Les Legions Noire Part Six: Moëvöt "Voebr"

Moëvöt is perhaps my favorite LLN project. Ghostly hymns, disjointed spectral voices, and dismal, cobwebbed cantos make Moëvöt's extremely rare tapes seem closer to EVP recordings than the ramblings of a morbid, sullen French teen. Moëvöt was operated solely by Vordb Dreagvor Uezeerb, a leading LLN figure who also was a member of Black Murder, Brenoritvrezorkre, Dzlvarv, Susvourtre, Torgeist, Vzaeurvbtre, Zelda, Dvnaèbkre, Chambre Noir, and Belketre. Voebr was Moëvöt's fourth demo. It was released in 1995.

Here

special low frequency post

Earth's second album from 1993. The cover image really says it all. The hugeness and oppressive crush of the sky over a strip of insignificant land. A few horses and a tent, but those are details, and details are simply not welcome here.

((((((((((((((((((((O))))))))))))))))))))

Psalm 9

When I was 15, Black Flag was in town and Henry Rollins was doing an in-store reading at Open Books & Records in Miami. Afterwards he took some questions from the dozen or so people there. I was so baffled by the direction that Black Flag had taken with My War that I used the opportunity to ask Mr. Rollins what records he had been really into lately. Without hesitation he mentioned Trouble's debut released one year earlier. He likened it to the sky just before a terrible storm. Open didn't carry much metal, so I would have to wait and pick this up at Vibrations, which was like a head shop that sold a few random punk records and Metalblade releases. After the reading Henry, browsed around the store a bit and then bought a stack of Blowfly cassettes, which further confused me. Anyways, Rollins was 100 percent, absolutely correct about Trouble. Psalm 9 was so heavy, so completely menacing and foreboding I didn't even care that they were christians. In a way, it almost added to the mystique. It wasn't nicey-nice, smiley face Ned Flanders christianity, this was serious, cataclysmic, Asa Hawks type shit. To this day I still listen to this album weekly, and I still get chills.

Here

I gotta add that I just got back from seeing Harvey Milk in Oakland. They were so good that I teared up, lamenting dead friends that weren't there to see such a great, cathartic, and beautiful band. So deep, so natural. It's been years since a band moved me so. Goddamn!

The Blasting Concept

Man, I have really been enjoying Donut Duck's great blog of all things SST Records, so in tribute, I bring you SST's 1983 mission statement of a compilation, The Blasting Concept. This was my introduction to Saccharine Trust, The Minutemen, and Hüsker Dü, all of which blasted my teenage mind right out my fucking earholes. The concept wasn't wasted on me. Oh the onrush of memories brought on by simply hearing these songs in this particular order. Perfect. The tracklist.

Minutemen - Paranoid Chant

Minutemen - The Maze

Minutemen - Boiling

Minutemen - Games

Meat Puppets - Tumblin' Tumbleweeds

Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets

Saccharine Trust - A Human Certainty

Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown

Black Flag - Jealous Again

Black Flag - I've Heard It Before

Overkill - Hell's Getting Hotter

Stains - Get Revenge

Würm - I'm Dead

Hüsker Dü - Real World

Blast Off!

Theories

I Teoremi (The Theories) were a brilliant, young prog band from Rome. This album, released in 1972 was to be the band's only statement. The songs range from downright hard psych to mathy numbers, to dreamier passages, all with the typically melodramatic Italian vocals of a character called Lord Enzo. You will love this album, especially if your name is Don Anderson.

Qui

Listen To My Band

Here's my band, Ludicra and our first album Hollow Psalms. It was recorded in 2000, released in 2002 by Life Is Abuse, and is now out of print. I play drums, and I drew the cover, and the obligatory illegible logo. The digipack was designed to open backwards making it like a book. Bassist Ross Sewage hand calligraphed all the lyrics and info and did some excellent woodcut illustrations that you will never see because you can't get this. Seeing how this CD fetches up to $45,000,000 on eBay, and people are always asking me for copies, I figured I should probably put it up here. Since Hollow Psalms, we released two more full lengths through Alternative Tentacles and an EP through Life Is Abuse. All those are readily available so I suggest you stop dicking around here and buy them up, they are vastly superior to this recording, and someday will fetch gazillions of dollars on eBay.

