Posted in Whathaveyou on January 17th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Been looking forward to news of Drug Honkey‘s next release for a while now, and the word from the band that they’ll issue the full-length Cloak of Skies through emergent Indian imprint Transcending Obscurity Records is welcome, since there’s little question the label will know exactly how to handle the Chicago-based outfit’s particular and at times peculiar brand of extremity. Their last album was 2012’s horrifying Ghost in the Fire (review here), which came out through Transcending Obscurity predecessor Diabolical Conquest, and the new record features guest contributions from Bruce Lamont and Justin Broadrick, meaning it could be as expansive as it is brutal. Sign me up.
Cloak of Skies is out May 5 and I’ll hope to have more to come on the subject before then. The band had the following to say about it:
We are very pleased to announce the new full-length “Cloak of Skies” will be unleashed on May 5th 2017 via the booming & ever-expanding Transcending Obscurity Records label. CD, digital, & vinyl platforms will all be available, along with some killer box set/bundle options as well.
Cover art painted by the ultra-talented Italian madman Paolo Girardi.
Avant-garde sax shaman bruce lamont (Correction House/Yakuza/Brain Tentacles) has etched his indelible mark on the title track of the album, and none other than one of our biggest influences – the main man himself; Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh/Jesu), has done an extraordinarily crushing remix/reconstruction of the opening track “Pool of Failure”, which bookends the album…
Pre-order details will be made available in the next week or so..
Tracklist: 1. Pool of Failure (5:44) 2. Sickening Wasteoid (6:12) 3. Outlet of Hatred (6:48) 4. (It’s Not) The Way (6:36) 5. The Oblivion of an Opiate Nod (10:00) 6. Cloak of Skies (8:11) 7. Pool of Failure (JK Broadrick remix) (6:29)
Paul Gillis – Vocals/Synths/Samples/FX Adam Smith – Drums Gabe Grosso – Guitar Ian Brown – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 3rd, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Now, I know that not all 55 inclusions on this new Transcending Obscurity label sampler are really going to be applicable to all tastes, and the Indian-based imprint seems to know it as well. Nonetheless, from oldschool crust to ambient post-black metal, the lineup spans continents the world over and features some form of extremity that’s bound to pique interest somewhere along the line — especially since it’s name-your-price.
For me, I’m glad to find among the blasting onslaught a new track from Virginian one-man doom outfit Mindkult, whose debut EP, Witch’s Oath (review here), continues to resonate. That track is called “Howling Witch” and is number 21 of 55 if you’d like to look for it. Mindkult‘s sole inhabitant, Overlord Faustus, let slip in a year-end post on the social medias that the outfit’s debut full-length will be released through Transcending Obscurity and Caligari Records in Spring, will be titled Lucifer’s Dream, will have artwork from Branca Studio and Misanthropic Art, and will be accompanied by a new video courtesy of Suspiric Noir. Needless to say, much to look forward to there.
More on that hopefully as we get closer to the release, but there’s plenty to dig into here in the meantime, so have at it:
This is the current and relevant label sampler showcasing acts signed to Transcending Obscurity Records (main international label) followed by those enlisted by the sub-labels Transcending Obscurity Asia and India respectively. This time around, we haven’t repeated any releases nor have we included bands from the phased-out distribution legs of the label as was the case last year. The focus will remain from now on on bands that are serious about their art and ones that are unique in their vision, execution or passion.
We’re trying to expand our scope to include new formats such as vinyls (and perhaps tapes, too) so any funds that can be achieved through this will be used towards that.
We thank you sincerely for allowing us to nurture the career of a significant number of bands from all over the world, operating from the spiritual hub of the world – India.
