She Likes It Heavy, Tuesdays, 7pm PST on bostonfreeradio.com: Recent Episodes
Priya Rajkumar
Check out my recorded shows here, but listen to me live on bostonfreeradio.com on Tuesday nights at 7pm PST, 10pm EST!! She Likes It Heavy. Contact me at prajmetal@gmail.com.
Dark Wave set!!
0:24-3:20 VOID LUST (CA) Swallow The Blood
3:21-6:51 LAST GRASP (FL) Acrylic Casket
6:52-11:25 STARE AWAY (NYC) In Absence
11:25-16:20 WITH SHADOWS (aka Black Light Smoke) (Chicago) Heart Of Glass (Hi-NRG Mix)
16:21-21:03 DETECTS (MS) I'll Never Try Again
21:03-24:45 DAMIEN HEARSE (AR) Black Summer
24:45-28:40 NOVEMBER NÖVELET (GER) Cry Today
28:41-32:12 TWIN ION ENGINE (San Diego) Sober Thoughts
32:12-35:55 ASHEN DECAY (Czechia) Chemical
35:56-40:36 THE LAST DIGITAL ANGEL (Poland) Cold
40:36-44:32 SAIPH (NC) Until Tomorrow
44:32-47:04 LUST ERA (Miami) Neón Artificial
47:05-51:32 DURL (NJ) eterna agonía
51:33-54:51 HINFORT (GER) numb inside
54:51-57:52 PRISMS (Miami) say you know
57:53-END ANGELS IN SHADE (Sweden)
D.E.M.O.N.S.
dark wave set!
0:24-4:21 CRUEL MOURNING (Denver) If It Falls Apart
4:21-8:03 DARKWAYS (Spain) Requiem
8:04-13:16 WINTER SECT (DC) Say Goodbye
13:17-17:16 BLEACHED CROSS (Chicago) The Dark
17:17-19:13 AUS RUINEN (UK) Maze
19:14-24:20 BLDDDLTTR Santa Fe, New Mexico Hea(R)T Death
24:21-29:54 SLOWKILL (Sweden) Beneath
29:55-34:30 MORTAL BOY (CA) Dalliance
34:30-37:47 EDGAR (SF) Pavor
37:48-39:40 INTERSTITIAL ANALYSIS (CA) Toys Fall Down
39:41-42:22 XOAN (Greece) NYXTA
42:23-46:45 YEARS OF DENIAL (France) We Operate on Each Other
46:46-50:32 DARKER PLACES (CA) Salem
50:33-54:26 SOFT VEIN (CA) Learning to Talk
54:27-57:56 MYLLA ISSUES (Italy) 8th Wonder
57:57-1:01:10 PORCELAIN DANCER (Greece) Youth
0:24-4:21 SAIDAN (TN) Her Lips Pressed Against A Coffin Nail — Scathing vocals over a gorgeous, folksy black with triumphant and classic heavy metal guitar.
5:17-10:46 KHEMMIS (Denver) Beneath The Scythe — One of my favorite live bands, a majestic, heavily groovy doom and a crooner.
11:16-13:23 snag. (WI) Sunburn — Emotionally intense vocals and lyrics in a melodic hardcore. Just sounds like it would play in a Milwaukee basement party.
13:46-19:57 ETHEREAL ROT (ME) Festum Terrae — Angular, cavernous, bleak death with a baritone and shriek set of vocals.
20:33-24:32 GENGHIS TRON (NY) A Love So Pure — The original band integrating synth and brutal, with shoegaze and post-rock and fun industrial.
25:01-29:21 DYSGNOSTIC (Denmark) The Black Sun — Tech death and intricate black with tremendous vocals and a ton of headbanging.
30:06-39:08 FIRES IN THE DISTANCE (CT) To You, Author Of My Fade — Keyboard-heavy melodic with epic riffs and doom and death.
39:31-43:03 HASEROT (TX) Poverty Of Thought — Old school death with a mournful melodic depth.
43:32-END LONESHORE (Brazil) Birth Of A Mountain — Sweet meditative post-metal and acoustic guitars in a very touching album.
Dark wave set! Yes, third one in a row what are you trying to say.
0:24-5:07 CASKET CASSETTE (CA) Kiss Me Awake
5:08-8:20 SHADOWS HOLD (CA) Petrichor
8:20-11:51 GLASS EDEN (GER) Between The Lines
11:52-15:06 GENAU (WI) Hatecult
15:07-18:01 NO (Montreal) Cold Red Moons
18:02-21:29 KLEZ.E (GER) Call it Love
21:30-24:22 SHANX FM (WA) Inside Again
24:35-27:58 TRANXHAINE (France) Post Suicide Club
27:58-30:17 KISS TO KILL (CA) dreams from Bunker Hill
30:17-34:25 SCHRÖDINGER (Mexico) Ghost Nation
34:26-38:26 THE FADED TREES (France) The Faded Tree
38:26-41:41 VAMPIRE VALENTINE (UK) Cutting Ties
41:42-45:06 FORGOTTEN KISSES (GER) Forgotten Kisses
45:07-48:17 ENTRIES (Detroit) Out There
48:17-END BLIND DREAMS (Russia) Isle of the Dead
Dark wave set! 0:25-3:27 OBSIDIAN GRAVES (Mexico) Nostalgia of a Vampire 3:28-8:30 OPPENHEIMER MKII (UK) Oh, My Mind Is A Storm 8:30-12:05 HAUNT ME (TX) Temple of Flesh 12:05-15:24 PLASTIK NOIR (Norway) Velvet Dark 15:25-20:18 ROMEO'S DEMISE (CA) ENDLESS APPETITE 20:19-23:38 THE SMELL OF DEAD ANIMALS (MI) Persecution 23:39-27:17 MERCY GIRL (UK) Punisher 27:28-30:00 MISERY MILE (CA) Yearn For Me 30:01-33:00 STILL YEARS (NM) Knife City '68 33:00-36:02 SOFT KILL (Chicago) You Were Sent To Me From Heaven 36:03-40:26 INCIRRINA (Greece) She Is In The Dream 40:26-43:08 MIDNIGHT PASSAGE (Russia) Medium (Album Mix) 43:08-46:57 PURPLE TRASH (?) Walls Without Names 46:57-50:18 NIGHTSISTER (Portland) Cold Sweats 50:19-54:58 MUTUAL SHOCK (Seattle) Charlatans 54:59-END SONIC THING (France) Black Moon
Dark wave set!
0:24-5:05 HUIR (Spain) Arch
5:05-10:35 THE CITY GATES (Montreal) The Great Devourer
10:35-14:17 ANTIPOLE & PEDRO CODE (Norway) Your Dreams Explode
14:18-17:48 BILLY ᛟ ODAL (AU) No One Can Hurt Them Now (feat. Flower Children Of The Apocalypse)
17:49-21:30 SHV/ARZ (GER) Dancing On The Edge
21:31-24:16 CIGARETTES AFTER SEX (CA) Twizzler
24:30-28:53 KISS TO KILL (CA) dying night
28:53-31:25 TIGJEZ (Belgium) dalheim_13
31:26-36:11 PILGRIMS (Boston) Amethyst
36:12-40:07 ORTROTASCE (?) As I See It
40:08-43:02 BRIDES (Norway) Kiss And Destroy
43:02-45:57 KILLMOURE (CA) Never Again
45:57-49:00 CYBER NIIOR (Brazil) Weird Boy
49:00-END TRANSMIGRATION (UK) Living Information
0:24-9:31 GALVANIST (MT) Atrophy — Blistering progressive death metal packed with groove, complexity, and emotional depth.
10:25-14:47 AM I IN TROUBLE? (NJ) Scarlet (Red Remix) Negative Agent — A return to their signature mix of weirdoness, unheard of songwriting, and eccentric keyboards. What the fuck is this.
15:12-21:44 THE FIFTH ALLIANCE (Netherlands) Jakob — Masterfully balanced doom, black metal, and atmospheric post-metal, anchored by a badass female vocalist that swings in her style. Love her.
22:20-28:39 MALADIE (GER) The Dance of Tragedies — Lush strings, piano, and woodwinds mix with aggression and emotional intensity, creating a strikingly different proggy black metal.
29:10-36:11 XENOSIS (CT) Spore Whore — Long-awaited (by me) new album delivers angular death packed with dynamic vocals and insane songcraft.
36:34-46:22 ELDER (GER) Sigil To Ruin — Lush atmospheres, shimmering psychedelic rock in a sprawling cosmic rock journey.
46:47-50:28 MONOLORD (Sweden) Crystal Bridge — Swedish stoner elevated with driving riffs and a vibrant psychedelic glow with a bunch of fucking jamming, hells to the yeah.
50:45-56:14 URZAH (UK) Infernal Star Ii — Atmospheric and deeply melodic, building from lush textures into a churning mass of sludgy groove.
56:38-1:02:09 DEAD VOID (Denmark) Isolation's Hold — A hurricane of pummeling death metal eventually collapses into a swampy, tar-thick crawl.
1:02:21-END ALL THEM WITCHES (Nashville) Angel On The Wayside — Bluesy psychedelic fare with indie vocals.
0:24-5:48 AS THE SUN FALLS (Finland) A Shimmer On The Tides — Hot, moody as fuck melodic death Vikings romance soundtrack.
6:42-11:25 DEFECT DESIGNER (Norway) As The Terracotta Dust Settles — Theatrical furnace death blended with witchy pagan, cosmic American, grind, psychedelic.
11:42-14:27 PSYCLOPS (Portland) Consequences Iii: Swallowed Skies, Sea Of Eyes (Pg. 12) — Storytelling proggy metal in such a wonderful journey.
14:49-19:06 ARA (Austria) Geweiht — Tribal, vicious black metal with didgeridoo vocals, sometimes pausing in gorgeous post-black.
19:24-24:13 TEMPLE OF VOID (Detroit) Godless Cynic — Cavernous vocals in a bluesy swagger colliding with groove-infused death.
24:49-35:05 JUNON (GER) Propheten der blauen Flamme — Experimental jangling black with sharp edges of unsettling, twisted sounds and a grumbling alien vocalist.
35:24-41:42Thank LORN (Italy) Threshold's Tragedy — Beautiful, lush atmospheric black with whispered heated vocals building into sinister.
42:05-47:43 TYRANNUS (Scotland) Orbus Non Sufficit — Punk-infused riffy thrash with bad attitude and a touch of delicious melodic to make things interesting.
48:03-52:57 IFFERNET (France) A Gate — Crawling vocals in a bare-boned, distorted, primitive black metal.
53:16-END SHEWOLFF (Belgium) Nail + Burn — Raw, punk leaning black metal with infectious energy.
Brand new dark wave set!
0:24-4:10 CARRELLEE (WI) Captain (OMAR DOOM Remix)
4:11-9:05 SLEEP OF MIRRORS (Chicago) Alchemize
9:06-12:37 PSYCHIC GUILT (Portland) A Dark Dream
12:38-18:41 VELOCITY GARDEN (Denver) Pearls
18:42-22:12 MISS MISERY (Chicago) The Art Of Sorrow
22:13-25:38 TEMPERS (NY) Cold and Cruel
26:06-29:07 TRULY LOST (CA) Panic Signals
29:08-32:09 COLD KISS (TX) Dead To Me
32:10-35:23 DEATHFAUNA (CA) Purify Me
35:23-39:40 BLIND DREAMS (Russia) The Mask of Sorrow (feat. Porcelain Dancer)
39:40-42:47 ANGST4 (GER) Die Lösung
42:47-47:28 NEO DIMES (Denver) Trigger
47:28-50:45 CURTAIN (Paris) Look At The Mirror
50:45-54:47 TUMULO DOS VENCIDOS (Brazil) Quarto Horrivel
54:48-END THE COLD FIELD (AU) Flesh Is Nothing
0:24-10:21 PURE WRATH (Indonesia) Bleak Days Ahead, Pt. II — A Best of 2022 band. Tormented, distressed black metal with moments of beauty. Another stunning album.
11:42-16:07 REEKING AURA (NY/NJ) Gorged Beyond Grudges — A Best of 2022 band. Members of Artificial Brain and Buckshot Facelift. Heavy bouts of groove in tight, precise death metal.
16:44-24:16 NORTHERN GRAVES (TX/CAN) Endless (feat. Nick Block) — Lush black with organic instrumentation creating a cold blizzard from south Texas. DOES make sense the dramatic lead singer is from Saskatchewan.
24:38-31:20 NEQUIENT (Chicago) Obsolete Machines — Intricate, mathy, brash hardcore with a brain piercing Converge-y edge.
31:54-35:56 COGNIZANCE (UK) Witness Marks — Spacing out in technical compositions and ear wormy breaks.
36:11-39:05 PIG'S BLOOD (WI) Aftermath — Guttural raw death with sweet riffs.
39:31-43:42 PORTRAYAL OF GUILT (Austin) The Last Judgement — Weirdo sludge and black metal. Love the experimental and tongue-in-cheek effects.
44:02-50:07 DOODSWENS (Netherlands) The Black Flame — Horror in a 2-piece of slicing black.
50:27-END LIVIDUS (Portland) Jettatori — Debut black metal mishmash.
Dark wave set!
0:24-2:45 THE SPOILED (Italy) Crush
2:46-6:04 VAMPIRE VALENTINE (UK) Crimson
6:04-10:00 VICKVAPORS (CA) Release Me
10:01-12:24 HAUNT ME (TX) SOS
12:25-15:51 FAUX FEAR (PA) Lips Like Silver
15:51-20:23 COLD UNION (Poland) Tonight
20:24-24:43 HIDDEN BY IVY (Poland) Broken Self
24:56-28:21 LET THEM IN (Poland) Tanzgeist (It Burns remix)
28:22-37:04 DEAD CAN DANCE (Greece) Death Cults
37:05-41:03 LOUM (ND) You Mock My Pain
41:03-44:43 HUNTER AS A HORSE (S. Africa) Paradise Lost
44:44-47:07 GIVE MY REMAINS TO BROADWAY (CAN) In The Party
47:08-50:50 WILLIAM BLEAK (Berlin) Black and Blue
50:51-54:28 DECLINE AND FALL (Portugal) Everywhere is Nowhere
54:29-57:53 OF WHAT REMAINS (SF) Torn Apart
57:54-END TECHNOLORGY (Greece) A Walking Pile Of Ashes (THE WITCH SAID NO Remix)
0:25-7:31 UNEARTHLY RITES (Finland) Ignis Fatuus — Filthy toned hellish death with clawing guitars in intricate passages.
8:42-13:57 INFERI (TN) Heaven Wept — A Best of 2021 album. Breathtaking technical death complexity and a marathon of guitar solos.
14:44-19:17 ARCHSPIRE (CAN) Red Goliath — Tongue in cheek but completely serious, complex tech death.
19:43-26:11 APOLAUSTIC (Swiss) De Feu et de Cendre — Stortregn lead singer doing more epic death with melodic and psychedelic black. 26:49-34:18 SPLENDIDULA (Belgium) Absentia (feat. Tim Yatras) — Post-black blooming into waves of smoldering guitars.
35:04-38:54 IMMOLATION (NY) The Ephemeral Curse — Sinister, groovy delicious death whipping us into a frenzy with technical guitar maneuvers.
39:11-44:55 ENISUM (Italy) Nowhere — Delicate, shimmering melodies blended with a guttural black metal.
45:20-53:17 SPIRIT ADRIFT (TX) Infinite Illumination — Rocking western heavy metal with a bit of mood and solemn vocals.
53:31-END KËKHT ARÄKH (Ukraine) Wänderer — Weirdo black metal.
All new dark wave set!
0:24-5:09 QUAL (UK)(Nov 2025) Come With Me
5:09-8:36 SOFT DIVIDE (NY) dressed in black
8:37-12:21 GENO BEACH (Denver) Chronos
12:21-16:21 СКУБУТ (Austria) Tvoi Glaza
16:21-19:29 ANNUL NOIR (OH) (s)Inner Sanctum
19:29-24:03 BODY SYSTEM (Italy) Insane
24:03-28:43 OCCULTS (CA) My Type
28:44-32:29 THE DEPTHS (Greece) Good Girls
32:30-36:45 KISS TO KILL (CA) femme fatal
36:46-40:33 THEY DIE (Italy) Death Spell (Backfire)
40:33-45:24 THE PHANTOMS OF SATURN (TN) Two Moons
45:25-47:42 AVEN GRAPH (Belarus) Hallucinogens
47:43-52:34 ТЕАТР АБСУРДА (Ukraine) Поганий сон
52:34-55:12 CASKET CASSETTE (CA) Becoming
55:13-57:15 DRKLV (Ukraine) Cold Kiss
57:15-1:01:06 SHV/ARZ (GER) Counting Sand
1:01:06-1:06:29 L'AVENIR (MD) The Wanderer
1:06:29-END OVRGRWN (SF) Eat You Alive
0:24-9:46 ETHEREAL DARKNESS (Belgium) The Cycle — Vocal anguish accompanies melodic doom and atmospheric, melodic, incredibly groovy black.
11:03-17:01 DECIPHER (Greece) Bound To The Wheel — Debut black metal shimmer that is stark with raw death blast beats and thrashy riffs.
17:44-21:46 THE SILVER (Philly) Memorias — My #1 album of 2021. Momentous heart-ripping progressive doomy black metal.
22:12-29:17 EGREGORE (CAN) Craven Acts of Desperate Men — Rumbling grumbling death that gallops to thrash and proggy density.
29:35-36:31 GUTVOID (CAN) Of Smothering Sea — Psychedelic, proggy death doom with soaring, dynamic instrumentals ending in a crushing death.
36:54-43:58 IRON FIRMAMENT (WA) The Coast Of Worlds — Moody, isolated black, slowing the pace to allow it to linger. Alien vocals are fantastically grotesque.
44:22-52:34 NEUROSIS (Oakland) Seething And Scattered — Fucking Neurosis with Aaron Turner.
52:53-57:29 PROTRUSION (IN) Morbid Mortality — Absurd vocals and decomposing death with shiny guitar solos.
57:59-END GAEREA (Portugal) Uncontrolled — Gaerea went too "core" on this. Still one of the best live bands out there.
Darkwave show!
0:25-5:44 TRAITRS (CAN) Dream Drowning
5:45-9:50 THEY DIE (Italy) Borderline
9:51-13:49 STATION MODEL VIOLENCE (AU) Crepe Throne
13:50-17:50 I WOKE UP CHINESE (Italy) Reach For A Shadow
17:51-19:57 BAD BAD LUCK (Nashville) superego
19:58-24:38 FOPMUSIC (Sweden) I don´t want to know
24:55-28:34 TRANXHAINE (France) Ni Catharsis Ni Pardon
28:35-32:09 NIGHTCRAWL (Ireland) The Blood
32:10-36:39 TOUCH BY TOUCH (Vienna) Hard To Love
36:40-40:45 LEVA (Italy) Indelible Memories
40:45-44:05 SHADOWS VEIL (Portugal) Wayward
44:06-46:47 LOVELYEDDIE (CA) black skirt
46:48-50:16 HIROSZYMA (Poland) Afterglow
50:17-54:20 BLUE REMAINS (Buenos Aires) Concrete
54:21-END PERTURBATOR (France, 10/25) Venus (ft. Author & Punisher)
0:25-6:16 INCANDESCENCE (CAN) Confluence — Gorgeous melodic black metal with technical, proggy drumming and intricate guitars that build to sinister snarling passages.
7:15-12:15 PHASMA (Greece) I — Muscular death growls, a blinding black metal screech, and a shouted hardcore to match a refined icy black and a blasted death groove.
12:55-18:03 CEMETERY REIGN (Santa Fe) Captive in a Coffin — Chugging death broken with whispers of vocals, gasps of atmosphere and swirling melodic guitars.
18:19-25:39 MISERERE LUMINIS (CAN) Dans La Voie De Nos Lumières — Lush violins and pianos provide a sparkling instrumentation in an elaborate vibrating melodic wall of black metal.
26:17-32:30 BIZARREKULT (Norway) Blikket Hennes — A best of 2023. Another stunner of post-black and unpredictable, restless vibrant rock. LOVE this band.
32:50-41:58 MARLUGUBRE (Italy) Iphigenia — Romantic blackgaze and heavy metal reminiscent of Alcest with throaty vocals and a contrasting female vocals that are just lovely.
42:22-48:08 VALDRIN (OH) Impaled Visions Breed Within The Vines — A best of 2020. Pummeling, badass, riff-heavy black metal in crystal clear production with organic instrumentation.
48:27-51:21 PREDATORY VOID (Belgium) Peeling Cycle — 90s indie girl vocalist-style is a surprise, with the spoken word. Of course this has all the aggressive brutality. I'm keeping an eye on this one!
51:47-56:03 NECROFIER (TX) Servants of Darkness, Guide My Way I — A best of 2023. Creepy, malevolent black metal and a baleful vocalist. Meaner than their debut.
56:23-59:43 FINAL GASP (Boston) Gifted Shame — Melodic hardcore with atmosphere and haunting passages, that really mixes it up.
1:00:10-END WORM (FL) Necropalace — Cinematic, vampiric black metal with gleaming fangs. Drama dude.
Darkwave set!
0:25-3:21 SOCIAL STATION (DC) Good to Me
3:22-6:48 CURSING (Denver)(Oct 2025) I Like That We Fuck
6:49-10:44 FALSE FIGURE (Oakland) Favorite Game
10:45-14:19 HARDENED HEARTS (OR) Vampire Bites
14:20-18:10 LA MAIN (France) Dully
18:11-22:34 TORQUE MEMORY (Spain) Keepsakes
22:35-25:41 DEAD BORN BABIES (Montreal) To me you are the sun (ft Grizz)
25:42-29:34 AETHER SOUNDS (GER) Quiet Continuum
29:34-34:16 ALONE IN MY ROOM (GA) Wasteland
34:17-36:47 BRIDES (Norway) Bad Blood
36:48-41:23 KEYBOARDS AND RED LIPSTICK (France) Guns
41:24-45:46 NIGHT ENJOYER (Switzerland) Pakistani Girl
45:47-48:56 DETECTS (MI) Made-Up
48:57-51:28 POLY TEARS (CA) Heart In Hands
51:28-55:16 EDDIE DARK (Greece) Ο ΑΚΑΛΕΣΤΟΣ
55:16-END UNWISHED (Greece) Key To My Heart
Darkwave show!
0:24-3:40 ANTIPOLE & PARIS ALEXANDER (Norway) Alone Again
3:41-8:13 FEYLEUX (NC) Mercury
8:14-12:56 ATTIC FROST (GER) Promise Me (An Armageddon)
12:57-17:13 TEMPTRIX (TX) Dare to Try
17:14-20:47 DEATH'S COLD GRASP (MA) Your Last Breath
20:48-25:24 STRANGE FUTURES (UK) Hold Your Nerve (S Y Z Y G Y X Remix)
25:25-27:42 COLD KISS (CA) Llévame A Tu Cama
27:43-32:42 DLINA VOLNY (Minsk) Midnight (INHALT Dance Mix)
32:43-34:59 CVSTLES (TX) Let Me
35:00-38:07 HINFORT (GER) alive
38:08-41:27 FEVR (CA) Drifting
41:28-44:38 SILUETT (Sweden) Under the Marquee
44:39-48:17 KONJI (Slovenia) Podobe demo
48:17-52:28 SLOW DANSE WITH THE DEAD (NM) Threat or a Prayer
52:28-56:01 DANSER LA NUIT (Italy) Your Eyes Anymore
56:01-1:00:38 SONIC THING (France) Darkness Dancers
0:26-7:18 AGENBITE MISERY (NH) Whatness of Allhorse — Experimental twists in a house of black metal horror, with sludge lead-ups and groove.
8:16-19:51 GAVRAN (Netherlands) Okreni — Lovely post-metal with a dark edge and dreamy, hypnotic passages.
20:14-26:31 GORRCH (Italy) Vorago — Chaotic, seething black metal with moody moments of hush.
26:52-34:05 MORS VERUM (CAN) Your Apocalypse — Abrasive death with proggy fluid beauty.
34:38-41:26 MAYHEM (Norway) Despair — One of the best bands live, and one of the most influential metal bands to exist, still tight and relevant decades later.
41:39-45:59 VIDYUT (Chennai) Jallianwalabagh Massacre — Old school death chomp, just a blast of an entire album.
46:23-50:54 ORGG (Italy) Morituri (The Boys Of '99) — A sweet, sweeping landscape within the opposing bleak force of black metal.
51:24-58:09 ENSANGUINATE (Slovenia) Angel of a Thousand Poisons — Crushing death and black atmospheric melodic with haunted guitar solos and hypnotic dark psychedelic builds.
58:34-1:02:41 NEL BUIO (Italy)(Dec 2025) Splendeva Di Vita — Cinematic synth and melodic black. You want this vampire to bite you in the dark.
1:03:06-1:07:49 EXIMPERITUS (Belarus) Finding Consistency In The Fourth Quadrant Of Eternity — Thick, meaty death that retains moody, rich sophisticated layers.
1:08:20-END NIGHTMARER (OR) Shame Spiral — A best of 2023. Unconventional death with experimental circling structures, circling.
0:24-8:08 THE RUINS OF BEVERAST (GER) Last Theatre Of The Sea — The Ruins Of Beverast turns yet another leaf, but keep that achingly lonely, ethereal, tribalistic quality that is unique to them. This is a great follow-up to their 2017 album Exuvia, one of my top 20 albums of the last 20 years.
8:53-17:17 WILDHUNT (Austria) Made Man — Gloriously righteous, theatrical thrash with soaring guitars and big builds.
17:42-23:55 BROKEN TRINITY (GA) Straw Boss — A spectrum of genres, swinging from melodic black to organic doom and folk to hypnotic passages.
24:35-29:00 KREATOR (GER) Seven Serpents — Just, fucking Kreator. Fresh and exciting, I don't know how they do it.
29:26-36:31 ELLENDE (Austria) Wahrheit Teil I — Let the melancholy black metal roll over you.
37:05-42:24 CARRION VAEL (IN) 1912 — A best of 2024 and 2022. Dynamic tech death with a sprinkle of sweet clean vocals.
42:48-46:10 HEALTH (CA) You Died — Electronic and industrial with fantastic vocals.
46:37-54:06 KADAVRIK (GER) Widerhall — Walls of sludge and death, sexy unworldly growls and German electronic.
54:30-END ULVER (Norway) Fire In The End — Bliss.
Brand new darkwave show!
0:24-4:37 IAMNOONE (Italy) out of this world
4:38-8:04 UNDERTHESKIN (Poland) Always | Never
8:04-11:32 DEAdpILOT (GA) This Time Tonight
11:33-14:27 NIGHTSISTER (Portland) Spirit
14:28-17:35 VAMPIRE VALENTINE (UK) Thorns
17:36-20:54 BLIND SEAGULL (Russia) easy to forget
20:54-23:20 DAVID GALAS (MI) Halo
23:20-27:00 PLASTIK NOIR (Norway) Darkness
27:13-32:09 HEIMBERG (France) Blind Eye
32:09-34:41 BINDING (Detroit) Sword
34:42-37:44 WILLIAM BLEAK (Berlin) Ex Rent Boy
37:45-41:01 BLIND DREAMS feat. LIVINROOM (Russia) Dawn Comes Quietly
41:02-45:21 LOYAL OBJECT (WA) The Day You Change
45:22-50:05 BLEACHED HEAT (CAN) Divination
50:06-53:34 SUB ZERO DREAMS (GER) Say Goodbye
53:34-57:09 DAS NOIR (Greece) Demons
57:10-1:00:15 DEAD ENERGY (CA) In Two
1:00:16-END HEX FORMES (+ SCOTT BAKER GRAHAM) (DC) Vampire's Kiss
My Best 35 Metal Albums of 2025! My #1 and #2 technically released in December of 2024, but what can I say. It's my fucking list. #1 Aara: I loved the vocals, the emotions. Just a nail in my head, immediately. #2 Spectral Lore: A beast of a legendary band. This was released on 12-31-2024, as a "Demo". What a nut.
Top 11 are listed in order, and the rest are alphabetized.
0:25-7:29 #1 Aara (Swiss), album - Eiger (Dec 6 2024) Senkrechte Welten
7:30-17:20 #2 Spectral Lore (Greece), album - IV (Part 1)(Dec 31, 2024) Solitary Mirrors
17:21-24:44 #3: Maladie (GER), album - Symptoms V The Implacability Of Time
24:45-28:56 #4: 1914 (Ukraine), album - Viribus Unitis 1914 (The Siege Of Przemyśl)
28:57-37:15 #5: Patristic (Italy), album - Catechesis A Vinculis Soluta II
37:16-45:17 #6: Blut Aus Nord (France), album - Ethereal Horizons The Fall Opens The Sky
45:18-55:10 #7: Haxprocess (FL), album - Beyond What Eyes Can See The Confines of the Flesh
55:11-58:36 #8: Thron (GER), album - Vurias A Paradox
58:37-1:05:50 #9: Phosphorus (GER), album - Frail Grasp of Broken Hands Frail Grasp Of Broken Hands
1:05:51-1:13:08 #10: Orm (Denmark), album - Guld Undfangen
1:13:09-1:16:50 #11: Changeling (GER), album - S/T Falling In Circles
And the rest (alphabetized): 1:16:51-1:20:07 ..And Oceans (Finland), album - The Regeneration Itinerary The Fire In Which We Burn
1:20:08-1:28:28 Abigail Williams (WA), album - A Void Within Existence No Less Than Death
1:28:29-1:33:22 Akantophis (GER), album - Erneuerung Perforation
1:33:23-1:43:14 An Abstract Illusion (Sweden), album - The Sleeping City The Sleeping City
1:43:15-1:49:24 Ancient Death (MA), album - Ego Dissolution Violet Light Decays
1:49:24-2:01:43 Ba'al (UK), album - The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here Mother's Concrete Womb
2:01:44-2:08:44 Beannachd Leibh (CAN), album - Walking in His Works Born Grey
2:08:45-2:15:42 Blood Abscission (Anon), album - II II - V
2:15:43-2:21:26 Centuries of Decay (CAN), album - A Monument to Oblivion Between the Waves of Grief
2:21:27-2:28:56 Dessiderium (AZ), album - Keys To The Palace In The Midst Of May
2:28:57-2:35:11 Dormant Ordeal (Poland), album - Tooth and Nail Against the Dying of the Light
2:35:12-2:39:45 Exilium Noctis (Greece), album - Pactum Diaboli Fall Of Babylon
2:39:46-2:44:09 Floating (Sweden), album - Hesitating Lights I Reached the Mew
2:44:10-2:50:13 Gabestok (Denmark), album - Alle Dør I Fremtiden Incelcitadel (De Sidste Fyldte Papirer)
2:50:14-2:53:55 Grey Aura (Netherlands), album - Zwart vierkant Slotstuk Opgehangen afgrond
2:53:56-3:02:00 Grima (Russia), album - Nightside The Nightside
3:02:01-3:05:19 Hecktic (Bulgaria), album - Unbeholden Black Swan
3:05:20-3:09:46 Morbikon (VA), album - Lost Within The Astral Crypts Ghoul Infested Mausoleum
3:09:47-3:15:52 Sepulchral Curse (Finland), album - Crimson Moon Evocations House Of The Black Moon
3:15:53-3:22:02 Sargassus (Finland), album - Vitruvian Rays Carving the Veins of God
3:22:03-3:27:45 Umulamahri (TX), album - Learning the Secrets of Acid Orifice Invocation
3:27:46-3:33:34 Uulliata Digir (Poland), album - S/T Omni Dirga
3:33:35-3:37:32 Vokodlok (Romania), album - The Egregious Being Disdain
3:37:33-END Withering Soul (Chicago), album -Passage of the Arcane Grievance Eludes the Light
Best Darkwave of 2025!!
My #1 album is Haunt Me (TX)! I flew to NYC to see them this summer, and then got to see them in Denver. Love these guys.
Lithuania came out as a powerhouse this year for this genre, and my #2 Ghostwave put out an incredible album. Also check out Pusto.
I listed Mass Minor (TX) as the best surprise live shows I went to this year - opening for Urban Heat. They only put out an EP and a single this year, but they are one to watch. A lot of this list are "ones to watch".
(0:25-4:07) #1: HAUNT ME (TX), album - Watch You Bleed Filthy
(4:07-8:52) #2: GHOSTWAVE (Lithuania), album - Fallen Hearts Cold Death
(8:53-13:08) #3: VIOFLESH (Chile), album - Nostalgia Naked
(13:09-18:12) #4: JOCHEN K & JOHNNY W (Swiss), album - Of Idols and Ghosts Ghosts
(18:12-21:29) #5: GLARE (TX), album - Sunset Funeral Guts
(21:29-24:58) Best Surprising Live Show: MASS MINOR (Austin), album - Dark Mode Deadendrive
(24:58-28:26) Top 10: DLINA VOLNY (Belarus), album - In Between Chant
(28:26-32:10) Top 10: FEVR (CA), album - Vacant Move Me
(32:10-35:33) Top 10: FLASHBACKS (GER), album - \\ High Energy
(35:33-38:13) Top 10: GHOST ENCLAVE (Italy), album - Toten Danse The lighting
(38:13-43:20) Top 10: PUSTO (Lithuania), album - Amnesia Prijde Lito
The Rest of the List! (alphabetized)
(43:21-46:10) AGE OF SLEEP (Sweden), album - Age Of Sleep Strange Lines
(46:11-48:38) AVEN GRAPH (Belarus), album - Fragmentation Roses
(48:39-52:55) BLXCKFLAMINGO (NJ), album - Attic Tracks Good Morning Death, My Darling
(52:56-56:47) BODY MAINTENANCE (AU), album - Far From Here The Surface
(56:48-1:01:17) CABARET GREY (Poland), album - Second Wave Follow
(1:01:17:1:04:42) DAMIEN HEARSE (AR), album - CROSSED; album - Marble Maiden LECTIO DIVINA
(1:04:42-1:08:20) DANCING PLAGUE (Portland), album - Domain Bitter Taste
(1:08:20-1:11:00) DETECTS (MI), album - Minus Decelerate
(1:11:00-1:16:03) HAPPY PHANTOM (TX), album - Under The Blood Red Moon Siren Calls
(1:16:04-1:19:52) IN A DARKENED ROOM (TX), album - VOIX Sounds of Warning
(1:19:53-1:23:21) IRÈNE DE MILO (France), album - Barzh Kyūshū
(1:23:22-1:28:26) LAURA KRIEG (Montreal), album - Crépuscule Crépuscule
(1:28:27-1:32:51) LUSTTONE (Greece), album - Living In A Dead World The Only Answer
(1:32:52-1:35:21) MILLIKEN CHAMBER (CA), album - Hyperphantasia Lisa Hoberman
(1:35:21-1:38:10) MISERY MILE (CA), album - Bloodlust In My Mind
(1:38:10-1:41:35) N8NOFACE (CA), album - As Of Right Now Everything We Thought We Knew
(1:41:36-1:43:28) NIGHTS TEMPLAR (CA), album - IV Tuesday
(1:43:29-1:48:23) NOCHE MISERIA (Ecuador), album - lostworks our war (lost track)
(1:48:24-1:52:42) NOCKTUM (Italy), album - Poltergeist Poltergeist
(1:52:43-1:55:33) NUIT NOIRE (France), album - Cendres d'Amour - Lettre Inachevée Silence Sur Les Draps
(1:55:34-2:00:02) OLEXA (CAN), album - close to you cry
(2:00:02-2:02:37) PORCELAIN DANCER (Greece), album - A documentary about nightmares Poison Cloud
(2:02:38-2:09:42) PROJECTOR FIRES (MD), album - S/T Failed State
(2:09:42-2:13:08) ROSA DAMASK (Berlin)(Dec 2024), album - Adore You The Sun
(2:13:08-2:16:53) SEASURFER (GER), album - Electronic Monsters Collapsing
(2:16:54-2:20:17) SHAD SHADOWS (Italy), album - Wunderkammer Desire Wrong Rain
(2:20:17-2:22:35) SHANX FM (WA), album - Ou Etais Tu Watching You
(2:22:36-2:27:42) SILVER TEARS (Berlin), album - S/T Waste of Time
(2:27:42-2:32:28) SOFT VEIN (CA), album - Through the Blinds FALLING - Twin Tribes Remix
(2:32:28-2:35:13) TALK TO HER (Italy), album - Pleasure Loss Desire Dyve
(2:35:14-2:38:14) TERMINAL SERIOUS (Italy), album - Tear You Away Sewn Eyelids
(2:38:15-2:42:25) THE COMPLETERS (Brazil), album - S/T Chemicals
(2:42:25-2:46:58) THE OCCASION (GER), album -Songs Of The Night Too Close For Comfort
(2:46:59-2:50:54) TOUCHED FABLES (CAN), album - The Sum of All Wounds Harsh Rain
(2:50:55-2:53:37) VACÍOS CUERPOS (MEX), album - La Cruz De Mi Conciencia Vitiligo
(2:53:38-2:57:31) VICKVAPORS (CA) , album - Various Singles It Was Never For Me
(2:57:32-3:00:19) VICTORIAN DARKWAVE (AU), album - The Lost Tracks My Tomb
(3:00:19-3:03:49) VOITH (Sweden), album - My Shadowblade Alone With You
(3:03:49-END) VOYNA (Berlin), album - Monsters Milk
0:25-5:10 DEPRAVITY (AU) Call to the Fallen — Gloriously wicked death with insanely noodling guitars and a delicious melodic and smidgen of tech.
