Author: Adem Tepedelen

Aglo is a (mostly) one-man Australian doom project launched in 2022 by Aaron Osborne (I Exist, Mental Cavity). Previous releases include a couple of EPs—Collector (2022) and Into the Maze (2023)—offered up to introduce the world to Aglo’s death-burnished doom sludge. The track we’re premiering today, “Shame as a Weapon,” sounds like Wolverine Blues-era Entombed played through a codeine-haze. It lurches, it plods, it growls and lumbers menacingly.

Osborne is aided on the track by American drummer Colin Young (Twitching Tongues, Deadbody). “Shame as a Weapon” is taken from Aglo’s upcoming full-length, debut Build Fear, which was produced by Osborne and Taylor Young, and recorded and mixed by Young at the Pit Recording Studios. It was mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege and is set for release on vinyl and digitally on November 17 via Brilliant Emperor Records. Place your preorder here.

Here’s what Osborne had to say about the new track:

“‘Shame as a Weapon’ was one of the later things I wrote for the record, but I had the lyrics for a while so kinda tried to find a song to fit, and I thought this one did the trick with the big pit part at the end. This song is essentially about an alien species who overcome years of persecution and harness their shame into a means to overthrow their oppressors, a brutal theme across many science fiction stories, but neatly at home in Star Trek. I’d say this is probably the most hardcore-leaning song on the record, it’s a ripper.”

Build Fear by Aglo

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The brand new full-length, Grieve, from London-based atmospheric stoner doom outfit Morga Tang is a full-on master class in fuzzed-out sludge. We’re talking four tracks and 40+ minutes of overdriven grime, with vocals as gnarled and rotten as the six-string damage being inflicted. It lurches, it rumbles, it pads glacially along with only passing glimpses of relief from the heaviness. And to cap it all off, the band—Adam Asquith (drums/vocals), Alex Clarke (guitar), Lewis Crane (guitar), James Atha (bass)—execute an epic twenty-minute finale that’s as ominous as it is beautiful. 

Grieve was recorded and mixed by Mike Bew at Foel Studio, and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. It will be issued on CD, vinyl and digitally via Majestic Mountain on Oct 6. You can place your preorder here.

This is what vocalist/drummer Adam Asquith had to say about the new album:
“With Grieve, we wanted to create something huge and heavy, but also gorgeous, textured and atmospheric. Incorporating both massive, aggressive wall of sound sections and more pensive, stripped back ambient instrumentals, I think we have hit that sweet spot – something anguished and anxious, crumbling and dangerous, yet eerily beautiful and oozing with a love for life itself.”

Grieve
by Morag Tong

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The latest track from Chicago duo Stomach is like the tale of two bands (and songs). Lest you should turn off “Double Lung Transplant” after the first 10 seconds of powerviolence mayhem, you’d miss the ensuing repetitious sludge and misery of the following 3:30. Apparently all these sounds are a part of the Stomach—drummer/vocalist John Hoffman (ex-Weekend Nachos) and guitarist Adam Tomlinson (Sick/Tired and Sea Of Shit )—M.O., which is big on ugly, ugly sounds of all types. And I kind of feel like anything titled “Double Lung Transplant” should be gnarly AF. This accomplishes that in spades.

The song is taken from Stomach’s debut full-length, Parasite, which features eight tracks and was recorded at the Pit II in Geneva, Illinois in the Fall of 2022. It was mixed and mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios. It’s currently set for release digitally and on vinyl on October 20 on Hibernation Records. There will be 100 copies pressed on clear wax as a label exclusive, as well as 200 copies on black vinyl. Find preorders at the label webshop here and Bandcamp here.

And if you’re in the Chicago area, check out the band playing with Crowbar and Primitive Man at Reggie’s on Sept. 28.

9/28/2023 Reggies – Chicago, IL w/ Crowbar, Primitive Man, Bodybox

Here’s what Hoffman had to say about the new track:

“I’ve never strayed away from fast parts…no matter what style I was playing. My favorite sludge bands existed during a time when a lot of those bands were playing with powerviolence bands all the time. Spazz, Grief, Crossed Out, Noothgrush, to name just a few, It’s sort of all the same vibe to me, just raw brutality, not out to impress anybody and definitely not polished like a lot of death metal and even some grindcore tends to be. Thrash parts aren’t really a major focus in Stomach but you’ll still always see them included in songs, like this one for example.”

PARASITE by STOMACH

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Never mind the continuity issue in this new video, “Spill the Dark,” from Wisconsin doomgaze outfit Vanishing Kids, just sit back and enjoy the gauzy misery! That said, we couldn’t help but notice that in various scenes where vocalist Nikki Drohomyreky is in a candle-lit canoe she’s sometimes paddling with a canoe paddle and (inexplicably) sometimes using a kayak paddle. But, hey, that’s neither here nor there regarding the overall vibe of the majestic seven-minute, fuzzed-out epic. In much the same way that Drohomyreky is the focus of the video, her dreamy, haunting vocals are front and center in the “Spill the Dark.” Her band mates—Jason Hartman (guitar), Jerry Sofran (bass), Nick Johnson (drums)—mostly play a cameo role, though Hartman provides an impressive solo toward the end.

