TERMINUS: extreme metal podcast

Terminus Episode 166 - Defeated Sanity, Ingurgitating Oblivion

In this titanic, tumultuous episode of Terminus, we have the rare pleasure of covering two bands that complement each other perfectly. First up, it’s jazzy brutal death from Germany. Second, it’s German brutal-deathy jazz, or…. something? Both bands feature legendary German drummer Lille Gruber, on legendary German drums. Both records are insanely good. We had a lot of fun with this one, and we hope you do, too.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:03:31 - Defeated Sanity - Chronicles of Lunacy (Season of Mist)

0:44:51 - Interlude - Repudilation - “Decimation,” fr. Purging of Impurity (Numb Cum Productions, 1996)

0:48:16 - Ingurgitating Oblivion - Ontology of Nought (Willowtip Records)

1:32:06 - Outro - Disillusion - “And the Mirror Cracked,” fr. Back to Times of Splendor (Metal Blade Records, 2004)

Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Terminus Episode 165 - Blackdeath, Old Wainds

This season, give thanks for the only thing in your life that truly matters - Terminus: Extreme Metal Podcast. In this great and terrible new episode, your hosts investigate new records from two esoteric enclaves of Russian black metal. You know we’re obsessed with this shit. So are you. Buckle up.

00:00 - Intro

0:03:35 - Blackdeath - Mortui Incedere Possunt (End All Life Productions / NoEvDia)
Mad kappelmeisters of St. Petersburg wring jagged melodies from demon-addled fiddles. With ingenious full-band songwriting and a strangely compelling slantwise take on Orthodox black metal, this may be their finest record yet.

0:55:05 - Interlude - Bethlehem - “Second Coming” fr. Dark Metal (Adipocere Records, 1994)

1:01:05 - Old Wainds - Stormheart (Darkness Shall Rise Productions)
Murmansk tundra shamans emerge from the murk with storming Slavonic riffage, savage stomps, and maybe even a few forbidden heavy metal kicks.

1:51:37 - Outro - Runes of Dianceht - “In The War,” fr. the Runes of Dianceht demo (Independent, 1996)

Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Terminus Episode 164 - Deadform, Barathrum, Keroeis

TDMG has returned after withstanding the wrath of nature with shotgun and Miller High Life in hand just in time for an episode of punishing midpaced crunch courtesy of TBMG. After a mini-review of Keroeis, a project by associates of TDMG which plays around the edges of older USBM ala Black Funeral with updates from the orthodox scene, we move toward more minimal territory. Deadform: stenchcore supergroup dwelling in the realms of noisy, nihilistic sludge. Barathrum: long-running Finnish legends update their traditionally Beheretish style of black metal with thrashing tempos and more acrobatic guitars.

0:00:00 - Intro / Keroeis - Priestess Emanations (Independent)

0:24:35 - Deadform - Entrenched in Hell (Tankcrimes)

1:06:00 - Interlude - Skaven - “Plague Wind” fr. Skaven/Dystopia (Life Is Abuse, 1996)

1:10:20 - Barathrum - Überkill (Hammer of Hate)

1:56:47 - Outro - Goatlord - “Chicken Dance” fr. Reflections of the Solstice (Turbo Music, 1991)

Terminus links:
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Terminus Episode 163.5 - Auld Ridge

As The Death Metal Guy recovers from the tumult of hurricane season, I call upon our bold young comrade Hyper Shaman to fill TDMG’s capacious, plutonium-toed boots. Our aim? Get caught up on GLORIOUS PAGAN BLACK METAL.

This episode began as a normal two-record show, but due to time constraints, and the sheer scale of the work at hand, it became a standalone review of the new album by Auld Ridge. Here, O.W.G.A. steps out of the shadows and takes a fighting stance, reworking his symphonic style around a core of raging, racing folk melody. You can probably guess how we feel about this one.

00:00 - Intro

0:04:09 - Auld Ridge - For Death and Glory, to the Gods I Cry (The Hermetic Order of Ytene / Dark Adversary / Amor Fati)

1:00:52 - Outro: Gorgoroth - “Profetens Åpenbaring,” fr. Under The Sign of Hell (Malicious Records, 1997)

Note 1: The “Krig”-based riff isn’t on Consanguineous, it’s here, in the middle of Track 5 (“Ar Cricinagneth, An Agen Albannu Tu Telyr”).

Note 2: I forgot to mention Auld Ridge’s possible debt to Panphage, a forgotten legend of 2010s BM. The resemblance is especially strong on Track 4 (“Henmaen…..”) - a phrase from Panphage's Drengskapr crops up at 48:00, just as my sample ends.

Terminus links:
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Terminus Interview - Chris Naughton (Winterfylleth)

Terminators, thank you for your patience. After a couple weeks’ delay, for which TDMG has a good excuse (two fucking hurricanes) and I have none, we’re back! Or rather, I’m back, with a big interview.

A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Naughton, frontman of Winterfylleth and pioneer of modern pagan black metal. I asked him to draw up a list of five quintessentially English bands/scenes that fed into the Winterfylleth sound. These serve as touchstones for a conversation ranging from details of guitar technique to lyrical source texts to obscure distro history.

On the show, we’ve often characterized Winterfylleth as a kind of tricky folk-cultural transplant project, “English Slavblack.” Talking with Chris led me to revise this portrait: Much of what I attributed to the influence of Ukrainian bands has older roots in Chris’s native soil, in styles I hadn’t necessarily expected. As for the question of English black metal, Chris has a thoughtful answer, a robust rebuttal to the old saw that “there's no such thing as 'English' culture."

