Korperschwache - Sacrifice Of The Ouroboros (I See Your Bleached White Skulls On A Long And Pointed Row Of Bloodstained Sticks)

                           I Will Drink Your Blood And Vomit It Back Into Your Empty Skull



#199) Korperschwache - Sacrifice Of The Ouroboros (I See Your Bleached White Skulls On A Long And Pointed Row Of Bloodstained Sticks) (2007)

 1. Jessica
2. Lori
3. Charlotte
4. Renee
5. Claudia
6. Velma
7. Sabrina
8. Christy
9. Lucy
10. Bertha
11. Rita
12. Julie
13. Untitled

probably my favorite of what i've heard of them so far.
 it's a concept album and the lyrics read like the pages of a serial killer's diary. in the first song we learn that Jessica is the first "step" on the path to the Serpent's throne. 13 steps = 13 heads and 13 sets of wide blue eyes. "The thirteenth head will speak and it will light the final step that leads to the Serpent's throne".  tracks 1 - 12 represent 12 unlucky girls, however track 13 is a bit more of a mystery as there are no lyrics, no title and i can barely understand most of the vocals. does the unnamed killer complete the 13th step? i dunno, you'll have to listen and decide for yourself.

Kvelertak

#198) Kvelertak (2010)

 1. Ulvetid
2. Mjød
3. Fossegrim
4. Blodtørst
5. Offernatt
6. Sjøhyenar (Havets Herrer)
7. Sultans of Satan
8. Nekroskop
9. Liktorn
10. Ordsmedar Av Rang
11. Utrydd Dei Svake
12. Fossegrim
13. Sjøhyenar (Havets Herrer)
14. Blodtørst
15. Mjød
16. Ordsmedar Av Rang
17. Utrydd Dei Svake

combining elements of black metal, hardcore and classic rock they create a sound that's been labeled black 'n roll, blackened hardcore and all sorts of other nonsense. i personally don't give a fuck what ridiculous sub-sub-genre you want to call it, it's fucking rad. 

the album was originally released in 2010 and then re-released in 2011 with bonus tracks and a dvd. the bonus tracks consist of  4 songs from a BBC Session (12 - 15) and 2 demo tracks (16 & 17). i wish they would've included their first demo instead of the BBC tracks but oh well. the dvd has a making of the album, music videos for "Mjød" (with a making of and commentary), "Blodtørst" and "Ordsmedar Av Rang" and live footage from Samfundet 2010.
definitely worth checking out.

Gnaw Their Tongues/Sick to the Back Teeth - Constructing Enochian Temples/Mary Magdalene

#197) Gnaw Their Tongues/Sick to the Back Teeth - Constructing Enochian Temples/Mary Magdalene (2008)

Gnaw Their Tongues - Constructing Enochian Temples
 1. Constructing Enochian Temples
2. Glossolalia
3. And Mighier Are Your Voices Than the Manifold Winds
4. They Gathered Themselves Together and Became...

Sick to the Back Teeth - Mary Magdelene
1. Penance
2. Mary Magdalene
3. The Seven Powers of Wrath
8. She Knows Love

i talked about Gnaw Their Tongues in a previous post and my opinion of the band is no different. the music is dark, massive and suffocatingly oppressive. great tracks.

Sick to the Back Teeth is another prolific one-man project. this record is on the drone/doom side of things but i've read that he dabbles in a lot of different genres. this is definitely a band i'm going to check out more of.

Xrin Arms - Drugganaut Trashedelix

#196) Xrin Arms - Drugganaut Trashedelix (2012)

1. Sweaty Entrance
2. Fatalist Dysentery
3. Electric Highway
4. Caffeine Mountain
5. Maggots
6. Dream Catcher Casket
7. Ultimate Allure
8. Fucking in the Streets
9. Feeling Right
10. Summer Blood

Father Murphy - Anyway Your Children Will Deny It

                                              Heartbreaking Scenes Of Farewell


#195) Father Murphy - Anyway Your Children Will Deny It (2012)

1. How We Ended Up With Feelings of Guilt
2. His Face Showed No Distortions
3. It Is Funny, It Is Restful, Both Came Quickly
4. Diggin' the Bottom of the Hollow
5. In Praise of Our Doubts
6. Their Consciousness
7. In the Flood With the Flood
8. Don't Let Yourself Be Hurt This Time

Father Murphy are a trio from Italy that play...i don't know. i do know that's it's a really fucking rad album. noisy and haunted. 

idiedtrying - For When I'm Gone, From While I'm Here

#194) idiedtrying - For When I'm Gone, From While I'm Here (2011)

1. Opening Credits
2. The Cactus Planter
3. The Distance Between Falling and Flying
4. Somewhere Beneath the Sunshine
5. The Distance Between Falling and Flying
6. SoHelpMeGod
7. Ending Credits

Harpoon - Deception Among Birds

#193) Harpoon - Deception Among Birds (2011)

 1. To the Tall Trees
2. Prequel to a Lifetime of Dissapointment
3. Dreadnaught
4. Phlegm
5. Troglodyte's Delight
6. The Cut of His Jib
7. Shit Wizard
8. Deception Among Birds

Harpoon's 2nd and most recent album. in the 2 years since they released Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide  they've improved by leaps and bounds. they've added a 3rd member to the band in D.J. Barraca (bassist for Lair of the Minotaur, another great Chicago band that i'll be getting to soon). i don't know if that has anything to do with the sound change but i'm happy either way.

(if anyone cares, "To the Tall Trees" is the track off the Locrian split that i mentioned in my last post. i should've probably mentioned that then...)

Harpoon - Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide

Like Flies The Lies Swarm Around Your Head

#192) Harpoon - Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide (2009)

 1. Company Man
2. Lefty
3. The Midget and the Duchess
4. The Cacographer
5. Walter Reuther
6. Buddy System
7. Sloth-Ass
8. Frogs, Boils, Locusts...
9. Throngs
10. Bad Beekeeping
11. You Should Be Longer
12. The Difficulty in Listening to the Elderly

i first heard these guys on a split they did with Locrian. they're a 2 man drum machine grind band from Chicago featuring Toney Vast-Binder (of 7000 Dying Rats) on vocals and Dean Costello handling guitar, bass and drum programming. at times it reminded me a bit of Plague Bringer but the riffs aren't as good and the vocals are occasionally a little...i dunno, sometimes i just don't dig 'em. overall it's a pretty rad album though.

Uw Hypotheekadvies - Nature or Nurture

#191) Uw Hypotheekadvies - Nature or Nurture (2008)

 1. De Magneet
 2. -8 Doublures (Part Two)
 3. Bela
 4. (D. Turpin/B. Rogers)
 5. De Kandidaten
 6. Helmut Wagner
 7. Rennen Ruud!!!
 8. -8 Doublures (Part One)
 9. Zonder Laura
 10. De Hit
 11. Iedereen Moet Wel

noisy as hell experimental rock from the Netherlands. in the cd case it says that "all songs and improvisations" were recorded in September/October. i don't know if that means the tracks are all improv or if some stuff was written and some improv-ed or what the deal is but the results are pretty sweet. limited to 400 copies, it's definitely worth checking out if you can get your hands on it.

