have their 1st EP and their split w/ Agathocles, but I'm not sure if I should post it here.

This release is very diverse in terms of sound, drifting from acoustic parts (which I didn't like very much, though) to blackened crust and even grindcore. The mood of the album is very dark and gloomy, the guitars' sound is noisy and fuzzy, and the vocals are typical for a Japanese crust band. There are English translations of the lyrics in the booklet... but I need to say that they're not very intelligible. Even my English is better ;)

Anyway, I like Shikabane. They're probably my favourite crust punk band from Japan, and I'd be happy to have any other albums by them (if there are any besides these 4 releases I already have).

4scums - "Пёс Войны" (2009)

4 SCUMS "Пёс Войны"

Year: 2009
Genre: Crust Metal, Punk-82
Country: Russia

Track List:

1. Ад на Земле
2. Дай выжить другим
3. Рабы
4. Пес войны
5. Выбирай свою смерть
6. Город мертвых людей
7. Повседневный террор
8. Насилие! Голод! Смерть!
9. Ресурс для войны
10. Продано!
11. Власть
12. Похуй! Нахуй! (cover Г.О.)
    

in English:

1. Hell on Earth
2. Let Others Survive
3. Slaves
4. Hound of War
5. Vote for Your Death
6. City of the Dead
7. Everyday Terror
8. Violence / Hunger / Death
9. Resource for War
10. Sold Out!
11. Power

DOWNLOAD

I feel it's my duty to post this release, since most of you who live outside ex-USSR may just never know about it. It's certainly one of the most acclaimed releases of Russian crust punk scene in 2009, though it was released only a few weeks ago. Many people label it as hardcore/punk-82, but for me it's typical modern crust/d-beat. It's not as "blackened" as "Hellfuck" by Antimelodix, but it's still very metallic. The only thing I have to complain about this album is that the tracks are all very monotonous. Anyway it's a very good release even by European standarts, and I hope for much more good bands to come from that region (4Scums and Warborn are from St.Petersburg, and Antimelodix - from Petrozavodsk, not very far from SPb) in the future.

Bhopal - "Where Morality Fails" + "Age Of Darkness" (demo, 2007)

BHOPAL "Where Morality Fails" + "Age Of Darkness"

Year: 2007
Genre: Blackened Crust, Crust Metal
Country: Italy
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Opposition
2. Where Morality Fails
3. Loser Generation
4. Bike Punk Apocalypse
5. Age Of Darkness

DOWNLOAD

Just another metallic crust band, formed during the fall of 2004 in Italy (Alessandria). So far they have recorded two demos, titled "Where Morality Fails" & "Age Of Darkness", and I've uploaded both of them. Now they're searching for labels interested to release their CD or LP (7 new songs + 3 re-mastered songs from the demo).

"Influences: Bikes and Beers, our other bands, swedish old and new crust, death'n'roll, black metal, the Apocalypse, Nuclear holocaust, the Vikings, bikes and Fausto Coppi" - from their myspace. Despite that, I don't hear much black metal influence in their music, it's more like death metal/neocrust to me (and the band members actually look like skinheads, lol). But it doesn't make their music less awesome.

P.S. The band name is a reference to Bhopal, a city in India which is infamous for the worst industrial disaster in human history (click here for a very detailed info on that event).

Disprezzo - "Nel Mio Mondo Il Sole Non Sorge Mai" (2004)

DISPREZZO "Nel Mio Mondo Il Sole Non Sorge Mai"

Year: 2004
Genre: Blackened Crust, Crust Metal
Country: Italy

Track List:

1. Nel Mio Mondo Il Sole Non Sorge Mai
2. London
3. Un Giorno
4. Xx/xx/xxxx
5. Esistenza
6. Cosi' Libero Cosi' Limitato
7. Morire Ogni Giorno
8. Memorie Del Passato
9. Sbocco Professionale
10. Caggiano Mosh
    

DOWNLOAD

Line-up:

• Giulio - vocals
• Margherita - bass
• Gabriele - drums

Disprezzo (Disdain) - a political crust band from Italy, which was formed in 2001 and disbanded in late 2004. Their sound was described as "blackened crust" in most sources. Though I really doubt if there are a sufficient black metal influence, it's very metallic crust indeed. Very little info is available about the band, and it's a shame that they're too little known - their music is very good.

