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Relentless total war on metal journalism.
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Friday Jul 02, 2021
Friday Jul 02, 2021
In this feverish, borderline hallucinatory episode of Terminus, your two hosts unleash an enormous and bizarre late night recording session which goes off the rails rapidly through a combination of overwork, sleep deprivation, and alcohol consumption. We started at 10 PM and ended somewhere in the wee hours, reduced to gibbering wrecks in an episode where TDMG yells at his cats, The Offspring are sampled in conjunction with Maquahuitl, and the adoption of crack cocaine as podcast performance-enhancing drug is seriously considered.
We open with Sxuperion, a project The Black Metal Guy has long and winding history with. War metal from beyond time and space, this band combines the rigor of Rites of Thy Degringolade with the analog synth-driven sounds of marginal electronic music, altogether making music unnerving, precise, and manic in its whiplike motions. Highly recommended for dedicated Terminators- this is what we dig through all those goat albums to find.
Following is the debut full-length by a supporter's project, Blinding Sun, whose raw digital production belies a truly holistic understanding of black metal from origin to modernity. Blinding Sun sounds like everything at once, from a stripped-down Taake to modern post- and emo-infused projects, but it's all wrapped together with a strikingly versatile sense of guitar technique. These are challenging, winding songs that reveal more and more on repeated listens, granting deeper understanding to the considerate listener.
After the break, we dive into TDMG's side, starting with Brazil's HellLight, a long-running funeral doom band which plays romantic and yearning music that nevertheless hews closely to the origins of the genre. Structurally bold, refreshingly minimal, and (of course) crushingly despairing, this is a record which goes a long way to rehabilitating the romantic funeral doom style in the eyes of your hosts. We'll need to dig further into this band's history and its scene- who knows how many more gems can be unearthed down south?
Finally, bloodied and broken, we stumble across the finish line with the brilliant debut record by Eisenhand, a definite contender for one of our records of the year. TDMG shyly presents it to his co-host: "Is this what you mean when you talk about metalpunk, dad?" TBMG replies, smiling: "It sure is, son. Go grab your glove; we'll listen to it while we throw the ol' ball around."
Thanks for listening, Terminators. We'll be taking a two week break for R&R and will return on the week of the 19th. Throw some posers on the barbecue and enjoy Sword Boy Summer on your own... until darkness and evil, as always, returns.
0:00 - Intro/News ft. Anal Stabwound
0:14:04 - Sxuperion - Auscultating Astral Monuments (Bloody Mountain Records)
0:51:46 - Blinding Sun - The Magic Mountain (Pallid Vesture - tape / Death Shadow - LP and digital)
1:38:35 - Interlude - Owl’s Blood - “Spiritual Substantial Wisdom” fr. Cold Night of Meditation (Altare Productions, 2014)
1:45:51 - HellLight - Until The Silence Embraces (Solitude Productions)
2:31:56 - Eisenhand - Fires Within (Dying Victims Productions)
3:26:54 - Outro - Morsüre - Neither Pity Nor Remorse fr. Acceleration Process (Devil’s Records, 1985) (All versions long out of print, but used copies are easy to find from private sellers.)
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Thursday Jul 01, 2021
Thursday Jul 01, 2021
Long ago on Terminus episode 24 we reviewed a record called "Swaraj: or, "Self Rule"," by Dressed in Streams. Little did we know this would start a long-running relationship with the mastermind behind Colloquial Sound Recordings, Damian Master, whose enthusiastic response to that review culminates in this unusual episode of Terminus. In a first for the podcast, The Black Metal Guy presents a deeply personal and probing review of A Pregnant Light's "Broken Play" on the second anniversary of that record's release. Digging down into the musical, emotional, and philosophical qualities of the record, The Black Metal Guy analyzes the structural content of the music while also tracing the connections between black metal, the self, and the characters that exist between both.
Following this is a sprawling interview with Damian Master, the individual behind both A Pregnant Light and Colloquial Sound Recordings. Equal parts hilarious and nakedly honest, Damian discusses at length his own musical sojourns, musical culture and industry at large, and his ever-evolving relationship with his own craft. Damian is a man possessed by both intense personal will and a wry sense of realism, making for what is undoubtedly one of the finest interviews on Terminus so far.