1. Officium Triste (Netherlands) – Your Heaven, My Underworld (Death/Doom Metal) 2. Mythological Cold Towers (Brazil) – Vetustus (Death/Doom Metal) 3. Paganizer (Sweden) – Adjacent to Purgatory (Old School Death Metal) 4. Ursinne (International) – Talons (Old School Death Metal) 5. Echelon (International) – Lex Talionis (Classic Death Metal) 6. Henry Kane (Sweden) – Skuld Och Begar (Death Metal/Crust) 7. Stench Price (International) – Living Fumes ft. Dan Lilker (Experimental Grindore) 8. Sepulchral Curse (Finland) – Envisioned In Scars (Blackened Death Metal) 9. Fetid Zombie (US) – Devour the Virtuous (Old School Death Metal) 10. Infinitum Obscure (Mexico) – Towards the Eternal Dark (Dark Death Metal) 11. Altar of Betelgeuze (Finland) – Among the Ruins (Stoner Death Metal) 12. Illimitable Dolor (Australia) – Comet Dies or Shines (Atmospheric Doom/Death) 13. The Furor (Australia) – Cavalries of the Occult (Black/Death Metal) 14. Warlord UK (United Kingdom) – Maximum Carnage (Old School Death Metal) 15. Norse (Australia) – Drowned By Hope (Dissonant Black Metal) 16. Soothsayer (Ireland) – Of Locust and Moths (Atmospheric Doom/Sludge) 17. Swampcult (Netherlands) – Chapter I: The Village (Lovecraftian Black/Doom Metal) 18. Seedna (Sweden) – Wander (Atmospheric Black Metal) 19. The Slow Death (Australia) – Adrift (Atmospheric Doom Metal) 20. Arkheth (Australia) – Your Swamp My Wretched Queen (Experimental Black Metal) 21. Mindkult (US) – Howling Witch (Doom/Stoner Metal) 22. Warcrab (UK) – Destroyer of Worlds (Death Metal/Sludge) 23. Isgherurd Morth (International) – Lucir Stormalah (Avant-garde Black Metal) 24. Lurk (Finland) – Ostrakismos (Atmospheric Doom/Sludge Metal) 25. Come Back From The Dead (Spain) – Better Morbid Than Slaves (Old School Death Metal) 26. Somnium Nox (Australia) – Apocrypha (Atmospheric Black Metal) 27. MRTVI (UK) – This Shell Is A Mess (Experimental Black Metal) 28. Veilburner (US) – Necroquantum Plague Asylum (Experimental Black/Death Metal) 29. Jupiterian (Brazil) – Permanent Grey (Doom/Sludge Metal) 30. Exordium Mors (New Zealand) – As Vultures Descend (Black/Thrash Metal) 31. Embalmed (US) – Brutal Delivery of Vengeance (Brutal Death Metal) 32. Gloom (Spain) – Erik Zann (Blackened Brutal Death Metal) 33. Marasmus (US) – Conjuring Enormity (Death Metal) 34. Algoma (Canada) – Reclaimed By The Forest (Sludge/Doom Metal) 35. Cemetery Winds (Finland) – Realm of the Open Tombs (Blackened Death Metal) 36. Marginal (Belgium) – Sign of the Times (Crust/Grind) 37. Chalice of Suffering (US) – Who Will Cry (Death/Doom Metal) 38. Briargh (Spain) – Sword of Woe (Pagan Black Metal) 39. Ashen Horde (US) – Desecration of the Sanctuary (Progressive Black Metal) 40. The Whorehouse Massacre (Canada) – Intergalactic Hell (Atmospheric Sludge) 41. Rudra (Singapore) – Ancient Fourth (Vedic Metal) 42. Dusk (Pakistan) – For Majestic Nights (Death/Doom Metal) 43. Ilemauzar (Singapore) – The Dissolute Assumption (Black/Death Metal) 44. Severe Dementia (Bangladesh) – The Tormentor (Old School Death Metal) 45. Warhound (Bangladesh) – Flesh Decay (Old School Death Metal) 46. Assault (Singapore) – Ghettos (Death/Thrash Metal) 47. Gutslit (India) – Scaphism (Brutal Death/Grind) 48. Plague Throat (India) – Inherited Failure (Death Metal) 49. Darkrypt (India) – Dark Crypt (Dark Death Metal) 50. Against Evil (India) – Stand Up and Fight! (Heavy Metal) 51. Grossty (India) – Gounder Grind (Grindcore/Crust) 52. Dormant Inferno (India) – Embers of You (Death/Doom Metal) 53. Carnage Inc. (India) – Defiled (Thrash Metal) 54. Lucidreams (India) – Ballox (Heavy Metal) 55. Nightgrave (India) – Augment (Experimental Black Metal/Shoegaze)
Please download the label sampler for FREE over HERE.
Posted in audiObelisk on August 11th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Netherlands-based extreme metallers Swampcult will release their debut album, The Festival, via Transcending Obscurity Records on Oct. 2. That’s nearly still two months out, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to get an early glimpse at it. If you’ve ever read the work of Romantic-period horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, you know it can be a dense experience, full of challenging concepts and language and invented chants and rhythms that take so long to digest they might as well exist in the belly of whatever gargantuan otherworldly monster is being described at the time. The drama is severe; nothing held back. Swampcult — who base their debut album on Lovecraft‘s story “The Festival” — put in a marked effort to work in very much the same way, honing an immediately atmospheric sound that seeks to span genres as Celtic Frost once pioneered. As cavernous as it is multifaceted, The Festival bridges sludgy chug, blackened ambience, raw death metal and doomed groove with ease and captures both the narrative and the mood of Lovecraft‘s work with spoken dialogue, varied growls and shouts, and the music itself, which is irrepressibly dark and somehow classically metallic.
Comprised of guitarist/bassist/narrator D and drummer/vocalist/narrator A, the band works in chapters across the album’s span, beginning of course with “Chapter I – The Village” and working through “Chapter III – Al-Azif Necronomicon,” “Chapter VII – The Dawning” and so on before finally getting to “Chapter VII – The Madness” and the finale “IX Epilogue – Betwixt Dream and Insanity.” All the while songs tie together fluidly so that The Festival flows as a single piece comprised of many different changes, both between and within individual tracks, and Swampcult execute their material with command that undercuts the fact that this is their first album. They call it “Lovecraftian metal,” which is fair enough given their clear allegiance to theme as an essential component in what they do, but that doesn’t necessarily speak to the entirety of their breadth. That is to say, one imagines had they picked a different author or maybe a different story, they’d have no trouble constructing as complete a world for that as they do for this. And it is a world being made. You can hear it in the work they do in the first 90 seconds of “Chapter I – The Village” as the bleakness begins to gel and sets the tone — grey, dark — that the rest of The Festival will continue to build on.
If you’ve never read “The Festival,” the album includes story cards so you can follow along with what’s happening in each track. An almost uncharacteristic play toward accessibility, but convenient all the same. Today I have the grim pleasure of hosting “Chapter I – The Village” as a song premiere ahead of The Festival‘s release this Fall. As alluded to above, it’s not immediate in the the sense of “here’s the hook” and it’s by no means a friendly listen, but it is very clearly exactly what Swampcult intended it to be, and so all the more worthy of respect for its final outcome. Please keep in mind as you make your way through its six minutes that it’s just the first of a nine-chapter story, and thus only a fraction of what the album as a whole has on offer, though it should be enough to give an impression of the horrific wonders that await this October.
More info from the PR wire follows. Please enjoy:
Dutch band Swampcult aren’t just inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, they’ve based an album entirely on his highly acclaimed story ‘The Festival’. Each song is divided into chapters tracing the original ‘The Festival’ story, bringing it to life. The sounds of dread were never before so easily captured in this genre.
The very vibe of H.P. Lovecraft’s story has been recreated using a mixture of various extreme sounds; from the strange murmurings in the village to the toll of bells, it’s all encapsulated perfectly in one album. To give it visual appeal, a special ‘story card’ is created for each chapter, each having its own artwork and writings, which is given out free with the purchase of any physical product.
Swampcult, in addition to devoting an album entirely to H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Festival’ story, have written excellent, contemporary music that’s seamless, laden with surprises, and consistent. If there could be a genuine soundtrack for H.P. Lovecraft’s story, this is it. ‘The Festival’ is meant to be heard from start to finish, with at least the lyrics sheet in hand if not the book itself, and is recommended to all those who’re into things horror and extreme.
‘The Festival’ Track list: 1. Chapter I – The Village 06:01 2. Chapter II – The Old Man 02:55 3. Chapter III – Al-Azif Necronomicon 03:54 4. Chapter IV – Procession 05:28 5. Chapter V – The Rite 08:23 6. Chapter VI – The Flight 02:21 7. Chapter VII – The Dawning 06:09 8. Chapter VIII – The Madness 03:11 9. IX – Epilogue – Betwixt Dream and Insanity 02:49
Line up: D – All strings and narration A – Percussion, vocals and narration