Nuclëar Fröst - "D-Beat War 83" (demo, 2007)

NUCLEAR FROST "D-Beat War 83"

Year: 2007
Genre: Raw Blackened Crust
Country: Brazil
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Time Bomb
2. Bombs Away
3. Winter Bombs
4. Atomic Power

DOWNLOAD

Here's the very first rehearsal demo by Nuclear Frost. My review will be as short as the demo itself: if course it's very raw and noisy, but it's only their first attempts to create music. Let's wait for their full-length "Nuclear Winter Gloom"!

Vergeltung - "System Overload" (2008)

VERGELTUNG "System Overload"

Year: 2008 
Genre: Industrial Black Metal
Country: Russia
Label: CD-Maximum

Track List:

1. Alarm
2. System Overload
3. Spatial Cold
4. Arzamas-16
5. Electromagnetic Impulse
6. Gravitational Phantom of Deceased Nova
7. Interstellar Voidblast
8. Victims of Technology
9. Stalingrad
10. Cold War
11. Werk

DOWNLOAD

First of all, I've never posted anything this before. Not only it's avant-garde industrial black metal; moreover, it's the first industrial metal band from Russia who managed to release an album with such high quality of production. As far as I can see, they doesn't have any apparent political affiliation, but the main themes of their music are WWII, The Cold War, USSR secret technologies and space exploration; and it's extremely unlikely if they're supporting NSBM scene, so their first release might be interesting to my readers.

"Industrial meltdown. Chaos. Spatial cold. Darkness. Endlessness. VERGELTUNG is the Retribution that anyone feared but unconsciously waited. High-tensioned cyber-metal will uncover your inner fears and plunge you into the dreadful abyss of mankind's death. Social collapse, civilization's demise, global war and universal cataclysm; humanity's self destruction and non-existence – all that shape the concept of VERGELTUNG's work. The very name of the band embodies the cruel truth about the technology progress driven by the development of arms that bring mass destruction and death. It's not a secret that first rockets were built not to explore space and travel to the moon but rather to attack England and the US" - from their official myspace.

The music of Vergeltung is very complex and hard to get into from the first listening. As for me, they sound much like Aborym, DHG and the Finnish industrial metal bands like Scorngrain (it's no wonder, since they have strong ties to the Finnish metal scene). The album is almost completely instrumental, though some tracks do have lyrics. For example, check out the tune "Stalingrad" - it's slightly different from the other tracks, IMHO. Hope you enjoy it. 

P.S. There's much more music to come tomorrow ('cause today I'm just too tired...).

Profecium - "Satanas" (demo, 1996)

PROFECIUM "Satanas"

Year: 1996
Genre: Raw Black Metal 
Country: Argentina
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Ehomme, Etrah, Ejel, Aser, Ejech, Adonay, Iah, Tetragramaton, Sotherischiros, Athanatos, Amen  
2. El santuario  
3. La sombra de la muerte (intro)  
4. La sombra de la muerte  
5. Orgia entre los muertos  
6. La tierra de satan (intro)  
7. La tierra de satan  
8. El reinado de la bestia (intro)  
9. El reinado de la bestia  
10. Acta Sanctorum  
11. Malleus malleficarum  
12. En el Nombre de La Sangre  
13. Causatan (intro)  
14. Causatan  
15. Maria Padilla

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It's the first demo by Profecium, and unlike "Socialismo Satanico", it's about the typical "true" black metal subjects (satanism, occultism, etc.) rather than politics. However, I'll tag it as "communist black metal" too. The overall quality of recording and musicianship isn't much better than those of Curt & The Contras ;), so be prepared for a very raw sound. Though this demo does feature some interesting acoustic and folk/tribal parts, in general I'd recommend to check out "Socialismo Satanico" first.

Profecium - "Socialismo Satanico" (1997)

PROFECIUM "Socialismo Satanico"

Year: 1997
Genre: Communist Black Metal 
Country: Argentina
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Intro - Declaración de Principios
2. Dios Explotador
3. Proletarios Unidos
4. El Lamento de sus Mujeres
5. Cruz Fascista
6. Terrorismo de Estado
7. Socialismo Satanico
8. En el Nombre de la Sangre
9. Impalando Burgueses
10. Inkisidor Imperial
11. Antro - BlackersFascistas
    

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Finally, here comes one of the most obscure and rare releases that I have right now. I always thought Agony from Canada (sorry, I was mistaken - they're from USA) and Mrakobesie from Russia were the first communist black metal bands ever. And now it turns out that there was a communist BM band in Argentina in the mid-90s! Charles D. Ward, you can be happy now -here's exactly such revolutionary socialist black metal you have dreamed of.