0:00 - Review: A Pregnant Light's "Broken Play"
01:09:59 - Interlude - Aksumite - “Bestial Lust (Bitch),” fr. The Dark Saint of Stockholm (a salacious three-way split by Colloquial Sound Recordings, 2021)
1:12:39 - Intro, church camp black metal, early history
1:32:00 - Playing live, full band challenges, metal and hardcore fashion, freezer jeans
1:43:46 - Purple metal, the second wave, record store woes
1:58:03 - Colloquial Sound Recordings, youth culture, modern music listening habits, Bandcamp and music industry
2:42:24 - APL’s future, music outside the artist, Yeats, conclusion
3:06:05 - Outro - “Heart-Shaped Apple,” fr. I Licked It, Now It’s Mine (Colloquial Sound Recordings, 2021)
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Friday Jun 25, 2021
Friday Jun 25, 2021
It was a dark and stormy night at Terminus HQ- in a literal sense, since this episode was recorded over the course of a couple days when TDMG's power was knocked out mid-recording. Dark forces conspire against us, but we drive ever forward in the name of Sword Boy Summer, now fully upon us. Today's theme? The return of "uncool" styles of metal from the mid-90s and 00s, just barely old enough to inspire feelings of nostalgia in your hosts, finally vindicated in their love of all the music they were bullied about in high school.
The episode opens with a Terminus landmark: The Black Metal Guy's first ever brutal death metal submission. Predictably, it's an odd one: Blind Hate operates in the deepest reaches of the Japanese death metal scene but takes their influences from the most thuggish and ruggish elements of NYDM circa '97. TDMG predictably spergs out, rushing to recommend all the OTHER bands his cohost now needs to listen to. Beyond the immediate love of creeping, crawling, crushing hardcore breakdowns, however, is a work of considerable depth which reveals more and more on subsequent listens.
In a twist of hideous irony, it's TDMG that brings spartan black metal to the table in the form of Gallows. This Salem, Massachusetts duo plays black metal that was nowadays when your hosts grew up but is now almost oldschool- the clattering, discordant strains of Under a Funeral Moon and the oldest work by Mutiilation could be straight out of the late 90s were it not for subtle gestures at modern songwriting standards. It's a fun record with both Unholy Black Metal style rippers as well as slow-burn stuff for the more refined.
We return from our interlude with a blast from TDMG's past with the new EP by Thy Light, a project from the last gasps of DSBM before that scene collapsed. Have you heard DSBM before? You've kind of heard this, then, but it's the little things that count- subtle harmonic color, wonderful rhythmic arrangements and- face-melting guitar solos? Two sprawling tracks announce the return of one of DSBM's unsung heroes, much to the pleasure of your hosts. Back in the day it was just Suicidal Black Metal! I can't handle you whippersnappers!
Concluding the episode is the newest release by Hanging Garden, a melodic, goth-inflected doom/death band drawn from the old Peaceville style who liven things up with remarkable poise and pacing. This is far outside of the usual Terminus wheelhouse but undeniably excellent, making new converts to the kvlt of clean female vocals and tambourine accompaniment. Terminus listeners are exactly the sort of weirdos who would love the transitional records by bands like Paradise Lost and Amorphis, so here's a band for you, who attempt to convert those awkward, fawn-like steps into a limestone-solid foundation to build upon.
0:00 - Intro
0:05:55 - Blind Hate - Shinbe - Expulsion of Foreigners (Rock Stakk Records)
0:46:35 - Gallows - 66 Black Wings (Katafalque)
1:21:59 - Interlude - Avsky - Fuck Your Values, Fuck Your Beliefs fr. Malignant (Moribund Records, 2008)
1:29:55 - Thy Light - Thy Light (Independent)
2:16:53 - Hanging Garden - Skeleton Lake (Lifeforce Records)
2:57:29 - Outro - Novembers Doom - Collapse of the Fallen Throe fr. The Pale Haunt Departure (The End Records/Candlelight Records, 2005, or you can find a hard copy of this one just about anywhere)
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Thursday Jun 17, 2021
Thursday Jun 17, 2021
On this sultry Summer edition of Terminus, your hosts spend some time clearing out the email inbox with (mostly) a series of submissions as daring as they are different. A veritable charcuterie board of (mostly) black metal awaits the seasoned listener, from the absurdly dissonant to the majestically folk-inspired, emerging from climes tropical and otherwise. Much to our pleasant surprise, each record stakes a claim on different niche interests of the podcast, from the roiling stenchcore of the late 80s to the full-spectrum black metal of 2021 and beyond. This is a deep cut episode, folks- tell all your friends you were here when we get (mostly) famous.
