Today is a special day on CVLT Nation – we have been given the honor of streaming the new WOE album, Withdrawal, that is coming out via Candlelight Records on April 23rd. I know that this record will win this band even more fans worldwide. Stay tuned for a full review of Withdrawal in the very near future on CVLT Nation. For now, press play below and listen how WOE created a moving album that hits the mark!

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For their all too brief but imposing lifespan, Trenches produced some of the most forward thinking heavy music to come out of Ireland in the past decade. The Galway band’s ton weight three guitar assault had its’ own field of gravity, was a titanic and multifaceted onslaught that had a heft that was emotional as much as physical. I have a memory that will always stay with me of seeing them at least once, in the upstairs room in a bar in Galway one summer night where – no word of a lie – they played a set that rivalled only prime time Neurosis for sheer intensity.

Trenches were special, basically.

And Trenches are no more. The band dissolved quietly earlier on this year with only a self released eponymous ep and a split 12″ with Drainland. Obviously having been a member of the latter band I am both biased and priveleged to have been involved with their history. Unbeknownst to me though, in spite of the band’s end, there was one final recording. And the band have now entrusted these two final songs to Cvltnation to stream so that you, dear readers, may have the pleasure of hearing the band’s dying breaths.

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I’ll hand you over to now to guitarist Gab for a brief note on the origin of these recordings:

“The songs were originally recorded in early 2012. And were meant to go on a split with Diet pills (then they broke up) and so we had kept them for a split with State Icons. But after all the difficulties and line up changes in 2012 the band ended, state icons also broke up at the end of 2012 so the songs remained unreleased. I still hope to one day release them in some shape or form but for now we will only be doing a download version.

Roadburn 2013 has come to an end and it looks like Walter and crew have put on another perfect fest! CVLT Nation salutes all of the bands who performed this weekend and everyone who went to Roadburn! Today check out our first video essay featuring some of our favorite bands. Also, stay tuned for CVLT Nation exclusive photos of Roadburn 2013 by Luana Magalhaes in the very near future. In the meantime, peep radical footage of GODFLESH, LORD MANTIS and ELECTRIC WIZARD now!

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What happens when one of our insane readers creates a sick mix tape? We post it! Patrick from CRYPTICUS compiled a bonkers tape in DEATHCRUST Apocalypse Vol. I for all of us – have a listen below and download that motherfucker asap!

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Fell Voices return with Regnum Saturni, three years after their previous full length (untitled). The ambient black metal band, once again, does what they know how to do best, bringing forth three long tracks (shortest one is about seventeen minutes long) filled with chaos and destruction. What is impressive here though is that Fell Voices do not rely on weird synth sounds (although they do have a few) and keyboards, or even many clean parts in order to sound atmospheric. Instead most of the album’s ambiance manages to come forth from the production, which achieves to retain a raw and aggressive sound but on the same time craft an atmosphere that can only be described as dystopian.

From the intro of “Flesh From Bone” with its distressing sonic qualities the band is fooling you into thinking that what will follow might not be as direct and harsh. So soon enough the black metal riffology kicks in obliterating everything in its path. In about six minutes into the song it seems like Fell Voices decide to give you a chance to breathe, slowing down to a more mid tempo moment with the wolf-howling-like black metal vocals still present, there is even a clean (well, a bit cleaner…) guitar part there before the relentless drumming resumes and you are once again lost in their horrific visions.

Of course synths are present here, acting also as intros and outros to the songs and they do help quite a bit. “Emergence” kicks in with a bass line that sounds absolutely unreal, making the listener feel always on edge, not knowing what to expect next. Tempos change through the twenty-one minutes of the second track but the bands twisted concepts retain the same energy throughout. The album finishes with the completely surreal “Dawn”, with its imposing four-minute intro that blends perfectly into the black metal basis of Fell Voices. Warped melodies and dissonance are entwined together to bring forth what is for me personally the peak of this album, an earsplitting ambient black metal opus that will satisfy any extreme music fan.

Regnum Saturni is an excellent release that binds together ambience and aggression. I cannot really think of many records that can accomplish anything similar in the same twisted way that Fell Voices have managed to get it done in Regnum Saturni.

Old punks don’t die, they reunite. Under the name FLAG, Keith Morris (vocals), Chuck Dukowski (bass), Dez Cadena (guitar/vocals) and Bill Stevenson (drums), with Descendents/All guitarist Stephen Egerton, have come together to form their version of BLACK FLAG. This past week, they performed a secret show at the Redondo Beach Lodge No. 1873. Check out the historic performance on CVLT Nation NOW!…This was their first show together in 34 years!

The album opens up with “Like Embers” which has one of those Neurosis type riffs that you will stay going around in your head for a few days. It then builds and builds into an unrelenting Sepultura-esque ditty, but then turns back into that sense of decay again with the opening riff. Certainly a real impressive introduction to ‘Inhumanform’. Every subsequent song after offers something that is unique onto itself. By the time you get to the track “Black Rain” it opens with a real rocking High On Fire type rhythm. But again takes a different path and changes tempo completely. It should be mentioned that the album was mastered by Brad Boatright (From Ashes Rise) who has in the past mastered High On Fire, Sleep, Tragedy etc.

Age Of Woe have great independent ethics and have toured through ‘Rise! Bookings‘ so have played many DIY venues. Being autonomous does not bring in money, hence so many bands end up recording in cheap as chips type recording studios. But they recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Where in the past Led Zeppelin, Rammstein, Entombed etc have recorded, so you know the band have pumped every cent/krona they have into this recording. The result of course is a very highly polished production that will last the test of time.

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Diseased riffage and rotting vocals with the aggressive attitude of punk only begins to sum up Olympia’s BONE SICKNESS. On April 30th, the band’s debut album Alone In The Grave will be released via 20 Buck Spin. Today we are streaming the whole deranged piece of torment below…Read the CVLT Nation review of the album HERE!

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Picture glowing embers and the charred remnants of razed buildings. Raging fires and smoke-filled skies. Ash drifting in the hot winds like some sort of contemptible snow. Complete and utter desolation. Slow-motion hopelessness in a black sand desert. Picture this and you’ll have pictured something strikingly similar to Santa Fe’s doom metal/drone masters Drought. Their self-titled four-track album might as well be the soundtrack to the apocalypse; offering a guided tour to our horrific ultimate demise.

Drought formed in 2008 and features current members Luke Sheppard (drums), Hoagie (guitars/vocals) and — since 2010 — Bones (bass). The band plays mostly instrumental tunes, successfully conjuring images of vast, uninhabitable landscapes and the feelings of loneliness and despair that would no doubt accompany such places. Feelings of certain, inevitable doom. Epic mid-tempo dirges with soaring guitar passages give way to churning blast-beats now and again, keeping things interesting. The songs, ‘Nightwalker,’ ‘Penitente,’ ‘Peyote Priestress,’ and ‘Canyons,’ range from 8 to 19 minutes but never fall prey to stagnancy. Drought infuse each track with an energy and potency that belies the slow tempo that typically defines the doom genre. Sheppard’s drumming is massive, intricate, and spot-on. Hoagie’s guitar work is crushing, atmospheric, and, at times, quite beautiful. Bones’ bass tone is clear, the lines are supportive, and it sits nicely in the mix. All in all, the record is brutal, thought-provoking, and extremely cohesive. Why this band is unsigned is beyond me; a situation that should be rectified immediately.

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