The debut LP by Ireland’s Putrefaction is a heavy dose of dark metallic crusty riffs skewered together by visions of concentration camps, putrefied bodies, cities consumed by filth, corruption and disease. The opening track ‘Scourge’ leads us in, with distorted feedback slowly fading and declining into a heavy bass tone atmospheric riff. This as all fans of heavy music know is the revving up and things after this are going to go pretty fucking awry. Much like being handcuffed to a car that’s about to explode. There’s the riff change, a low-pitched roar and yes, balls to the fucking wall, things have gone very awry!

Putrefaction – ‘Drown Them In Their Wine’ track off their debut LP ‘Blood Cult’ out May 2012
READ MORE…

Portland’s Aldebaran have had quite the prolific career thus far, in what has been a fairly short amount of time. Having formed in 2004 Aldebaran have consistently produced some of the most intoxicating and downtrodden funeral death doom this side of diSEMBOWELMENT and Asunder, yet they have only released one full length in their time together. Besides the many splits the band have to their name and a lauded EP from last year (Buried Beneath Aeons), Aldebaran now stand on the precipice of a new release. Embracing The Lightless Depths is wondrously majestic and the two twenty five minute plus tracks committed to this record are surrounded by three graceful passages which envelope the album in a sheen of mystical splendour.

Sweet and gently struck notes usher the melancholic dawn of Embracing The Lightless Depths, slowly giving way to distorted and electricity-laden strikes of guitar. “Occultation of Hali’s Gates” hits deeply with an embedded gloom, lacing the record with a knowledge of the deep-seated despair to come. Pouring into “Forever In The Dream Of Death” seamlessly, Aldebaran waste no time in pulling the atmosphere through shades of dusk and misery. Measured and processional beats cut the air, thick with dense and deliberate funereal tones. The almost fathomless vocal hits with crashing precision, striking in the hollows of the soul and each instrumental element is given space to coil and surround with a monolithic power. Moments of calm permeate the twilight offsetting the moving and commanding builds to exaltation. Rolling drum beats pound with an almost militaristic essence before sliding back to make room for husky breaths of doom.

Aldebaran take flashes of peaceful magnificence and counter them with depth and a sensation of hypnotic beauty. Horror lies veiled in echoing caverns of bass and subterranean roars and shadowy whispers. Embracing The Lightless Depths is a journey into the abyssal yawning pits of a vast universe. Aldebaran’s affecting and altogether destructive force is consistently compelling; the extended running time of each track holds natural progression and sublimely concealed chaos bleeds through the snarls of sludge and dirt during “Sentinel Of A Sunless Abyss.” Segueing into the final instrumental piece, “Occultation Of Dim Carcosa,” Embracing The Lightless Depths closes on a droning and soft pulse. Reminiscent of the opening work, the tender breeze of grief works through the tranquility opposing the depressive strength of the two colossal tracks.

In a cosmic sense, Aldebaran is one of the brightest stars in the known sky. Here the aptly named band burns through celestial clouds of devastation and ruin, seizing each lamentable instant and crushing with a potent authority.

Embrace the lightless depths.

Pre-order from Profound Lore Records.

I have always fallen short with words when it comes to reviewing shows, as most stories for me have always been better told and projected in photos rather than in words, but in this case I feel that it’s only mandatory to do a brief summary of the chaos which ensued this past Saturday in Vancouver, BC – headlining with a full line-up of obscure death metal Canadian legions from start to finish. This event was held at the Rickshaw Theatre, where I had previously shot the Decibel Magazine tour a week prior, except with this round there were less attendees that were drawn into the venue but many, if not all of them consisted of die-hards. The atmosphere was that of which I’ve grown more adapted to than ‘bigger’ tours and there was no shortage of good times had. Of course without making it more obvious than it already is, all the bands did an excellent job of running on schedule as well as putting on stellar and exceptional performances in their own light. The only band I regrettably missed was Auroch, as the schedule was running smoothly (something which I am also NOT used to!) and as I decided to step out for a brief moment for inbetween-set-drinks, I later realized that they had already finished. Although I’m bummed about missing them live, I was told by those who caught them that they were great and would have also been along my lines of interest as far as top-notch Lovecraftian death metal goes. READ MORE…