Returning from its chrome crypt, Oppress. returns to the show with a new EP of hideous, brain-boiling black metal that displays a serious advancement and refinement of the project's sound. Drawing from pools of forgotten edge-case black metal as well as industrial, Oppress. augments its hypodermic guitar attack with a much appreciated bit of low-end bludgeoning. Need a record to clear your apartment after a house party? This is your stop.
The next record, however, is the one to get that same party started- Finland's Rain of Terror presents a short, bulldozing record of crusty, thrashy, moshy... something that inspires all sorts of comparisons from The Black Metal Guy. Like a forgotten '85 thrash EP accidentally played on 33, "Witch Hunt" decimates villages at a deliberate, crushing midpace, leaving no survivors but those who place the sign of Deviated Instinct on their doorframes. Play this for your friends with the trvest of denim jackets, claim it's from the 80s, and submit your reactions to our email.
After our interlude, Lotus of Darkness emerges from the sweltering heat of summertime Thailand to present their second full-length. A folk-black metal record in the truest sense of the word, the band plays music which pays tribute to their homeland and Scandinavia in equal form on both melodic and structural levels, devastating all imitators with dhas of intricate twin guitar riffs, languid Thai fiddles, and romantic, lingering songs which bloom in the same manner as their eponymous flower.
Wrapping things up is Narbeleth, a black metal band of Cuban origin The Death Metal Guy distantly remembers from a festival set far, far away. While the other records on today's episode reflect single-minded rigor, Narbeleth instead chooses the difficult and demanding path of Full Spectrum Black Metal, with arrays of moonlit, magical riffs which reveal more and more on repeated listens. Listen in real time as your hosts check the samples, evolving from "this is a really good black metal record" to "this might be one of the best things this year."
0:00 - Intro feat. Hollowed Body (Noxious Ruin)
0:16:19 - Oppress. - Regina Mundi (Independent)
0:51:36 - Rain of Terror - Witch Hunt (Independent / LP on Hellation Records)
1:28:43 - Interlude - Sacrilege - “Winds of Vengeance,” fr. Within The Prophecy (Under One Flag/Metal Blade Records, 1987)
1:36:09 - Lotus of Darkness - Sompas-Naga (Namtaru Records)
2:23:18 - Narbeleth - Svmma Cvm Nox Arcana (Folter Records)
3:03:55 - Outro - Aboriorth - “Bullets of Hate” fr. Far Away From Hateful Mankind Plague (Antichristian Front Records, 2007, but seemingly long out of print)
Terminus links:
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Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
As Terminus regenerates for another year of hot-blooded, sword-oriented soliloquies on all things extreme and metallic, we find ourselves once again grinding inexorably towards the heat and fervor of summer. This episode, though, provides an interpretive crossroad for the season: what will 2021's heat produce? Joy, leisure, and extravagance? Or cruelty, barbarism, and fear? The answer is both in an episode which splits neatly down the middle between the emotive and sublime versus the hideous and profane. Sword Boy Summer marches on, but with the threat of Mace Man Winter looming in the distance.
Passéisme's raucous, ecstatic interpretation of chivalric French black metal opens the episode, a case where The Black Metal Guy's submission provides no shortage of glee to his co-host. Passéisme specializes in a joyous clatter, where hyperspeed technical black metal riffing joins a densely textured melodic framework in what becomes an instant favorite of The Death Metal Guy. The Black Metal Guy is enthusiastic, but with some reservations in terms of scope and continuity within its parent scene. The Death Metal Guy merely babbles "I like the riff" until reduced to a gibbering mess. Professional? Probably not. Earnest? We like to think so.