The sound is unsurprisingly raw, yet very melodic. I couldn't find much info about the band, except they were from Buenos Aires, and have recorded only one LP and one demo. Some of the band members were participated in the very first Argentinian black metal band Sartan, and in the bands called Bolchevikes and Terrorist. I know nothing about these bands, but they probably were political (left-wing) too.

Much more stuff is coming soon, keep an eye on updates!

Shikabane (屍) - "Ego & Desire" (2000)

SHIKABANE "Ego & Desire"

Year: 2000
Genre:  Blackened Crust
Country: Japan

Track List:

1. 憎悪
2. 繰り返しそしてまた その繰り返し
3. 自我と煩悩
4. 人のために生きるか 自分のために生きるか
5. ボーナス・トラック(ライブ３曲)

in English:

1. Hatred
2. Repeat... And Repeat It Again
3. Ego & Desire
4. Living For Someone or Living For Myself
5. bonus track (live)

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Shikabane, or 屍 (which translates to English as "Undead", I believe), are one of the best Japanese crust punk acts, and here's my favourite album by them: "Ego & Desire". It isn't really blackened crust, though I can catch the strong black metal overtones especially on the first track, "Hatred". It was also said that they sounds simular to Radioskugga - and they definitely are (to some extent). I'm still waiting for the really blackened crust from Japan, though. Japan has a very strong crust/hardcore scene, and Japanese anarchist black metal is expected to appear in the near future.

Curt & The Contras - "No Place For Life" (1991)

CURT & THE CONTRAS "No Place For Life"

Year: 1991
Genre:  Hardcore / Crossover Thrash , "Evil Punk"
Country: Russia
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Human Trash
3. I'm Not Jesus (Ramones cover)
4. Necrophagous
5. Pioneer Song
6. Stupidcore
7. Last Choice
8. Kill Your Own Tormentor

bonus tracks (unreleased 1992):

1. Сыграйте нам лучше на кожаной флейте...
2. Пизда на костылях
3. Мёртвый город

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It's the second and the last release by Curt & The Contras, and it's just as raw and angry as "Hebephrenia" was. The lyrics are still hateful, misanthropic, and not without the glimpse of black humour. And they clearly show all the Andrey Vasin's disgust to all kinds of music that existed in Russia at that time. Sadly the 1992 album was never completed, the three tracks from it are included to this release. Listen to it, and feel the atmosphere of disorder and social chaos of early 90s in Soviet Union!

Only a very little is known about the further life of A.Vasin. It's known, however, that he still lives in Omsk, and he's a collector of weapons.

Curt & The Contras - "Hebephrenia" (1990)

CURT & THE CONTRAS "Hebephrenia"

Year: 1990
Genre:  Hardcore / Crossover Thrash , "Evil Punk"
Country: Russia
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Fucking City
2. Tanya The Harlot
3. From Cunt To Grave
4. Lead, Axe, Hooks
5. Russophobic I
6. Russophobic II
7. KGB

bonus tracks (rehearsal 1989):

1. Блядский потрох
2. Старые разъебанные суки
3. Свинец, топор, крючья
4. Ебаный город

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Well, I'm continuing to expand the topic of my blog, and I think I must bring this release to your attention. It's not black metal or blackened crust, but the sound and lyrics are so nihilistic and misanthrophic that they leave behind most of the "true" black metal bands. Plus it's the very first hardcore punk album from an ex-USSR band. Yes, it's REAL Siberian hardcore, and you can compare it to Bastards' "Siberian Hardcore" album ;)

Curt & The Contras, then an one-man project led by Andrey "Curt" Vasin, recorded the first tape demo in 1989 in Omsk (Siberia). At that time, there already were many raw punk bands in Siberia, but no hardcore/thrash metal bands. As for A.Vasin, he liked thrash metal (Slayer, etc.), punk and hardcore, but disliked most of the Russian punk - so the decided to start the first hardcore/thrash project in USSR. Of course, the quality of sound is awful (especially on the 89' rehearsal tracks), but I think it's even for good - I liked such kind of angry and raw sound, which was labelled by someone as "evil punk". The lyrics are definitely worth attention - they're extremely cynical, misanthropic, anti-patriotic and obscene. And the album cover is vey suitable to such kind of music - it depicts Egor Letov sitting in the trash can, and Andrey "Svin" Panov shitting on the head of Felix Dzerzhinsky. Funny enough, eh?

