More monthly tunes and words from us (including Richard banging on about ArcTanGent) below – check out the playlist and read our ramblings on why we like things.
Joe – Vocals
Lvcifyre – Wolves Of The Great Dark
A band that can easily be listed as under appreciated stalwarts of UK extreme metal alongside the terrific Ageless Oblivion, both perhaps due to limited live presence. This is pummelling blackened death in the vein of Desolate Shrine and Arkhon Infaustus.
Mistress – Fucking Fuck
Sadly no more, Mistress always delivered a wonderful slurry of blackened crusty punk infused metal. Hilarious song title and feels like a cheap lager inspired punch up away at some lower league football club… like Oldham Athletic or something. Yeah, that’ll do.
Tableau Mort – Their Throats Are Open Graves
Had the pleasure of playing with these chaps a few times with Hecate Enthroned and love their engaging take on black metal. This track has an ending that just gives me goosebumps.
Cobalt – Pregnant Insect
The US has really caught up when it comes to black metal and Cobalt has a unique and nuanced take on the genre. Sinister and laced with uncomfortable atmosphere but still delivers the riffs.
Sadness – Kiss In October
Just one Mexican lad in his 20’s with a prolific out put. This is simply one of the most emotive pieces of music I’ve heard in a long time. Sorrowful and beautiful.
Nick – Guitar
Unru – Die Wiederkehr des Verdrängten
Haunting and unruly in equal measure, this track completely t-bones the senses after the solemnity of opening track ‘Kråkstad’. I had nasty thoughts listening to this album.
Tyrannus – Light The Last Sun
Had the immense privilege playing with these guys the other week. Wholesome group of dudes playing deliciously nasty black metal. A great choice if you want some old school BM without worrying about endorsing neckbeards.
Konvent – Sand Is King
This whole album took me by surprise and remains one of my standout releases from this year. Brilliant, massive, aggressive death-doom from Copenhagen.
Norma Jean – Spearmint Revolt
For me this band have perfected the marriage between 90s metalcore and sludge. Their new album is savage all the way through, a great outlet after a day of dealing with the general public.
Zombi – Mangler
I remember being immediately drawn in by the sinister opening bassline and understandably the track builds itself around this entrancing foundation. A bit of Wikipedia-ing informs me they’ve previously toured with numerous bands including Isis and Goblin which comes as no surprise as they sonically land somewhere betwixt the two.
Richard – Bass
Cult of Luna – Cold Burn
I went to my first ArcTanGent last month, which pretty much dominated my listening for a while, so I’ll start with an obvious “I Am In A Post Metal Band” pick. Cult of Luna’s headline set was absolutely incredible and deafeningly loud – as per for them. The setlist was heavily weighted towards the last few albums, and it really helped songs off the new one, like this colossal opener, to properly click for me. Mighty stuff.
Leprous – Third Law
Leprous being on the ATG lineup was the final push I needed to actually listen to them for the first time, and although they didn’t play this track, it (and the album it’s from, The Congregation) has really got stuck in my head over the past month. It’s prog metal in its most accessible form, with absolutely soaring vocal melodies. I dare you to listen to this and not sing the chorus at the first person you see afterwards.
Steak Number Eight – Dickhead
My partner and I were the only ones amongst our friends who chose to go and see Stake (the new incarnation of Steak Number Eight) over Mono at ATG, because clearly we are incredibly cool and unique. When they dropped this, the one SN8-era track in their set, I was pleasantly surprised to see everyone go absolutely mental, making me realise that I clearly am not the only person who got really into them when All is Chaos came free with a copy of Metal Hammer in 2011. For a melodic sludge/post metal track with such a stupid title and lyrics, it was actually a surprisingly wholesome crowd singalong moment.
Emma Ruth Rundle – Body
On the completely opposite end of the emotional scale, ERR’s stripped down solo set – with our man Cedric on sound, who drove us and did sound on our tour with Gozer last year – was a haven of blissful melancholy amongst a weekend of big riffs. She played Engine of Hell in full, and although she sometimes battled against the sound from other stages outside, her unique vocal stylings were absolutely captivating.
Ozric Tentacles – Ayurvedic
Totally unrelated to ATG, I threw myself into the bizarre world of Ozric Tentacles recently and I’m hooked. Mixing the most flagrantly OTT aspects of 70s prog rock into a space/psych rock template and adding in dashes of ambient, dub, reggae and electronica, it’s just as technicolour and bizarre a world as those depicted on the album covers, and I suspect that illegal influences may have been at play.