6:13-10:06 GRABJAHRE (Austria) Haut — Desecrated forest black metal with the chaos of galloping noise.
10:35-16:37 AM I IN TROUBLE? (NJ) White — Atmospheric psychedelic black metal with a spectrum of vocals and sweet emotions.
17:10-25:04 MORBIKON (VA) Lost Within The Astral Crypts — With members from Iron Reagan and Municipal Waste, you know this is going to thrash the shit out of thrash. An evil touch with the slicing vocals and tight assault of guitars and hyper tempo.
25:44-35:15 BLUT AUS NORD (France) The End Becomes Grace — Storytelling melodic black metal with layers upon layers of intricate instrumentation and vocals that ache by itself.
35:41-40:19 TERROR CORPSE (TX) Sons of Perdition — Gnarled vocals in a clean production of blustery, proggy death that somehow still crawls in the dirt.
40:42-48:16 OROB (France) Sun, Borrowed — Proggy, atmospheric and post-black within black metal aggression.
48:38-54:59 PHOBOCOSM (CAN) Unbound — Suffocating, harrowing death metal with dense but nuanced malevolence.
55:19-58:36 WHITE NIGHTS (US) A Witching Stone — Ambient, post-rock, garage rock blended with black metal.
59:07-END OMEGAVORTEX (GER) Psychopathic Majesty — Brutal and absolutely cruel.
All new dark wave show!
0:25-5:19 HEX FORMES + BL!NDS (DC) (The Cure covers) strange day
5:20-10:30 POST-PUNK'ER (Romania) Last day
10:31-14:56 GHOSTWAVE (Lithuania) Blood Cathedral
14:56-18:01 TALK TO HER (Italy) The Half Light
18:02-20:50 ROUTINE (Berlin) I Disappear
20:51-23:38 VACÍOS CUERPOS (MEX) Love Killer
23:39-28:11 GHOST ENCLAVE (Italy) Away
28:12-33:22 K Я U R (Italy) Draught of Gall
33:23-36:54 NOCKTUM (Italy) Lost Feelings
36:55-40:40 SECOND DIVINE (CA) Illusions
40:40-43:50 NEGATIVE1 (Sweden) The Weight of God
43:50-49:53 FADED PULSE (DC) Fallen
49:53-55:12 ATTIC FROST (Berlin) About A Dead (Hocico Cover)
55:13-59:10 IN ICTU OCULI (Netherlands) Burning Sun
59:11-END THYMIAN (Swiss) Worst Enemy
0:25-7:25 WITHERING SOUL (Chicago) Among Covetous Eyes — Black metal with intense death groove and strings-inspired tremolo picking.
8:24-15:46 RAGANA & DROWSE (WA) Ash Souvenir — Stunning male and female shoegaze and tortured vocals with eclectic black mixed with shoegazy melodic and indie rock.
16:25-22:18 1914 (Ukraine) 1917 (The Isonzo Front) — A best of 2018 and 2022 because these guys CRUSH their melodic, cinematic death and black atmosphere with a monster vocalist.
22:48-28:48 DEMON KING (TN) Requiem For A Dead World — Members of in another technical death album of fury and speed and breathtaking complex guitars.
29:16-36:23 LAMP OF MURMUUR (CA) The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy, Pt. I - Moondance — Amazing corpse paint live band, saw them recently. Epic black and roll with touching beauty.
36:42-40:45 VOIDCEREMONY (CA) Seventh Ephemeral Aura — Proggy as all hell weirdo death with edges that sear and burn.
41:10-53:08 QRIXKUOR (UK) So Spoke The Silent Stars — Vivid black metal theater with death groove, mutterings and alien dystopia.
53:30-59:25 WALDGEFLÜSTER (GER) Crusade in the Dark — Gorgeous Primordial-esque vocalist in a sweetened atmospheric black and folk.
59:56-1:05:45 VEILBURNER (PA) Matter o' the Most Awful of Martyrs — Black metal with horror vocals, dissonant death and psychedelic.
1:06:10-END TZEVAOT (UK) Air, Fire, Water, Earth — Avant-garde black metal with70s-style proggy pagan-influenced keyboards jazzy eclectic compositions.
0:25-6:03 BLISS OF FLESH (France) Sacrifice — My favorite type of melodic that encompasses ferocious death and tremolo black with so much groove. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yacIiYsnHZ8
6:57-11:00 GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY (NYC) Scourged By The Wings Of The Fell Destroyer — Direct death hits to the brain, allowing my brain to rest. Nothing complex here, in the best way. The smoothest, hottest vocals.
11:20-18:27 FÄUST (France) In a Ghastly Silence — Melodic black with tight guitars and headchurning riffs.
18:52-26:30 GRUTA (Columbia) Vorágine Espectral — Early-era punk-influenced style of raw black metal with a gripping vocalist and delicious breakdowns.
27:05-30:37 KOSTNATĚNÍ (MN) Křehký bůh (Fragile God) — Progressive black metal, post-metal and sludge that is textural and intense.
31:00-38:56 MALEPESTE (France) Relapsus — An atmospheric theatrical black mist.
39:20-41:41 PUPIL SLICER (UK) Gordian — Pummeling their souls into your face.
42:04-47:58 THE DEVIL'S TRADE (Hungary) Weltschmerz — Ballad-y vocals in dark folk and moody ambient.
48:18-END CENTINEX (Sweden) I Am The Way — Jaunty, thrashy death metal with wicked guitars.
0:27-5:57 HECKTIC (Bulgaria) Vital to the Clockwork — Technical, tight, complex, proggy death with dynamic vocals and punchy, groovy thrash energy.
6:44-12:32 MALADIE (GER) Black Hole Weight In Our Hearts — Saxophone infuses a horror-filled dramatic black with jazzy sections.
12:51-16:47 THRON (GER) Hubris' Crown — Psychedelic, lush, melodic black metal. Reminds me a bit of Oranssi Pazuzu.
17:06-24:34 ORM (Denmark) Undfangen — Jagged black metal that engages in moments of unrelenting tremolo, riffs and groove.
25:12-31:33 ONE OF NINE (US) Age Of Chains — JRR Tolkien-inspired, sweeping, winter-laden, battle-weary, fight-the-villains black metal.
31:59-37:29 CONJURER (UK) All Apart — Explosion into emotional storms keeps this vicious, sludgy doom varied and wild.
37:52-44:06 YELLOW EYES (NYC) A Forgotten Corridor — A Best album of 2017 and 2019. Dense, spectacular black.
44:30-49:17 ENSHROUD (UK) Corpses Piled High — Sharp vampire fangs and guitar talons black metal. Just psychotic killing.
49:41-59:31 DROFNOSURA (CAN) Kapala Kriya — Moody atmospheric sludge with textured pace, vicious delicious vocals and swirling electronic meditation.
59:57-END BARREN PATH (JAP) No Geneva — Absolute assault from all angles.
All new dark wave show!
0:24-2:20 MISERY MILE (CA) Endless Love
2:20-5:25 CARRIEGOSS (FR) Fallen master
5:25-9:44 SYDNEY VALETTE (Paris) Something About Us
9:44-12:44 TERMINAL SERIOUS (Italy) Sewn Eyelids
12:44-17:31 OCCULTS (CA) Crimes (Your Sacrifice)
17:31-21:47 LUSTTONE (Greece) The Only Answer
21:47-26:18 LIIGHT (UK) Death Dance
26:30-29:51 DECHAKHAL (MEX) Una máquina letal
29:52-32:04 VESTRON VULTURE (CA) The Neon Nightmare Puppet Hour
32:05-37:52 HAPPY PHANTOM (TX) Ten Fathoms Deep
37:52-42:01 GLASS CHAPEL (FL) Snow
42:01-45:42 TOUCHED FABLES (CAN) Burning
45:42-48:34 KNOWNPLEASURES (US) SOULSEARCHING
48:35-51:35 ENDLESS ME (GER) Elaine
51:35-END VERROTTET & KING DUDE (Germany) Dead Of Tomorrow
0:24-6:10 UMULAMAHRI (TX) Rot Shall Rule the Oily Voids — Tribalistic, jazzy death with lurching pace and relentless, rumbling drums.
7:24-11:22 TOMBS (Brooklyn) Glass Eyes / Ghoul — Romantic, sludge-driven black metal with howling, emotional vocals. Always one of my faves.
11:51-19:19 AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION (Sweden) Like A Geyser Ever Erupting — Smoke pot metal.
19:53-25:04 UNSOULING (MN) To Come Unbound — Moody post-black with organic instrumentation and full immersion before the tremolo-ferociousness.
25:39-31:50 AFSKY (Denmark) Velkommen Til Livet — A Best of 2020 album. Shimmering and soulful black metal.
32:15-36:06 ENRAGEMENT (Finland) Insectiferous Abomination — Bullet-drums and a maelstrom of groovy riffs with dynamic compositions.
36:35-41:38 INTRAETHER (Spain) And Then, Just Nothingness — "Flying from a cliff into the crashing grey waters below" black metal.
42:07-44:16 SUFFERING HOUR (MN) Incessant Dissent — Raw Minnesota explosive black metal with a seething vocalist.
44:38-51:17 DARK WATCHER (MO) Damned By Proxy — Twangy western guitars meets in a standoff with lonely and dramatic black metal.
51:46-58:01 AGRICULTURE (CA) Bodhidharma — More of that complex Agriculture style of sadistic and strange.
58:17-1:03:41 AUßERWELT (GER) Whiteout Solace — Sludge mixed with melancholy, blissful post-black.
1:04:05-1:09:25 CORONER (Swiss) Cirsium Bound — 32 years in the making! Proggy and thrashy guitars within a massive volume of riffs.
1:09:51-END WODE (UK) Saturn Shadow — Rollicking heavy metal guitars and chomping black metal pace.
0:24-4:11 PAIN MAGAZINE (France) Weak and Predatory — Avant-garde electronic, industrial, hardcore, and artsy rock with multiple vocalists turning feisty.
5:02-12:23 BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS (New Zealand) Coalescence (feat. Hera) — Proggy death haunted by a witch.
13:07-21:36 ESOCTRILIHUM (France) Flesh Pierced By The Blades Of Thritônh, Eyes Devoured By Vulth Suidarl, The Giant Fly — Psychedelic black metal with brutal death blast beats and a very eccentric vocalist. Very dense.
21:53-29:13 GREEN CARNATION (Norway) As Silence Took You — The fantasy is charming. Sweeping, majestic and lush, that dives into brutality.
29:32-34:22 UNDERSAVE (Portugal) Effervescent Futile Thoughts Of A Phobic Being — Tortured, swarming death that incorporates a slower menacing pace.
34:54-39:05 SUNDROWNED (Norway) Wisteria — Epic sludge that reminded me of Isis' Oceanic.
39:27-44:55 SANGUISUGABOGG (Ohio) Rotted Entanglement — Blood on the walls of a basement.
45:18-49:40 TERZIJ DE HORDE (Netherlands) The All-Consuming Work Of The Soul's Foreclosing — Progressive, desperate black metal that is immediately intense.
49:56-57:02 AKOLYTH (?) Ecstatic Kingdom — Raw, angry black metal that breaks into memorable riffs and chomping fists.
57:15-END DEMIURGON (Italy) Flashforward to the End — Pummeling, tight death.
All new dark wave/synth show!
0:24-3:25 FRENCH POLICE (Chicago) Sugar Killer
3:26-8:47 JOCHEN K & JOHNNY W (Swiss) Ghosts
8:48-12:02 MASS MINOR (Austin)(saw these guys live and fell in love!) Dark Skies
12:02-15:48 QUAL (Berlin)(Lebanon Hanover’s William Maybelline solo project) Twin Tribes - Monolith (Qual Remix)
15:48-19:40 MILLIKEN CHAMBER (CA) Bottom of the World
19:41-22:56 N8NOFACE (CA) Everything We Thought We Knew
22:57-26:36 DANCING PLAGUE (Portland) Bitter Taste
26:50-30:10 COVEN OF GUILT (TX) Llama Invertida
30:10-34:56 SCHMERZ (Peru) Alone
34:56-38:02 ALIEN TEARS (FR) Ghosts
38:02-41:00 PAROLE E AZIONI (Berlin) Tutto quello che vuoi
41:01-44:16 NEVER NERVOUS (KY) Virgin Birth - State of the Art
44:16-46:52 SHADOWS HOLD (CA) Closed Eyes
46:53-52:35 YEARS OF DENIAL (FR) Devil In a Skirt
52:35-56:32 LOWSUNDAY (Pittsburgh)(2025 remaster of 1996 album Ghost Machine) Your Eden
56:33-END DUSTBOWLCHAMPION (CA)(2021) TBell
0:29-6:38 KRIGSGRAV (TX) The Tonic Of Wilderness — A powerful shriek within complex black metal and death pummeling with lovely yearning..
7:38-12:24 INFERNAL THORNS (Chile) Implore Me — Heavy with the the grooviest ear worms.
12:53-20:31 NEXION (Iceland) When Raven Steals The Sun — A war of clean and vicious vocals in black melodic building to epic.
20:46-25:19 EGOCIDE (Italy) Afterborn Inhuman Abortion — Hardcore energy in groovy thrash and a wild ride.
25:53-34:50 HERETOIR (GER) Season Of Grief — Post-black with lush, soothing and moody.
34:57-39:05 MORTAL SCEPTER (France) Sense Ablation — Mcthrasherson.
39:20-45:11 DESTRUCTION RITUAL (France) Pride & Corrupted Dreams — Tremolo black metal with drumming swagger and groovy guitars.
45:32-49:27 REVELATOR (CAN) Inside My Cryptic Chambers — Black thrash beats, snarling guitars, and filthy fun.
49:41-54:49 BERGSVRIDEN (Sweden) De Skugglika — Vampiric folk compositions that bleeds into a chomping black metal pace.
55:01-59:36 UNALIGNED (FL) Unbecoming Of I — Tech death monstrosity in bullet points.
59:57-END WINTERNIUS (Italy) Vile Vortex — Black metal theater.
0:25-6:42 PROSCRIPTION (Finland) The Midnight God — Skull pummeled by death and a fiery baritone with massive drumming and an atmospheric spacey loveliness.
7:40-11:02 HOLD ME DOWN (VA) Boiler Room — Reminiscent of old-school industrial. A menacing and experimental edge with modern sludge.
11:25-16:06 IMPERISHABLE (SC) Revelation In Purity — Intricate mastery of menacing guitars and tight, clean blast beats with bright moments of organic.
16:26-20:24 TRYPANON (Finland) Loss — Angular guitars and obfuscated vocals in an uneasy, jarring black metal with haunting melodic threads.
20:43-26:09 HEXROT (MA) Heavenward — 2-piece black and death in experiments of unpredictable tempos and alien tones.
26:33-35:58 CORRIDORÉ (WI) Like Moths — Agalloch-style contrasting dark and light. A contender for best vocalist, in a mist of post-black and shoegaze.
36:17-42:47 DEFACEMENT (Netherlands) Worthless — Furnace death metal with writing vocals and beautiful melodic effects.
43:05-47:06 MALEVICH (GA) Blossom in Full Force — Minimalist sludge with sharp bursts of drums and shards of melody.
47:20-51:24 BLUTSAUGER (Italy) Black Shroud Ritual — Vicious vocals over tremulous, raw black metal.
51:48-END INNUMERABLE FORMS (Boston) Blotted Inside — Brutal, torturous and winding death slowing into a funereal pace with melodic, time and patience.
All new dark wave show!
0:24-3:49 DLINA VOLNY (Belarus) Dance Me Away
3:49-7:58 THIS COLD NIGHT (WA) Just Terrified (3S Version)
7:59-11:08 HINFORT & THE SPOILED (GER) I can see it now
11:08-14:39 VICKVAPORS (CA) It Was Never For Me
14:40-17:34 KEYBOARDS AND RED LIPSTICK (France) Spider Web
17:34-23:08 JAVIER VICENTE PINZA (Spain) STEEL AND SHADOWS
23:20-27:37 ENTRIES (MI) Broken Beat
27:37-31:06 COLD KISS (CA) Haunted By You (At Least Just For The Night)
31:07-34:29 DECEITS (CA) All We Are (Are Memories)
34:30-38:34 ASHEN DECAY (Czechia) Suffocate
38:35-41:50 OLD TELEGRAPHS (Ukraine) In your blood my river flows
41:50-46:15 THE TRUE FAITH (Philly) One More
46:15-52:18 IN A DARKENED ROOM (TX) Winter Storm
52:18-56:28 ALIEN SKIN (AU) Necromancer
56:28-58:49 con·fect (Indonesia) The room we still live in
58:49-1:01:40 DETECTS (MS) Bunny
1:01:41-END NIGHTSISTER (OR) Chill Times in Hell
0:24-6:21 LOTAN (Denmark) Righteous Fury — Death vocals slice with a sinister melodic black. Chomping groove in a scathing emotional beauty.
7:24-15:02 PHOSPHORUS (GER) The Serpent — Post metal erupting into Yob-reminiscent sludge and death.
15:25-21:23 ZLOBNIK (Croatia) Kalež žalosti — Cruel, weird black metal with touches of industrial and an alien Croatian tongue.
21:42-25:28 CASTRATOR (NY) Blood Bind's Curse — Female band shredding guitars in a ferocious, bludgeoning blast of decapitating death.
26:23-34:07 BLACKBRAID (Adirondack) The Dying Breath Of A Sacred Stag — Desolate Adirondack mountain black metal, heavily textured.
34:26-40:40 MALTHUSIAN (Ireland) Eroded Into Superstition — Atmospheric death balanced with bleak and melancholy and a beast of a vocalist.
40:59-46:19 AURO (GER) Haus Der Tausend Flügel — Traditional, malevolent black metal. 46:39-51:57 THORN (AZ) Ooze Maelstrom — Chunky, masculine death circling the noose around your senses.
52:17-END CRYPT SERMON (Philly) A Fool To Believe — Doom and prog in a 70s style.
New Wave/Darkwave show!
0:28-3:50 NUIT NOIRE (France) Fantôme De Toi
3:51-8:01 SHAD SHADOWS (Italy) Beautiful Crash
8:01-12:38 LIIGHT (UK) Edge Of The World
12:39-15:52 POSTLOOPERISH (NY) Liminal Spaces
15:53-18:51 SHANX FM (WA) With Destruction Comes Chaos
18:51-21:02 ARIES CRUX (CT) From the Outside In
21:03-24:33 PLASTIK NOIR (Norway) Betrayed
24:33-29:10 SEASURFER (GER) Not the end
29:11-34:48 DREAM BODIES (CA) Don't Look Back
34:49-37:39 HEAVY HALO (NY) New Blood
37:39-41:27 IRÈNE DE MILO (France) Kyūshū
41:28-45:27 DAS NOIR (Greece) Little Red Fish
45:28-49:31 KLEBSTOFF (Austria) was mich hält
49:32-54:01 SECRET ENTITY (CAN) Slow Dance
54:02-56:21 FEVR (CA) Vacant
56:21-END GLARING (GER) New Dawn
0:24-9:20 CENTURIES OF DECAY (CAN) A Monument to Oblivion — A wallop of death riffs and fantastic vocal styles in rich ferocious compositions with incredible melodic harmonies.
10:22-18:40 SEA MOSQUITO (UK) Dead to the World — Monolithic, crushing black metal with the weight of guttural vocals and thick guitars. Song names are 10/10.
19:06-22:36 KONTUSION (VA/TX) Subjugation — Members of Iron Reagan and Mammoth Grinder. Chaotic, aggressive drums in a suffocating raw death with threads of melodic.
23:06-29:03 BEANNACHD LEIBH (CAN) Born Grey — Cinematic with anguished vocals and 70’s keyboard in a black metal theater.
29:46-34:50 CREATVRE (France) Diffamation — Sharp, technical black metal with angular twists complex keyboard and ethnic threads.
35:16-39:29 JORDFÄST (Sweden) Dit Gudarna Trälar Ar, Pt. 3 — Muttered Swedish in a raw, evil, sinister and harsh mix of black metal and has a wicked chomp.
39:53-47:09 SALLOW MOTH (TX) Cauldron Brim Neurosilk — Gurgling vocals in an insanely-paced brutal death and a delightful proggy 70's keyboard that makes this extra special and weird.
47:23-52:54 AMPHISBAENA (CAN) Rift I - Wading The Deserts Of Earth — Doomy, hypnotic atmospheric black and death that somehow decompresses your brain.
53:21-END HEMELBESTORMER (Belgium) Turms (feat. Philip Jamieson) — Post-black metal that is mostly instrumental with complex and emotional songs.
0:24-4:50 ABIGAIL WILLIAMS (WA) Nonexistence — Cascading instrumentation breaking into galloping black metal with a viciously emotive lead singer.
5:51-10:10 MAWIZA (Chile) Mamüll Reke — Progressive, multi-faceted death with vocal effects, hypnotic paces, heavy metal guitars, and ethnic strands.
10:40-16:08 FLOATING (Sweden) Hesitating Lights / Harmless Fires — Gruff Fields of the Nephilim vocals in a richly melodic and progressive death with a beautiful background.
16:35-21:33 WYTCH HAZEL (UK) Run The Race — My 2018 Best Retro and a runner-up in my 2020 list. 70's pagan, epic retro with a vocalist that hangs from the rafters.
21:51-34:14 HAXPROCESS (FL) Sepulchral Void —Thrash threaded death with spiraling excursions that build so deliciously.
34:44-39:17 IMPERIAL CRYSTALLINE ENTOMBMENT (MD) Insufferable Shivers — Huge cold black metal album with furious blast beats and a vicious rasp. Lots of journey here.
39:41-47:23 BA'AL (UK) Floral Cairn — Heavy sludgy sections in a black metal threaded with gorgeous strings and keyboards and topnotch vocals.
47:41-52:16 CELESTIAL WIZARD (Denver) Ride With Fire — Folk black metal and harmonized heavy metal guitars, mixed with clean power vocals and the brutality of the black screech.
52:31-55:34 GROTESQUERIE (Swiss) Cloned (in Perpetuity) — Mangled furnace of death that is chomping, galloping fun.
55:49-END KIJE (AU) its pronounced keejay — Vicious vocals against a backdrop of shimmering.
All new darkwave/goth!
0:24-6:19 SILVER TEARS (Berlin) Erica
6:20-10:16 OLEXA (CAN) dream
10:17-14:20 SOFT VEIN (CA) Here Comes The Rain Again
14:21-16:54 AVEN GRAPH (Belarus) Roses
16:55-19:38 BODY MAINTENANCE (AU) Broken Sculptures
19:39-22:38 DAMIEN HEARSE (AR) Spirit
22:39-24:39 DRKLV (Ukraine) Technoir
24:40-28:47 VICKVAPORS (CA) Better Somebody
28:48-32:15 INTOLERABLE LIFE (NY) River of Silver
32:16-36:08 AUX ANIMAUX (Sweden) Void Moon
36:09-40:03 SLOW DANSE WITH THE DEAD (NM) Still It Haunts
40:04-42:45 VARNAKIS (Lithuania) dance with me
42:46-46:46 BLUE REMAINS (Argentina) Breathing In The Ashes
46:47-50:47 MADMOIZEL (Paris) All of you
50:47-55:33 DESERT BAT (AZ) Regret (Not Loving You)
55:34-END FLOATING ASHES (Portugal) If You Feel Lost (feat. FX Return)
0:29-7:28 PATRISTIC (Italy) A Vinculis Soluta — Dissonance black metal with a hyper-speed barrage of drumming and muscular vocals. The other half of the album has melodic space.
8:32-14:20 VALDRIN (OH) Poison Soul Vents — A Best of 2020 band. Intricate layers of black metal and heavy melodic overtone.
14:42-19:33 GREET DEATH (MI) August Underground — 90’s nostalgic shoe-gazey indie that mesmerizes.
19:49-28:20 SERPENT CORPSE (CAN) Meteor Summon — Crusty death metal with sinister and raw carnage, but also dives into some doom.
28:51-33:28 NOISE TRAIL IMMERSION (Italy) Divampa L'Ignoto — Angular black metal with muscular death vocals and unsettling, convulsing rhythm.
34:11-38:07 THANATOREAN (Poland) De Profundis — Booming and furnace guttural vocals in a raw black metal with twists of melodic and epic drums.
38:27-43:18 TENEBRAE IN PERPETUUM (Italy) Carmen Ad Noctem — Foreboding black metal mixed with electronic and sound effects.
43:43-48:38 IMHA TARIKAT (Germany/Turkey) Memoria Dei (Profanity And Devil) — Feral drumming and a desperate vocalist, tremelo riffs and rocking melodies.
48:55-54:53 IRGA (Russia) Domovina — Melodic, grim atmospheric black that has a ton of Russian drama.
55:12-END FER DE LANCE (Chicago) Ravens Fly (Dreams Of Daidalos) — Melodic heavy metal in the form of ballads and an expressive vocalist.
All new darkwave/goth show!
0:21-5:51 FEVR (CA) Wrong Place_ Wrong Time
5:51-8:57 AGE OF SLEEP (Sweden) Hollow Night
8:57-12:27 VIOFLESH (Chile) Midnight
12:28-16:37 GLASS CHAPEL (FL) Snow
16:37-19:56 BLXCKFLAMINGO (NJ) Suburban Heretic
19:57-24:10 CABARET GREY (Poland) Follow
24:11-28:38 SPIRE CIRCLE (UK) Fear of Love
28:39-34:26 PUSTO (Lithuania) Bezdna
34:27-36:34 CLOSED TEAR (CA) Fantasy
36:35-40:39 INTO GREY (IN) Devotions
40:39-43:35 VICKVAPORS (CA) Gave It My All
43:36-48:45 COLD UNION (Poland) Drown Me
48:46-51:34 JOAO (MN) Satyr
51:35-55:52 SINDICATO VERTICAL (Spain) After The Pain
55:53-59:40 SHAD SHADOWS (Italy) Electric Pills
59:41-1:03:52 L'AVENIR (MD) Liquid Sky
1:03:53-END BARKING BABIES (Budapest) Return to the Dark
0:25-6:50 SARGASSUS (Finland) Vitruvian Rays — Vocal blades in a luscious, proggy black metal with moments of hypnotic peace.
8:45-13:45 ..AND OCEANS (Finland) Förnyelse I Tre Akter — Gorgeous, intensely moody black metal with the best headbangs.
14:09-18:35 SVART VINTER (Italy) Isvind — More black metal? MORE?!? Melancholy with textured guitars and explosive vocals.
18:50-22:13 BLOOD MONOLITH (DC) Prayer To Crom — Traumatizing death that succumbs to groove.
22:32-28:00 ONIRIK (Portugal) All Is Hell, Hell Is All — The vocals are just weird, and awesome, in a charming folk black metal.
28:41-34:46 OSSUARY (WI) Volitional Entropy — Utter devastation of death doom clobbering you over the head. Skittering vocals
35:09-39:06 ESCHATON (NJ) Techtalitarian — Squealing guitars and duel vocals in that tech death way.
39:30-49:00 COLTSBLOOD (UK) Transcending The Immortal Gateways — Achingly slow death doom with a whisper of romantic and brooding for a medieval night in a castle.
49:24-56:05 TASSI (China) 怪想录 II — Post-black metal and dramatic, creepy rasps and guttural mutterings.
56:32-END SVARTA HAVET (Finland) Härlig Är Jorden — Black metal activists for LGBT rights and anti-fascism.
All new dark wave and goth show!
0:24-4:25 THE COMPLETERS (Brazil) Chemicals
4:25-8:17 LAURA KRIEG (Montreal) Corps brillants
8:18-10:44 TRULY LOST (CA) Tender Pyres
10:44-13:50 THE SPOILED (Italy) The Day You Die
13:50-17:10 VICTORIAN DARKWAVE (AU) 80's Man
17:10-20:21 DETECTS (MS) Blind Spot
20:22-23:28 VICKVAPORS (CA) Let Go
23:43-26:27 ANTON (France) L'Autre Destination
26:28-30:08 SOCIAL STATION (DC) The Divide
30:09-33:32 HOUSE OF HARM (MA) Can't Fight the Feeling
33:33-38:31 MANX DREAMS (?) Gone
38:32-41:57 I WOKE UP CHINESE (Italy) Black-out
41:58-44:54 BŁYSKI (Poland) REFLEKTOR
44:55-48:17 KAARST (AU) The Disintegrating Void
48:18-51:53 SUPERNOVA 1006 (Russia) Someone
51:54-55:58 THIS IS THE BRIDGE (UK) Zero Hour
55:59-END NLiGHT (France) Silent Chains
0:27-3:50 SKAPHOS (France) Echoes Of The Drowned — Black tremelo and tech death precision in a moody atmosphere.
4:43-11:19 NAMEBEARER (ME) Black Vein, Atom Drum — Clean vocals mixed in a chilling black metal with magnificent crescendos.
11:38-13:45 CAUSTIC WOUND (Seattle) Technologist Hell Future — Death pain, experimental guitar effects, and a groove and riffs so tight.
14:30-20:44 EXILIUM NOCTIS (Greece) God's Demise — Another fantastic mix of sharp black and deathly, filthy technical metal.
21:24-31:36 AHAMKARA (UK) The Circle Of Remembrance — Psychedelic, evocative black and heavy metal melodic with raw vocals.
31:58-40:37 VAKKER (NV) I — Melodic angst in a thoughtful black metal.
41:03-45:01 OMINOUS RUIN (SF) Seeds Of Entropy — Proggy precise tech with sonic guitar work.
45:27-51:20 THE SUN’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE NIGHT (UK) Blue Fawn — A blizzard of black metal with beautiful drops of solace.
51:48-END TRANSCENDANCE (France) Laissez entrer ceux qui pleurent — Hypnotic, melancholic black metal with large, ethereal, cinematic sections.
Brand new dark wave!
0:25-3:26 NOCHE MISERIA (Ecuador) ghosts (cover)
3:27-6:23 AGE OF SLEEP (Sweden) Hollow Night
6:24-9:50 LACEY SPACECAKE (Brooklyn) LET'S REWRITE DRACULA (THIS SUCKS)
9:51-12:39 GLARE (TX) 2 Soon 2 Tell
12:39-16:10 TOPOGRAPHIES (SF) Love is Not Enough
16:10-17:56 GIVE MY REMAINS TO BROADWAY (Toronto) Cut Me Loose
17:56-21:57 DAS NOIR (Greece) Talk (feat. Stephen C.)
21:58-25:15 PORCELAIN DANCER (Greece) Poison Cloud
25:15-29:06 NONE SHALL REMAIN (Brooklyn) Nasty Mind
29:06-32:07 CEMETERY DOLLS (NYC) Like Vampires
32:07-35:23 BRIDES (Norway) Love In The Dust
35:23-39:50 BLXCKFLAMINGO (NJ) Good Morning Death, My Darling
39:50-41:59 DEATHFAUNA (Los Angeles) Ghost World
41:59-45:25 VACÍOS CUERPOS (Mexico) Entre Sombras
45:25-49:44 KRUR (Italy) ... And then the Dark
49:44-53:28 ANASTROMO & NINO SABLE (Slovakia) A BROKEN TRUST
53:28-55:43 SYD SIKES (Los Angeles) Flowers
55:43-END GLARING (GER) Hold Me
0:25-7:24 GABESTOK (Denmark) Alt Eller Intet Som Før — Jangling garage rock, psychedelic black meandering and a high-pitched King Diamond-style vocalist to charm you.
8:23-15:58 CHANGELING (GER) Abyss — Proggy guitar noodling mastery with Opeth-esque spectrum of vocals.
16:20-23:26 GRÀTFALL (GER) On Exhaustive Futility of Defiance — Achingly romantic black metal with an endearing troll demon vocalist.
23:49-28:17 CYTOTOXIN (GER) Hope Terminator — Masculine tech death with a virtuoso guitarist, surgical blast beats and shifting architecture.
28:45-34:47 SONUM (Italy) Ad Mortem — Mid-paced proggy, groovy deathy, sinister black and sweet organic interludes.
35:24-39:49 FRYKTELIG STØY (AU) Black Swan — Bleak, tortured, atmospheric black metal weaving shoe-gazy female vocals.
40:16-43:54 SAMIARUS (Oakland) Throne Devoured — Demon lungs explode in indecipherable notes in a chaotic death that is precise in complexity and brutality.
44:15-48:48 AKANTOPHIS (GER) Perforation — A carnival of atmospheric soothing minimalist that evolves to textured almost shimmering black metal.