00:00 - Intro

3:08 - Peaceville death-doom, songwriting for Winterfylleth

33:22 - Bolt Thrower, Carcass

52:45 - Is there an “English Sound” in black metal? (YES, but it’s not what you think)

1:01:09 - Deep Purple

1:06:40 - Interlude - Iron Maiden - “Blood Brothers” fr. Brave New World (EMI, 2000)

1:13:54 - Fairport Convention, folk ballads, and pastoral poetry

1:30:21 - Primordial, the turn towards pagan black metal

1:43:22 - Drudkh / Hate Forest vs. other Slavic black metal

2:14:00 - Outro - Winterfylleth - “The Insurrection,” fr. The Imperious Horizon (Candlelight, 2024)

Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Terminus Episode 163 - Viscera Infest, Trelldom

On Terminus 163, we hearken back to the early days of the show with a wildly disparate lineup - two bands united only by their weirdness, and by the suddenness of their return.

00:00 - Intro

0:04:03 - Viscera Infest - Teratoma (Obliteration Records)
Japanese brutal goregrinders break out of the psych ward with a shockingly fast and noisy reinterpretation of Death Metal - this is “full spectrum death metal” with all the insanity of the margins intact.

0:46:31 - Interlude - Deranged - “Imbecile Humans/Drag Her Out to Die” fr. Plainfield Cemetery (Listenable Records, 2002)

0:49:27 - Trelldom - …By the Shadows… (Prophecy Productions)
Norwegian pagan black metal progenitors emerge from the nocturnal woods with, uh, saxophones? This raises two questions - 1. Does it make sense? and 2. Does it work?

1:34:30 - Outro - Gaahlskagg - “Skullfuck,” fr. Erotic Funeral (No Colours Records, 2000)

Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Terminus Episode 162 - Winterfylleth, Darkmoon Warrior

Terminus 162 is unusually contentious, at least relative to the last few years of the show. In this episode, we both bring black metal records aimed at broad accessibility, yet staunchly refuse to enjoy each other’s picks. Terminators, choose your fighter! (And in the comments, let us know who wins which round.)

00:00 - Intro

0:01:41 - Winterfylleth - The Imperious Horizon (Candlelight Records)
English black metal standardbearers return with their most well-rounded, ambitious record to date.

0:54:54 - Interlude - Wodensthrone - “Those That Crush The Roots of Blood,” fr. Loss (Candlelight, 2009)

1:05:22 - Darkmoon Warrior - Graveyard Planet (Folter Records)
Das Motorrad des Teufels macht VRÖÖÖÖM!!!!

1:44:46 - Outro - Galicia - “Despondent Deity,” fr. Precipice (Hessian Firm, 2022)

Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com

 

Terminus Episode 161 - Pneuma Hagion, Concrete Winds

On Terminus 161, we bring you two short and ripping records from bands we’ve covered in the past and reference frequently, both obsessively devoted to the extremity arms race, both back with #3.

0:01:45 - Pneuma Hagion - From Beyond (Everlasting Spew Records)
Blasting USDM titans consolidate their sound around…. the slow parts? Rest assured, the ziggurat has never been vaster, denser, or more hungry for the blood of stars.

0:44:06 - Interlude - Baphomet - “The Age of Plague,” fr. The Dead Shall Inherit (Peaceville, 1992)

0:47:37 - Concrete Winds - Concrete Winds (Sepulchral Voice Records)
Finnish pioneers of “music-adjacent” riffing get back to basics, grounding the white noise chaos of their last record in the driving deathrash structures of the debut.

1:26:51 - Outro - Xotox - “Eisenkiller,” fr. Lichtlos (Pro Noize, 2003)
Extended version recently released by Infacted Recorgodings
https://infactedrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/lichtlos-extended

Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Terminus Episode 160 - Ink and Fire, Ghost of Lietus

Returning from an interviewmission, Terminus is back with a couple records at least approximately located in the outlaw rock space. First up--the sophomore release of Ink & Fire which trades a bit of the debut's wild chaos for a more deliberate and precise melodic attack. Second, the debut by Ghost of Lietus, a Strix Askesis side project which augments Slavic and Hellenic black metal styles with an additional flair of traditional heavy metal and psych rock.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:04:28 - Ink & Fire - Emblazoned Visions Yield Eternity (Death Prayer Records)

0:52:51 - Interlude - Odal - “Flammendes Schwert,” fr. …Wilde Kraft (Christhunt Productions, 2005)

0:58:57 - Ghost of Lietus - Dream of the Viridian King (Independent)

1:39:01 - Outro - Ildra - “Ofer hwælweg we comon,” fr. Eðelland (Sonnenrune Records, 2011)
Nobly reissued by Heidens Hart.
https://heidenshart.bandcamp.com/album/e-elland

Terminus links:
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Terminus Interview - Adrian Brachmann (Níðstöng, Perkwunos, Äkth Gánahëth)

While conducting a dangerous Thulean reconnaisance mission, The Black Metal Guy managed to bed down in enemy triangle black metal territory to conduct a casual interview with a rare ally: Adrian Brachmann, whose projects Níðstöng and Perkwunos we have covered in earlier episodes. While dodging fire from the remains of the Orthodox scene, your intrepid host and his frigid counterpart enjoy a talk over coffee about Adrian's projects, his future musical plans, the broader black metal scene, and, of course, a Terminus favorite: 2000's metalcore.

0:00:00 - Interview

0:57:18 - Holyarrow - "空的進軍 / March to the Sky" fr. 吾​之​榮​耀​即​吾​之​忠​誠 (Pest Productions, 2023)

Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com