TERMINUS: extreme metal podcast

Terminus Episode 134 - Paimon Gate, Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom, Nithing

WE HAVE ARRIVED. Terminus is back from a lingering summer break with even more white-knuckle, pulse-pounding aktion as TDMG and TBMG once again plumb the depths of the underground, emerging with hands full of cursed jewels from the mines below. This time, it's a 2020 episode: weird records straight from the collective bowels of the metal scene, but all of them profoundly excellent in their own rights. And what would the return from break be without TDMG presenting more unlistenable brutal death? This time, it's courtesy of Nithing, whose debut full length scars the ear drums with channel-switching noise rock riffs and an attacking, undulating drum performance.

Our first full review hails the return of Paimon Gate, whose 2022 demo was highly lauded by both hosts. The full length followup is no sophomore slump, instead elevating Paimon Gate's already ferocious and rigorous presentation with further structural complexity and new, distinct riffing styles. TDMG really schizes out on this one, drawing comparisons to the eastern mysticism of the silent horror film era while announcing that The Riff Was Sick repeatedly. His enthusiasm, though, is not misplaced- Paimon Gate's opening salvo is a triumph within its beloved style of primitive US black/death.

The other side of the coin is abruptly flipped by TBMG, who presents Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom, a distinctly English band whose wide-reaching but naturalistic blend of doom, crust, black metal, and hard rock has the power to win over just about anyone. Bretwaldas play with the countours of time in genre, abutting 70s psych rock with Gravelandian warmongering with none of the sense of frivolity that such a description suggests. Without restraint but similarly without compromise, Bretwaldas weave together the seemingly disparate into a resolute and stoic whole.

0:00:00 - Intro/Nithing - Agonal Hymns (New Standard Elite)

0:25:30 - Paimon Gate - Butcher to The Devil’s Court (Nuclear War Now)

1:05:29 - Interlude - Bestial Raids - “Ceremonial Bloodshed” fr. Prime Evil Damnation (Nuclear War Now!, 2011)

1:09:35 - Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom - Summoning the Gatekeepers (Old Man’s Mettle)

1:55:34 - The Gates of Slumber - “Castle of The Devil” fr. The Wretch (Rise Above Records, 2011)

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Terminus Episode 133 - Gromoverzh, Moulderyawn

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! We've come to that most hideous and crippling time of year where your intrepid hosts take a couple weeks off for the summer. TBMG is moving and TDMG is learning Mortician's "Hacked Up For Barbecue" in its entirety on guitar, so we're gonna take a quick break before once again commencing the mayhem. Before that, though, we've got an episode for ya: this time with two opposing takes on a sort of fantastical, folk-inspired black metal with fascinating similarities amidst their considerable contrast.

First up is the debut record by Gromoverzh, a one-man project headed by Stringsskald (Temnozor, Walknut, Nitberg, etc.) This record is primarily composed of material written during Stringsskald's time in the first of those listed bands, and it presents a similar yet enlarged approach: symphonic and folk-drenched pagan metal, but now operating on an epic time scale and with a substantial injection of 80s trad metal. TBMG is immediately smitten- TDMG is concerned with the presence of a flute and the lack of gravity blasts. We discuss.

The other side of this episode is dedicated to the return of Moulderyawn, whose gloomy manner of folk/black/dungeon synth pivots drastically toward post-black/screamo territory- but not in a bad way?! While certainly a departure from previous work, careful listening indicates a closer relation to those records than immediately apparent, with the same mouldering (lol) atmosphere and music box synth lines intact, just with a lot more heartwrenching 00's metalcore breakdowns and Orchid riffs. Seriously- it's awesome.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:06:16 - Gromoverzh - Izdrevle (Der Schwarze Tod/Werewolf Promotion)

1:05:17 - Interlude - Elvenking - “Seasonspeech” fr. Heathenreel (AFM Records, 2001)

1:12:48 - Moulderyawn - Wiltress, Queen of Flowers (Rempart Productions)

1:47:53 - Outro - Moulderyawn - “Fruitlessly Overflowing,” fr. Wiltress: Queen of Flowers

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Terminus Episode 132 - Astral Tomb, Shroud of Despondency, Embodied Torment

With a lustrous ambient soundtrack of stormy weather threatening TBMG's home, we have a new episode leaning heavily on extreme metal augmented with influences from other spheres of 00s music. Prepare to get weird and drunk dial your old art school girlfriend- we're heading straight to Brooklyn with a lot of this material, but don't fret- there's plenty of great stuff to be found. First off, a look at the new EP by Embodied Torment, an ultra-brutal death metal TDMG favorite, who rise from their gwave with no less intensity but a much developed sense of elaborate, narrative songwriting.