49:18-53:23 FLUMMOX (Nashville) Femto's Theme — Weird, theatrical, funk-leaning angular death metal bringing to mind Hammers of Misfortune and Mike Patton-ish vocals.
54:01-END VINTRAS (UK) Timescarred — Hypnotic post-black in haunting, yearning compositions, with a bit of rocked out chomping beat.
0:25-7:30 DORMANT ORDEAL (Poland) Everything That Isn't Silence Is Trivial — A Best of 2021 band, more thoughtful compositions integrating black and death that are ruthlessly groovy and emotionally wrenching.
8:33-20:01 BLOOD ABSCISSION (Anon) II - I — Anonymous thickly textured black metal weaving in furious and beautiful.
20:25-26:18 MESSA (Italy) At Races — Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance ethereal, gothy vocals in a doom and proggy rock.
26:38-33:24 ANCIENT DEATH (MA) Violet Light Decays — Guitar noodling and syncopated riffs create hypnotic and head-churning movements.
33:54- TER ZIELE (Netherlands) Of Noumenon Reality — Sludge-y melodic gorgeousness and doom pace with beautiful meditation. Vocals are kick-ass and reminiscent of Buried Inside, one of my faves.
46:28-51:39 DIABOLIZER (Turkey) Hogtied In Razorwire — Throaty roars and an alien wicked rasp in a lean death mixed with tech death style.
52:08-58:49 TRIBUNAL (CAN) Between the Sea and Stars — Hers are pagan and anguished, his is a raspy gruff with gorgeous strings in a vampiric retro doom.
59:05-1:05:48 SILVER KNIFE (Belgium) Techne — Divinely romantic black metal with juxtapositions of light and dark.
1:06:10-1:12:36 BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT (Portland) Wandering Lost — All-female sweet and crooning, shimmering, dreamy shoegaze.
1:13-02-1:18:10 LUMINOUS VEIL (US) Of Matter Agonized To Order — 2-piece in a galloping, thrashy black metal with a soft languidity.
1:18:35-1:23:04 IDLE HEIRS (KC) Loose Tooth — A debut album with naked guitar and pensive lyrics. The whole package is heart-wrenching. 1:23:27-END ASHENHEART (MI) Apparitions of The Abyss — Bleak, haunting black metal with viciously sharp vocals and rhythmic bludgeoning. Sharp.
0:25-4:57 GREY AURA (Netherlands) De stem, nu als zeeboezem — A Best of 2021, I bought this album sight unseen. I knew they would be tremendous. Moody psychedelic black metal, ethnic instrumentals, hardcore and jazz creating a spectacular hypnosis.
4:58-13:55 TÓMARÚM (GA) Shed This Erroneous Skin — Tómarúm is a whip of a screech and blood of a baritone, slathered onto the entire gorgeous melodic black metal intensity and progressive storm. Guitar work is insane.
13:56-18:41 IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT (NYC) Hotel Sphinx — These guys are so strange and wondrous, their brains filled to the brim. Futuristic, dystopian, horror jazz metal, creepy effects, schizophrenic vocals, and their brand of perfectionism in gnarly explosive chaotic shards.
18:42-25:07 BLOOD CHARIOT (ME) Absolute War — Two songs of suffocating death metal fury, breathlessly racing in pace and power. Can't wait to hear a full release.
25:24-33:01 SARMAT (NYC) Serum Visions — Another insane avant-garde jazz-infused death metal from NYC.
33:02-39:03 CORPUS OFFAL (TX) Gorging Gastric Decedent — A spin-off of Cerebral Rot, bringing that filthy, festering, cavernous death back into the world, and tons of groove.
39:03-44:45 FRACTAL UNIVERSE (Paris) Concealed — Jazz being a popular infusion in metal is a great thing. Tech death with may more meditation this time around.
44:46-56:44 AMENRA (Belgium) De Toorn (Talisman) — This EP felt like taking a deep cold breath of mountain air.
56:45-1:02:48 CULT OF FIRE (Prague) Blessing — Hindu imagery and meditative, reflective instrumentals in a spiritual black metal that breaks into savagery in vocals and blistering pace.
1:02:49-END DISSOCIA (Spain) He Who Dwells — Duo in a debut. Proggy notes soaring to a vicious emo-core, and a brilliant screech of a vocal. This is a fun album.
All new dark wave show!
0:25-4:27 HAUNT ME (TX) Filthy
4:28-7:52 DLINA VOLNY (Belarus) Dance Me Away
7:53-11:25 GRINNING GOD (GER) The abyssal sky
11:25-16:14 WINTERMIND (OR) Mirror
16:15-19:30 NIGHTS TEMPLAR (CA) Life Of Crime
19:30-22:13 VOITH (Sweden) My Shadowblade
22:13-25:21 AVEN GRAPH (Belarus) Shards
25:35-30:12 ELCIDON (Brazil) Hope is Dead
30:13-34:13 KENOPSJA (Poland) Najzimniejsze z ulic
34:13-36:53 PARADE GROUND (Belgium) Riddle In The Stained Glass Windows
36:54-40:39 SOFT VEIN (CA) ZWISCHENFALL
40:40-43:57 PORCELAIN DANCER (Greece) Poison Cloud
43:58-48:02 a thousand cars (FL) you said
48:03-52:15 CLOSE IN (AU) Futureless
52:16-56:01 DARKROADS (CA) Dead
56:02-58:44 BLOOD RAVE (CA) Through Your Eyes
58:44-END COVEN OF GUILT (TX) Garden Of Teeth
0:25-5:54 VOKODLOK (Romania) The Monster — Black aggression with a beautifully suffocating death groove, light in energy and rich in style.
6:59-14:36 DAWN OF OUROBOROS (Oakland) Slipping Burgundy — Soulful female vocals mixed into desperate, black aggressive fury.
15:00-25:19 DESSIDERIUM (AZ) Dover Hendrix — Black metal mountain and dissonant death valley with proggy, gloriously melodic jaunts.
25:47-30:11 NITE (SF) Carry On — Scott Hoffman of High Spirits and Dawnbringer brings a retro guitar tone and style to Nite. Heavy metal glam that is reminiscent of Turbo Negro.
30:46-42:32 RWAKE (AR) The Return of Magik — Pronounced "wake". Melodic black metal with evocative screeches, groovy riffs with harmonizing guitars.
42:55-47:23 FROGG (NY) Life Zero — Technical with murmurings of piano and keyboard, jagged tempo and massive guitar shredding.
47:57-55:55 TENTACULT (CA) Fulgurous Manifestation — Atmospheric, sorrowful pace builds to mid-tempo riffs and infectious bluesy death compositions.
56:19-1:01:17 WOMBBATH (Sweden) Beyond The Abyss — Filthy death, heavy metal guitar noodling and a bit of 70s pagan keyboards take this to a unique place.
1:01:43-END SOM (Boston) Chemicals — Shoegazey and bubbly pop plummeting to a heavy thick sludge.
0:25-7:52 GRIMA (Russia) The Nightside — Grima was my #2 album of 2022. A messy and bloody vocalist in a romantic, howling beast of black metal album.
9:00-15:05 SEPULCHRAL CURSE (Finland) House Of The Black Moon — Builds from lumbering, languid and melancholy to a powerhouse of brutal black and death that is savagely groovy.
15:24-21:24 VACUOUS (UK) No Longer Human — A moody death hellhole with rhythmic syncopations in a disturbed atmosphere.
21:52-26:28 CROWN OF MADNESS (CAN) Ashes Of Mine — Melodic death incorporates bleak strains of guitar and blasts of drums and rich, emotional instrumentation.
26:48-30:06 CLOAKROOM (IN) Ester Wind — Nostalgic indie with an angelic vocalist that brings modernity within stoner distortion.
30:28-34:40 METAPHOBIC (GA) Execration — Debut album with deliciously harmonized blast beats and riffs in a chunky, crushing death.
35:03-40:58 CELESTIAL SCOURGE (Norway) Assembling Deformities — Vocal range in a superbly chaotic technical death that unravels to proggy beats and noodling.
41:20-48:54 LIGHT DWELLER (AZ) Adrift The Expanding Nothingness — Angular, complex death with vocals ripping out the throat.
49:16-55:00 GRAVE INFESTATION (CAN) Black Widow — A filthy death of swirling brutal badassery.
55:14- INGROWN (ID) Enemy — Muscular hardcore and filthy death with hella beatdowns.
0:25-6:48 MARROWOMB (Chicago) Inner Ring — Swirling death and a moody sludge reminiscent of Neurosis, with vocals that evolve to a black metal.
7:40-13:28 ABDUCTION (UK) Razors Of Occam — Shimmering black metal and walls of pummeling rhythm.
13:51-17:54 ACROSS THE SWARM (Italy) Invisible Threads — Muscular, infectious, chugging, bouncing death metal.
18:28-20:43 HOMESKIN (TX) Blood to Disk — Bro from Cara Neir creating vomitous bursts of brutality with effects and synth and experimentation.
21:03-28:41 WREN (AU) Toil in the Undergrowth — Somber, melodic sludge in a crushing, hypnotic, thick mix.
29:33-32:06 PISSGRAVE (Philly) Interment Orgy — A charming Daffy Duck vocalist in an avalanche of death.
32:30-40:46 GRÀB (GER) Vom Gråb Im Moos (A Weihraz-Gschicht, Kapitel Zwoa) — Atmospheric black metal muddled by vampiric gruff vocals and an enveloping darkness.
41:13-47:20 SCORPION CHILD (Austin) The Starker — Nostalgic heavy metal with lyrics that stroke your penis. L
47:45-END RÄUM (Belgium) Towards the Flames — Unromantic black metal, chilled to the bone.
0:25-15:46 UULLIATA DIGIR (Poland) Myrthys — Reminiscent of my greats Murmur, Venenum and The Ruins of Beverast’s storytelling. A vivid, psychedelic, jazzy metal album that takes you on a journey.
17:09-19:10 OBSCURA (GER) The Prolonging — Proggy, technical and deeply infectious melodic death.
19:35-27:13 SKALDR (VA) The Cinder, the Flame, the Sun — Violins and organic guitars add the atmospheric and folk element to a slicing black metal.
27:37-32:04 CHAOS INCEPTION (AL) Thymos Beast — Proggy, sinister death that unwinds into guitar solos and explosive complexity.
32:19-36:42 THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA (Sweden) Way To Spend The Night — Satin hot shorts and a swinging mullet.
37:02-42:12 DÉLIRANT (Spain) Thoughteater IV — Swarming black metal that sounds like needles.
42:34-52:19 SHAGOR (Netherlands) Afschynsel — Romantic vocals in a wistful, melodic black metal.
52:40-56:42 OBSCUREVIOLENCE (Russia) Source Of Life — Atmospheric death with melodic and meditative that erupts into cavernous vocals and aggressive compositions.
57:00-END MANTAR (GER) Cosmic Abortion — Sludgy rock infused with heavy groove and a punk attitude.
0:25-3:58 HAUNTED HORSES (WA/OR/CO) The Seed — Industrial and art rock with tribal drums and a smidgen of goth.
4:43-8:50 PHRENELITH (Denmark) Chrysopoeia — Phrenelith has the savagery, riffs and edge along with moody atmospheric. Dark, chilling moody melodic horror along with rippling earth-shattering headbangs.
9:17-16:15 VOIDHRA (GER) Immaterium Storm — German black romantic vampires with soul-scorching screech and melodic despondency.
16:48-20:52 DAX RIGGS (LA) Blues For You Know Who — Stoner with Chris Cornell-style vocals, bluesy guitar and hypnotic psychedelic that is sweet and mournful.
21:22-27:50 MORAST (GER) Aratron — Stormy, swarming black that is fucking hot.
28:19-33:39 MOONDARK (Sweden)(Dec 2024) Where Once Was Life — Death, headchurning fun with a lethargic, sexy groove.
34:16-46:08 SAOR (UK) Glen Of Sorrow — Folk instrumentation in a classically beautiful and melodic black. The seething vocals consume are a great juxtaposition.
46:29-50:14 MACERATION (Denmark) Emptiness Embraced — Grim death with acerbic vocals in a mid-tempo to pummeling.
50:45-55:52 UNREQVITED (CAN) Into The Starlit Beyond — Cinematic post-metal builds to textured black metal and proggy tempos and jamming solos.
56:16-1:00:32 SHRIEKING DEMONS (Italy) Abstract Hallucinating — Doom-rich death with a crushing pace and the intensity of death furnace vocals.
1:00:56- RELICS OF HUMANITY (Belarus) Absolute Dismal Domain — Cookie monster guttural in a thickly chugging muscular death.
0:25-5:22 SYNAPTIC (GER) Malfunctional Minds — Sweet, harmonized vocals in a blisteringly fast tech death.
6:37-14:03 HIERARCHIES (US) Entity — Sinister death with vomitous vocals gurgling and chaotic instrumentation that bleed dry to psychedelic meditation.
14:23-16:50 BUNSENBURNER (GER) Bagbak — Arty magic with psychedelic beauty and sludgy rocking pace.
17:14-21:52 FLESHBORE (IN) Setting Sun — Chugging fist-clenching riffs in such a fun way
22:16-30:08 BLOODBARK (ANON) Time Is Nothing — Lovely, sparkling black metal that takes you on a vivid journey with changing vocals and tumbling pace.
30:34-35:21 SUNROT (NJ) The First Wound — Sunrot plays with a full spectrum of paces and emotional provocation.
35:44-42:27 ONIROPHAGUS (Spain) The Tome — Led by a furnace vocalist in a depressive doom death that is ultimately infectious.
42:53-47:52 HÄXKAPELL (Sweden) Metamorfos — Folk instrumentation and aching, epic melody in a mid-paced melodic black metal.
48:19-56:59 THE GREAT OLD ONES (France) Astral Void (End Of The Dream) — Heavy leadups that is brooding, moody and atmospheric.
57:16-END TORMENTOR TYRANT (Finland) Tartarean Iron Grip — Driving, fun and furiously-paced death.
A dark wave show, because there just isn't enough good metal albums right now.
0:25-7:08 PROJECTOR FIRES (MD) Failed State
7:09-10:43 SAD MADONA (Paris) Blush
10:44-14:54 UNDER A DARK LIGHT (Paris) Lost Illusions (w. Inrgd)
14:54-18:25 HIGHER DIMENSION (Belgium) Comprehend
18:25-21:54 ROSA DAMASK (Berlin) The Sun
21:54-25:21 VACÍOS CUERPOS (MX) Vitíligo
25:21-28:34 VICKVAPORS (CA) Next Time
28:34-31:47 DECHAKHAL (MX) Destruirte
31:47-36:36 SCHONWALD (Italy) Broken Hearts
36:36-39:30 SPELLXCASTER (AZ) Lost Connection
39:30-43:19 BLANCHE BIAU, FEN DOI (Swiss) Kette (Fen Doi Remix)
43:19-47:46 SPIRE CIRCLE (UK) Fear of Love
47:46-50:38 MISS MISERY (Chicago) Dancing in the Dark
50:39-53:07 UGLY EYES (WA) Gazing
53:08-56:33 ORTROTASCE (?) I Can't Stop
56:33-END VIOFLESH (Chile) So Empty
Bands I missed at the end of the year, all of these are big albums.
0:25-5:13 AARA (Swiss) Grausig Ist Der Blick — Ripping your flesh by blades vocals and a frenetic pace with drops of beauty. Make out with demons music.
6:36-12:38 MISANTHROPY (Chicago) Of Sulking And The Wrathful — Winding, intricate guitars and tempo churns creating monstrous tornadoes that will bend your brain.
13:14-20:55 BEDSORE (Italy) Realm Of Eleuterillide — 70s-psychedelic create dreamy death and pummeling black.
21:29-27:37 HIDDEN MOTHERS (UK) Violet Sun — Passionate, raw and anguished hardcore that is spectacularly touching.
28:19-32:19 MARROWER (Oakland) Tempest — Rasped mixed with ballad-styled heavy metal vocals in a progressive doom with contrasting atmospheric and a fun touch of the 90s.
32:49-37:05 MEFITIS (Oakland) …And The Mason Wept — Theatrical and gothic mixed in a jaunty, proggy black and death.
37:31-40:43 RITUAL FOG (TN) Slimeblade — Groovy death metal and churning thrash with an overall darkly sinister tone.
41:22-50:55 SPECTRAL LORE (Greece) Solitary Mirrors — Ethnic flair and beautiful acoustic interludes in a gorgeously layered black metal.
51:16-55:29 STENCHED (Mexico) Effusion Of Foul Smelling Fluids — 1-person technical and furnace death that increases in complexity and progression.
55:51-1:00:36 GENUFLEXIÓN (Argentina) Teogonía — Soulful, desolate and sweet black metal with immersive beauty.
1:01:02-END PILLAR OF LIGHT (MI) Leaving — Melancholy brooding sludge and post-metal hailing from the tundras of North America.
Best of 2024, Dark/Cold/New Wave show!! My #1 alternative album is Holograph (South Africa)!!
0:25-2:58 HOLOGRAPH (South Africa), album - S/T Microscopic beings
2:58-7:16 TWIN TRIBES (TX), album - Pendulum Monolith
7:17-11:00 TR/ST (CA), album - Performance All at Once
11:00-14:46 OCCULTS (CA), album - Rituals Strawberry Moon
14:47-19:11 DATA FRAGMENTS (Greece)(Dec 2023), album - Total Absence Of Light Addiction
19:11-22:44 TOPOGRAPHIES (SF), album - Interior Spring Tied
22:45-27:00 COLD CAVE (CA), album - Passion Depression Blackberries
27:00-30:48 WORN OUT (GER), album - The Coming Flood Run Away
30:48-33:54 TSAFFIRE (CA), album - Torment Fatal Attraction
33:55-37:46 DURL (NJ), album - …and I loved death lágrimas frías
37:47-41:33 TRICOR (GER), album - S/T Gloomy Waves
41:33-45:52 NO (Montreal)(Dec 2023), album - Wave Function Push It Away
45:53-49:09 NEON LIES (Croatia), album - Demons Overrun
49:10-52:05 VOLGA (Italy)(Dec 2023), album - S/T Dark Clouds
52:05-55:00 UNTO OTHERS (Portland), album - Never, Neverland Butterfly
55:01-1:00:45 MIDNIGHT DARKWAVE (Berlin), album - 𝕸𝖎𝖉𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝕮𝖔𝖒𝖕𝖎𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖁𝖔𝖑.1 𝕳𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘
1:00:46-1:04:59 DECOMME (CAN), album - Sentiment Foreign Concepts
1:05:00-1:07:08 CLOSED TEAR (CA), album - Secrets Gallery
1:07:08-1:11:16 ALIEN TEARS (France), album - S/T A Ghost Town
1:11:16-1:14:54 CARESS (CA)(Nov 2023), album - Night Call Mortal Flaw
1:14:54-1:17:28 BLEACHED HEAT (CAN), album - Anomie Melatonin
1:17:28-1:22:15 LOCUST REVIVAL (AU), album - The New Cure Album LOCUST HAUS
1:22-16-1:26:18 ATTIC FROST (Berlin), album - A Sad Thought Made Dance The sun and the rainfall (Depeche Mode cover)
1:26:19-1:30:56 HUIR (Spain), album - Triumphal Arch Lovers Arch
1:30:56-1:34:21 ANTIPOLE & PARIS ALEXANDER (Norway/UK), album - Perspectives III Disjointed (Corbeau Hangs Remix)
Show 2, Best of 2024, with my #1 band, Spectral Wound (CAN)!
1:46-7:26 SPECTRAL WOUND (CAN), album - Songs Of Blood and Mire The Horn Marauding — Magical black metal that is despaired, intense, and powerful.
8:03-13:40 MODERN RITES (US/Swiss), album - Endless Veil Of Opulence — Melodic black metal crashing down from a storm of clouds.
14:14-21:29 IOTUNN (Denmark), album - Kinship The Coming End — Thunderous vocals in a complex and epic death with grandiose, melodic compositions backed by an insane drummer playing with proggy, intricate rhythms.
21:58-26:22 KERES (Italy), album - Homo Homini Lupus Void and Silence — Ear-worm fun tech melodic death with a maelstrom of hurtling drums, and complex, writhing guitars.
27:19-34:24 LUUSÄKKI (Finland), album - S/T Fifth of the Fifth Columns — A one-person black and death metal with wretched vocals set against creepy noise and bleak black.
35:05-40:13 NIGHTWRAITH (Denver), album - Divergence Perpetual Night — Proggy melodic and flying guitar solos, 70s keyboards and flute with the incredible throaty vocals that we love.
40:39-44:56 THE MOSAIC WINDOW (CA), album - Hemasanctum Incantation to Summon the Unstable — Moody meets groove. Flying thrash guitars and an impassioned vocalist leading us through moments of zen.
45:33-51:11 MÚR (Iceland), album - S/T Múr — Lush black metal for the blackest of skies and the thickest of stars, broken by lurching tempos and rocking riffs.
51:33-57:16 DISLOYAL (Poland), album - Divine Miasmata Religion Of Warfare — Thunderous death, sweeping riffs, a sly and ominous lead vocalist and proggy, dynamic and intricate compositions.
57:44-1:04:07 SEAR BLISS (Hungary), album - Heavenly Down The Winding Path — 70’s style majestic synth and horns that add to their ambient black metal, evolving to chomping, fist pumping earworm and a touch of sludge.
1:04:47-1:10:23 ANOXIDE (UK), album - Morals & Dogma Age of Austerity — Vocals are a punch within uneasy, blistering death with sticatto, djent additions.
1:10:50-1:14:19 CHAT PILE (OK), album - Cool World Shame — Retro-leaning moody melodic hardcore modernized with sludge and noise and 90s indie guitar.
1:14:46-1:19:17 CABINET (US), album - Hydrolysated Ordination Hydrolysated Ordination — Immediate malevolence of death suffocation, but in a meditative lovely way.
1:19:52-1:25:49 BLOOD INCANTATION (Denver), album - Absolute Elsewhere The Message [Tablet I] — Their furnace death metal cut with instrumental twists and 70s krautrock and a splatter of Pink Floyd that creates floating bubbles of synthy metal candy.
1:26:14-1:31:29 VORGA (GER), album - Striving Toward Oblivion Starless Sky — Plenty of heartstrings pulled with chilling notes in hypnotic arrangements, and cool spacy synth creating beautiful melodies.
1:32:07-1:35:52 REPLICANT (NJ), album - Infinite Mortality Nekrotunnel — A best of 2021 band with members in Putrascension, a best of 2023 band. Baritone and screech charges like a warrior within octane intricate technical death and angular tempos.
1:36:23-1:39:36 SUMMONING THE LICH (MO), album - Under The Reviled Throne The Forest Feasts — An incredible live performance, and more of the topnotch dueling vocals and technical at the speed of light.
1:40:12-1:46:57 AKLASH (UK), album - Reincarnation Cossack — Doom, melodic black, psychedelic and folk with horns and accordion that is intense and satisfyingly groovy.
1:47:26-1:51:58 KARKOSA (IN), album - Esoterrorcult Shattered Throne — Compressed rasps and tumbling-forward vocals with an avalanche of lyrics in a wickedly paced black metal with tech death elements.
1:52:24-1:57:29 VOLCANDRA (KY), album - The Way Of Ancients Not Even Death — Knife vocals and bludgeoning baritones create an epic, moody black and death with catchy thrashy awesomeness.
1:57:54-2:04:06 CARRION VAEL (IN), album - Cannibals Anonymous Savage Messiah — In my Best of 2022, this is more excellence. Slaughtering vocal in an explosive tech death with undulating guitars and a raging drummer. The sweet clean vocals add to the dynamic mix.
2:04:30-2:11:58 SELBST (Chile), album - Despondency Chord Progressions The One Who Blackens Everything — Rich instruments stack and become jammy. Epic, plaintive and demanding with vocals that beat its chest on a mountain.
2:12:26-2:21:42 ANTE-INFERNO (UK), album - Death’s Soliloquy Towards Asphyxiating Darkness — Ripped apart by vocal fury, and soothed with deeply disturbed melodic compositions.
2:22:02-2:25:51 SERVANT (GER), album - Death Devil Magick Devil — Rippling guitar in a moody mix of tremelo-heavy black metal and an expressive lead singer.
2:26:18-2:34:09 HIDEOUS DIVINITY (Italy), album - Unextinct Atto Quarto: The Horror Paradox — A balance between a show of power with badass savage riffage and intricate noodle-y compositions. The vocals are a ride.
2:34:33-2:40:55 OUBLIETTE (TN), album - Eternity Whispers Desolate Path — Roars over organic and erupting textural melodic black metal drenching you in its beauty.
2:41:36-END WORMWITCH (CAN), album - S/T Godmaegen — Best Blackened Death in 2019. Another hit into the galaxy of groove and shrapnel hitting you right in the face.
This is the FIRST set of TWO Best of 2024 shows. Today I start with my #2 album of the year. Next week, I start with my #1.
My #2 album of 2024 is Blighted Eye. Listen to next week for my #1, and another 3-hour set!
1:54-8:28 BLIGHTED EYE (Seattle), album - Agony's Bespoke Howls From Beyond The Mist — Hot muscular vocals with noodling guitars and complex melodic layers. Top fucking notch fun dudes.
9:08-14:22 OCTOPLOID (Finland), album - Beyond The Aeons Shattered Wings — Psychedelic death bliss blending folk, 70s rock, and magical bubbles to float within.
14:50-18:42 VØIDWOMB (Portugal), album - Spiritual Apotheosis Black Putrescence — Raspy guttural seething over bitter black metal with a sultry groove.
19:15-27:43 THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR (US), album - Nature's Cadence Madness — Beautiful, epic black metal with massive, instrumental compositions and a powerful vocalist.
28:10-33:10 KVAEN (Sweden), album - The Formless Fires The Formless Fires — A best of 2022, flying calloused fingertips in black tremelo flair and anthemic thrash.
33:44-41:26 MOSS UPON THE SKULL (Belgium), album - Quest For The Secret Fire Quest for the Secret Fire (Theurgic Practice) — Improvised speaking-tongues guitars and jazzy unhinged drumming that still has a lovely melodic soul.
42:00-47:03 NECROWRETCH (France), album - Swords Of Dajjal Dii Mauri — Alien rasped vocals in a groovy black metal with heavy metal guitars that build into frenetic and sinister swarms.
47:30-52:33 DEFACEMENT (Netherlands), album - Duality Barrier — Fuming, face melting furnace death metal with writhing vocals and creepy electronic effects.
53:07-1:00:27 HAIL SPIRIT NOIR (Greece), album - Fossil Gardens The Temple of Curved Space — A Best of 2016. Psychedelic avant-garde synth-infused proggy black metal with a fizzy lead singer.
1:01:09-1:06:08 GAEREA (Portugal), album - Coma Suspended — Evocative instrumentals and clean vocals added to their style of rapturous black metal.
1:06:34-1:11:05 CIVEROUS (CA), album - Maze Envy Labyrinth Charm (ft. Derek Rydquist) — A horror soundtrack within proggy and textured death with surprising jazzy drums and beautiful strings.
1:11:34-1:17:22 BIPOLAR ARCHITECTURE (GER), album - Metaphysicize Death of The Architect — My emo pick of the year. Another German masterpiece, this one is a proggy post-metal that explodes into cold black metal riffs.
1:17:56-1:23:57 STORMCROW (Italy), album - Path To Ascension Detached — Another incredible vocalist that gives full-body chills. Emotional black metal with an intense high-paced drummer and beautiful melodic.
1:23:31-1:32:58 SLIMELORD (UK), album - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished Gut-Brain Axis — Unexpected moody meditative thoughtful universe with some swings into a moshy grind.
1:33:26-1:38:49 CEREMONY OF SILENCE (Slovakia), album - Hálios Light Runs Through Light — A Best of 2019. Tempestuous psychedelic death metal and sadistic technical prowess.
1:39:14-1:44:55 EXUVIAL (CO, OK), album - The Hive Mind Chronicles Part I: Parasitica Hive Mind I: Convergent Evolution — A melodic technical death masterpiece.
1:45:24-1:52:53 ÆTHĔRĬA CONSCĬENTĬA (France), album - The Blossoming Haesperadh — Cool horns and meditative sections in a black psychedelic within vast compositions.
1:53:33-1:58:19 ABHORIA (CA/Denver), album - Depths Ghosts in the Smoke — Ginger-viking led Abhoria with one of the hottest vocals. Evolving textural black metal that grows within each song. Majestic, precise and unique.
1:58:45-2:04:21 VALE OF PNATH (Denver), album - Between The Worlds Of Life And Death Beneath Ashen Skies — So glad these dudes are from Denver. The raspy vocalist and masterfully technical, melodic death is delightfully groovy.
2:04:45-2:12:13 ULCERATE (New Zealand), album - Cutting The Throat Of God The Dawn Is Hollow — Brooding death with strains of black and post-metal that shimmers and explodes.
2:12:34-2:19:21 PARFAXITAS (International), album - Weaver Of The Black Moon Weaver Of The Black Moon — Intricate layers of dissonant guitars and vulgar vocals in a haunting, harsh black atmospheric metal.
2:19:51-2:27:38 DÖDSRIT (Sweden), album - Nocturnal Will Nocturnal Fire — Playing both sides of folk-oriented harmonizing melodic and brutal epic.
2:28:08-2:34:12 KNOLL (TN), album - As Spoken Revile of Light — Horns and a lethargic pace amidst the chaos and storm makes this avant-garde horror death grind creepier.
2:34:33-2:41:35 SUN OF NOTHING (Greece), album - Maze Ghost — A screeching moody monster riding atop a psychedelic death rock masterpiece.
2:42-03-2:48:06 JOB FOR A COWBOY (AZ), album - Moon Healer The Forever Rot — Proggy structures and noodling guitars create delicious space with rap-inspired tumbling vocal styles like Archspire.
2:48:29-2:54:18 SYK (Italy), album - eartHFlesh I Am The Beast — Powerful delivery of vocals with savage riffs and rhythmic annihilation. Ominous, beautiful black and death.
2:55:01-END DREAMLESS VEIL (VA), album - Every Limb of the Flood Glossolalia — Artifical Brain and Inter Arma members in an intricately layered black and death metal with spooky shrieks and blistering death rhythm.
Brand new dark/cold wave show! Last of the year!
0:25-5:01 DURL (NJ) like the moon
5:01-8:31 NEON LIES (Croatia) Teen
8:31-10:37 DECOMME (CAN) Lost Sense
10:37-15:35 COLD CAVE (CA) Hourglass
15:35-19:48 BLEACHED HEAT (CAN) Cross
19:48-22:56 ALIEN TEARS (France) Concrete Flowers
22:56-26:16 A TRANSITION (GER) Commitments
26:16-29:35 ALIEN SKIN (AU) The World Swings On A Gallows' Pole
29:35-33:23 KLEBSTOFF (Austria) Zu Spät
33:24-36:29 I WOKE UP CHINESE (Italy) Flat Planet
36:30-40:15 LAST GRASP (FL) Creature of Your Kind
40:15-44:35 Квартира номер 6 (Ukraine) Бред
44:35-48:22 DANIEL KNUTZ (Berlin) Victim of Time
48:22-52:19 YAKUTIAN CULT (Poland) Saint Vitus Dance
52:19-55:46 DUSKEN HARMONY (Belarus) Milk Bone
55:46-1:00:04 DEATHTRIPPERS (UK) Desire
1:00:04-1:05:38 THE SECRET SHELSON'S BAND (Brazil) Sadness Song
1:05:38-1:09:29 HALLOWED HEARTS (NY) hard things
1:09:29-1:13:19 OUR SÉANCE (TX) Monsters
1:13:19-1:17:53 GHOSTWAVE (Lithuania) Blood Cathedral
1:17:54-1:21:23 PALISSADE (CAN) Ancrage
1:21:23-END LOVE OF CONSOLATION (Italy) A Sleepless Night
0:25-8:31 ANTE-INFERNO (UK) The Cavernous Blackness Of Night — Ripped apart by vocal fury, and soothed with deeply disturbed melodic compositions.
9:28-16:10 EXUVIAL (OK/CO) Autonomic Awakening — A melodic technical death masterpiece.
16:39-22:14 MÚR (Iceland) Múr — Lush black metal for the blackest of skies and the thickest of stars, broken by lurching tempos and rocking riffs.
22:35-28:59 MAAT (GER) Bound To The Throne — Indecipherable gurgle vocals that turn into the hottest rumbling, complex in mood and intensity.
29:32-34:03 COILGUNS (Swiss) Bandwagoning — Gleeful modern proggy punk rock with melodic and moody sludge and post-metal. Thank you for piano.
34:30-38:55 BEYOND GRACE (UK) The Killing Floor — Punishing technical precision with furnace vocals that explode in the best epic screech.
39:11-42:34 SIGN OF THE JACKAL (Italy) Breaking the Spell — Beer chugging on Saturday night in your parent's basement.
42:52-48:56 GOLGOTHAN REMAINS (AU) Methuselah — Barks and gurgles in bleak black and aggressive death metal.
49:21-53:39 KRUELTY (Japan) Bloodless Mankind — Decapitating riffs in a mix of hardcore and death.
54:19-END OPETH (Sweden) §6 — A very fine prog rock album.
0:25-8:21 THE MOSAIC WINDOW (CA) Hymn to Silence the Light — Moody meets groove. Flying thrash guitars and an impassioned vocalist leading us through moments of zen.
9:12-14:06 LIVING GATE (Belgium) To Cut Off The Head Of The Snake — Members of Oathbreaker, Amenra, YOB in a tight, proggy death metal that grows in intensity.
14:32-18:46 CHAOS INVOCATION (GER) This World Wants Us Dead — Brooding, despaired black metal that still chomps with speed.
19:14-26:10 VEILBURNER (PA) III Visions of Hex-Shaped Hiss, Behead the Howling Spirit — In my 2018 Best of List for Modern Black – but still bring in the death. These dudes always load up each song with a hundred different incredible elements.
26:37-30:48 PRIMAL CODE (Chicago) IWL — Hot hardcore lead singer with death distortion, speed and sludge.
31:09-34:01 MAMMOTH GRINDER (Austin) Undying Spectral Resonance — Short EP that packs death wallop. Galloping death and churning hardcore pace.
34:17-41:18 NEKUS (GER) Accursed Murmur — Sinister rumbling atmospheric death.
41:36-50:50 ABSCHWÖRZUNGE (Multiple) Heinous Constellations — Death metal scraped off your brain and teeth, unholy and brutal.
51:25-55:48 SÓLSTAFIR (Iceland) Blakkrakki — Billowing capes in snowstorms, soulful to the stormy sky black metal with an excellent amount of rocking groove.
56:10-END SENTIENT HORROR (NJ) Born in a Morgue — Hairy balls of New Jersey death with thrash and grind.
0:25-4:42 DUNGEON CRAWL (CA) +1 Mace — Remiscent of early-era thrash, just headchurning fun.
