samlrc

A Lonely Sinner

“Storge”

Feeling numb at the moment, so let’s gaze. samlrc released A Lonely Sinner 2024 March 08. I put off listening to this experimental post-metal, shoegaze, folk beauty…sometimes things come when you need them. The ‘everyday expression’ mentioned as a theme in this album is very much felt.

An intimate work of art. Seeking connection…through samples, through multiple instrumentation, through the space used in creating it…

Full of Hell and Andrew Nolan

Scraping The Divine

“Sphere of Saturn (feat. Justin Broadrick)”

I listened to Scraping The Divine (2024 November 15) before Full of Hell‘s LP Coagulated Bliss that came out earlier this year. I typically go newest first with bands and even though Coagulated Bliss was on my radar when it came out I didn’t listen to it yet. Scraping The Divine is a collab between Full of Hell and Andrew Nolan, whose chaos squares Full of Hell’s.

The industo-noise meets grind/powerviolence is perfect for dancing, walking, chilling out, etc. even though it does not at all come across that way from the start of a first listen—”Sphere of Saturn” featuring Justin K Broadrick (GODFLESH, jesu) is just so spacey shoegaze noise madness.

This meeting of minds is one I would love to see more of in future. This creation is absolute bliss.

Glassing

From the Other Side of the Mirror

“Circle Down”

I shared several albums in a private group back in April without sharing them on Instagram because I didn’t listen to them fully yet.

One album is From the Other Side of the Mirror by Glassing. The album went to the top of the list because of Matthew telling me that I *need* to listen to it, which I did need to, I really did. The sad melodies, heartache hardcore, drowning reverberating vocals, distant thrumming beat is completely coded to a combination of what I enjoy and love. Listening feels like words stuck in the throat—just let it take over.

This album (even more than their previous ones) evokes a feeling I know well, a desperation to be heard and seen in ways that long ago should have happened and never did; being stuck and not found, crying out. And maybe I’m wrong, maybe that’s just what it evokes for me. The eerie and then hopeful interludes, the screams over melodies, the harsh softness of post-hardcore/black metal and sprinkling of doom all make for something that lets the light shine through.

Mitochondrion

VITRISEPTOME

“The Cruxitome”

Vitriseptome (2024 November 01) is Mitochondrion‘s first album in a long time and is absolutely brutal. It does not let up. I thought the tone would bring my mood lower though really listening was a wonderful way to dispel (de-spell). Mitochondrion has a way of being able to create a contant wall of sound and not misstep the force of that sound.

This was a band that was first recommended to me years and years ago by an anonymous person on Reddit based on my love of Plebeian Grandstand, Ulcerate, and more.

The blasting of Mitochondrion was perfect while grating potatoes for my kugel.

Caligula’s Horse

Charcoal Grace

“Sails”

Caligula’s Horse‘s Charcoal Grace (2024 January 26) songs often come off like lullabies (in the best way possible) which is where I think many people get Leprous similarities from, I see The Ocean and Haken as well.

Their song “Sails”, for me, showcases the most burden of resiliencethat as a theme in Caligula’s Horse lyrics. “But all that land I thought I found, Was only water for the drowned” / “And all masks fell there on the shore, And all I’ve ever been is war” / “So never forget the ways we failed, On we sail”.

Hope does not need to be saccharin nor does resilience need to be a burden and I believe Caligula’s Horse provides the beauty of this concept.

PILLAR OF LIGHT

Caldera

“CERTAIN END”

PILLAR OF LIGHT‘s first LP Caldera came out earlier this month (2024 December 06), they have been on my radar for a little bit. They are wonderfully melancholy sludge/doom metal.

The vocals are gut-wrenching, truly the whole album is, which speaks to the grief expressed. The lead up to the line “thank you for loving me” in the last song “CERTAIN END” completely rips at the heart…it feels like the album leads to this moment, the slow movement of the songs at the start, the calm at the center, and the last two that quicken (and break apart). The end noise, vibrations overwhelm then it stops and yet still the sound of motion, utterly gorgeous.