Nadja/Black Boned Angel

#190) Nadja/Black Boned Angel (2009)

 1. I
 2. II

another Nadja collaboration, this time with Black Boned Angel, whose album Verdun was the 3rd album i posted about here.
the violent noise/drone doom of Black Boned Angel combines perfectly with Nadja's dreamsludge to give us two 20+ minute tracks of brutally heavy noisy doom. these guys really play off each other well. i know they've worked together on at least one other album, i'll have to try and track it down. this was great stuff, i hope these guys continue to work together.

Psychic TV - Live in Basildon

#189) Psychic TV - Live in Basildon (2011)

 1. Thee Degenerate
 2. She Touched Me
 3. Unclean
 4. Riot in Thee Eye Ov Sky
 5. Southern Comfort
 6. Roman P.
 7. Retinal
 8. Ov Power
 9. Godstar

in my previous post about the Psychic TV Themes box i mentioned that you got a 7th disc if you ordered directly from Cold Springs, this is it. it was recorded on July 13 1986 at the Basildon Peace Festival in Gloucester Park, Basildon UK. musically it's not really like the Themes box at all and is more on the industrial/goth rock side, which i like but unfortunately the sound is pretty bad. it sounds like a bootleg and is even kinda glitchy at times. i guess i shouldn't complain too much since it was "free" but it's probably not a disc i'll revisit any time soon.

Psychic TV - Themes box set

#183 - 188) Psychic TV - Themes box set (2011)

Disc 1 - Themes
 1. Piano and Clarinet
 2. 23 Tibetan Human Thigh Bones
 3. Cowbell, Bicycle Wheels and Vibes
 4. New Guinea Headhunters Pipe, Large and Small Drum
 5. Piano and String Machine
 6. Recording made at Jonestown, Guyana at the time of the suicides
 7. African Initiation Drum and Animal Tusk Horn
 8. Various Temple Bells, Gongs, Cymbals and Vibes

Disc 2 - Themes 2
 1. Themes 2 part one
 2. Themes 2 part two
 3. Themes 2 part three
 Unclean
 4. Unclean
 5. Mirrors
 6. Unclean Monks


Disc 3 - Themes 2: A Prayer for Derek Jarman
 1. The Loops of Mystical Union
 2. Elipse of Flowers
 3. Mylar Breeze (Parts 1 and 2)
 4. Mylar Breeze (Part 3)
 5. Prayer for Derek
 6. Rites of Reversal

Disc 4 - Themes 3
 1. ???
 2. ???

Disc 5 - Themes 3 part 2
 1. ?
 2. ?
 3. ?
 4. ?
 5. ?
 6. ?
 7. ?
 8. ?
 9. ?

 Disc 6 - Themes 4: Lady Jaye
 1. I'm Making a Mirror
 2. I Like the Holidays (A Children's Story)
 3. Gobbledegook
 4. Mother Jack (A Children's Story)
 5. Candy Factory
 6. I Love You, I Know
 7. This is the Final War

Psychic Tv is the band Genesis P-Orridge formed after Throbbing Gristle. i love TG but for some reason i never really got into PTV. i decided to start with this 6 disc (or 7 discs if you order it directly from the label) set. i had only heard a few PTV tracks but nothing like what was in this set. here's what Cold Spring has to say about it:

For the first time, all THEMES albums by PSYCHIC TV released together, in a sumptuous, matt laminate, spot-varnished box set. The music itself was designed not only as soundtrack but also for subsequent use by Initiates of The Temple Ov Psychick Youth in their rituals as Functional music intended only to aid in the process of making things happen. It is a practical tool. Thee essential collection of rare, archive and modern PTV ritual / esoteric musick!
Each CD has been carefully remastered and is presented in it’s own matt laminate, spot-varnished mini-LP sleeve. The box also includes a 32-page booklet of rare photos and essays.
“Themes” was originally released in 1982 as a limited bonus LP with the first 5000 copies of the legendary PSYCHIC TV album “Force The Hand Of Chance”. Musicians: Stan Bingo, Peter Christopherson (Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Soisong), Genesis P-Orridge, and David Tibet (Current 93).
“Themes 2″ was originally released on LP in 1985 by Temple Records and subsequently reissued as an extended CD version by Cold Spring in 1997. Musicians: Genesis P-Orridge, Alex Fergusson, John Gosling (Zos Kia, Coil, Mekon). “Themes 2″ is presented here as a 2 CD set, including the full vinyl version – plus the original “Unclean” 12″ and it`s two B side tracks that were recorded in the same sessions.
“Themes 3″ was originally released on LP in 1986 by Temple Records and is presented here for the first time on CD, completely remastered. Musicians: Genesis P-Orridge, John Gosling (Zos Kia, Coil, Mekon), Mark Sangerman, Monte Cazazza. “Themes 3″ is presented here as a 2 CD set, with an unheard, yet legendary version performed in Boston, US by Genesis P-Orridge and John Gosling under the title of “Pagan Easter”.
“Themes 4″ is a brand new Psychic TV album, recorded by the late partner of Genesis P-Orridge, Lady Jaye and Psychic TV. Compiled by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Ryan Martin and Bryin Dall. Musicians: Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Larry Thrasher, Bryin Dall.

each track on Themes 1 is named after what the recording contains. the liner notes state that "Almost all the instruments used were acoustic but many of them have specifically ritual or Psychic properties and that is why we chose to use them. Certainly the illogical intensity of these recordings far exceeds those made with conventional acoustic instruments."
as mentioned in the statement from Cold Spring this album was recorded as both a soundtrack to The Temple of Psychick Youth's First Transmission and as "Functional music intended to aid in the process of making things happen."
i really dug these tracks, especially "Tibetan Human Thigh Bones".

Themes 2 collects tracks used in Derek Jarman films while Themes 2: A Prayer for Derek Jarman collects tracks that were used but were previously unreleased. the liner notes state that while Themes 1 was to be used "at the time it was released within ritual to try and consistently generate certain psychic states...", Themes 2 is to be used as "a facilitator of internal psychic and emotional observation."
there's a lot of cool experimentation throughout these tracks and a couple more straightforward pieces, i'm interested to see the films they were written for.

Themes 3 Disc 1 is a live recording of Thee Temple of Psychick Youth done on April 22 and 23, 1984 in Chicago. it was an event featuring "almost 20 video monitors, slides, super 8 films and video projections" presented "in an assemblage manner that made it impossible to focus on more than a third of the images at any one time." it was set up this way with the intent to answer the question "does the leakage from the edge of vision find a more direct path to the 'subconscious' and result in a more primal and evocative effect?"
Themes 3 Disc 2 is a previously unheard alternate version of the set on disc 1 that was recorded April 22 1984 in Boston. it was almost entirely pre-recorded tape and video.
they're both cool records, it's a shame there's no video of either performance though.

