Tag Archives: Loss

Disemballerina – Undertaker (2014), Poison Gown (2016)

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Disemballerina – Undertaker (Graceless Recordings, 28 June 2014)

 

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Disemballerina – Poison Gown (Minotauro Records, 10 July 2016)

 

Moving right along with our theme of not-exactly-metal music, today we’re going to cover a pair of albums by Portlandian trio Disemballerina. This ensemble first came to my attention about two years ago when harp/viola player Myles Donovan had contacted me about their album Undertaker, which had been mixed and mastered by Tad Doyle and released via the Loss-owned Graceless Records. It was described as “something like doomed chamber music,” and had cover art that was taken from a series of images where the harpist had placed found bird carcasses (in this case, a blue heron) into the photocopier at Kinko’s. With a pedigree like that, of course I was instantly intrigued.

Disemballerina, it turns out, had been formed back in 2009 by Donovan and guitarist Ayla Holland. The two have worked with a number of other musicians over the years, but their line-up is currently set with the inclusion of cellist Jennifer Christensen. Last month, the “doomed chamber” group had another album emerge — Poison Gown — through Italian label Minotauro Records, and so today we’ll tackle both of those records.

 

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Tours Galore: All Roads Lead to Gilead Fest

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Wisconsin. America’s dairyland. The Badger State. Home of the Packers. And next weekend, the site of one of the summer’s biggest showcases of filthy, ugly, underground metal.

Gilead Media has made quite a name for itself, mostly by issuing highly sought after vinyl versions of some of the best names in bleak, black noise. And for three days (18-20 July), a huge collection of those will be converging on the city of Oshkosh. I know several people who are making the trip out there, and every year I wish I could too because they always have an incredible “no filler” line-up. This year is no exception, and I’ve got all the details for you below.

But many of the bands playing at the fest have also arranged a series of shows in various other cities on the dates before and after next weekend. Several of these will be hitting Pittsburgh over the next week or so, and chances are some of them may be coming near where you live too. I’ve got details of those tours too (at least, I’ve tried to make this as comprehensive as possible). So check it out.

 

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Some Awesome News: New Bell Witch Album On Its Way Soon!!

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Ladies and Gentlemen and whoever else may be out there reading this: I just have two words for you. FUCK YEAH, NEW BELL WITCH!

And following that, a few more words: SHUT UP, I KNOW IT WAS FIVE WORDS, I CAN COUNT, HONESTLY!

Anyway, believe it or not, it’s been almost a year since the official release of the band’s demo EP (see it reviewed described in excruciating detail here.) And now reports are starting to come in about their upcoming full-length debut album, so it’s definitely time to start getting excited…

 
Late last night I stumbled across this little gem from Profound Lore Records, revealing the title and release date, and a sneak peek at one of the tracks! Well, half of a track anyway — only about the first eleven minutes’ worth. But still.

 

BELL WITCH – Album/Tour Announcement, New MP3 Posted

Published September 11, 2012 | By Profound Lore Records

 
Seattle extreme doom metal duo Bell Witch, comprised of bassist/vocalist Dylan Desmond (also of Samothrace fame) and drummer/vocalist Adrian Guerra, have completed their soul crushing debut album Longing along with announcing a U.S. tour to coincide with the release of Longing respectively.

By creating massive, epic, and crushing soundscapes of doom, all this merely with just bass, drums, and a dual vocal pummel, Longing expands on the promise Bell Witch laid down with their 2011 demo, which was seen as one of the best doom metal demos of last year. Longing (which features guest vocals by Erik Moggridge of Aerial Ruin on the track “Rows”) is a slow, time-stretching trodden journey through sounds of darkness, pain, and suffering and serves as one of the saddest, morose, and most despondent, stripped down, doom metal releases of the year.
 
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Just Released: Anhedonist – Netherwards

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Anhedonist – Netherwards (Dark Descent Records, 10 April 2012)

 
Good morning, Readers. Do you think I’m strange? Wait, don’t answer that. What I mean is, does it sound strange to you if I say that listening to some of the darkest, most mournful and depressing music actually makes me feel better? Here’s an example: last year I listened to a stream of Loss‘s critically-acclaimed album Despond, when that was made available shortly before the album’s release. I thought it was really good stuff — but shortly after that I was reading some reviews on some of the blogs I frequent, and admittedly I was confused by what they were saying. Stuff like how the experience took the listener to a really dark place, filled with torture and anguish and misery. I remember thinking to myself, I should really go back and listen to that again, because I remember coming out feeling peaceful and uplifted.

So with that in mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are two possible things happening here: either I am totally strange, with some sort of abnormal personality disorder… or else being at work (where I do quite a bit of my music listening) is such an awful and soul-crushing experience, that listening to aural expressions of pure melancholy actually can brighten that environment. I don’t know, probably it’s a little bit of both.

In any case, I’ve developed quite a taste for the doomier side of music. I love doom metal, I’ve found that I generally prefer death/doom over standard death metal, and just within the past year or so I’ve discovered a strong passion for Funeral Doom. So, the next logical step would be a Funeral Doom plus Death Metal hybrid, right? Of course it would. I propose that it would be called Funeral Death. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Anhedonist.
 
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