Depravation & Slowly We Rot - split (2014)

DEPRAVATION / SLOWLY WE ROT

Year: 2014

Genre: Blackened Hardcore

Country: Germany / Belgium

Track List:

1. Depravation - With Dead Eyes To See
2. Slowly We Rot - Leftover
3. Slowly We Rot - Solitary Realm

DOWNLOAD

"Depravation was founded in December 2011. In March 2012 we’ve released our demo-tape “I:PRAEDICTVM”, followed by our first LP "II:MALEDICTVM" in July 2013. Since then we've played a bunch of shows. In April 2014 our drummer moved to Hamburg and had to leave the band. We've recorded the song "With Dead Eyes To See" with our new drummer in June. I guess it's fair to say that our new music has a different vibe, compared to our older tracks. But I'll let you be the judge of this...

Slowly We Rot is the follow up band for Niels after Worms Feed (http://wormsfeed.bandcamp.com/ ). Founded in late 2013, the 3-piece delivers evil and filth soaked sonic terror in the form of metallic hardcore. The two tracks on this split are their first recordings. Keep your eyes open for these young guns, as there is way more good stuff to be coming from them in the future.

Our new split was released on tape by Dark Omen Records (GER) and Skin & Bones Records (UK). It’s available in three different colors and limited to 100 pieces in total. You can get it here: http://darkomenrecords.storenvy.com/

Feel free to upload this album on your blog and if you feel inspired to write a few words about it, please do so" (unfortunately, right now I don't feel like writing any detailed reviews, but thank you anyway for sending me your music and being interested in what I write on here - B.K.)

facebook / bandcamp / official site

Fear Of Unknown - "Don't Mess With The Unknown" (2013)

FEAR OF UNKNOWN "Don't Mess With The Unknown"

Year: 2013

Genre: Blackened Crust

Country: Brazil

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Thermonuclear Devastation (Onslaught cover)
3. Damned Youth
4. Extermination
5. Devastate
6. Back To The Scene Of The Holocaust
7. Curfew
8. Blindland
9. Dawn Of The Black Forces

DOWNLOAD

Fear of Unknown is an one-man blackened crust/thrash project from Uberlândia, Brazil. "Don't Mess With The Unknown" is a short D.I.Y.-recorded demo released about an year ago. There's not much information about the project besides that; however, anything done in the spirit of Do It Yourself and with a passion about this kind of sound certainly has a place in my blog.

bandcamp

Dunnock - split w/ Intergalactic Holocaust (2014)

DUNNOCK "split w/ Intergalactic Holocaust"

Year: 2013

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Dark Ambient/Drone

Country: USA

Track List:

1. Flower of Flesh and Blood
2. Jan 28th (my harp is turned to mourning)
3. Kudryavka
4. Facedown in the Ohio

DOWNLOAD

Dunnock is a black metal project from SF Bay Area which released the debut full-length album a couple of years ago, but I decided not to post it back then, since it seemed to be not particularly in my taste. This is a new release with a more interesting concept which some of my readers might be interested in.

These 4 songs comprise Dunnock's part of a split with a project from Australia called Intergalactic Holocaust. IH mostly specialize in apolitical space-themed horror lyrics and atmospheric BM, while Dunnock's side is more political and therefore more suitable for my blog. The material is divided between two black metal tracks and two dark ambient pieces. The quality of production is still quite "lo-fi" but better than their early works. Here are the release notes:

"The black metal tracks explore the nature of sacrifice in light of the Cold War Space Race with a song being dedicated each to the US and Soviet Union.  

The US track ("Jan 28th") is about the Challenger Disaster, specifically the death of teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, who's presence on the shuttle was primarily a propaganda stunt.  It is told from the point of view of her students who watched the shuttle explode on live television.

The Soviet track ("Kudryavka") is about the Space Dog Laika, who was rushed into space on an unsafe rocket, again as a publicity stunt, and died a horrible death as a result of poor planning. The song is told from the point of view of her trainer. (All things above considered, the track name still sounds quite funny for a BM song. - B.K.)

The ambient pieces are also about sacrifice of one sort or another, and have a political bent to them.  "Facedown in the Ohio" is about a classmate of mine who supposedly drowned in the Ohio River after abusing inhalants.  It's later come to my attention that he may have been murdered and the drowning staged.  In either case it is a reflection on the sorry condition of my home state of West Virginia, which has been robbed and raped by the coal and oil companies, the people left jobless and destitute, prone to violence and substance abuse, with perhaps the lowest life expectancy rate in the developed world.

The other piece "Flower of Flesh and Blood" is named after the film, itself an exploitative story about the sexualizing of violence and literal bloody sacrifice in the name of personal pleasure"

bandcamp 

Hunter Gatherer - "Hunter Gatherer" (2014)

HUNTER GATHERER "Hunter Gatherer"

Year:  2014

Genre:  Doom Metal

Country:  Canada

Track List:

1. The Jack Pine
2. Hunter-Gatherer
3. Subtle Bodies
4. Boreal
5. Sturgeon Lake

Hunter Gatherer, originally a one man project, now with two members, continues their exploration of the natural world.  I think there is a lot of growth here musically, including some very good moments throughout.  This is less black metal and more doom metal.

bandcamp

Crepehanger - "Demo" (2014)

CREPEHANGER "Demo"

Year:  2014

Genre:  Blackened crust

Country:  Canada

Track List:

1. Knocking Out National Front Teeth
2. Narcissuss
3. Castrophrenia
4. Bring Back the Piledriver
5. Zero Hour
6. Operation Zeus
7. 147

I don't know too much about the band other than they appear to be from Victoria, Canada which seems to have a lot of these types of political crust bands.  For a demo, (or really for an album even) this is pretty solid (though only slightly blackened) crust.  Nothing revolutionary in style, but solid and enjoyable.  Reading the lyrics makes it pretty clear that they are opening opposed to National Socialism.  Available as a Pay-What-You-Want on their Bandcamp page.

bandcamp

Aether - "Metamorphosis I" (2013)

AETHER "Metamorphosis I"

Year:  2013

Genre:  Ambient Black Metal

Country:  Germany

Track List:

1. Beginning
2. Shifting
3. Perception

Aether is a new one-man project from Munich, Germany.  Though still raw in terms of production and composition, Ravachol is very much opposed to racism, fascism, etc as well as being anarchist in belief.  There will apparently be a Metamorphosis II coming soon.  He writes, "AETHER is meant to be something changing, shifting, evolving. It tells questions like "can I change something in the world in principle?" and philosophical stff like that. There are no lyrics so AETHER leaves it open what the listener wants to hear or associates. Yes, it is very metaphorical and somekind of transcendental."

bandcamp / facebook