Morlok - The End Times

Recent excursions into soft grunge and so called pastel goth have left me clamboring for some blazing raw experimental Czech black metal, and hot damn do Morlok deliver! Distraught melodies, sizzlingly off-kilter drum programming and an overall alien industrial vibe that never forgoes the outright thrashiness that defines the awesomeness that IS Czech black metal!! Fuck, they even throw in a bit of unclean "When Johnny comes Stomping Home" folk jazz on some of these cuts. More fun than an extraterrestrial nocturnal snipe hunt and definitely for fans of Blacklodge, Mysticum, Meatballs and dat Sabbatic Goat.

The End Times

Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet

The soundtrack to my burgeoning adolescence...well, this and the X-Files theme song, oh Agent Scully!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Nord'n'commander - Sacred Spear Aftersounds

Music that will make you forget your friends, forget your enemies and embrace that universal constant that is molecularly bound to our very being. That gooey epigenetic sheen called LOVE>
I honestly don't know why those fuckers are still listening to MyMorningJacket or Mumford and his Sons when there is THIS out there! Definitely needs to be re-issued by Hekaloth label.

Sacred Spears

Reencarnacion - Egipto

Another strange, strange release by these Columbian shamans. Reencarnacion's debut 888Metal was black/thrash as filtered through European RIO, Egipto does away with nearly all of the metal influence, instead we are put on a spirtiual avant-garde journey that is more Basho than Bathory. Maybe comparisons can be made to the controversial MH album Slagry, but that shit was structured, Reencarnacion are improvising and riffing all over the place. This has to be improvised, if they actually structured these tunes they should be locked up for crimes against humanity (or given some kind of genius grant, I really can't decide)....Much like the cover image, Egipto is completely fucked and unexpected stuff!

Egipto

Oblachnyj Kraj - Svobody Zahoteli

Epically weird Russian heavy metal folk hybrid...words can't really do this justice so you'll just have to listen for yourself...

Svobody Zahoteli

UzJD on WFMU

Live Uz Jsme Doma...the best of Czech! Since when did Miroslav turn into the blonde Gallagher?...and speaking of Gallagher, any updates on that melon crackin' son of a bitch?

Za Frumi - Za Shum Ushatar Uglakh

Ha haha this band is crazy! You think Summoning is obsessed with LOTR, this band takes it to a whole nother level! The vocalizations are a highlight as it's all in orcish complete with wildass orc intonations. Hilarious, mesmerizing and delightful!

Za Shum Ushatar Uglakh

Comus - First Utterance

Definitely one of the darkest hippy albums ever made and definitely a personal fav. Check out these AMAZING lyrics:
Hymen hunter, hands of steel, crack you open and your red flesh peel
Pain procurer, eyes of fire pierce your womb and push still higher
Comus rape, Comus break sweet young virgin's virtue take
Naked flesh flowing hair her terror screams they cut the air
...nice, huh?

First Utterance

Klabautamann - Our Journey Through The Woods

Boy that Zeitgeister, they really can do no wrong, can they? Be it Island or Valborg, Ekpyrosis or Woburn House, everything they put out is of high quality. On this debut from '03, the Klabautaboyz do a great job at updating the epic sound of vintage Enslaved (Frost and Vikingligr in particular) with just enough tasteful Maidenesque guitar flourishes to keep thing interesting. Definitely one of my favorite Zeitgeister releases, and sure to become one of yours too.

Take A Journey

Obsequiae - Suspended in the Brume of Eos

Excellent folk influenced black metal that has some of the most outstanding riffs I’ve heard in a while, like a cross between Skyclad and Dissection. An original sound that is pure ear candy.

Suspended in the Brume of Eos

Varghkoghargasmal - Drowned In Lakes

Clumsy folkfuck clean-channelled acoustical black metal...utterly charming in it's incompetence and enthralling in it's mystical savant approach.

