2015

It's the final hours of 2014, an year that was pretty rich in various happenings. After summing it up, I'm sorry to say that I've lost my faith in many sections of what constitutes the modern "left". Be it "anarchists" which voluntarily joined the openly neo-nazi battalion (now a regiment) "Azov", or the trotskyists which "critically support" ISIS against the Kurds in Syria (if you're interested, there are two lengthy threads about it on Revleft: 1, 2), it doesn't look like something I want to be a part of. There actually are much more examples like that, but these two are just the most illustrative.

I simply don't feel like writing about it any more, because I don't want to start any political discussions right now. All I wanted to say is while I still support the core left-wing values and realise that there were (and still are) some great people on this side of things, now I started to seriously doubt if I really doing something worthwhile by continuing this blog... or not? That's the main reason for my depressive mood during the last few months, as well as for my desire to find people that will continue to run this blog if I decide to abandon it. Now I have some free time until 10th of January, and about a dozen of albums to review, bit I'm not sure if I'll continue posting here after I'm finished with that.

On a bottom note, 2014 might be bad politically, but when it comes to music, it actually wasn't that bad, and I hope 2015 won't be either. Stay tuned!

Deafest/Uaithne - "Of Moss and Stone" (2014)

DEAFEST/UAITHNE - "Of Moss and Stone"

Year: 2014
Genre: Instrumental Black Metal/Folk
Country: USA

Track List

1. Shattered Visions
2. A Bed of Needles and Cones
3. Frozen Dreams, Pierced by Time
4. Scree Fields
5. Blood Soaked Stone

DOWNLOAD

Hey everyone, it's Preston again. Haven't had time to update as much myself because of school but I'm excited to post a fantastic release that just came out the other day. Many of you are probably already aware of the instrumental black metal band Deafest and the co-contributing band Uaithne (Formerly known as "In the Sea of Trees") who are also instrumental but non-electric in nature. This release plays each artist's songs back to back, offering both project's equal representation of the natural world. It is fantastic in application, powerful, and really nothing short of what you would expect from these musicians.

Hoping to post some more albums in the meantime while I'm on break. If you got anything, send it my way. "p - system @ hotmail 'dot' com"

Deafest bandcamp/Uaithne bandcamp

The Hunt - "Funerals" (2014)

THE HUNT "Funerals"

Year: 2014

Genre: Blackened Crust/Hardcore

Country: Australia

Track List:

1. The Rats will inherit the Earth
2. Yama
3. The Curse of Mankind

DOWNLOAD

If you wonder what I'm doing now for this blog: unfortunately not much. I've re-uploaded some albums, but the diskspace on mediafire is much more limited than before, which makes me more cautious with re-uploading. I still haven't found any better alternative yet.

In the meanwhile, here's the last EP from The Hunt, a blackened hardcore band from Australia, which appeared on my blog before with their s/t release. This one is a "posthumous" release, as the band unfortunately broke up in 2012.

bandcamp

misfortune - "Feathered Duke and Tar Fowler" (2011)

MISFORTUNE - "Feathered Duke and Tar Fowler"

Year: 2011
Genre: Black Metal, Grindcore
Country: Canada

Track List:

1. Hatred
2. Bloodlaws
3. Scalps on a Mantle 

DOWNLOAD

Hello readers, I would like to begin this post by introducing myself, Preston Ell, as one of the new contributors to the RABM blog. I'm extremely excited to be a part of this because it is bar none my favourite blog out there and the political edge only sweetens it for me. I know that some of the writers here have been very busy and unable to make frequent posts so I only hope that I can take some weight off of their shoulders.

A little bit of info about me: I come from Canada (London, Ontario to be exact..) and I am also an active artist involved with lots of projects, basement shows, and my own little DIY label called Why Gang Records. My solo music was posted here a bit ago for those who may have seen it and I am currently in the production of another album under the same name that's proving to be some of my best work yet.

