Search results for 'aura noir'

Review

Prologue

Former HANGNAIL vocalist Heck Armstrong has been kicking around the scene for years, but he's still got that teen scream going on, the primal yowl of a pimply young Chris Cornell celebrating the onset of his first pubes by caterwauling along with his beat-to-shit ZEPPELIN tapes in the shower. It's a...

Review

Synchestra

As much as I enjoy STRAPPING YOUNG LAD I always find myself enjoying THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND more. It is something about the way Canada's resident musical genius wraps beautiful melodies around layers of soulful wisp and intense emotion. Much like "Accelerated Evolution", "Synchestra" takes repeat l...

Review

Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue

Eight musicians play an assortment of instruments that include cello, double-bass, bells, viola, violin, and trumpet, as well as guitar, bass, and drums. Sixty minutes of music is produced, all of which demonstrates the members' distaste for convention. Boston's KAYO DOT is not out to make things ea...

News

DECEASED Announce New Album Title

Virginia's veteran '80s/death/thrash act DECEASED have posted the following message on their official web site: "We will be taking a break from playing live this winter to start writing songs for our next release, tentatively entitled 'Surreal Overdose'. Songtitles in the works are 'Skin Crawling Pr...

Review

Unraveled

Wholly outside of any trend in metal, yet influential to many more famous musicians, CONFESSOR make good on their recent reformation with this weighty slab of downtrodden, progressive, cathartic doom bleakness. Serpentine rhythms, hair-raising vocals full of dissonant melody and soul-sobbing misery,...

Review

Disciple of the Heinous Path

Far from any reinvention of the wheel, SARGEIST's "Disciple of the Heinous Path" is a good example of well-written, old school, Norwegian-inspired black metal that just happens to be played by Finns. Morbid guitar melodies and primitive riff tones abound, and a natural drum sound, Torog's strained c...

Review

The Fallen One of Flames

Here's a little history lesson, courtesy of the kult-hounds over at Paragon (CHARNEL VALLEY, the torturous RIGOR SARDONICUS). Recorded in the winter of 1991-92 in the Arctic darkness of northern Finland, this demo captures a real sense of the haunting atmosphere black metal was originally meant to i...

News

ARCTURUS To Appear On MTV's 'Dirty Sanchez'

Norway's ARCTURUS have been confirmed to appear on MTV's "Dirty Sanchez", filmed during the Inferno Festival earlier this year. The show featuring the band will be broadcast on September 18 at 10:30 p.m. (BST). MTV U.K.'s popular production, "Dirty Sanchez" appeared at Inferno during their special E...

Review

Atavism

In addition to having the weirdest song titles of the year, an album cover straight out of Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy, and a sound that is as violently unfashionable as it is charismatic, San Francisco's SLOUGH FEG manage to pull off the eccentric vibe of long-deleted 1982 "true metal" without des...

Review

God the Lux

Featuring members Daray (drums, percussion) and Orion (guitar, vocals) of VADER and BEHEMOTH, respectively, Poland's VESANIA is no side project. The duo formed the symphonic black/death metal band in 1997, years before either man joined the ranks of the Polish elite. On "God the Lux", the follow-up...

News

DARKTHRONE's NOCTURNO CULTO Discusses Upcoming Album

NocturnalCult.com recently conducted an interview with DARKTHRONE guitarist/vocalist Nocturno Culto. A few excerpts from the chat follow: Q: I understand you are basically finished recording your new album, tentatively titled "The Cult is Alive", which seems pretty straightforward for an album title...

Review

Black Grimoire

Somewhere between nihilistic ambience and crushing brutality, BLOOD RITUAL set up shop in a murky corner of death metal, informed and influenced by early black metal. Sole member Tim Bishop treads the same dark paths of primeval murk as IMMOLATION and INCANTATION, though his music is less technical...

News

CELTIC FROST Mainman Lays Down Vocals For New Song 'Obscured'

CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following message on his official blog: "I amended, rehearsed and recorded lyrics and vocals for the radically new version of 'Obscured' this week. Although I have been singing various versions of this song for a couple of years now, it was qu...

News

BIRD OF PREY To Collaborate With Guitarist JIMI BELL

BIRD OF PREY, the project fronted by vocalist Kyle Michaels, has announced a collaboration with acclaimed guitarist Jimi Bell. Jimi will contribute to forthcoming releases in the form of guitar work and collaborative writing. Having played for the likes of METAL CHURCH's David Wayne and AFM recordin...

Review

Winter Enclosure

In the current global market, a Norwegian band comprised entirely of good-looking women seems destined to have A&R executives tripping over their erections in a race to get their checkbooks out. OCTAVIA SPERATI has entered the scene in a low-key fashion so far, making noise at home for several y...