Trumpet of Amdusias

  Industrial sludge death doom funeral noise from Oakland. Maurice De Jong is the most prolific dude in music, I am certain. Gnaw Their Tongues , Cloak of Altering , De Magia Veterum , Dodenbezweerder are just a few of his projects. Apparently Rene Aquarius from Imperial Cult decided that he would challenge Maurice to a doom-off, and the loser would have to sweep up after the planet was destroyed. This is the sonic record of that planetary destruction. It is also one of the best doom records I've ever heard. Thankfully free of Sabbath worship and lazy rehashing of every boring stoner riff imaginable, this is actually a brand new thing. Suffocatingly vile and planetarily heavy, this is the answer to the unasked question "what would happen if Sunn 0))) were from New Orleans. Foul and Defiled by Coffin Lurker

  What happens when you lock the lead singer of a antifascist political punk band from the UK in the house for a year? Apparently she makes a Skyrim themed black metal album. A really really good Skyrim themed black metal album. Noctule is the new black metal solo project from Serena Cherry (Svalbard). During the UK national lock down in 2020, Serena decided to write an entire black metal album themed to the RPG computer game Skyrim. Each song is about different dungeons, story lines and weapons within the award-winning game. She notes: “I have always associated Skyrim with black metal. The snowy mountain settings, the morbid themes, the Norse mythology backbone – it just goes hand in hand for me.” Prior to her 10 year career as the front woman of Svalbard, Serena previously played in a black metal band and has been excited to get back to her musical roots. With hypnotic, interlocking tremolo guitar leads, pummeling blast beats and reverb drenched vocals; Noctule sees Serena

  I am something of a Maurice de Jong fan. As his Bandcamp interview puts it, he is " the creator of some of experimental metal’s most horrific soundscapes.". I own a shockingly large percentage of his 50+ albums, and while not all of them are my favorites, I honestly don't think I dislike any of them. That in itself is a feat. 2021 is shaping up to be the Year of Mories.Three albums released so far, and another expected within days. I am a happy camper. And this one is pretty phenomenal. Die Hard symphonic black metal, filtered through Mories' cavernous misanthropy. This is bombast, chaos, and weirdly "classic".  Cathchy riffs,  lively keyboards, and punchy drums, but never veering too far from dark evil atmospheres. This might go on to become one of the classic symphonic black metal albums. Forbidden Knowledge and Ancient Wisdom by Grand Celestial Nightmare

  I have always had a bit of a weird relationship to Krallice . They are a band I am supposed to like. After all, I pretty much make everyone I could find listen to every Schammasch , Imperial Triumphant , Ulcerate , and Zhrine album I could. I like bicycles and obnoxiously hoppy IPAs. I own and use beard wax. But for nine albums Krallice have always smelled (felt?) to me like a bunch of prog nerds wearing black metal as a costume to a frat party. I have just never clicked with their let's be weird so people will call us the weird guys shtick. Then the * gestures broadly in the direction of coronavirus * everything happened, and bands across the world had to find new ways to make music other than "hang out 24-7 and try to make things". It seems that forcing these nerds out of their own private guitar center idaho was a good move. The forced separation and out of studio time has resulted in a far less sterile album than previous outings. This is, instead, chock full of

  I've spent an embarrassing number of hours playing EVE Online in my life, and it has had a decided effect on my preferences in music. So, now I love space themed black metal. So I am always on the lookout for more "metal tunes to fly spaceships to". This is not straight up black metal though. This is, as is required in Australia from what I understand, death metal tinged industrial sounding black metal. I am reliably told that if bogan's cannot stomp around shirtless to it, you are not allowed to call it metal, so everything there has a caveman tinge to it. Which happily works out here, because the rise and fall between sci-fi soundtrack beeps and pummeling triggered drum stompabout is pretty well done, and provides the same kind of cathartic rollercoaster I usually get from blackgaze, but in a much more straight ahead package. The Stelliferous Conclusion by Numen Noctis

  This album answers an incredibly important question: What if Rick Deckard was a goth? A goth replicant that could pass the Voight-Kampff test easily. More importantly, it provides a stunning backdrop to the writing I am supposed to be doing, but keep avoiding. French composer James Kent has always been something of a polarizing figure. Much of his earlier work has been very HOTLINE MIAMI style synthwave. This is most definitely NOT THAT. Instead you a weird robot sex soundtrack - a post-punk mood piece cloaked in goth rock nihilism and sexual malevolence. Gritty, misanthropic, but still atmospheric and ambient, this is some nice stuff! Lustful Sacraments by PERTURBATOR

  From yesterday's black metal tinged post-rock to now some post-rock tinged black metal. Swedish D-Beat black metal mavens with a love of post rock flourishes, Dödsrit are exactly the type of hard to properly pin into one little genre box band I like. Described by the band as "an eulogy for the hell we call our home" this is proper end of the world slow burn crust punk fused with grief stricken atmo-black and just enough potentially uplifting post-rock influences to keep the razor from your wrists for just a bit longer. Mortal Coil by Dödsrit