Here

Ghost Walking

Mighty Sphincter's second release, Ghost Walking shows a bit of evolution from their debut EP. Even more druggy, somnambulant and nightmarish. Kind of like meeting your mom's new boyfriend while you're on PCP. Sort of like waking up with dried BBQ sauce in your briefs. Not unlike having a grand mal seizure in a mascot's costume, and because you're in a costume, no one notices or tries to help you.

Here

Slowly We Rot

Slowly We Rot, Obituary's debut album, is my single most favorite piece of Florida Death Metal. I never really thought much of their other records, this one just does it for me. John Tardy vomits forth his amazingly grotesque vocals and the band is solid, heavy and consistent. Morbid Angel may have been the most proficient, Deicide the most satanic, Cannibal Corpse the most gory, but Obituary was just the most enjoyable and riffy. No gimmicks, just songs, good ones. Slowly We Rot is a classic of humid, deep south, death-obssessed, dirthead, trailer-court Grand Guignol that always hits the spot.

Here

The Final Agony

When it comes to Japanese Hardcore, Zouo was second only to the mighty G.I.S.M. In fact, Zouo sound quite a bit like G.I.S.M., with their fuzzy muted guitar sounds, crazy solos, and gruff vocals. I imagine, had Zouo been around as long as G.I.S.M., they'd be revered in much the same way. Sadly, Zouo's only official release was this brilliant EP, The Final Agony. Posthumously, some unreleased tracks were featured on the Gai/Zouo split bootleg LP. After their break-up, their vocalist moved to the USA and did a brief stint as the frontman for Pittsburgh HC band, Half Life. The remaining members went on to form Danse Macabre, an even more metallic concern, but nothing can top The Final Agony, not even a blowjob made of money

Here

Hopelessly Devoted To You

Tears wet the coffin dust

Mourning stains the wooden lid

Through the sadness and depression

I awoke in the stone cold grave

Weird glow in the vault around me

Sargeist is an exceptional Black Metal band from Finland comprised of members of both Horna and Behexen. Satanic Black Devotion is the band's first full-length release. Sargeist manage to be very kult and very sincere in their approach with enough variation in their songs to keep it interesting. Sometimes I feel like this may be the only Black Metal album I need.

Devotion

Boys Next Door

The Boys Next Door was the earliest incarnation of The Birthday Party. Not terribly unlike the Birthday Party's debut album, Door Door only hints at the absolute drug nightmare these Australian lads would become. This record is rather poppy and upbeat with the instantly recognizable voice of Nick Cave cutting through. I guess they had a minor hit down under with "Shivers." The Boys Next Door also released an EP called Hee-Haw. This EP has been released as The Birthday Party as well. Apparently Cave sees Door Door as an embarrassment, but have you seen his moustache recently? Makes you wonder if Nick Cave understands the concept of embarrassment. Cosmic Hearse thinks this is a great record, no matter what Mr. Cave and his ugly cookie-duster think.

Here

Gargoylian

In 2001 ultra-chic doom/black label, Southern Lord released this beautiful single by Cathedral. I shouldn't have to give you the dirt on Cathedral, either you know 'em or you don't, either you love them or you don't, it's just that simple. The two songs presented here were recorded during the Endtyme sessions with Billy Anderson at the ol' mixing desk. The cover image is from La Noche de las gaviotas, the 1975 Spanish horror movie directed by Armando de Ossorio. The A side, "Gargoylian" is typical Cathedral but the B side, "Earth in The Grip of a Skeletal Hand," has them doing a sort of Discharge thing. This was released in a run of 2000 copies with the 100 on blue vinyl and 100 on gold vinyl. Enjoy.