First on the docket is the return of Colorado upstarts Astral Tomb, hot off the heels of 2022's "Soulgazer." This newest independent release, "Total Spiritual Death," is a highly experimental and divisive work which will inevitably split audiences on its quality. TDMG likes it a lot, TBMG sort of despises it, and what follows is a wild journey through 00s indie rock, old kosmische musik, and every possibly point in between- with, of course, plenty of Astral Tomb's crawlinggnawinghowling doomdeath intact.

Following this is a look at last year's record by Shroud of Despondency, Milwaukee-based experimental/progressive black metallers with affiliations to Prezir, an aggressive black/death/thrash blend we covered some years back. SoD centers on late 90s/early 00s symphonic black metal colored by intense streaks of screamo, neofolk, and industrial. Easy listening this is not, but attention paid is highly rewarded by incredible harmonic density and a potent, unnerving emotional vulnerability. WE SEEK BAD FEELINGS EXCLUSIVELY ON TERMINUS.

0:00:00 - Intro/Embodied Torment - Archaic Bloodshed (New Standard Elite)

0:25:35 - Astral Tomb - Total Spiritual Death (Independent)

1:12:17 - Interlude - Eternal Suffering - “The Death in Your Eyes” fr. Echo of Lost Words (Inherited Suffering Records, 2010)

1:15:09 - Shroud of Despondency - Air of Abrasion (Independent)

1:54:50 - Outro - Anorexia Nervosa - “Mother Anorexia” fr. New Obscurantis Order (Osmose Productions, 2001)

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Terminus Episode 131 - Deteriorot, Ophidian Memory, Ossuary

TDMG is back from an out of town trip just in time to present a death-metal focused episode ranging from the oldschool to the... well, the mid-00s are now basically oldschool. Will TBMG survive the onslaught of blasting and legitimate guitar chops? Listen to find out. First off, though: the new 7" by Ossuary, presenting an alternate take on early 90s doomdeath filtered through the prism of some of its most sinister cousins.

13 years past their last volley, New Jersey's own Deteriorot return from the grave(?) with a new full length. An obscure favorite of TDMG, Deteriorot plays an occult and doom-ridden style of death metal equally informed by New York and Scandinavian styles. "The Rebirth," though, distills these regional mannerisms to their most primordial elements. An album as carefully plotted as it is rigorously minimal, this one is highly recommend to fans of deliberately primitive extreme metal as a whole.

Closing out the show is a 2020-style Terminus pick with Ophidian Memory's "Our Shattered Garden." Pulling on threads of mid-00s popular extreme metal, Ophidian Memory plays a tech and prog-brushed manner of melodeath informed by both the classic (Swedish melodic black/death) and the highly modern for its era (popular melodic metalcore.) The result of this perhaps unexpected trip down memory lane is a record with outsized ambitions, tremendous melodies, and a plucky, confident attitude that reminds us why The Black Dahlia Murder was so cool in the first place.

0:00:00 - Intro/Ossuary - Forsaken Offerings (Darkness Shall Rise Productions)

0:24:12 - Deteriorot - The Rebirth (Faithless Records/Xtreem Music/Repugnant Records)

1:11:15 - Interlude - Unleashed - “For They Shall Be Slain” fr. Where No Life Dwells (Century Media, 1991)

1:14:35 - Ophidian Memory - Our Shattered Garden (Independent)

2:04:39 - Outro - Dead to Fall - “All My Heroes Have Failed Me” fr. The Phoenix Throne (Victory Records, 2006)

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Terminus Episode 130 - Passeisme, Sammath, Reverorum ib Malacht, Kaevum

It's been a little bit and your plaintive cries for content have carried on the wind, so here you go: a gargantuan old-style Terminus episode with 4 big records and nearly 3 hours of dense, autistic discussion thereof. This one is most certainly For The Boys, featuring 4 bands well known to fans of the show, with a selection of styles so expansive you're certain to find a new favorite in the bunch.

Opening volley: the return of PASSEISME PASSEISME ARE BACK GUYS! With their first record a huge hit among Terminators in 2021, it's no surprise that they're back with their sophomore release, which manages to actually top the first but in a wildly unpredictable way. Eschewing much of the catchiest and most immediate material which defined the first record, "Alternance" is an album that seeks deeper and more difficult musical expression, with higher contrast in mood, technique, and presentation. It's Passeisme. You know you want it. Easy call for AOTY.