Following this explosion of floral decadence is a record subtler but no less dynamic and fascinating: the new record by Polemicist, soon to be released by stalwart Terminus allies Hessian Firm. One of the flagship bands of the label, Polemicist reaches delicately into various points in extreme metal history to create something unique- atmospheric without being soporific, and challenging without pretense. A flurry of notetaking ensues, with references to Hellenic black metal, late 90s electronic music, and early Swedish black/death being but a few- regardless of the origin, the band firmly plants another flag whose semaphore conveys the obvious: Hessian Firm is one of the premier labels in extreme metal today.
After the interlude, summer's dark underbelly is revealed through the traditional cycle of seasonal violent crime spikes via Fluids. Returning to the show a year after they were first featured, Fluids comes back with a new vocalist, a new label, and, perhaps surprisingly, a renewed focus to their work, mainlining the coldest and ugliest details of modern trap music into their vein of bulldozing Mortician worship. Shucking whatever pieces of accessibility remained from their earlier career, Fluids makes indelibly modern and grotesque music for our current climate: an aerial drone recording a cartel beheading forever.
Finally (and barely) pulling back from the brink of disaster, the gang investigates the newest work by Cloak of Altering, side project of Mories, better known for longtime noiseblack experiment Gnaw Their Tongues. Like Fluids, Cloak of Altering is infatuated with the juxtaposition of abrasive electronic music with extreme metal, but in a more off the cuff and wry manner. Coil, Dimmu Borgir, Marduk, and 70s prog rock collide into an acquired taste which ends up surprisingly hard to shake once it hits the palate.
0:00 - Intro feat. Oppressive Descent
0:12:43 - Passéisme - Eminence (Antiq)
0:57:31 - Polemicist - Return of the Sophist (Hessian Firm)
1:39:50 - Interlude - Skullflower - “Annihilating Angel,” fr. Orange Canyon Mind (Crucial Blast, 2005). You can also get this track on the Return To Forever comp, available direct fr. Skullflower on Bandcamp.
1:46:46 - Fluids - Not Dark Yet (Hells Headbangers/Desert Wastelands Productions)
2:30:19 - Cloak of Altering - Sheathed Swords Drip With Poisonous Honey (Brucia Records)
3:10:19 - Outro - Pneuma Hagion - "Tyranny," fr. Demiurge (to be released late 2021 on Nuclear War Now!)
Terminus links:
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Wednesday Jun 02, 2021
Wednesday Jun 02, 2021
Through sheer grit, a little luck, and an obsessive devotion to the principles of Sword Boy Summer, Terminus has reached a hefty milestone: an entire year engaged in podcast-based guerilla warfare on metal journalism. We weren't sure where this would lead in our younger, more tender years (y'know, in summer 2020)- most podcasts barely survive their first seven episodes- but one year later, we're still standing proud, tall, and unnervingly nude, determined to strike forward into yet another year with more ferocity than ever before.
And what better way to celebrate our achievement than to bring on our very first guest host. Nick of label Hessian Firm joins us today, a longtime supporter of the podcast who assists in reviews of two new records before participating in metal's longest and most enduring tradition: drinking whiskey and talking about which bands are posers.
Maggot Crown's debut full-length is first on the crime scene with a draconian assault of churning, vicious deathgrind which most often resembles war metal. Previously featured artist Jared Moran (Evaporated Sores) is the mastermind behind this project, and he brings his idiosyncratic rhythmic ideas and gnarly sense of sandpaper timbre to bear in what may be one of his best works yet. Oldschool AND savagely technical? It's more likely than you think.
After that we sail to Nick's homeland of France where he contributes heavily to both musical and linguistic understandings of Ascète's new record. Continuing on a thread of ruralist French black metal we've been following recently through records by Hanternoz and Autarcie, the band pushes the style's drunken and wandering moods even further through brilliant guitar textures and true Full Band Playing.
The back half of this episode, though, is a more relaxed one. After a surprise premier of a track from the upcoming Polemicist record (out soon on Hessian Firm,) our regular hosts and Nick spend a chill summer afternoon wandering from topic to topic, many of which will be familiar to our longtime listeners: the primacy of French black metal, nostalgic nu-metal jamz, and arguments over In the Nightside Eclipse. It is at once every conversation you've ever had with your bandmates and a whole new frontier for the show. The Black Metal Guy even gets to play Integrity, thus dooming us to another thousand years of winter.