Here

Roach & Roll

I was going to write a vitriolic rant about this blog where this pathetic fuckstick just steals other blogger's posts, writing, and personal anecdotes and attempts to pass them off as his own work, but then I decided to not give any more attention to this lazy, unimaginative sub-tard. With that said...

Roach Motel were one of the earliest and best-known hardcore bands from Florida. Here's their debut 7" Roach & Roll from 1982. Sure this record has some jabs at Cubans, old people and homosexuals and the infamous track "Wetback," but back in '82 punk wasn't overrun with PC watchdogs, and this kind of naive bigotry was just part of a bigger misanthropy. Not that I am condoning such sentiments, it was just how it was back in the day, and I am against any kind of revisionism of the past to conform with people's tight-assed worldview in the present. Either way, this is a classic of American punk and a very important piece of my growing up punk in Florida. These guys were the kings, this record is the proof.

Here

My Solid Ground

Well, by looking at that cornball "Free To Be You And Me" looking cover, you might not expect to have your mind blown by this album by Krautrock outsiders, My Solid Ground. But you have my word, My Solid Ground could be as menacing and trippy as Amon Düül or Magma , and still lay down some choice blotter acid rock. And here's the kicker: chief songwriter and guitarist/singer, Bernhard Rendel was barely 17 when this album was recorded in 1971! Clearly skilled beyond his years, Rendel's assembled this amazing band of Frankfurt hop-heads to record what would be their only album. Enjoy.

Hier

Schattengang

Paysage d' Hiver is one of the best bands in Black Metal today. For years this Swiss entity's demos were among the most coveted releases amongst the kvlt and nekro set, but recently they became more available through a series of beautiful and limited A5 digipack CDs released by Kunsthall Produktionen. So what makes Paysage d' Hiver that much better than the rest of the painted throng of black metal hordes? Well, take a good look at the image above. Sure it looks like a fairly standard scene of a nighttime forest that might adorn any Black Metal record, but notice the depth, notice how it keeps going further and further into the distance. Paysage d' Hiver is alot like this image, their depth, their ability to create landscapes of frigid sound, and their swirling hypnotic layers that are constantly revealing something new upon each listen. Paysage d' Hiver are one of a few active bands that understand what makes Black Metal great, a sense of mystery, coldness, and distance, NOT who is the most "true," Satanic, or kult. I couldn't possibly recommend this enough. Pure magick!

Here

Suspiria

Dario Argento's most notorious work, Suspiria, isn't so much a horror movie as it is a kinetic painting slathered in blood reds, ghostly blues and nauseating greens. Every frame, every shot is a work of fine art worthy of any museum. The sets, the lighting, and of course the blood are candy for the eye. Add Goblin's funky, tense, and flat-out unnerving score and it becomes a feast for the senses, at least two of them anyways. It's enough to make you not care that the plot is a little trite and the acting is a bit stiff, and bear in mind, I am talking about one of my all-time favorite films. I'm sure most of you already know of Suspiria's many merits and few shortcomings, and are more than familiar with the absolutely psychotic soundtrack, but let's just assume for a minute that there are some people out there that have either just been born in the last couple of weeks, or have lived their whole lives with their heads in their asses.

Witch!

Sabbat

Sabbat's rich history of Far East cult metal dates back to 1983. Since their inception, Sabbat has released a staggering 37 EPs, 10 LPs, 41 Live albums, and 14 splits. It would seem that the Japanese stereotype of overachieving applies to their metal bands as well. Here I present Sabbat's debut single from 1985. This is a record that has more merit as historical artifact than for actually being a great release. Gezol hadn't developed his vocals yet, and the band seems to suffer from the usual identity crisis that comes from being young and excitable, but the track Mion's Hill is a total keeper. It sounds like a juvenile, unpolished Mercyful Fate. Naturally, Sabbat has improved leaps and bounds since 1985 but this little pearl was first. Enjoy.

これで

Supersonic Motherfucker!

