Mortuary Drape - Tolling 13 Knell

I posted this one waaaaay back when I first started this blog, but it is one I keep coming back to and for the past couple weeks I haven't been able to listen to too much besides it. The riffs awesome, vocals awesome, atmosphere amazing....and the drummer is the guy that drummed on Janvs's Vega album, goddamn! This is the very essence of Italian SpookProg. How many black metal bands can get away with singing "La la la La la la la la" for a chorus in one of their songs (Winged Priestess)?

Only one

Tolling 13 Knell

Why Don't They Make Music Videos Like This Anymore?

SKULL AND BONES

More green-screen grossness from these Brazilian badasses. You can actually buy a full-length from these guys...me?, I'm not that brave.

Incubator - Symphonies Of Spiritual Cannibalism

The return of this slimy slithering Grungy German death metal entity. A bit more streamlined than McGillroy, but still just as weird and fucked.

Symphonies Of Spiritual Cannibalism

Falconer's MINI Coupe Commercial

Never thought I'd see a car commercial featuring Falconer, this is some weird ass shit for sure.

Norska - Norska

A band I found out about from the wonderful Utvaer blog (will he ever post again?) Norska from up in Oregon (not Norway haha) play a type of sludge metal heavily indebted to Isis Neurosis and the usual cast of characters. I must say that I normally do not go for sort of thing in the slightest…but Norska for all their stodgy rhythms and hoarse throaty yells have that imaginative spark of creativity that made me keep coming back…be it quiet interludes and excellently paced songs or outstanding high strung guitar lines recalling everything from Led Zepellin to Iron Maiden, I’m hooked.

Norska

Winterblut - Grund Gelenkkunst

So, keeping true to my word, I am delving ass deep into the insidious world of German Black metal...and without further ado, ladies and gentlemen...Winterblut's Grund.
A monumental statement put out by ol L'Hiver almost a decade ago. If the Jesus Lizards ever recorded a black metal album, this would be it my friends...grungy, mathy evilness that grooves on that enviable tin-pan alley swag. Just love that he put a cheering crowd at the end of the album...fucking brilliant!

"Grund"ge

Valborg - Glorification Of Pain

Part of the German Zeitgeister label contingency...Personal fav of mine, taking doom death and anagogic grunge into mystifying realms with Celtic Frost's moves and Nirvana's smooth groooves.

Glorification Of Pain

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

Incubator - McGillroy The Housefly

This album just really captures my imagination...grungy German death metal from '92 dealing with greys, gore, rape and all things unwholesome. The cover is an exemplary piece of demented Seagrave-styled artwork (that sweet little alien-like insect with a dagger sitting on a tree/pile of it's own larvae is a real keeper) and sets the stage for the weirdness of the music within. This is what I call "relaxed" death metal...almost having more to do with Voivod (especially Outer Limits era) than Morbid Angel. Actually I think a good comparison can be made with Supurations's Voivodian masterpiece The Cube mixed with a little bit of Carbonized's Disharmonization. Rhythms play a big part of this "relaxed", but unsettling atmosphere...always kept tastefully in check...more apt to use a jumpy hi-hat or well-placed crash instead of a blast; although there is one blast section on this housefly...I won't say where, suffice to say it will throw you for a loop. Really an underrated gem, and a real score for those that like their death metal weird and wild.

McGillroy The Housefly

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

Kaviar Kavalier Triple Header

A Necrocock triple post...not for the faint of heart!!!

Dreams of Caviar

Klinik

Studio Y

Heiden - Obsidian

Pretty killer black'n'roll reminding me of the Estonian Loit's patented flak'n'roll or even the militaristic Norwegians in Vreid. Heiden retains an insatiable black metal characteristic letting blastbeats emerge from all the midpaced hellfire...I even hear some postrock guitar lilt in the mix, so there's a little something for everyone!

Obsidian

Forest of Impaled - Forward the Spears

One of the best black/death albums to ever come out of these United States.  Featuring a young M Kolar on bass and journeyman Duane Timlin on skins. "I want to see those fucking heads piled to the sky!"

Forward the Spears

Adrian Belew - Lone Rhino

Adrian Belew was a simple Kentucky boy who rose to fame as a wild-ass guitarist (and vocalist) for Zappa, Talking Heads and later on the legendary King Crimson. Lone Rhino is his first solo offering full of magical wistful numbers that seem to conjure the pizaaz he would dose out on Crimson discs Discipline and THRAK.... Animal Grace is a hard driving piece with a twisted melody line and bold vocals, Adidas in Heat reminds me of the Seinfeld theme song, while the title track renders a pathos that belies its humorous subject matter. This is definitely a weird album, but it's a grower.

Lone Rhino

Entombed - Clandestine

Ok this is probably the best death metal album ever. No hyperbole, just a straight up fact. Entombed have been fairly hit or miss during their incredibly lengthy career, but their first few albums were just knocked out of the park humdingers. Clandestine fires on all cylinders led by the crackerjack drumming of Nicke Andersson (who also handles vocals, Ol' LG sat out on this one). This is death metal before it became an athletic event, before it was mandatory to cram as many swoop picked arpeggiated ghost notes into a measure as was inhumanly possible. This was back when grooove mattered, when the brutality was in the guitar tone, and the vocals felt like vomit.
This was Swedish death metal circa 1991, and it was damn good.

Clandestine

Therion - Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas

Welcome to Swedish death metal week! I'll kick things off with one of my favorites of the genre--Therion's Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas.

Therion share a lot in common with Atrocity - both started out playing strange forms of death metal, and began adding less savory constituents as they "matured". At least Therion have remained somewhat listenable, but this is neither here nor there because Ho Drakon is one of Therion's earlier death metal offerings and remains the crown jewel in their discography.  

Hemming together a mixture of classick Swedish death metal riffs and unconventional songwriting + sound effects that bring to mind Celtic Frost's Into the Pandeamonium, Therion created an album that is a pure headbanging delight. The best thing about this Ho Drakon is that there is nothing else that sounds like it...I mean nothing. It seems to have caught that last arterial thump of creativity that pulsated in early '90's Swedish death metal...when band's were either kicking ass or being weird, and sometimes doing both!! Ho Drakon does both ridiculously well.

Ho Drakon

Virus - Live in London 3/22/11

LIVE VIRUS!! WOOHOOOO!!!

Live in London

Barry Miles - Magic Theater

In the vein of RTF and Weather Report and all that is hot...that's all ya really need to know.

Silver Bullet

Weather Report - Sweetnighter

You have to be good to play jazz, especially hot jazz.  And with jazz (in fact with anything) the hotter the better. Now if you aren't in the know as to the origins of hot jazz, this album is one of the best primers in da world. Uptempo licks coming at you from all angles, Shorter horn blasts and Vitous bass grooves ringing in ya ears. Some may call this fusion, which it is, but it's also red hot music to get that ass shakin' and fingers snappin'.
If you listen to just one song, make it Boogie Woogie Waltz. That is a piece of sublime transcendence beauty.

Sweetnighter