R.I.P. Jakke Kaaos

Apparently Jakke of the seminal Finnish punk band Kaaos died a few days ago of a stroke. Sad.

The Dreadful Gift

Jewelled Antler is the extremely prolific musical collective created by Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson of the incredible drone/folk bands Thuja. Since 1999 Jewelled Antler has unveiled a number of wonderful releases of various incarnations of a core group of immensely talented musicians. Often these releases come wrapped in elaborate hand-made packaging.
Among these was a series of 3" cdrs in limited editions. Number two in this series, "The Dreadful Gift," stood out most to me. According to sources in the know, Tomes was formed by Chasse and Donaldson themselves having been inspired by the aesthetic and feel of some of the lo-fi black metal they encountered and loved. Not that Tomes sounds anything like any black metal I have ever heard, it's not black metal at all. Like Thuja, Tomes play droning acoustic improvisational folk.The only difference I can tell between the two groups is Tomes seems to have a darker, more malevolent feel to it. Think of Tomes as Thuja's evil twin and you will do fine. If you find this to your liking delve deeper into the massive eccentric pantheon of Jewelled Antler releases.

Here is the link to a great site about Jewelled Antler with album art and a comprehensive family tree.

http://www.theunbrokencircle.co.uk/artist_jewelled_antler.htm

Download TOMES "The Dreadful Gift" here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F0DAUIN8

3 More Bizarre Brazilian Black Metal Demos

Brazil has produced some of my more recent favorite black metal bands. Draugurz, Inmitten des Waldes, Geheimnis, Namelezz Project, Forest Poetry to name a few. Here are 3 demos by 3 of the best. Enjoy.


Ghash (like all the bands in this post) is one-man concern. The sole proprietor being Oghor. Ghash's demo "Forests of Perpetual Pain" contains 3 repetitive and eerie songs. The sound is distant and lonely, the guitars are slathered in effects and the result is downright hypnotic. This was released by Gugnir productions, a great label for this type of Brazilian high weirdness.



here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9FSE14ZR



Thallium could be called the Brazilian Graveland and is the work of a solitary figure named Werewolf. Thallium is a politically motivated NS band. "Gevauden" is the first demo by Thallium, and in my opinion, the best. Thallium followed up "Gevauden" with the demo "A Howling of a Thousand Years" and also contributed to a 3 way split tape with fellow Brazilian NS bands, Evil and S.A.R. titled "Chaos to Unleash a New Age." Thallium's music is clumsy and ambling, not unlike the earliest work by Graveland.

here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5WLC7ZT4




Lastly we have Woodsmarch, the work of an individual going by M. Vag. Woodsmarch plays black metal of the plodding and depressive variety ala Burzum. Woodsmarch employs the shimmering guitar tones which seem to be commonplace in the Brazilian black metal bands. This was first released in a very small run by Gungnir Productions and was later reissued by Underground Productions.

here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F2B6HV0R

Coward

I cannot claim to be as seasoned an expert as many on the subject of Japanese hardcore, though I would consider myself a huge fan. There is certainly no shortage of great blogs on the subject of hardcore and more specifically, international hardcore. Many of these blogs already make the classics of the genre available. It's fairly common to see releases by Confuse, Gai, and G.I.S.M. made available, and rightly so, all 3 bands are amazing and probably are the most definitive of the Japanese hardcore aesthetic. Eventually I will join the fold and post some music by them, but for now I believe that there are better, more informed blogs that already have done a fine job in paying tribute (http://damagingnoise.blogspot.com comes to mind). I do, however, have plans to do a Gai tribute post at some point. Interestingly enough, when the subject of great Japanese punk bands comes up, few ever mention Osaka's Coward. Perhaps because this little red 7" was their only proper release. Recently the great MCR Company released a split cd with some unheard Coward and fellow countrymen, Gasmask. Pick it up!!! But what of this ep? I have seen it titled "Voice" before, but there is nothing on the sleeve, that I can tell, to suggest such a claim. What you get is 3 raw tracks of fast fuzzy hardcore. I guess that one of the members is still playing music and is in a band called Cutie. Like I said, I am hardly an expert, so if anyone can fill in any details about Coward I welcome it.