5:44-13:26 MOSS UPON THE SKULL (Belgium) Quest for the Secret Fire (Theurgic Practice) — Improvised speaking-tongues guitars and jazzy unhinged drumming that still has a lovely melodic soul.
13:47-19:49 ANOMALIE (Austria) Perpetual Twilight — Organic post-rock that ultimately leads to pummeling emotionally-stirring black metal.
20:25-24:20 AN AUTUMN (formerly An Autumn For Crippled Children) Just Empty The Netherlands — Thanks John! Black desperation with deeply romantic synth and a vocal that raises challices.
25:14-31:55 PLOUGHSHARE (AU) Thorns Pressed Into His Head — Another wicked, strangling, writhing black and death with electronic mixes.
32:21-40:17 ÆRKENBRAND (Denmark) Nattens Konge — Dude from Tongues. Theatrical and experimental, stare at the sky, and get mesmerized.
40:52-47:04 MITOCHONDRION (CAN) The Protanthrofuge — A complex set of (17)! songs of swirling death howls in a cavernous, unforgiving landscape.
47:49-50:42 TRIBULATION (Sweden) Drink the Love of God — If you like these vocals, check out my favorite: Creux Lies, who do it the best. Retro synthwave in fantasy-esque metal and a frame of melodic goth.
51:05-57:33 AVTOTHEISM (Italy) Multitudes Of The Sand I — A blend of furnace death metal with bouts of creepy ambient and industrial-style synth effects.
57:49-END MOLDER (IL) Corpse Copulation — Kick the combat boot in a mosh pit death metal. Straight up dude.
Election Day PARTY mix. Because we will WIN.
0:25-5:22 MINISTRY (Chicago) The Land of Rape and Honey
5:23-9:08 POWER TRIP (TX) Executioner's Tax
9:08-12:35 DEPECHE MODE (UK) People Are People
12:36-16:57 DIO (UK) Holy Diver
16:57-20:32 MARY J BLIGE (NY) Family Affair
20:32-24:15 NEW ORDER (UK) Bizarre Love Triangle
24:15-28:24 JUDAS PRIEST (UK) The Hellion/Electric Eye
28:24-30:47 VIOLENT FEMMES (MA) Blister in the Sun
30:48-37:14 UFO (UK) Rock Bottom
37:14-41:57 SKINNY PUPPY (CAN) Smothered Hope
41:57-45:44 SCORPIONS (GER) The Sails of Charon
45:44-48:47 URBAN HEAT (CA) Have You Ever
48:47-53:30 MERCYFUL FATE (Denmark) Evil
53:30-57:44 TLC (GA) Creep
57:44-1:01:48 SISTERS OF MERCY (UK) Lucretia My Reflection
1:01:49-1:08:21 WHAM! (UK) Everything She Wants
1:08:22-1:11:58 PIXIES (MA) Where is My Mind
1:11:58-END WASHED OUT (GA) Feel It All Around
0:25-6:59 ECCENTRIC PENDULUM (Bangalore) Immersed In reverence — Arun of Moral Collapse fame is in another unique, proggy, psychedelic, groove-filled death metal that crushes. 8:25-21:37 IOTUNN (Denmark) Kinship Elegiac — Thunderous vocals in a complex and epic death with grandiose, melodic compositions backed by an insane drummer playing with proggy, intricate rhythms. 22:04-25:34 CARNOSUS (Sweden) Birthless — A best of 2023, Carnosus rages in thick slabs of technical death. Love this band. 25:57-32:36 HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE (CAN) Fates — Exhale slowly in bliss and rage. 33:15-39:58 SERPENT COLUMN (USA) Reclaiming Decades Erased — Writhing vocals, an unholy whirlwind of pummeling drums, and technical chunks of dissonant guitars churning, bending and entering from intergalactic portals. 40:38-45:05 ORANSSI PAZUZU (Finland) Muuntautuja — Finnish aliens muttering with dark eerie effects, tribal growls. Complex layerings culminating and blowing into the wind. 45:43-49:12 CHAT PILE (OK) Shame — Retro-leaning moody melodic hardcore modernized with sludge and noise and 90s indie guitar. 49:38-54:37 GAEREA (Portugal) Suspended — Evocative instrumentals and clean vocals added to their style of rapturous black metal. 54:50-1:00:06 ASHEN TOMB (Finland) Cave Of Staring Eyes — Massive chugging and head-ripping decapitation. 1:00:40-1:04:20 LUUSÄKKI (Finland) Death Cult — A one-person black and death metal with wretched vocals set against creepy noise and bleak black. 1:04:42-1:10:17 THE SPIRIT (GER) Spectres of Terror — Chugs and lurches explodes into pummeling black metal with sharp, passionate compositions. 1:10:42-1:15:14 GIGAN (Chicago) Square Wave Subversion — A wild psychedelic pulsating through veins of brutal and master technical extreme. 1:15:46-END BLACK CURSE (Denver) Ruinous Paths ... — Chaotic, intense, overwhelming breaks into sinister and slow, creating a groove within each pace.
All new dark wave show!
0:25-4:28 TR/ST (CA) Soon
4:28-8:39 OCCULTS (CA) Crystal Coffins
8:39-13:08 UNTO OTHERS (Portland) Cold World
13:08-16:25 LOCUST REVIVAL (AU) Fangs Out
16:26-18:45 AVEN GRAPH (Belarus) Last Night
18:45-21:55 phendetta (CA) Bleeding Hand
21:55-27:02 SHADOWS VEIL (Portugal) Crusader
27:02-32:09 ATTIC FROST (Berlin) Losing
32:10-34:17 DESINTERESSE (Netherlands) Grijze Dromen
34:17-39:45 CEMETERY DOLLS (NY) 絶望
39:45-42:57 THE SPOILED (Italy) I Don't Wanna Be Me
42:57-45:05 BLIND DREAMS (Russia) As Simple As Snow
45:06-49:29 SCHMERZ (Peru) Night Hag
49:29-54:02 MIDNIGHT DARKWAVE (Berlin) 𝕹𝖔𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖌𝖎𝖆
54:03-57:19 IST IST (UK) Repercussions
57:19-1:01:00 REN FLOWERS (NY) Let The Light Die
1:01:01-1:05:49 TEN MAD MONGERS (GER) Nothing
1:05:50-END PRINCIPE VALIENTE (Sweden) Facing the Truth
0:25-14:55 INGURGITATING OBLIVION (Berlin) To Weave The Tapestry Of Nought — Meditative pauses, theatrical and folk-influenced drama, saxophone and eerie atmosphere create breaks in the textured, layered death. A ton to unpack.
16:07-22:03 BLOOD INCANTATION (Denver) The Message [Tablet I] — Their furnace death metal cut with instrumental twists and 70s krautrock and a splatter of Pink Floyd that creates floating bubbles of synthy metal candy.
22:32-27:13 RIPPED TO SHREDS (CA) 孽鏡臺 (Visions of Sin, Mirror of Darkness) — Unrelenting, dense, technical with a proggy drumming style really cool drops of melodic atmospheric.
27:58-35:57 ESOCTRILIHUM (France) Lüthirkys Spasmuldis (Near Death Experience) — Moody psychedelic black metal curbed by incredibly rich melodic and an alien vocalist within ancient strands of compositions. Vast and wild.
36:25-43:31 COSMIC PUTREFACTION (Italy) Emerald Fires Atop The Farewell Mountains — The distortion, the confusion, the texture, hauntingly lovely with dissonant vocals and drums.
43:54-50:31 ARKONA (Poland) Prometeus — Epic wailing black metal over mountain tops and a battle scene.
51:06-53:38 UNDEATH (NY) Bounty Hunter — Swirling prog guitar in technical and imaginative musicianship and an incredibly fun groove.
54:13-END 1349 (Norway) Obscura — Precise black metal with speed energy and a tons of riffs.
0:25-6:15 BLIGHTED EYE (Seattle) The Wounding — Hot muscular vocals with noodling guitars and complex melodic layers.
7:26-13:55 MORK (Norway) I Tåkens Virvel — Jaunty thrash-infused dramatic black metal made for vampires.
14:21-19:05 TYPHONIAN (GER) Towards The Chamber Of The Omnipresent Mind — Rumbling, melodic, proggy death metal with glorious guitars and massive riffs.
19:32-28:12 OTHER WORLD (CA) From Innocence — Burning, desolate, atmospheric black metal with distorted guitars and a blistering death metal vocalist.
28:37-32:18 GLACIAL TOMB (Denver) Voidwomb — Khemmis members in a way more brutal death metal with melodic build-up.
32:43-39:13 SERVANT (GER) Magick — Rippling guitar in a moody mix of tremelo-heavy black metal and an expressive lead singer.
39:34-47:39 GROZA (GER) Dysthymian Dreams — Romantic bleeds into cold blast beats and pleading black metal.
48:13-53:27 KANONENFIEBER (GER) Der Maulwurf — Frantic, groove-tastic and richly instrumented symphonic black metal inspiring the rage.
53:57-56:55 DREAMLESS VEIL (VA) Cyanide Mine — Artifical Brain and Inter Arma members in an intricately layered black and death metal with spooky shrieks and blistering death rhythm.
57:29-END DAWN TREADER (London) Idolator — Post-black metal with exciting, building technical prowess that evolves into acerbic black metal.
0:25-5:47 NIGHTWRAITH (Denver) Whispers of Dragonflies — Proggy melodic and flying guitar solos, 70s keyboards and flute with the incredible throaty vocals that we love.
6:52-14:19 GEISTERFAUST (GER) Death, The End Of All Human Suffering Metamorphosis — Melodic hypnotic debut evolving into a roaring black metal with surprising death and sludge elements.
14:37-19:28 FATHER BEFOULED (GA) Impenitent Faith — Filth and rumbling death with a baritone furnace arsenal.
19:52-27:13 FIRTAN (GER) Hrenga — Germans know how to create albums with rich journeys. Haunting compositions of violin and piano in a shrieking, tremelo-filled black metal.
27:58-33:22 JADE/SANCTUARIUM (Spain) Cascade — A split of melancholy doom and death chugging and fun bouts of emotion.
33:44-41:13 HORNA (Finland) Hymni IV — Highly textured flurry of thickly-pummeling, raw and tense black metal.
41:40-44:37 PYRRHON (NY) Luck Of The Draw — A thin screech and thick guttural with bludgeoning drums in a brutal death, grind, post-hardcore with experimental effects.
45:09-49:33 THE JESUS LIZARD (Chicago) Armistice Day — 26 years in the making of a highly-influential post-punk, punk and arty angular rock with tons of spontaneity. Excellent!
49:99-END TAUR-IM-DUINATH (Italy) Ritorno — Dreamy, romantic black metal compositions that builds into pleading vocals and tremelo guitars.
End of summer dark wave set!
0:25-4:24 DARKWAYS (Spain) Lies
4:24-7:44 THE NEW ROMANTICS (TN) Control
7:45-11:19 TOUT DEBORD (Paris) If only I could
11:20-14:13 LE MAL (AZ) Red Maple Door
14:14-19:04 ECHOES IN MIND (Italy) A story not told
19:04-21:33 GIVE MY REMAINS TO BROADWAY (CAN) Coke
21:34-24:39 DANSER LA NUIT (Italy) Death Of An Artist
24:40-28:35 THE SEA AT MIDNIGHT (CA) Wait For Rain
28:36-31:23 PERPETUAL MIDNIGHT (CA) Alem e do Bem e do Mal
31:23-34:40 PARIS GREEN (CA) Nocturnal
34:40-38:38 BACKYARD RITUAL (NY) A Nagging Sense
38:39-43:22 JOSEPHINE STRAUSS (?) Cold Embrace
43:22-47:26 WHO SAW HER DIE? (KY) Love Hates Me
47:26-50:15 ORTROTASCE (?) Artificial Hero
50:16-54:02 COLOURED TEARS (GER) Catalyst of time
54:02-END VELVET MAY (Berlin) Enchanted by the Muse
0:25-5:01 DEMISER (SC) Phallomancer The Phallomancer — Joyfully careen over a cliff with gleeful catchy thrash and flying magical fingers.
5:59-14:45 AMIENSUS (MN) Acquiescence — Second album this year, this is Part 2. Another black metal shredder.
15:06-22:04 GUTVOID (CAN) Shodar — Psychedelic groove and proggy death with doomy space, texture and atmosphere.
22:23-25:40 TEETH (CA) Blight — Gloriously brutal death that totes chugs.
26:31-32:44 MODERN RITES (US/Swiss) Veil Of Opulence — Melodic black metal crashing down from a storm of clouds.
33:00-34:52 NAILS (CA) Every Bridge Burning — A vicious blade of relentlessly brutal death and grind.
35:22-43:52 OTHER WORLD (CA) From Innocence — Post-black metal with gruff death aggression.
44:20-46:17 NILE (SC) To Strike With Secret Fang — Another technical, brutal and precise death with the Nile relentless signature sound.
46:43-END SUR AUSTRU (Romania) Strânsura — Folk-heavy Romanian black metal.
0:25-6:15 SPECTRAL WOUND (CAN) Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal — Magical black metal that is despaired, intense, overwhelming. Drums are thunderous and powerful.
7:19-12:56 ANOXIDE (UK) Age of Austerity — Vocals are a punch within uneasy, blistering death with sticatto, djent additions.
13:28-19:34 BLACKLIST (UK) Naturom Demonto — Sinister thrash and dissonant death with noodling guitars and the hottest screech ghat pierces your soul. A bit of Power Trip style here. Fist up.
20:01-27:09 SETH (France) Insurrection — Explosive switches to pondering black metal and many parts despaired, all of it leading to climactic.
28:01-32:12 HAR (GER) Metaphysical Stench — Tumultuous suffocation and angular working with explosively acerbic vocals.
32:43-39:49 CAGED BASTARD (Tunisia) Into Debris — Psychedelic black metal that creates hypnotic magic.
40:11-46:07 VILE RITES (CA) Shiftless Wanderings — Stomping boots and proggy death metal breaking into decapitating technical riffs.
46:29-51:53 VHOYD (GER) Into the Void — Splintered black metal pace and head churning riffs with unique 70s style horror guitars adding to the evil.
52:17-56:04 EVILYN (AU/USA) Penance — Alien, angular, fucked up, tight and havoc-produced death. Completely uncomfortable.
56:32-END TODESSTOSS (GER) Ihre Gebilztheiten — Cinematic and theatrical black metal that is puzzling, unexpected and satisfying.
Brand new dark wave!
0:25-3:25 CLOSED TEAR (CA) Running
3:25-7:13 M O N O . X I D (GER) beast
7:13-11:15 ATTIC FROST (GER) The sun and the rainfall (Depeche Mode cover)
11:16-14:08 MANTAROCHEN (GER) Grey
14:09-17:56 BLEIB MODERN (GER) Es Geht Mir
17:56-20:42 VESTRON VULTURE (CA) TH1RT33N GH0STS
20:42-24:51 NIGHT IN ATHENS (UK) Frozen Landscape
24:51-28:16 VIOFLESH (Chile) Always
28:16-31:28 THE BLEAK ENGINEERS (Russia) The Mystical Dream
31:29-35:16 THE XRAY5 (CA) Strange Girl
35:16-39:02 LOVELYEDDIE (CA) dead sun
39:02-41:41 ACITYASLEEP (VA) Captive
41:41-43:34 MOONVAMPIRE (Kazakhstan) The Way It Could Be
43:34-46:45 THE COLD FIELD (AU) Remember When She'd Die For You
46:45-50:20 MONOWORLD (AU) Time
50:20-52:25 DIE SPLITTER (GER) Stummel
52:25-56:23 CONTES CRUELS (GER) La Cripta
56:23-1:00:11 STRANGE OLD ROBOTS (BR) Bad Choices
1:00:12-1:03:15 9FINGERS (FL) Shrine of Grief
0:25-10:10 DEFACEMENT (Netherlands) Burden — Fuming, face melting furnace death metal with writhing vocals and creepy electronic effects.
10:55-14:23 WEREWOLVES (AU) The Company of Wolves — Groove-filled death and ferocious thrash pace.
14:53-21:39 THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR (US) Wanderer — Beautiful, epic black metal with massive, instrumental compositions and a powerful vocalist.
21:59-24:51 ILS (Portland) Light Em Up — Noisecore with great melodic complexities and a huge vocalist that reminds me a bit of Idles.
25:45-36:44 SCARCITY (NY) Scorched Vision — Dive into an abyss with an eclectic mix of sludge, black metal, screeching grind and experimental madness.
37:00-41:09 MAMALEEK (SF) Black Pudding Served at the Horn of the Altar — Meditative chaos and a mist of jazz and noise will put you in a trance.
41:34-44:20 FULCI (Italy) Duck Face Killings — Outside of the song with rap, the filthy catchy death rips.
44:37-52:32 IN APHELION (Sweden/Netherlands) Aghori — Romantic, evil sheets of black metal ice.
52:45-END OXYGEN DESTROYER (WA/OR) Awaking The Malevolent Destroyer Of The Heavens And Earth — Brutal.
0:25-5:09 OCTOPLOID (Finland) Concealed Serenity (feat. Mikko Kotamäki) — Psychedelic death bliss blending folk, 70s rock, and magical bubbles to float within.
6:08-9:25 SUMMONING THE LICH (MO) Reviled Crystal Wielders — An incredible live performance, and more of the topnotch dueling vocals and technical at the speed of light.
9:51-14:19 WORMWITCH (CAN) Envenomed — Best Blackened Death in 2019. My gawd. Another hit into the galaxy of groove and shrapnel hitting you right in the face.
14:42-21:12 DISLOYAL (Poland) 1347-1352 — Thunderous death, sweeping riffs, a sly and ominous lead vocalist and proggy, dynamic and intricate compositions.
21:43-30:17 VOID WITCH (TX) Malevolent Demiurge — Spiced honey vocalist laying over seething doom, riff-heavy death and vicious head churns.
30:37-35:06 DOLDREY (Singapore) Keres — Death energized with hardcore, thrash and the attitude of punk.
35:36-44:18 TERMINAL SUN (UK) The Space Between Two Deaths — Death and sludge and tremelo black melodies that peak into epic.
44:35-50:56 INCESSANT (Ireland) Entropy Of Archons — Moody melodic influence in psychedelic, hypnotic death.
51:13-56:13 DEATH RACER (Austria) Motormentor — Howling vocals in rough punk aggression and thrash-tight guitars.
56:36-1:00:51 CARNOPHAGE (Türkiye) Until The Darkness Kills The Light — Complex, tight and a frenzy of paces in tightly wound and never unwinding death.
1:01:10-END LACERATION (CA) Excised — More modern, proggy death – shit is unreal where this genre is going.
A Mixtape for all my crushes.
0:25-6:23 SKINNY PUPPY (CAN) Addiction (1987)
6:23-10:03 BAUHAUS (UK) Passion of Lover (1981)
10:03-14:05 CHRISTIAN DEATH (CA) This Is Heresy (1988)
14:05-19:01 MINISTRY (Chicago) Thieves (1989)
19:02-23:12 TOOL (CA) Jerk-Off (1993)
23:12-28:05 MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT (Chicago) And This Is What the Devil Does (1988)
28:06-31:19 URBAN HEAT (CA) Have You Ever (2022)
31:19-35:27 PAILHEAD (US) I Will Refuse (1988)
35:27-39:14 SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES (UK) Ornaments of Gold (1988)
39:15-43:14 DEPECHE MODE (UK) Never Let Me Down Again (1987)
43:14-48:56 YAZ (UK) Situation (1982)
48:57-54:30 THE THE (UK) August & September (1989)
54:31-59:47 XYMOX (Netherlands) Tonight (1989)
59:47-END SUGARCUBES (Iceland) Birthday (1988)
0:25-7:24 FEBRUUS (Sweden) Gentrification of the Soul — Swirling, headchurning proggy death with a furnace vocalist that annihilates.
8:21-15:01 VUUR & ZIJDE (Netherlands) Naakt — Post-metal, shoe-gaze, post-punk bliss with chilling waves of black instrumentation and mood.
15:31-21:10 CEREMONY OF SILENCE (Slovakia) Perennial Incantation — A Best of 2019. Tempestuous psychedelic death metal and sadistic technical prowess.
21:34-27:46 SEAR BLISS (Hungary) Infinite Grey — 70’s style majestic synth and horns that add to their ambient black metal, evolving to chomping, fist pumping earworm and a touch of sludge.
28:14-32:40 DISKORD (Norway) Cogged Pother — Intricate, textural, deeply strange and amazing stuff. Had one of my favorite albums of 2021.
33:00-38:58 ENDE (France) Indigent — Organ in symphonic, melodic black metal and the sexiest gruff vocalist.
39:20-44:33 KRALLICE (NY) Here Forever — Yet another brilliant, technical, experimental Krallice that would fit a moody, sci-fi animated movie.
45:04-52:34 AKHLYS (CO) Maze Of Phobetor — This vocalist is an erupting screech, with theatrical synth and a cutting, malevolent, relentlessly-paced black metal.
53:02-1:03:08 LIMBES (France) Aulnes & Poussières — A howling emotional beast in a despaired tremelo-forward intense and shimmering black metal.
1:03:42-END HAIL SPIRIT NOIR (Greece) Curse you, Entropia — A Best of 2016. Psychedelic avant-garde synth-infused proggy black metal with a fizzy lead singer.
0:25-4:44 WORN OUT (GER) Echoes
4:45-8:41 SELOFAN (Greece) Ignoranz
8:42-12:10 NEON LIES (Croatia) Teen
12:10-16:02 NONE SHALL REMAIN (NYC) Into the Darkness
16:02-20:19 TWIN TEARS (?) Lead With Discretion
20:20-23:11 VARNAKIS (Lithuania) devotion
23:11-26:22 STRANGER AND LOVERS (MX) Fetiche
26:23-29:44 ABU NEIN (Sweden) Unwanted
29:44-35:32 THE NEW ARCTIC (CA) Man of Smoke
35:32-39:23 COLD UNION (Netherlands) Help Me Stand
39:24-43:03 SYDNEY VALETTE (France) La Maman et le Fantôme
43:04-46:05 NIGHT IN ATHENS (UK) Cairo
46:05-49:31 REDINDUSTRIE (MX) Change The Weather
49:31-52:12 STARE AWAY (NYC) One More Time
52:12-54:56 MIDNIGHT DARKWAVE Just Despair
54:56-59:15 CAPUT MEDUSAE (GER) I Wear Black 'Til I'm Dead
0:25-7:09 AKLASH (UK) Cossack — Doom, melodic black, psychedelic and folk with horns and accordion that is intense and satisfyingly groovy.
8:03-12:44 200 STAB WOUNDS (OH) Hands of Eternity — Delicious groove in filthy death and thrash in an aggressive, testosterone-filled style.
13:09-17:42 KVAEN (Sweden) De Dödas Sång — A best of 2022, flying calloused fingertips in black tremelo flair and anthemic thrash.
18:05-21:43 BLACK HOLE DEITY (AL) Blast Pit — Debut album with proggy tempos and structures and tumbling guitar solos.
22:07-31:19 LIMINAL SHROUD (CAN) The Carving Scythe — Crashing ocean waves in a storm of lighting. A Best of 2022.
31:46-35:38 PORTRAIT (Sweden) Dweller of the Threshold — Heavy metal with dramatic, theatrical falsetto screams and and intense complex harmonies.
36:13-41:16 VIMUR (GA) Fortress of a New Faith — Piercing screech and gurgling vocals with beautiful instrumentationand a pummeling black metal with lurching breaks into riffs. A Best of 2019.
41:47-48:59 ALCEST (France) L'Enfant de la Lune — This took time to get into, but lean into the light.
49:23-56:42 CRYPT SERMON (Philly) Scrying Orb — Doom and prog meet in 70's magnificence.
57:05-1:02:29 HYPERDONTIA (Denmark/Turkey) Salvation in Death — Filthy, chaotic, frenetic death and rapturous guitar solos.
1:03:08-END FELLWARDEN (UK) Exultance — Fellwarden of Fen fame doing more chilling black metal with folk influence and rich instrumental work.
Dark wave set! And fuck the fascist lying traitorous SCOTUS!
0:25-4:20 TERMINAL SERIOUS (Italy) Three Months
4:21-7:05 CASKET CASSETTE (CA) Spine (Feat. Carrellee)
7:06-11:26 WORN OUT (GER) Echoes
11:26-14:47 ON THE FLOOR (GER) Embrace
14:47-19:53 SHADOWS VEIL (Portugal) Crusader
19:53-23:31 SPECTRES (CAN) Dominion
23:32-27:35 SHADOWS HOLD (CA) Fallen Twilight
27:44-31:57 VICKVAPORS (CA) Eventually
31:57-35:32 THE BURNING CROW (Norway) Little Tin Soldier
35:33-39:40 THE COLD FIELD (AU) All Alone
39:40-43:06 TRICOR (GER) Distant Lights
43:06-47:04 FEVR (CA) Dead
47:05-49:11 DEATHFAUNA (CA) Luz Obscura
49:11-54:26 CURSES (GER) Elegant Death
54:26-57:57 DETECTS (MS) We Will Forget
57:58-1:01:53 L'AVENIR (MD) Imagination
1:01:54-1:05:31 MONTE GRISA (UK) Deep
0:25-7:53 ÆTHĔRĬA CONSCĬENTĬA (France) Haesperadh — Cool horns and meditative sections in a black psychedelic within vast compositions.
8:51-15:34 HOULE (France) Sur les Braises du Foyer — A needle of pained screech and gorgeous plaintive French in a trembling, desperate and beautiful black.
16:09-21:25 STORMCROW (Italy) Ascension — Another incredible vocalist that gives full-body chills. Emotional black metal with an intense high-paced drummer and beautiful melodic.
21:55-27:45 INCONCESSUS LUX LUCIS (UK) I Am The Crooked Blade — Early era black metal-style with thrashy beat and heavy metal.
28:15-31:28 CONSTRUCT OF LETHE (VA) Raw Nerve, Iron Will — Another Transcending Obscurity charmer. Proggy, complex songs with speaking tongue guitars and atmospheric monsters.
32:01-39:00 ULCERATE (New Zealand) To Flow Through Ashen Hearts — Oh, you haven’t heard of Ulcerate?
39:23-44:56 OUBLIETTE (TN) Dreams of Nevermore — Roars over organic and erupting textural melodic black metal drenching you in its beauty.
45:21-49:40 FRACTAL GENERATOR (CAN) Ancient Civilizations — Suffocation of thick death that feels like the muddy bleak sharp edges of an alien planet.
50:00-55:05 ULVER (Norway) Forgive Us (feat. Nils Petter Molvær) — 70s-style synth and jazz.
55:30-59:05 UMBRA VITAE (Boston) Nature vs. Nurture — Lead singer of Converge in a gnarly death with a big dose of chaos and hardcore.
59:29- MALIGNANCY (NY) Existential Dread — Mean.
Brand new dark wave show!
0:25-2:40 DIE TRAURIGEN (Austin) No Escape
2:40-5:09 ANTIPOLE & PARIS ALEXANDER (Norway/UK) Before Neon (Twin Ion Engine Remix)
5:09-8:19 ACTORS (CAN) In Real Life
8:19-12:18 DATA FRAGMENTS (Greece)(December, 2023) A Thousand Walls
12:18-15:44 hex formes (DC) Until Always
15:44-19:33 TERMINAL SERIOUS (Italy) Anyway
19:33-23:09 A TRANSITION (GER) Cold (feat. Hèrbé)
23:09-26:44 TANKS AND TEARS (Italy) Darkside
26:51-30:00 THE TRUE FAITH (Philly) The Means
30:00-31:52 DRKLV (Ukraine) I hope to see you down the road
31:53-36:02 THIS COLD NIGHT (WA) Just Terrified (Why Do Anything?)
36:02-39:41 urbandoned. (GER) Arson
39:41-43:09 BEAN SÍ (Ireland) More than a muse
43:09-47:19 DARKWAYS (Spain) A Forest
47:20-52:13 TOTAL RESISTANCE (Paris) Dancing Time
52:13-55:39 GUERRA FRÍA (Guatemala) Cuando El Silencio Llego
55:39-END OPAQUE SHADES (SLC) Wasted
0:25-5:28 BLASTEROID (Greece) Of Nature Uknown — Psychedelic guitars, proggy jaunts and catchy, fantasy compositions brightening the death.
6:15-12:34 PARFAXITAS (Everywhere) Thou Shalt Worship No Other — Intricate layers of dissonant guitars and vulgar vocals in a haunting, harsh black atmospheric metal.
12:59-19:51 CAVERN WOMB (Philly) Cryopreserved — Blisteringly beautifully technical guitars in a galaxy of psychedelic death, meditation and horror.
20:15-23:27 VALE OF PNATH (Denver) Soul Offering — So glad these dudes are from Denver. The raspy vocalist and masterfully technical, melodic death is delightfully groovy.
24:02-28:55 ADVERSARIAL (CAN) Merging Within the Destroyer — A punch of mean, angular, sharp with surprising notes of melodic and a slowed pace doesn’t relent in sinister quality.
29:20-34:39 HELLBUTCHER (Sweden) Hordes of the Horned God — Black with the energy of punk and riffs of thrash within charming, snarling jamming guitars and a chorus-driven vocalist.
35:04-40:39 DOPETHRONE (CAN) Truckstop Warlock — The vocalist is so evil and filthy, it elevates the downtuned crushing sludge. One of my favorite girl tshirts!
41:04-45:41 SWAMPBEAST (CA) Nuckelavee — A blustery death and flurry of chaotic drums in a twist of proggy compositions.
46:10-52:48 THOU (Baton Rouge) I Return as Chained and Bound to You — Thou sounds southern with that thick doom and a scorching vocalist.
53:17-END VREDEHAMMER (Norway) Death Becomes the New Day — Riffs, almost djent beat and a balance of industrial and electronic effects
0:25-6:30 TZOMPANTLI (CA) Tlayohualli — Furnace vocals rumble under Mesoamerican instrumentals and guttural fiery dense death.
7:21-13:30 STRYCHNOS (Denmark) Endless Void Dimension — Black pummeling and melancholy infiltrate a dystopian death with bleak muscular vocals and large tribal drums.
13:55-23:31 NAXEN (GER) A Shadow In The Fire - Pt. III (A Life Led By Loss) — Layered haunting atmospheric black with epic melodic guitars flowing within mid-paced sludgy drums.
23:45-27:30 GATECREEPER (Arizona) A Chilling Aura — Chock-filed with groove-intense melodic riff-heavy death.
28:07-31:55 BOTANIST (SF) Strychnos Electri — Beauty mixed with experimental in crystal clear production. 32:17- 42:24 MAREA (Italy) The Silence of Rust — Psychedelic black metal with acoustic guitars and a brutal vocalist.
42:46-46:45 UNEARTHLY RITES (Finland) Deep Drilling Earth's Crust — Debut of filthy-toned hellish death and guitars that scrape against your brain.
47:05-52:30 UFOMAMMUT (Italy) Leeched — Dark stoner and psychedelic vibes, Ufommamut are the kings of this sound.
52:53-END NOCTURNUS AD (FL) Hod, The Stellar Light — Technically tight bleeds to spacy in a proggy thrash.
0:25-5:52 SYK (Italy) eartHFlesh — Powerful delivery of vocals with savage riffs and rhythmic annihilation. Ominous, beautiful black and death.
6:48-12:18 SVNEATR (CAN) Blackout — Proggy, melodic black metal with technical solos and scrapes of rasped vocals.
12:44-16:45 NECROPANTHER (Denver) First Friday — Jaunty, joyous blackened, banging thrash with headbanging catchiness and sexy respites of saxophone.
17:06-20:19 CRAWL (Sweden) Undead Crypts — Sinister death with speed and crust and flailing fists.
20:48-29:24 DAUÞUZ (GER) Radonquell 1666 — Immersive, dark, glorious, effective black metal that ripples out to a howling brutality.
29:57-33:04 SARCOUGHAGUS (OH) Fragments — Menacing and groove-filled head-swaying old school death.
33:33-37:19 GNAW THEIR TONGUES (Netherlands) Als alles een laatste keer is — Weird, ghoulish horror, ferocious, and completely disturbing with charming melodic instrumentation running through it.
37:55-43:13 AGRICULTURE (CA) In The House of Angel Flesh — Modern black metal band with languishing melodic and wit.
43:44-47:57 HORN (GER) Antoniusfeuer — Anthemic folk and melodic black beauty.
48:20-END DØDSFERD (Greece) Raging Lust of Creation — Vocals vomit in the tremulous, aggressive, atmospheric, and melodically introspective black metal.
Dark wave show!
0:25-3:30 TSAFFIRE (CA) Fatal Attraction
3:31-8:07 HUIR (Spain) Arch
8:08-10:44 DISAPPEARER (Switzerland) Endless Summer
10:45-14:26 NO (Montreal) Away
14:27-18:03 SECTARIAN BLOOM (SF) Working Daydream
18:03-22:01 THEY DIE (Italy) The Passion Of Lovers
22:01-25:22 BLEACHED HEAT (CAN) Anomie
25:22-28:39 SLOWER AVENUE (Vietnam) Dark Shades
28:39-32:35 ELENDE LEIBER (GER) Silence
32:36-35:36 BRIDES (Norway) Nothing Left For Love
35:36-38:32 TWIN TEARS (US) Prisoner
38:33-42:12 NIGHTSISTER (Portland) Lost In A Past Life
42:12-44:52 HEX OF WESTERN (Mexico) Sombras
44:53-48:27 FASHION CULT (Sweden) Adrift
48:28-51:56 MY FUNERAL DANCE (UK) Too Long
51:56-55:14 NEON LIES (Croatia) Strange Place
55:15-END SOFT TOUCH (MI) upset
0:25-4:16 VØIDWOMB (Portugal) Black Putrescence — Raspy guttural seething over bitter black metal with a sultry groove.
5:18-10:43 PARTY CANNON (Scotland) Test The Chute — Kaleidoscope death and sludge metal that is completely serious, even tongue-in-cheek. Their album art is sick.
11:06-17:20 AMIENSUS (MN) A Consciousness Throughout Time — Expansively emotional in a shredding pummeling with beautiful sections of sweet strings and plucked guitars.
17:57-26:05 DYSTOPIA (Netherlands) De Val — Bring on the trombone and horns in this ethereal bleak black beauty.
26:30-29:35 FULL OF HELL (MD/PA) Malformed Ligature (feat. Jacob Bannon of Converge) — More proggy grind with unique twists and a hell of a lead singer.
29:56-35:08 BEHOLDER (CAN) Despotisme Ecclésiastique — Young and punk-energetic attitude in a fast paced early-era black.
35:22-39:19 AVOWD (Chicago) Hollows of Devotion — Two weirdos create acerbic and complexly layered sinister shrieks of black metal.
39:43-44:10 INTER ARMA (VA) Desolation's Harp — Inter Arma angles away from their dreamy sludge and becomes way more belligerent.