Corpus Christi, Texas is perhaps best known for producing the honey-toned latin pop vocal stylings of Selena Quintanilla (1971-95) for many years now. Taking that into account, the aptly named small label/distro known as Murder/Suicide Incidents are doing what they can to put Corpus on the map for underground punk and metal. With just very few releases so far they’ve offered up a small variety of delicacies which include some death metal, sludge, hardcore, shoegaze and grindcore/power violence. Murder/Sucide Incidents hosts many young and memorable bands like Esclavo (sludgy doom chaos for the cult of Noothgrush), Chuch Of Disgust (brutal shredding death doom for anyone undergoing an Autopsy) and also Skinfather (d-beaten death blast for Swedish streets circa ’91). Nestled among those sit Botfly and Sigil who are perhaps the most unlikely pair out of the bunch, which is why I’ve singled them out for the spotlight. Some of what Murder/Suicide‘s got is on vinyl but most is only available on cassette tape, which I enjoy just as much as wax, if not more sometimes. Let’s face it, you just can’t fix broken a record with a pencil.

BOTFLY
ENEMIES OF THE WORLD
New York style hardcore by way of San Antonio. All the heavy breakdowns and thrashing, in the “no bullshit” east coast tradition was refreshing to hear from a southern band like Botfly. This is a quick cassette EP with an intro, three proper tracks and they even managed to squeeze in their own version of “Birthright” by Samhain. That cover really sold me on this too. Definitely recommended for anyone who’s ever been taken in under Citizen’s Arrest.

SIGIL Review after the jump!
READ MORE…

From May 31st through June 1st, it’s all going down in Austin for Chaos in Tejas. In my book, this is one of the sickest festivals to take place in the world! This year, the line-up is off the hook as usual, or maybe I should say it’s beyond punktastic. So as many might already know, The Mob, Antisect, Cough, Winter, Wild//Tribe, Toxic Holocaust, Chelsea Wolfe, King Dude, Mass Grave and many fucking more awesome bands are going to wreck shit. One thing that Chaos in Tejas does well that we are celebrating today is creating killer posters for each of the shows. So right here and now, peep a huge gallery of Chaos art after the jump! Stay tuned for a bunch of cool Chaos in Tejas events happening on CVLT Nation in the near future!

READ MORE…

I have been a skateboarder for most of my life. It’s one of those things that really changed the way that I see my place in the world. From the very first issue, I have had an affinity for Thrasher magazine, and over the years that hasn’t changed. In 2008, they released one of the raddest skate videos ever created. The dudes in this video skate loads of sketchy obstacles and pull off many unbelievable tricks with some heavy fucking music as the soundtrack! What will make it hard for you to watch is the bone-crushing falls that you will witness while watching Brutality. Seeing so many skulls kissing the concrete, you will have a new-found respect for what skaters put their bodies through! Smoke a joint, kick back, press play and watch this sick Thrasher video after the JUMP!

READ MORE…

Acephalix return with “Deathless Master”, the follow up release to “Interminable Night” on Southern Lord Records READ MORE…

1. Imagine if you put a 100 filthy porto toilets together + They were filled with a 100 gallons of bloody demon piss + A 100 pounds of zombie shit = 1/4 of what you are going to find in CEMETERY PISS

2. Maggot-infested war riffs + Necromatic chaotic cyco drum beats from the deepest depths of the unreal + Mutated baselines that give you sores = 1/4 of what you are going to find in CEMETERY PISS

3. The sounds of beheaded Popes running for their undead lives + Vocals that could only be born from the most diseased mammal vagina known to to the underworld + Lyrics that have the only purpose of decapitating Authority from the body of the corrupt = 1/4 of what you are going to find in CEMETERY PISS