The new single is taken from Vanishing Kids’ sixth album, Miracle of Death, which offers seven new tracks of depressive doom.The new album was produced by Vanishing Kids with Dustin Sisson. It was recorded by Sisson, and mixed by Randall Dunn at Circular Ruin. Mastering was done at Chicago Mastering. It’s set for release on October 13 on vinyl, CD and digitally via Aural Music. Place your preorders here.

Here’s what Hartman had to say about the new video:

“Nikki writes the lyrics and likes to leave them open to interpretation. I know the album as a whole is about loss and trying to rethink negativity on death. The video was Nikki’s concept, too. Filmed by Aaron Hall (who did the “Creation” and “Heavy Dreamer” videos) and edited by Marie Matlock at Mifflin St. Media. All filming was done at Nikki’s and my home in Wisconsin.”

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Brazilian thrash outfit Farscape are celebrating their 25th year together as a band with a brand new full-length, Purged and Forgotten, their fourth total long-player. What, you may ask, took them so long to get four albums out if they’ve been a band continuously for 25 years? Well, these things can’t be rushed, you see. And also, they were perhaps distracted by the members’ involvement in other outfits, such as Atomic Roar, Apokalyptic Raids and Diabolic Force, among others. So, let’s just say that perhaps for Witchcaptor (guitars/vocals), Whipstriker (bass/backing vocals), Poisonhell (guitars) and Skullkrusher (drums) Farscape wasn’t maybe a priority. But, hey, we’re glad they’re back with new material (their first since 2013) and bashing out their Brazilian brand of Teutonic thrash like it’s 1984.

The seven-song scorcher channels not only Germanic faves like Sodom and Destruction, you can hear a little bit of the Accüsed in there, as well. Purged and Forgotten will be available September 22 on CD, vinyl, cassette and digitally from Dying Victims. You can place preorders here and here.

Here’s the band’s lowdown on the new effort:

“Purged and Forgotten intricately explores themes of madness, abuse and asylum through a blend of wild thrashing riffs and insane vocals. Additionally, the album makes a poignant reference to the Brazilian Holocaust in Barbacena, adding a layer of historical significance to its artistic expression”

Purged and Forgotten by Farscape

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After viewing the latest video, “Ataraxia,” from atmospheric doom duo, The Answer Lies in the Black Void, we’re reminded of a line from a UFO song: “chains, chains pulling you down.” The nearly five-minute video we’re premiering today largely consists of vocalist vocalist Martina Horváth (Thy Catafalque live vocals) slowly lugging a length of heavy chain through some sort of desert-like landscape. The whole exercise seems pointless, because she’s not confined by the chains, she’s just dragging them. But we suppose that the chains represent something else metaphorically. Anyway, the overall vibe is low, which perfectly suits the slow, dirgey doom, performed by multi-instrumentalist Jason Köhnen (Celestial Season, Bong-Ra), of “Ataraxia.”

The video was shot and edited by No Total Films and the the track was taken from the Answer Lies in the Black Void’s second full length, Thou Shalt, which was produced by Köhnen and mixed and mastered by James Plotkin. The album is set for an October 13 release on Burning World Records. Place your preorder here.

Here’s what the band had to say about its new video:

“’Ataraxia’ is the album opener of our second album Thou Shalt. The album is inspired by the concept of Carl Jung’s shadow… the search for and the embracing of one’s dark side. This is how Jung explained it: ‘Taking it in its deepest sense, the shadow is the invisible saurian tail that man still drags behind him. Carefully amputated, it becomes the healing serpent of the mysteries.’”

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Ok, last week we learned about “irony,” so how about we tackle “sarcasm” this week, courtesy of Norwegian post-hardcore progniks Kambodsja. The Refused-inspired quartet offer a perfect example in their latest track, “Basement Prophet,” whose video we’re premiering below. Ya see, the chorus in this particular adrenalin-fueled basher is, “we could all use a little bit more hate,” and since we don’t see any upside down crosses, pig blood or frowny corpse painted faces in the video, we can only assume that Kambodsja mean the opposite and are being, you guessed it, sarcastic. Because, realistically, I’m pretty sure that we’re all good on the hate front.

So, get an eyeful of the video, wherein the frisky foursome look like sketched-out NPCs in a video game, and see if you can find more examples of sarcasm. There are plenty. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming full-length, Resilient, which was produced, engineered and mixed by Øyvind Røsrud Gundersen at Portåsen in Mjøndalen and mastered by Karl Klaseie. It will be issued on vinyl and digitally on September 29 via Mas-Kina. Place your preorder here.