44:31-53:45 INFESTUS (GER) Dead Inside — Cinematic black metal in the scraggly boundary lines, and filled with something new.
54:19-59:19 GLASSING (Austin) Ritualist — A modern 90’s and early 2000s, Isis-esque with additional shoegaze-y vocals and instrumentals in a large rhythmic screamo sludge.
59:46-END THUMOS (US) Timaeus — Instrumentals are cinematic and vivid, and surprisingly catchy.
0:25-6:18 REPLICANT (NJ) Reciprocal Abandonment — A best of 2021 band with members in Putrascension, a best of 2023 band. Baritone and screech charges like a warrior within octane intricate technical death and angular tempos.
7:41-15:08 SELBST (Chile) The One Who Blackens Everything — Rich instruments stack and become jammy. Epic, plaintive and demanding with vocals that beat its chest on a mountain.
15:35-21:52 NECROT (Oakland) Dead Memories — Sinister yet warm death with swift galloping grooves and twists and riffs.
22:16-25:47 LOCRIAN (Chicago) Chronoscapes — Lush and meditative, balanced with bitter edges and explosive leadups.
26:07-32:49 MÆRE (GER) Think Of Me As Fire — Acrimonious vocals war with psychedelic, abstract instrumentation in a horror death.
33:05-37:42 DIABOLIC OATH (Portland) Winged Ouroboros Mutating Unto Gold — A death rumbling baritone vocal in a wicked suffocating hypnotic death. These guys were on my list of the Best of 2020.
38:03-44:44 AUSTERE (AU) Cold Cerecloth — Chilling black metal dropping stars within the layers and shroud of tremelo guitar and wailing vocals.
45:23-49:26 ATRÆ BILIS (CAN) Salted In Stygia — Groove-infested precise complex gnarly bits of death.
49:52-52:58 COUCH SLUT (NY) Ode To Jimbo — Bleak grind with a lot of groove and attitude and sometimes just hilarious.
53:19-57:31 HORNDAL (Sweden) Calling Labor — Guitars, organ, horns, synth in a theatrical melodic jamming sludge.
57:56-END ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE (VA) Piled Swine — Ash and bones in a frenzy of teeth.
0:25-6:37 CARRION VAEL (IN) Savage Messiah — In my Best of 2022, this is more excellence. Slaughtering vocal in an explosive tech death with undulating guitars and a raging drummer. The sweet clean vocals add to the dynamic mix.
7:34-16:58 DÖDSRIT (Sweden) As Death Comes Reaping — Playing both sides of folk-oriented harmonizing melodic and brutal epic.
17:24-21:48 COFFINS (Japan) Forced Disorder — Winding, buzzed guitars in a stalking sludge and death, horror and groove.
22:13-29:44 VORGA (GER) Terminal — Plenty of heartstrings pulled with chilling notes in hypnotic arrangements, and cool spacy synth creating beautiful melodies.
30:32-35:32 ULTERROR (Finland) Death Aegis Exhumation — Technical proggy death and raspy black create suffocating layers.
35:57-43:07 DECEPTION (Norway) Dhariyan — Melodic death metal with theatrical and carnivalesque elements that throw this off-kilter.
43:36-53:38 VERBERIS (New Zealand) Labyrinthine Privation — Poetic singer in meditative refrains within dynamic progressions, all of it a strange psychedelic dream.
54:05-1:08:45 OFFERNAT (Denmark) Grief — A duo creating long songs create sumptuous melodies, torn into a chomping noisy chaos and shrieking desperation. 1:09:18-END VERWOED (Netherlands) The Child — Tribal pace and a melancholy sullen style perfect for grumpy brains.
0:25-5:12 WOUNDS (Chicago) Bent On Disaster — Frenetic crisp death with proggy syncopated pace and a tumbling vocalist.
6:13-15:29 ACATHEXIS (Everywhere) The Other — Wholly emotional black metal and a spectrum of guttural, screech and rasp that adds to the haunting beauty. The brain behind Mare Cognitum and Silver Knife.
16:01-24:23 HIDEOUS DIVINITY (Italy) Leben ohne Feuer — A balance between a show of power with badass savage riffage and intricate noodle-y compositions. The vocals are a ride.
25:07-30:53 HAMFERÐ (Faroe Islands) Ábær — Epic, powerful clean vocals and a muscular guttural depicting a story of tragedy with wild and theatrical guitars.
31:19-40:34 CIVEROUS (CA) Maze Envy — A horror soundtrack within proggy and textured death with surprising jazzy drums and beautiful strings.
41:05-48:06 HADIT (Italy) Screaming From The Throat Of A Reversed Light Being — Warm melodic death and the cold chill of meditative black atmospheric in a journey of an album.
48:32-56:20 APPARITION (CA) Circulacate — A member shared with Cormorant. Melodic atmospheric death and furnace vocals breaking into a storm of intricate guitars.
56:42-1:03:00 ABERRATION (MN) Interstitial Enmity — Members of Void Rot and Suffering Hour. Hellish cavernous death with guitars wailing into creepy melodies.
1:03:20-1:05:23 BRAT (New Orleans) Rope Drag — Tough mosh-y hardcore mixed with groove and crust.
1:05:35-END SLAVE AGENT (CAN) Betrayer — Blast of thrash.
(brand new) Dark wave show!
0:25-4:44 TWIN TRIBES (TX) Monolith
4:45-7:17 HOLOGRAPH (South Africa) Microscopic beings
7:17-10:29 YAMA UBA (Oakland) Claustrophobia
10:30-14:18 BLIND DREAMS (Russia) Cold Like Snow
14:18-17:15 VODOO RAGE (Chile) Anyone
17:15-20:46 LEFT FOR PLEASURE (GER) Song For Nuni
20:47-24:10 TOPOGRAPHIES (SF) 1959
24:24-28:36 GOLDEN APES (GER) Ash Trees
28:37-31:00 NOCHE MISERIA (Ecuador) Serenity
31:00-33:05 THE NEW ROMANTICS (AU) Wild Love
33:06-36:21 PILLAR (IN) Winter's Hope
36:21-39:33 PERPETUAL MIDNIGHT (CA) Mirror Twin
39:34-43:23 ALIEN SKIN (AU) Come And See Me When I'm In My Head Alone
43:23-46:40 RECONVERB (Denmark) Formaldehyde
46:41-49:29 SPHERES (GER) Circles
49:30-52:27 ANOTHER ABYSS (GER) Death Unites Us
52:28-56:14 SECRET ENTITY (CAN) Dream Decay
56:14-END GALLOWS' EVE (Sweden) Autumn Falls
0:25-4:55 APOGEAN (CAN) Thousand-Yard Glare — Proggy tech death with tight off-kilter rhythmic twists and circling guitars that relax into noodling and abstract melodic.
5:50-10:54 SLIMELORD (UK) Batrachomorpha Ressurections Chamber — Unexpected moody meditative thoughtful universe with some swings into a moshy grind.
11:29-15:24 GOST (MI) Prophecy — 80s Industrial style, that is wholly modernized and weaponized. A great bridge between the ages.
15:56-20:52 CELESTIAL SWORD (?) Last Dance of the Night God — Shrill, cold vocals blends into the haunting black metal, unravelling to a throbbing meditation.
21:11-27:37 SKULL INCISION (CA) Infringe — Filthy dissonant death with melodic interludes and a penchant for headchurning riffs creating its own brand of trance.
28:17-31:33 UZLAGA (UK) SUBMERSION — Vicious and sweet. Be lulled and then eaten alive by the concentrated black metal.
31:57-37:22 SKELETAL REMAINS (CA) ...Evocation (The Rebirth) — Ugly, thrashy death metal created by long hair and frowns.
37:53-42:26 EINVIGI (Finland) Ambrosia — Shoegaze with black metal shards that pierce your soul so well.
42:26-46:29 MUTILATED BY ZOMBIES (IA) Gutsplit — Throaty vocals, a whirlwind of tightly wound guitars, and intense and groove-forward drums define Mutilated by Zombie's tech death. The drums are going to cause you to decapitate.
46:53-54:49 GREY SKIES FALLEN (NY) A Twisted Place In Time — An epic gloomy romantic album with strummed sparse notes filling emotional compositions.
55:25-END MIDNIGHT (OH) Dungeon Lust — Great bar rock, better live.
0:25-4:27 VOLCANDRA (KY) Fouled Sanctity The Blackened Temple — Knife vocals and bludgeoning baritones create an epic, moody black and death with catchy thrashy awesomeness.
5:28-11:27 CONVULSING (AU) shattered temples — One of the best musical brains. Always astonishing, always unexpected and refreshing and modern. Love. This. Man.
12:02-16:20 JOB FOR A COWBOY (AZ) Into the Crystalline Crypts — Proggy structures and noodling guitars create delicious space with rap-inspired tumbling vocal styles like Archspire.
16:52-22:09 THEY CAME FROM VISIONS (Ukraine) The Blissful Defeat — Vivid and dreamy folk-influenced with bright poppy melodic that swings to a pummeling black. Storybook chapters of unique sounds.
22:37-27:10 CABINET (US) Hydrolysated Ordination — Immediate malevolence of death suffocation, but in a meditative lovely way.
27:41-31:56 MESSIAH (Switzerland) Christus Hypercubus — A rhapsody in riffs, a hurricane of death and thrash.
32:26-40:23 ETOILE FILANTE (France) Naufragés de l'océan d'Onyx — “Shooting Star” in French, perfect for 70’s galaxy synth and twinkling keyboards in a gruffly romantic black metal.
40:44-45:18 FATHOMLESS RITUAL (CAN) Gelatinous Being of Countless Forms — Raw, treacherous death of rippling heaving sounds.
45:42-50:16 HECATONCHEIR (Slovakia) Madness of the Stars — Atmospheric death spreads out the lethargic, sinister tones.
50:45-54:34 PERSHER (Berlin) Desiccated Forgettables — Industrial and noise rock with eclectic synth and punchy danceable wicked rhythms.
54:51-1:00:01 UNMUT (Switzerland) Hero — Industrial weaved into their atmospheric sludgy post-metal.
1:00:40-END STATIQBLOOM (Berlin) Hidden From Form — Pure industrial with a love for the legends, one of my favorite musicians.
0:25-8:12 SUN OF NOTHING (Greece) Liars in Wait — A screeching moody monster riding atop a psychedelic death rock masterpiece.
9:06-13:37 KARKOSA (IN) Ensorcelled Spirits — Compressed rasps and tumbling-forward vocals with an avalanche of lyrics in a wickedly paced black metal with tech death elements.
14:04-19:50 BORKNAGAR (Norway) Moon — Epic heavy metal, raise your chalice and sing along with your warrior lord.
20:14-24:05 KERES (Italy) Oblivion — Ear-worm fun tech melodic death with a maelstrom of hurtling drums, and complex, writhing guitars.
24:44-30:55 ETERNAL STORM (Spain) The Void — Sparkling, synth-infused melodic death that explodes into rifftastic, proggy textures.
31:27-36:27 HAND OF KALLIACH (Scotland) Fell Reigns — Ethereal folk with monstrous vocals and a tech death in both Gaelic and English.
36:53-44:59 FARSOT (Germany) Descent — I heard 80s ballady goth with gritty throat that breaks into a shredding chilling black psychedelic.
45:31-49:26 TRAVELER (CAN) Dark Skull — Guitar gymnastics in a retro melodic heavy metal and thrash. Runners-up in my Best of 2020 and 2019.
49:53-54:53 STIRIAH (Germany) Brennendes Licht — Grind level undecipherable vocals in a deeply emotional black metal.
55:18-END OWL (Germany) A Window in a Strange City — Desperate in the shrieks, suffocation in the drums, solace within the chaos.
0:25-6:28 KNOLL (TN) Revile of Light — Horns and a lethargic pace amidst the chaos and storm makes this avant-garde horror death grind creepier.
7:26-15:08 SOLBRUD (Denmark) Aske — Somber, wretched melancholia with beauty and organic strums and twists.
15:30-20:23 PETRIFICATION (Portland) Transmissions Of The Unseen — Groove and a bit of sultry creates mood before building back to headbang-worthy death.
20:46-25:34 HULDER (WA) Boughs Ablaze — One-woman creates this much good black metal. Please, make girl t-shirts too!
26:10-35:00 THROAT (Poland/Finland) Chuć — Jagged black metal with raw edges bleeding an alien landscape, wretched and dark.
35:25-45:18 ASARHADDON (GER) nimmermehr — Winter is nigh.
45:37-49:58 BLOOD RED THRONE (Norway) Epitaph Inscribed — Muscular throat and a perfect scream with tumbling melodic threads in a concise death.
50:22-END HAIL CONJURER (Finland) Ritus Paganus — Witches and bonfires.
0:25-4:32 NECROWRETCH (France) Numidian Knowledge — Alien rasped vocals in a groovy black metal with heavy metal guitars that build into frenetic and sinister swarms.
5:38-10:19 BAAZLVAAT (MI) THE DARK MATTER STARGATE — Lowfi, proggy black metal that is theatrical, playful and strange. Don't underestimate this!
10:46-16:34 BIPOLAR ARCHITECTURE (GER) Death of The Architect — Another German masterpiece, this one is a proggy post-metal that explodes into cold black metal riffs.
17:04-20:59 EXOCRINE (France) Life — Muscle bulging tech death with extraordinary moments of space.
21:22-29:05 HAUNTOLOGIST (Poland) Hollow — Lush post-black with swoon-worthy vocals and prominent melancholy, sweet tones.
29:38-37:38 OLHAVA (Russian Federation) Eternal Fire — Sweeping, meditative black metal melting into the deep, sophisticated, evocative atmospheric, raking against the razor vocals.
38:26-42:20 COGNIZANCE (UK) Chiselled in Stone — Wild flying guitars and a precise drum in a dynamic tech death.
42:41-48:15 DEADYELLOW (Philly) What Are You Waiting For In Order To Give In — Yes, to the headbang. Fist-tightening groove, but still complex with gorgeous instrumentals.
48:47-56:07 SPECTRAL VOICE (Denver) Sinew Censer — So excited to see this album live. Crushing death and an intensely heated vocal.
56:40-END RHÛN (Maine) Howl of Gleaming Swords — RHÛN - members of Falls of Rauros – is exactly what you expect from Portland, Maine: cold, stylish black metal with a smokey vocal.
Let's start this year's metal with an extra-long show! I am including December releases as part of 2024.
0:25-6:43 ABHORIA (CA) Winter’s Embrace — Ginger-viking led Abhoria with one of the hottest vocals. Evolving textural black metal that grows within each song. Majestic, precise and unique.
8:29-15:07 SOVEREIGN (Norway) Altered Reality — Groove-filled charming death with hits of thrash and heavy metal with weird melodic and galaxy guitars in a debut.
15:43-19:26 PROGENY OF SUN (Finland) Courier — From squeals to death growls to black screams. The swift perfection of both genres, the pull and push of brutal technical and dynamic melodic.
19:58-24:15 RESIN TOMB (AU) Putrescence — Venomous is just SO Australia. A desperate high-pitched vocal in a filthy suffocating death and sinister sludge.
24:59-29:24 LORD DYING (Portland) Break in the Clouds (In the Darkness of Our Minds) — Theatrical rock and doom, organic instrumentation, haunting and introspective compositions building into proggy and intricate guitars. Kurt Ballou produced.
29:56-33:35 SUBLATION (Philly) Like a Fire That Consumes All Before It — A blast of melodic tech death with majestic tremolo black metal. Ferocious and complex, and a lot of fun.
34:00-39:40 PHOBOCOSM (CAN) Revival — Harrowing dangerous death metal. Dense swarmy guitars with nuanced vocals and rolling drums.
40:07-46:09 BULL OF APIS BULL OF BRONZE (CO) Annihilation — We all know that black metal belongs in the serial killer mountains of Colorado.
46:32-50:54 ENGULF (NJ) Lunar Scourge — Death with insane tempos and captivating melodic that drive you in a hundred directions.
51:12-56:49 MALIST (Russia) Ode To The Night — Black metal leans into atmospheric, with a bit of cold brought in by sweeping raspy vocals.
57:15-1:05:16 DWELLING BELOW (US) Swallowed — Stalking metal with tribal drums, furnace vocals and winding guitars building the unease.
1:05:34-1:10:53 NARZISSUS (Austria) Vanitas/Victoria — Folk-influenced black metal that is soulful.
1:11:22-END SAEVUS FINIS (Portugal) Thou Hast Destroyed Thyself — Horror metal with no joy. Just anxious with razors.
Dark wave show including releases in November and December, 2023.
0:25-4:15 VOLGA (Italy) Loneliness
4:15-7:05 DESMOND DOOM (AU) Here With me
7:05-10:36 CRIMNSON REVERIE (?) To The Shadows
10:36-12:36 CLOSED TEAR (CA) Never Enough
12:37-17:13 HOUSE OF HARM (Boston) Before the Line
17:14-20:31 KARL KAVE (Switzerland) Du fährst nicht in den Urlaub
20:31-24:09 CARESS (CA) Night Call
24:24-26:16 PETRIFIED ENTITY (VA) Remorse
26:17-30:34 ORTROTASCE (?) Seeing Red
30:34-35:02 THE SHALLOW GRAVES (Germany) Blame it on the weather
35:03-38:21 BLIND DREAMS (Russia) Веспер
38:22-43:56 RATPAJAMA (Brazil) SELFDEVOURING
43:56-47:38 DEUS EX LUMINA & ANTIPOLE (Berlin) Destroy
47:38-51:43 WHO SAW HER DIE? (KY) Emma
51:43-54:05 T H A L (?) Numb
54:05-END NEPTUNIAN PHOENIX (Panama) Sargazos
Part 2 (of 2) of my 50 Best Albums of 2023! My #1 album is AODON (France), album - Portraits!
0:25-4:04 OLKOTH (SC), album - At The Eye Of Chaos (Death) song – The Resurrectionist — Chunky drums and jagged guitars circle meditatively, texture upon texture, dropping to beat after surprise after glory.
5:22-11:55 FORTÍÐ (Iceland), album - Narkissos (Black, Melodic) song – Tímans ör — Cinematic, beautiful and complex black metal with big tumultuous melodic and a blast of incredibly catchy thrashy portions.
12:27-17:08 BERZERKER LEGION (Netherlands/Sweden/UK), album - Chaos Will Reign (Death, Melodic) song – Choirs Of Anguish — Frenzy of technical guitar fingers, a pummeling of blast beats, and the grooviest of hooks in this sophomore release.
17:37-21:28 KOSTNATĚNÍ (MN), album - Úpal (Black, Modern) song – Skrýt se před Bohem — A jungle of unhinged and unpredictable sound, with twangs of foreign melodies. This is wild and beautiful.
21:51-25:51 CARNATION (Belgium), album - Cursed Mortality (Death) song – Herald Of Demise — Melodic groove, chomping and galloping pace with incredible guitar solos that match the integrity of the 2020 album.
26:19-30:05 GABESTOK (Denmark), album - Med Freden Kommer Hadet (Black, Modern) song – Det er mig der står herude og lurer — Gabestok had my #2 album of 2021. This duo genre bends. Rock elements, including blues and garage and psychedelic black metal. Extremely charismatic.
30:31-37:49 SULPHUR AEON (Germany), album - Seven Crowns and Seven Seals (Black and Death) song – The Yearning Abyss Devours Us — Theatrical vocals in expressive baritone vocals and a whisper of rasp coupled with ferocious death and moody plaintive melodic black only the Germans know how to create.
38:11-43:29 LASTER (Netherlands), album - Andermans Mijne (Weird) song – Achterstevoren — Experimental in the versatility with jazz, rock, black metal, psychedelic and progressive. Quirky but highly consumable.
43:58-47:36 CRYPTOPSY (Montréal), album - As Gomorrah Burns (Death) song – Godless Deceiver — Vocals and tempos lurch, twist and writhe in a whirlwind of a death storm.
47:58-54:10 HORDA (Poland), album - Form (Black) song – Oneirataxia — Dangerous, ominous black metal hurtling forward and breaking into headchurning riffs, with groove-infested demonic beats and melodic death. This is a ripper.
54:37-57:43 NIGHTMARER (Portland), album - Deformity Adrift: Reformed (Death, Modern) song – Baptismal Tomb — Heated, weaponized vocals in an unconventional sinister death and experimental structures.
58:21-1:04:47 WILLOOS (Netherlands), album - Begeerte (Black, Melodic) song – De zon tegemoet — The tragedy, the agony, and the breakdown in beautiful shoe-gazy compositions in shades of black metal wretched.
1:05:14-1:10:47 THE RITUAL AURA (Perth), album – Heresiarch (Death, Modern) song – Heresiarch III: Devouring Sun — Disparity throughout the album with sweet horns and full strings coupled with proggy technical death and the hottest fucking demonic screech battling for lead.
1:11:19-1:14:59 ONDFØDT (Finland), album - Det Österbottniska Mörkret (Black, Melodic) song – Furstins Tid — Wholly sinister, rapid-paced black metal, a race to the end in a demonic Finnish forest. But super hot and emotional too. So make out with that demon.
1:15:26-1:20:55 ARBORESCENCE OF WRATH (France), album – Inferno (Death) song – Into Everlasting Fire — Debut of pummeling and incredibly memorable earworm in a precisely constructed technical death. No bullshit here.
1:21:22-1:25:59 DISMAL AURA (CAN), album - Imperium Mortalia (Black, Melodic) song – One Path, Many Voices — A vicious beast with vocals that slice and murder. Strummed melodic beauty and fun keyboard transforms this to Canadian melodic black metal.
1:26:39-1:33:12 METASPHAERA (Germany), album - S/T (Death, Melodic) song – Einheit — Muscular death and prog with precise drums and a unique melodic. Tight spirals unravel into galaxies.
1:33:51-1:41:48 DØDHEIMSGARD (Norway), album - Black Medium Current (Black, Melodic) song – Interstellar Nexus — Synth drenched and theatrical compositions with stunning vocals, piano effects and flute, 70’s galaxy synth, bleeding into sinister guitars and back to bliss.
1:42:10-1:49:21 HORRENDOUS (Philly), album - Ontological Mysterium (Death, Modern) song – Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn) — Thrashy avalanche pace, proggy melodic and acerbic death, packaged in something completely unique. This will grow on you.
1:49:47-1:55:30 ASKHEIMR (Norway), album - S/T (Black, Melodic) song – Your Throne, My World — One-man band creating magic, beauty, and fantasy with brutal edges. Black and death with melodic and synth creating incredible textures.
1:56:05-1:59:58 MAJESTIES (MN), album - Vast Reaches Unclaimed (Death, Melodic) song – Temporal Anchor — Members of Obsequiae and Inexorum. Melodic atmospheric death metal with harmonizing guitars, and a lunatic, cracked vocalist that takes it over the cliff.
2:00:34-2:07:25 LEIÞA (Germany), album - Reue (Black) song – Fremdkörper — Germans are romantic vampires, this is torment and brooding. A bleak, miserable landscape with the sun trickling through the clouds. Leipa is behind one of my Best of 22, Non Est Deus. 2:07:46-2:12:35 JUST BEFORE DAWN (Sweden), album - A War Too Far (Death) song – The Gulf of Tonkin — Beautifully headbang-worthy with intense concepts of war, including melancholy melodic and precision from start to finish.
2:13:02-2:16:23 NECROPANTHER (Denver), album - Betrayal (Black, Modern) song – Covenant — I have seen this band multiple times live, and they are badass technical savages throwing their vocals in every direction. Thrash and black and just plain fun.
2:17:00-END #1 Album - AODON (France), album - Portraits (Black, Melodic) song – Sheelagh — Beauty and anguish balanced to perfection. This is moody and vicious and glorious, I love every element of this album.
Part 1 (of 2) of my 50 Best Albums of 2023! My #2 album is STORTREGN (Switzerland), album - Finitude. Next week my #1 album!
0:25-5:26 ÚLFÚÐ (Iceland), album - Of Existential Distortion (Black) song - Faceless — According to bandcamp, pronounced “ool-wooth”. Vocals that shake the world, romantic black metal guitars create meditation with a bit of death leaning dissonance also in the album. Each song becomes a world.
7:18-13:21 UNCAVED (Switzerland), album – Dogmatorraistes (Death) song - La Propagande — Debut album. Proggy death that borders on experimental jazz, and sinister, grim guitars that circle like vultures.
13:54-17:20 RUIN LUST (NYC), album – Dissimulant (Black and Death) song - Imperium — Burning guitar tone, tumbling chaotic pace, and a storm of thorns.
17:49-21:50 AFTERBIRTH (NY), album - In But Not Of (Death, Modern) song - Devils With Dead Eyes — Realism mixed with fantastical and unbelievable, otherworldly musicianship. My best Modern Death in 2020, and this is another achievement. Psychedelic grind, raging and melodic pops.
22:13-27:53 NEXORUM (Norway), album - Tongue of Thorns (Black, Modern) song - Eldritch Abominations — Haunting black metal, melancholy beauty and tremelo intensity leading into whopping riffs.
28:27-35:45 NIGHT DEMON (CA), album – Outsider (Retro) song – The Wrath — This band is led by a stunning vocalist that does battle with any of the Swedish greats in this beautiful 70’s and 80's heavy metal style with amazing ballads. Tons of groove and soul.
36:09-40:42 DEMON KING (TN), album – Vesania (Death) song – Worshipping the Idols of the Insane — Members of Inferi in a tight, intense fury of speed and death and breathtaking complexity of magical guitar fingers.
41:04-46:41 FROZEN DAWN (Spain), album - The Decline of the Enlightened Gods (Black, Melodic) song – Mystic Fires of Dark Allegiance — Epic melodic black with immense amounts of thrash groove, wild guitar licks, tight production.
47:03-52:21 VILE RITUAL (MD), album - Caverns of Occultic Hatred (Death) song – Living Hell — Cavernous death churns out seething venom with proggy meditative melodies.
52:48-57:18 NECROFIER (TX), album - Ensemble Burning Shadows in the Southern Night (Black) song – Whispers That Burn in the Dark — Blistering, badass black metal debut with a blast of thrash, pummeling riffs and beautiful guitar solos.
57:46-1:02:33 SERPENT OF OLD (Turkey), album - Ensemble Under the Dark Sun (Death, Melodic) song – Idiosyncrasy — Melodic death that is complex and groovy and filled with tremendous riffs and epic pinnacles.
1:02:59-1:10:57 CH'AHOM (Germany), album - Knots of Abhorrence (Black and Death) song – Chavín de Huántar — Debut album. Tribal, fervent, swarming primordial death and black. An acid trip of creeping experimentation.
1:11:21-1:14:27 ASTRALBORNE (Ohio), album - Across the Aeons (Death, Melodic) song – Skybreaker — Magic guitars that harmonize and solo in an epically large death metal all about shredding and pummeling, with a touch of some folky-melodic threads in the distance for more texture.
1:15:00-1:19:50 TEITAN (Netherlands), album - In Oculus Abyss (Black, Modern) song – Murder Me — Murky alien mutterings in an inconceivable landscape off-kilter tempos, psychedelic avant-garde meanderings, and peppered with lovely nostalgic compositions.
1:20:19-1:23:42 REBAELLIUN (Brazil), album - Under The Sign Of Rebellion (Death) song – Hostile Presence — Flowing haired, hot Brazilian intricate and extremely groovy death.
1:24:19-1:29:28 PUTRASCENSION (NJ), album - Forever Below (Black) song – Stillness — A supergroup from a number of other bands, like Replicant and Tombs. Instruments constantly outdoing each other, with a werewolf singer in a chomping black metal.
1:29:58-1:35:56 ABYSSAL RIFT (OH), album - Extirpation Dirge (Death, Modern) song – The Rune — Blistering and weird, with a lava-heated singer creating atmospheric before you die.
1:36:25-1:40:43 AVOWD (Chicago), album - Vol.1 (Black) song – Spectre of Nadezhda — A scrape of surreal vocal in a fury of suspense, horror and noise that imprint forever.
1:41:20-1:45:24 CARNOSUS (Sweden), album - Visions Of Infinihility (Death) song – Ossein Larcenist — A proggy dance with limbs flailing, until it mashes to a blast-beated death and thrash, a tumbling avalanche of vocals, and proggy guitar compositions.
1:45:45-1:50:11 FAGUS (Germany), album – Inter (Black, Melodic) song – Aurora — You try saying this band name out loud. Their black metal gently cradles, and compositions enrapture with snarling vocals.
1:50:28-1:55:31 GOROD (France), album – Orb (Death, Modern) song – We Are the Sun Gods — French perfection in technical and production continues with Gorod. Opeth-styled prog beauty with a spectrum of rage and glorious guitars.
1:55:55-2:00:19 FORGOTTEN SUNRISE (Estonia), album – Elu (Industrial) song – Meating 808 — Classic industrial with experimental and sound effects, and modern death twists. But still danceable!
2:00:53-2:05:22 DEN EDELE DOOD (Netherlands), album - Het vlammende zwaard en de verschroeide aarde (Black, Modern) song – De Spaarzame Spranken Licht In Uw Duisternis Zullen Wij Ontnemen — A Gnawing Their Tongues project, prolific under many different project names. Swarming nightmare effects, textural suffocation, a single thread of melodic underpinning. It is magical.
2:05:53-2:10:59 BIZARREKULT (Norway), album - Den Tapte Krigen (Black, Melodic) song – Du Lovet Meg — Post-black melodic plays with contrasts, rasped and rough, strummed and fury, slow builds and unexpected.
2:11:45-END #2 album, STORTREGN (Switzerland), album - Finitude (Black and Death) song – A Lost Battle Rages On — A best of 2021 band, Stortregn continues their galaxy driven, textured heavy technical death, melodic psychedelic black proggy blast. A perfect blend of technical proggy death and melodic psychedelic black with an excellent chilling vocalist. Incredible production.
This is the 2023 BEST OF DARK WAVE, a 2+ hour set!
#1 Album Dark Wave Album: A fucking TRIBUTE album, no less. One of the best dark wave albums ever made, on Cleopatra Records, of course.
0:25-4:49 VARIOUS ARTISTS, album - Just Like Heaven - A Tribute To The Cure https://cleopatrarecords.bandcamp.com/album/just-like-heaven-a-tribute-to-the-cure-2 song — Lovesong by Minuit Machine
4:49-8:16 MONSTERO (Portugal), album - Schizoid song — Dots
8:16-12:11 WORN OUT (Germany), album - The Unknown Demo song — You're Fading
12:11-17:16 FEVR (CA), album - Mourning Rain, album - Fate song — Now I'm Here
17:17-21:38 VONDER (Netherlands), album - Horror song — Blur
21:38-25:45 IAMNOONE (Italy), album - Together Alone song — wasn't you
25:45-29:31 DETECTS (MS), album - Seconds song — Capital
29:31-34:10 KOMA KOMA (Various), album - Koma Koma song — Land
34:10-37:54 ALIEN SKIN (AU), album - These Days Are The Darkest song — Diazapam With Milk
37:54-42:46 VOITH (Sweden), album - A Dreamers Kiss song — On The Night Of Halloween
42:46-47:08 POLYVERSO (Italy), album - Wunderkammer song — I Hear Voices
47:09-50:46 HOME FRONT (CAN), album - Games of Power song — Overtime
50:46-54:22 BURIAL GROUND (?), album - Nichts ist es wert, album - Embrace the Dark song — Ablaze
54:23-56:42 CASKET CASSETTE (LA), album - Love Letters to Ghosts, album - Chainless song — Antabuse
56:42-1:00:30 DETECTS (MS), album - Stripes song — The Long Silence
1:00:31-1:03-50 BRIDES (Norway), album - The Earth Defeats Me song — If Love Was A Colour
1:03-51-1:08:17 IN A DARKENED ROOM (TX), album - Sorrows song — Doom and Gloom
1:08:17-1:10:58 GLASSZONE (France), album - The Other Side song — No-Way Out
1:10:58-1:14:10 PAST SELF (NV), album - Die Cry Hate song — 녹슨 칼
1:14:10-1:17:38 LIVINROOM (Russia), album - Should Avoid song — Pain
1:17:39-1:21:00 DECEITS (CA), album - If There's No Heaven... song — Mi Amor, Mi Vampira
1:21:00-1:24:27 YOUR ANCESTORS KNEW DEATH (Philly), album - ...In Ways You Never Will song — Long Road Dead End
1:24:28-1:27:28 HARSH SYMMETRY (CA), album - Imitation song — Dressed in White
1:27:28-1:30:42 PLEASURE VICTIM (?), album - singles song — Passion and Punishment
1:30:43-1:35:07 CORBEAU HANGS (AZ), album - Optograms song — The Exchange
1:35:07-1:38:04 RITUAL HOWLS (Detroit), album - Virtue Falters song — Goodnight Reason
1:38:04-1:42:01 HAUNT ME (TX), album - All Things Turn Grey song — Lost Frequencies
1:42:01-1:46:08 RINGFINGER (CAN), album - In A Black Frame song — Familiar Placement
1:46:08-1:48:43 GUERRA FRÍA (Guatemala), album - She Smells Like Flowers And Death song — Kiss Me
1:48:44-1:51:27 THIS COLD NIGHT (WA), album - Retrospective XXIII song — Black Cathedral (R.23 Version)
1:51:27-1:56:00 INDUSTRIAL WAIST (VA), album - haunting me, haunting you song — heartthrob
1:56:00-END NIGHT NAIL (Berlin), album - Fates Explained song — Madness and Foul
0:25-6:19 DYSSEBEIA (Switzerland) Hatch — Groove, intricate death, and beautifully melodic and serpentine guitars add to the intensity.
7:04-12:12 CELESTE (France) Plisse les yeux jusqu'au sang — French raspy vocals runs its fingers over a tense pummeling melodic black.
12:28-20:40 CRUCIAMENTUM (UK) Charnel Passages — Ear worm to clench your eyes and fists; builds into headchurning monsters.
21:29-33:20 MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY (AU) The Last Day — One man project creating a symphonic black metal with synth/organ bringing in a 70's proggy flavor and other treats.
33:37-38:27 STARGAZER (AU) Bound by Spells — Prog rock, death, black and plain old heavy metal within 20 minutes of pure joyous energy.
38:53-47:19 CONVOCATION (Finland) Atychiphobia — A Best of 2020 band, this is another fiery yet dreamy atmospheric funeral death with sinister tone and taloned vocals.
47:39-54:10 FUMING MOUTH (MA) Out of Time — Distorted, chaotic, brutal hardcore, coupled with a furnace vocalist in a filth-layered death.
54:28-59:38 FARSOTH (Sweden) World Beyond — Riffs, chugging, and raise a pint.
1:00:15-END FEMINIZER (Seattle) Ethereal Noose — Sharp, scraping vocals in a wild gamut of black metal styles, including some wit.
Last post-punk/dark wave set of the year. I will have a special Best of 2023 set dedicated to this genre.