Next up is Sammath, the primary project of Jan Kruitwagen, whose project Kaeck we covered and thoroughly enjoyed in 2021. Sammath represents one of the few remaining torches carried in the name of the much-benighted Norsecore style, with a veritable river of blast beats and crushing, atonal power chord riffs defining this as a sort of alternate universe take on war metal. It's absurdly heavy and brutal and would most certainly work as a black metal record for death metal fans, but beneath the obvious animosity and extremity lurks a tremendous appreciation for moments in the second wave long forgotten.

Our second half opens with the return of Reverorum ib Malacht with "Vacuum," an album first released in 2022 but only just now given a physical edition. Fans of this band know the score: mind-melting industrial black metal with its own bizarre internal logic w/r/t song construction, but "Vacuum" takes it even further by functioning primarily as a tech death record (!) first and foremost. This is a challenging record within RiM's already challenging discography, and what ensues is a great conversation about the band's goals with this album, which are just about as academic as you're ever going to hear on our show.

Finally we arrive at Kaevum's "Kultur," the long-awaited followup full length to 2011's "Natur." A well appreciated sleeper hit amongst Terminators as well as the broader black metal community, that record was defined by intensity and clarity of form. So what of "Kultur?" Well, there's some pretty big surprises in store- namely, that this is primarily a DSBM record. Join us as we go down the rabbit hole tracing the oddly intertwined lineage of NSBM and DSBM as we attempt to uncover the music's relationship with its theme (and listen to some of the coolest riffs of 2023 too.)

0:00:00 - Intro

0:01:53 - Passeisme - Alternance (Antiq)

0:49:03 - Sammath - Grebbeberg (Hammerheart Records)

01:29:39 - Interlude - Niden Div. 187 - “Funeral Pyres” fr. Impergium (Necropolis Records, 1997)

1:32:29 - Reverorum ib Malacht - Vacuum. The Mystery of Faith. We Proclaim Your Death Oh Lord, and Profess Your Resurrection, Until You Come Again. Förlåtelse och levitation. (Malacht Media/Rubeus Obex vinyl)

2:15:48 - Kaevum - Kultur (Darker Than Black Records)

2:47:06 - Outro - Abyssic Hate - “Betrayed” fr. Suicidal Emotions (No Colours Records, 2000)

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Terminus Episode 129 - Cadavoracity, Vomitory

Welcome to Terminus Lite: half the calories but all the full-bodied flavor you know and love. Today's episode is on the shorter side- TBMG is off on a trip to Parts Unknown- but don't worry, we have longer ones planned for the future. We're playing with formats, introducing post-structuralist theory to the podcast realm- please keep listening (please.) Today is a tight, death metal focused episode from two very different sides of the spectrum:

Part one: sheer, uncompromising brutality. Indonesia's Cadavoracity recently released their second, self-titled full length, which elaborates on the New Standard Elite style of blasting ultra-brutal death metal with an intensely organic sense of rhythm and pacing. While Cadavoracity emerges purely from the realm of BDM, the overall effect of their withering attack is not unlike Impetuous Ritual, Grave Upheaval, or Antediluvian. Chalk another tally mark for brutal death accidentally becoming abstract art music, but way cooler than that because someone is gurgling the entire time.

The flip side: a more approachable but no less authentic new record by Swedish masters Vomitory. Comparable in many ways to the Defleshed record we covered last year, Vomitory plays a blend of Swedish and American styles of death metal augmented by large doses of thrash and grind. On this record, Vomitory's 30 plus year pedigree shows itself tremendously, effortlessly moving between melodeath riffs, Slayer-inspired thrash passages, and vicious downtempo stomp with an elegance far exceeding their contemporaries in nearly every dimension.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:02:56 - Cadavoracity - Cadavoracity (Earsturbation Records)

0:29:40 - Interlude - Coprobaptized Cunthunter - “Armed With an Awl” fr. Failure Prosthesis (Coyote Records, 2010)

0:31:59 - Vomitory - All Heads Are Gonna Roll (Metal Blade Records)

1:11:24 - Outro - Splatterhouse - “Warmest Place to Hide” fr. The House That Dead Built (Razorback Recordings, 2004)

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Terminus Episode 128 - Runemagick, Dødssanger, Blutschwur, Et in Arcadia Ego

WE'RE BACK AND WE'RE READY TO PARTY! Terminus returns with another overstuffed episode of ugly sounds, so we'll keep the preamble short: there's something for everyone on this one. But first, you'll have to cross the deadly moat of Et in Arcadia Ego, a PABM project with an industrial-tinged take on French and Slavic black metal. It sounds kinda like black wind hissing in the gaps between enormous towers of unknown origin.