Here’s what the band had to say about its latest single:

“When the world turns you down and you need to find your own terrible escape routes, then you’re a true basement prophet. This song is the closest we are to being political in terms of lyrics. There is so much stupidity/false information/hate and conspiracies being posted in social media these days so the song is taking a stand against the internet warriors… or at least trying to make fun of them.

We have always written the music first then added lyrics/vocals last and we have never really given lyrics and vocals too much focus. This track is one of the last ones we finished, and we altered it many times before and after we recorded it. It definitely has a more focus on vocals than many of our previous songs – going through many iterations and experimentation before we ended up with a track that we’re really happy with.”

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This one’s for the ladies! The latest video from English hardcore tech death gnashers Burner, “Hurt Locker,” is a black-and-white performance video with sweaty, moshing dudes a-plenty. The testosterone-laden sausage fest captured here features precious few women in the crowd, but lots of tatted up gorillas pushing each other around to the quartet’s—Harry Nott (vocals), Nathan Harlow (guitars), Finn Gannon (bass), Jack (drums)—precise and unrelenting aural savaging.

“Hurt Locker” is taken from Burner’s recent album, It All Returns to Nothing, released in June on Church Road Records. The album is currently available in multiple formats here. We don’t have too many additional details about the video, other than it was filmed at the release party for It All Returns to Nothing and “it got pretty wild.”

Here’s some info from the band about the song and video:

“This song is dedicated to the Ukrainian people, fighting a war they shouldn’t have to, and the Russian civilians and soldiers that chose to resist instead of comply. [It’s a] song about every unjust war, the people forced to fight in them, the innocent people who die and the propaganda that hides the truth about conflict.

“We got this footage during our album release show at Camden’s The Black Heart. We’re glad we could capture some of the energy of that wild night to share with the rest of the world.”

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And today we learn about the meaning of irony courtesy of Belgian ear-scrapers Youff, who offer up a new song and video called “Sunshine” that are pretty much bereft of both. But, hey, in lieu of anything “sunny” you get an absolute earful of pounding noise rock with squalling guitars, a stuttering rhythm section and distortion-laden shouting from five dudes—Manu Mahie (drums), Arjen Verswijvelt (guitar), Victor Goemaere (guitar), Filip Brans (bass), Michiel De Naegel (vocals)—on a sonic mission to annihilate.

“Sunshine” is the latest track to emerge from Youff’s upcoming full-length, Heydays, which will offer up eight additional tracks of sonic discordance. The album was recorded at Gam Studios by Kasper De Sutter and Frederick Tack. It was mixed by Studio Attack and mastered by Uwe Teichert. It’s set for release on vinyl and digitally on October 27 via Bagdaddy Records, Rockerill Records and Love Mazout Records. You can preorder your copy here.

This is what vocalist Michiel de Naegel’s had to say about the new track:

“This might be the most danceable song we’ve ever recorded, or at least it feels that way while playing it live. A constantly repeating drum groove pairs up with a two-note sluggish bass. In the meantime the guitars are taking on the role of a choir of tantalizing, annoying children screaming for attention in the worst of ways, while the singer is a menacing father figure abusing the romance of family ties to keep a straying sibling in line. Giving the proverb ‘home is where the heart is’ an uncomfortable feel.”

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Why the track/video twofer premiere of “Annihilated Prestige,” you ask? Well, because NYC grindcore outfit Manipulator have made a video for every track on their upcoming second full-length, Drawing Secret Circles. Ergo, if we’re gonna do a track premiere, might as well peep the accompanying video, no? The ugly, twisted and distorted black and white visuals accompanying the frantic, relentless track are an excellent visual representation of “Annihilated Prestige.” But wait, there’s more! Andrew Notsch, the one-man creative force behind Manipulator, has gone all out in putting together an incredible package for Drawing Secret Circles, beyond a video for every track.

The twenty-track album will be issued as a one-sided 12″ vinyl LP, and accompanying the release will be a video game that you can play while you listen to the record, as well as an art book that corresponds to the video/audio/game. Notsch performed all vocals and instrumentation on Drawing Secret Circles, while final production and mastering were handled by Adam Tucker of Signaturetone (Ulthar, Thou, Sunless). It’s set for release on November 3 in a vinyl run of 100 copies each on two variants: purple splatter and silver swirl. It’s being issued in conjunction with multiple labels: Wise Grinds Records, Here Is Nowhere Records, Dead Red Queen Records and Psychocontrol Records in Europe. It will also be available digitally. Place your preorders here.

Here’s what Notsch had to say about his latest single:

“‘Annihilated Prestige’ kicks this album off with a dose of pure insanity. From the blistering speed of the song to the samples collaborator Tim Bradley chose to start the album with, this song gives you an idea of what’s to come on the rest of the album. Lyrical content is pulled straight from a series of extortion scam emails Tim and I both received. Derrick Karg of Gordita Beach supplied additional vocals on the chorus.”

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