My Bloody Valentine - You Made me Realise

Just to keep the blog somewhat varied, one of my favourite artist My Bloody Valentine, I'm sure you've heard of these guys, if you haven't stopped to check them out however please do, this is only an EP, but it is a classic. Along with 'Loveless' MBV have made some of my favourite albums, and are without doubt one of the most important bands in Shoegaze. Beautifully distorted and melancholic whilst maintaing hugely catchy riffs and vocals, Smiths-esq in that respect. 'You made me Realise' is one of my favourite songs, please enjoy My Bloody Valentine.

My Bloody Valentine - You Made me Realise

A1 You Made Me Realise
A2 Slow
B1 Thorn
B2 Cigarette In Your Bed
B3 Drive It All Over Me

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Ildjarn - Strength and Anger

Pure Raw Black Metal from the icey, desolate lands of Norway, a solo project formed back in '92. Ildjarn is no nonsense Primitive Black Metal, this LP, Strength and Anger is a great introduction to his works, the title itself gives a summary as to the style and aggression within his work. Full of Lo-fi battering guitar and bellowing echoed vocals that we all know and love, Strength and anger is Raw BM as it should be, it also employs some punk-esq rawness, similar to that of Bone Awl and that style. Iljdarn stopped writing in 97, but officially ended in 2005.

Iljdarn - Strength and Anger

1. Strength And Anger 03:12
2. Strength And Anger 03:11
3. Strength And Anger 01:35
4. Strength And Anger 02:24
5. Strength And Anger 02:44
6. Strength And Anger 02:48
7. Strength And Anger 02:11
8. Strength And Anger 04:31
9. Strength And Anger 02:41
10. Strength And Anger 04:19
11. Strength And Anger 01:12
12. Strength And Anger 03:36
13. Strength And Anger 02:20
14. Strength And Anger 02:12
15. Strength And Anger 02:23
16. Black Anger (Hate Meditation 1) 14:10
17. Interchange 02:27
18. Midnight Strength, Black Anger (Hate Meditation 2) 15:54

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Bastard Noise - A Culture of Monsters

Somewhat fresh to their return of use the use of instruments, and their more traditional MITB sound, Bastard Noise's latest offering, 'A Culture of Monster' is a bass rumbling old school MITB-esq Power fuck album. In a similar vein to their latest Split with The Endless Blockade - 'The Red List' earlier this year, Bastard Noise seem to be restating themselves into the 'Power Violence' world, as opposed to the sheer PE and Harsh noise efforts of their earlier works. Any fans of this blog I'm sure will be aware of MITB, so enjoy. Bastard Noise - A Culture of Monsters 1. A Culture of Monsters 2. Pincer's Movement 3. Me and Hitler 4. A Silent Night In The Horrible Garden 5. If Another World... 6. Through Modern Existence (The March of the Trolls) 7. Lumberton 8. Interior War

Gnaw Their Tongues - For all slaves, a song of false hope

Gnaw Their Tongues go a long way to sum up the whole ethos of this blog, in the sense of riffs, filth and all things unholy, Mories (this is his project) pretty much nails that on the head. Gnaw their tongues started out more a black noise project, but some later EP's have taken a more musically linear direction, employing more instruments and vocals and a more traditional Black metal sound. This EP 'For all slaves, a song of false hope' contains some amazing black metal, and some of the more old school Gnaw sounds, that being a brooding and macabre noisy landscape. To get a better idea of their previous sound 'An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood' is more a pure noise LP. Gnaw their tongues have some truly gruelling album/song titles as you may of noticed, of course it suits their grotesque sound and ideology, for now enjoy this latest EP.

Gnaw Their Tongues - For all Slaves, A sense of false hope.

1. For All Slaves... A Song Of False Hope I 8:56
2. The Uncomfortable Silence In Between Beatings 9:36
3. A Fiery Deluge 8:04
4. My Womb Is Barren And I Want Revenge 9:06
5. Aderlating 15:26
6. For All Slaves... A Song Of False Hope II 7:35

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Venowl - [::]

Raw horrible black noise from the US done fucking well, fairly self explanatory. This band doesn't have much, if any presence or information online, their cassette [::] is out on Moribund Tree Records

Venowl - [::]

1. Charred Bone in the Lost Chalice of Forgotten
2. Forest of ancient shadows and demise
3. Invockkation of the spheres that blacken portent
4. Melancholic Desires for Palatable Blood
5. Rites of despair
6. The scrawls of Wyrd-laden Knaves

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Portal - Seepia

Portal are a band difficult to define, in a nutshell picture being in Silent Hill when the bell rings. In essence a mix of technical death-esq metal. Seepia is a fast brutalising album withnoise elements, and some filthy blackened atmospheric metal, i'll leave it to you to decide. Aside from the obvious somewhat gimmicky outfits, Portal are a band who i feel have a unique sound in a genre that generally doesn't offer too many bands that really stand out with their own sound, for now, witness Portal.

Portal - Seepia

1. Glumurphonel 05:08
2. Vessel of Balon 02:41
3. Tempus Fugit 04:20
4. Sunken 03:08
5. Atmosblisters 04:09
6. Transcending a Mere Multiverse 03:02
7. Antiquate 02:38
8. The Endmills 06:39

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Saetia - A Retrospective

Saetia reined supreme, rip.