Get it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7FRB2YJO

Vpaahsalbrox

Vpaahsalbrox is a very mysterious and secretive black metal band that hails from Austin, Texas.They have one release under their (bullet) belts, the very limited (only 50 copies made) demo "14 Sovereign" The name, Vpaahsalbrox, is apparently the combination of 2 enochian words and roughly translates into "Lucifer's Wings."

Download here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GZ0SCFIJ

The Pope is Wrong

Paternoster were one of a handful of Austrian bands doing the whole "Kraut Rock" thing. Why, given the thousands of over-looked Kraut bands, is Paternoster worth a second look? Well, quite simply because this very may well be one of the starkest, most depressing albums ever constructed. It would be impossible to write about Paternoster and not mention the gloom-laden vocals of Franz Wippel. The guy is clearly drunk and on the verge of breakdown. The music is spirited, but at times clumsy Hammond-driven psych. Imagine if Procol Harum or early Genesis were drunk satanists. Lyrically, Paternoster delves into such uplifting topics as suicide and religion and Franz sounds as if he is struggling to come to terms with a world that no longer interests him. Heavy fucking trips. Sounding nothing like, but sort of occupying the same spiritual space as German black metal band Bethlehem. I think this album will appeal to anyone interested in dark emotive music regardless of what genre you call home.

Get the entire album here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RGFTZM1A

Cool Band Alert: Rukkus!!!!

Rukkus is a young band from San Jose, California who absolutely worship at the altar of the Japanese hardcore gods of old. It's fair to say that, soundwise, they bridge the gap between Confuse and G.I.S.M. and that places them squarely at the top of my list of favorite active punk bands. Support them, buy their stuff, buy them beer and come "spend loud night" should they come to your neck of the woods.

http://www.myspace.com/rukkusrules
http://www.myspace.com/morbidmassakrerecords


download their tour demo here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5TKX5IZN

Saint Shit!!!

Saint shit!!! Le long de à Chemotherapy de les USA , La France Butcher créions quelques-unes de les très attachant retardé punk être ébranlé toujours. Les perche c'est tellement surmultipliée et flou éteint et les paroles êtes hurlé dans les snottiest Français , les unique voie vous pouviez pas amour ça sommaire , primitive , de - les - vider punk enfer ep de 1985 c'est si tu est une total estropié sursaut - tourné , quoi vous probablement êtes. Mangez une valise dicks fuckneck!

All you need to know: lo-fi, bass-overdriven snotty French punk from 1985, awesome!!!

Download it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EL8M13DW

Problem is...now I want to hear everything remixed by them.

2 songs from Morbid Angel's "Covenant" album remixed by Laibach.

Here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3HE1QK08

Black Sabbath Riot

The story: Some Wisconsin hop-head smuggled in his state-of-the-art mini tape recorder in hopes of getting himself a bitchin' Sabbath bootleg, turns out he got something a whole lot more interesting.
From the creator: "Geezer Butler gets hit with something that cuts hit eye and the band walks off after two songs and the crowd is told to go home. Then 10,000 people groan...hiss...and boooooooo! Part of the problem was nobody really new what had happened. One chair was knocked over in discuss. Then two chairs was knocked over. Then four, sixteen, what is sixteen to the second power? Hand rails were ripped out from the balcony. The back support for the fixed chairs in the balcony were busted in half. All the while I am recording all this mayhem. I even interviewed the nuts while they were braking stuff. The security team all surrounded the mixing consule while this was taking place. I am now in the balcony watching and recording. All the fold up chairs on the main floor was made of wood. By now, there was at least 100 of these chairs all in a HUGE pile in the middle of the main floor. I then see one guy with a BIC lighter trying to light this huge wooden chair pile. Classic. He never could get it going. He needed lighter fluid. Police sirens and all the sounds of a riot right here. Every piece of window and door glass was broken. Over $10,000.00 in damage. My buddy was told to leave by police but then went back in and promptly was arrested. He said that police station was over flowing with arrestees and reporters. Black Sabbath has not played in Milwaukee since."

