Episodes

Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
Terminus Episode 55 - Passéisme, Polemicist, Fluids, Cloak of Altering
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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thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Wednesday Jun 02, 2021
Terminus Episode 54 - Maggot Crown, Ascète, Roundtable with Nick of Hessian Firm
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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Terminus on Patreon
Terminus on Subscribestar
Terminus on Instagram
Terminus on Facebook
thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Wednesday May 26, 2021
Terminus Episode 53 - Ancient Gate, Abysskvlt, Perverted Dexterity, Thos Aella
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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Terminus on Facebook
thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Wednesday May 19, 2021
Terminus Episode 52 - Oriflamme, Anahata, Midnight Betrothed, Anatomia
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.
Terminus links:
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Terminus on Instagram
Terminus on Facebook
thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Friday May 14, 2021
Terminus Interview - Cromlech
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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Terminus on Instagram
Terminus on Facebook
thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Wednesday May 12, 2021
Terminus Episode 51 - Devoured, Inferno, Fyrnask, Secret Fire
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)
Terminus links:
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Terminus on Instagram
Terminus on Facebook
thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Friday May 07, 2021
Friday May 07, 2021
In this bold and haughty episode of Terminus, we bring you two strong new entries in the field of Medieval / folkloric black metal, continue tracking the development of the post-black niche, and reevaluate the legacy of a mainstay of 00s kvlt BM.
The Black Metal Guy draws first blood with Hanternoz, the brutal folkblack collaboration of Hyvermor (Vehemence; founder of the Antiq label) and Sparda (Créatures, Cataèdes), focused on the history and folklore of their native Loire river valley. Though Hanternoz clearly fits into the "chivalric" style of France, this music draws more heavily on folk instrumentation (flute, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipe), and strides ahead at a steady pace, as if marching on foot beside the horses, or dancing at a Mayday fair.
Mirroring these diurnal songs of the stout yeomanry, we have shrill cries and eerie music from the midnight forest, courtesy of Russia's And Beyond The Sun, The Moon.... Here, we talk over this band's clever, theatrical song structures, and compare influences from English and Slavic strains of symphonic BM.
On the second half of the show, The Death Metal Guy returns us to our longstanding investigation of that most divisive subgenre, postblack. Listening to Inert & Unerring, the second full-length from Romania's Genune, it becomes clear that post-black has almost entirely detached itself from black metal. It faces two possible fates -- will it become a self-sustaining genre with its own parameters, or find its true calling in a return to rock music?
We close out the show by taking another listen to a band neither one of us has really listened to, in over a decade -- Mikko Aspa's Clandestine Blaze. This prolific project has become a fixture, even a standard-bearer, of the modern underground, but back in the day we couldn't really get into it. Many recommendations-from-friends later, we check out Secrets of Laceration. YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT....
00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Active Shooter and Spectral Domination
0:17:47 - Hanternoz - Au Fleuve de Loire (Antiq)
1:05:22 - And Beyond The Sun, The Moon... (А ЗА СОЛНЦЕМ ЛУНА... / A Za Solncem Luna)
1:49:08 - Interlude - Valhom - "The Infinite Dream," fr. Desolation (Ars Magna Recordings, 2005)
1:54:51 - Genune - Inert & Unerring (Loud Rage Music)
2:30:35 - Clandestine Blaze - Secrets of Laceration (Northern Heritage)
3:12:21 - Outro - Neidhart von Reuental - “Mayenzeit One Neidt,” fr. Neidhart von Reuental, perf. by Ensemble für frühe Musik Augsburg.
Terminus links:
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Terminus on Instagram
Terminus on Facebook
thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Friday Apr 30, 2021
Terminus Episode 49 - Odal, Autarcie, Undeciphered, Tiradero des Cadaveres
Friday Apr 30, 2021
Friday Apr 30, 2021
In this week's abominable, two-headed episode of Terminus, we bring you a maximally Terminal lineup -- first TBMG with two slabs of massive central-European mountain music, then TDMG with two barrels of thoroughly illegal uranium-plated ultradeath.
TBMG takes the first half, leading off with Odal, Thurinigan forefather (and mother!) of modern heathen black metal. Odal has always worked from the shadows, but on Welten Mutter, they step out onto center stage with a classically Black Metal maneuver: Starting from their core of fiercely focused Romantic riffing, Odal moves in two directions at once, up towards the heavens and down towards the earth.
Next up is Autarcie, whose rugged Franco-ruralist BM has as much to do with the likes of Odal as it does with any of the famous French sounds. Though Autarcie has a clear-cut aesthetic, the album itself divides into two pretty distinct sets of songs, and each of your hosts finds himself drawn to a different half. We talk minimalism vs. maximalism, different ideas of "epic," and the many meanings of "French black metal."
After the break, TDMG revs up the rusty weedwhacker with Undeciphered's Beneath The Gentle Smile. This brutal death combo features Terminus favorites Oscar Ortega (Induced, Molecular Fragmentation) and Nikhil T. (Anal Stabwound - see recent interview!), but forgoes the relative "subtlety" of their other projects for a full-frontal assault. Nevertheless, there's plenty to talk about here, including weirdly old-school breakdowns and ornate rhythmic ideas that TBMG simply can't hear.
