Our friend Santiago Fradejas has returned with his most powerful album to date. From what I understand, these soundscapes were all done with an electric guitar. He makes the most out of his weapon of choice, convincingly straddling the terrains of instrumental amplified guitar music, post-Industrial, and a very eerie take on contemporary classical/avant-garde music.
Black Ambient
[Music] Destruktionsanstalt – Cerebrum Daemonia
Our friends Destruktionsanstalt make their fourth appearance on the blog with one of the most brutal post-Industrial music releases I’ve heard in a while. Per Najbjerg Odderskov is one of the few composers working in this genre who understand the original Industrial music ethos thoroughly, and it shows in his (very brutal) work.
[Music] Leila Abdul-Rauf – Diminution
The first time I came across San Francisco, California resident Leila Abdul-Rauf’s name was when she was playing with the all-female avant-garde metal/dark ambient band Amber Asylum. She has become a far more powerful musician as time has passed (if you know anything about her previous work, that’s very high praise), and, given the brutal darkness of the one track shared, this new album should end up quaking my speakers rather badly (and yes, I’m looking forward to that).
The album is due to be released on April 13.
[Music] NERATERRÆ – The NHART Demo[n]s
NERATERRÆ is the dark ambient/drone project of Alessio Antoni. He graces these pages with a release very much reminiscent of early Lustmørd but made on modern equipment.
Though he classifies this under Power Electronics, there’s something more elegant to his compositions than what I normally find in that genre. This is Power Electronics for the thinking man.
[Music] 20 Years of Southern Lord’s Dark and Heavy Art
The label’s roster has always featured a wide breadth of sonic explorers, from ambient artists through very heavy metal and post-metal acts to jazz fusion.
via 20 Years of Southern Lord’s Dark and Heavy Art — Bandcamp Daily
It’s amazing to think that this label has been around for 20 years, and I missed a good fifteen of those due to ignorance. May they have another happy 20.
[Music] Zeresh – Sigh For Sigh EP
I love unsolicited material coming into one of my many inboxes. I ended up having the pleasure of discovering Zeresh, a neofolk band out of Israel who rather deftly interpret, on three of the four songs, the poetry of William Ernest Henley (of Invictus fame).
There is a lot of dark, pulsating music that would have been rather comfortable inside of the earlier releases of Current 93. Looking forward to hearing more, obviously.
[Music] Sote – Holy Error [Opal Tapes]
[Music] JOHN 3:16 – עשר
Our friend from Alrealon Music and JOHN 3:16 main man, Philippe Gerber, has graced us with a new, extremely powerful release.
Right from the outset, Gerber hits us with the (early) Floydian drone of The Sun Shall Be Turned Into Darkness, which is so reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s evergreen, Set The Controls For The Heart of the Sun, without the percussive elements, but focusing more on a lilting drone. As the disc progresses, you are treated to genre-splicing par excellence. Progressive rock drifts into post-rock, supported by a skeletal percussive framework and an ethereal drony element serving as ether holding everything together.
In all, this release has 29 tracks, which makes עשר such a generous offering. Philippe has much to be proud of with this release.
[Music] God Cancer – Late Night Sessions
God Cancer is a new side project by Per Najbjerg Odderskov, a friend of this blog and the brains behind the stellar Destruktionsanstalt, reviewed here last year as well as in 2016.
This isn’t ambient music, at least not in the fluffy wallpaper sense. This is harsh, brutal, and reminiscent of something between early Industrial music and a radiophonic opera in the manner of Daphne Oram.
You can say that this is headphone music, but it’s the sort of headphone music which will leave you feeling quite disturbed and covered with goosebumps. After playing the album several times, I began to realize that this would be appropriate for a stop-motion masterpiece directed by Jan Švankmajer. Yes, it’s that brutal.
UPDATE: Per let me know that this release will be available on cassette from Splitting Sounds Records out of Serbia in either April or May of 2018!
[Music] A-BELL – Вода моей души
A-BELL is the one-man project of Leonid Churilov out of Minsk, Belarus. There is a dark, creepy, lo-fi soundtrack vibe to his work.
