Locrian / Harpoon - Split [EP] (2009)

Download via Megaupload


Locrian is a two piece band from Chicago, Illinois. I saw them play at Heavy Focus III last year and they blew me away. It was simply guitar, vocals, and synths layered with harsh noise. They stood out to me so much because they so easily mixed all the best elements of doom, black metal, and noise. Killer shit. On this release, they team up with the drummer of Velnias to create a killer 5 minute, 20 second long black metal track. Keeping with the theme of the blog, their contribution to this split is raw and atmospheric. Tortured vocals and fuzzy guitars make this very familiar, but with enough variations to keep it interesting and original. The packaging is also totally sweet. The 7" comes in a nice, stamped cardstock foldout cover. Killer release. Oh yeah...and then there's this other band, Harpoon. Why...seriously. Why.


more pics after the break.

Dispirit - Rehearsal at Oboroten [MC] (2010)

Download via MegaUpload


This band has apparently been around for 10 years and just released their first rehearsal tape.  Holy shit.  If this is a mere rehearsal and they are seasoned veterans of playing live, I curse my mid-west roots more than ever.  The flag-bearer of this noisy, mid-tempo black metal band is John Gossard of Weakling and Asunder fame.  It's like he took the shoe-gaze-ingly addictive USBM melodies from the former and combined it with the heavy trudging pace of the latter, then threw in gallons of raw production (possibly owed to the fact that this is a rehearsal tape, I dunno, we shall soon find out with the next release).  I really hope the production stays like this.

Fell Voices - Fell Voices [LP] (2009)

Download via MegaUpload
 

Fell Voices is one of three genuinely good Cascadian Black Metal bands. They managed to have that type of sound and not play it poorly. Also, they're not overtly anarchist like Panopticon or a lot of Cascadian bands where the politics overshadow the music. This record rips. It's like "Diadem" with less vocals. It might still be available from the label, Human Resources. If it is, buy it. It's totally worth it.

Judas Iscariot - The Cold Earth Slept Below [LP] (1996)

Download via MegaUpload


Judas Iscariot's first album.  Raw as hell with vocals grim as orations from a black mass.  Melodic at times and practically Power Violence at others, this album pounds and erupts with it's unique rhythms and vocal style.

I Shalt Become - In the Falling Snow [LP] (2008)

Download via MegaUpload 

Hailed by many as the founder of the modern USBM sound, S. Holliman re-released his 1999 Birkenau demo, "In the Falling Snow" under his reimagined (and slightly more PC) black metal moniker, I Shalt Become, in 2008.  Drenched with reverb and overflowing in atmosphere, this album batters and tears it's way into your brain, leaving a warmth in your chest and a hollow ringing in your ears.