Some lovely head-buzzing drones from the earlier portion of the Sunn O))) discography. “Mocking Solemnity” and “Death Becomes You” are excellent offerings, as is the uhhh, interesting take on Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, which is of course, completely and utterly unrecognisable. The biggest drawback with this album is the middle two collab tracks. I love Sunn O))), and I love Merzbow, but fuck if these works are not irritating as fuck. The second part, namely “O)))Bow 2” is probably a little more tolerable, but in general, these two tracks are a massive detraction from the excellence of the album.
What is considered by many to be a missed step by Cradle is actually one of my favourite releases for them. Depending on how old school the Cradle fan you are talking to is, Cradle either died with Midian, Damnation… or Nymphetamine. I can see arguements for all of the above, when comparing and contrasting to the original style and vision of the band, but all of the above are great albums in their own right (yes, even Nymphetamine. Fight me.). Damnation And A Day is gorgeously ambitious. Its not as intricatly woven and spookily, authenticatally gothic as say, Dusk… And Her Embrace, but Damnation has its eyes on the bigger picture, the long game as it were. I don’t think its possible for a band of this style, with this budget, and with a “one CD” time limit, to make anything even more epic than this. Boasting full ochestration and Sony’s big budget studio production, Damnation sounds a thousand times better than both previous albums combined. The album is split into several “parts” containing three songs a piece. These are separated by intermissions of orchestrated pomp and narration provided by some very evil sounding Welsh man. Honestly, there isn’t a bad song on this record. Sure, some of them do not necessarily need to be as long as they are, but the strongest “parts” are the opening three tracks and the closing three. The closing three are a hat-trick of some of the greatest Cradle material of all, and even if you hate this album, I implore you to try these tracks again. This is also the album that gave us “Babylon A.D.” and “Serpent Tongue” so let’s not be too quick to shit on it, no matter how terrible the album art is!
What a trip. Balanced between elements of harsh noise and creepy atmospherics, Haraam’s awkward, lurching electronics transcend out of the audible mire, writhing into shapes of pulsating body music. Hypnotic, danceable, weird and unsettling. I’m in love.
There’s heavy, and then there’s Triptykon heavy. Its a certain vibe and tone that the band can hit that sometimes just absolutely blows you away. Eparistera Daimones has a pompous name, but its fitting somewhat to the Giger-inspired gothic darkness that the band purvey, taking latter-career Celtic Frost to new depths of audible darkness.
Tu Carne are one of the more consistent goregrind bands, when it comes to full length records at least. Me Quedo Con Tu Dolor! is more or less the bands debut release, and they hit the ground running with their tried and tested, steady sound. That may not sound too thrilling when it comes the world of goregrind, but Tu Carne have a trademark to their hardcore-infused dirty grindcore. Not to mention, those pitchshifter vocals are unmistakable. Top stuff.
