Category Archives: New Releases

NEWS: Laster Signs with Prophecy Productions; New Album in the Works

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Atmospheric metal band Laster has signed with Prophecy Productions. The Netherlandic group, which formed in 2012 and refers to its ferocious sound as “obscure dance music,” is currently hard at work on its third full-length release and follow-up to last year’s Ons Vrije Fatum (Dunkelheit Produktionen). Laster‘s Prophecy debut is expected in 2018.

A uniquely gifted band with a singular, solitary sound, Laster plays metal with all its fury, but its music could also be described as progressive (i.e. Crack the Skye-era Mastodon), atmospheric, experimental, and even jazz-like. Attempting to categorize Laster‘s elaborately textured and ever-changing style is like trying to catch air with a net; it’s difficult to describe, but “atmospheric blackened shoegaze space prog” should provide a shadowy sense of what to expect. The band has the ability to stun first-time listeners with the utter violence of its initial impact which is unapologetically harsh, particularly with regards to the vocals which morph from flesh-peeling shrieks to ugly, gasping growls, harsh whispers, somber spoken words and rising yells of anguish. Despite its gruff exterior, digging into Laster‘s compositions reveals many layers of complexity.

“Prophecy has been part of our musical development since we were in our early teens. Inviting each other to this dance feels like a proper and weirdly magical gesture,” comments the band when asked for a statement. “At the moment we are in the middle of the writing process. The record will be an expansion of Ons Vrije Fatum. A bit more technical. A lot more nocturnal. City vibes. Some more dissonance. Experimental.”

 
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NEWS: Conan Announce North American Tour, New Album

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British caveman battle doomsters Conan are currently hard at work on the follow up to their 2016 release Revengeanance [reviewed here, alongside 2014’s Blood Eagle], which is expected via Napalm Records during the early part of this year. In anticipation of the new album, the band has announced a full North American headline tour beginning in February. The tour, featuring support from The Ditch and the Delta, starts February 9th in Calgary AB and wraps up March 13th in Denver CO. A complete list of dates can be found below.

 
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Fister / CHRCH – Split (2017)

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Fister / CHRCH – Split (Crown and Throne Ltd / Battleground Records, 17 November 2017)

 

New year, new review! Here we have a split record between a pair of bands: Saint Louisian ugly-sludge architects Fister and fellow slow-doom-ahaulics CHRCH from Sacramento. While the first of these has been written about quite often on this site, up until this record’s release about a month and a half ago, that second name was brand-new to us here in the Valley. As it turns out, the name is (relatively) new to the band as well: their 2015 debut album was released under the name Church, and today’s subject is their first official recording with the abbreviated, vowelless moniker. It won’t be quite so long to wait until their next one, though: as of last month, word on the street says the band has signed with Neurot Recordings to put out another album this spring. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we’re supposed to be talking about this split 12″, containing exactly one gargantuan track by each of the two contributing bands.

 

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No Gnews is Good Gnews (11 December 2017)

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Gary-Gnu

 

No Gnews is Good Gnews!

 

Happy Monday once again, folks! Today we’re going to dive back into our extensive mailbox for various news items that have come our way since our last update. For starters, we’ve got new information about two of the bands we discussed last time (Harakiri for the Sky and Tengger Cavalry) plus more goodies!
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WVRM – Can You Hear the Wind Howl (2017)

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WVRM – Can You Hear the Wind Howl (To Live A Lie Records, 30 September 2017)

 

Okay, so one day last weekend I was running out to grab some food from a nearby pizza place. And as always seems to happen, especially around this time of year, I’ve found myself falling pretty far behind with checking out all the new releases that have been sent my way — and as a result I have been trying to take advantage of any spare moments I can find to listen to stuff. That includes times when I’ll be alone in the car, no matter how short the trip might be, figuring that I’ll at least get the chance to hear a song or two and possibly get a feel for whether I’ll want to write about something here or if it’s not really my cup of tea and I’d be better off moving on. Anyway, on this particular occasion the next thing queued up on my Walkman was a recent EP by a band called WVRM who I’d later learn (I usually try to go into things without any preconceived notions wherever possible) have been around for a few years now and are based in Greenville, South Carolina.

Well, the noise that emanated from my car speakers really grabbed my attention in a hurry; I felt battered, bruised, and tossed around the whole way — and just as quickly, it was over. In fact, the sixth and final song coincidentally had concluded just as I was pulling into a parking space, so I decided it would be appropriate to listen to the whole thing again (all nine minutes and seven seconds) on the trip back home.

 

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No Gnews is Good Gnews

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Gary-Gnu

 

No Gnews is Good Gnews!

 

Hello, and happy Monday, and (if you live in the U.S.) happy day-back-to-work-after-a-nice-long-holiday-weekend. It’s been quite some time since we’ve checked in with our pal Gary Gnu (pictured above), so here he is again, bringing you some bits of gnews that recently arrived in our inbox …

 
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Anicon / Forest of Tygers – Split 7″ EP (2017)

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Anicon / Forest of Tygers – Split 7″ EP (Acteon Records, 03 October 2017)

 

Hey folks! How’s your day going so far? Got another one here to toss your way: a quick one this time, two different bands with one song each, right around five or six minutes apiece. Both of these — Brooklyn’s Anicon crew, and husband-and-wife team Forest of Tygers from Nashville — have been discussed around here previously, and personally I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve heard from both groups. So naturally it was exciting news when I recently learned that Acteon Records (which is run by the Tygers folks) had put out this split release of brand-new material last month!

 

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Echopraxia – Pumpkin Palace (2017)

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Echopraxia – Pumpkin Palace (self-released, 31 October 2017)

 

“But Halloween was like two weeks ago,” someone will surely be whining; “why would you be writing about a Halloween-themed metal album now??” For starters: it’s my damn website and I’ll write about whatever I want to. But also: just because the calendar turns over to November doesn’t necessarily mean that celebrating All Hallow’s Eve has to come to an end — in the immortal words of The Ghost of Christmas Present, “It is the season of the spirit / the message if we hear it / is make it last all year.” And I’m pretty sure that song (“It Feels Like Christmas”) was meant to be universally applicable.

And more seriously: especially now that the clocks have changed, it’s completely black outside both walking to the bus in the morning and coming home from work in the evening, the air is often cold and foggy, everyone in the neighborhood still has a whole bunch of pumpkin-based decorations (some of which were designed vaguely enough to work for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday as well, but many of which are just the result of being too lazy to put them away and drag out the Christmas stuff already), and one evening last week I happened to hear this five-song EP during my walk home and it seemed strangely appropriate. (Not to mention, at just under twenty minutes in length, it coincided with the journey from bus stop almost perfectly.) And therefore, regardless of the actual date, I felt like sharing this music with you.

 

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No Funeral / Livid – Split LP (2017)

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No Funeral / Livid – Split LP (Live Fast Die Recordings, 15 August 2017)

 

Where the hell did October go? Or September, or fall, or most of this goddamn year? What’s even happening anymore?

I don’t know. But I do know this: I’m quite literally drowning in excellent music over here, that I need to share with you people. And there’s just never enough time — but I’m not here to whine or make excuses, I’m here to get something published that I’ve been wanting to tell you about for a while. This is gonna be a short one, but that’s better than nothing, right? Right?

Anyway, check out this split LP featuring a pair of Minneapolitan bands, Livid (whose Prosthetic Records debut Beneath this Shroud, the Earth Erodes, which we discussed here, came out just about a month earlier) and No Funeral (who just got back home yesterday from a tour of the east coast, and who also happen to run the label responsible for releasing this split) …

 

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P. Moss – Vegas Tabloid (2017)

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P. Moss – Vegas Tabloid (Squidhat Press, 01 October 2017)

 
Hey there, ladies and gentlemen of the internet. It’s been some time since we’ve done a proper review around here, as you may have noticed. Things should be getting back to normal soon, but the simple reason is that there just hasn’t been much time available for listening to anything lately! With an abnormal amount of turnover at work over the past couple of months, I’ve found myself spending my days training quite a few temp employees, which has drastically cut into time I’d normally spend tuning out the world with my headphones blasting. A lot of the actual writing is done on the bus or in small bits here and there as I have spare time, but it’s virtually impossible to listen to anything on the bus because it’s so noisy I can barely make out anything — even with my Walkman turned up dangerously high.

Bus rides do afford me some quality time for keeping up with email though, or just for reading. So I find myself doing a lot of the latter, either via analog paper copies borrowed from the local library or digital books downloaded onto my phone. And that’s why, in a space where you’d normally come for music news, today I’m doing a book report like I’m back in middle school or something. Hopefully you all will enjoy this diversionary change-of-pace. Feel free to let me know in the comments. And be sure to stop back for more music-related stuff soon!

 

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