I can say without fear of contradiction that Pastor's Day by Load is the best 7" to come out in the rather musically humdrum '90s. As I mentioned when I posted Load's Sleestack EP, they might have been better known, but they were plagued by crack and stupidity. Everything they did was pure retarded gold, but this record stands above all, and that includes anything your shitty band ever did.

Here

Because Lo-Res Viscera Asked...

...Here is Raw Power's phenomenal After Your Brain LP. This record is soooooo good, especially the flawless performance by drummer, Helder. I had some other stuff to post, but LRV's blog has given me so much joy that I just can't say no.

Here

Triumf Of Complete And Utter Darkness

Here's an excellent international Black Metal comp released by Desastrious Records out of Texas in 2002. Many of the bands here are clearly NS, but not all. The CD was limited to 500 copies and comes with a well-done booklet in which each band has a page for lyrics, pictures of members with corpsepaint with medieval weaponry, or whatever Third Reich imagery that makes their pale peters reach out and say "Sieg Heil!" A few extra horns up for some choice cover art that looks as if it might have been done by an inmate of a state prison, and the cryptic ESL message on the insert stating A MUSIC OF ELITE FOR ELITE'S MINDS. Standout tracks come from Triumvirat Xul, Bilskirnir, Ecclesia Satani, and Nos Vrolok. The tracklist:

Intro-Nordwind (Germany)

And Die In Silence-Nordwind (Germany)

Fullmoon Rites-Graven (Germany)

Condemnation-Secrets Of The Moon (Germany)

The Secret Doctrine-Triumvirat Xul (Germany)

Schneewuste-Nordreich (Germany)

Nordland Erwache-Holocaustus (Germany)

Sonnenwende-Bilskirnir (Germany)

Arisches Blut-Aryan Blood (Germany)

Bereit-Sieg Oder Tod (Germany)

The Evil Corner-Ecclesia Satani (Poland)

Bloed En Ere-Elfenbloed (Belgium)

Total Krieg-Kwelhekse (Belgium)

Poussiere D'Etoiles-Nuit Noire (France)

La Quintessence Des Ages-Walpurgis (France)

Army Of The Black Death-Bellum (USA)

Cunts-Seemingly, Salivating-Nos Vrolok (USA)

Open Your Eyes-Infernal Hatred (USA)

Abating Life (Outro)-Azrael (USA)

Here

Nigga Titties Damn!

The year was 1988, and a 17 year old me was living in suburban south Florida. A friend of mine played me a record called Straight Outta Compton by a young rapping group from Los Angeles called provocatively enough, Niggaz With Attitude. It was the angriest, most unapologetically violent record I had ever heard, and this includes anything by Negative Approach. As a white guy, it made me a bit uneasy. I had to have it. I headed down to Sears department store and crammed the CD into my pants, I wasn't really into paying for shit back then. But the last laugh was on Sears, when I got home and put it on it was not the same record I had heard the day before. Upon closer inspection I realized that I had boosted the "clean version" devoid of expletives, Nigga Titties Damn! These Niggaz had considerably less attitude, and I wasn't having it. Worse than non-alcoholic beer, or meatless sausage, a clean NWA is without merit or use.

I wonder if San Francisco based artist/typographer, Evan Roth had a similar experience as a youth. Perhaps this is why he edited NWA's classic, as well as Eazy E's Eazy Does It album down to ONLY it's explicit content. Whatever the reason, it more than makes up for my disappointment some 21 years ago. So here it is all the damns, niggas, titties, ho's, fucks, asses, dicks, pussies, shits, motherfuckers, and bitches without all the other cumbersome nouns, adjectives, verbs, articles and other motherfucking parts of speech getting all up in yo' shit. I would love to hear this being bumped from some lowrider with huge speakers in East Oakland, that would fucking rule. That would be all like Nigga Titties Daaaaaamn!

Here, Bitch!