Drowned In Lakes

Absurd - Facta Loquuntur

For anyone who read that Lords Of Chaos book, the band Absurd should ring a bell...they are the ones who wouldn't let a fellow classmate join their ranks, and then murdered him for good measure! Talk about adding insult to injury!! Nowadays, they would probably just leave a bunch of hate on his facebook page till he did himself in, ah the glories of the internet...but anyways, on to the music...Absurd's sound is sort of a love or hate type of deal; crudely recorded, out of tune (intentionally?), simple beyond belief, and often times more punk/folk/RAC than straight up metal. Honestly this sounds like a retarded Pogues cover band with a really grim production. But y'know what? That's exactly why I love it! These songs just have that "x" factor that elevates them from horrible to sublime (if not quite sublime, then at least enjoyable). Be it an epic vocal hook that will stay in your head for days (Eternal Winter) or a catchy riff that is pounded into oblivion. Listening to this again, I'm very much reminded of last year's excellent Misantropical Painforest album. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm sure these bastards wouldn't have it any other way.

Facta Loquuntur

Symbiontic - Vaya

Kind of a nice German surprise right here, tech-death with some proggy-folk twists, sounding like Anata's The Conductor's Departure mixed with Bo Hansson!! Definitely unusual and pretty darn good.

Vaya

Fertilizer - A Painting Of Annoyance

What is it with Germans and their knack for crafting idiosyncratic death metal? Much as the Czechs crafted wonderfully romantic death metal, the Germans seem to have cornered the market on perfecting the art of death metal + grunge. Atmosphere reigns supreme on Fertilizer's Painiting. So let me paint you a portrait...an undercoat of vintage Soundgarden mixed with the primal brushstrokes of an early Amorphis...and a few glazes of Led Zepellin II. Underground as hell, raunchy and wild. Fuck I love this album!

A Painting Of Annoyance

Už Jsme Doma - Uprostřed Slov

Although I've only recently gotten into these guys, they have quickly become one of my all-time favorite bands. 1990's Uprostred Slov perfectly displays their mastery of Gypsy-avant-pronk-RIO-inflected Wagnerian-ska!!

Uprostred Slov

Modrý Efekt & Radim Hladík

Had to repost Mr. Hladík's hot joint with Modry Efekt from way back in '74. Hladík is just a wonderfully expressive guitar player as evidenced by his virtuoso performance of Cajovna...

Modry Fire

Silent Streams of Godless Elegy - Themes

Themes combines chamber RIO with pop song structures and wraps it all in a warm gypsy death metal tortilla. It seems like it shouldn't work, but SSOGE pull off the production with great finesse and aplomb. Just listen to Winter Queen or Lovin' On The Earth if ya don't believe...this is some seriously catchy stuff!!

Themes

Forgotten Silence - Thots

There is a definitive strain of Czechslovakian death metal that carries romantic sensibilities...I'm not talking love songs exactly, certainly  not emo...heaven forbid that. The Czechs do it up right with a mournful sense of longing and Bohemian je ne c'est quoi. Forgotten Silence is a prime example of this strain with chugging riffs, jangly guitar, church organ, marimba and fretless bass (for some reference, czech out Love History or taking it a step further, Slovakia's Lunatic Gods). Their tumultuous narrative (Thots is based on the novel and movie La Casa De Los Espiritos) corresponds with the progressive qualities that are ever present in most all these Czech bands. An ephemeral, beautiful work.

Thots

Root - Kärgeräs

What can I say about Kärgeräs. My favorite album of all time? Top 3 at least…I’m taking this one to the desert island with me that’s for damn sure (Nothingface and Fish Rising would be the other two I suppose). Unbeatable atmosphere, emotion, chops, and imagination. The absolute pinnacle of what metal can be, even when it’s hardly metal at all.

Sweet Nation Kärgeräs

Joyless - Without Support

Damn, a new Joyless?! This really was a nice surprise, and a fucking strange one! If you thought Wisdom & Arrogance was off the wall, hang on to your bicycle shorts cuz this one bounces between depressive coffee house ballads and surf rock record scratching to banjo solos galore and off the cuff warbling. I'm still reminded of the Cranberries (the chick's voice), but there is something undeniably Japanese about this; like a mixture of Cornelius and the less aggro moments of Melt Banana. Gonna be a favorite of mine I can tell already.

Without Support