Themes 4: Lady Jaye is a disc that collects tracks that were all written by Lady Jaye. Cold Springs says it's a new album but it's more of a "rarities" collection with 2 previously unreleased tracks. 

all in all it's a rad box set and is worth picking up for Genesis' liner notes alone.












































.

KMFDM - What Do You Know, Deutschland?

Es Ist Existenz Mit Schwerer Konsequenz

#182) KMFDM - What Do You Know, Deutschland? (1986)

 1. Kickin' Ass
 2. Me I Funk
 3. What Do You Know?
 4. Zip
 5. Conillon
 6. Itchy Bitchy
 7. Deutsche Schuld
 8. Sieg Sieg
 9. Positiv
 10. Lufthans
 11. Itchy Bitchy (Dance Version)
 12. The Unrestrained Use of Excessive Force

so Adam's choice for the theme is "2nd Chances".

i got into KMFDM in the mid-90s when Juke-Joint Jezebel was a big single on the radio. i picked up a couple albums and loved them. later i borrowed this one, which is their debut, from a friend. i was very disappointed. where were all the cool beats and rad metal-ish riffs? this was nothing like the other albums i had listened to. instead of the beats and riffs there were..shitty basslines and simple drum machine patterns. the lyrics were pretty stupid and for the most part didn't seem as aggressive. i listened to it once and gave it back.

when Adam decided on 2nd chances i figured this would be a good time to check out the album again. i picked up the 2006 remaster version that includes the original tracklist plus the tracks that were included on various re-issues and the Kickin' Ass single. there are also some great liner notes that give a little backstory on the recording of this album and where all the tracks come from. as for the music, i appreciate it a lot more than i did. they did some pretty cool stuff with limited resources. unfortunately i still think that the lyrics are pretty shitty. although Zip, which is a warning about zipping up your dick, is fairly amusing. 

while it doesn't compare to 90s era KMFDM, or even the current line-up, and the stupid lyrics ruin Raymond Watts' (oh yeah, i forgot to mention that Raymond Watts was pretty much a full member of the band at this point and recorded most of the record as well) awesome voice, it's actually a pretty rad album. initially i viewed it as a shitty start to an awesome band but now i think it's cool to hear how different these guys were when they started out.

Nadja/Troum - Dominium Visurgis

#181) Nadja/Troum - Dominium Visurgis (2010)

 1. Part 1
 2. Part 2
 3. Part 3

this is a collaboration between Nadja and the German experimental/drone outfit Troum. i'm not super familiar with Troum but i've heard a couple tracks and dug what i've heard. anyway, the back of the record states that the album is the "result of a spontaneous improvisation" in a studio in Germany and that there were no overdubs or processing or anything made after. Parts 1 & 2 are drone-y experimental pieces while Part 2 is more of a Nadja track. overall it's a cool record, it's a shame there's no video of them in the studio though.

King Creosote + Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

#180) King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine (2011)

 1. First Watch
 2. John Taylor's MOnth Away
 3. Bats in the Attic
 4. Running on Fumes
 5. Bubble
 6. Your Own Spell
 7. Your Young Voice


it's crossover time again. this time it was Adam's pick. he hasn't done his post on this album yet so i'm gonna keep mine brief.
this is a collaboration between singer/songwriter King Creosote from Scotland and English electronic artist Jon Hopkins. i'd never heard of either of these guys before and really had no idea of what to expect so i was pleasantly surprised to find the album was a kind of blend of folk/pop and electronics. i really enjoyed the mellow, sometimes melancholy arrangements. it's a great summer downer album. i also really enjoyed Creosote's voice, it sounds very familiar at times but i can't quite place it. 
i would definitely check out each members solo stuff.

(127A) Buck 65 - 20 Odd Years: Vol. 4, Ostranenie (2011)

(127A) Buck 65 - 20 Odd Years: Vol. 4, Ostranenie (2011)

1. Days Go By
2. Dolores
3. Joey Bats
4. Legendary

     Buck 65 is my guy. I tend to love everything he releases (can't wait for the next full-length) and this EP was no different. He has been releasing this series of EPs over the last couple years and has not been very informative about what has been going on and when the next release is coming. This is actually the second "Volume 4". I don't know why, but there was another release under a different name that was/is only available on amazon.com for download as far as I can tell. It was 3 songs and completely separate from this was and was "pulled/cancelled" for some reason. Quite awhile after that he released this new "official" Volume 4. 

     As usual, he displays his broad range of musical influences and styles. He includes collaborations that only improve the songs he's written as he has tended to do since he released a 3 CD long album called "Dirtbike" a few years back. On this EP he collaborates with very talented Singers like Jenn Grant (with whom he has worked with A LOT lately). He has a song about baseball,  one about a silver screen movie star, and a song straight out of the old west. Pedal Steel and turntables. Great as usual, can't wait for the long delayed "Volume 5" (6?). (127)

(126A) Tenacious D - Rize of the Fenix (2012)

(126A) Tenacious D - Rize of the Fenix (2012)

1. Rize of the Fenix
2. Low Hangin' Fruit
3. Classical Teacher
4. Señorita
5. Deth Starr
6. Roadie
7. Flutes & Trombones
8. The Ballad of Hollywood Jack and the Rage Kage
9. Throw Down
10. Rock Is Dead
11. They Fucked Our Asses
12. To Be the Best
13. 39

     I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about Tenacious D. They make comedy tinged, over the top Rock Music and its just fun. Their first album was ridiculous and can never be topped but this one was a lot more entertaining than their second. Its funny, has an almost western theme. Their humor is intact and their guitar playing shreds as usual. You have to at the very least do yourself a favor and listen to "To Be the Best" a one minute homage to 80s montage songs a la "Eye of the Tiger". Good for a laugh and a listen or two. (126)

(125A) Animal Collective - Transverse Temporal Gyrus (2012)

(125A) Animal Collective - Transverse Temporal Gyrus (2012)

1. Transverse Temporal Gyrus Part 1
2. Transverse Temporal Gyrus Part 2

     In 2010, Animal Collective played a special show as part of an art installation with a Video Artist. They released this half hour EP as part of this years record store day so that their fans could get a taste of what they missed in that show and what music was written for it. The EP is just short of a half hour and is a return to their experimental, patchwork roots as well as adding some of their newer sounds and trademarks into the mix. It was an enjoyable listen, but not for everyone. You would dig this oksentaminen. (125)

(124A) Animal Collective - Sung Tongs (2004)

(124A) Animal Collective - Sung Tongs (2004)

1. Leaf House
2. Who Could Win a Rabbit
3. The Softest Voice
4. Winters Love
5. Kids on Holiday
6. Sweet Road
7. Visiting Friends
8. College
9. We Tigers
10. Mouth Wooed Her
11. Good Lovin Outside
12. Whaddit I Done

     I have the tendency to gravitate towards The later Animal Collective albums. They are one of those cases of experimental bands that lost a whole lot of their oldest fans due to their development. They have always been experimental, even on those later albums that i like but in their earlier years they were  very experimental, and very lo-fi. I have been trying to branch out a bit more with these guys and dig into their older catalogue. This album is a middle point as their sound had gone away from their first few albums and started to move in the direction of their later albums. It was considered their breakthrough album by a lot of critics and publications. It was made by only 2 members of the 4 base members (Avey Tare and Panda Bear) and it was pretty different because of that fact. Its a very stripped down affair with a lot of acoustic guitars and tribal drums. I would describe the sound as a Psychedelic, folk album with a touch of a beach boys sound. I really dug this album and it was pretty chill as far as Animal Collective releases go. (124)      

