Blood Alliance

This 2007 spilt pairs two Quebecois bands: Csejthe and Ziel Bevrijd. Csejthe starts it off with some hokum LOTR intro and then the raw scrape of French Canadian Black Metal endures for five more tracks. Csejthe is decent enough but their contribution here suffers from a lack of consistency in production. Ziel Bevrijd's Black Metal is a bit more Norse sounding, dynamic, and melodic. Ziel Bevrijd are more interesting, but both bands compliment each other well and share a similar aesthetic. Their alliance of blood resulted in an engaging piece of winter-forged Quebecois dark art.

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Fly

Fly

4 Tribes

Excellent four-way split of obscure Japanese bands from 1988. まつじ (Matsuji,) 666, Poison Arts, and F.O.A.D. play fast, fuzzy, metal-tinged Japanese Hardcore. All the bands deliver the goods and will sate any fan of the Japanese thrashing punk, but まつじ kind of standout with their occasional vocal forays into Bad Brainsisms. I can't think of a better way to kill fifty minutes than with four devil-driven far-east death tribes.

攻撃

Power From Hell

When I wrote about Black Uniforms I mentioned Onslaught, then realized I haven't featured the British thrash masters on the Hearse before. Onslaught started in 1983 in the bullshit town of Bristol as a punk band, but by 1985 the young men of Onslaught were possessed by Satan and opted to play more metal on their debut. You can still here plenty of Discharge influence, and I think this is precisely why Power From Hell is Onslaught's best release, and one of the coolest thrash albums of the 1980s. With each album, they became less punk, more polished, and eventually enlisted Steve "Grim Reaper" Grimmett to front the band for 1989's underwhelming In Search of Sanity. Onslaught reformed in 2006 and has since released two more studio albums, but I have no idea if they are worthwhile or not. I don't need to know, I have Power From Hell on three formats.

Power!

Bagatur

Bagatur, from Bulgaria, play some strange Black Metal comprised mostly of keyboards, drums, and whispered vocals. Occasionally there are guitars, horses and battles, and female vocals amidst the bizarre proceedings. Bagatur may have some dodgy politics and nefarious connections, but there is nothing in the packaging or program to really confirm this. Decide for yourself if you are comfortable with this, but be reminded, that doesn't mean you get to decide what is posted.

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Weeping

Here's the first release, Weeping, from Mournful Congregation, Australia's long standing purveyors of crushingly slow and despondent doooooom. These dour down underlings have stayed true to their formula for almost twenty years. This demo isn't terribly unlike the fantastic album, Book of Kings they released just last November. I can respect this determination and dedication to doing what they do; play cripplingly depressing funeral doom with beautiful melodic overtones. I have loved every bit of music these gallant men have issued forth. This is sitting home alone, drunk on your floor ruminating on all your failures and shortcomings kind of doom. Listen at your own risk.

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Splatter Punk

Splatter Punx on Acid collects the entire discography of Swedish prettyboy metallic hardcore band Black Uniforms. I remember being kind of down on these dudes back in the day because of their corny image, but that aside, these guys hit upon something great at times. Their flirtations with metal seemed a bit more informed than Discharge's or Broken Bones', The Uniforms were at their best when they ventured into the more speed metal realm of their material, sometimes they remind me of a more haphazard Onslaught. Great hair.

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Selda

Selda Bagcan is one of the bigger names in Anatolian psych, but outside her native Turkey, the genius of this woman is barely known. Selda is regarded for her scathing indictments of the Turkish government and work with various political causes. Selda isn't just singing about it. In the 1980s Selda was jailed three times and her passport seized. Her best known album (mainly due to the great 2006 reissue by Finder's Keepers) was her 1976 joint simply titled Selda. The album is crammed full of absolutely infectious melodies, masterful arrangements, twists at every turn, and Selda's powerful wailing voice and guitar. I promise that by the opening riff of "Ince Ince" you will be under the spell of Selda, if not then you are fucking dead inside.

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Elected Evil

Easily one of the greatest monuments to French Black Metal supremacy is Bekhira's stunning debut L'Elu du Mal. Every track bristles with shimmering melodic tremolo picking, blasting washes of drums, and distant anguished vocals. The Paris-based band is an elusive entity, only releasing one demo, a split with Desolation Triumphalis, and this colossal album over the seventeen years since their formation. Member Arkdae has kept consistently busy with his Neo-folk band Dark Sanctuary, while Raktivira has worked with other French kults Osculum Infame and Arkhon Infaustus. The members of Bekhira consider the band to be active, but not a word about new material has surfaced. Hopefully there is more Bekhira to come, in the mean time get with this bit of evil.

Mal

Rollin'

Like Ike Quebec, Leo Parker was considered washed up by the time he signed to Blue Note in 1961, also like Quebec, Parker's comeback yielded a couple of fantastic standard hard bop records, and even more tragic, like Quebec, Leo Parker died soon after. Of the two albums made for Blue Note, I definitely prefer Rollin' With Leo, it is a bawdy, brassy album full of swagger and swing. Pimp Jazz.

Roll With It

Powers Court

Powers Court is a long running traditional Heavy Metal band from Illinois. The centerpiece of the band's sound is the amazing vocals of Danie Powers. Powers toggles effortlessly between a King Diamond shriek into lower registers (I swear at times she sounds like Mr. Scarface from the Geto Boys as well as a dozen others) Sure, this debut suffers from some sort of oddly flat production, but couple that with the vocal acrobatics of Ms. Powers, and you have another compelling piece of bizarro metal born of the love of steel. Their is a purity-of-intent to Powers Court that makes them a thousand times more interesting than all your Hammerfalls and Rhapsodys combined. Seriously, don't blow this opportunity to spend a little time with one of the strangest and most sincere bits of true American Heavy Metal. Powers Court rules.

