Author Archives: valleyofsteel

Bloodred – Nemesis, Sig:Ar:Tyr – Northen (2016)

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Bloodred – Nemesis (self-released, 08 April 2016)

 

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Sig:Ar:Tyr – Northen (Hammerheart Records, 15 April 2016)

 

Hey there, ladies and gentlemen of the internet! I hope you’re having an okay start to your week. Typically I’d be talking about how Mondays are so terrible or whatever, but truthfully, I realize that things could be much worse. Around the middle of last week, I experienced a little bit of a minor medical emergency — hospital visit, a couple days away from work, that sort of thing. Everything around here got really disrupted and it kind of sucked, and I can honestly say I’m actually glad to be back to the normal daily routine, however awful and soul-crushing it may be.

Okay, with all of that out of the way, let’s get to the music! I’ve had to shuffle things around a bit since my schedule got so thrown off over the past several days, but we’ll do what we can to get back on track and get to sharing the albums and other news you people need to hear about. Today let’s take a look at a pair of releases from earlier this month, each by a one-member band (although each had some assistance on these recordings), and each having a Viking connection. It has been a month since the last time we talked about Viking metal — don’t forget that Amon Amarth are still in the middle of their North American tour, with a few weeks left — and it seemed like it might be fun to do it again. One of these albums actually includes a reference to the same source material as the Jomsviking album, and the other deals with ancient Viking settlements in North America …

 

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Free Show Today: Heavy Metal Monessen 3

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Heavy Metal Monessen 3

at the Monessen City Park Amphitheater

1918 Grand Blvd, Monessen PA 15062

Saturday 23 April 2016 | 1:00 pm | all ages | FREE

 
Good morning, everyone! For those Pittsburgh-area folks out there, the weather looks a bit gloomy and chilly at the moment, but on the news they’re saying it’s supposed to get sunnier and more pleasant as the day goes on — which is perfect, because this afternoon and evening will be the third annual installment of Heavy Metal Monessen, the FREE outdoor concert that includes a wide variety of local metal talent at the amphitheater in the heart of the city park in Monessen (Mon Valley, Westmoreland County, PA)!

 
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Laster – De Verste Verte is Hier, Sordide – La France a Peur (2014); Cantique Lépreux – Cendres Célestes (2016)

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Laster – De Verste Verte is Hier (Dunkelheit Produktionen, 01 November 2014)

 

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Sordide – La France a Peur (Avantgarde Music, 21 December 2014)

 

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Cantique Lépreux – Cendres Célestes (Eisenwald, 18 March 2016)

 

My calendar is lying to me, I am sure of this. How could it possibly be only Tuesday, when it already feels like this week has lasted about sixteen years?? I have no reasonable or logical explanation. Anyway, as I sit here watching the seconds creep by, I might as well get something written to share with you folks. How does some atmospheric black metal sound? What about albums by three different bands, who approach “atmosphere” in three different ways? And — rather peculiarly — what about a unifying theme between all three albums that just might make you want to get up out of your chair and dance? What if all these questions were rhetorical, because no matter what your answer, that’s what you’re getting anyway?

 

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Corrections House – Last City Zero, Lumbar – The First and Last Days of Unwelcome (2013)

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Corrections House – Last City Zero (Neurot Recordings, 29 October 2013)

 

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Lumbar – The First and Last Days of Unwelcome (Southern Lord Records, 11 November 2013)

 

Salutations. It’s Monday, and I just don’t have the energy for any of the wisecracks or silliness these things often start with, so instead I’ll just jump right into introducing today’s topic of conversation. It’s been a long time coming, but finally I’m getting around to writing about these two albums which were each released in late 2013, and which each subsequently found their way into the top ten of my Top 13 of 2013 list. Yes, that particular list did contain a total of twenty-seven albums, technically speaking, but still that’s no excuse for a delay of more than two years before getting some of these reviews done — particularly considering the exceptionally high quality of the material found here.

The two albums in question were the first to be released by two different groups of musicians, all veterans of fairly well-known bands: first, Corrections House is a conglomoration of Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), and Sanford Parker (Minsk), with some of the lyrics contributed by the phantasmatic “minister of propaganda,” Seward Fairbury; and Lumbar is a project led by Aaron Edge (well-known as a graphic designer, who worked for Southern Lord Records for several years, but also a guitarist and drummer who has been part of literally dozens of groups, including Brothers of the Sonic Cloth), with the addition of Mike Scheidt (YOB) and Tad Doyle (Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, formerly Tad).

In each case, I think you’ll find — as they say — that the finished product shows each collective to be more than simply a sum of its parts. But even if that wasn’t the case, looking at the particular parts involved, those would still be pretty lofty sums, no?

 

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Menhir – Hiding in Light, Sunwølf – Eve (2016)

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Menhir – Hiding in Light (Tartarus Records, 17 April 2016)

 

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Sunwølf – Eve (self-released, 18 April 2016)

 

Good afternoon, and a very happy Friday to you all. I don’t know about you, but for me this week just couldn’t end soon enough. It’s been kind of rough around here. Of course, for those of you reading this in Europe, it’s already late Friday evening and your work week has probably been over for several hours by now. And for those who are way on the other side of the world, it’s already Saturday morning and maybe you’re hungover by this point and already totally forgot about this week. I don’t know. But for me, the day is just about over and I’m totally ready to head home. Before I do, I’d like to share a bit of music with you, though. After all, that’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it?

After yesterday’s whopper of a review, I figured it might be nice to scale it back a little today, and only focus on two releases. The two that I’ve chosen to write about actually have very little in common with each other apart from the fact that they’re both scheduled to come out within the next few days. But I found them both quite enjoyable, and I suspect several of you might also like each of these — or at the very least one or the other just may be your cup of tea …

 

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The Mound Builders / Pale Horseman – Split (RSD 2016) +3 Pale Horseman Albums (2013, 2014, 2015)

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The Mound Builders / Pale Horseman – Split (Failure Records & Tapes, 16 April 2016)

 

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Pale Horseman – Pale Horseman (self-released, 17 April 2013)

 

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Pale Horseman – Mourn the Black Lotus (self-released, 07 July 2014)

 

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Pale Horseman – Bless the Destroyer (Bullet City Records, 30 November 2015)

 

Here at Valley of Steel headquarters, we’ve been trying very hard to bring you quality reviews almost every day (sometimes two at a time!) as a public service, so that you, the reader, get the opportunity to check out as much new music as possible. Hopefully some of you folks out there appreciate that, and you’ve managed to discover at least one thing you’ve really enjoyed after reading about it here.

Well yesterday there was no new review (but as a side note, for those who live near Pittsburgh, have you entered yesterday’s contest for Chelsea Wolfe tickets yet? — And as a side side note, have you also entered our other current giveaways, for Baroness or Thy Art Is Murder yet??), so to make up for that, today we’re presenting an unprecedented quadruple review!!

…Ok, ok, that’s not exactly how this came about — the truth is, just a couple of days ago, we received word that Failure Records had a special release lined up for this year’s Record Store Day (which is this Saturday, the 16th!), a split record featuring a pair of songs each from Lafayette, Indiana’s The Mound Builders and Pale Horseman from Chicago. And the second of those names really rang a bell, because over the past few years Valley of Steel has received a total of three albums from that band — all good ones, too — but somehow we just never have gotten around to writing about any of them.

Until today. Sit down and buckle up, because we’re about to cover all of it.

 

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CHELSEA WOLFE Coming to Pittsburgh — Win FREE Tickets!!

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Opus One Productions Presents:

Chelsea Wolfe with A Dead Forest Index

Saturday 14 May 2016

at Mr. Smalls Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave. Pittsburgh (Millvale) PA 15209

ALL AGES, 9:00 show / 8:00 doors, $18 in advance / $20 day of show

 

Tickets are on sale NOW at Ticketweb… OR you can WIN a pair of tickets FREE, courtesy of Opus One Productions and Valley of Steel! Keep on reading to find out how…

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The Fifth Alliance – Death Poems (2015)

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The Fifth Alliance – Death Poems (digital, CD [Consouling Sounds], cassette [Breathe Plastic Records, Diorama Records] 30 October 2015 / vinyl [Wooaaargh, Dingleberry Records, Grains of Sand Records, Monomentum Collective, Smithsfoodgroup DIY, Solitary Wolf (Vleesklak Records), Vinylaceton] 13 December 2015)

 

So here’s the part where I throw together some sort of introductory thing, greeting all the folks out there reading this, and along the way probably saying stuff like “ugh, it’s Tuesday, I’ve felt like I could fall asleep at any moment all day,” and then going off in some direction, complaining about something lame like the people surrounding me coughing and sniffling so much that it sounds like a hospital ward, or the fact that the stupid light above my desk is burnt out, or whatever. And then comes the part where I ask how your day has been, and then all of you skim through this whole paragraph and ignore my attempts at engaging a dialogue, and then you skip your way down to the important part — just below that photo down there where the discussion about music starts …

 

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Graves at Sea / Sourvein – Split EP (2014), Sourvein – Aquatic Occult (2016)

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Graves at Sea / Sourvein – Split EP (Seventh Rule Recordings, 13 May 2014)

 

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Sourvein – Aquatic Occult (Metal Blade, 08 April 2016)

 

Hello and good afternoon, longtime friends and first-time visitors. I hope your Monday has been, at minimum, tolerable. From this side, “Today I didn’t even have to strangle anyone with their own phone cord or throw my computer through the cubicle wall out of frustration / I got to say it was a good day.”

Anyway, whatever kind of day you’re having, get ready for some positive, uplifting vibes to be coming your way from the music I have here to share with you. Now, that music is going to start with Graves at Sea, and for those who’ve heard the full-length they put out earlier this month (reviewed here), you’ll be able to tell right away that last statement was at least partly sarcastic. (For those who haven’t heard it, what the hell are you waiting for? Go read that review, or even better, check them out in person during their tour that starts tonight in Atlanta!)

The remainder of this article will be about material — some of it a couple years old, some from just a few days ago — by the southern sludgery cesspit Sourvein; although it may not seem that way, this is (supposedly) where the positivity comes into the equation. Or at least truthfulness and realism. Off we go …

 

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Immortal Bird – Akrasia (2013), Empress/Abscess (2015)

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Immortal Bird – Akrasia (Closed Casket Recordings, 03 December 2013)

 

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Immortal Bird – Empress/Abscess (Broken Limbs Recordings [analog formats] / Manatee Rampage Recordings [digital formats], 14 July 2015)

 

Hey people. If you remember, in this Thursday’s post I was talking about how lots of music gets released this time of year — usually on Friday — and that there were a few things coming out this week in particular that I really wanted to talk to you about. Well I’m still planning to do that, but not quite yet. First I need to cover a band, Immortal Bird, that just blew me away when I first heard them over two years ago and continued to do so with their last release last summer and during all this time they’ve been traveling back and forth across the country like crazy, but for one reason or another, I just never got around to writing about them.

Even though we almost never do Saturday posts around here, because nobody reads anything on the weekends, I wanted to make sure to get this out there by today. I’m going to share with you some thoughts about the band in question, their debut EP and follow-up LP, and then (if you head on down to the comments section) I’ll let you know about all the details of their current tour all over the eastern U.S. with Pyrrhon, which kicks off tonight in Pittsburgh!! and runs for the next few weeks.

 

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