(123A) The Flaming Lips 2011: With Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band (2011)

(123A) The Flaming Lips 2011: With Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band (2011)

1. The Fear of Litany
2. Do It!
3. Brain of Heaven
4. untitled interlude
5. Atlas Eats Christmas
6. untitled outro

     I have a feeling that oksentaminen thought at least close to the same thing as me when he saw that this team up even happened and it was negative and doubtful. When i first saw that The Flaming Lips made an EP with Yoko Ono, I assumed it would be bad and not my favorite. I avoided listening to it for quite awhile and when I finally did, I was proved wrong. It definitely fits in with all the other experimental EPs from 2011 but it ended up being one of my favorites. It was less experimental from many of the others and is almost the opposite ofr the Lightning Bolt release i just reviewed. Surprisingly good stuff, and once again, a couple tracks from this were featured on "Heady Fwends". (123)

(122A) The Flaming Lips 2011: With Lightning Bolt (2011)

(122A) The Flaming Lips 2011: With Lightning Bolt (2011)

1. I'm Working At NASA On Acid
2. I Want To Get High But I Don't Want Brain Damage
3. NASA's Final Acid Bath
4. I Want To Get Damaged But I Won't Say Hi

     This is another entry from The Flaming Lips 2011 string of releases. It is an EP with another experimental band called Lightning Bolt. I have never heard Lightning Bolt before, but their style reveals itself a bit on this release. The first 2 songs are listed as The Flaming Lips with Lightning Bolt and the last 2 songs are Lightning Bolt with The Flaming Lips. It's a very experimental EP and at least worth a listen. Track 1 is the best and I'm sure thats the reason it made it onto the full length release "Heady Fwends". Not my favorite but still worth the couple listens I gave it. I'll listen to track one again  in my life at least. (122)

(121A) (End of Month Theme: Band Recommendation) The Paper Chase - Someday This Could All Be Yours, Vol. 1 (2009)

(121A) (End of Month Theme: Band Recommendation) The Paper Chase - Someday This Could All Be Yours, Vol. 1 (2009)

1. If Nobody Moves Nobody Will Get Hurt (The Extinction)
2. I'm Going to Heaven with or without You (The Forest Fire)
3. The Common Cold (The Epidemic)
4. The Laying of Hands The Speaking  in Tongues (The Mass Hysteria)
5. Your Money or Your Life (The Comet)
6. What Should We Do with Your Body (The Lightning)
7. This Is a Rape (The Flood)
8. The Small of YOur Back The Nape of Your Neck (The Blizzard)
9. This Is Only a Test (The Tornado)
10. We Have Ways to Make You Talk (The Human Condition)

     End of a month that ended a few months ago. I am not even entirely sure I followed the theme I picked hahaha. I think I said it was bands that the other writer introduced us to. This is technically another crossover, but oksentaminen played this album for me in Mid May and it blew me away. He definitely knows the stuff I like. This band is an incredible melding of dissonance and darkness with a catchy pop sensibility. It has elements of bands like cursive and bright eyes. Dissonance, grandiose and large compotions and bands, and angry, shaky vocals. I highly recommend all of their albums. I have listened to 4 of their 5 releases. Bummer that they broke up but The singers new band sounds like he will continue with this sound eventually (121)

04/29/2012: Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991) [Crossover Review 6]

04/29/2012: Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991) [Crossover Review 6]

1. Inpropagation
2. Corporal Jigsore Quandary
3. Symposium Of Sickness
4. Pedigree Butchery
5. Incarnated Solvent Abuse
6. Carneous Cacoffiny
7. Lavaging Expectorate of Lysergide Composition
8. Forensic Clinicism: The Sanguine Article
9. Tools Of The Trade
10. Pyosified (Still Rotten To The Gore)
11. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II

     I am months behind on my entries. I am going to take an hour or so to rock out as many as I can in one sitting so I will keep these short. This is a long over-due crossover chosen by oksentaminen and you can read his review here. He is pretty much spot on for calling it Prog Death Metal as well as his line of "riffs on riffs". Its a really cool album. I enjoyed the long compositions and the music in general. The only reason I wasn't really into it was the vocals. I can appreciate the death metal growl/scream, but I tend to need a breather from vovcals of the type. I know why this album was chosen for me and it was  cool to hear bands that influenced or paved the way for bands I love like Between The Buried And Me. (120)

04/28/2012 The Flaming Lips - Gummy Song Skull (2011)

04/28/2012 The Flaming Lips - Gummy Song Skull (2011)

1. Drug Chart
2. In Our Bodies, Out Of Our Heads
3. Walk With Me
4. Hillary's Time Machine Machine

     This was the next EP from The Flaming Lips 2011 releases. This is another one that is just the band with no collaboration. It is another solid collection of 4 songs from the guys that goes further into the experimental turn they have been on the last couple years. It has strange production as they are wont to do but as I said about "Heady Fwends", I actually prefer the tilt they have been on since Embryonic more than Embryonic itself. Its experimental but with a more chill approach. This EP also came on a USB drive in a Gummy candy except this time a skull. (119)

The Sword - Warp Riders

You're In The Place They Call The Night-side

#179) The Sword - Warp Riders (2010)

 1. Acheron/Unearthing the Orb
 2. Tres Brujas
 3. Arrows in the Dark
 4. The Chronomancer I: Hubris
 5. Lawless Lands
 6. Astraea's Dream
 7. The Warp Riders
 8. Night City
 9. The Chronomancer II: Nemesis
 10. (The Night Sky Cried) Tears of Fire

ever since hearing their track in Guitar Hero i've been a fan of these guys. why has it taken me 2 years to listen to this album? i dunno, that's just a thing i do.
anyway, i gotta say, 1st listen and i was a little disappointed. the first track is an instrumental that sounds very Sword like but after that the songs have more of a 70s rock feel with a Sword-y twist. Night City might as well be a Thin Lizzy cover (which is not a bad thing at all, just unexpected). it's not until track 9 that i got a song that sounds like what i expected from these guys. after a couple listens though the album really started to grow on me. the songs all have a definite groove and there are some rad riffs. the previously mentioned Night City is a jam.
i ended up really digging this album but i still can't help wishing they would've done more tracks like Chronomancer II.