Thanks for listening, Terminators. This is merely the first of many years to come.
0:00 - Intro
0:06:22 - Maggot Crown - Cryptic Immoral Secure (Vargheist Records)
0:49:16 - Ascète - Calamites & les Calamités (Antiq)
1:38:59 - TRACK PREMEIRE - Polemicist - "The Way to Delphi," fr. Return of the Sophist (Hessian Firm)
1:43:14 - Roundtable with Nick of Hessian Firm Pt. 1
2:25:26 - Interlude - Integrity - "Trapped Under Silence," fr. Humanity is the Devil (Victory Records, 1996)
2:28:34 - Roundtable with Nick of Hessian Firm Pt. 2
2:55:29 - Outro - Babylon Whores - "Sol Niger," fr. King Fear (Necropolis Records, 1999)
Terminus links:
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Wednesday May 26, 2021
Wednesday May 26, 2021
A Terminus episode under three hours long? Have our boys finally been taken by consumption contracted in a tiny French village on the search for Brenoritvrezorkre tapes? Nah, it's just a punchy one, featuring four albums of intensely focused music which charts territory all over the metal map.
We begin with the return of stalwart Terminus veterans Ancient Gate, whose new EP doesn't so much storm the castle as creep in under the twilight. Their new record features a more measured, stately sound, highly influenced by the Hellenic scene as well as a bevvy of other regional styles, but is it able to top their previous album, which charted on TBMG's year end list for 2020? You'll have to listen to find out (yes, okay, it's really good.)
Following this is the trundling yet refined funeral doom of Abysskvlt. Their third record, Phur G. Yang, provides a unique take on funeral doom by way of ritual ambient music inspired by Tibetan Buddhism, resulting in a melting pot of various sound objects, from dizzying polyphonic clean vocal arrangements to explosive bursts of electronic noise. But does it successfully carry its concept across the finish line? And what does Tibet sound like, anyway? We discuss.
After some more eastern bloc funeral doom, your hosts return with the new concertina wire topiary by Perverted Dexterity. What would a Terminus episode be without an unapproachable brutal death record? Fans of all things lacerating and paranoid will enjoy this one, which combines sophisticated rhythmic ideas with an electric, driving guitar performance, where every riff is 50 riffs and no prisoners are taken.
We conclude with the debut record of Thos Aella, whose oldschool Swedish melodic black/death stylings are catnip to TBMG's ears. Driven by whiskey, Dissection live bootlegs, and the spirit of the deep south, Thos Aella plays traditional music that nevertheless manages to find the heretofore unknown thread between Dawn and Skynyrd via explosive guitar bravado and arrogant, erudite structure. Steal a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 along with an appropriate steed- it's time to ride into battle.
0:00 - Intro ft. .357 Homicide
0:10:25 - Ancient Gate - Forgotten Dark Age (Hessian Firm)
0:45:55 - Abysskvlt - Phur G. Yang (Solitude Productions)
1:22:19 - Interlude - Reido - Frozen Terror fr. F:\all (Solitude Productions)
1:37:33 - Perverted Dexterity - Alacrity for Contemptuous Dissonance (Brutal Mind)
2:09:05 - Thos Aella - Abnegation Psalms (Sunshine Ward)
2:42:17 - Outro - Trayjen - “Progenitor of Loss,” fr. Walking Among the Stones of Fire (Flamme Noire, 2008)
Terminus links:
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Wednesday May 19, 2021
Wednesday May 19, 2021
In this turgid and sprawling episode of Terminus, your intrepid hosts go an adventure of full autism in true Terminus form. References to Spite Extreme Wing? Check. The Black Metal Guy discussing mythology uninterrupted for ten minutes? Check. The Death Metal Guy slowly becoming nonfunctionally stoned while discussing Japanese doomdeath? Check. This episode is a work of ages, featuring four records of tremendously varying sound but rigorous pursuit of personal vision.
We begin in true Terminus form with a comfortable starting point: the ferocious, epic, and driving assault of Quebecois freshmen Oriflamme, whose inaugural recording combines delicate strands of French and Mediterranean black metal distilled into a dark, enraged edge of obsidian beauty. Both hosts are invariably stoked, but disagree on some of the finer points: is this outlaw rock? Does it sound like BBH? How do you pronounce the album title, anyway? Discussion ensues but concludes with an obvious command to all Terminators: Buy This Now.