If you have any music you want to show me, feel free to shoot me an email: [p - system @ hotmail 'dot' com]

Anyways, without going into too much about myself, I would like to begin my first post by introducing one of my favourite local bands that is now sadly defunct. Misfortune was a really solid black metal band with fantastic musicians and their live performances were extremely intense/loud. They've since gone in various different directions and I know that their vocalist Anthony is currently living in Vancouver. You can check out his new project OAF here.

This release isn't too long but it's a great representation of what the band was. There are more tracks in the hopper ready to be released but they are lacking vocals at the moment. I'm hoping that they can get those out someday and maybe even play a reunion show of some sorts. Fans of grindy black metal will really enjoy this so give it a listen when you can.

bandcamp/facebook

Modern Dark Age - "The End Of Eternity" (2014)

MODERN DARK AGE "The End Of Eternity"

Year: 2014

Genre: Black/Death Metal, Blackened Crust

Country: USA

Track List:

1. Darkened Dreams
2. Vivisection Of An Empire
3. The Dark Age Has Arrived
4. The End Of Eternity

DOWNLOAD

I'm back but not for long. A couple of my readers offered me their help with reviews, so I hope we'll have more active co-editors pretty soon. In the meanwhile, I just have listened to the newest release from Modern Dark Age, one of the first blackened crust projects I got to know about.

MDA started as an one-man project by Dave Jay in 2008, and got some publicity in the myspace group "Black Metal Anarchists" (the only RABM resource on the net back then) shortly thereafter. However, the first full-length release came out only in 2013, followed by this EP in 2014:

"From 2011 to mid 2013, very little activity occurred in Modern Dark Age. Dave Jay suffered a major injury which subsequently resulted in permanent nerve damage in his right arm. This has drastically affected any ability to play instruments and compose or record new material.

After multiple medical procedures and a nerve transposition surgery from 2011 through 2013, there still has been no actual healing or relief from said nerve damage. This is the reason for such lengthy period of inactivity.

Despite this painful and limiting effect on the ability to produce material in the previous capacity or timeliness, Modern Dark Age has been pushing through all of this. Little by little, Dave Jay has been slowly building new material. The majority of this work is completing 2 unfinished full length albums"

Dave Jay describes the ideology behind the project as follows:

"With the background and influences of Crust Punk plus a heavy interest in Black Metal, the need for my expression in this world exists as Modern Dark Age. We are technologically advanced, yet always falling into an abyss of archaic thinking and societal decay. We have the ability to excel, yet many choose this declension. Now is the Modern Dark Age..."

I don't know if he's aware of the existence of my blog, but hopefully he won't be against this EP being posted on here. It's a really good mix of BM and metallic crust, recorded during 2013-2014 and released on 9th Meridian Records 23 September 2014.

bandcamp / facebook

Larva Ov Cum - "Resistenza" (2014)

LARVA OV CUM "Resistenza"

Year: 2014

Genre: Industrial Black Metal

Country: Italy

Track List:

1. Introducendo Inni Partigiani
2. Nessuna Politica Italiana
3. Attuando la Guerra Capitalista
4. Invocando Granai, Non Atomi
5. Contando Inegualmente Innocenti Cadaveri
6. Volontà dei Popoli

DOWNLOAD

This Italian political metal project is back with a new EP, which continues the line LoC took on the earlier releases - intense, "mechanical" BM sound, and relatively clean vocals. It sounds a bit monotonous at times, but "Resistenza" isn't a long release, so it's not a big problem. Ideologically, it probably will appear more to those who are on the "red" side of RABM (that's possibly why it was released on 7th of November). Like all the previous releases from LoC, "Resistenza" is released by an independent label SUN Prods., and it's officially available for free download/distribution.

bandcamp

P.S. Well, I think I've posted more than enough for today. I still have more than 20 albums waiting for a review, but a lot of them either have little to do with RABM, or it isn't really "my" thing in terms of music. Hopefully my co-editors will take care of it, while I take a break from blogging. I don't know when I'll return, but it'll happen sooner or later. Stay tuned.