Graves and Orchestra Pits

Spill The Unicorn Blood

#178) Graves and Orchestra Pits (2011)

 1. Thlock
 2. Spill the Unicorn Blood
 3. Moles
 4. Winterlichten
 5. Knochenanker/Mouth of Light
 6. Permafrost Vow
 7. I Can See the Ape in You
 8. Sudbanj

another band that i knew nothing about. Utech Records threw this in as a freebie with a big order i placed with them a while back. i'm glad they did, this is a very cool record. here's what they have to say about it:

"Graves and Orchestra Pits is a transcontinental duo utilizing guitars/electronics/drums in order to create an ecstatic and unique sound mixing raw power with modern composition, subtle electroacousic alchemy and sonic maximalism. They create a stunning kind of meta-music that sound anarchic and futuristic at the same time.
In 2008 composer/musician Daniel Vujanic began to shape vibrant bodies of sound. Atmospheric guitar lines, morphing drone clouds, minimalist patterns and crunching electronics that wouldn't fit into the aesthetic and musical parameters of his previous projects (Baja, Höhlenmusik Ensemble, E Jugend). The compositional results were demanding a very specific rhythmical backbone. One that could underpin and enforce Vujanic's distillation of euphoric noise, hallucinatory constructivism, and the hollow bones of rock 'n' roll. That's the point where drummer Yoshihiro Kikuchi came in. An integral part of Japan's vivid noise music scenery and also a colorful percussionist, he manages to combine massive minimalism, dense improv and ritualistic polyhythms.
The self-titled debut album effortlessly creates a blissful intensity with its additive compositional approach, sounding orchestral at times employing strings and synthesizers as well as sparse injections of glockenspiel, found sounds, piano, vibes and woodwinds"

a lot of really different things going on here. this is probably one of the raddest experimental rock albums i've heard in a while. i definitely recommend checking this out.

Kodiak/Nadja Split

#177) Kodiak/Nadja Split (2009)

 1. Kodiak - MCCCXLIX the rising end
 2. Nadja - KITSUNE fox drone

i had never heard Kodiak before i picked up this split. they're a drone/doom band out of Germany. it looks like they've only released 1 full length and a couple splits. their track here fucking destroys. 21 minutes of  pulverizing instrumental doom. 

according to the liner notes the Nadja track was recorded/composed/performed live in a studio in Berlin. i was kind of disappointed to find that it's a 20 minute drone piece (yes i know "drone" is in the title). it wasn't a bad track, i actually enjoyed it after my initial disappointment, it's just that when i see "Nadja" i expect Nadja.

a cool split but i have to give the edge to the Kodiak track.

Blood of the Black Owl/At the Head of the Woods Split

Seeing Is Nothing, Feeling Is Believing

#176) Blood of the Black Owl/At the Head of the Woods Split (2011)

 1. At the Head of the Woods - Here I Stand
 2. Blood of the Black Owl - Visions of Strix Nebulosa


i randomly picked this up on a record binge. i had heard that Blood of the Black Owl was a weird black/doom band but i didn't really know anything about these bands other than what i read on Handmade Birds:

"Since 2005, collaborators Chet W. Scott and James Woodhead have fashioned incredibly moving and innovative music as The Elemental Chrysalis. During this time, each has made his mark exploring a deeply personal journey as solo artist- Chet as Blood of the Black Owl, and James as At the Head of the Woods. With both projects creating incredible snapshots into their respective journies, here, on a split crafted over a long period, and arriving at the cusp of new full length material from both, the presence of these long time pioneers could not be felt in a more rich and inspiring way. This is a limited release, featuring art by James Woodhead and design by Chet W. Scott.
SIDE A: AT THE HEAD OF THE WOODS "HERE I STAND" 24:12
SIDE B: BLOOD OF THE BLACK OWL "VISIONS OF STRIX NEBULOSA" 25:19

Edition: 500 copies total, first run of 300."

the At the Head of the Woods track is sort of droning post-rock (is that a thing?)  for about the first 11 minutes or so. after that the song continues with the droning rock but now there are a bunch of guitar licks that i think are supposed to make it more psychedelic or something but it just made me think of cheesy guitar riffs in 90s movie scores. i've never heard anything from this project so i don't really know what this guy's sound is but overall it was a pretty good track. i'd check out more from this dude.

the Blood of the Black Owl track is...interesting. i was expecting some crushing metal and i got a track that sounds like the score to Dances With Wolves with some weird drones and a dude growling over it. the first time i listened to this it was definitely a "what the fuck" moment but it grew on me on the 2nd listen. it's just so...i don't know. towards the end some guitar and drums kick in and sounds a little more like what i was expecting, but not a lot. again, having never heard anything else by this guy i don't know if this is his normal sound or what but i'll definitely be checking out more.

Light box set

Watching the Falling Snow

#173 - #175) Light box set (2011)

Disc 1 - A Million Dead Beneath the Ice

1. When the Green Midwestern Sky Comes Crashing Down
2. When the Flood Waters Come Rushing In
3. When the Biting Winds Slice Across the Plains, They Will Carry the Seeds of Death Upon Them

Disc 2 - Life Is Meaningless and Goes on Forever

1. Life is Meaningless and Goes on Forever

Disc 3 - Worse Than Anyone Would Have Expected

1. The City
2. Again
3. Watching the Falling Snow

Light was a 2 man black drone doom band who were, according to their myspace (remember that?) from Minnesota. they released 3 albums, all included in this set, before disbanding. i'm not 100% sure about the years of release but it looks like the first album was out in 2008 and the last 2 in 2009. they were limited to about 50 copies each.
this box set was released by Crucial Blast's Crucial Blaze imprint. it contains the 3 albums, a book of photography, 3 pins that match the disc artwork and it's limited to 200 copies.

since i'm still like a month behind on posts i'm gonna be super lazy and let Crucial Blast describe the albums:

The first album of the set is A million dead beneath the ice. The first song begins with a squall of abrasive noise, a thick tangle of squirming guitar skree and whistling feedback, almost Skullflower-esque, all smoking amp wreckage and shrill guitar scrape, but then almost immediately we hear the faint strains of a flute in the background, followed by the band proper suddenly springing up with a slow, dismal dirge. A slow, creeping percussive clank, just pieces of metal minimally keeping time while ghastly unintelligible screams and whoops and wasted chanting waft across sheets of buzzing, extremely distorted noise and a creepy funereal riff that sounds like it could be someone playing a pipe organ, or maybe a rumbling bass guitar buried under all of the murky, cobwebbed distortion. And that flute whistles aimlessly throughout the whole thing. This first song alone is incredibly bleak and creepy sounding, a weird cross between the extreme funeral dirge of Skepticism and the shapeless abject horror of Abruptum, as if both bands teamed together to perform Gene Moore's eerie score to Carnival Of Souls. But then the second song "When the Flood Waters Came Rushing In” appears and something very cool happens to Light's sound. The simple, almost clicking percussive beat continues its dead tick-tock pulse, but the pipe organ from the beginning is largely replaced by a massive droning riff and a gorgeous slow-motion lead that unfolds for almost eleven minutes within a torrential downpour of fuzz, creeping along like a Codeine song slowed by half and blanketed in speaker hiss. As slow and lumbering as this song is, it's also really pretty, the major key chords crawling like magma as the vocals, previously howling and screeching in the background, now become more prominent and transform into weird, almost bluesy howl. The whole thing has this glacial drama to it. Then we come to the third, final song, which reaches on for nearly twenty minutes, and takes shape as a mix of everything we've heard before. Another majestic doom riff drifts slowly through the amp-haze, again layered with clean guitar, but it's much darker and more ominous, the vocals returning to their previous feral state, the whole song hanging with this cloud of dread throughout as it lumbers on, finally drifting out in the last couple of minutes into a blur of distant rumbling whir, strange guitar scrapings, and what seem like voices lost in a heavy fading mist of reverb.
The ambitious and exponentially more wretched second album from Light is Life Is Meaningless And Goes On Forever, a single, hour long epic that at first seems to pick up with the exact same minimal hi-hat pulse of the debut, the thin percussive clink providing what little momentum the music has as a single droning guitar chord unfurls like black smoke. And then the screams begin. Where on earlier Light material the distant reverb-clouded howls were relegated to the background, here that voice is right up front in the mix, issuing some of the most hideous, gargling shrieks I've heard since Fleuerty's A Darker Shade of Evil. At first the overwrought raptor screams almost border on the absurd, but as you fall deeper into this and those swooping, gargling shrieks melt into the creeping glacial dirge, it all adds up to a uniquely psychotic experience that drips despair and horror from the speakers for the entire length of this album. After a while, the guitars fade off as a piano takes over, and the music changes into this gorgeous slow-motion requiem for most of the remainder of the song. While the sound is very different, the sparse, extreme bleakness of this album is reminiscent of that of Corrupted's Llendose de Gusanos.
The final Light disc Worse than Anyone Would Have expected returns to the more bleary, abstract haze of the first album. Starting with the grim ambient dirge of "The City", Light once again bathes soft minor key guitar, deep buzzing drones and washes of keyboard and meandering flute in a heavy fog of amplifier hiss while those anguished shrieks sound in the distance. The next song "Again" is even more ghostly and minimal, the hiss and fuzz growing more prominent, the eerie minor key guitar melody echoing way off in the shadows, the sound becoming washed out and grainy, like some Tim Hecker remix of a suicidal black metal dirge. The third song is the grand closer, almost forty minutes of this washed-out, miserable grey drift, driven by a spare slow moving bass line and those haunted organ tones, a soft ticking barely perceptible under the thick sheets of softened static. By the end of the first ten minutes though, the guitars undergo a subtle change, the miserable dissonance transforming into a gorgeous slow-mo melody, again evoking shades of Codeine and that sort of spacious, brooding slowcore, and this goes on for much of the remainder of the song. There's still an underlying creepiness to the music, but it's mostly imbued with an incredible sense of sadness, of hopelessness, and a kind of absolute dejection as it drifts endlessly like a Tangerine Dream piece grafted onto the most wretched blackened doom imaginable.

so yeah, this is some very cool stuff. Worse Than Anyone Would Have Expected is probably my favorite of the 3 albums. the sounds seem a little more varied and album closer "Watching the Falling Snow" is amazing. dark and beautiful, it reminds me a bit of a Nadja track. 

Pengo - Alchemy and Bullshit

#171 & #172) Pengo - Alchemy and Bullshit (2005)

Disc 1
 1. Failure in 5 Easy Steps (the Phi Phenomena Tour recordings from 09-2001)
 2. Nominal Spore (recorded at Analog Shock 01-18-2002)
 3. Official Genius (recorded at Analog Shock 04-14-2002) with Ed Wilcox, Dave Cross and Charles Leport

 Disc 2
 1. 20 Years of Dust (recorded at the Bunker 11-30-2002)
 2. Hadaka (recorded at the Bunker 11-30-2002)
 3. T7 to Dispatch (recorded at the Bunker 11-30-2002)
 4. A Broken Chalice on the Empty Path (recprded at the Bunker 11-30-2002)
 5. Stainless Steel Rat (recorded at APR 11-16-2003)
 6. Nullified Existence (recorded at the Bug Jar 05-06-2004)

i never heard of this band before. i randomly bought this based on the album title. according to Carbon Records, who put out this set, this is a:

"double CDR document of Pengo's migration from a 3-piece out-spazz-noise group to 4-piece drone-psych-noise-rock group. recordings ranging from the 2001 Phi-Tour series, 2002 live and "studio" pieces (including a show with guests Dave Cross of Coffee, Ed Wilcox of Temple Bon Matin and Charles Leport of Hinkley/Finkbeiner/etc), thru pounding live 2003/2004 sets, much in the vein of current configuration"


having never heard anything from these guys i'm not really sure what their sound was/is but this was some pretty cool stuff. 

Korperschwache - Brotherhood of the Bowl

Dead Flowers on the Welcome Mat

#170) Korperschwache - Brotherhood of the Bowl (2008)
         
 1. Brotherhood of the Bowl
 2. Dead Flowers on the Welcome Mat
 3. "Drink the Gold Water, Woman!"
 4. Menace of the Feminizing Soybean
 5.Superanaleverything
 6. Slavery = Bacon = Freedom
 7. In the Kingdom of the Blind (Wise Men Carry Sharp Sticks)
 8. Fear of a Black Metal Mustache
 9. "Fire is the Answer To Everything"


noisy sludgy guitar drone and feedback. this stuff is dark and heavy as hell.

Sissy Spacek - California Ax

Smoke My Blood

#166 - #169) Sissy Spacek - California Ax (2008)

Disc 1 - Tinsel Dripping Ink

 1. Bootleg
 2. Spider Mama
 3. Casual Cassette
 4. Lunar Eclipse Was Boring
 5. Return to From
 6. Sepsis (Version)
 7. Suction Cup
 8. Pollex
 9. Tyburn
 10. East East STL
 11. Fortnight
 12. Shovel Up On Us
 13. Secretary
 14. Smoke My Blood
 15. Polled
 16. Index
 17. Gon
 18. Purple Trouble
 19. Acoustic Sepsis
 20. Look At My Hand
 21. TV Bra
 22. Test For Color D
 23. Senso Destructo Hat
 24. Gutter Bird
 25. Pulse Pounding Torment
 26. Live at The Smell

Disc 2 - Police

 1. SOJBX
 2. Grandmere
 3. Cake Solo
 4. Ottake
 5. Magma Earings Pt. 1
 6. Eaudoxia
 7. Rapid Fire
 8. What Else Can Be New
 9. Dneiper
 10. New Pillowcase
 11. Magma Earings Pt. 2

Disc 3 - Abreq Ad Habra

 1. Psychotechnics
 2. Bongo

Disc 4 - 13-Tet Los Angeles

 1. First Set
 2. Second Set

California Ax is a 4 disc set that contains mostly new tracks, a couple old tracks and a few live sets.

Tinsel Dripping Ink is a lot like the Gore Jet comp in that the tracks are all over the place genre-wise. grind, noise, experimental, whatever, it's all here. most of the tracks are new but a couple are pulled from live sessions, one all the way back from 1998, and Bootleg says it was recorded in 2001. the live tracks are:
10. East East STL from St. Louis in 2002
23. Senso Destructo Hat from St. Louis in 1998
24. Gutter Bird from St. Charles, MO in 2000
and 26. Live at The Smell from LA in 2007

all the other tracks are newly recorded. this shit is intense.