Cave Sermon

Divine Laughter

“The Paint of an Invader”

My good friend suggested Cave Sermon to me back in January 2024. I didn’t start doing these music recs til February.

Cave Sermon has elements that remind me of SUMAC, Blood Incantation, Tomb Mold, & Cult of Luna. There are times in listening to Divine Laughter where it feels like a dream, completely whimsical, and yet so brutal.

Mercy Ties

Reflections and Criticisms

“Love All The People”

I should be sharing more albums that come out this year and yet I can’t help myself and I’m sharing one that’s coming out my birthday month next year. Mercy Ties are *back* and have a pre-order for their upcoming album Reflections and Criticisms. “Love All the People” is <has done been?> streaming and it’s a don’t miss.

With their new single you can still hear that hardcore punk sound, that’s just a little bit tighter, a little more cohesive, without losing that rawness. There’s this overlapping wave of melody near the end—just a hint in the background along with the distortions. Excited to hear more when this almost 2-minute song has drawn me in this well.

Chris Common (A Storm of Light, These Arms Are Snakes) and Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City, Plink) engineered and mixed.

Choir

Smithe Thee Smoldering Providence

“And Sing an Anthem for the Famine II”

Starting Choir‘s new album Smithe Thee Smoldering Providence (2024 December 17) is like finding shelter in the mountains. The wind is howling, whipping around, and maybe it feels a little damp from the rain that has just begun.

Then the storm comes in like a battering ram, and it won’t let up…so going deeper and deeper into shelter / into the cavernous depths / seems better and better, and it quiets a little, but it’s still there and it’s inexcapable, yet soothing.

Blackened tech death doom.

This Gift Is A Curse

Heir

“Kingdom”

These noisemakers will be back with a full album release just in time for Purim 2025. ifykyk—how fitting is the album and song title for this holiday.

I gladly accept this offering 👐. This Gift Is A Curse released single “Kingdom” off their upcoming album Heir (2025 March 07). I have awaited this album and will accept any and all crumbs ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶m̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶u̶n̶h̶e̶a̶l̶t̶h̶y̶ ̶b̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶s̶ from this beautiful black-sludge noise metal band.

If you haven’t checked out their catalogue I highly recommend you do while you wait. The first track off their upcoming album is already tingly (anticipatory) inducing and incorporates that fast chaotic / smooth melodic combo that black-death metal often utilizes and This Gift Is A Curse has mastered.

Very Haunted Horses vibes as well.

UNIKNEIM

C

“Blest”

UNIKNEIM is Chad Kapper (Frontierer, A Dark Orbit, When Knives Go Skyward), Lee Fisher (Fawn Limbs), and Dmitry Polyakov. Do not miss this noisy grind triad full of waking dreamlike lyrics. This beast released three days ago (2024 December 13) and it is an absolute brain massager. A relaxing assault of grind mechanics.

Decline Of The I

Wilhelm

“L’ Alliance Des Rats”

I think I found another favorite band? I’m not even sad (ok maybe a little sad) I haven’t heard of them sooner, just happy to have found them now and to have whole catalogue to play through. Decline Of The I have been around since 2006 and have a new album coming out in February 2025 with single L’Alliance Des Rats streaming now.

I’m not surprised they’re about to be amongst favorites when they’re a philosophical avant-garde post-black metal band with melodic and raw depth. Super excited to see where they’ve taken this new album while I dig throughout their living past.

Also the *imagery* on all their albums is top tier suiting to sound. Evoking so much of the ebb and flow, the constriction…the inescapable self vs what’s left, etc. etc.

Lowen

Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran

“Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran”

This is the first album in a while where I first heard it in the car and thought “I have to get home and tell someone about this.” Partly because many of my friends are progressive metal lovers and only in the past few years have I incorporated more prog metal bands into my hardcore sludgey black/death metal heart.

