Monday, February 2, 2009

Korova

First off, that cover just sucks and it's a shame because this record certainly does not. Perhaps you saw Korova's A Kiss In The Charnel Fields (come to think of it, the title sucks too) at your favorite record store back in '95 when it came out and glossed over it because of that dumb art and that dumb logo. Now might be a great time to overlook those unfortunate details and become acquainted with what should have been hailed as a classic of avant garde Austrian Death/Black goodness. Herky jerky, carnival chaotic histrionics meet techy tacky fuck all metal. Seriously, grab this.

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18 comments:

  1. StevenFebruary 2, 2009 at 3:39 AM

    That's some preposterously angular first-Atrocity-album-meets-Schoenberg's-nightmares outfreakage.

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  2. StevenFebruary 2, 2009 at 3:41 AM

    Oh yeah, and the black metal boogie woogie was cool, too.

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  3. tsirkikkeFebruary 2, 2009 at 7:05 AM

    Good record! This deserves to be spread around... thanks Aesop

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  4. THRIPSFebruary 2, 2009 at 8:11 AM

    At fist glance i thought it said Krokus... Maybe that's why peoeple flipped past it at the record store.

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  5. HelmFebruary 2, 2009 at 9:29 AM

    Yeah I *had* avoided this for these reasons back in 1995 (also some horrible interviews that perhaps I had misunderstood and weren't as horrible as I then thought didn't help). I gave this a few solid listens some months ago and whereas nothing stuck, I am compelled enough to listen to it more.

    There's a particular 'school' of HM music that occurred in Austria... lot's of Avant-Garde spanning from the neo-romantic to complete aural nihilism. Angizia, Dornenreich and Elend, even Mayfair come to mind. Atrocity are close as Steven said.

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  6. skullgridFebruary 2, 2009 at 11:36 AM

    this might take a few repeats. on first listen, the weak production and drum machine are a bit hard to ignore... wanting to like it tho. kinda like a BM version of Forgotten Silence or something...

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  7. AesopFebruary 2, 2009 at 11:59 AM

    Not a drum machine. Just horrible production and a very disciplined, robotic drummer.

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  8. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2009 at 12:50 PM

    Do these guys have any connection to Korovakill? I remember that Waterhells album being cool in a very strrrange way.

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  9. AesopFebruary 2, 2009 at 12:52 PM

    Same band.

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  10. AsaFebruary 2, 2009 at 4:51 PM

    Man, it's like Gorguts with a lil' corpsepaint and a fascination with both classical and carnie music. I really, really dig this.

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  11. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2009 at 7:20 PM

    Yeah, it's good. I particularly liked the song with the piano. It's so refreshing to know that Black Metal people have keyboards with something other than a "spooky" setting.

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  12. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2009 at 7:41 PM

    Your blog seems to indulge in a lot of "you probably avoided this because of it's terrible cover art/band name/reviews/etc, but you should really check this out considering it's now free of charge". :D

    JMD
    Royal Oak, MI

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  13. FiddlestixxFebruary 4, 2009 at 3:36 PM

    Pretty cool. Haven't heard any good circus metal in a while so thx for this...

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  14. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2009 at 9:34 PM

    Thanks for sharing the schizophrenic, theatrical heaviness.

    This is somehow reminiscent of black metal, but also has aspects that remind me of some of the RIO bands from the 70's and 80's.

    I'm reminded a bit of the moodiness of Univers Zero if they decided to forgo the chamber music string arrangements in lieu of crispy Marshall amps and synths.

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  15. criApril 6, 2009 at 10:17 AM

    crazy to find this record on here! aesop do you actually know moritz from dornenreich is playing drum on this one?!? ...they´ve been awesome live!!!!!!

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  16. AesopApril 6, 2009 at 10:51 AM

    I found out when in Prague and got all starstruck. I have been a huge supporter of this album for a long time. Moritz claims he was 16 when they did this, it's so amazing.

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  17. Dan FitchNovember 13, 2009 at 10:03 AM

    I just now finally dug back through this. THIS ALBUM. OH MY GOD. Seriously? Some of it is just plain off the rails, but most of it is pure genius. Growing on me, monstrous, insane.

    Damn! Thanks yet again Aesop...

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  18. UnknownApril 21, 2011 at 10:59 PM

    Damn, this ranks high among the discoveries I've been able to experience through the Cosmic Hearse. THANK YOU.

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