Latest news from Kalendae: there's still no demos or live videos from them, but now they have a blog and an official newsfeed. Some photos of them from a recent gig (credits to Polina Chernovolenko):
/r/RABM/
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Kalendae: live photos
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Beauty Of Sirin - "Winter Demo(n)s" (2010)
BEAUTY OF SIRIN "Winter Demo(n)s"
Year: 2010
Genre: Blackgaze
Country: Russia
Track List:
- Beauty Of Sirin
- Blackened Winter
- Giants
Beauty Of Sirin are a trio from St.Petersburg whose music is very far from "true" black metal, but quite similar to Amesoeurs' first only LP, Dernier Martyr, and other depressive rock bands influenced by DSBM. They're apolitical, but associated with Kalendae, Kora and similar acts, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to post their demo here. Their second demo is announced to be released very soon, and will be a conceptual work with mythology-based lyrics (unlike this one, which has almost no lyrics except for some spoken word passages). However, they're mostly a live band, and don't distribute their demos through any labels.
Speaking of "Winter Demo(n)s" - I think it can best be labeled as depressive rock with some DSBM elements and electronic/ambient parts, akin to Amesoeurs, Velvet Cacoon / Clair Cassis, etc. It's interesting to compare them with O.R.N.S. bands, and projects like Dernier Martyr or All The Cold. Seems like Russian metal scene tends to produce more and more atmospheric and introspective stuff in the late few years, and I can't say it's a bad tendency...
Sunday, September 25, 2011
26.09.2011, St.Petersburg - "An Evening of Forests and Sorrow", pt.2
One more event organized by our community - this time not quite RABM-themed, but there will be at least one band associated with RABM scene. The event will took place tomorrow in St.Petersburg, and it's called "Вечер лесов и грусти, vol.2" (which can be roughly translated as "An Evening of Forests and Sorrow/Sadness"). Line-up:
- У меня всё хорошо, очень даже (drone doom, shoegaze, sludge)
- Kalendae (atmospheric black metal/post-BM)
- Not My Murder (sludge/metal)
- Inter Arbores (ambient doom)
It's the second event in the line of "Evenings of Forests and Sorrow" - the first one took place at the same club in SPb month ago. The lineup consisted of Beauty Of Sirin (blackgaze) and Kalendae. Kora were also invited, but couldn't perform because one of their members was seriously injured.
This time the lineup consists mostly of sludge/doom metal and drone bands, but I hope EoF&S #3 will be more BM-oriented. None of these bands have released anything yet, but Kalendae are about to release a 2-track demo very soon. I've already heard their track called "Qliphoth", and it sounds very promising. BTW, they're members of "Old Roots New Shoots" association, along with such bands as Axidance and Kora (and their side projects: Our Last Rain, Дно, 66°33’39). The bands of O.R.N.S. have a lot in common with Cascadian BM bands, so I hope we'll see something comparable to Cascadian BM scene on post-Soviet space very soon.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Autumn Discomfort Fest II
So, the 2nd event in the line of Discomfort festivals is going on right now near Moscow! Just like the 1st Discomfort Fest, it's organized by the members of our RABM community. Line-up:
Moscow heretics:
- Kora (atmospheric black metal/RABM)
- AxidancE (neocrust (early), blackened crust/RABM (now))
- Fatum (stenchcore/blackened crust)
- Emancipation (old school crust)
- Nimrud (post-metal)
- Mutagen (hardcore punk)
- Virulent Mass (hardcore/crust)
- ConVince (d-beat/neocrust)
- The Zavod (oi)
- еГОр (psychedelic punk, cover band)
- DJ Pizdec (electro-folk)
- Fucking Paralytics (mystical noise)
Guests from SPb:
- DJ Distonn (breakcore; samples from Wolfbrigade, Skitsystem etc.)
- Krivda (raw black metal/crust/grindcore)
- Откаты (raw black metal/sludge)
- Adrianocelentano (booze d-beat)
- Distündrum ("ravepunk")
- Acid Vicious ("ravepunk")
As you can see, the lineup is big and diverse: there are RABM bands (sadly, not many - but they're headliners of the whole event), crusties, classic punks (including relatively well-known bands like Mutagen), and performers of extreme electronic music - both from Moscow and SPB. Finally, not only Colombians can have their own red&anarcho metal festivals ;) Good to see our RABM community grown so big and active within less than two years. If only our political situation would improve such fast...
(btw, not so long ago M.Verbitsky wrote an article which pretty much summarizes my own disappointment in politics and society. I'll translate it at least partly, if I'd have some free time tomorrow...)
P.S. Kudos to the designers of that flyer - it's the first time I see a punk or metal show flyer made in khokhloma style!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Fifteen Dead - "NecroCrust" (2011)
Year: 2011
Genre: Blackened Crust
Country: UK (Scotland)
Track List:
- Sunset
- Coalition/Demolition
- NecroCrust
I noticed this band after their first self-titled demo was posted on gnwp.ru (and it turned out to be very good). Then I received a letter from one of the band members, who asked me to post their 2nd demo, "NecroCrust". Well, here it is, and I have to admit it's one of the best blackened crust releases I've heard in the last few months.
