It’s tough to deny the gravity that the past roster of ZOZOBRA lays claim to. Founded in 2006 by Caleb Scofield of Cave In and Old Man Gloom and having featured members from Isis, The Hope Conspiracy, United Nations and pretty much every other goddamn member of Cave In. So when the news hits that next month they’ll be dropping Savage Masters their first album in five years… you get excited.

This incarnation of the band Adam McGrath (Cave In, Clouds, Bodega Girls) – guitar, vocals
JR Connors (Cave In) – drums (2012-present).It also melts your face, rips your head off and shits down your throat while cackling like a hyena. Their uniquely volatile mixture of crusty, grinding, blood spitting, apocalypse hardcore takes the next 13 minutes and 40 seconds and turns them into the most satisfying glimpse of chaos strewn hell that I have so far bared witness to in 2013.

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ALTERED STATES are a new band from Dublin who came out of nowhere towards the end of last year. Sharing a member with fellow Dubliners Crows, there’s still a hardcore element to this young DIY band, but Altered States are primarily more of a sludged-out, doom-driven raucous affair than the straight up fast hardcore of their brother band. I caught up with guitarist/vocalist Dave King to get the story on these fresh faced, volume loving riff mongers.

So Dave let’s start at the start – how did Altered States come into being?

Altered States formed in the back of a mitsubishi colt in August 2012. We were listening to Type O Negative and hot boxing the car when decided that we should start a band. We’ve known each other since we were about 12 and had played in shitty bands together so we knew it would be a laugh. Although we sound absolutely nothing like Type O.

Stream Altered States’ raw two song demo here!:

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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***

Despite being together as a band for nearly thirteen years, the UK-based MOSS are only now on the cusp of releasing their third full length. That’s not to say that this trio have been resting on their laurels, heck no, most years since their inception have seen a split, or a demo or an EP released into the wild – although it has been pretty quiet on the MOSS front for a few years now.

Luckily, that time was spent writing and recording Horrible Night, an album that has been a long time coming – both for fans and for MOSS themselves. You get the sense that this is what the band has been striving for and damn, do they hit the mark. Olly Pearson’s vocals are cut from the Ozzy Osbourne cloth this time around, which is certainly not a bad thing and the clean (albeit hazy) lilt that’s employed here adds a new depth to the occult vibrations that thrum so steadily and heatedly throughout the record.

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About a year ago I was highly excited about Cult Of Erinyes’ first full length album, so when I got their new split tape in the mail, I was eager to give it a spin. Not only because it was Cult Of Erinyes, but also because the band on the other side of the split was Zifir, a band from Turkey and let be honest; you rarely hear about the Turkish metal scene and besides 2 grindcore bands (Sakatat and Ultimate Blowup, check ‘em both, really good!) my knowledge of Turkey doesn’t go further than decadent parties in Bodrum with my mates, shish kebab, beautiful women and water pipes.

Belgium’s Cult Of Erinyes is up first. They open up with a monumental, hypnotizing riff and with that the tone is set for the 3 songs they offer on this release. The whole thing is one big throat grab. Menacing, draining, … whatever you want to call it. My only concern that I had on their full length was the production, but they handled that as well.  Modern, monumental blackmetal in all its glory!
Zifir on the other hand have a much rawer sound and are a lot more old school orientated. The 4 songs range from mid tempo depressive blackmetal like early Shining or Forgotten Tomb to a more ambient form of blackmetal, similar to some Burzum songs for instance. Good, no doubt about that, but I lack a bit of cohesion in the 4 songs, maybe it would be a good idea to include the ambient parts as an intro, intermezzo or outro in the “main” songs, rather than having them as songs on their own. Anyway, I can dig it, that’s for sure!
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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!

Review and Video Essay by Ted Reckoning

As it often is in Vancouver this time of year, it was rainy and shitty outside. It was one of those nights when you don’t want to leave your house for any reason at all once you’ve gotten home from work but you know that you’ll be kicking yourself if you don’t. I grabbed my gear and begrudgingly headed down to The Biltmore, a small capacity venue in East Vancouver. Once at the venue, I walked down the stairs and to my left, set up at Baptists’ merch table, was an amazing selection of vegan baked goods for sale. I was pleasantly surprised and knew that this was not going to be an ordinary show, not in any sense of the word.

Full review and photo essay after the jump!
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Doom / black metal band Vit’s recent album The Dry Season is perhaps one of the genre’s most interesting releases this year. The Dry Season feels like an innately looming album; it has an aesthetic that is truly moving and winding without being obvious to the listener. One of the first aspects of the album worth discussing is the pacing of each track which leads the listener on an arcane journey through a desolate wasteland.

The first track “Sixteen Bodies” is a slow burn that showcases the band’s ability to not only play, but tantalize the listener with their doom-influence. The song is begins similar to a journey across wilted farmland, dry and hollow, that ultimately leads to a place of lawlessness. Following “Sixteen Bodies” is the fuller, richer track “The Dry Season.” I particularly liked the vocals and guitarwork on the track, as I felt both exuded a sense of dominance and anxiety that fit the theme well. However, the following track is perhaps the most indicative of the scope that Vit wished to convey on The Dry Season.

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Stemming creative minds from both Los Angeles,CA and Nashville, TN, Child Brides is spewing out globs of avant garde industrial doom in their debut Self Titled tape. Spin off of LA drone violence band Low Places, Child Brides carries the noise element of that band to new places incorporating very simplified rhythmic beats, noisier hard-clipping overdriven guitar, some electronic synth, and strained distorted vocals compiled onto minimalistic song structures. Different from Child Brides’ earlier release Misfortune & Eternal Darkness, this release has removed the echoey spacious recording style and replaced that with a low-fi gritty digital clipping style which makes the songs feel much closer and abrasive.

Review

The tape begins with Elite Downpour, a driving simple beat with hissing guitars. The vocals kick in yearning out line after in audible line until the beat picks up to a rocking tempo. This eventually drops off into feedback and yells. READ MORE…

The UK is the home of a bunch of awesome, and very promising, bands. If you pay enough attention, then bands like SONANCE, Light Bearer, Strangle Wank, The Nepalese Temple Ball and Iron Witch, just to name a few, are on your radar and you know that what I’m saying is the purest of truths. Opium Lord is another exciting name to join that list. And what a name…this band is fuckin’ awesome. Really! But let me explain a little better why the fuck I’m so excited about a band who have just released one EP with two songs (9 and a half minutes) on it, The Calendrical Cycle – Prologue: The Healer.

It all starts with “Heroin Swirls” and this song’s title makes all the sense in the world. How can you help yourself from thinking about swirls with that opening guitar riff? It (the riff) sucks you in to Opium Lord‘s world. Later, you will discover that there’s no way out. The huge riff will metamorphose to an even stronger and more incisive thing, it’s marvelously supported by a fantastic rhythm section who open spaces and help the atmosphere to become even more suffering and dark. Talking about suffering and dark…the vocalist is fuckin’ amazing. His voice so damn right and meant to be that it’s almost impossible. The singer purges demons with a dark hardcore approach. Amazing!
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