Short and to the point 5

By Aaron Sullivan. Unless you’ve been living under a rock you may have noticed a huge influx of Black Metal bands out of Iceland recently. Bands like Svartidauði, Sinmara, Misþyrming, and Zhrine. But to be honest

By Aaron Sullivan.


Unless you’ve been living under a rock you may have noticed a huge influx of Black Metal bands out of Iceland recently. Bands like Svartidauði, Sinmara, Misþyrming, and Zhrine. But to be honest, none have really done much for me. With the exception of one, Ljáin. Jef Whitehead (Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice) posted them on his Instagram, and if he’s promoting them then who am I not to check it out. Glad I did.

The two albums are atmospheric and raw at the same time. Vocal deep in the mix adding the cacophony of it all. Shifting rhythms keeping things from getting stale. Reminds me of a less chaotic Skaphe (who is half Icelandic themselves). How these guys have not been signed yet is a mystery to me. So check them out before they are so you can say, “I knew them before they were signed to <label name here>”.

Artwork Daniel Obzejta

Out of my scene here in L.A. comes Wovoka and their album Saros. How would I describe this band you ask? Well imagine if you will Neurosis and YOB making sweet sweet love. Go on, do it. Good. Now the love child produced by that love making would undoubtedly be Wovoka. The atmosphere and vocals of Neurosis combined with the riffs and sheer towering tone of YOB. First time seeing them live was like being run over by a herd of slow moving elephants. Their sound fills your ears to maximum capacity. Glacial in movement and in weight.

From the windy city comes the artist J.R. Robinson. He is the mastermind behind the band Wrekmeister Harmonies. When it started it out the band was more of a collective. J.R. being the main guy and with each album bringing in a slew of artist from the Chicago scene and elsewhere. Names like Sanford Parker, Jef Whitehead, Bruce Lamont, Marissa Nadler, and many others. The songs, like on my favorite album of his You've Always Meant So Much to Me, were sprawling 30 minute plus slow burns of jammy rock ambience rising and rising until a giant crescendo. Combining elements of DOOM, and experimentation, post-rock, and drone. Like a darker Godspeed You! Black Emperor. He expanded upon this for the next two albums. But with his latest Light Falls, some things have changed.

For one he has a permanent band mate in the multi-instrumentalist Esther Shaw. Two, no more 30 minute plus songs. The album contains seven songs that are no doubt connected (as evidenced by the title track broken into three pieces) but can also stand alone. Having been fortunate to have seen him live several times I get the feeling it was these live shows that may have informed this albums shorter song lengths. They have a real live feel to them. But then what do I know. Maybe the man just needed a change. Either way this is still a worthy addition to an already great catalogue of music.

Wreck and Reference. A band that recently was listed in an article on Invisible Oranges titled, 10 of the Heaviest Modern Bands Without Guitars, I would agree. I first heard them on their second album Want. I was struck immediately. To be that heavy in mood, to be that aggressive vocally, drumming with such power, and while not a metal band, sure feeling like one.

Their evolving catalogue is well documented on this site. With their new album, Indifferent Rivers Romance End, the mood is still heavy but the music, not as much. Softer in tone perhaps but not in message. This album feels more open allowing the layers to be heard more. I know the word “mature” is sometimes seen as a bad word for some. But I think it describes this album well. They have honed their anger and depression. So instead of firing a shotgun that spreads their sadness anywhere and everywhere. They instead use a heat seeking missile to annihilate their intended target. Who ever that poor unfortunate person may be, even if it's pointed at the band themselves.

Last, but certainly not least, another band from my Los Angeles scene is Skyeater. Made up of former musicians of Crowhurst (they were on the self-titled album) and now going about it on their own. But don’t expect that type of Black Metal, this is atmospheric and ritualistic. They combine the atmosphere of Lluvia and the ritualistic feel of Merkaba. The drumming is top notch. The thing I dig the most is they have three vocalist with three distinctive vocal styles. One a guttural black metal style, another almost depressive suicidal, and the other black metal style with just a hint on hardcore style in it. Don’t think the rawness is only a result of this being a demo. It translates to the live sound also.

They are currently in the process of recording their full length at Earhammer Studios with Greg Wilkinson (Asunder, Lycus, Fórn) at the helm. To be released next year on Baneful Genesis Records.

Usurpress - The Regal Tribe

By Hera Vidal. Everyone deals with pain differently; some choose to talk to others about it, others choose to keep the pain in and refuse to seek any help when it gets too much, and others choose to deal with it through music.

By Hera Vidal.

Artwork by Marald van Haasteren

Everyone deals with pain differently; some choose to talk to others about it, others choose to keep the pain in and refuse to seek any help when it gets too much, and others choose to deal with it through music. After all, in a medium that allows us to simultaneously empathize with and purge the pain the person is experiencing or has experienced. In the case of Usurpress, it seems that dealing with pain is a cathartic experience, and the only way to sometimes to deal with it is to let someone else in.

What kind of things has inspired the lyrics this time around? What kind of themes does the album deal with?

Stefan [Pettersson]: I think my battle with bone marrow cancer inspired the lyrics quite a bit. I was very sick when I wrote the story for the album, yeah, it’s a concept album, so I think the lyrics came out darker than usual. The story of the album is based around life versus death and what choice you make between them; it’s also a story of jealousy, vanity and betrayal.

From the Spanish Friedhof Magazine. Translation from the Usurpress blog.

The Regal Tribe is heavy, both in tone and in atmosphere. The first notes of “Beneath the starless skies” brings melancholic overtones with backing synths and death metal elements that seem to convey a sense of loss and a sense of desperation. This theme plays throughout the entire album, and adapts itself to several melodies and backing tones in each song. The first half of the album is heavier than the second half, as most of the death metal elements reside and make excellent use of all the instruments at their disposal. There are fierce, backing drums in “Across the dying the plains”, extensive jazz-like, prog-infused guitar distortion in “Beneath the starless sky” and, most prominently, “The halls of extinction”, which flows seamlessly into the second half of the album. That track marks the change the album will go into, paving the way to the road of acceptance.

The second half of the album begins with the deep bassline of “Throwing the gift away”, which leads to the clean vocals, heard for the first time on the entire album. The doom elements become prominent here—nevermind the change that happens halfway through the song, where everything returns to death metal for a while—especially in the ending sequence. It leads into “Behold the forsaken”, which has some interesting Sotajumala vibes, especially in the vocals and the guitars. It particularly shows in the guitars, where the constant beat seems to drive into you before releasing you back to its doom state. It’s fast, dark, and primal, making this the heaviest song on the record. The atmosphere sets the entire mood for the rest of the tracks, culminating in “In the shadow of the new gods”, where the theme throughout the entire album and the emotions behind it come to head. The acceptance of what has happened and what that has led to leads the song to end abruptly, before you realize that the beginning of “Beneath the starless skies” is the true ending of the album. Talk about a cyclical ending!

All in all, Usupress’ The Regal Tribe is emotionally intense, with superb vocals and instrumentation. There was a lot of death-doom tonalities that held the album together, although I wished they have been used more evenly throughout it. My only complaint is that the transitions between songs should have been smoother, as, sometimes, the transitions weren’t very clean. However, this might be to the digital edition of the album, so I digress. Regardless, The Regal Tribe may be difficult to get into on the first listen, but once you really get into it, it rewards you with music that is entirely the band’s own.

All the best wishes to vocalist Stefan Petterson in his battle with bone marrow cancer!

Decapitated - Winds of Creation

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