Lowen is self-described as progressive doom metal and inevitably incorporates other elements, such as the powerful use of fast drums at slow tempos (sometimes a very particular sound for me) which I hear so much in melodic black/death metal. This technique made me fall in love with Départe so easily mixed with the clean/melodic and harsh vocals which Lowen also employs.

Does anyone remember the exact moment they got goosebumps listening to a band? I do with Départe and I do with Lowen. Their single off the new album was the first song I hears and the buildup started at 44 seconds in, then continued on past the 1-minute mark, 2:10…, then around 3:13 it finally solidified.

Lowen is up there in technicality and the ability to switch into various spaces of a song as Between the Buried and Me. It’s difficult for me to think of another band that is able to do that cohesively and in quite that way.

Void of Hope

Proof Of Existence

“Proof Of Existence”

One of the lasts bands that I listened to recently is Void of Hope. They sound like ground (*coffee*) crust black metal with progressive and doom elements. Their self-titled single off upcoming album Proof Of Existence came out a few days ago. The dissonant harmony (how odd is our language) is a real draw for why I enjoy certain black metal bands and Void of Hope plays with dissonance in an utterly fun way.

Mammoth Grinder

Undying Spectral Resonance

“Decrease The Peace”

Mammoth Grinder‘s new EP Undying Spectral Resonance (2024 November 15) is heavy, like always, which brings a steadiness to their music even with new members. Elements of old school death metal, groove, and sludge metal make up Mammoth Grinder’s distinct brutal sound.

I can see the resemblance to Gate Creeper, Entombed, & SUMAC in various capacities.

Sunspoken

Sky Sanctum

“As The Stars Shiver”

Sunspoken (Tomas Anton Docherty) put out a 2-song EP, Sky Sanctum that I happened to cross this morning and it is so gentle. This experimental, post-atmospheric rock/metal project has soft spoken conversational singing style overlapped with the melodic waves of instrumentation make for a gorgeous combination.

Sunspoken is so well named, especially upon listening on my earlier than usual morning. It is the rays opening the curtains, the dust floating in the liminal space, and the creak of the floorboards.

Suffocate for Fuck Sake

Fyra

“15 Missed Calls”

Tuck yourselves in babes, this is a longer music recs.

I have been a little music search gremlin since the age of 10 with a Windows 2000 via Live/DeadJournal, The Metal Archives when it came out, and more. I typically enjoy going straight from the “source” but there can be something special about sharing with a friend…

Matthew shared Suffocate for Fuck Sake with me, a band I had inadvertently avoided all these years first by way of their name and then because I suppose I thought I already gave them a try.

Suffocate for Fuck Sake reminds me a bit of listening to Cult of Luna for the first time, which makes sense because Matthew recommended them to me based off of my love of Cult of Luna, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, and others. Their sound, it’s basically all things of early post-hardcore—and so chaotic hardcore, more in the sense of transitions. Or rather, do they remind me of my friend Andrew…of Vast, who Andrew in my junior year of high school shared with me while parked on a dirt road late at night who was so nervous to share because I always shared with him—and he always, always listened and told me his thoughts. 

This music is really intimate and raw. Those elements of that post-hardcore sound that was coming out…that truly slow and sweet, and kind of syrupy without crossing the Rubicon into emo. Then they have this kind of harder, harsher hardcore which makes sense in the soundscape of song and speech. 

So, no, I stubbornly don’t typically take recommendations. Like I love finding music on my own, and at the same time I love to share music with people—to do a back and forth of it. It’s just, there’s something that feels so good about being able to discover something on your own. But then with this, with this,…I’m brought back to not only discovering one of my favorite bands [Cult of Luna], but also sharing a memory, almost…experiencing this memory of my friend Andrew who died so long ago, not the urgent phone calls, but us. I think he would have liked this band, I think we would still be sharing, exchanging our Walkman with Bluetooth headphones. And this is why, this is part of why I share how I do, my dad [Richard Straw] calls it, “heartfelt from the hip”.