4. Who needs drugs, this is one mammoth sonic method that is up about to go up in flames + This is the MK ULTRA experiment dying in your ears + The sleazy bastard children of punk with the broken limbs of death metal = 1/4 of what you are going to find in CEMETERY PISS

Now you know what comes to my mind every time I listen to the urine-drenched CEMETERY PISS from Baltimore. Their tape Rest in Piss, released via Vaginal Apocalypse Productions(hound them to repress it!), is all sold out! I fucking dig this band – they are sort of like smoking crack, once you start playing them, you can’t stop. Go to the bathroom on the graves of all of the KKK – check out the full CEMETERY PISS stream below! Shout out to the almighty Vonfrost13 for this, it kills!!!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Darkness is falling. The stage is covered with animal remains, bones and cremated skeleton forms. The repugnant odor of raw filthiness lingering in the air waiting to diminish every inch of human senses. This is just the beginning of a merciless onslaught. Formula is simple: slay all. Three beasts are behind the plan of this ruthless black/death ritual. Enter Indiscriminate Impregnator, Nocturnal Hellfukker and Sadoseducer. They are Weregoat. Recently Dark Descent has released CD version of Weregoat’s mLP Unholy Exaltation of Fullmoon Perversity which was originally released on Parasitic Records last year. Eight tracks of raw blackened death worship unleashed to raise hell in ugliest form. The stinging incitements of a bestial lust ordering highest form of obscene malevolence. It wasn’t easy to track down Weregoat for conducting an interview. After some long weeks of hefty schedules and rituals, Nocturnal Hellfukker finally decided to throw some insight on the band.

The current members of Weregoat are involved with several other projects such as Aldebaran, Ritual Necromancy etc. How did Weregoat form?
September 2009, during one of our nightly blackout rites of Fullmoon Perversity, we were summoned to unleash something chaotic, heavy, and most of all obscene. Portland in recent years has been over run with emo kids with patched vests, bullet belts, and shitty “black metal” bands.. In our state of drunken spirit possession, we took it upon ourselves to be the proverbial cock in the ass of Portland’s “metal” scene. Hence, Weregoat was born.

Weregoat plays some furious bestial black/death metal but the overall sound has a whole lot other dimensions to it as well. How would you like to describe Weregoat?

We were born maniacs, weaned on the tit of metal, so there’s tons of influences there. Everything from the obvious Beherit/ Blasphemy worship, to Reek of Putrefaction era Carcass, to classics like Carnivore, The Mentors and W.A.S.P., it’s all there.. Did I mention we’re sleazy fukks??

Read the full interview after the jump!
READ MORE…

In times where almost every second extreme Metal record is labeled as “Post Black Metal”, “Metalgaze”, “Post Rock/Punk/whatever influenced Black Metal”, it’s important not to forget the roots and true spirit of the ugly, frostbitten and cruel blackened blasphemy that became one of the strongest innovative forces in Metal. For sure the bands of the second wave coined our picture of Black Metal the most, and besides Bathory (of course they were ahead of their time), Mayhem, Emperor and and a few others, a primarily force in Norwegian scene were (and still are) the mighty DARKTHRONE.

Sempiternal Past, recently released by Peaceville Records, digs deep into the death metallic roots of the DARKTHRONE itself, compiling the first four demos the band ever recorded plus three live tracks. By doing so, the record takes us back to a time when genre borders weren’t as strictly defined as they are today, when Death Metal and shortly after Black Metal were born from the rotten womb of Thrash Metal and extreme Hardcore Punk.

And as if the music alone wouldn’t be rad enough, this double LP comes in an amazing gatefold, with an inlay showing all the demos artworks, two rad photos of DARKTHRONE from back in the day (when they were really young) and extensive liner-notes.

Full review below the pic!

READ MORE…