Gotham City

Here's the highly sought after debut single from Gotham City, one of the coolest of the FWOSHM (first wave of Swedish Heavy Metal) bands there ever was. Though this record doesn't even begin to hint at how brilliant this band became, and it suffers from horrible production, and the vocalist sounds a bit bored, it is still a favorite of mine. Perhaps because there is an undeniable, naive charm to this little slab of metal, the sound of youthful promise. Gotham City hailed from Umeå and formed in 1980. A demo was recorded in 1981, and this single in '82. In 1983 the band recorded another demo and the classic EP Black Writs. Then singer Ola Ohlsson was replaced by the far more adept Anders Zackrisson. With Anders at the helm, the band refined their sound and released their only full-length album The Unknown, also fantastic. Then in 1986 the band did the unexpected, they released another two song demo of astounding quality that far surpassed any of their previous work, and promptly broke up. Recently a Gotham City retrospective CD was released through Metal Crusade Records, but foolishly these two cuts were omitted. Anders went on to sing for first wave retro thrash act, Nocturnal Rites, and drummer Jonas Östman did a stint bashing buckets for everyone's favorite Swedish meatball, Yngwie Malmsteem. Gotham City, another incredible Euro-metal treasure glossed over for far too long. Like I always say: Nej Sverige, Nej Metall. Veta Sverige, Veta Metall.

Här

The Shining Truth

Next to the Japanese, I think the Italians made some of the most fucked up Hardcore in the 1980s. Who could deny the sheer aggression of such spaghetti-slurping walliones like Raw Power, Declino, EU's Arse, Negazione, Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers, Dioxina, The Peggio Punx, Wretched, and one of my personal faves, Indigesti? Here's their great Sguardo Realta tape.

Qui

Africa!

In 1973 the border between Zambia and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was closed off due to a bloody conflict between the two neighboring countries. This created a myriad of trade problems for Zambia. To make matters worse, soon after the price of copper, Zambia's chief export, dropped drastically, sending the already poor Zambia even further down the shitter. These were particularly hard times for a people who who knew only hardship. Could this explain why every Zambian album I've heard from this time period is so mind-boggling, sincere and magically heart-breaking? I fell in love with Chrissy Zebby Tembo, went nutters over Witch and now we have Amanaz, and their 1975 album Africa. Amanaz were by far the most African sounding of the bunch, at times choosing to sing in their native tongue, hell, they even called their album Africa, ferchrissakes! All three bands have a very similar lo-fi, fuzzed out sound, but Amanaz are on the darker end of the scene, perhaps even more so than Witch. Again, a spartan production adds to the depth of the album. So if the Cosmic Hearse's previous forrays into the cryptic world of Zambian psych left you wanting more then this is for you.

Africa!

The Blackening Of The Arctic

The northern lands, summer is short, winter is long/Harsh brutal cold, life is a battle against the earth, against the ice, the darkness.

Agathion were a Black Metal band from Quebec and this demo titled The Blackening Of The Arctic was the band's only output. It was released in 2004, and limited to 300 copies.

Here

The Name Is Plissken

John Carpenter once claimed that he did his own soundtracks to save money. Well, fortunately for us, Carpenter's frugality makes for highly entertaining musical accompaniment for highly entertaining movies. And let's face it, if you are going to make an a post-apocalyptic epic with Kurt Russell, Isaac Hayes, Ernest Borgnine, Adrienne Barbeau, Harry Dean Stanton, Donald Pleasencene, and Lee Van Cleef, you can't entrust any bargain basement John Williams to handle the score. With Escape From New York, Carpenter's minimalist synthesizer noodlings compliment his future-of-the-'80s vision perfectly. John Carpenter prophesized that in 1997 New York would be a maximum security prison and that music would sound like the demo mode on a 1980 casio keyboard. Chilling how spot on he was.

