Umeå metal act Plector has announced that their forthcoming album "Punishment day", due out October 31 via and currently streaming in full at SoundCloud, will be their last. The band's final show will be at the Discouraged Festival in their hometown on September 15 alongside Moloken and Khoma.
Get past the undistinguished vocals and you'll be rewarded with some killer crusty, blackened sludge. Better yet, wait until the coda when the vocals drop out completely and the organ comes it and prepare to be obliterated by total heaviness. Don't be fooled by the false ending either, somehow they manage to take it up yet another notch before the actual finale happens.
This Gift is a Curse's full-length debut "I, guilt bearer" will be officially released on May 11 via .
This Gift is a Curse - I will swallow all light
TerrortoryThis is the debut album by the Swedish crew and it must be said from the offset that there's a distinct blandness about it that's not only down to the production, but also because of a terrible attempt at emulating past success. Terrortory's thing seems to be to write tunes in the styles of a heap of already-revered bands, stick them all together, and hope for a winning formula. In Flames, The Haunted, Opeth, Sentenced and a shitload of others that are familiar but that I can't quite put my finger on are referenced here, none of which are mimicked to the point where you could say the material that Terrortory has written is better. There's also a tiny bit of old school Metallica to be found on some of the melodic parts and, while those are actually okay, this album as a whole is a very uninspiring -- indeed, a very boring -- listen. The production does get part of the blame despite the fact that everything is clear and bright, it's just that there's a lack of any punch whatsoever, even in the album's better moments. It's quite possible that when faced with material as dull and repetitive as this producer Henrik Wiklund simply lost the will to live. I know I did.
- John Norby
Preview a bit of sludge/doom/black metal act This Gift is a Curse from their upcoming debut full-length LP "I, guilt bearer", due out May 11 via .
(Moloken, Terrortory) is branching out from their usual genre preference to release a new album from Umeå garage-rockers Johnny Electric. Entitled "Communication radio highway", this will be the 2nd album from the band and it will be released on vinyl only this coming March 15.
GhamoreanHoly shit!! Even though it was released back in January, this is surprise of the year to these ears, right from the second it kicks off with its off-kilter intro, through its meandering journey across black metal's multifarious hatescape and into the epic dying seconds of "Universal miscreant". Musically, it's a damn technical affair, never resting for a second and constantly shifting tempo and style for its entirety. It is expertly crafted from start to finish, benefitting from a raw-yet-bludgeoning production that's clear enough to allow every nuance its fifteen minutes of fame while simultaneously offering an authentic, dirty old-school feel. If there's one gripe, it's that the IBM-blast on "Flagrum" doesn't -- at any point -- explode into a proper drum blast over the same riff that gets the electro-treatment. With that hefty production it would rip some serious face! You kind of expect it, but it never happens. And that really sucks! It's a minor point, though, given that "Terra ruina" does nothing but please otherwise. That there's passion evident on this album is quite an understatement. There's not a filler to be had, and no skull has been left unsmashed in the Umeå trio's quest for global oblivion. Man, oh fucking man! This is music to slay by!
- John Norby
Moloken's first-ever official video. The band's new album "Rural" comes out November 25 via .
The first official sample from Moloken's much-anticipated 2nd album "Rural", due out November 25 via . Look for a video for the song "The titan above us" to be posted online soon.
reports that Swedish sludge-metal act This Gift Is A Curse has completed work on their debut album which is currently being mixed. No word on a release date yet, but they'll be hitting the road in October for a number of dates with Italian act Curse this Ocean:
10/14 - Cafe Nova, Essen (GER)
10/15 - Sub, Graz (AUS)
10/16 - This is Underground, Vicenza (ITA)
10/17 - Corso Pub, Chelm (POL)
10/18 - Irish & Music Club, CLuj Napoca (RO)
10/19 - Houseshow, Pesc (HUN)
10/20 - Szabad az Á, Budapest (HUN)
10/21 - tba (ITA)
10/22 - Ak 44, Gießen (GER)
has announced that they will be releasing the debut album "The seed left behind" from Skellefteå-based metal act Terrortory. Preview above or go here for more: http://www.terrortory.com/
Swedish prog/crust/metal champs Moloken report that they have finished recording their new album "Rural" and will be releasing it on August 27 via with a European tour to follow in support. In other news, the band's excellent full-length debut "Our astral circle" will be getting a South American release in May via in Ecuador and in Mexico.
Sonic Abuse interviews Swedish black metal act Ghamorean about their new album "Terra ruina", just released via : http://www.sonicabuse.com/2011/01/ghamorean-speak-to-sonicabuse/
has officially confirmed that Ghamorean's new album "Terra ruina", their third overall, will be released on January 28 with a release party planned for January 7 at Scharinska Villan in their hometown of Umeå. Samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/ghamorean
This Gift is a CurseFrom the minute This Gift is a Curse's debut EP opens, there's a sense of impending dread that heightens further as it progresses. It starts off with a dark ambient intro that is cut short with a doomy passage bordering on a sludgy black metal aesthetic and, despite not really wavering from a single tempo, it works really well. It's got a vibe about it that cries Red Harvest and it wouldn't sound out of place on the likes of "Sick transit gloria mundi". The rest of the disc is very like a more abrasive version of Will Haven, both in terms of music and vocal output. It's a lot darker than most material that the Sacramento four-piece have released, no doubt down to the more extreme influences evident here. Take "Althea" for example: an eerie opening that's definitely of the avantgarde persuasion, moving into a slow Khold-type post-intro intro before embarking on the main body of the song, a trudging slab of Will Haven with that characteristic vocal playing off the beat. The main parts of closing track "Voulet's dream" is even more in the WH vein than WH themselves and, far from being a criticism is an absolute gem of a song for fans of that style. Even though this only gets as fast as mid-paced it's probably best described as metalcore with a grindcore sentiment. We even have a Barney Greenway "Morale" vocal on the end, so that's all the more justification for the grind tag. Not original by any means, but bloody good stuff.
- John Norby
Ok, here's another band that Moloken is touring with (dates posted here, but check myspace for the latest -- they are playing at Ungdomens Hus in Uppsala tonight). This Gift is a Curse aren't just tourmates though, they're also on Moloken's label who co-released the group's new self-titled EP in cooperation with TGIAC's own imprint . The association makes good sense too, as both bands play dark, sludgy metal, though TGIAC forgoes the technical wizardry that makes Moloken stand out. Instead, we get brutal repetitive riffs, far darker melodies and a heavier dismal crust vibe. Problem is, the recording on the EP sounds like they scooped out all the low end and buried the kick. Listen to the part on the intro of "The big sleep" where it's supposed to hit like a ton of bricks and it comes off more like a tap on the shoulder. Even stranger, this was recorded by Tomas Skorsberg at the famed Sunlight Studios which is normally a mark of high quality. I suspect that This Gift is a Curse are more than adequately crushing in-person and the songs themselves are good, but I'm having a really hard time getting past the recording.
This Gift is a Curse - The big sleep
