CVLT Nation is stoked to be able to offer you Orca Wolf Records fans a huge giveaway! Orca Wolf has put together two awesome prizes from their catalog for a couple of our lucky readers, including 12″ LPs, a 7″, t-shirts and patches from Amarok, ENTH, Sorrower, Violence of Humanity, Ninth Moon Black and Usnea. First prize gets the Orca Wolf pack of 5 LPs, a 7″, a t-shirt and a patch, and second prize gets a Usnea pack of 1 LP, a t-shirt and patch. Because of the grand scale of this giveaway, it has to be a US-only contest because of the huge shipping costs – sorry to our international readers! To enter, just email us at contest@cvltnation.com with “Orca Wolf” in the subject heading. We’ll be picking a winner at random at noon PST on Thursday, March 21st. Check out the prize details below!

***Winners are: 2nd prize – Zachary Ray & 1st prize – Derek Schulz***

“Ringing in our Wrists” out on March 19th

You may not know Yoshiko Ohara’s name, but you probably – if you’re a fan of the more experimental end of heavy music – know her unique, haunted voice from her work within the confines of New York’s experimental doom merchants Bloody Panda. Having voiced some of the eeriest metal music to come out of the Americas in recent times, her haunted vocals have often emphasised and amplified the unsettling, tenebrous elements in their music to an intense degree.

Yoshiko also works as a visual artist, and has some for quite some time. Now, I’m no art critic and I won’t pretend otherwise, but even to my untrained eyes there’s a same slightly nightmarish quality in some of her visual art. Stark and enigmatic at some times, playful and surreal in others, she expresses a spectral quality in her work both in a band environment and on canvas : she projects a darkness, but more the serene elements that lie within the shadow side of the subconcious rather than any notion of “evil” or anything sinister. She works in different shades of bleakness rather than just plain old black.

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On her imminent debut solo album “Ringing In Our Wrists”, out this month through Toby Driver of Kayo Dot’s newly founded Ice Level label she may have found the most potent forum of expression for her natural gift for articulating the arcane yet, shifting into a more focused and no less disturbing gear. Removed from the guitar/bass/keys/drums traditional rock setting of Bloody Panda, the album contains a selection of pieces that explore further both the ominous and the unsettled. It’s a spellbinding listen – based around layered voices, treated and either buried under or backed by waves of fractured electronics, synthesizers and strings. This new work is by far the darkest thing she has done in any medium, and a contender for most genuinely unnerving record you’ll hear this year. The veil is lifted and the stillness at the core of her previous work is gone for the most part, as she plunges head first into a frightening world of sound.

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Have you ever heard music that makes you think of giants floating in space and then coming down to earth to toss you up into the sky? Well, when I hear the new album by Britian’s SUNWØLF, these are the kind of visions I have. Their new album Midnight Moon, which will be released via Speedowax/Invektiv Records and ArkNoise on April 29th, is a voyage in expansive sound that the world should take. SUNWØLF’s songs are packed full of emotive melody and will have you sky dreaming for hours! Today CVLT Nation has the honor of streaming SUNWØLF’s Midnight Moon in full below…Now dream a heavy dream!…Pre-order HERE!

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Plain and simple, this is just an amazing 75 minutes of GODFLESH destroying shit in 1990, nuff said! Peep this full gig after the jump…the quality is spot on!

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When I read the promo sheet for MAUDLIN’s A Sign Of Time, I expected another one of those incredible uninspired Post Metal records, you know, slow, simple riffs, the quiet-loud-game, you’ve heard it, you name it, you get bored by it. Thankfully enough that’s not the case, as you might have already realized while listening to the stream we put up here in February. Although there are some reference points classifying A Sign Of Time as Post Metal or Metalgaze or whatever, MAUDLIN do a lot of things a lot differently. First outstanding factor for sure are the vocals, which are almost completely sung and not screamed, ranging from really beautiful melodic lines to more like Type-O-Negative’ish, dark chants. The way the vocals are performed adds a lot of versatility to this album. Sometimes it’s a bit over top for my taste, the singing I mean, sounding a bit too much like stadium rock (Like on Ride the second wave), but that’s probably my problem, isn’t it?

The other big plus on MAUDLIN’s side is the guitar playing. Not unlike Cave-In in their Jupiter era you get a lot of really cool, almost Prog’ish leads, which seem to knot themselves, wriggling their way through the nine songs on A Sign Of Time. The base for these leads are mostly rather extensive soundscapes, so this record isn’t as riff-orientated as a lot of others trying to establish themselves in that genre. Which doesn’t mean there ain’t no huge riffs on this full-length (btw MAUDLIN’s second one) – just give Goddess of the flame a spin for example, the opening riff is quite killer, and there are a few riffs of this manner to find, wisely placed and not overused, so they really remain interesting.