In the interest of expanding the show's horizons, The Black Metal Guy brings another debut onto the show with Anahata's first foray into flagon-pounding traditional heavy metal. Anahata's sound is resolutely committed to the traditions of the 80s, but subtle influences from modern extreme metal abound, making for stomping sing-along anthems with exactly the sort of intrigue growing Black and Death Metal Guys need. Still glance longingly at the 3 Inches of Blood hoodie in your closet on occasion? Your moment has arrived.
After a visit to the past with Jag Panzer, The Death Metal Guy switches gears dramatically with Midnight Betrothed, an Australian project who presents low-fi, synth-focused black metal with a bevy of bizarre influences- most of them outside of metal. Is it black metal? Dungeon Synth? A weird sort of ambient music? None of the above- it is the advent of (much to The Black Metal Guy's chagrin) Lo-Fi Black Metal Beats to Study or Relax To.
Riding high on good times so far? That deficiency is corrected as Anatomia rises from their crypt to bestow a masterpiece of tumorous, deformed doomdeath upon the masses. Your hosts have been long time fans of the band and are pleasantly surprised to see that the ante is upped as the tempo is lowered, as four tracks of slimy, plague-ridden funeral doom obliterate subwoofers and reap souls. In the words of our favorite funeral doom band, Hatebreed: YOUR DOOM AWAITS YOU!
0:00 - Introductory bullshitting
0:09:14 - Oriflamme - L'Égide Ardente (Sepulchral Productions)
0:54:59 - Anahata - Auspicious Atavism (Independent)*
1:48:04 - Interlude - Jag Panzer - “Warfare,” fr. Ample Destruction (Iron Works, 1984)
1:53:13 - Midnight Betrothed - Dreamless (Atrocity Altar/Northern Silence)
2:23:15 - Anatomia - Corporeal Torment (Me Saco un Ojo Records/Dark Descent Records)
3:06:47 - Outro - Disjecta Membrae - De Exorcismis et Suplicationibus Quibusdam LIBER I fr. De Exorcismis et Suplicationibus Quibusdam LIBER I (Independent, 2017)
*CORRECTION: Anahata has a third member! Australian axelord Jack Heath plays leads. TBMG mistakenly assumed he was a session contributor.
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Friday May 14, 2021
Friday May 14, 2021
A few months ago, out of the blue, Terminus received a bold and brazen email to the effect that we would interview Cromlech. What had we done to deserve this? Cromlech is the brother-band of Into Oblivion, whose Winds of Serpentine Ascension placed #1 on the Terminus Aggregate Top 10 for 2020. The Norns ordained our paths would cross, and so they did.
Cromlech plays Epic Doom, forged from the same mythril as Solstice and Candlemass, but steeped in the dragon's blood of black and death. In this freewheeling juggernaut of an interview, The Black Metal Guy speaks with every member of Cromlech (except Kevin) about writing and recording their forthcoming record, Ascent of Kings (Hessian Firm), oppressing the peasantry of ironic retro-metal, and sacrificing to the shade of Robert E. Howard. Plus a whole bunch of other stuff. What emerges, over the course of the conversation, is a band whose swaggering pride is backed by serious artistry, loyal comradery, relentless shit-giving, and remorseless shitposting.
This is as close as it gets to being in the practice room with Cromlech. Gird thy loins.