0:25-4:00 VOITH (Sweden) Viktoriah
4:01-8:24 CORBEAU HANGS (AZ) The Exchange
8:25-12:26 INDUSTRIAL WAIST (VA) when I was away (in your heart I am dead)
12:27-16:04 NIGHT NAIL (Berlin) Fates Explained
16:05-18:58 DETECTS (MS) Plans Change
18:58-23:14 LOVETHEMACHINE & FOKKER (Italy) Fredde Machine
23:14-27:00 ABU NEIN (Sweden) Eternity
27:01-30:07 BRIDES (Norway) Chalices
30:19-33:19 SEA SHAPES (NYC) fate
33:19-36:35 LOWMONOTONE (BR) Far From The Trance
36:35-40:38 TOTAL RESISTANCE (Paris) Crash
40:38-44:31 MANNEQUIN TWIN (Utah) Threshold
44:31-47:46 ALIEN SKIN (AU) The Darkside of the Moon
47:46-50:05 ETERNAL GARDENS (Paris) The Shard
50:05-53:00 FRÍA MÁQUINA (MX) No Quiere Seguir
53:00-56:15 CONSTANT JOY (CAN) Penetrate Me
56:15-1:00:38 KAARST (AU) Soft Skin
1:00:38-1:05:32 LOUM (ND) Waxing Moon
1:05:32-END SIENAS (UK) Abstractionhow
0:25-7:47 CARNATION (Belgium) Cursed Mortality — Carnation's 2020 album was topnotch, and this matches it! Melodic groove, chomping and galloping pace with incredible guitar solos.
8:56-19:22 CH'AHOM (Germany) Knots of Abhorrence I — Tribal, fervent, swarming primordial death and black. What a trip.
19:53-24:20 XOTH (Seattle) Sporecraft Zero — Intricate death in a sci-fi fantasy soundtrack, a tight blast of earworm fun.
24:51-34:17 PLAGUE RIDER (UK) The Refrain — Composed yet crazed compositions, snarls of guitar in mayhem. Close your eyes and experience it.
34:55-38:36 ÆOLIAN (Spain) Dreams or Reality — Complex, skillful guitars with a blend of vocal styles, experimenting in the strange and the classic.
39:19-44:09 JUST BEFORE DAWN (Sweden) Innocence Lost — Beautifully headbang-worthy with intense concepts of war, including melancholy melodic and precision from start to finish. I of course love the melodic black metal song.
44:48-49:39 THE RITUAL AURA (Perth) In the Warmth of Its Glow We Thrived — Disparity throughout the album with sweet horns and full strings coupled with proggy technical death and the hottest fucking demonic screech battling for lead.
50:12-55:08 AUTOPSY (CA) Rabid Funeral — Vintage death metal, raw and unadorned with retro goodness including punk, thrash and attitude. Slow becomes horror, and still brutal.
55:54-END SUFFOCATION (NY) Dim Veil of Obscurity — Another 80's-started legend with muscles popping and a physical pace driving a fist down into our temples.
Scary metal isn't just for halloween.
0:25-4:38 AFTERBIRTH (NY) Angels Feast On Flies — Realism mixed with fantastical and unbelievable, otherworldly musicianship. My best Modern Death in 2020, and this is another achievement. Psychedelic grind, raging and melodic pops.
5:50-11:46 BERZERKER LEGION (Netherlands/Sweden/UK) Eternal Void — Frenzy of technical guitar fingers, a pummeling of blast beats, and the grooviest of hooks. This is literally a blast.
12:13-19:36 SULPHUR AEON (Germany) The Yearning Abyss Devours Us — Theatrical vocals in expressive baritone vocals and a whisper of rasp coupled with ferocious death and moody plaintive melodic black only the Germans know how to create.
20:04-23:56 ARBORESCENCE OF WRATH (France) Wrath — A debut of pummeling and incredibly memorable earworm in a precisely constructed technical death. No bullshit here.
24:19-26:49 GRAVESEND (NYC) Festering In Squalor — Gritty yet groovy death, atmospheric, and grind experimenting with density, aggression and mood.
27:22-36:22 WAYFARER (Denver) The Cattle Thief — Colorado goes western with twanging twilight music lighting an expansive endless sky. Wholesome American style mixed with desperate atmospheric black metal.
36:52-40:30 END (NJ) Thaw (feat. Debbie Gough of Heriot) — Meaty Jersey hardcore and sharp whips of grindy rhythm creating titanic headbangs.
40:58-45:57 SEPULCHRAL CURSE (Finland) Onward The Legions — Builds from lumbering to massive intensity, the sound miserable yet satisfyingly evil and catchy.
46:22-50:13 TERRA BUILDER (Germany) Abyss — A waterfall of rapid pace and lurching, blasting groove and riffs with a mix of sinister doom.
50:41-END SERAPHIC ENTOMBMENT (AL) Carried By Claws — Brooding doom breaks to chomping, primitive energetic death blasts of riffs.
Brand new dark wave/post-punk!
0:25-5:34 PAST SELF (NV) Between The Marquees
5:34-11:10 BURIAL GROUND (?) Nothing
11:11-15:37 VASA KUMORA (Italy) Lust Loves Loss
15:37-19:46 PLEASURE VICTIM (?) Crossmaker
19:47-24:32 YOUR ANCESTORS KNEW DEATH (Philly) A Fossil Record
24:32-27:47 BONE PIXIE (UK) alone in a full room
27:47-30:42 MOONVAMPIRE (Slovakia) suicide
30:43-33:20 BRIDES (Russia) Private Apocalypse
33:20-38:17 DECEITS (CA) A Burial Of Dreams
38:18-41:24 LA TOURMENTE (?) Girl In The Mortician Shirt
41:24-45:09 DEATH BY NATURE (CA) AMORES CUERPOS
45:09-48:51 LOYAL NOTHING (TX) Prayers Denied
48:52-54:37 LEVA (Italy) Trial
54:38-END META MOTO (UK) Is Naujo
0:25-6:41 STORTREGN (Swiss) A Lost Battle Rages On I loved this band in 2021 when I added them to my “Best of” list. A perfect blend of technical proggy death and melodic psychedelic black with an excellent chilling vocalist. Incredible production.
7:50-12:57 PUTRASCENSION (NJ) Stillness Mostly a supergroup from a number of other bands, like Replicant and Tombs. Instruments constantly outdoing each other, with a werewolf singer in a chomping black metal.
13:30-17:28 REBAELLIUN (Brazil) All Hail the Regicide Flowing haired, hot Brazilian intricate and extremely groovy death. From the late 90s!
17:54-23:24 LASTER (Netherlands) Doodgeboren Experimental in the versatility with jazz, rock, black metal, psychedelic and progressive. Quirky but highly consumable.
24:27-29:27 TAUBRĄ (Swiss/Norway) Dire Necropolis Shimmering black metal blasting into evil, creeping horror, encompassing every style and emotion. Don’t forget how much this will make you headbang, a real banger.
29:51-33:53 OUTERGODS (UK) Flesh Prison Vocalist is a needle, the drums enjoy a jaunty hardcore pace in between blistering shocks of torture, and breakdowns into catchy guitar-led interludes.
34:22-38:09 GREAT FALLS (WA) Ceilings Inch Closer Moody as fuck rock and sludge with a desperate hardcore vocalist lining that obliteration. Influenced by early-era Neurosis.
38:40-45:27 FORTÍÐ (Iceland) Uppskera Cinematic, beautiful and complex black metal with fun thrashy portions. A real joy.
45:58-53:26 PRIMORDIAL (Ireland) Ploughs to Rust, Swords to Dust Celtic lilt to a powerful and fierce and passionate singer, in escalating, melodic and folk loveliness. Very anthemic. My 2014 Best Singer.
53:52-END AURIFEROUS FLAME (Greece) Ardor for Black Mastery Another complex, volcanic erupting black metal from the Spectral Lore dude with intricate progressive elements. Lots to unpack.
0:25-5:01 DISMAL AURA (CAN) One Path, Many Voices — Vocals slice and murder. Strummed melodic beauty transforms this to melodic black metal.
5:53-10:05 DISGUISED MALIGNANCE (Finland) Remnants of Serenity — Groove-ridden, riff-heavy, fresh noodly melodic death with an abrasive edge. The drummer vocalist is 18?!?
10:28-19:11 WOE (NY) Far Beyond the Fracture of the Sky — Black fury within plaintive melodies and unique death gruff vocals.
19:37-23:43 ACAUSAL INTRUSION (?) Encoded Hexagrams — A duo creating tribal eerie theatrical death.
24:25-29:38 BEAR (Belgium) Defeatist — Hardcore that is an explosive bazooka of rhythmic power, but also a surprisingly emotional and multifaceted sound.
29:57-34:14 ASH PRISON (US) No Return — Synth-heavy bleak as fuck industrial with Ogre-influenced vocals.
34:37-38:23 WORMHOLE (MD) Elysiism — What the fuck is going on.
38:48-42:14 RUIN LUST (NYC) Imperium — Really loved this. Burning guitar tone, tumbling chaotic pace, and a storm of thorns.
42:42-47:50 MAGGOT HEART (Berlin) Archer — Sultry vocals in a bluesy doom and alternative gothy pop.
48:13-52:29 THORN (?) Gaze of the Seer — Baritone blustery vocals growl over a lumbering pace in a doom-influenced death.
52:48-55:35 TERRA BUILDER (Germany) Constant Cosmic Failure — A winding undulation of drums in a sledgehammer.
55:57-1:01:46 HEXVESSEL (Finland) Older Than The Gods — Dreamy and ethereal vocals in post-metal bliss with a bit of folk and black.
1:02-05-END CANNIBAL CORPSE (FL) Frenzied Feeding — Blah blah blah, Cannibal Corpse is still fucking excellent.
My 500th episode, and favorite albums of the last 12 years!
My favorite metal albums, ever Moody tribalistic psychedelic experimental metal that transports me to a bonfire in an alien world with monsters dancing around me.
2:29-11:38 MURMUR (Chicago), album – S/T (2014) Bull of Crete
11:39-20:29 VENENUM (Germany), album – Trance of Death (2017) Merging Nebular Drapes
20:30-27:55 THE RUINS OF BEVERAST (Germany), album – Exuvia (2017) Takitum Tootem (Trance)
International genius Tormented brilliance while still bringing the fucking riffs from unexpected parts of the world. Immense, complex, teeth-clenchingly satisfying.
28:32-32:57 MORAL COLLAPSE (Bangalore), album - S/T (2021) Divine Prosthetics I
32:57-42:14 PURE WRATH (Indonesia), album – Hymn to the Woeful Hearts (2022) Footprints Of The Lost Child
42:15-48:06 QUESTION (Mexico), album - Reflections of the Void (2020) First Fragmentation
Genre bending Experimental, weird, fun, insane albums that never get tiring. My #1 album of 2019 is Witch Trail; my #2 album of 2018 is Convulsing.
48:50-54:50 WITCH TRAIL (Belgium), album – S/T (2019) Afloat
54:51-1:05:23 CONVULSING (AU), album – Grievous (2018) Beaten
Revitalist You have to know, I am the biggest fan of psychedelic, bluesy, rockin’ 70s with the sexiest vocals. These albums have true soul.
1:06:05-1:10:39 GRAVEYARD (Sweden), album – Hisingen Blues (2011) No Good, Mr Holden
1:10:40-1:13:46 HORISONT (Sweden), album – Second Assault (2012) Things Ive Seen
1:13:47-1:17:52 GREENLEAF (Sweden), album – Nest Of Vipers (2012) Jack Staff
1:17:53-1:24:02 KADAVAR (Germany), album – S/T (2012) Black Sun
Indie Incredible lyrics and an immediate nostalgic appeal of indie band Moaning, easily one of my favorite albums OF ALL TIME.
1:24:33-1:29:13 MOANING (LA), album - Uneasy Laughter (2020) Stranger
Legendary dark wave 80s band Pink Turns Blue released an album in 2021 that was as deliciously romantic and catchy as any of their early stuff. Seeing them live was almost too much to handle.
1:29:41-1:34:03 PINK TURNS BLUE (Berlin), album - Tainted (2021) Not Even Trying
Influential She Past Away leads this dark wave resurgence. Fearing opened for She Past Away in 2019 and just released a brand new album on Profound Lore.
1:34:34-1:38:44 SHE PAST AWAY (Turkey/UK), album – Belirdi Gece (2012) Sanrı
1:38:45-1:43:18 FEARING (CA), album - Shadow (2020) Catacombs
Texas is a huge goth scene The biggest bands are coming from Texas, and Twin Tribes are at the top. Both Twin Tribes and Haunt Me tour, so definitely catch them live. They are lovely goth boys with great eye makeup.
1:43:44-1:47:35 TWIN TRIBES (TX), album - Ceremony (2019) The River
1:47:36-1:52:23 HAUNT ME (TX), album - This Sadness Never Ends (2021) Clementine
Frothy Standing alone in a bubbly, frothy cloud, Fragrance is sweet synth pop, completely addictive.
1:52:47-1:56:25 FRAGRANCE (France) (2019) So Typical
Lusciously dark My friend Adam and I caught Creux Lies live, and really loved the lead singer’s gym shorts outfit. Doesn’t matter, his vocals are luscious and dreamy perfection. All three bands are incredible vocalists, in a deeply melodic style of goth pop.
1:57:17-2:02:22 CREUX LIES (CA), album - Goodbye Divine (2021) Becoming
2:02:23-2:06:55 LEBANON HANOVER (UK/Swiss), album - Let Them Be Alien (2018) Alien
2:06:56-END THIS COLD NIGHT (WA), album - ARE WE NOT IMMORTAL YET?? (2022) I Felt the Sun
0:25-8:11 TONGUES (Denmark) Awake In The Macrocosm — Psychedelic hypnotic and melodic instrumentation blended into death, creating drama and depth into an epic atmospheric. Balance of lovely yet disturbing.
9:19-14:52 BLOOD OATH (Chile) Sanctuary of Souls — More psychedelic moodiness in a blustery pace, guitars stark and grim and angular melodic loveliness with earthy, shadowy vocals.
15:18-25:53 CHOROSIA (Vienna) Stray Dogs — Chugging groove with glorious intricate guitars in a complex progressive sludge mix. Huge instrumentals.
26:41-31:13 FABRICANT (Berkeley) Borderland Vigil — Let’s all marry prog. Fabricant's debut album included technical prowess in extremely strange and wonderful structures, but completely comprehensible. Still for the nerds.
31:47-37:10 WEALD AND WOE (ID) Fire, Steel and Flesh — Build up from organic instrumentals to ferocious whirlpools of hypnotic guitar and a cold, high-pitched vocalist in a melodic black metal.
37:43-45:27 ALKALOID (Germany) Qliphosis — Opeth and Tool in the 70s built a time machine to a hundred years in the future.
46:01-50:58 EAVE (CT) Chance is a Spectre — Connecticut vivid, romantic black metal with vocals that amplify the emotional intensity.
51:50-END TOMB MOLD (Toronto) Will of Whispers — Thrash, prog and melodic death with guitars that harmonize into earworm. An epic production for a celebratory worshipful death. It deserves all the hype.
0:25-4:14
CRYPTOPSY (Montréal)
Lascivious Undivine
— Vocals and tempos lurch, twist and writhe in a whirlwind of a death storm.
5:10-14:32
WYRGHER (Switzerland)
Supreme Leader Of A Dying Star
— Wind-swept, ocean drenched, desolate and vividly black metal.
14:54-19:29
DYING FETUS (MD)
Compulsion for Cruelty
— A maelstrom of precision and brutality. Fucking insane.
19:50-26:27
UADA (Portland)
Crepuscule Natura
— In my best of list in 2016. A bitter, harsh and fucking hot melodic black metal.
26:46-30:00
KNIFE (Germany)
Night Vision
— Black metal vocals and galloping thrash that is traight-forward and fist pumping.
30:36-34:57
FOSSILIZATION (Brazil)
At the Heart of the Nest
— Serial killer death. A buzz saw of sound.
35:15-41:31
SLOMATICS (UK)
Voidians
— Stunning sludgy doom with beautiful vocals and epic heated guitars creating heartfelt ballads.
41:48-47:13
HIEMS (Italy)
Master of Lies
— Black and roll with the chomping grit of garage and rock.
47:29-53:50
MONOLORD (Sweden)
The Only Road
— Doom stoner Monolord added a 70's vibe.
54:04-END
TERMINALIST (Denmark/US)
Life Won't Last
— Thrash it.
0:25-6:22 SPELLSWORD (Portugal) A Dark Being in the Shadows — Portuguese black metal with epic melodic, intricate guitar work, and texture of speed and alacrity.
7:22-12:09 NIGHTMARER (Portland) Obliterated Shrine — A May release. Heated, weaponized vocals in an unconventional sinister death and experimental structures.
12:35-17:59 BAXAXAXA (Germany) Seed of Golgotha — Vampire-cloaked, evil organ and doomy moody black metal.
18:25-22:43 HEADS FOR THE DEAD (Germany) Heart Of Darkness — Folksy melodic and synth with atmospheric effects in a pagan-influenced death that explodes to intense vocals and intricate guitars.
23:22-28:20 OUTERGODS (UK) Tangled In The Cogs Of The Nightmare Machine — Vocals that shave layers off your brain. A weapon of needles, in a dread-filled sound with pummeling grind.
28:59-32:25 UNDERGANG (Denmark) Forrådnelse — Robotic, gurgling, chanting, blabbering vocals. Furnace-level death blows that churns to slow-moving filthy lava.
32:49-37:28 EXMORTUS (CA) Mask Of Red Death — 20 years of thrash with classically shredding noodly guitars.
37:55-45:27 URFAUST (The Netherlands) Abgrund — Mike Scheidt-style vocals in an hypnotic cacophony with black twists.
45:47-53:06 REVERENCE TO PAROXYSM (MX) Necropacity — Heavily distorted guitars in a treacherous death that is undecipherable and meandering and weird. In a good way.
53:25-END SCORCHING TOMB (CAN)(Primal Horde, Scorching Tomb SPLIT) Sentenced to Rot — A short, fun blistering death metal split.
0:25-8:05
NIXIL (MD)
A Door Never Closed
— Cold black metal with a demonic witch vocal, guitars that stand stark creating a stream of atmosphere, and a gamut of pace. All to create an emotional wallop.
9:08-13:17
CELESTIAL SANCTUARY (UK)
Glutted With Chunder
— Shriek against muscular, angularity and haunting melodic all in contrast with old school death.
13:41-19:41
SARGASSUS (Finland)
Breed of the Exodus
— Gorgeous, organic post-metal and an intricate proggy drumming creating texture. When it erupts, fuck.
20:05-26:30
BLUT AUS NORD (France)
The Endless Multitude
— Swarming, chaotic, hypnotic, winding and ugly. True horror.
27:04-31:02
ORPHALIS (Germany)
An Effigy to Humanity
— Meaty, shredding technical death with intensity in mood and dynamics.
31:20-34:48
GRAVERIPPER (IN)
Premeditated
— Galloping thrash, rip-roaring to immensely satisfying riffs.
35:01-39:50
GRAND CADAVER (Sweden)
Necrosanctum
— Chomping combat boot death with textured throat and hella groove.
40:08-43:30
DRIPPING DECAY (Portland)
Watching You Rot
— Dread and death in a lethargic, sinister and deeply maladjusted sound.
43:57-50:19
DJINN AND MISKATONIC (Bengalaru)
Vendetta (Reality & Me)
— A hot piece of doomy, psychedelic, sludgy headchurns.
50:37-55:12
INCANTATION (PA)
Homunculus (Spirit Made Flesh) IX
— 30+ years of badass death experience integrating prog and melodic doom for modernity.
55:37-END
An EASTER EGG! Brand new THE CHURCH (AU)
Realm of Minor Angels
— Dreamy and lovely stuff from The Church.
0:25-8:09
CLARET ASH (AU)
Cascadence of the Twilight
— A vivid atmospheric black, generously romantic, with spikes of death and jaunty groove.
9:11-13:33
FORGOTTEN SUNRISE (Estonia)
Meating 808
— Classic industrial with rotting death twists. Romance within the cold.
14:03-20:06
UNCAVED (Switzerland)
La Propagande
— Proggy death that borders on experimental jazz, and sinister, grim guitars that circle like vultures.
20:32-25:58
THE CIRCLE (Germany)
Reign of the Black Sun
— Vocals rise with turbulent waves of black metal guitar and majestic shimmering melodies.
26:47-32:05
SPIRIT ADRIFT (TX)
These Two Hands
— Nate Garrett is mulleted 70s retro magic.
32:37-37:35
HORRENDOUS (Philly)
The Death Knell Ringeth
— Thrashy avalanche pace, proggy melodic and acerbic death, packaged in something completely unique. This will grow on you.
38:06-43:20
INVULTATION (OH)
Feral Legion
— Ohio mammoth, menacing black and deranged death with snarling guitars and a demon that mutters threat from the murky shadows.
43:45-50:00
NOTT (WA)
Hiraeth
— Moody 2-piece monster with a vocalist that assaults, and a sound that runs the spectrum of bludgeoning death to stark and minimalist.
50:36-53:58
DEAD AND DRIPPING (NJ)
Humanoid Statues Parading Condescending Gestures
— Filthy with inhuman rumbling vocals in an unholy experiment that keeps it focus on relentless death.
54:15-END
URNE (UK)
A Feast On Sorrow
— Sludge-y sexy and erupting.
All new dark wave show!
0:25-3:40
SPIRITUAL FRONT (Italy)
Bigmouth Strikes Again (Smiths cover album!)
3:40-7:24
ALIEN SKIN (AU)
Diazapam With Milk
7:24-10:26
THIS COLD NIGHT (WA)
I Felt The Sun (R.23 Version)
10:26-18:33
DARK RECOLLECTION (CAN)
Death Angel
18:33-21:36
PIETI (CA)
Elbow Room
21:36-24:44
MEKONG (Poland)
Out of Control
24:56-29:40
OCCULTS (CA)
Communion
29:40-33:36
THE RUMENTS (CAN)
Abuser
33:36-36:59
ULTRASATURATED (EUR)
Horsegait
36:59-39:55
ANOTHER ABYSS (GER)
Colorless
39:55-42:12
KORUS (Poland)
Złote światło pierwszego zachodu
42:12-46:46
TABLERAZ (France)
Thanatos
46:46-51:39
POST ANALOG DISORDER (Hungary)
Varázsol Az Élet
51:39-53:53
VOMER (CA)
i wish u saw yourself through my eyes
53:54-57:38
TWIN TEARS (US)
Total Abuse
57:39-1:01:15
ZUDPÖL (Argentina)
In Fear
1:01:15-END
DARKPAGE (Russia)
Casualty
0:25-6:01
ASTRALBORNE (Ohio)
Nocturneous
— Magic guitars that harmonize and solo in an epically large death metal all about shredding and pummeling, with a touch of some folky-melodic threads in the distance for more texture.
7:05-11:43
HALLUCINATE (Germany)
Black Smokers
— Melodic death with a doomy pace until the lurch of bellowing sinister death heats it to ferocious. Germans bring soul and romance into the mix.
12:07-20:09
AGRICULTURE (CA)
The Glory of the Ocean
— Sprinkles of notes juxtaposed with the sharp blade of the screech and sadistic thrash pace with touches of experimental and grind.
20:38-31:18
FLESHVESSEL (Chicago)
Winter Came Early
— Holy nerdiness: viola, harps, hand bells, flutes, piano, piccolo, clarinet, more. Dissonant death with theatrical, acoustic and prog.
31:48-36:59
AN AUTUMN FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN (Netherlands)
Culpable
— Gothy and fantasy black metal gaze with a stabbing vocalist.
37:17-41:20
OUTER HEAVEN (PA)
Warped Transcendence
— Fithy, churning, lethargic death metal heavy on the riff.
41:44-46:59
CHASMLURK (UT)
Arboral Reclamation
— Groove-filled sinister and bleak black metal.
47:32-53:04
PORTA NIGRA (Germany)
Es ist Krieg
— Vocal gymnastics and meditative precise drumming in face-melting unexpected death and black.
53:30-58:36
ETERNAL ROT (UK)
Desecrated Guts
— Monster baritone rides on waves of stench with a sinister chugging death made for strippers. Sexy!
59:00-END
THE GORGE (St. Louis)
Presence
— Progressive metal created by jazz musicians balancing the angularity with atmospheric and massively catchy riffs.
Going on my birthday vacation for two weeks, so see you in August!!
0:25-6:25
SOMNIATE (Czechia)
Black Soundless Sugar
— Layered dissonance creating a hypnotic gaze and tension, swirling back to frantic, incessant, distorted guitars and intricate drums.
7:20-12:16
COFFIN MULCH (UK)
Spectral Intercession
— Progressive death slowing down to heavy guitar riffs and a groovy bass and back to that intense ferocity.
12:40-19:41
CALLIGRAM (UK)
Ostranenie
— Frenzied and dread-filled black metal disconnecting to beautiful moments of solace.
20:02-25:54
SERPENT CORPSE (CAN)
Land Of Rot And Misfortune
— Crusty, sinister raw carnage that takes its time in a doomy death style.
26:24-35:42
FEN (UK)
Monuments to Absence
— Lush post-black metal with harmonized ethereal vocals mixed with rasp and desperation in a cold, atmospheric and immersive sound.
36:03-38:59
GUTSLIT (Mumbai)
The Killing Joke
— Melodic whisps infiltrate an otherwise blistering raw death metal with guttural and grind vocals and octane speed.
39:18-44:32
WURGILNÕ (Netherlands)
Tot eenzaamheid verbannen
— A scraped rasp of a singer breathing ice and ash over a wicked, sinister black metal with cascading, aching melody.
44:58-52:04
BLACKBRAID (Adirondack Mts)
The Wolf That Guides the Hunters Hand
— Soft organic beauty interweaved in a natural black metal mountain sound.
52:49-END
PURTENANCE (Finland)
Transitory Soul of the Righteous
— Filthy raw bitter cavernous death.
Dark wave/post-punk show this week!
0:25-4:22
FEVR (CA)
Fate
4:23-8:09
THIS ETERNAL DECAY (Italy)
Perfection
8:09-12:02
POLYVERSO (Italy)
My Lethargy
12:02-17:13
NLIGHT (France)
Fleeting Hours
17:14-23:04
ALL MY THORNS (UK)
Enlighten Me
23:05-26:33
LIVINROOM (Russia)
Pain
26:48-29:34
VAPORMOON (France)
Body Bag Blues
29:34-34:38
DATA FRAGMENTS (Greece)
The Endgame
34:38-37:51
LA TOURMENTE (?)
La Vierge
37:52-41:40
DETECTS (MS)
The Long Silence
41:40-46:19
HEIMBERG (France)
Endless Lies
46:19-48:47
JOAO (MN)
Soured
48:47-51:20
RŒNTGEN (CA)
Sedate
51:21-55:26
TWIN TEARS (?)
I Was Wrong
55:26-58:52
GLASS CHAPEL (FL)
Where Roses Go
58:52-END
ATTIC FROST (Germany)
Restless souls
0:25-7:41
KAKSONEN (Finland)
Sielunsyöjät
— Black progressive, thrash and death, and a blast of rock and roll with chanting Finnish.
8:56-14:39
AVOWD (Chicago)
Beware of a Holy Whore
— Menacing black metal with a cutting razor blade vocalist, swarming guitars and cutting drums with a touch of groove.
14:55-18:59
PROFANE ELEGY (PA)
On Futility
— Death vocals and a storm of wretched black metal buzzing.
19:30-26:24
JOHNNY THE BOY (UK)
Without You
— Donovan highly suggested this strange band name. Soulful post-metal and thickly romantic sludge soften the lines of black metal.
26:56-35:35
SERPENT OF OLD (Turkey)
Unsaturated Hunger and Esoteric Lust
— Melodic death that is complex and groovy and filled with tremendous riffs and epic pinnacles.
35:51-39:02
SNORLAX (AU)
Fortification
— Progressive, intricate angular death with brooding and snarling vocals creating a challenging chaos.
39:23-47:35
LUCIFIXION (US)
Howl, Thy Desolate Sound
— 2-piece raw black metal with songs of ethereal beauty.
48:03-54:27
XASTHUR (US)
A Future To Fear II
— A lean into electronic, dissonant, shimmering instrumentals with a touch of horror and bleak.
54:44-58:56
GRAFVITNIR (Sweden)
From a Thousand Ages Lost
— A serpent singer with raw emotion in an electric storm of black metal with vivid melody.
59:19-END
EITER (Germany)
Leichenmatsch
— Short, jaunty bursts of black vocals and sinister death guitars.
0:25-5:23
AODON (France)
Egon
— Moody, desperate black and post-metal with intense, anguished vocals. Spectacular.
6:10-12:33
UNDERGANG & SPECTRAL VOICE Split (Denmark, Denver)
Undergang - Fæl rådden død
— Feral death with catchy hardcore rhythm and a heated vocal.
12:53-16:44
A.M.E.N. (Italy)
Dinosaur
— A vivid, theatrical psychedelic metal with a creepy horror and jazz mix in a jumble of drug addled 70's insanity.
17:07-22:24
BURIAL HORDES (Greece)
Infinite Sea of Nothingness
— Death that bludgeon with atmospheric and groove. A gamut of changes.
22:45-28:22
THE MOSAIC WINDOW (CA)
The Haunting that Follows
— Melodic black harmonies and dense death, intricate solos, and a beautiful atmospheric with cool clean vocals peppering the sound.
28:47-33:49
VILE RITUAL (MD)
Aimless
— Cavernous death churns out seething venom with proggy meditative melodies.
34:19-37:39
CREEPING DEATH (TX)
Intestinal Wrap (feat. Corpsegrinder)
— Sophomore album is a tight chugging churning death groove with flying guitar solos.
37:50-42:48
GODFLESH (UK)
Permission
— Hey, it’s Godflesh and it’s fun.
43:19-54:24
SATURNUS (Denmark)
Chasing Ghosts
— Danish melodic noodly doom, with a gothic atmospheric.
54:45-END
TORTURE RACK (Portland)
Forced From The Pit
— Skip in a circle death with galloping drums and raw vocals.
Brand new Dark Wave!
0:25-3:24
ANTIPOLE & PARIS ALEXANDER (Norway)
Nightshade
3:25-6:45
PULSATIONS (Denmark)
Reckless Son
6:45-10:35
WORN OUT (Germany)
Run Away
10:35-14:14
ASHEN DECAY (Czechia)
Messengers
14:15-17:45
AEROPHONEGHOST (TX)
Baile del Vacío
17:45-20:39
DEAD ON A SUNDAY (Denver)
Passenger
20:39-24:29
KOMA KOMA (Various)
New Choices
24:29-28:38
DARK NARROWS (MD)
Nobody's Home
28:38-32:13
FÜR LANGE (CAN)
Lost
32:13-33:49
VOMER (CA)
Lenta
33:49-36:30
GIVE MY REMAINS TO BROADWAY (CAN)
At The Mirrors Edge
36:30-38:58
GUERRA FRÍA (Guatemala)
Gente normal
38:58-43:30
MORTAL BOY (CA)
Anhedonia
43:30-47:39
THE FUNERAL MARCH (IL)
Kiss Me (with your last breath)
47:39-51:10
I WOKE UP CHINESE (Italy)
Lena Wimer
51:10-54:43
CLAUSTRAPHOBIA (UK)
Nothing Left
54:43-END
LOVELYEDDIE (Italy)
m
0:25-4:47
MORAL COLLAPSE (Bangalore)
Divine Prosthetics I
— Sophomore album absolutely slays, with their brand of distorted structures and creepy, horror, vivid, psychedelic moodiness.
5:42-11:25
NECROFIER (TX)
Burnt by the Sacred Flame (?)
— Blistering, badass black metal debut with a blast of thrash, pummeling riffs and beautiful guitar solos.
11:55-17:29
TEITAN (Netherlands)
Purple Void
— Murky alien mutterings in an inconceivable landscape off-kilter tempos, psychedelic avant-garde meanderings, and peppered with lovely nostalgic compositions.
17:51-23:07
OLKOTH (SC)
At The Eye Of Chaos
— Black and death encircles meditatively until it drops to delicious head-churning riffs.
23:33-27:24
KOSTNATĚNÍ (MN)
Skrýt se před Bohem
— We love psychedelic black metal band. This is a jungle of unhinged and unpredictable sound, with twangs of foreign melodies.
28:22-33:03
PHLEBOTOMIZED (Netherlands)
Alternate Universe
— Early 90s band makes their proggy, atmospheric dark death with soaring and harmonizing guitars.
33:32-40:02
USNEA (Portland)
The Compleated Sage
— Despaired, ominous, ethereal crushing doom with black metal influences and intense pummeling passages.
40:23-45:19
THANTIFAXATH (CAN)
Mind of the Sun
— Swarming, horror black metal that is intricate, dissonant, complex, haunting and deeply disturbing.
45:45-49:26
ONDFØDT (Finland)
Furstins Tid
— Wholly sinister, rapid-paced black metal, a race to the end in a demonic Finnish forest. But super hot and emotional too. So make out with that demon.
49:42-55:46
CLOAK (GA)
Black Flame Eternal
— Sludgy black metal with organic gothic melancholy melodic and clean vocals creating a beautiful atmospheric.
56:09-END
MESARTHIM (AU)
Arrival Pt 3
— Galaxy-driven synth in an almost danceable black metal.
0:25-6:57 LUNAR CHAMBER (GA) Spirit Body and the Seeing Self — Debut from Lunar Chamber has both members of Tómarúm, one of my 2022 Best albums. Jarring fusion of black and death with jazz and psychedelic creating spaces within the intricacies. A rumbling vocalist and shredding guitars also charm.
7:59-12:00 ASCENDED DEAD (CA) Inverted Ascension — Demonic and experimental vocals and an intricate cyclone of shifting tempos with surprising beauty including strummed ethnic guitars. A joy.
12:31-16:30 HENGET (Finland) I Am Them — Distorted throaty vocals in an intricate black with dramatic tones of desperation and tension.
16:54-21:21 BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS (NZ) Hallucinative Terror — Proggy death that lead into a mire of moods, dark, aggressive, melancholy.
21:47-27:46 FIRES IN THE DISTANCE (CT) Adrift, Beneath the Listless Waves — My 2020 Best Melodic. This is another intense crisp melodic and orchestral-forward album with epic riffs.
28:34-33:00 CATTLE DECAPITATION (CA) Scourge of the Offspring — These guys are annoyingly impeccable. Another fantastic album from these dudes, with more of those engaging vocals.
33:28-38:25 NEXORUM (Norway) Shun — Haunting black metal, melancholy beauty and tremelo intensity leading into whopping riffs.
38:48-42:31 SHADOWS (Chile) Alissa — Groove and heavy metal, guitar solos, and an 80s style glam vocalist with a modern growl. Brilliantly nostalgic of our favorite early metal acts.