Police features all new studio material. it's more on the electroacoustic improv/concrete side of things. this type of music has never really been my thing. it just sounds like people fucking around with things and recording it. at least that's been my experience with the genre. it's not all bad, there are occasionally times when everything comes together to form something rad and that's the case with this disc, a few cool tracks but overall it didn't really do it for me.


according to a (very) brief internet search "Abreq Ad Habra" is Hebrew and means something like "hurl your lightning bolt even unto death". it's a fitting title. the 2 tracks on this album are live sets. "Psychotechnics" is was recorded on KXLU 88.9 in LA in 2007. it's 40 minutes of face ripping audio terror. any radio station that lets someone do this on air is ok in my book. this is seriously brutal stuff.
"Bongo" was recorded at Radio Cherokee in St. Louis in 2002. it's another 20 minutes of destruction. really rad stuff, this was a great disc.


13-Tet Los Angeles features 2 live sets recorded at the Smell in 2007. the big difference between these and other live cuts is the fact that for these performances the band featured 13 people. the cd booklet also states that these performances are based on a score written by Wiese. most of Spacek's sonic palette was represented. there are a lot of cool things going on here. while not as intense as discs 1 and 3 it's still a rad album. it would've been cool to see this live.

Dreamend - As If By Ghosts...

#165) Dreamend - As If By Ghosts... (2004)

 1. Of Ravens & Winds
 2. Ellipsis
 3. Four Days in May
 4. The Almighty
 5. Murmur
 6. Can't Take You
 7. Slide Song
 8. The Old House & Its Occupants
 9. 10 Guitars From Salem
 10. Passing

Dreamend the project of Ryan Graveface, owner/operator of Graveface Records which is one of my favorite labels. they play lo-fi post-rocky shoegazey radness. it's mellow but never boring. i've had this album for like a year and i'm an idiot for not listening to it sooner.

also worth noting is that each cd comes in a cardboard case that's hand assembled with a different photo as the cover. the pic above is not my cover.
go listen to this because my description is terrible and you need to hear it.

Sissy Spacek - Gore Jet

#164) Sissy Spacek - Gore Jet (2009)

 1. Gore Jet 1
 2. Gore Jet 2
 3. Gore Jet 3
 4. Gore Jet 4
 5. HHH13B
 6. Superm
 7. Reeve
 8. Mountain Amps
 9. Guitar Fluffs
 10. Hotel
 11. Ghost
 12. ------ ------ -------
 13. Bananas
 14. Cake
 15. Ott
 16. Phys Ed A1
 17. Phys Ed A2
 18. Phys Ed B
 19. Jason's Basement
 20. Live at No Fun


i went into this album not really knowing anything about the project other than that it was John Wiese's "grindcore" band. if you're into noise you've probably heard/heard of John Wiese as he's done splits and collaborations with tons of artists on top of his own releases.
this album is a rarities collection of  tracks off limited 7" and a couple unreleased tracks. (the cd booklet gives you all the release info which i'd normally list here but there's a lot of info and i'm far behind, sorry.)  i put grindcore in quotes because not every track is grind. some are grindy, some are noisy, some are a combination of the 2 and some are experimental improv tracks. i don't know if a rarities collection is really the best way to get an idea of what a band is about but i enjoyed it anyway. looking forward to hearing more from these guys.

Capharnaum - Fractured

Occultist Ritualistic Birth Of A New God

#163) Capharnaum - Fractured (2005)

 1. Ingrained
 2. Fractured
 3. Perpetuate Catatonia
 4. Machines
 5. Icon of Malice
 6. Reins of Humanity
 7. The Scourge Trial
 8. Refusal


Capharnaum is a tech death band that's probably most well known for having Matt Heafy of Trivium on vocals. i first heard about them through Crotchduster, which is Capharnaum guitarist (and also former Trivium producer) Jason Suecof's awesome joke metal side project. they've only released 2 albums and this is the 2nd.  definitely worth checking out.

Richard Cheese - The Sunny Side of the Moon

#162) Richard Cheese - The Sunny Side of the Moon (2006)

 1. Rape Me (Nirvana)
 2. People = Shit (Slipknot)
 3. Baby Got Back (Sir Mix-A-Lot)
 4. Girls, Girls, Girls (Motley Crue)
 5. Closer (NIN)
 6. Bust A Move (Young MC)
 7. Down With the Sickness (Disturbed)
 8. Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2)
 9. Freak On a Leash (Korn)
 10. Nookie (Limp Bizkit)
 11. Another Brick In the Wall (Pink Floyd)
 12. Rock the Casbah (The Clash)
 13. Fight For Your Right (The Beastie Boys)
 14. Hot For Teacher (Van Halen)
 15. Gin and Juice (Snoop Dogg)
 16. Come Out and Play (Offspring)
 17. Badd (Ying Yang Twins)
 18. Creep (Radiohead)

Richard Cheese, along with his band Lounge Against the Machine, takes songs from a wide variety of bands, some good, a lot bad, and turns them (or "swankifies" them as he says...somewhere i think) into amazing lounge jams
this album claims that it's a "best of" but that's kind of misleading. 4 of the tracks ("Bust a Move", "Freak on a Leash", "Another Brick In the Wall" and "Badd") are brand new and 7 tracks ("Rape Me", "Closer", "Nookie", "Fight For Your Right", "Gin and Juice", "Come Out and Play" and "Creep") are full band re-recordings of older tracks, so only 7 tracks on here are available on the previously released albums.
the re-recorded tracks are off the first album, Richard Cheese  Lounge Against the Machine, which featured all synthesized instruments. the full band makes a huge difference and the tracks sound great. 
this is one of the few times i'd recommend a "best of" for both new and old fans.

Korperschwache - Broken Blades Of Steel Scattered Across The Narrow Way

Blues For a Dead Doctor

#161) Korperschwache - Broken Blades Of Steel Scattered Across The Narrow Way (2008)

 1. Nice Girls (Just Want to Fuck)
 2. Red Wind
 3. It's Hard to Sleep at Night With a Back Full of Knives
 4. Who Moved the Floor
 5. Blues For a Dead Doctor
 6. Your Arms Are Too Short to Box With God

i'll let Crucial Blast (who released the record on their Crucial Bliss imprint) describe it:

the music emerges as a lumbering deformed cousin of classic alt-guitar noise, huge open chords unfolding over shimmering distorted strings and multiple layers of vibrating amplifiers, with some sweet sun-scorched melodies swimming around in these lengthy riff explorations. Of course, it wouldn't be Korperschwache without the jagged, pounding beats of Doktor Omega, and each of these mechanical jams uncoil over a battery of thumping machine beats, cymbal-soaked motorik rhythms and even the odd unexpected breakbeat that kind of sounds like some spastic jungle has suddenly ripped it's way through the swirling clouds of drone guitar.

so yeah, i dunno. i wasn't really in love with this album but it wasn't bad and it did grow on me after a couple listens. if you've never heard Korperschwache before i'd recommend starting somewhere else.