Here

Murder Metal

Okay, so what if I told you that the smartest guys in Chicago were a Death Metal band? Putting out a collection of 21 concise, almost jingle-like songs, each one based on a different serial killer or mass murderer, is just pure genius. This would be enough to make Sinister Slaughter by Macabre a Cosmic Hearse favorite, but these guys up the ante with a fair amount of shred. These immensely talented boneheads put a great deal of thought into their terse arrangements, as well as a great deal of research into their morbid subject matter. Classics like "What the Heck Richard Speck (Eight Nurses You Wrecked)" and "Albert Was Worse than Any Fish in the Sea" also showcase Macabre's biting wit. Sinister Slaughter plays like a flurry of supermarket True-Crime novels written by ugly midwestern hessians with severe A.D.D. and the giggles from waaaay too much ratweed. How the fuck can you not get behind that? Extra points for a Sgt. Pepper's parody cover that doesn't suck.

Kill

Noise Against The Machine

Here's a 61 track International Power Violence/Grindcore compilation 7" from 1995. You get some Violent Headache, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, KKF, and a bunch more bands that play such short tracks they almost can't help sounding alike. Essential!!!

Noise Here

Vinland vs. Finland

At the request of avid Cosmic Hearse supporter, JH of Jabladav, here's the infamous Vinland vs. Finland four way split. This features Bone Awl from the U.S., Volkurah from Canada, and Hammer and Vordr both hailing from Finland. All the bands play raw, minimalist Black Metal, with Vordr and Bone Awl injecting a bit of punk into their sound. This was released as an LP by Grievantee and later as a cassette by Northern Sky Productions, both are long out of print and hard to come by. If I had to declare a winner I'd give it to Vinland only because Bone Awl is so great, and Hammer is rather uninteresting. Enjoy.

Here

Futurisk

Remember a few years back there was that horrible retroshit trend called "Electro-Clash" that had hipster chicks all over Williamsburg, San Francisco, and Portland doing way too much blow and wearing fuscia leg-warmers? Remember how such champeens of cool like Vice Magazine and Pitchfork Media clamored to be the first to elevate this pathetic pastiche of analog synths and the worst Chess King clothing from two decades ago? Then it just disappeared faster than you can say "I'm totally into Black Metal Now." And sadly, the obscure pioneers of herky jerky electro-pop, like my hometown's own Futurisk remain unknown and unheralded today.

Futurisk were Miami's contribution to the world of robotic synth-oriented no wave electro-punk. They fall somewhere between DEVO and Suicide. Player Piano is one of those weird little privately pressed records that has been unfairly buried by time and disinterest. It came out in 1982, the real 1982, not the 2003 one.

Here

I.N.R.I.

Sarcofago's debut album I.N.R.I. is as responsible for influencing the look of modern Black Metal as any Bathory or Venom. It's no secret that Sarcofago made quite an impression on a young Norwegian named Oystein Aarseth, better known as Euronymous, the founder of Norway's seminal Black Metal band Mayhem. Some believe (notwithstanding Kiss and King Diamond) that Sarcofago were the first to don the macabre corpse paint, now de rigeur among today's aspiring Satanic musicians. This Brazilian horde were also pioneers in the fine art of sheer and unfettered blasphemy. To this day, Sarcofago's disdain for organized religion is unparalleled. Boundaries were pushed musically as well. Sarcofago took the aggression of classic German Thrash acts like Sodom and Kreator and cranked the tempos. Sometimes Sarcofago seemed to playing faster than they were really able to, the result is sloppy, barbaric, and most effective. It's hard to imagine how different the landscape of extreme metal might look had this album never come to be.

Sarcofago started in 1985 when Wagner Antichrist was booted from Sepultura. Sure, he could have sat at home and felt sorry for himself but instead he called on his Christ-hating homies, Incubus, Butcher, and Leprous. Sarcofago were born and soon submitted two tracks to the Cogumelo Records Compilation Warfare Noise. 1987 saw Sarcofago releasing what would be their classic, and the subject of today's post. They went on to make four more albums before calling it quits in 2000, but none of these had the ferocity of I.N.R.I..

Here