Four artists I have the utmost respect for, Dan Harding, Jeremy Hush, Halsey Swain & Elli Adams are bringing their images of doom and darkness to the Screaming Sky Gallery in Portland, OR, next Thursday, April 26th. I wish I could pack up my life into a car that worked and head up there to check out the opening, because it seriously does feature a dream team of the macabre, artists that are highlights of my journalistic career here at CVLT Nation. If you are on the Rain Coast and have mobility, make sure you head over to the gallery from 5pm to 9pm, shake the artists’ hands and drink some free beers for us in sunny LA. The skies will be a little darker here next Thursday.

When you hear what I’m hearing, you will realize that NIGHT HAG is not a band to be fucked with! These Australia hardcore aliens bring the noise with loads of gusto to go along with their audio onslaught. I remember when I heard their last album, Gilded Age, and said to myself, this band fucking rocks. Now NIGHT HAG is back with a new 7″ called Confidence Man, which is coming out this month via Monolith. This awesome slice of mayhem clocks in at almost 14 minutes of electric rage. Is there one wack song on this 7″? Hell fucking no!!! Every single song is the jam, and they pack enough punch to smash your teeth and bust your gums. NIGHT HAG are able to create music that comes to life not only in your ears, but also in your mind. Right when you hear the first track, “Roast Beef Living,” this band will have your braincells skull diving out of your cranium. Throughout Confidence Man, NIGHT HAG’S guitarist lays down riffs that perfectly connect to the anger that vocalist spits out with each word. This band lights the flame of passion with their songwriting – they are well aware that there needs to be a constant flow of empathy that crashes against a chaotic wall of melody. A perfect example of this would be their song “Number Rash”; it starts off with the perfect sonic shit storm before descending into a valley of catchy breakdowns. They close out the 7″ with a blinding cover of “After A Fashion” from Australia cult band Boys Next Door. NIGHT HAG have a way of melding all of their influences into their sound without sounding contrived. The way that they are able to excute this is by being themselves and not trying to be something they are not. This is just one of the reasons that I can’t get enough of this band, and want them to have an insane party in the minds of all humanity. Check this out: NIGHT HAG just did a killer tour of Southeast Asia and put together this mind-numbing video that you can see below! For all of the Aussies reading this, check out their poster for their tour that starts this month. Stay tuned for the NIGHT HAG Sonic Cathedrals that we have in the works!


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Horns up, fuck the world, don’t ask me for shit, because all I need is BLACK BREATH. Hands down, their new album Sentenced To Life is all killer, no filler. I have so much awesome news its hard to figure out where to start…First up, BLACK BREATH just released a sick fucking video for “Home of the Grave” that’s packed with that bombastic fury we expect from this vicious metallic horde. I’m not going give to much away but I will say it’s is raw uncut metal madness!

Now let’s get down to business: BLACK BREATH will be headlining the Southern Lord summer tour featuring Burning Love, MARTYRDOD, ENABLER plus gnarly regional special guests, including The Secret, Noothgrush, Wild/Tribe and many more! I know for a fact that if you miss this tour when it pulls into your town, you will be kicking yourself with feet you didn’t realize you had! For the full rundown about the Southern Lord tour, peep the tour poster after the jump, plus video footage of BLACK BREATH wrecking shit at this year’s Roadburn and a full live set!

Is the year 1995? Nope, it’s 2012 and Refused have reunited, and by the look of things, they have not lost a beat. I can only speak for myself, but when I first heard their ground-breaking record The Shape of Punk to Come, my whole brain was smashed! Their first US show since 1998 took place at the Glasshouse, and they straight blew the roof off of that motherfucker. CVLT Nation is super stoked to share this insane set with you. The shape of punk to come is named Refused, and they fucking rock – peep the footage after the jump!


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Tomorrow night, AUTHOR & PUNISHER will be taking the stage at alongside Axxonn, Mawdryn and Bear Baiting at the M Bar in Hollywood, and this Ear/Splitters and CVLT Nation event will one of crushing darkness that will decimate your eardrums! Author & Punisher is one man at one with his machines, creating chilling tones and feedback with his handmade instruments. Check out Part 2 of the Author & Punisher and Bear Baiting interview below, and see you in Hollyweird!