A Sing Of Time follows a lyrical concept, which probably isn’t that unusual if you consider MAUDLIN’s obvious love for Progressive Rock. Basically the lyrics deal with a near death experience, if I get it right. Pretty heady stuff here.

So objectively there isn’t anything to rant about. MAUDLIN have a shitload of ideas, are skilled musicians and perfectly avoid of being another generic Post Metal outfit, with a more progressive, at times even psychedelic view onto things. But speaking more subjectively, MAUDLIN just do not really get me. I mean I can listen to this and find a lot of things interesting and some things I really like, but when the record’s over I just don’t have the urgent need to turn it back on again. I suppose you have to check it out for yourself and see if A Sign Of Time clicks. If you’re a fan of the aforementioned Cave-in you should definitely give it a shot.

MAUDLIN on Facebook

Enigmatic avantgarde-black metal outfit convey a sense of writhing, lurking doom in Datura Wrightii. It seems that Tagobella have their hands full with fresh, and at times, mysterious talent. There is an air about Doth that is both heavily elemental and spiritual, but also imminently unpredictable. The two tracks on Datura Wrightii  are a great exemplification of these traits while also displaying that the band refuses to pigeon-hole themselves into the abyss of common black metal aesthetic.

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Life is full of shapes, textures, vibrations, emotions, colors and sounds that we can’t even name. The new project JG/BC is this kind of music. Yes, it’s all instrumental, but when you hear music like this you don’t even miss the vocals. JG/BC songs will make you go grab your bong and head out to a cliff overlooking the beach where you can daydream for hours. These tunes will float into your thoughts and elevate your reality to an alternative universe. JG/BC’s album Sorath is streaming in full below and is out now via Fallow Records.

Interesting labels release interesting bands. Case in point: the new record that Denovali Records is releasing this month by Petrels entitled Onkalo. I have watched their video for “Giulio’s Throat” over and over because it takes my inner self to new places. CVLT Nation is happy to be premiering the Petrels “Giulio’s Throat” video after the jump, plus you can check out their song “Hinkley Point Ballon Release” streaming below!

Petrels “Giulio’s Throat” Video after the jump!
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There are no words to describe how excited we are about the CVLT Nation 2nd Anniversary show on Friday, April 26th, 2013 at Unit B in Santa Ana, CA…but I’ll try anyway! With the help of Crash the Clubs and LACE Pickups, we have put together a fucking killer lineup of bands to celebrate our two years as a purveyor of all things dark and musical! Starting with doors at 7pm, the night will open with some heavy LA County locals: Whip Hand, Stoic Violence, Children of God and Youth Code! We are so stoked to see all of these bands live!!! Then we are bringing you the legendary Seven Sisters of Sleep, whose performance will be no doubt epic since this show will also be their official record release for OPIUM MORALS! All of this musical mayhem will culminate in a crushing performance by the Infamous GEHENNA, who will bring the walls and halfpipes down at Unit B! You can RSVP for the CVLT Nation 2nd Anniversary Show HERE and pick up the pre-sale tickets from Unit B HERE. It’s $8 pre-sale and $10 at the door, and this lineup is sure to sell out so pick yours up quick!

Black metal often has moments of intense rebirth and re-imagining, and it’s projects such as Botanist that fuels these periods of incredible experimentation and in turn threatens to turn the genre completely inside out.

Botanist first came to our attention in 2011 with the forty track, double album I: The Suicide Tree//II: A Rose From The Dead which we talked about here, and last years III: Doom in Bloom/Allies (which had a particularly interesting take on collaboration in its favour, besides being excellent). Otrebor (vocals, drums, hammered dulcimer) has been constantly and consistently moving Botanist forward and giving us much to think about in terms of how we treat the natural world, our attitudes towards it and that we have a responsibility for our actions.

IV: Mandrogora continues the story of The Botanist and is fairly complex in its narration which hints at magic, pagan ideals, and legions of Mandragora (or demons) that are brought forth to obliterate mankind for his part in the destruction of the plant world. This is a record of intense scope, and Otrebor once again uses Botanist as a platform to call for action and whilst many black metal acts out there have agenda’s and missions and messages, they don’t always feel rounded out – Botanist feels entirely whole, and completely necessary.

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