42:56-49:40 THULCANDRA (Germany) In The Eye Of Heaven — Urgent, evocative black metal slowed down with rasped heated sexy vocals that can make the cover of a romance novel. 49:49-54:00 FROZEN SOUL (TX) Arsenal of War — A lot of guest appearances, including dudes from dying fetus, creeping death and power trip. Thrash and death and groove for so much punchy fun.
54:29-END HEROD (Switzerland) The Girl with a Balloon — Warm, expressive vocals ride along with a harsher growled style in a sludgy, melodic, atmospheric and dissonant progressive.
Brand new dark wave and alternative set!
0:25-3:44 THIS COLD NIGHT (Austin) Close To Me - Just Like Heaven - A Tribute To The Cure (Various Artists)
3:44-7:20 BURIAL GROUND (?) Ablaze
7:20-11:40 HOME FRONT (CAN) Contact
11:40-14:30 CASKET CASSETTE (LA) Chainless
14:31-19:14 GUERRA FRÍA (Guatemala) En La Oscuridad
19:14-21:58 TRE FLIP (Italy) Destroyer ft. Sad Madona
21:58-26:28 YAMA UBA (Oakland) Disappear
26:47-29:27 ANSWERS (AU) Home
29:27-32:55 NIGHTSISTER (OR) 28
32:55-36:38 ELECTRA DESCENDING (VA) Grey Sky Song
36:39-40:51 MB (Portugal) Return
40:52-44:52 ULTIMOS GLACIARES (Bolivia) Ceremonias
45:23-49:10 VELATINE (AU) I Won't Be Civilized
49:10-53:00 DAMIEN HEARSE (AR) Your Eyes
53:01-57:45 CHEMICAL WAVES (Italy) The slow decline (feat BLUE LIVINGROOM)
57:46-END SHELLEY'S LULLABY (NJ) Pain Away
0:25-6:33 ALTARI (Iceland) Hin eina sanna — Black metal textured with melodic guitars, psychedelic hallucinations, and a swirling melancholy meditation of black gaze, distortion, and sweet, warm guitar tones.
7:20-12:41 DECIPHER (Greece) Lost In Obscurity — Beautiful and contemplative black metal with the quick pummeling brutality of death that compels thine neck to follow.
13:03-17:49 ARGENTHORNS (Finland) The Grand Hallowing of the Tyrant — Pensive instrumentals and theatrical soundscapes integrated with brutal black metal.
18:08-19:58 BIRDFLESH (Sweden) Mongolations of Desolation — Short chomps of punk, death and grind, a bit of tongue in cheek, and a joyous sick groove.
20:22-23:08 POISON RUÏN (Philly) Frozen Blood — Distorted rock and joyful punk with a smidge of shoegaze and sweetened edges.
23:40-28:17 DAWN OF OUROBOROS (CA) Testudines — Black, progressive fury that is incredibly soulful.
28:31-30:12 ROTTEN SOUND (Finland) Suburban Bliss — Destroying brains and eardrums for decades.
30:30-36:10 TANITH (NY) Seven Moons (Galantia Pt. 2) — Super catchy retro and glam rocking with beautiful female vocals and melodic guitars that reel you in.
36:25-41:29 AYYUR (Tunisia) A Chant For The Deafs — Soothing gravelly vocals in a balm of post-metal doom.
42:20-49:56 LURK (Finland) The Blooming — Romantic breezes that touch a hellish landscape.
50:14-END HELLISH FORM (US) Pink Tears — Doom with emotion and a vocal that slices through your heart.
0:25-8:20 DØDHEIMSGARD (Norway) It Does Not Follow — Synth drenched and theatrical compositions with stunning vocals, piano effects and flute, 70’s galaxy synth, bleeding into sinister guitars and back to bliss.
9:35-15:57 ALLFATHER (UK) Cast Off The Cross — Riveting groove and complexity. Led by an incredibly diverse vocalist, transforming drums and a melodic nuanced with progressive and blues.
16:19-22:30 HORDA (Poland) Oneirataxia — Dangerous, ominous black metal hurtling forward and breaking into headchurning riffs, with groove-infested demonic beats and melodic death. This is a ripper.
22:58-28:48 PUTRID YELL (Chile) Wrenching Putrid Yell — Monstrous furnace vocals, wickedly glorious guitars and a chomping ferocity of death.
29:41-36:06 ASKHEIMR (Norway) Paths of Mist — One-man band creating magic, beauty, and fantasy with brutal edges. Black and death with melodic and synth creating incredible textures.
36:29-42:39 VOIDCEREMONY (CA) Abyssic Knowledge Bequeathed — VoidCeremony’s relentless is relaxing. Weird death with guitars that defy gravity, ferocity and edges that sear and burn.
42:53-50:34 MORIBUND MANTRAS (Germany) Sinking - Floating — Erupting, melodic stormy sludge with gravelly vocals, fracturing into melancholy and solemnity.
50:53-55:28 WILD BEYOND (Philly) Detonation of Secret Works — Gritty black metal with an off-kilter pace, a rabid vocalist and moshing guitars.
55:58-END WITTE WIEVEN (Netherlands) Koorddanser — Luscious black-gaze that is brooding and lovely, lonely and enveloping. Mesmerizing vocals melt into the grandiose instrumentation and it creates a shimmering universe.
0:25-5:04 MOLEKH (Ireland) Possessionem — Unholy, ravenous, fiendish black metal that speaks in tongues and writhes in alien lands.
5:56-14:25 METASPHAERA (Germany) Realitäten Pt. II — Muscular death and prog with precise drums and a unique melodic. Tight spirals unravel into galaxies.
14:53-18:05 LO! (AU) Deafening Bleats of Apathy — Hardcore influence within rhythm and vocals and an epic intense wall of brutal sludge with tons of crevices.
18:23-24:00 BACCHUS (France) II.IV — Synth and a climbing, erupting black metal with meditative and hypnotic ripples.
24:30-28:59 SUNROT (NJ) Patricide (feat. Blake Harrison) — An album that goes on a journey of paces and emotional provocation. Ambient, noise, sludge, melodic and plain old attitude that hits you with a sledgehammer.
29:22-33:38 WHORE OF BETHLEHEM (TX) Out of Body — Great name. That screech cuts through the throaty muscular with delicious riffs and noodling guitars and surgically clean pummeling.
34:03-40:25 SPIRIT POSSESSION (OR) Inhale the Hovering Keys — A demon takes over in a biting thrashy pace with gleefully evil vocals spitting out pieces of lyrics.
40:40-45:14 KOMMAND (CA) Chimera Soldiers — Straight-laced death metal and a smoldering vocalist, what else do you need.
45:56-49:58 DEVANGELIC (Italy) Shadows of the Iniquitous — Heretical aggression, creepy rasps between the guttural, and seething breaking into hammering riffs.
50:09-54:47 PARAPHILIA (Portland) The Memory of Death Given Form — Dense terrifying death.
55:20-END DEMONSTEALER (India) Monolith Of Hate — Clean, muscular, and screech vocals in a groovy progressive death singing about the corruption in India.
A dark wave/alternative set!
0:25-4:30 REVENGE BODY (CT) The Stranger
4:30-7:16 FEVR (LA) A Summer Dream
7:17-11:33 SEQUENTIAL ZERO (AU) It's Not About You
11:33-15:04 TSAFFIRE (LA) Masquerade
15:05-18:18 VONDER (Netherlands) Control
18:19-21:30 EMPTY STORY (Hungary) Éjszürke
21:31-24:19 LOVELYEDDIE (CA) Heaven Maker
24:23-27:49 MORTAL BOY (LA) The Jewel Wasp
27:50-31:20 BACHELOR (NY) Would You Tell Her
31:21-33:59 SAD MADONA (France) Craving
33:59-38:31 RUBY LUSTRE (OR) Hex Box
38:31-42:55 CLAUSTRAPHOBIA (UK) Give Me The Poison
42:55-45:44 DEATHPROOF SUICIDE (France) Attendre Rien
46:14-50:32 ANGEL-MAKER (IN) Circle III
50:33-54:27 THE BLOOD PACT (VA) Love & Pain
54:28-END THE GOSDEPS (Somalia) Moscow Night (Will Be All Right)
0:25-7:01 GABESTOK (Denmark) Tab dagen — Their last album was my #2 album of 2021; my favorite type of genre bending. Tons of rock elements, including blues and garage and psychedelic black metal. The raspy vocalist is one of my favorites, and he tries a lot of styles including a high-pitched epic King Diamond-style. Very charismatic.
7:56-15:34 LAMP OF MURMUUR (CA) Hymns of Death, Rays of Might — A standout throaty snarl from the one-person band. Blistering pace and epic leadups still leave room for massive riffs and a touch of beauty in this black and roll.
16:04-20:05 XYSMA (Finland) Encounter at Dawn — Don’t sleep on this 70’s influenced rock and pop album, the lead singer reminds me of Ian Astbury of the Cult AND Scorpions’ Klaus Meine. Their synthy psychedelic keyboard stuff is outrageously in that 70's cinematic style.
20:36-26:02 DAWN RAY'D (UK) In the Shadow of the Past — Western-style and folksy violin is sweetly poignant and romantic, set against a machinistic guttural and screech vocalist and black metal tremelo guitar.
26:38-30:21 FIRMAMENT (Germany) The Void — Another 70's influenced retro rock and heavy metal with a bit of punk attitude. Pull on that jean jacket.
30:49-39:39 NE OBLIVISCARIS (AU) Misericorde II - Anatomy of Quiescence — Violin, piano, funk bass, and jazz structures in a proggy death. Aggressive explosive vocals that really pack the punch I wanted.
40:03-44:56 ANGEROT (SD) Behold The Blessed Black — A dozen turns within the same song, tightly wound vocals juxtapose against synth effects. Death metal with complex song structures and lumbering pace.
45:43-49:20 GRISLY (Sweden) Hours of Torment — Another unique rock and roll death metal with a lot of different styles guitar and aggression.
49:47-55:18 GATEKEEPER (CAN) Nomads — Mid-tempo heavy metal, anthemic lyrics, jamming guitars and nostalgic melody is righteous. Power-styled vocals from a new singer.
55:39-END TRIBE OF PAZUZU (CAN) Invocation of the Ancients — Blustery, grimy and seething death, muscular growls and fun noodle-y guitars.
0:25-6:55 GOROD (France) Savitri — French perfection in technical and production continues with Gorod. Opeth-styled prog beauty with a spectrum of rage and glorious guitars.
7:56-12:57 ÚLFÚÐ (Iceland) Faceless — According to bandcamp, pronounced “ool-wooth”. Vocals that shake the world, romantic black metal guitars create meditation with a bit of death leaning dissonance also in the album.
13:21-18:47 CONTRARIAN (NY) Sage of Shekhinah — Super-prog, super-bass with ethnic instrumentation and experimental jazz sections. But when the eclectic becomes pummeling, this becomes huge. Quick moving, exciting album.
19:19-22:45 NIGHT DEMON (CA) Rebirth — Yes, I love bands that can do Scorpions covers (last year’s album). This band is led by a stunning vocalist that does battle with any of the Swedish greats in this beautiful 70’s and 80's heavy metal style with amazing ballads. Tons of groove and soul.
23:12-29:07 DESOLATE REALM (Finland) Forsaken Ground — Death and thrash with glorious vocals that range from doomy to high-pitched Mercyful Fate style.
29:34-33:37 KRUELTY (Tokyo) Manufactured Insanity — Brooding textural death vocalist in a mix of hardcore and death with noodle-y guitar and an overall chugging moshpit attitude.
33:59-39:50 FORETOKEN (VA) His Riastrad — Virginia in the hiz-house! Gruff vocals and a galloping melodic death metal with soulful harmonizing guitars and a wicked black vocal rasp with cold shards of black metal tremelo picking.
40:22-45:48 FANGE (France) À La Racine — Touch industrial rhythmic blasts mixed with death vocals, cool 70's horror movie sounds, and massive headchurning riffs.
46:37-53:07 ISOLE (Sweden) Open Your Mind — Doom with soaring vocals amid massive slabs of guitar harmonizing emotion.
53:30-END SUOTANA (Finland) The Ancient — Epic folk black metal with a high-pitched shriek of a demon vocal.
0:25-5:53 DEMON KING (TN) And He Shut His Eyes in Anguish — Members of Inferi in a tight, intense fury of speed and death and breathtaking complexity of magical guitar fingers.
6:45-13:28 FAGUS (Germany) Neptun I — You try saying this band name out loud. Their black metal gently cradles, and compositions enrapture with snarling vocals.
13:58-18:59 ASTRIFEROUS (Costa Rica) Blinding the Seven Eyes of God — Costa Rica coming up with sinister atmospheric death metal and beautifully unique guitars.
19:30-23:22 QWÄLEN (Finland) Kutsu Minua Saatanaksi — Finnish alien energy and raw demonic black metal with a romping punk attitude.
24:08-30:12 IGNOMINY (CAN) Nightmare Bacteria — Porous, dissolving modern death with wailing guitars and standout vocals that are a textural throaty punch.
30:36-42:26 OERHEKS (Belgium) Een Oude Wijsheid Werd hier Geveld — One-person black metal that wrote in beautiful isolation surrounded by an ancient forest.
42:59-47:26 FLUISTERAARS (Netherlands) Dromen van de zon — Aching loveliness, gaze and tragic melodies within an acerbic and raw black metal.
48:30-54:17 ENSLAVED (Norway) Forest Dweller — Loved the clean vocals and strummed meandering. Even though sweet moments, still Enslaved.
54:56-END FATHOMAGE (AU) Light of the Eternal Dawn — Donovan-recommended. Drops becomes torrential becomes typhoon. Shrieks bolt across the sky. A one-person romance of delicate and razor-edged black metal.
0:25-4:52 MAJESTIES (MN) Journey's End — Members of Obsequiae and Inexorum. Melodic atmospheric death metal with harmonizing guitars, and a lunatic, cracked vocalist that takes it over the cliff.
5:52-9:00 NECROPANTHER (Denver) Revenants — Throaty vocals in a groovy delicious thrash with guitars entwined, and songs that ensnare your emotions mid-headbang.
9:30-14:00 ISOLANT (US/Spain) Inner Tomb — Bleak, brutally downtuned creepy death with seething, sinister vocals and a twist of industrial effect in this evil swamp.
14:35-19:03 VISCERA (UK) Lex Talionis — Animal-level screech, muscular death, along with clean in a triumvirate of epic vocals. Proggy death with air-guitar-worthy harmonies and hardcore chugging.
19:34-24:04 AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD (Spain) Heart of Silence — Occult influenced vocals and stalking medieval growls in a tribal, atmospheric black metal, folk and beauty dispersed.
24:31-32:58 POLYMOON (Finland) Viper At The Gates Of Dawn — Thanks to Dead Neanderthals for making the recommendation! Psychedelic rock that is languid, brain melting and dreamy and builds into rocking blues rock with keyboards.
33:21-39:31 PLAGUE BEARER (Seattle) In Satan's Name — Earworm death with flying guitar solos, unique compositions and evil spoken tongue.
39:49-44:26 TRANSGRESSIVE (AZ) Unheard Voices — Badass riff-forward avalanche-paced melodic thrash.
45:22-50:45 PESTILENGTH (Spain) Tephra Codex — Hateful death drives into shrieking black metal and breaks to a lethargic doom. 51:10-END ENTHEOS (CA) The Sinking Sun — Tech death with a monstrous female lead singer. Groove and complexity within sharp production.
0:25-4:36 CARNOSUS (Sweden) Calamity Crawl — A proggy dance with limbs flailing, until it mashes to a blast-beated death and thrash, a tumbling avalanche of vocals, and proggy guitar compositions. One of the best already.
5:35-11:56 OAK PANTHEON (MN) Listen! — Galloping death, heartbreaking rocking post-metal, with vocals that ride high and lyrics to memorize. Reminded me of Tool and Opeth.
12:25-19:19 OMEGA INFINITY (AU) Iron Age (feat Adrienne Cowan) — Album cover is perfect to couple with the sound. Black metal textured with reverb and keyboards twinkling, creating atmospheric space to allow your brain to float.
19:42-23:48 DEVISER (Greece) Absence of Heaven — Melancholy, doomy melodic black metal, a sharply bladed vocalist to cut through. The heavy metal guitar ballads were welcome.
24:35-30:10 GRAVEHUFFER (MS) The Cryptid and the Iron Bird — Hardcore-influenced chomping atmospheric death with builds and immense riffs.
30:37-37:58 CULT OF FIRE (Slovakia) Jai Maa! — Sure, an Indian Hare Krishna melodic is definitely a good/normal addition to a savage black metal. This band made it to my Best of 2020 list.
38:16-42:33 SARCOPTES (CA) Spanish Flu — Clutching pearls. This is a driving black metal and a swoop of energetic thrash that makes this deliciously head-churning.
43:26-50:58 ELDERSEER (UK) This Aesthetic Life — A beautiful sultry death with meditative stillness and beautiful piano.
51:21-END AHAB (Germany) Prof. Arronax’ descent into the vast oceans feat. Ultha — Experimental doom, oppressive and introspective.
0:25-6:05 FROZEN DAWN (Spain) — Mystic Fires of Dark Allegiance Epic melodic black with immense amounts of thrash groove, wild guitar licks, tight production. Just fucking fun.
7:06-12:04 CADAVER SHRINE (Netherlands) Dragged Away — Yet another brilliant Gnaw their Tongues project – check out the new Den Edele Dood that I played on Show 473. This album slaughters, with chugging riffing headchurning with melodic shine.
12:36-18:20 HELLRIPPER (Scotland) The Cursed Carrion Crown — Wow, this speed rips off your face to a grinning skull and a black edge lined with evil vocals. It also surprises with so much heavy metal guitar and ballady-touches. Already a classic.
18:42-21:56 FLUB (CA) In Soil Sleeps Secrets — A proggy death hurricane with so much fun technical prowess.
22:33-28:00 HEXER (Germany) Katarakt — Melodic is a weapon here, mixing gossamer organic instrumentation within their sludgy doom, creating atmospheric hypnotic and droney moments. Another stunning album.
28:20-33:26 TITHE (OR) Inverse Rapture — Tithe writhes, but always building to an extreme genre of frenzied pummeling, death screams, and a raw and bloody aggression.
33:58-54:13 ULTHAR (CA/VA/OR) Helionomicon — Ulthar released two albums simultaneously, both proggy, deliciously dynamic, groovy, and outrageously technical.
54:35-END THUMOS (USA) Eryximachus — Psychedelic instrumental post-metal building into heavy riffage when needed.
Special Valentine's Dark Wave Show!
0:25-3:13 GLASSZONE (France) Cherry-Red Moon
3:14-7:09 WORN OUT (Germany) You're Fading
7:09-11:16 IAMNOONE (Italy) wasn't you
11:17-16:01 IN A DARKENED ROOM (TX) Sleep Again
16:02-21:10 TRICOR (Germany) (WHAM cover!) Last Christmas
21:10-24:50 FEVR (CA) I'll Give Love
25:02-28:57 DEPECHE MODE (UK) Ghosts Again
28:58-33:32 POST ANALOG DISORDER (Hungary) Talányok Között
33:32-37:38 NŒUD (Montreal) La grande évasion
37:39-42:36 MOTHER'S SON (AU) Silence Starved
42:37-46:17 THIS IS THE BRIDGE (UK) Mirrored
46:48-49:27 IC2 (Italy) Dark Screen
49:28-52:39 FRTG13 (Germany) Collision
52:39-58:12 PUSTOTA VESCHEY (Austria) molchat
58:13-END GORODKI (Russia) Vampire
0:25-8:01 WILLOOS (Netherlands) Overstijging — The tragedy, the agony, and the breakdown in beautiful shoe-gazy compositions in shades of black metal wretched.
9:08-12:58 ANACHRONISM (Switzerland) Prism — Proggy, groovy death metal infiltrated with atmosphere and anguish. Guitars become languid and soulful, another spiral within the bludgeoning dissonance.
13:37-18:07 DEN EDELE DOOD (Netherlands) De Spaarzame Spranken Licht In Uw Duisternis — A Gnawing their Tongues project, prolific under many different project names. Swarming nightmare effects, textural suffocation, a single thread of melodic underpinning. It is magical.
18:42-22:49 LEIÞA (Germany) 01.09.2015 — Germans are romantic vampires, this is torment and brooding. A bleak, miserable landscape with the sun trickling through the clouds.
23:19-27:28 MALLEUS (Boston) A Dark Sun Rises — Speed and catchy thrashy groove in a gritty black metal with punk energy that smacks a smirk on your face.
28:07-35:45 MITHRIDATUM (CA) Mournful Glow — A bellowing death with angularity and frantic intensity.
36:13-40:12 EYES (Denmark) Tearjerker — Sharply drawn hardcore and a churning guitar noise chaos with bouts of sludge.
40:33-44:45 SANGUISUGABOGG (Ohio) Proclamation of the Frail — Death metal splatter, brown notes and blood on the wall. Depraved.
45:37-54:58 CRAWL (US) 10,000 Polehammers — A one-person project of chilling sound effects and a brutally strained vocal. There is no life here. Succumb to it.
55:28-END OMINOUS SCRIPTURES (Belarus) Mangled Perception — Guttural, raw, mean, bludgeoning death with vomited lyrics.
0:25-5:32 BIZARREKULT (Norway) Midt I Stormen — Post-black melodic plays with contrasts, rasped and rough, strummed and fury, slow builds and unexpected.
6:41-10:03 DRYAD (IA) Trenches — I pronounced this in 2 ways! Dungeon synth and crusty black metal, with blips of demonic cackles. It is dirty moshes with bloodied fists.
10:41-14:38 OOZING WOUND (Chicago) Midlife Crisis Actor — Prog-crust anarchy, noise-forward and angular. Thrash, punk, metal, rock, dirt, meat, flowers, humor and intelligence.
15:20-27:32 ESOCTRILIHUM (France) Funeral — It can be intimidating getting into his discography, this is his 9th album. But do it. A Best of 2022, and this is just more of the same brilliance. Chaotic French folk black metal with dancing strings, synth, snarls and guttural mutterings and a symphonic of melodic.
28:12-34:16 TRIBUNAL (CAN) Without Answer — Duo with a beautiful, strong female vocalist. Stunning cello, retro riff-heavy doom mixed with modern gothic. Vampires and mullets.
34:52-40:01 ASHEN HORDE (CA) The Physician — Supergroup with members of Abhoria and Inferi. Progressive death with multiple murderous vocal styles in dirgy dissonance and wild structures.
40:25-44:33 ...AND OCEANS (Finland) The Earth Canvas — A kaleidoscope of electronic effects and dark, intensely moody black metal.
44:59-54:53 THE WORLD IS QUIET HERE (WI) Heliacal Vessels I The Mothers of No Kin — Pleading, muscular and operatic vocals, a rolling, exploding avalanche pace and uniquely built harmonies.
55:21-END OBITUARY Barely Alive — You probably should see them live. Another fun death album that rips.
Best Metal of 2022, Show 2, counting down to my #1 album! WIEGEDOOD (Belgium), album – There's Always Blood At The End Of The Road.
0:25-5:45 ALTARS (AU), album – Ascetic Reflection, song – Ascetic Reflection — Chaotic, eclectic, excruciatingly enjoyable death with teeth-gnashing technical. Reminds me of 2017’s Venenum, album Trance of Death.
7:17-20:47 EPECTASE (France), album – Nécroses, song – Confusion — Doomy psychedelic with black metal and noise rock and electronic.
21:08-25:04 XAOC (VA), album – Proxime Mortis, song – Terror Forge — Dissonant, blistering, proggy death that is somehow a blast.
25:26-33:31 ARKÆON (Denmark), album – Parasit, song – Forbrænde — Cold, murky and menacing in an opera of atmosphere creates horror black metal.
33:52-37:06 IMMOLATION (NY), album – Acts of God, song – Blooded — A powerhouse of death where minimalist joins with layers of melody, and the vocalist and drummer destroys.
37:31-44:00 LUMINOUS VAULT (NY), album – Animate The Emptiness, song – Earth Daemon — Ascerbic black with psychedelic synth, brutal and atmospheric, industrial and electronic.
44:23-50:24 AEVITERNE (NY), album – The Ailing Facade, song – Stilled The Hollows' Sway — Death with a harrowing pace, melodic, progressive and sludge and a raspy black metal vocal round it out.
50:50-57:34 GEVURAH (CAN), album – Gehinnom, song – At the Orient of Eden — A universe within one song. Sinister black with nowhere to escape. Even the stillness threatens.
57:59-1:02:24 CARRION VAEL (IN), album – Abhorrent Obsessions, song – Disturbia — Death with muscular and snarling vocals add to that relentless pace. Intense guitar solos under the rage of their incredible drumming.
1:02:47-1:14:10 LIMINAL SHROUD (CAN), album – All Virtues Ablaze, song – Transmigration II - The Cleansing Ash — Misted black metal brings the ethereal and fragile but builds into an epic mountain of progressive strength and rhythm.
1:14:31-1:20:44 WHITE WARD (Ukraine), album – False Light, song – Cronus — Avant-garde cinematic black that mesmerizes with jazzy overtones. Stunning and dramatic.
1:21:04-1:29:24 WAKE (Calgary), album – Thought Form Descent, song – Bleeding Eyes of the Watcher — Epically throated masterpiece exploding to a screech in a beautiful melodic storm of doom, black, and death.
1:29:47-1:36:26 BLACKBRAID (Adirondack Mts), album – Blackbraid I, song – Sacandaga — Melodic black with avalanche pace breaks with organic instrumentation, strummed guitars, and synth electronic.
1:36:56-1:41:14 REEKING AURA (NY/NJ), album – Effigies Blood And Bonemeal, song – Blood And Bonemeal — A furnace of a death sound, guttural baritone intertwined with demonic bursts, groove and tightly paced drums.
1:41:45-1:48:05 GAEREA (Portugal), album – Mirage, song – Laude — Atmospheric black metal creating a bludgeoning bleakness, splashes of emotion, still sharp within multiple layers of percussion and guitar.
1:48:31-1:54:44 ARKAIK (CA), album – Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts, song – To Summon Amoria — A rolling pummeling vocal that acts as a rhythm section. Ethereal and ethnic against technical guitar solos.
1:55:18-1:59:33 ESOCTRILIHUM (France), album - Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh, song – Tharseîdhon — An onslaught of demonic, raging, bleak and weird, guttural mutterings of a mad man. Aggressive and unholy.
#1 ALBUM 2:00:17-END WIEGEDOOD (Belgium), album – There's Always Blood At The End Of The Road, song – And in Old Salamano's Room, The Dog Whimpered Softly — This was also my number one vocal of the year, a unique vicious blade of sound. Frantic guitar hurtles after you. Sinister black metal with rhythm that mutates, and all of it in an alien burning atmosphere. Beautiful, crisp, cold and dark.
0:25-8:49 PURE WRATH (Indonesia), album – Hymn to the Woeful Hearts, song – The Cloak of Disquiet — A blue flame vocalist glowing his vivid tormented brilliance. String instruments bringing delicate beauty in stark contrast with the thickly textural black metal.
10:07-14:55 KVAEN (Sweden), album – The Great Below, song – Damnations Jaw — Galloping evil black thrash packed with flying calloused fingertips and melodic glory.
15:30-19:58 DET EVIGA LEENDET (Sweden), album – Reverence, song – Retch — The singer of Mare Cognitum is one of the best singers of the year. Darkening skies and the black ash of fury.
20:23-25:59 CHAOTIAN (Denmark), album – Effigies Of Obsolecence, song – Gangrene Dream — Thick, monstrous, vicious death driving and demonic and twisting into massive rolling riffs.
26:25-32:13 BÂ'A (France), album – Egrégore, song – Domitor — Tempestuous, theatrical, contemplative and landing in with an upheaval of guitars.
32:35-38:46 KATHAROS (Sweden), album – Of Lineages Long Forgotten, song – I Waged War — A blizzard of drumming with pellets of brutality and swirling majestic wizardry. Metal made for warriors.
39:13-42:38 NON EST DEUS (Germany), album – Impious, song – Fuck Your God — The vocalist is a slash of screaming sharp pain, wicked lyrics and the sound its own meditation.
43:11-50:35 AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION (Sweden), album – Woe, song – Slaves — Psychedelic, progressive, electronic, and beautiful, propelled to death and black within tight gymnastics of instrumentation.
51:07-1:00:43 ULTHA (Germany), album – All That Has Never Been True, song – Der Alte Feind (Jeder Tag Reißt Wunden) — Black metal that stalks in a glorious icy landscape, and you fight with a spiked battering ram. Strength, beauty, breathless building glory.
1:01:11-1:06:48 HATH (NJ), album – All That Was Promised, song – Kenosis — Epic, cascading drama with scorched earth vocals and beautiful, tangled, snarling, vividly thoughtful compositions.
1:07:17-1:17:36 TÓMARÚM (GA), album – Ash in Realms of Stone Icons, song – Condemned to a Life of Grief — Proggy guitar interludes, the melodic and wildly technical harmony is a majestic black melodic.
1:17:54-1:22:49 TORTURIZED (Germany), album – Aftermath, song – Ecocide — Angular, beefy, electronic and strange. Stunning.
1:23:08-1:27:49 INEXORUM (MN), album – Equinox Vigil, song – Dark Sky Sanctuary — Sexy frigid vocals with a clean heavy metal style in a post-atmospheric black metal with a chugging death and harmonizing pleading guitars.
1:28:07-1:35:59 AENAON (Greece), album – Mnemosyne, song – Synastry of Hearbeats — Modern atmospheric death with experimental jazz saxophone, and retro spacey electronic creating true theater.
1:36:21-1:42:19 AETHEREUS (WA), album – Leiden, song – Son of a Nameless Father — Tortured duels with haunting, piano and violin create an intense and lovely noodling melodic death.
1:42:34-1:49:32 DESICCATION (CA/NV), album – Cold Dead Earth, song – The Fall — Futuristic atmospheric black metal breaking with industrial-style drumming and a blistering vocalist.
1:49:54-1:52:57 CRYPTAE (Netherlands), album – Capsule, song – Sessile — Cryptae releases yet another surging ocean of hypnotic, raw, strange nightmares.
1:53:20-1:58 DAEVA (Philly), album – Through Sheer Will and Black Magic, song – Loosen the Tongue of the Dead — Black metal and thrash and punk with a serpent vocalist that is both raw and wintry and incredibly produced.
1:58:44-END #2 ALBUM: GRIMA (Russia), album – Frostbitten, song – Giant’s Eternal Sleep — I listened to so many records, and this just stood out. A howling beast of a vocalist that devours. A carnival of instrumentation within a romantic, bleak, screaming black metal.
BEST DARK WAVE and ALBUM ART OF 2022!
0:25-3:54 THIS COLD NIGHT (WA), album - Are We Not Immortal Yet?? A Letter to Myself
3:55-7:25 TEMPERS (NY), album - New Meaning Nightwalking
7:26-11:30 BEFORE AFTER AGAIN (TN), album – After VWS
11:31-14:46 RUBY LUSTRE (Portland), album - Ruby Lustre EP Amends
14:47-17:49 THE VACANT LOTS (Brooklyn), album – Closure Eyes Closed
17:50-22:39 FALSE FIGURE (Oakland), album – Castigations Tyrant Heart
22:40-26:31 HAUNT ME (Austin), album - Don't Fall Asleep Don't Close Your Eyes
26:31-32:02 KILL SHELTER (UK), album – Asylum Buried Deep ft Antipole
32:03-35:31 RARE KREATURE (AZ), album - Dim and Distant Unsew my Eyes
35:32-38:50 FRENCH POLICE (Chicago), album – 1995 El Tiro
38:50-42:47 HEX CASSETTE (Denver), album - Pomegranate Death Faith
42:48-48:21 GOITER (?), album - Dead Sea Dead Sea
48:22-50:38 BY THY HAND (GA), album - Demo 2022 We Survive
50:39-55:18 FEVR (LA), album - Hidden Meadows Ghost
55:19-58:24 FESTERING WOUNDS (Seattle), album – Drowning If I had the Feet to Run
58:24-1:01:34 NO (Montreal), album - Domestic Pulse Post War
1:01:34-END ILL HUMANS (CA), album - The Disruption of Binaries Whatever
BEST ALBUM ART OF 2022 Det eviga leendet (Sweden), album – Reverence: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2195224304_10.jpg Vimur (GA), album - Transcendental Violence: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3570886903_10.jpg Luminous Vault (NY), album - Animate The Emptiness: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0898364167_10.jpg Obscene (IN), album - ...From Dead Horizon to Dead Horizon: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3084902182_10.jpg Deathwhite (?), album - Grey Everlasting: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1821201262_10.jpg Wake (CAN), album - Thought Form Descent: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3667831881_10.jpg Northless (MW), album - A Path Beyond Grief: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1275300560_10.jpg Woe (Sweden), album - An Abstract Illusion: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3389924915_10.jpg Miscreance (Italy), album – Convergence: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2157769442_10.jpg Abduction (UK), album - Black Blood: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2792840776_10.jpg Gevurah (CAN), album – Gehinnom: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1575756342_10.jpg Voidthrone (Seattle), album - Metaphysical Degradation: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0007010422_10.jpg Worm (FL), album – Bluenothing: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1255986413_10.jpg Faustian (LA), album – Faustian: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0764864011_10.jpg Daeva (Philly), album - Through Sheer Will And Black Magic...: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2149583870_10.jpg Fell Ruin (Detroit), album - Cast In Oil The Dressed Wrought: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2143278008_10.jpg Woods of Desolation (AU), album - The Falling Tide: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4120180832_10.jpg
0:25-4:02 SOCIAL STATION (D.C) My Baltimore
4:03-7:06 CARRIEGOSS (France) Castle
7:06-12:47 HIDDEN HAND (Ireland/UK) Overcast
12:47-17:05 LEFT FOR PLEASURE (Germany) Eine Vase
17:06-22:22 CLERGY (CAN) Estranged
22:23-25:28 HEIMBERG (France) Isolation
25:38-29:04 MONSTERO (Portugal) Dots
29:05-32:31 NO (Montreal) The Past
32:32-35:43 THE RABBIT IN RED (CA) Dumb
35:44-39:08 DRKLV (Ukraine) Let me down tonight
39:09-43:16 SOMA & SERAPHIM (Ohio) Bow to Love https://twicedark.bandcamp.com/album/midwest-gothic
43:45-46:41 СКУБУТ (Vienna) Акт самоубийства (Special Version)
46:42-50:16 SQUARE HOLLOW (IN) Your True Self https://twicedark.bandcamp.com/album/midwest-gothic
50:17-54:04 TWIN ION ENGINE (CA) Focaccia
54:05-57:12 VESTRON VULTURE (CA) Fernanda
57:13-END FESTERING WOUNDS (WA) Manic
0:25-5:39 SACRILEGION (UT) The Hollow Blue Eyes of Yomi At Twilight — Muscular death and the ferocity of black metal with the wild tempos interspersed with guitar solos and melodies.
6:38-16:16 ELDER (Berlin) Coalescence — Moody retro-leaning psychedelic, heavy synth work, and guitar progressions that create a galaxy-driven rock experience.