Get it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PMDNP7UE

HELL!

Sartre is famously quoted as saying "Hell is other people." He was wrong, terribly wrong. Hell was an obscure NWOBHM band from Nottingham.

From Metal Archives: "Hell signed to the Belgian label Mausoleum, but two weeks prior to the recording of the album, the label collapsed. This led to the split-up of the band, and the suicide of Dave Halliday." Well that's a dreary and very fitting end to this band's story, but clearly Mr. Halliday's vocal performance and lyrics on this 1982 demo suggest a pre-existing mental affliction that makes this demo worth having even though the sound quality is spotty at best. No, really, I'm warning you this sounds as if it was ripped from a tape of a tape of a tape of a tape.... Apparently the amazing label, Miskatonic Foundation has plans to release a giant Hell retrospective that I hope will have a better sounding version of this demo. Until that day, wrap your head around this unearthed gem of eccentric British metal.

Get it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=84DW6JNT

Sector 4 "Disc-Lexia" (1983)

Sector 4 was one of the earliest and best hardcore bands to emerge from the oft-overlooked Florida scene. They played fast, melodic hardcore with jangly guitars and vocal duties shared equally by the 3 members. On this ep each member sings the song he wrote, and they do a rather useless cover of "Heartbreak Hotel." The band's entire recorded output amounts to a whopping 7 minutes. They also contributed tracks to the "We Can't Help It If We're From Florida" compilation 7" ep, which I may post in its entirety at another time.

Download it here

This Tape Fucking Hates You!!!!

Here is a French Black Metal band, nothing really extraordinary about that, but what sets Hatjan lightyears away from their countrymen is the scraping harsh noise that coats and corrodes this nasty little tape. Hatjan might be the black metal for fans of noisecore bands like Confuse or Lebenden Toten, or the even harsher sounds of Merzbow and Masonna. Almost no information can be found on the internet regarding Hatjan or their sole release "Fureur Blanche" (White Fury). Encyclopaedia Metallum (http://www.metal-archives.com/) reports this as having been released in 2005 as a cdr edition of 69 handnumbered copies, however this was ripped from a tape that is numbered 26 of 37. The title and other elements suggest that Hatjan might have a less-than-savory political platform, but the music is enough to frighten the squeamish, and I'm not here for politics or debate, just "music." No credits, no label, no contact information, just pure acid hiss and piercing feedback hell. Indeed, Hatjan fucking hates you.

Get it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GA78O6PA

THE I AM RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT

A Northern California UFO cult founded by Guy W. Ballard (1878-1939) and his wife, Edna W. Ballard (1886-1971). Guy Ballard had studied occult teachings and came to visit Mt. Shasta, California, seen as the home of mystic adepts from Atlantis who lived inside the massive volcano. It was there he met Saint Germain. He enlisted the Ballards to usher in the "I AM" Age of Eternal Perfection on Earth.



You can download the "I AM" Memorial Invocation Album here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XG592MV9

Smoking Crack with Syd Barrett

LOAD were the best sludge/hardcore band from Miami that you never heard of. They self released a handful of amazing 7"s and an LP through the early 90's. They might have been better known but they were plagued by crack and stupidity. I went to high school with the guitarist. Here is their 1993 ep "Sleestack"

download it here

Freedom "Last Revolution"

Like most great Japanese hardcore bands of the 80's not much is known about Freedom. I believe this is the only release by the band. Not as noisy as Confuse or Gai, not as brilliant as G.I.S.M. but still possessing all the elements that we've come to love from the Japanese bands, gruff vocals, catchy choruses, and metallic guitar tones.

Download this here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XN3SQEWC

First post!!!! Draugurz

I can think of no better way to kick things off than with Draugurz "A Yell From The Past" demo tape. Draugurz is a one-man entity hailing from Brazil that pours forth some of the best Burzum worship melancholic black metal ever heard. The clumsy delivery and bedroom boombox production value only sweeten the deal.

get it here: