Hey, My Blog's A Year Old!

Hey, my blog's a year old!

They grow up so fast....

-Black Vice- Austin, Texas based black metal.

Photo by blogger. 2017

Black Vice

Black Vice / Haunter, by Black Vice

3 track album

I don't see this UK black metal band shared around as much as they should be. Traditional black metal full of venomous rage, if you enjoy the classic black metal sound these fellows are worth checking out. They're raw and unapologetic, rabid and fiery.

Agents of Satan is a 7in you can pick up via Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings, and I believe the label might have their full-length available as well, The Great Mortality. A new album should also be on the way soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

The Marching Fire

13th Sky

I've learned over the years that I'm terribly picky about my goth rock, death rock, and post-punk in general. I have a small selection of bands I love dearly, yet outside of that I struggle to find new material that appeals to me within the genre.

Well 13th Sky have easily joined my small selection. This is a beautiful blend of dark influences that roars like a punk album, but remains catchy and melodic like the best goth rock. It's fast, fiery, melancholic and scathing.

The guitarwork is superb, clearly pulling from classic deathrock, Sisters of Mercy jangles, and even what sounds like horror punk and surf rock on some tracks. The vocal work is blessedly it's own thing, no Andrew Eldritch try hard here. I would equate it to a deeper Mat McNerney of Grave Pleasures with almost a touch of Michale Graves.

The rhythm section is energetic, catchy, and foot-tappingly good. The drumming is upbeat and reminiscent of the finest punk batteries. The bass lurks in the background, taking center stage when evoking that classic goth rock sound, such as on Solace. And the synths are tastefully utilized, creating atmospheres and filling out the overall sound while never being overdone.

You can pick up this Los Angeles, California based band's material from their Bandcamp page.

Obscured

BlutEngel + Hocico

Well it finally happened, an alliance between two prominent dark electronic acts that really should have been done ages ago.

Chris Pohl of BlutEngel has been busier than ever it seems. He released two albums as BlutEngel last year, just dropped this, and has a new project, She Hates Emotions, that just released material. But I digress, back to the track at hand.

I find the song has a decidedly more Hocico sound to the music, but a very BlutEngel bend to the vocal work. It makes for a nice blend, and frankly I'd actually be up for a whole album of it. All three vocalists present lend their easily identifiable twist on their respective parts, and the combination of Pohl and Agroyam as music composers is fantastic, a mix of dark melody and harsh beats. Honestly this single is a superb combination of these bands and their sounds, and they really outdid themselves ensuring it blended well.

The other tracks present are remixes by each band that showcases their personal styles more, and an additional remix by Rasco Agroyam's side project Dulce Liquido that has a very minimalist Aggrotech sound. If you get the digital version there is a bonus remix by German electronic act S.I.T.D., with a bit more ebm/ industrial sound.

As of this writing there's a handful of physical copies left, however it is also available digitally on the Out of Line Music Bandcamp page, and probably other digital platforms as well.

Tundra-Demo

Boreal Hymn

Just released on US label Sacrificial Sounds, this little demo is stunningly beautiful. The duo contains a member of Wormwitch, whose album Heaven That Dwells Within was one of my favorite black metal albums in 2019. It's the raw, aggressively beautiful pagan black metal I've come to expect from Sacrificial Sounds releases, and it is done exceptionally well. This reminds me of a mix of the stellar Gaahl's WYRD album released last year and the aforementioned Wormwitch album. It's haunting, ritualistic, animalistic, and powerfully evocative of it's namesake.

You can pre-order the cassette, or just pick up the digital version, from the Sacrificial Sounds Bandcamp.

Adversarial Light

Lothric

There's not much I can say about this album just yet, except that I bought it after just one song. So far it has been a fantastic modern homage to second wave black metal, and I found the riffs to be exemplary. The vocal work is really well done as well, it has a sort of lilting quality to the harsh bellows before transforming into fiery damned roars. And the drumming remains consistent even while galloping at full pace with the guitar, making nice complex transitions to underline vocal and riff changes. As I explore more of it I'm also finding some superb Viking/Folk metal forays with the guitar riffs and overall song pacing that pleases me greatly. Overall, I strongly recommend checking out this project.

The album can be picked up digitally from the artist on their Bandcamp page, unfortunately it looks like physical copies are currently all out of stock, not that I can blame people for snatching them up.