We close out with a truly radical new project from Mexico City called Tiradero des Cadaveres ("Corpse Dump" -- holy shit). At first impact, this may sound like lo-fi, mutant "disso-death," but under the decaying flesh of modern skronk, TDMG can see cyclopean, ancient bones. TdC's raw, visceral noise attack immediately connects with TBMG, drawing some comparisons to the flagship band of "music-adjacent" metal, Concrete Winds.
00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Cum Soaked Corpses Leaking Rectal Discharge
0:12:17 - Odal - Welten Mutter (Eisenwald)
1:01:37 - Autarcie - Apogée.Ivresse.Agonie. (Purity Through Fire)
1:49:41 - Interlude - Hirilorn - “The Legion That Will Never Fall,” fr. Legends of Evil and Eternal Death (Drakkar Productions, 1998)
2:01:40 - Undeciphered - Beneath the Gentle Smile (Amputated Vein Records)
2:46:30 - Tiradero des Cadaveres - The Glorious Entrance to the Spiritual Trance (Iron, Blood, and Death Corporation)
3:33:15 - Outro - Ares Kingdom - “A Dream of Armageddon,” fr. Return to Dust (NWN, 2006)
Terminus links:
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Terminus on Facebook
thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Friday Apr 23, 2021
Friday Apr 23, 2021
On this throbbing and tumescent episode of Terminus, we bring you five bands with distinctive hybrid sounds, each drawing on a wealth of reference points that don't usually go together.
The Death Metal Guy leads off with what must be the best-selling underground (now, by accident, overground?) black metal record of all time -- that one with the dude in a cape with a flower and sword. There's a camp of people who think it's genius and authentic. There's (almost certainly) a camp of people who think it sucks and is false. But what does Terminus think? Let us consider the songs....
The Black Metal Guy replies with a strong candidate for Feel-Good Hit of The Summer -- the new one from the Korpsånd circle's Gabestok. Though black metal in spirit, Én gang rådden, altid rådden is rooted in some very different musical formats, from the nastiest beer-stained corners of punk and metal history. Even the way this band uses BM ideas is unexpected, leading to a masterfully original sound.
After the break, the Death Metal Guy brings us two new EPs. Chapels of Gore places industrial-noise methods at the service of BM aesthetics, continuing the legacy of TDMG's beloved Kembatinian Premaster. Incarceration plays really fast, high-energy blastbeat / breakdown music that sounds very modern, yet hearkens back to the days of primordial extreme metal, in that it really doesn't fit into any of the major genres.
Finally, The Black Metal Guy wraps it up with something uncharacteristically polished, a "fancy riffs" band called Obsolete. This leads us back to an old conversation about the relationship between technical death metal and thrash, and opens up into a new conversation on the difference between tech- and regular-metal song structure.
00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Kult of Odium
0:13:39 - Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman (Livor Mortis)
0:59:24 - Gabestok - Én gang rådden, altid rådden (Strange Aeons Records)
1:38:32 - Interlude - Gastunk - “胎児 [Sad],” fr. Dead Song (Dogma Records, 1985) / Kuro - “No more no,” fr. Who The Helpless (Blue Jug Records, 1984)
1:44:11 - Chapels of Gore - The Venereal Shrine (Independent)
2:03:24 - Incarceration - Empiricism (Dawnbreed Records)
2:24:04 - Obsolete - Animate//Isolate (Unspeakable Axe)
3:04:29 - Outro - Martyr - "Warp Zone," fr. Warp Zone (Galy Records, 2000)
Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Wednesday Apr 21, 2021
Terminus Interview - Anal Stabwound
Wednesday Apr 21, 2021
Wednesday Apr 21, 2021
Back on T37, we delved into the sophisticated songwriting of The Visceral Sovereign, the debut of a brutal death project named, unforgettably, "Anal Stabwound." Needless to say, The Death Metal Guy had to get in touch with sole mastermind Nikhil T., also known for his guitar and drum covers on Youtube. In an all-killer no-filler 45 minute conversation, Nikhil outlines his methodology for writing brutal death metal, discusses his journey to multi-instrumental mastery, and sheds some light on the strangely-structured internet scene at the vanguard of brutality.
00:00 - Introduction / origins of the Wound
07:38 - "It's a lot of shifting dyads" - Motivic songwriting / art of riff-construction / place of melody in BDM
16:28 - "Maybe I've played guitar way too much" - Nikhil's instrumental background / practice and learning new stuff
20:30 - Interlude - Anal Stabwound - "Demiurge of Abhorrence," fr. The Visceral Sovereign (Inherited Suffering Records, 2021)
24:24 - "A very fine balance to maintain" - technique as athleticism
26:32 - "Everyone else lives in Europe, or whatever" - remote collaboration / brutal death "combo" format
36:45 - "I don't take too much in people saying, 'Oh, this is garbage'." - brutal death and slam vs. normal death metal
44:30 - Avoiding the "riff after riff approach" - future of Anal Stabwound
47:26 - Outro - Korpse - "Molestation Condonation," fr. Insufferable Violence (Unique Leader, 2021)
Terminus links:
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thetrueterminus@gmail.com