Varghkoghargasmal, the strange and clumsy moniker of a very strange and clumsy one-man instrumental black metal band from Germany. I use the term "black metal" quite loosely, as Varghkoghargasmal are really only black metal in spirit, musically they are like nothing you have ever heard. The most noticeably bizarre element is the clean-tone guitars that sound more like Dick Dale than any kult and necro horde I have encountered, and the drums that sometimes veer off beat or stop for no apparent reason. Varghkoghargasmal released a full-length cassette titled Call of the Raven and this 7" ep, and a second full-length is to be released by Tumult Records this year. Certainly a polarizing entity, everyone that has heard Varghkoghargasmal is either immediately drawn in, or quickly turned off. I wonder which will you be?
13 comments:
Fuck, I have this tape I got from the (defunct?) Funeral Agency label. I can't transfer tapes to computer, so I only get to listen to this when my tape player decides to work. Thanks for the upload!
I don't know if you've seen the metal-archives review, but it's great:
"Retarded name, retarded concept, retarded musician. This guy thought it would be a good idea to record a black metal demo without any distortion on the guitars. Some band with skill may be able to pull this off, but this guy can�t do anything right. Not a single god damn thing.
I�ve bought a lot of shitty demos before, but nothing like this. I have no idea what this �Avenger� guy was thinking when recording this horrible pile of steaming horse shit�. Actually he probably wasn�t thinking at all. This sounds like it was being played by a mentally retarded kid with a guitar, and one of their retarded friends playing the drums at the same time. And I am in no way exaggerating. This literally sounds like it was played by a retard. The drumming is off time for pretty much the entire demo. He can�t keep a beat, because like I said, I think he is retarded. The guitar is out tune and he messes up constantly. You can�t go 10 seconds without him messing up (this goes on for the ENTIRE demo). Luckily there is no bass, because if there was, he would definitely fuck that up too. Occasionally some crappy sounding keyboard will come in. It doesn�t do anything. It just comes in randomly then goes away. He probably just bumped into it or something while having one of his retard fits recording the guitar."
Amazing review. At some point I plan on posting the Call of The Raven tape, dependng on people's reactions to this ep. I don't believe Avenger is retarded, more like brilliant and not really caring about petty things like talent and tones.
This is brilliant shit, thanks.
(God I love offbeat drumming.)
This shit is good stuff, I have the call of the raven tape also.
The guitar tone and the drum playing has a real Shaggs vibe...
awesome! tanz der waldteufel really is black-metal surf. and you can tell the drumming is very heartfelt.
I think I just found you from your muxtape mix...googling this band. I really like this song. Like your mix in general.
That review just goes to show that most metalheads don't know what they're talking about within the greater canon of music, this is sick shit - kinda reminds me of a lower-fi version of Yawning Man or instrumental Kyuss interludes, minus the echo.
Awesome blog BTW, I saw the Hated Youth, F and Gay Cowboys shit up and was wondering where in FL you were from. I used to live Jacksonville, and know full well that all that awesome shit never got its due. Do you have the Killed By Florida comp up on here? There was one song I remember from that, I think they were from Tampa, all girl-group, turned me on my ear the first time I heard it.
Anyway, tyte werk son.
I'm from Ft. Lauderdale. The band you speak of may be Morbid Opera.
Thanks a lot!!
Hails Cosmic Hearse and others:
I'm glad that feeling still counts among those who listen to music. Technical superiority + metal = death metal, which is, of course, no good.
this stuff is really great!
your blog is like the mutant sounds of metal. i especially cherish all of these unique metal oddities you post! thank you. great blog. excited to discover more (just started really sifting through).
any chance of re-upping this? just discovered Varghkoghargasmal, and i'm missing this...
great work, btw! ^_^
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