Greetings, friends! I come bearing good news for those who live in or within driving distance of central Texas, and for those who just enjoy good music no matter where in the world they are…
HAPPY FRIDAY y’all!
It has been a long-ass week and I’m kind of exhausted as we approach the end of it, so I won’t waste too much time or energy on introductory matters. Let’s just say I’ve got some atmospheric blackgaze to share with you.
One album that came out last summer and quickly found its way onto my list of 2025’s best releases; the other is just coming out TODAY and wouldn’t be terribly surprising if it ended up headed in a similar direction by next January…
Hello, Internet friends! Guess what — it’s freezing outside. But this is GOOD news. Because for more than two weeks, we hadn’t seen any temperatures this high. Sub-freezing every day, and single digits (Fahrenheit) AT MOST every night. And I’ll be honest, I’m tired of it. Tired of the anxiety of waking up every couple hours and checking on the kitchen sink and the bathtub to make sure the pipes haven’t frozen in either place AGAIN, despite the supplemental electric heaters in both rooms plus one in the basement, when it has dropped below zero outside.
But then on Monday it crept slightly above freezing finally, and then Tuesday the temperature anomalously soared up into the 50s (Fahrenheit)! And while the rest of this week has been closer to normal for this time of year (highs in the 30s, lows in the 20s), at least I can rest a little easier for now. At least, until all those mountains of snow that have lined the driveways and roads all melt too quickly and then we have the potential for the river to flood.
Anyway, you haven’t come here for me to sit here like some elderly at a nursing home, chattering nonstop about what’s happening with the weather. Instead, I present you with not one but TWO excellent albums that dropped last year, in case you may have missed out on these…
Hey folks — from the record label that’s been making a reputation for itself over the past several years for your go-to spot for crazy experimental noisy sounds and truly unique merch options, perhaps we should have seen this one coming, but the latest Philip K. Discs release is here… and it’s a hand-built, fully customizable, fully modular, noise box you can use to make your OWN crazy experimental noisy sounds!
It’s Bandcamp Friday once again — hope you all are having a happy one!
Feels like a good time to check in on our Michiganian friends Bog Wizard. Back when we published a review of their 2020 and 2021 releases, there were a few specific references to the “Satanic Panic” of the late 20th century. Well, since that time, the band went and released a whole damn album named for that concept. They also put together an album with literary tie-ins, both of which are highly recommended for you to check out!
Hello, friends. Hope you’re having a pleasant Friday.
Here, we’re still slowly but surely shoveling ourselves out from last weekend’s storm, trying our best to keep ourselves warm and keep our pipes from freezing, with recent high temperatures refusing to rise above the tweens (Fahrenheit), and Alexa blinking its caution-colored yellow light at us every day with a new notification about a severe cold warning, with overnight lows hovering around zero or below (also Fahrenheit).
Meanwhile, I haven’t ventured out anywhere since last Saturday morning (to pick up groceries and library books) — in the days since, I’ve only been outside to shovel the front walkway, the driveway, and as much of the surrounding street as I could, given that the borough either felt it was unnecessary to plow all the way to the end of our road OR they were unable to get past our neighbors’ annoying arrays of vehicles parked all over the place.
Nevertheless, without leaving the house or any contact with outsiders, I’ve somehow managed to now find myself practically bedridden with some kind of dreadful sinus infection or cold or perhaps turtle flu. But there’s new music out today and I’d be derelict in my duties if I didn’t take some time out of my day to share it with you folks!
Fucking earwigs, amiright? I watched Spike Lee‘s 2025 film Highest 2 Lowest over the weekend (which I enjoyed, by the way, despite its middling ratings — although admittedly I have not seen the Kurosawa original it was based on; I guess I probably should), and almost nonstop over the past few days I keep finding “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” (originally from Oklahoma, but it plays during the opening of this movie as Denzel‘s character looks down over New York City from the balcony of his probably-billion-dollar apartment.
Anyway, it is NOT a Beautiful Mornin’ here in the valley. It’s like six degrees outside (Fahrenheit, which I think is something like negative a hundred in the rest of the world), and it’s been the kind of windy that wakes you up sporadically throughout the night because it keeps rattling the windows. So I am very much dragging this morning. Fortunately I don’t actually need to go outside (thank you, remote work) so I can just throw on an extra layer or two and push through it. And anyway by this afternoon I heard it’s supposed to go up to like 15F (aka minus 50C or something).
And fortunately, there is a simple doctor-recommended remedy for getting rid of earwigs: listening to something else, ANYTHING else. Especially at a high volume. And I’ve got some great candidates here.
Inbox overflowing with messages from every band and label you’ve ever heard of (and tons you don’t even remember subscribing to)? Must be Bandcamp Friday!
If you need help wading through the oceans of stuff being marketed at you all day, I’m here to help with a few selections to highlight.
First: our good friends over at Philip K. Discs have dropped some sweet exclusive merch today.
Next, get yourself ready for winter weather with a brand new pair of socks! But not just any socks, these ones come emblazoned with the logo of Italian dark-occult/doomsters Messa. Wear them in good health!
And finally…
Just announced: This Friday is Bandcamp Friday for the first time in 2025. So if you have been planning to make any music purchases, tomorrow would be a great time to do it, because 100% of the funds end up in the pocket of the band or record label (and not the corporate overlords who own Bandcamp).
However, if you have dollars (or euros, francs, dinars, whatever) burning a hole in your pocket and you don’t have anything in particular to spend it on — please feel free to browse the archives here at Valley of Steel for recommendations. And here are two more worth checking out, each a lengthy chunk of heavy doom, each originally released by the respective band last year, and each recently re-released as cassette tapes by our Dutch friends at Breathe Plastic Records.
Valley of Steel 