First up: approximately the billionth full length by Swedish doomdeath stalwarts Runemagick. "Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind" will certainly be familiar to fans of the band, but this album perhaps more than others shows its cards in terms of influence: Runemagick is a doomdeath band which takes being a doom band very seriously, and the intricate wailing of Candlemass is just as important as anything more directly within the death metal realm. Come for the chug, stay for the bleak neoclassical diversions.

Next up is Dødssanger, a House of Ygra affiliate which plunges directly into the murkiest depths of DSBM with little in the way of sentimentality or simple sadness. Caustic and miserable, at first blush this reminds the listener most clearly of Danish misery-peddlers Make a Change... Kill Yourself, but as the album proceeds, layers of influence and melodic experimentation are layered on top of the frail, ugly bones of the project, making for a full body much more than the sum of its parts.

Wrapping things up is Blutschwur, a project already well known to many of our listeners which represents yet another attempt at fusing melodic black metal and stomping oi!/RAC. The result, though, is not what one might predict: Blutschwur is heavily invested in returning this style back to its home in black metal, and the sprawling, technically minded riffing suggests a scope far greater than its contemporaries. C'mon, look at the cover- you already like this one, but it contains further depths to explore.

0:00:00 Intro/Et in Arcadia Ego (US) - I (2023)

0:19:37 - Runemagick - Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind (Hammerheart Records)

0:57:59 - Interlude - Runemagick - “Where Death is the Key,” fr. The Supreme Force of Eternity (Century Media, 1998)

1:02:28 - Dødssanger - Reflections of a Wretched Soul (House of Ygra)

1:31:59 - Interlude - Make a Change… Kill Yourself - “Fri fra denne verden” fr. Fri (Black Hate Productions, 2012)

1:43:42 - Blutschwur - Those of My Blood (Final Agony Records / Death Hymns / Rabid Attack Corps.)

2:21:22 - Outro - Ancestral Fortitude - “Final Kingdom,” fr. the Stronghold demo (PABM, 2023)

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Terminus Episode 127 - Impetuous Ritual, Khanate, Abraded

Consistency? I'm not familiar with a band by that name. Here on Terminus we refuse to color inside the lines of show structure, and so we have a big ol' 2021 style episode for you- or, most of the way. We were supposed to cover 4 records but then our computers exploded so we've just got 3, but never fear, we'll have more expanded Terminus Double Stuf episodes coming to make up for it. The theme for today? Being really ugly and weird and gross.

First up: new Impetuous Ritual. One of a triumvirate of Australian noise-ridden black/death bands (the others being Portal and Grave Upheaval,) IR concentrates on pure force delivered through inscrutable yet detailed riffing, dynamic, ever-morphing rhythms, and an expansive soundscape owing to the deep and resonant yet cluttered and noisy production. Beneath the chaos, though, lies the bones of a black metal band deeply invested in second wave traditions and even a pagan flair, pointing to a future potentially even stranger than the present.

Next is the surprise return of extreme doom/noise/free improv/Wiggles cover band Khanate with their first new material in 14 years. A perennial favorite of TDMG, Khanate is a band to which few immediate comparisons can be made, creating a sort of torture doom out of exclusively non-metal parts. "To Be Cruel" is an endurance test, sure, but it's also a deep exploration of intensely personal human misery, where minimal yet highly detailed compositions sketch out delicate shades of negative emotion in a way few bands can match.

Finally we arrive at the second record by Abraded, an Ohio death metal outfit which rejects the Maggot Stomp style which dominates much of the state in favor of something stranger. Drawing on a range of influences from Impetigo to the Razorback bands and possibly even GBK/Arghoslent, Abraded play death metal in the spirit of the late 80s, without established rules w/r/t timbre, song structure, aesthetic coherency, etc. Post-thrash chug riffs and sprawling prog rock solos not-so-peacefully coexist with frothing goregrind vocals and bizarre synth backing- really, no review is a replacement for listening to this thing.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:03:17 - Impetuous Ritual - Iniquitous Barbarik Synthesis (Profound Lore)