Saetia - A Retrospective

1. "Notres Langues Nous Trompent" – 2:37
2. "The Sweetness and the Light" – 2:47
3. "An Open Letter" – 2:28
4. "Woodwell" – 2:20
5. "Corporeal" – 4:19
6. "Ariadne's Thread" – 2:41
7. "From the Firmament" – 2:19
8. "Postlapsaria" – 4:48.
9. "Endymion" – 4:19
10. "Roquentin" – 2:53
11. "The Poet You Never Were" – 3:43
12. "Some Natures Catch No Plagues" – 4:16
13. "The Burden of Reflecting" – 2:38
14. "Closed Hands" – 3:51
15."Venus and Bacchus" – 3:19
16. "One Dying Wish" – 4:42
17. "Becoming the Truth" – 2:38
18. "The Poet You Never Were (live)" – 3:48
19. "Ariadne's Thread (live)" – 2:29
20. "Notres Langues Nous Trompent (live)" – 2:41
21. "The Sweetness and the Light (live)" – 2:48
22. "Endymion (live)" – 4:09

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I Spoke - Faith in Chaos

I Spoke, in ideology and practice, are a thing of beauty, amidst the chaos and screams lay poetic rights, tales of friendship and moral ideals, anti racism etc all of which I find myself agreeing with. Beyond that, their music is a mix of 'real' scremo and emo, chaotic moments set alongside melodic drifting. Their ethos holds true to a pure DIY scene, friends no fans. Sadly I Spoke have left us, I find them to have been one of Canadians finest sons. Their messages are still with us, and I hope they live on through their records, do enjoy this one.

RIP I Spoke.

I Spoke - Faith in Chaos

1. Random Beatings from Lee Majors 3:11
2. You broke my heart so i cut your break-lines 3:06
3. Why make sense when art is dead 3:41
4. Lies parents told me that i still believe to this day 2:31
5. The demons that lived inside my statue of the Virgin Mary 2:41
6. Returning the bullets once lodged in my body to Wal-Mart 1:42

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Vide - Demo

Vide, side project of Taliesin's K. Haikara. Vide are a blackened noise, black metal, raw etc etc etc. A lot of bands within the raw black metal field cassettes are somewhat too noisy and can sound worse for wear losing a lot of quality. Vide manage to attain a raw sound without it just being pure noise and losing a sense of musical direction. Lo-fi in production, grim and tortured vampiric noise at it's rawest. A must for BM noise creeps.

Vide - Self titled

1. Night ethereal beauty 7:07
2. Unheilig Mond Leicht 5:58
3. Blood is the life...Sun is death 7:45
4. The Eternal Hunger 4:46
5. Chapter II 5:48
6. The Night is my True Goddess 6:22

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FFO: White Medal, Vucub Cane.

Weakling - Dead as Dreams

Weakling are one of the better Black Metal groups to come out of the States, of course that is not to say they're aren't plenty around, more to the point 'Dead as Dreams' is a great album, pushing over an hour, the build up and consistency is there, it has a listenability also, and doesn't just repeat itself. Apparently having members of The Fucking Champs amongst others, Weakling are a solid group of musicians. Your fairly standard Black Metal grim, trancing and withdrawn, then coming into tremolo bashing shrieking metal, and they do it well. Draw the curtains and dwell to Weakling. \m/

Dead as Dreams

1. Cut Their Brains and Place Fire Therein 10:28
2. Dead as Dreams 20:39
3. This Entire Fucking Battlefield 14:47
4. No One May Be Called as a Man While He'll Die 13:09
5. Desasters in the Sun 17:05

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FFO: Judas Isocariot, Woe, Wolves in the Throne Room.

Envy - From Here to Eternity

Firstly, I will say that this band is supreme, their influence and reach has cemented them to a legendary status, in my eyes at least, and I'm sure many bands in the Hardcore / Scremo scene feel this way too. Envy are easily one of my favourite bands, and seeing them live took my breath away, stood heart on hand throughout the whole show screaming my lungs out alongside vocalist Tetsuya Fukugawa, to me one of the most consistent and talented vocalist i've ever heard. Envy's sound has evolved a huge amount over the years, so I see it fit to take you to their roots. 'From Here to Eternity' is a rawer, earlier effort from Envy, their latest works, splits with Thursday and Jesu shows the extent of their progression and development. Their later albums have inherited more post-rock-esq elements, in a sense of longer more built up songs.

This first album has a good mix of screamo and hardcore elements, it's lean more toward the punk side, but i still find this a fantastic album, and anyone who enjoys this will appreciate their newer works, i may post another album of theirs another time. For now sink your teeth into this album.

From Here to Eternity - Track listing

1. Limitation 4:12
2. Trembled 4:13
3. A vicious circle, again 1:23
4. Leaden Wings 3:11
5. Off 2:40
6. Crusaders 1:58
7. For you who died 3:05
8. Black past 1:53
9. Grey wind 4:25
10. Carved numbers 3:37
11. Poetry reading 2:15

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FFO: Heaven in her arms, Kaospilot