Geotic - Bless the Self

#160) Geotic - Bless the Self (2011)

 1. Isolated Speech
 2. Isolated Mind
 3. Illusory Body
 4. Clear Light
 5. Union

for this Crossover i decided to check out some Geotic.

/as adam noted in his post on this album, Geotic is a side project of Will Wiesenfeld, the man behind Baths. all the Geotic albums are available for free download here.
/the music is very minimal and chill and all the tracks here flow together seamlessly. this is definitely an album that is stronger if you listen to it as a whole and follow Will's recommendation (from the site linked above) of having no gaps between tracks..
i wish this was a full length instead of an ep but other than that minor business it was a very enjoyable album. i'll definitely be looking into more of this project.

Gnaw Their Tongues - All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity

Gazing At Me Through Tears Of Urine

#159) Gnaw Their Tongues - All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity (2009)

 1. My Orifices Await Ravaging
 2. Verbrannt Und Verflucht (Burned and Cursed)*
 3. Broken Fingers Point Upwards In Vain
 4. The Stench Of Dead Horses On My Breath And The Vile Of Existence In My Hands
 5. L’Ange Qui Annonce La Fin Du Temps (The Angel Who Announces the End of Time)*
 6. Gazing At Me Through Tears Of Urine
 7. Rife With Deep Teeth Marks
 8. All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity
 9. The Gnostic Ritual Consumption Of Semen As Embodiment Of Wounds Teared In The Soul 

i've been listening to Gnaw their Tongues for a few years now and i still don't really know how to classify them. i guess "him" would be more appropriate since this is a 1 man project from the Netherlands. maybe experimental orchestral blackened noise doom? whatever you want to call it, the fact remains that  the music is DARK,  massive yet suffocating and it has an almost cinematic flair to it. occasionally quite beautiful in it's darkness, it's also incredibly atmospheric and i'm always amazed that just one dude is composing these huge sounding tracks.
unfortunately there isn't a lyric sheet but looking at the song titles and album artwork (which is also done by Mories) i'd guess they're pretty fucked up. 
highly recommended.

*i did the translations using google translate so if they're off, ooops i guess

Oikos - Econto

#158) Oikos - Econto (2011)

 1. Pulsar
 2. Econto
 3. Boreas
 4. Deriva
 5. Red Forest
 6. Threshold
 7. Jatavena


guitar drones, electronic drones and shimmery, echoey post-rock-like guitar parts rule the day here. alternately serene and heavy, but never overbearingly so, dark and light. a very cool, mellow album

Nekrasov - Extinction

Void Into Nonvoid

#157) Nekrasov - Extinction (2010)

 1. We Are Just an Indifferent Interpretation of the Black Plague
 2. Disillusion
 3. Matter is the Bastard
 4. Void Into Nonvoid
 5. Pre-Fetal Non-Mantra
 6. Chant the Name of God In a Thousand Languages Until All is Blood and Feces
 7. No Room For Liberation Found 'Here' or 'Now'
 8. Extinction


tracks alternate between noisy, raw black metal and dark ambient/noise soundscapes. if you like old school black metal and/or noise i would definitely recommend checking this out.

Hair Police - Drawn Dead

I Woke Up This Morning To Find Myself Drawn Dead

#156) Hair Police - Drawn Dead (2005)

 1. Untitled
 2. Untitled
 3. Untitled
 4. Untitled

this was a totally random purchase. i'd never heard of these guys before but i liked the band name and album artwork so i went for it. it turned out to be a pretty rad noise album. i don't really know what to say about noise albums. it's fucking noisy. there's some noises and some other noises, some static, some screaming, you get the idea. if you like noise check it out, if you don't like noise check it out anyway, it's rad.

Nadja - Corrasion

My Bones Are Like Knives

#155) Nadja - Corrasion (2007)

 1. Base Fluid
 2. You Are As Dust
 3. Corrasion
 4. Amniotic
 5. I Am As Earth
 6. Ash
 7. White Lies


Corrasion was originally released as a limited cd-r in 2003. i think it was their 3rd full length. for this 2007 cd version, Nadja re-recorded the original 4 tracks and added 3 bonus tracks. tracks 1 - 4 are the re-recorded tracks. 5 is taken off a split they did with Moss (who will be featured here at some point), 6 is off the Chariots Arrive Again 2 comp and 7 is off the Forsee the Shadows 1 comp. other than some minor time differences i'm not really sure how the re-recorded tracks compare to the originals but they're definitely Nadja tracks. slow and droning but never boring. 

and for those interested, the album was also re-released as a double vinyl and an mp3 download. the vinyl contains the 4 re-recorded tracks and the bonus track "Numb" which was originally released as the b-side to the Base Fluid net single and can also be found on Nadja's Numbness comp. the mp3 download also contains the 4 re-recorded tracks but the bonus track here is an extended version of "Corrasion"..

Grey Daturahs/Monarch - Dawn of the Catalyst

Rapture

#154) Grey Daturahs/Monarch - Dawn of the Catalyst (2007)

 1. Grey Daturahs - Golden Tusk the Endearing
 2. Monarch - Rapture


i'd never heard Grey Daturahs before but i'm definitely gonna check out more of their stuff now. their track is instrumental and is some crushing, droning doom. very cool stuff.
i already covered a couple Monarch albums, which you can read about here. nothing's really changed. the track is heavy, slow and rad as hell. it sounds like there are some vocals or maybe it's just the singer making noises, not sure since there are no lyrics in the cd or anything. either way, it sounds awesome. i'm really loving these guys.

Un Festin Sagital - Epitafio A La Permanencia

#153) Un Festin Sagital - Epitafio A La Permanencia (2007)

 1. Epitafio A La Permanencia Part 1
 2. Epitafio A La Permanencia Part 2
 3. L'Age Delicieux (La Revolución Perenne)
 4. ¡No Hay Coristas!
 5. La Dignidad Del Espíritu Bestia
 6. Destierro

these guys are from Chile and play...experimental/avant-garde rock. they combine elements of ambient/noise, drone, progressive rock, traditional Latin sounds and folk, which makes for a bizarre but rad sound. i don't really know what else to say about this album but i'd definitely recommend checking it out. i know i'll be on the lookout for more from them.

Pyramids with Nadja

Into the Silent Waves

#152) Pyramids with Nadja (2009)
 1. Into the Silent Waves
 2. Another War
 3. Sound of Ice and Grass
 4. An Angel Was Heard to Cry Over the City of Rome

for May's End of Month Theme i'm going with "Collaborations"

i loved Pyramids' self titled debut so i don't know why it's taken me this long to get to this record. i've known about it since it came out, it's actually the first time i heard of Nadja, but for some reason i put off listening to it. it does not disappoint.

while there is definitely more of the Pyramids sound than Nadja's on the album there's also a lot that's unlike anything i've heard from either band. the sticker on the album (yeah, i'm still being lazy and using other people's quotes) says it's "Energized ambient, infused with an intelligent ear for avant-garde metal and an almost indiscernible adherence to a sort of pop sensibility" and sure. it's a very mellow, at times beautiful experimental metal album. definitely recommended.