Children Of Technology - "The Day After" (demo, 2008)

CHILDREN OF TECHNOLOGY "The Day After"

Year: 2008
Genre: Thrash'n'Roll / Crust Punk
Country: Italy
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Children of Technology (Intro)  
2. Postnuclear Quarantine
3. No Fuel, No Hope
4. The Road Warriors
5. Vultures Over Cities In Flames
6. Death's Fury

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I've noticed this band, because they did a split with Nuclear Frost (see my previous post), and the whole conception of their music looked interesting to me. Unlike Nuclear Frost, they don't have an apparent political stance, but they have an apparent sci-fi/post-apocalyptic image. High tech vs. low life, dictatorship, biker gangs... we've already seen all that in movies like Akira or Mad Max. Another pecularity of the band is that they have a female drummer. As for their music, it sounds like return into the 80's era of metal. Even though they're influenced by proto-black metal (Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost) and crust punk (Discharge, Black Uniforms), they sound very much like Motorhead! Nevertheless, I hope you'll all enjoy that release.

Nuclëar Fröst - "Winter Bombs 83" (demo, 2008)

NUCLEAR FROST "Winter Bombs 83"

Year: 2008
Genre: Blackened Crust
Country: Brazil
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Final Holocaust
2. Svart Kriget Snö
3. Dust Core
4. Campo Minado
5. War Crust Destruction
6. Xenophobic Nationalism
7. Desorder & Regresse...
8. Nuclear Frost
9. Forca Gelica
10. Retaliador

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Nuclear Frost, a political d-beat black/thrash metal band, was formed in São Paulo (Brazil) in 2007, and it's the first latinoamerican crust/d-beat band I've ever heard. The correct spelling of the band name is "Nuclëar Fröst" (they think that heavy metal ümlauts still look cool, lol), but these umlauts doesn't affect the pronunciation, and a simple "Nuclear Frost" is ok too: "The name is Nuclear Frost, it is a consequence of an atomic war that comes with radiation appearing from a dark sky, bringing the Nuclear Frost" - from their myspace.

Speaking of their music, it's of course very raw (no wonder, it's just a demo), and creating a very gloomy apocalyptic atmosphere. Now I'm waiting for their upcoming full-length album "Nuclear Winter Gloom", hope it'd be more brutal and better produced. By the way, they're obviously fans of 80's thrash and early black metal... and Swedish crust, of course! 

Altare - demo 2008

ALTARE "demo 2008"

Year: 2008
Genre: Melodic Death Metal / Blackened Crust
Country: Germany
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Black Goat Of The Woods
2. Rotting On
3. Nuclear Christ
4. Tumultus Ad Murum
5. No Existence
6. Gods Of Deconstruction

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Well... why not to start expanding the scope of my blog? I've already posted a lot of anarchist death metal, thrash metal and dark ambient albums, so there would be not only anarchist black metal and blackened crust. This demo by a German band Altare, brought to me by 7inchcrust, is a very decent melodic black metal release with strong blackened crust overtones. The songs are very catchy, and the band seems to be very promising to me. However I'm not sure if they have any political subjects in their lyrical themes. (UPD: Adam claims to know their drummer; according to his words, their drummer is from Rome and he's a very nice guy).

Enough for today, stay tuned!

Peregrine - "The Agrarian Curse" (2008)

PEREGRINE "The Agrarian Curse"

Year: 2006
Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Country: USA 
Label: FC Records

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Anatomy of the Machine
3. Empire's Playground
4. Starvation's Servants
5. Blood Over Borders
6. The Domesticator's Hand
7. Thirteen Days
8. When the Lights Go Out
9. Amor Fati
   

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Most of you might already know Peregrine, a very convinced anarcho-primitivist black/death metal band from United States. As for me, their music is rather death metal with little black metal and blackened crust overtones, but they're considering themselves as a "black and green metal" band. Though they have very radical views on environmentalism and anarcho-primitivism (too radical even for me), their album is definitely worth checking out.

