Krallice

Castevet – Obsian

From the black metal roar of “The Tower” to the melancholic beauty of “The Seat of Severence”, Obsian is a complex and flowing work. As elaborate as it can be, it’s simple in how it forces the basest of human emotion to rise to the surface and dominate the experience. It’s a masterwork that continues to reveal the layers of its bleakness with warmth rather than cold.

Indriocothere – II

Indricothere are most definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Lacking an attention span for the most part, II will turn away the more traditional audience. But for those with more adventurous tastes, II serves as a testament to the unfathomable talent that resides in Colin Marston. Genius like this doesn’t come along very often.

Musk Ox

Musk Ox: The Hellbound Interview

“I first saw Musk Ox perform in southern Ontario in the late spring of 2009. I was struck by the contrast between ambient acoustic music and a vibe that is perfectly resonate with that of many progressive, folk, and black metal bands. Musk Ox inhabits a place within two different styles of music, and gives us cause to appreciate both and ask questions about the relationship between them. My interactions with Nathanaël Larochette have always been easy due to his being such a friendly and approachable person, and I am thrilled that he took the time to answer my questions.”

Interview by Jonathan Millard-Smith

Barghest / False split LP

This September Gilead Media and Mirror Universe will co-release a split LP featuring two of USBM’s best, Barghest from Baton Rouge, LA and Minneapolis, MN’s, False. Both bands are coming off successful 2011s, which saw Barghest release their debut self-titled full-length and an untitled EP from False. While these two bands are undoubtedly black metal, their styles – at least on this release – are complimentary enough to make this split seem natural, yet distinguishing enough that there would be no confusing the two.

Castevet/ Æsahættr/ Sound Asleep/ The Sustained Low ‘C’ of Richard Strauss’ ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ @ Soybomb, Toronto ON, March 24th 2012

Hoping to inspire venom, Castevet found themselves facing a crowd that was listening intently, but far more interested in passive osmosis that an active confrontation. With no other weapon, Castevet responded by wielding their music like fists and broken bottles, bloodying the crowd as much as they could.

Orthrelm – 20012

Orthrelm appeal to that side of your nature that makes you recheck you’ve locked the door 10 times and pick at scabs best left alone. It’s obsessively intricate, maddeningly torturous, and absolutely brilliant. The very best thing about 20012 is that it’s just two bite-sized chunks of noise to digest

Disma – Towards The Megalith

Towards the Megalith is crushingly heavy – like monolithic pillars being dropped on top of you. Firmly anchored in the OSDM realm, the album features a demoralizing mix of harsh, seriously downtuned, doom-laden dirges that crawl along on split knuckles.