The band is from Aberdeen, Scotland; however, the guy who wrote me is from Norway, and the other members are Scottish and Irish. They self-define their sound as "Tragedy meets Gorgoroth". As of today, they have played with very well-known bands like Oi Polloi, whose singer called them "the future of punk".
facebook / bandcamp
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
66° 33′39″ - "Arctic Sea" (2011)
Year: 2011
Genre: Dark / Cosmic Ambient
Country: Russia
Track List:
- Arctic Sea
One-track ambient demo by one of the most prominent activists of our local RABM community. Just like his first release, it's very minimalistic (and of course, don't expect to hear any metal there!)
Ancient Oak - "Silence Of War" (2011)
ANCIENT OAK "Silence Of War"
Year: 2011
Genre: Instrumental Black/Pagan Metal, Blackened Crust
Country: Russia
Track List:
- Silence of war
- Iron troll
- Death from the sky
- Death & life
Another demo by Ancient Oak, even better than "Eventyr". AFAIK they have one more demo, but I was unable to find it anywhere. Just like on "Eventyr", all the tracks are instrumental. The first track is kind of atmospheric intro, the other three are much more "metallic" (however, not without some atmospheric parts). Overall a very good demo, hope to hear much more from them in the future.
Ancient Oak - "Eventyr" (2011)
ANCIENT OAK "Eventyr"
Year: 2011
Genre: Instrumental Black/Pagan Metal, Blackened Crust
Country: Russia
DOWNLOAD
Ancient Oak is a very mysterious project from Russia which have released 3 demos so far. "Eventyr" is their 2nd demo, featuring 4 untitled instrumental tracks. I have not much info about them, but they have a good reputation on gnwp.ru, so I think it wouldn't hurt to post their demos here. UPD: not "them", but "his" - it's an one-man project whoser member draws inspiration from Norse mythology and adheres to DIY ethics & anarchism.
Kora - rehearsal demo (2011)
Year: 2011
Genre: RABM, atmospheric black metal
Country: Russia
DOWNLOAD
Finally, some recordings from this Moscow-based RABM project. Kora was formed in 2010, and for about an year was mostly a "live" band. Now they released a 2-track demo, and it sounds very promising, despite the poor quality of recording. Reminds me of Panopticon at times (which isn't surprising, because Panopticon is extremely popular in our RABM community), but of course it's only a rehearsal demo, and their sound might change in the future. The founding member of Kora also has an ambient project called Дно.
Dishammer - "Under The Sign Of The D-Beat Mark" (2010)
DISHAMMER "Under The Sign Of The D-Beat Mark"
Year: 2010
Genre: Blackened Crust / Thrash Metal
Country: Spain
Track List:
- The Devil's Advocates
- Outlaw Psychopath
- Welcome Death
- Under The Sign Of The D-Beat Mark
- Sexwitch
- Invocation
- Rusty Coffin
"Under The Sign Of The D-Beat Mark" is the latest EP by Dishammer, who are without a doubt one of the best bands on the modern Spanish crust scene. Their music is commonly labeled "blackened crust" - however, in terms of music and aesthetics they're akin only to first wave thrash / proto-black metal bands like Venom or Hellhammer (just my opinion). For the fans of old school!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
GoddessX - "Future Elegy" (2010)
Year: 2010
Genre: Raw Black Metal, Noise Rock
Country: USA
Track List:
- Metamorphic Crunch
- Menstrual Asylum
- A Star Emerges
- Goddess of MindXpansion
- Eternal Death
"GoddessX is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, percussionist, and artist living in beautiful Crozet, Virginia. Originally from Bedford County, Pennsylvania, she spent the first 25 years of her life surrounded by an oppressive, anti-intellectual, right-wing Christian monoculture. Her art and music is a war against such ignorance and self-denial. Extreme isolation gave her the space she needed to develop the resourcefulness, independence, and imagination that typifies all of her work" - official biography
What can I say? The first similar project that comes to my mind is DödsÄngel, but GoddessX' music is even more harsh and raw. I'd say it's comparable to Orisha Shakpana in terms of quality of production, so if you aren't into noisy and chaotic stuff - then steer away. You can also listen to it at SoundCloud and decide if it's worth downloading. However, it's still pretty interesting record (at least for a first home-made demo), and I'll wait for a second EP, which is announced to come out in summer 2012.Saturday, September 3, 2011
Nux Vomica - "The President Is Dead" (2009)
NUX VOMICA "The President Is Dead"
Year: 2009
Genre: Neocrust
Country: USA
Track List:
- Engendered
- We Are The Forest
I think many of you are already familiar with this metallic crust band from the Cascadian region (originally from Baltimore, MD, but later relocated to Portland, OR). In general, their music is more suitable for my other blog, but in my opinion this EP fits into the concept of this blog as well. P.S. I have much more good stuff to post here, but I still can't make myself to review more than 1-2 albums per day, so you have to wait...
Friday, September 2, 2011
Ecocide - s/t (2011)
Year: 2011
Genre: Blackened Crust / Sludge / Doom Metal
Country: USA
Track List:
- This Soil Shall No Longer Bear Fruit
- Static
- Proverb
- Red As Fault
Line-up:
- Heidi - vocals, violin
- Elliot - drums
- Nick - guitar
- Brian - guitar
- Brian Slaughter - bass
bandcamp