Hotbild - "I Blint Raseri" (demo 2006)

HOTBILD "I Blint Raseri"

Year: 2006
Genre: Blackened Crust
Country: Sweden
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Svek
2. Dömd
3. Raseri
4. Krossade Drömmar
5. Domedag

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This short demo is the latest release by Hotbild. The band seems to be defunct now, and they haven't released any full-length albums. They also have two more demos called "Brutal Jävla Replokalsinspelning" and "Liv(e) i Plågor" (released in 2002 and 2003 respectively), but I haven't found them yet.

P.S. Metal-Archives say that "I Blint Raseri" was re-released in december 2007 on CD-R by Halvkass Produktion with a new cover and 3 bonus tracks from the "I skuggan av livet"-recording session. Sadly I don't have that re-release...

Hotbild - "Destination Döden" (demo 2003)

HOTBILD "Destination Döden"

Year: 2003
Genre: Blackened Crust
Country: Sweden
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Krossade Drömmar
2. En Avlad Maskin
3. Ni Bad Om Det
4. Förtryckets Förenta Stater
5. Nu Får Det Fan Vara Nog
   

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Just another demo by Hotbild, released in 2003. Though it sounds isn't as good as "Vemod" or "I skuggan av livet", and the black metal influence is less recognizable, the lyrics on this demo are much more into political subjects.

Hotbild - "Vemod" (demo 2003)

HOTBILD "Vemod"

Year: 2003
Genre: Blackened Crust
Country: Sweden
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. I Dödens Väntrum
2. Varför Jag?
3. Mitt Sista Andetag
4. Destination Döden
5. Liv i Plågor
6. Vemod
   

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Do you like Swedish blackened crust as much as I do? Probably yes, then don't hesistate to download this demo! Though the first 5 tracks feature still much more crust than black metal, the vocals are sung in black metal style. My favourite track is "Vemod", as it provides one of the first attempts to combine crust punk and depressive black metal. A very good attempt, I must say.

Madame Germen - "Invocation A Morte" (2005)

MADAME GERMEN "Invocation A Morte"

Year: 2005
Genre: Blackened Crust
Country: Spain

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Laboratorios o servicio do mercado
3. Danza contra o Imperio
4. Instrumental
5. Invocation A Morte
6. O Exercito Das Sombras
7. A praga do desprecio humana

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Madame Germen was a political neocrust band from A Coruña, Spain. They're disbanded now, some of their ex-members are playing in various projects like Ictus, Ekkaia, Leadershit, Cop On Fire, Mass Mierda, etc. I couldn't find much info about them, I only know that they released 3 albums during 2002-2005, and "Invocation A Morte" is their last release. I think it's highly influenced by black metal - much more than Dishammer's "Vintage Addiction", for example. Madame Germen's sound is gloomy, powerful, and just plain awesome.

Absolute Bastards - "Twelvefifty" (2000)

ABSOLUTE BASTARDS "Twelvefifty"

Year: 2000
Genre: Blackened Crust
Country: Sweden
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Land Of No Return
2. Shadows Haunting Me
3. Fucked
4. Eat Me Raw
5. Like A Razor
6. Can You Pass Cremation
7. Supposed To Rot
8. Going To Hell
   

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Here's one of the earliest examples of Swedish blackened crust - the "Twelvefifty" demo CD by Absolute Bastards. Unlike most of Swedish crust bands, they sing in English. To be honest, they're not as good as Martyrdöd or Skitsystem, but they were one of the first... It's a very rare release, and only a very little info about the band is available. There is at least one more release by them, called "Professional Intervention Twelve" (2001, released along with "Twelvefifty"), and they reportedly have three more albums (source). 

P.S. There are rumors that some members of Marduk were playing in Absolute Bastards. I've no idea if it's true.

Dažd - "Naživo!" (live 2006)

DAZD "Naživo! (live 2006)"

Year: 2006
Genre: Blackened Crust / Sludge-Doom
Country: Serbia 
Label: PMK Records

Track List:

1. Nuklearni Vetar
2. Buducnost Tamom Sja
3. Tamo Dole
4. Krvnici Krvi Jos Nisu Siti 
5. Instrumental
6. Armija Mraka
7. Duboko Duboko Pod Zemljom

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It's a rare live recording from a Serbian blackened crust trio Dažd, uploaded by bubble. Some of the tracks from it also appeared on the compilation previously posted by me. Just sick stuff, especially the vocals (though there's much more of sludge/doom influence than of black metal).