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Electric Day

Latter day Kraut Rock/Electrofucked band YOU bleeped and blooped their way onto the scene in 1978 and issued this analog synth delight in 1979. Electric Day features a masterful drum performance by Harald Grosskopf (Ash Ra Tempel) and a wealth of repetitive compositions that twist and morph and build. Sometimes dancey, sometimes menacing, and sometimes just relaxing, Electric Day is an excellent album for driving, sitting with your electric bong, or just moving through a post apocalyptic landscape wondering how the fuck the human race will survive.

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Pray For Metal

Never mind the crazy cover art depicting a topless barbarian princess holding a weird axe in one hand, and precariously balancing a skull in the other while she dances seductively in front of a giant Menorah. There is so much more to this album than all that, well maybe not. You do, however, get four pretty rocking Heavy Metal anthems delivered somewhat sloppily by some spirited lads from Linkoping, a bullshit town known for volleyball and making Saabs.

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This Just In

The Wizard of the second most awesome blog on the interweb, is easily one of my favorite people on earth. We have shared a room, risked life and limb on tour together, and laughed heartily at one another's farts. Today he writes me:

Hi dude. Hope you are well.I got this record in Brasil, shit rules. Bought it from a street vendor who pulled out a bunch of metal when we walked up...well, at least he said it was metal but it was a pile of hopelessly partied on pop punk. I gave up, and then a local dude said I should check this out, said they were the first speed metal band from Brasil, and that they came from Belém, where we were. The vendor put it on, and I was hooked from the drum intro.Not sure what the deal is, but the record appears to have been released (or sponsored) by Pepsi, and please check out how fried (or disabled) Pedro is at the bottom of the band photo - that guy is responsible for these Deep Purple meets Motorhead licks. Tough to scour for info on a band called Stress, but there's a quote on Metal Archives from the singer about how he thinks that they should be considered the true speed metal pioneers since this LP came out a year before Kill 'em All. Pretty ballsy.

The Wizard went on to say that this may be up the alley of The Hearse riders and urged me to share this rare gem of Pepsi-sponsored Brazilian Dirt Metal weirdness. I have already listened to it three times, it is fucking awesome bit of fuzzy guitars, captivating hooks, and just plain out great rocking Heavy Metal. Already know this will be in heavy rotation in the next few weeks. What an amazing find. Thank you Wizard, once again you prove most badass.

STRESS!

Bye Sam

I sat down to write this post and the first thing I wrote was "Sam Rivers is a bad ass," but then I went to check the ol' interweb to see how old he was and discovered that he passed away the day after christmas. No one told me. Fuck. Sam Rivers was a badass. He played with Miles Davis until Miles deemed him too weird and replaced him with weird Wayne Shorter, he cut four amazing records for Blue Note, he started a venue to host avant jazz with his wife Bea, made records up until he was 83 years old, and motherfucker did most of these things without a shirt on. Sad to see him go, but he had a long and colorful life, left behind some amazing work, and that can't be taken away. It's hard for me to choose a favorite Rivers album, but if I had to Dimensions & Extensions might do. Bye Sam.

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Grey Misery

After some really icky and mandatory demos, Finland's Disgrace sort of cleaned up their act and eked out a great, but somewhat polished (compared to the demos) album, called Grey Misery. Don't get me wrong, this album still vomits forth plenty of purulent riffs and nauseating vocalizings with a reckless Finnish fury, and stands as one of my favorite Scandi-scum pummel buddies. Anyways, this rules. Just get it.

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Witch Trials

The Fall were probably the nastiest, most cruel, and spiteful bunch of Englishmen ever to exist, and on their first album Live From The Witch Trials all the snark and venom is present and accounted for. The album opens with the menacing and slunky "Frightened" and the lyric "Someone's always on my tracks." The tension is laid out, the sort of embittered angst that make Mark E Smith and The Fall unique, their seeming disdain for their listener. However underneath the hostilities lay some amazingly concise and economically crafted rock songs. The genius that was The Fall starts here.

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Gone

Greg Ginn was bored with Flag and formed Gone. Gone released two albums in 1986. People didn't really take to these, but I did, and I still do. Reminds me of skateboards, Southern California, and rat weed, and no annoying vocalist or trite lyrics to spoil the sun-baked, dirt high, lowride of the whole affair. Get fucking Gone.

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Siamese Twins

This one was nicked from the brilliant I Could Die Tomorrow blog, my favorite source for keeping up on what the kids are listening to. Every so often they drop something so perfect I just have to pass on the wisdom. Most recently I stumbled across this gorgeous demo from a Boston-based dream pop/post punk/whatever band called Siamese Twins. Over the six beautiful and dour tunes on their debut tape, the Siamese Twins offer enough wispy atmosphere, delicious guitar hooks, and charmfully (I made that word up) sweet singing to immediately win you over. Simply stunning, I hope there is more to come.

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Naevaer

This very evocative release comes from Naervaer, Norway's greatest neo-folk outfit. The band was formed by In The Woods members, and you can definitely hear similarities between the two entities. This self-titled EP was released in 1997, the same year In The Woods released their colossal second album Omnio. This almost works as a companion piece to that recording. Naervaer's debut is absolutely gorgeous, maudlin, impassioned, and wholly perfect. This should not be passed over.

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