0:52:36 - Interlude - Averse Sefira - “Helix in Audience” fr. Tetragrammatical Astygmata (Evil Horde Records, 2005)

1:00:51 - Khanate - To Be Cruel (Sacred Bones Records)

1:55:57 - Interlude - Black Sheep Wall - “Tetsuo: The Dead Man” fr. I’m Going to Kill Myself (Season of Mist, 2015)

2:05:40 - Abraded - Unadulterated Perversity (Aggressively Uninterested - US, Selfmadegod - Europe)

2:37:28 - Outro - Macabre - “Hitchhiker” fr. Dahmer (Hammerheart Records, 2000)

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Terminus Episode 126 - Austere, Hanging Garden

Summer yawns over the horizon, but Terminus is interested in something a little colder: today's episode features both DSBM and material descended from Peaceville doom to add some well-needed cynicism to your time by the pool.

First up is the return of Austere some 14 years after their last full length. Titans of Australian DSBM, Austere return no less powerful for their time absent, with material just as grey, lonely, and withering as their classic works. Beyond simple depression, though, Austere explores fascinating textural territories with dense, novel chord voicings, a patient, nearly ambient manner of constructing songs, and moments of triumphant melody which burst through the music's dense, suffocating fog. Highly recommended for DSBM fans and even those suspect of the genre.

The other half of this episode features the return of Hanging Garden to the show, who made a great impression on us with 2021's "Skeleton Lake." Their new (nearly) eponymous full length presents an aggressively streamlined, pop-forward sound which manages to fully integrate the band's serious extreme metal pedigree with hook-laden, approachable songwriting. This record functions as a fascinating update to 00's Hot Topic stalwarts like Lacuna Coil, with just enough bite to keep noisemongers like us listening. While this is far more accessible than our typical fare, it's no less potent in its songwriting and craftsmanship.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:05:39 - Austere - Corrosion of Hearts (Lupus Lounge)

0:53:50 - Interlude - Totalselfhatred - “Total Self-Hatred” fr. Totalselfhatred (Ordo Decimus Peccatum, 2008)

1:01:06 - Hanging Garden - The Garden (Agonia Records)

1:52:32 - Outro - Theatre of Tragedy - “And When He Falleth” fr. Velvet Darkness They Fear (Massacre Records, 1996)

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Terminus Episode 125.5 - Poseidon, Crooked Mouth

Not unlike a vampire repelled by the sign of the cross, TDMG is currently working through his long-buried trauma re: acoustic guitar, and so today's episode is a neofolk special by TBMG and the  infamous Hyper Shaman. Neofolk is something we mention on the show quite frequently but only rarely review, so for the more introspective, pastoral, and wizened among us, here's your time to shine. Today's episode presents two very different sides of neofolk which will nonetheless be of interest to all those who enjoy extreme metal.

First up is Poseidon, announcing the (and I cannot stress this enough) TRIUMPHANT RETURN of Argento and Azoth of the mighty Spite Extreme Wing. The result of this resurgence, however, is not more of their powerful solar metal, but a perhaps equally powerful but much more oneiric take on abstract neofolk/post-industrial. TBMG and Hyper Shaman make a solid case for Poseidon directly linking to SEW through melodic fragments and the gestures toward folk music that band made later in its career. All fans of SEW take note- they might have taken a different shape, but the boys are certainly back in town.

The other side of the episode is dedicated to Crooked Mouth, a neofolk project without Poseidon's ties to extreme metal but no less potent for it. Working in the more traditional territory of bands like Death in June and Of the Wand and the Moon, Crooked Mouth centers around beautiful acoustic guitar arrangements, precise vocal timbre, and a host of folk instruments which add texture and breadth to the simple yet elegant music. Much neofolk tends to stray from its folk origins- this is anything but the case for Crooked Mouth, who present pagan traditions unvarnished and unadorned, with all the scorn for modernity intact.

0:00:00 - Intro/Poseidon – Poseidon (Brucia Records)

1:12:14 - Interlude - Coil - “Ostia (The Death of Pasolini),” fr. Horse Rotorvator (Force & Form, 1988) / Death in June - “Dædalus Rising,” fr. But, What Ends When The Symbols Shatter? (New European Recordings, 1992)

1:23:24 - Crooked Mouth – Between the Fool and the Magician (Ætheric Recordings - LP and BC / Heimat Music - CD)

2:15:57 - Outro - The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - “Beauty After The Fall,” fr. The Gift of Tears (1987)

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