00:00 - Cromlech - Origin and destiny
10:41 - "Every week for seven years" - Writing and recording Ascent of Kings
16:30 - Crossbridge of the helix - Brandon, Jake, et. al. on the Cromlech rhythm section
21:27 - "Riff Tyrants" - Baron and Roman on collaborative guitar work
28:30 - The Ritual Airing of Grievances / a digression on Emperor / a further digression on the noble art of shitposting
36:42 - Spotlight on Kevin - Kevin as frontman and lyricist / Roman on collaborative vocals
40:36 - Cimmerian Codex - Conan The Barbarian, Celtic Frost, and some surprising links to classic 80s heavy metal
45:35 - Extreme heavy metal Pt. I - Vibrato and "exploded" vocal chords
47:58 - Interlude - “Iron Fist / Iron Will,” fr. the Iron Guard EP (Independent, 2017 / CD by Forgotten Wisdom Productions, 2018)
58:18 - Extreme heavy metal Pt. II - Wielding the mighty chug / the legacy of Solstice / Baron's formative influences / metal nerd Easter eggs
1:06:15 - Extreme heavy metal Pt. III - cross-pollination between Cromlech and Into Oblivion
1:15:42 - Brothers in arms - Cromlech's remarkably stable lineup / "forge your own flesh" / pushing musical boundaries
1:32:53 - More on sound quality and production for Ascent of Kings
1:37:38 - The Cromlech / Hessian Firm alliance - Getting signed and working with Nick
1:43:17 - "Gatekeeping is necessary, essential, and mandatory"
1:54:45 - Outro - Wagner - end Act I, Scene 3 of Siegfried (Bayreuth Records, 1876), in which Siegfried reforges his father’s sword, Nothung, then cleaves the anvil asunder. Fr. Decca's complete Ring Cycle (Wiener Philharmoniker, Georg Solti conducting).
Cromlech recommends:
Oath of Cruelty - Summary Execution at Dawn: "very aggressive, riff-oriented black thrash"
Korrosive: "Our fuckin brothers. Thrash, not for wimps and posers." New album Kaustic Hordes coming soon.
Hessian Firm bands, esp. Mefitis: "Kevin, listen to The Misfits!"
Terminus links:
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Wednesday May 12, 2021
Wednesday May 12, 2021
In this shimmering and vast episode of Terminus, your intrepid hosts venture into a block of advanced, high-concept black metal laced with elements of Orthodox, post-black, post-punk, electronic, ambient, neofolk, and just about anything else you can think of- after some oldschool death metal, if you're into that sort of thing.
Long-running Indonesian battalion Devoured opens the festivities with The Curse of Sabda Palon, their first record in 9 years. Originally starting as a pummeling brutal death project, the band has since shifted gears into a unit which combines the dramatic, fluid melody of Dismember with delicate underpinnings of Southeast Asian folk music. We take some time investigating the role of vocals and drums in this style, as well as linking it to recent oldschool revival weirdos like Incertus- highly recommended for those who want something more from "retro-death."
It's all uphill and downhill and sideways and inside out from here as we begin our block of abstract black metal with Inferno, underrated stalwarts of the Czech scene returning with a record sure to make waves in the Orthodox scene. Inferno combines high-level black metal guitar technique with a dizzying array of textures and instrumental voices to create something expansive and alien yet oddly mystical and comforting. Black metal psytrance? A natural progression of Aosoth? We cover these possibilities and more.
After a brief return to forgotten pre-post-metal with Minsk, we're back in the fray with Fyrnask, a German project which laces a core of vicious and abstract black metal with slabs of dark ambient, neofolk, and post-industrial music, all of which contribute to a lonely, hermetic whole. Your hosts go back and forth on the relation of parts to the whole- Fyrnask is a band who are capable of doing excellent, straight-up ripping black metal, but would that be worth sacrificing the breadth of their arrangements? You be the judge.
Finally, we conclude with something a little more traditionally Terminus with Secret Fire, a Canadian project which creates black metal more immediate and traditional than the previous two artists, but no less winding and abstract. TDMG and TBMG immediately become broiled in debate- is this Graveland? Winterfylleth? House of First Light? Something we've never heard of?- but ultimately conclude, unsurprisingly, that it's great music, no matter the results of the Rorschach test.
00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Collapsor
0:11:20 - Devoured - The Curse of Sabda Palon (Sadist Records)
0:48:15 - Inferno - Paradeigma: Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity (Debemur Morti)
1:34:31 - Interlude - Minsk - Waging War on the Forevers fr. Out of a Center Which is Neither Dead Nor Alive (At A Loss Recordings, 2005)
1:45:12 - Fyrnask - VII: Kenoma (Van Records)
2:31:17 - Secret Fire - The Old Beast Law (Throne of May)
3:16:54 - Outro - Imperial Trumpet demo - Side A fr. Rehearsal Demo 1 (House of First Light, 2015)
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