Tag Archives: Ireland

Nomadic Rituals – Fust (2025) || Cursed Monk Records – Year IX Compilation (2026)

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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.

 

Cursed Monk Records – Year IX Compilation (03 January 2026)

 

Nomadic Rituals – Fust (digital: self-released, CD/vinyl: Cursed Monk Records, 14 March 2025 | cassette: Fiadh Productions, 11 July 2025)

 

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Soothsayer – At This Great Depth (2016); Echoes of the Earth (2021)

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Soothsayer – At This Great Depth (Transcending Obscurity Records, 30 December 2016)

 

Soothsayer – Echoes of the Earth (Transcending Obscurity Records, 09 April 2021)

 

Good afternoon, friends! I’m going to start today with a brief bit of explanation/clarification: the band we’ll be discussing and listening to is one who’ve never been featured on this website before. Long-time readers with unnaturally exceptional memories may note that approximately five years ago I wrote about a split record, half of which was attributed to a band called Soothsayer, who were primarily of the neocrust persuasion (with some blackened and ambient-doom influences thrown in). That band was from Pittsburgh — roughly 30 miles from where I lived.

Well later that same year, I happened to hear about an upcoming release from a band called Soothsayer, essentially an ambient-doom group (with some blackened and crusty influences thrown in). This “other” Soothsayer resides approximately 3300 miles further away in Cork, but their material was equally successful at catching my attention and interest. Unfortunately, I never managed to find a chance to write about it — until now, on the eve of “Irish Soothsayer” releasing their debut full-length.

 

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Venus Sleeps – Dead Sun Worship (2016), Brigantia – Midnight (2015)

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Venus Sleeps – Dead Sun Worship (on cassette via Tartarus Records, 22 March 2016; originally released 13 March 2015)

 

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Brigantia – “Midnight” (self-released, 28 May 2015)

 

Hello out there, and good afternoon! Hope your week is going well — as for myself, I’m just relieved that it’s halfway over. Anyway, I’ve been planning on telling you about the debut album by Irish psychedelic doom band Venus Sleeps, which has been out for a while now but I just discovered it when it was re-released by Tartarus Records last week.

Well today that’s just what I’m going to do, except that I also decided to throw in an extra treat for you all: a song that was put out last spring by another Irish doom band, Brigantia, which you can download for free. Think of it as kind of a bonus track at the end of the article. I’ve got a feeling you’ll enjoy both of these …

 

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