BB: So you make all your own “instruments,” how much time and planning goes into them? Do you have the sounds/motions in mind before making them, or do you let the final product dictate what sounds are used for the device?

A&P: Yes, most of them (I do use midi keyboards and occasional guitars on recordings and live). Each instruments is usually in the works for a year or so from sketches on airplanes and bus/train rides, to CAD design, to renderings, then fabrication. I work a full time job(s) so it’s really hard to say exactly how long. I have a very good idea of how I want things to sound and how I want to interact with each. I approach each as an engineering problem of: 1) how to create a sonic texture of sorts 2) and how that will physically happen with my body interacting with some device. As I work at my various engineering jobs I come in contact with a lot of equipment and gadgets that I play with, touch, turn, destroy, and those interactions inform my designs for devices at work and more importantly my art.
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I see dead people, I see the end of the world as we know it! I hear the new 7″ split by Monkey Priest & Fistula – this is why my knuckles are bleeding. Both bands take five minutes and turn it into their own filthy temple of sludge. This record should come with a bucket of water, because with each listen, another layer of filth is coating my body. This release makes total fucking sense, because both bands know how to bury your thoughts in a deep cesspool of rancid baselines and decaying distortion. You can pre-order the Monkey Priest & Fistula 7″ here from the Feretro website. It must be said that only 320 of these bad boys will be made, and the artwork was created by the forever gnarly Jason Barnett. CVLT Nation is stoked to be the place to be to hear the stream of this piece of sonic bile…peep the chaotic sounds below!

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Community is what keeps this world going around if you ask me.On the real when i see friends coming together for the greater good of creating i get hyped.This is something that happens on the regular in Ghent Belguim their is a group of creative humans that know the power of unity! Today CVLT Nation is super stoked to share with you the artist to artist interview between AMENRA vs HESSIAN.

You can preorder the AMENRA/HESSIAN split 7″ HERE!

Interview after the jump…
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Wreck and Reference forged a unique sound on last years Black Cassette, a release that deconstructed the expectations of electronic music and infused the noise-heavy palette with touches of doom progression and an aura of distress. The processed beats of Black Cassette weave into No Youth, coiling and swirling around new ideas and forms and falling on those familiar electronic flourishes. Wreck and Reference push the boundaries of genre definition even further with this record, incorporating varying vocal approaches, abstract language and an ever-present level of intense despondency.

Dealing with opposing forces, No Youth bursts with energy and languid textures almost simultaneously. Spoken words pieces interact with the countering noises beneath them. “Stage Collapse” and “Edifice of Silt” are gently articulated missives sitting over flares of programmed drum lines, the words seeping into the cracks left by the sadness ravaged “Nausea,” the black metal howls of “The Solstitial,” or “Cannot” and it’s deft fusion of two styles.

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Earlier this week, we posted At The Drive In 2nd reunion show footage, and I couldn’t help myself…here is their full set at last weekend’s Coachella! At The Drive In are one of those bands that I will never be able to get enough of, because they are just that sick in my book! This footage that you are about to see is official, so therefore the quality is off the chain, so enjoy!

Boom boom…I hear the witches and warlocks in the room of doom creating their groovy anthems…I’m listening to is the new 7″ by the almighty Electric Wizard, which clocks in at 11:41 of stoner bliss. They are real wizards at being able to make their THC intake work wonders for the music that they manifest. “Legalise Drugs & Murder” is a huge occult jam that I have kept on repeat for daze, because it’s the perfect audio atmosphere to zone out to. The vocal delivery on this tune is almost trance-like, and the way each word attacks your braincells will have you running for your bong. Electric Wizard conjures up the perfect riff that will have you floating on the clouds of euphoria. What is amazing about this 7″ is the way that the band is able to take us on a dark trip that actually ends on a sunny day! Here comes the second song, “Murder & Madness,” which sounds like it was recorded in the catacombs on LSD. It’s this crazy, almost instrumental rack, with vocals that sound like it has Satanic shadows walking all over it. What makes this song work is the tension and drama that Electric Wizard is able to manifest with their THC-infected groove. I realize what the band is trying to do with the release of this 7″, and it’s mission accomplished. All I want to know is when the fuck is the new album dropping??? All of us devotees will have pound of the good stuff waiting! Here is your chance to be the judge: check out both songs below!

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