16:42-23:18 VEILBURNER (PA) Repulsed by the Light — My 2018 Best Modern Death. Black psychedelic, theatrical, atmospheric, synthy effects, and a whole lot of melodic.
23:48-30:28 IMHA TARIKAT (Germany) Stardust Wisdom (Manifest Of The Deity To The Unkeen) — Another German black metal that I love. Starts with the traditional punk lean, but becomes so much more with tribalesque vocals, atmosphere and a folk melodic lean.
31:15-39:12 HEAVY BLANKET (MA) String Along — J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh is releasing another album under the trio Heavy Blanket with his lovely dissonant alternative guitar that is all J Mascis. Another brilliant endeavor.
39:42-43:40 BLACK LAVA (AU) Nightshade — Harsh death with ripping sticcato beats, sharp guitar and a beating of vocals.
44:44-51:34 WOODS OF DESOLATION (AU) Beneath a Sea of Stars — Post black metal that is beautiful and allows you to drown in its folds happily.
51:50-END MYCELIUM (Scotland) (Intro Mazegill of Torment) - Emerging from Rotting — Scottish dissonance about fungi.
Brand new dark wave!
0:25-4:36
FALSE FIGURE (Oakland)
Plexus
4:37-7:34
RARE KREATURE (AZ)
Raven's Hymn II
7:35-10:47
SELFISHADOWS (Italy)
Kick in the eye
SOIL'S HONORIS III TRIBUTE TO BAUHAUS (https://dearsoil.bandcamp.com/album/honoris-iii-tribute-to-bauhaus)
10:47-13:58
BY THY HAND (GA)
Stripped (Depeche Mode Cover)
13:59-18:06
THE FUNERAL ROSE (UK)
Torn Apart
18:06-21:00
COLD EYES (FL)
Waste Of Time
21:01-23:38
CASKET CASSETTE (LA)
Medusa
23:39-28:32
VOYNA (Berlin)
Provenance
28:39-31:59
FESTERING WOUNDS (Seattle)
Intuition (remaster)
32:00-37:21
COLD GREY RAIN (FR)
The End Of Faith
37:22-40:58
DECEITS (LA)
Guiding Light
40:59-44:17
NŒUD (CAN)
Tes idoles
44:18-48:52
FOPMUSIC (Sweden)
I pretend
48:52-52:45
CRUSH OF SOULS (Paris)
X Lover
52:46-57:16
IAMTHESHADOW (Portugal)
Unfold
57:17-1:00:40
MORE (Sweden)
Snowflake Supernova
1:00:41-1:03:51
OTHER VOICES (Italy)
The Buds Of Deceit
1:03:51-END
PSYCHIC GUILT (OR)
Ruth
0:25-12:08
EPECTASE (France)
Confusion
— Epectase means climax, which makes sense because this is all about a satisfying pinnacle. Doomy and psychedelic spirals into tumultuous, breaking into joyful riffs, black metal and more.
13:20-17:38
CRYPTAE (Netherlands)
Salt
— My 2020 top band, releasing another distorted and strange concoction but with a brilliant groove threading through. Love these guys.
18:06-24:41
INCANTVM (Italy)
Il Processo
— The instrumentation leads here with a clarinet, violin, trumpet, saxophone that brings the theater to black metal. Stunning.
25:29-30:00
PERSHER (Berlin)
World Sandwiches 2
— Berlin industrial with death, electronic and beat that is both brutal and danceable. That is industrial.
30:31-38:33
KAMPFAR (Norway)
Dødens aperitiff
— Three decades leads beautifully to this moment. Vocals swing from epic to chanting to a black metal rasp. Sludge and raw black metal with tons of atmosphere.
38:54-46:02
FORTÍÐ (Iceland)
Fimbulvetur
— An E.P. that whets the appetite for more of this black and heavy metal shredding.
46:27-54:03
ARKÆON (Denmark)
Smertens Vilje
— Eerie, creepy, murky, operatic with oppressive and swarming effects in a true horror black metal.
54:37-END
SKYTHALA (TN/NJ)
At Dawn They Walk
— Chaotic and prog death with 70s organs and eerie creating a sense of desolation in that moment of clarity.
0:25-6:53
STRYCHNOS (Denmark)
Regiments of the Betrayed
— Furnace vocals of baritone and epic gutturals, death groove, tribal drums, and horror guitar.
7:38-15:59
DRUDKH (Ukraine)
Листопад - November
— Black solace and shimmering melodic edged with grim vocals.
16:29-22:17
LAMENTATIONS (Singapore/FL)
Prodigal
— Singaporean lead singer along with members of Monotheist in an epic cinematic death mixed with beautiful keyboards, jazz elements, and unexpected clean vocals adding to the prog style.
22:33-28:51
DYSGNOSTIC (Denmark)
Darkest Muse
— Sultry, ghoulish and textured death trailing to a meditative, atmospheric minimal and a gravelly vocalist. Excellent stuff.
29:17-34:50
VEXATION (AU)
Trepidation Reigns
— A joy of thrash and riff-heavy death guitar that does not stay simple.
35:14-43:18
FELL RUIN (Detroit)
Cast in Oil the Dressed Wrought
— Charming progressive black meets death with theatrical, psychedelic and whimsical.
44:09-49:31
BLACK ANVIL (NY)
Echoes & Tapestry
— Dramatic, black dappled with light. Sinister and technical slows to touching and radiant.
49:59-END
FORLESEN (Portland)
Harrowed Earth
— Ominous, menacing sound effects that dives to the deep inky depths of fully immersive black metal.
Election night dark wave/new wave/synth show from all new albums!
0:25-6:13
FEVR (LA)
Others
6:14-9:58
EUROPEAN GHOST (Italy)
No peace, No Sleep, No Shelter
9:50-13:31
AEROPHONEGHOST (El Paso)
Visioning
13:32-17:13
IAMNOONE (Italy)
Empty Hours
17:14-20:18
BLIND DREAMS (Russia)
Burning Down
20:19-23:16
KC TYPHON (CAN)
The Hurt
23:17-27:16
HAUNT ME (Austin)
Necromancer
27:31-29:52
GIVE MY REMAINS TO BROADWAY (CAN)
My Will Is Not My Own
29:52-32:14
THE CITY GATES (CAN)
Hanged Drawn and Quartered
32:14-37:19
CHEMICAL WAVES (Italy)
Under this skin (feat HIGHER DIMENSION)
37:20-42:00
RÉPTIL IBÉRICO EMISSÕES (Lisbon)
Jackals
42:01-46:14
STAȚIA NOUĂ (Romania)
Aștept să spun
46:15-49:58
HUMAN FIGURES (TN)(2021)
40 Days
49:59-55:00
THE NIGHT OFFICE (FL)
Hot Ghost
55:01-END
THE SECRET FRENCH POSTCARDS (Sweden)
Complete Confusion
0:25-7:29
DAEVA (Philly)
Luciferian Return
— Slithering serpent vocalist in an early black metal, thrash and punk, with moody interludes and a wintry atmospheric.
8:09-14:34
THEOTOXIN (Austria)
Totenruhe
— 4th album is vicious and cold black metal a vocalist expressing crushing pain in every throaty screech.
15:00-19:27
WITCH BLADE (Sweden)
Vidundrets Kall
— Retro heavy metal scene with warm-tones, guitars noodling, and super catchy. I can’t sing Swedish lyrics though.
19:59-23:08
FAUSTIAN (LA)
Communion With Shadows
— Member from Barghest who is also a snarling band. A debut EP with pummeling disturbed death with drums racing the guitars.
23:33-30:52
DEVENIAL VERDICT (Finland)
World Breaker
— Cinematic building to intense, dramatic, proggy and dissonant death.
31:21-38:47
GGU:LL (Netherlands)
Stuip
— Pronounced “Ghoul”. Hypnotic sludge and atmospheric black that melts and folds your brain.
39:10-45:12
WESENWILLE (Netherlands)
The Specular Gaze
— In my Best of 2021 list, the third album of the set. More of their big, tribal drums and textured guitars in a jarring, progressive black metal.
45:28-52:20
WORM (FL)
Centuries Of Ooze II
— Sedated swampy death, melting your face. Beautiful, ethereal styles add to the many facets.
52:36-END
DARKTHRONE (Norway)
Impeccable Caverns Of Satan
— Warm, minimalist tone with of doomy heavy metal added to their style of black.
0:25-7:29
DAEVA (Philly)
Luciferian Return
— Slithering serpent vocalist in an early black metal, thrash and punk, with moody interludes and a wintry atmospheric.
8:09-14:34
THEOTOXIN (Austria)
Totenruhe
— 4th album is vicious and cold black metal a vocalist expressing crushing pain in every throaty screech.
15:00-19:27
WITCH BLADE (Sweden)
Vidundrets Kall
— Retro heavy metal scene with warm-tones, guitars noodling, and super catchy. I can’t sing Swedish lyrics though.
19:59-23:08
FAUSTIAN (LA)
Communion With Shadows
— Member from Barghest who is also a snarling band. A debut EP with pummeling disturbed death with drums racing the guitars.
23:33-30:52
DEVENIAL VERDICT (Finland)
World Breaker
— Cinematic building to intense, dramatic, proggy and dissonant death.
31:21-38:47
GGU:LL (Netherlands)
Stuip
— Pronounced “Ghoul”. Hypnotic sludge and atmospheric black that melts and folds your brain.
39:10-45:12
WESENWILLE (Netherlands)
The Specular Gaze
— In my Best of 2021 list, the third album of the set. More of their big, tribal drums and textured guitars in a jarring, progressive black metal.
45:28-52:20
WORM (FL)
Centuries Of Ooze II
— Sedated swampy death, melting your face. Beautiful, ethereal styles add to the many facets.
52:36-END
DARKTHRONE (Norway)
Impeccable Caverns Of Satan
— Warm, minimalist tone with of doomy heavy metal added to their style of black.
0:25-7:01
ABDUCTION (UK)
In Exaltation of the Supreme Being
— Hypnotic melodic, dizzying drums, and a hammering black metal pace with a spectacular vocal spectrum.
7:54-12:46
VACUOUS (UK)
Paranoia Rites
— Throaty vocals rolling over a fiery sinister death hellhole.
13:12-20:59
STORMRULER (St. Louis)
Along the Appian Way
— One of my Best of 2021, another huge black metal album of chomping riffs and technical badassery from a duo.
21:18-28:48
GEVURAH (CAN)
Memento, Homo…
— A beautifully saturated, intense black metal with an avalanche of emotion and guitars.
29:34-33:34
RIPPED TO SHREDS (CA)
Peregrination to the Unborn Eternal Mother
— Shredding, like their name. Dense guitars with a severed vocal chord bearing down on its last breath.
34:00-40:35
EARTHRISE (MN)
Our Work in the Stars Cannot Wait
— Beautiful post-metal rich in reverb and texture, mixed with prog and hardcore.
40:55-48:26
BLACK MATH HORSEMAN (CA)
Black Math Horseman
— Sweet nostalgic of psychedelic and alternative with TeePee’s style of edgy modernity.
49:22-52:10
CLOUD RAT (MI)
12-22-09
— Uniquely melodic doom-filled grind.
52:31-END
SARCOPTES (CA)
The Vertigo Soul
— Delicious thrash and black and death.
0:25-7:01
ABDUCTION (UK)
In Exaltation of the Supreme Being
— Hypnotic melodic, dizzying drums, and a hammering black metal pace with a spectacular vocal spectrum.
7:54-12:46
VACUOUS (UK)
Paranoia Rites
— Throaty vocals rolling over a fiery sinister death hellhole.
13:12-20:59
STORMRULER (St. Louis)
Along the Appian Way
— One of my Best of 2021, another huge black metal album of chomping riffs and technical badassery from a duo.
21:18-28:48
GEVURAH (CAN)
Memento, Homo…
— A beautifully saturated, intense black metal with an avalanche of emotion and guitars.
29:34-33:34
RIPPED TO SHREDS (CA)
Peregrination to the Unborn Eternal Mother
— Shredding, like their name. Dense guitars with a severed vocal chord bearing down on its last breath.
34:00-40:35
EARTHRISE (MN)
Our Work in the Stars Cannot Wait
— Beautiful post-metal rich in reverb and texture, mixed with prog and hardcore.
40:55-48:26
BLACK MATH HORSEMAN (CA)
Black Math Horseman
— Sweet nostalgic of psychedelic and alternative with TeePee’s style of edgy modernity.
49:22-52:10
CLOUD RAT (MI)
12-22-09
— Uniquely melodic doom-filled grind.
52:31-END
SARCOPTES (CA)
The Vertigo Soul
— Delicious thrash and black and death.
0:25-8:17
AENAON (Greece)
Synastry of Hearbeats
— Proggy atmospheric death, theatrical vocals, experimental jazz saxophone and electronic effects.
9:05-17:08
CNTMPT (Germany)
Schwarzes Tuch
— Meditative layered black metal spells.
17:35-26:31
AUPOSTASY (Chile)
The Great Apostas
— Death breaking into a catchy thrashy head-swirling churn.
27:07-31:13
DE PROFUNDIS (UK)
Sectarian Warfare
— Rapturous groove with harmonizing guitars and lead-ups that clench your stomach in a churning death.
31:36-38:43
PARIUS (Philly)
The Human Molecule
— Nearly impossible to describe. A proggy post-metal broadway show?
39:11-46:57
FACELESS BURIAL (AU)
Redivivus Through Vaticination
— One of my Best of 2020 Death bands. Yet another incredible album of cold, desolate death with tight guitars and a fiery vocalist.
47:48-53:50
THUNDERING HOOVES (UK)
Radiance
— Sinister, demonic and aggressive with massive riffs and groove.
54:28-END
VESSEL OF INIQUITY (UK)
The Path Unseen
— Alien black metal with machinic industrial, cold and explosive.
All new dark wave/alternative show!
0:25-4:29
BEFORE AFTER AGAIN (TN)
VWS
4:30-9:39
GOITER (?)
Homesick
9:40-12:43
THE VACANT LOTS (Brooklyn)
Eyes Closed
12:44-16:20
BEAN SÍ (Ireland)
Nyctophobia
16:21-19:40
HURLENOIR (France)
Adieu
19:41-22:50
TWIN TEARS (?)
Monster
23:03-27:02
GENTLE ROPES (Ukraine)
OČI (Nürnberg Remix)
27:03-31:05
ALIEN WITCH (FL)
The Joker
31:06-35:38
CURSES (Berlin)
Ghost Of Arms feat. Terr
35:39-39:45
CASUAL WORKER (Scotland)
Chem 91
39:46-44:16
LAURA SCHEN
The Upside Down (MISERIA record label compilation)
44:32-47:36
THE SOFT MOON (LA)
Answers
47:37-52:31
ALICE DEEPER (Netherlands)
Angel
52:32-END
N.A.N - Not.A.Number (France)
My Reflection
0:25-5:06
MISCREANCE (Italy)
Incubo
— Psychedelic, vivid, colorful death and thrash album with insane guitar work and desperate vocals.
6:05-12:25
GAEREA (Portugal)
Laude
— My number 2 album of 2020. Brightly produced melodic black metal with bludgeoning bleak vocals and layered guitars and percussion.
12:47-18:11
GUTVOID (CAN)
Skeletal Glyph
— Brutal death broken with splashes of melodic guitar and slower pace, filled with churning riffs and spectrum of vocals.
18:32-22:24
NORDJEVAL (Norway)
Twisted Psychosis
— Snarling, uncompromising cold black metal with a delicious groove and bludgeoning pace, and a gritty, guttural, explosive vocalist.
22:50-28:24
FREEDOM HAWK (VA)
Coming Home
— A Best of in 2015. 70s retro with shimmering guitars, organ effects, and great hooks.
28:59-37:35
MO'YNOQ (NC)
Synchromysticism
— Knife vocals in a bone-chilling horror black metal that somehow transforms to meditative.
37:42-41:10
WRITHING (AU)
Uncreation
— Sinister tight death, that breaks into dreamy atmosphere but still stays badass.
41:30-47:47
HEGEMONE (Poland)
Inference
— Post-metal with textural melodic waves and a crushing emotional vocalist.
48:43-53:59
LIVE BURIAL (UK)
The Ordeal of Purification
— Focus on those guitar solos man, cause it rocks. Tempos are mad, tangling in all the instrumentation. This is fun.
54:37-END
ALGEBRA (Swiss)
The Great Deception
— Henry Rollins-esque vocals lining proggy death and complicated, angular compositions.
0:25-5:06
MISCREANCE (Italy)
Incubo
— Psychedelic, vivid, colorful death and thrash album with insane guitar work and desperate vocals.
6:05-12:25
GAEREA (Portugal)
Laude
— My number 2 album of 2020. Brightly produced melodic black metal with bludgeoning bleak vocals and layered guitars and percussion.
12:47-18:11
GUTVOID (CAN)
Skeletal Glyph
— Brutal death broken with splashes of melodic guitar and slower pace, filled with churning riffs and spectrum of vocals.
18:32-22:24
NORDJEVAL (Norway)
Twisted Psychosis
— Snarling, uncompromising cold black metal with a delicious groove and bludgeoning pace, and a gritty, guttural, explosive vocalist.
22:50-28:24
FREEDOM HAWK (VA)
Coming Home
— A Best of in 2015. 70s retro with shimmering guitars, organ effects, and great hooks.
28:59-37:35
MO'YNOQ (NC)
Synchromysticism
— Knife vocals in a bone-chilling horror black metal that somehow transforms to meditative.
37:42-41:10
WRITHING (AU)
Uncreation
— Sinister tight death, that breaks into dreamy atmosphere but still stays badass.
41:30-47:47
HEGEMONE (Poland)
Inference
— Post-metal with textural melodic waves and a crushing emotional vocalist.
48:43-53:59
LIVE BURIAL (UK)
The Ordeal of Purification
— Focus on those guitar solos man, cause it rocks. Tempos are mad, tangling in all the instrumentation. This is fun.
54:37-END
ALGEBRA (Swiss)
The Great Deception
— Henry Rollins-esque vocals lining proggy death and complicated, angular compositions.
0:25-11:58
AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION (Sweden)
Tear Down This Holy Mountain
— Psychedelic, pot-smoking progressive with electronica and piano, mixed with extreme drums and a rageful vocalist.
12:53-17:20
ERUPTION (Slovenia)
Worms
— Thrash with the most epic air guitar moments and falsetto vocals.
17:52-24:17
AUTONESIS (CAN)
The Conjurer
— Introduced by Donovan and Matt, this is a wide range of sounds including classic heavy metal, thrash, death and a sinister black and death.
24:57-30:31
HOLY FAWN (AR)
Death Is A Relief
— Shoegaze electronica-heavy in an ocean of immensely melodic post-metal.
30:51-36:08
WAYWARD DAWN (Denmark)
The Crushing Weight
— Mangled abrasive death that still align with the most fun aspect of headbangable death. Best of both sides.
36:24-41:04
INNUMERABLE FORMS (Boston)
Deified Tyrants
— Brutal, torturous and winding.
41:17- 45:53
PHOBOPHILIC (ND)
Nauseating Despair
— Furnace death metal with a sludgey slower-pace.
46:47-50:27
DOCTOR MONSTER (Oakland)
Mars Awaits
— Unique, kooky vocals in a blast of experimental rock songs that reminded me of early-era punk-leaning post-punk, like Gang of Four.
50:48-55:49
REVOCATION (Boston)
Nihilistic Violence
— Insane, angular guitar in a rich tapestry of melodic atmosphere.
56:14-END
SUMERLANDS (Philly)
Death to Mercy
— Another beautiful 70’s rock and metal album from these dudes.
0:25-11:58
AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION (Sweden)
Tear Down This Holy Mountain
— Psychedelic, pot-smoking progressive with electronica and piano, mixed with extreme drums and a rageful vocalist.
12:53-17:20
ERUPTION (Slovenia)
Worms
— Thrash with the most epic air guitar moments and falsetto vocals.
17:52-24:17
AUTONESIS (CAN)
The Conjurer
— Introduced by Donovan and Matt, this is a wide range of sounds including classic heavy metal, thrash, death and a sinister black and death.
24:57-30:31
HOLY FAWN (AR)
Death Is A Relief
— Shoegaze electronica-heavy in an ocean of immensely melodic post-metal.
30:51-36:08
WAYWARD DAWN (Denmark)
The Crushing Weight
— Mangled abrasive death that still align with the most fun aspect of headbangable death. Best of both sides.
36:24-41:04
INNUMERABLE FORMS (Boston)
Deified Tyrants
— Brutal, torturous and winding.
41:17- 45:53
PHOBOPHILIC (ND)
Nauseating Despair
— Furnace death metal with a sludgey slower-pace.
46:47-50:27
DOCTOR MONSTER (Oakland)
Mars Awaits
— Unique, kooky vocals in a blast of experimental rock songs that reminded me of early-era punk-leaning post-punk, like Gang of Four.
50:48-55:49
REVOCATION (Boston)
Nihilistic Violence
— Insane, angular guitar in a rich tapestry of melodic atmosphere.
56:14-END
SUMERLANDS (Philly)
Death to Mercy
— Another beautiful 70’s rock and metal album from these dudes.
Dark wave/post-punk show!
0:25-3:24
SET GRIEF RUDIMENT (Indonesia)
Another Days
3:25-8:02
GOLDEN APES (Berlin)
From The Sky
8:03-10:37
ANSWERS (AU)(2021)
Just for You
10:39-15:07
POST ANALOG DISORDER (Hungary)
Magam Elé Nézek
15:08-19:57
WOUND (Lisbon)
You Did It Again
19:58-23:46
SKUBUT (Austria)
Холод
23:54-28:57
AUTUMN SONNET (CO)
Apparition
28:58-33:37
INTO GREY (IN)
Chaos Wanting
33:38-37:49
RINGFINGER (CAN)
Familiar Placement
37:50-42:59
PERMANENT DAYLIGHT (Berlin)
Shitty Old Movie
43:29-46:30
HACIENDA GARDENERS (CA)
Shine
46:31-50:26
EUROPEAN GHOST (Italy)
Cold Lips
50:27-54:16
LIVINROOM (Russia)
TV Noise
54:17-56:24
HARSH SYMMETRY (CA)
Pugilist
56:25-END
OLIVER DECROW (Germany)
I Touch You
Dark wave/post-punk show!
0:25-3:24
SET GRIEF RUDIMENT (Indonesia)
Another Days
3:25-8:02
GOLDEN APES (Berlin)
From The Sky
8:03-10:37
ANSWERS (AU)(2021)
Just for You
10:39-15:07
POST ANALOG DISORDER (Hungary)
Magam Elé Nézek
15:08-19:57
WOUND (Lisbon)
You Did It Again
19:58-23:46
SKUBUT (Austria)
Холод
23:54-28:57
AUTUMN SONNET (CO)
Apparition
28:58-33:37
INTO GREY (IN)
Chaos Wanting
33:38-37:49
RINGFINGER (CAN)
Familiar Placement
37:50-42:59
PERMANENT DAYLIGHT (Berlin)
Shitty Old Movie
43:29-46:30
HACIENDA GARDENERS (CA)
Shine
46:31-50:26
EUROPEAN GHOST (Italy)
Cold Lips
50:27-54:16
LIVINROOM (Russia)
TV Noise
54:17-56:24
HARSH SYMMETRY (CA)
Pugilist
56:25-END
OLIVER DECROW (Germany)
I Touch You
0:25-9:57
BLACKBRAID (Adirondack Mts)
Prying Open the Jaws of Eternity
— One-man Native American black metal whispering through the desolate Adirondack mountains, drenched in melodic, swinging from gorgeous acoustic to a textured American-style.
10:55-14:23
PILORI (France)
De Guerre Lasse
— Raspy vocals over an atmospheric black metal giving way to more vicious and a dissonant death.
14:42-23:00
DREADNOUGHT (Denver)
Worlds Break
— Female vocalist lead this style with enchanting and brutal, languid and organic, building a beautiful post-metal.
24:04-31:11
SIGH (Japan)
Satsui - Geshi No Ato
— Playful, kookly, theatrical black metal with unique effects and jazzy 70’s instrumentals.
31:43-39:55
CONAN (UK)
Equilibrium of Mankind
— A fantastic band live. Groove, sinister organ, and the heaviest meditative down-tuning lead to blissful stoner.
40:22-45:51
GRAVE INFESTATION (CAN)
Can You See the Pale Horseman in the Distance
— Filthy avalanche of badass, swampy death with headbangable rays of sunshine.
46:56-52:10
SPIRIT ADRIFT (TX)
Everything Dies
— Nate Garrett captures that 70's catchy psychedelic soul and his vocals make you swoon.
52:25-54:49
CRAWL (Sweden)
Reject The Cross
— Straight-forward blood-pumping death metal for the mosh pit.
55:42-END
THE HALO EFFECT (Sweden)
The Halo Effect
— Horrible band name, and I hate super groups and none of the bands these people are from. But this is a really lovely soothing death with sexy vocals.
0:25-5:07
ACID BLADE (Germany)
Ablaze at Midnight
— German heavy metal with ballads and falsetto-King Diamond glam vocals and rocking guitars for your mullet. Lyrics and fists.
6:02-11:27
CARRION VAEL (IN)
Wings of Deliverance
— Riff hammer that shatters. Explosive death with guitar undulations under the rage of the drummer.
11:43-22:25
SCARCITY (NY)
II
— Hypnotic, languid, trance buildup to psychedelic and atmospheric black metal.
22:45-28:21
HELL FIRE (SF)
Reckoning
— Earworm guitars in Hell Fire's blissfully groovy thrash and epic heavy metal fun are in a word, astonishing. Energetic, riff-heavy, brutally catchy, with the most expressive solo-loving guitars. Raise your flagon of beer.
28:57-34:50
GARDEN OF WORM (Finland)
In The Absence Of Memory
— Progressive, meditative, psychedelic rock shimmering that builds into jammy deliciousness.
35:15-39:49
CARA NEIR (TX)
Unkindness
— Unexplainable electronic, experimental, carnival grindcore. My Best 2-piece of 2013.
40:38-45:18
EARLY MOODS (Los Angeles)
Return To Salem's Gate
— Super groove, blues and stoner with expressive pagan vocals.
45:41-52:02
WAILIN STORMS (NC)
Carolina Moon
— Soulful with a country twang, intense and hypnotic with anguished vocals.
52:15-END
BARBARIAN (Italy)
Viperface
— A blast of old school raw rocking black metal.
0:25-4:07
CASTRATOR (NY)
Inquisition Sins
— All female badass head churning good-time death.
5:07-15:00
GRIMA (Russia)
Winter Morning Tower
— Romantic, bleak, howling beast of a black metal album.
15:34-19:40
REEKING AURA (NY/NJ)
Harvesting The Hatchet
— Members of Artificial Brain and Buckshot Facelift. Delicious groove added to a guttural death with heavenly guitar solos and tight as musicianship.
20:03-24:25
PSYCROPTIC (AU)
Exitus
— Tight, sultry guitar compositions, raspy harsh vocals and syncopated drums lurch in a sharply drawn package.
25:08-36:32
LIMINAL SHROUD (CAN)
Transmigration II - The Cleansing Ash
— Liminal Shroud's debut made it to my Best of 2020's list. This is, oh my. Majestic black with a knot of emotional despair and a massive journey of buildup and technical prowess.
36:51-41:27
EXALTATION (NZ)
Impending Decease
— Hypnotic death that leans toward doom and atmosphere.
42:09-51:08
CHAT PILE (OK)
grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg
— A meld of genres that borrow from another time. Modernized with sludge and doom and noise and hints of industrial and post-punk melodic guitar.
51:50-55:49
TRIUMVIR FOUL (Portland)
Slither Of Corruption (The Demise Of The Three Serpents)
— You are not supposed to like this creepy, perverse revulsion of sound.
56:18-END
MANTAR (Germany)
Hang 'Em Low (So the Rats Can Get 'Em)
— Rough vocals in a sinister-toned rock with a wild dose of experimental guitars and effects.
Some favorites so far this year!
0:25-5:43
ABHORIA (CA)
The Thorn
— Rich, dark, technical American black metal with a majesty of vocal styles and sweet, proggy guitar.
5:44-10:54
EIGHT BELLS (Portland)
Nadir
— Dreamy psychedelic and post-metal in a touching mix that breaks into explosive and badass. Heavenly female lead singer.
10:55-14:55
IMMOLATION (NY)
Immoral Stain
— 11th badass album from a powerhouse of death with immense lovely groove and spectular angularity and technical guitar maneuvers.
14:55-21:07
KATHAROS (Sweden)
I Waged War
— Metal that places an axe in the hands of warriors, snarling and entangling vocals, majestic melodic with just the right acerbic.
21:08-26:20
KVAEN (Sweden)
The Fire Within Him Burns
— Another Swedish powerhouse, packed with flying calloused fingertips and melodic glory with black flair and anthemic thrash.
26:38-32:15
HATH (NJ)
Kenosis
— Tangled, snarling, livid, thoughtful, emotional with a line of explosive riffs. HUGE.
32:15-38:11
AETHEREUS (WA)
Son of a Nameless Father
— Tight melodic death mass with haunting psychedelic using piano and violin and noodling heavy metal. Great album.
38:11-44:19
MESSA (Italy)
If You Want Her To Be Taken
— Ethereal, still and achingly lovely, eventually crashing into sludgy and unexpected complexity.
44:35-51:14
VIANDE (France)
Lueurs De Cendres
— Writhing sinister creeping death with atmospheric vocals and a slice of textural dissonance with scalpel drums.
51:14-56:11
AEVITERNE (NY)
Obeyance
— Drumming a harrowing pace in death dissonance and a vivid melodic, progressive and sludge with industrial, hardcore and electronic and a raspy black metal vocal.
56:11-END
GOLGOTHAN REMAINS (AU)
The Malign Hordes of Aborrence
— Australian dissonance that barks and gurgles, bleak black and aggressive death metal with angular drums blasting and a muddled thick rhythm.
0:25-7:43
ALTARS (AU)
Opening the Passage
— Brendan Sloan (aka Convulsing) has another spectacular project. Altars is chaotic and immensely death that is raw and abrasive with lurching riffs and highly digestible. This guy is just a winner.
8:46-13:38
TORTURIZED (Germany)
Ecocide
— Another stunning angular death with pools of electronic and ambient.
14:11-19:44
DEATHBRINGER (Belarus)
Frozen Beliefs
— Flying guitar solos and spaces of melodic atmosphere within yet another extraordinary progressive death.
20:07-24:54
ASHENSPIRE (Scotland)
Apathy as Arsenic Lethargy as Lead
— Bright instrumentation of moody saxophone and folksy violins thread through the buildup of black metal and a standout punk, theatrical vocalist.
25:24-31:29
WAKE (Calgary)
Swallow the Light
— I fell in love with the vocalist. An epically throated masterpiece of an anguished vocalist accompanied by is a beautiful storm of doom, black, and death.
31:52-39:16
IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT (NYC)
Chump Change
— Another brilliant, futuristic, dystopian, horror jazz album with schizophrenic vocals and gnarly explosive chaotic shards.
39:39-44:09
WITCHERY (Sweden)
Crucifix and Candle
— New bassist from Entombed. Solid thrash with a raspy vocal from these legends.
44:52-50:33
HISSING (Seattle)
Meltdown
— Harsh, cold dissonant death with nothing that lessens the pain.
50:56-56:15
NORTHLESS (WI)
A Path Beyond Grief
— Mournful sludge, a tribute to who they’ve lost in the last few years.
56:41-END
WORMROT (Singapore)
Glass Shards
— 21 songs, one that is 11 seconds! Lead singer’s last album, and they put it all in here in this experimental grind.
Another dark wave/synth show!
0:25-4:22
HEX CASSETTE (Denver)
Faith
4:22-8:02
ASTHMA (Russia)
Трамвай
8:03-11:38
DENNER (France)
1982
11:39-14:34
THE DIRTY SUN (CA)
skull information
14:35-19:30
THE NEW ARCTIC (CA)
Paradise Lost
19:31-23:14
PROSHAY (Russia)
Bez nas
23:15-26:48
SEXUAL PURITY (Ukraine)
Khmary
26:56-30:40
GLARING (Germany)
Leere
30:41-38:08
HALFSLEEPER (Antartica!)
Cast Away
38:09-41:10
MORPHOEX (France)
Impact of iconography
41:39-42:22
U.S. GRAVE (AZ)
I Think I'm Alone
42:23-48:45
FNCY_MRDR (Chicago)
Go Go Ke Ke
48:46-51:53
HEIMBERG (France)
Tear me down
51:53-54:19
MIDNIGHT PASSAGE (Russia)
Liquid Devil
54:20-END
MINOR CRIME (Amsterdam)
Another Life
0:25-5:07
HULDER (Oregon)
Sylvan Awakening
— One-woman black metal that annihilates. Saw her live in corpse paint and it is breathtaking.
6:00-10:02
GORE GOAT (OK)
The Angels Fall Like Snowflakes
— Modern powerful hardcore with charm and groove and tons of attitude.
10:23-12:16
KNOLL (TN)
Flux of Knowing
— Every space of this sound is enraged, from the screech to the gurgle and the experimental bits.
12:36-18:55
VOLCANDRA (KY)
Resonance Cascade
— A blend of heavy metal, death, black metal, prog, with mind-bending guitar harmonies and galloping riffs.
19:13-22:10
VICIOUS BLADE (Pittsburgh)
Speed, Leather, & Hell
— Badass, snarling thrash with a sinister female black metal vocalist and textured, brutal guitar.
22:35-28:11
CHAOTIAN (Denmark)
Into Megatopheth
— Raw, pummeling, suffocating death metal with boiling vocals and drums in a rhythmic pulse of hate. The riffs are delicious.
29:00-34:23
TUSCOMA (NZ)
The Importance of Being Vogue
— Sludge that builds into sharp black metal, with imaginative melodic throughout.
34:47-39:22
PAGANIZER (Sweden)
You are What You Devour
— Beefy vocals, monstrous drumming, sinister gnarl of the guitar pack this sound, but the groove is the champion.
39:47-45:37
AXIOMA (OH)
A New Dark Age
— Aaron Dallison of formerly Ohio gods Keelhaul is the lead singer. Flying from power doom to proggy to pummeling pace, and beautiful melodic passages.
46:36-54:00
CONJURER (UK)
All You Will Remember
— Rage and beauty, always a perfect combination. Here the story is told through a range of vocals and the immersion of melodic and hypnotic in the dissonance.
54:20-END
INSTIGATE (Italy)
Atonement
— A chaos of death and grind, relentless.
0:25-4:54
JESUS LIVES IN VEGAS (France)
Strange Paranoid
4:55-9:00
TEMPERS (NY)
Song Behind a Wall
9:01-11:30
ABSENCIA (Chile)
Perdición
11:31-16:03
SINDICATO VERTICAL (Spain)
Nowhere Girl
16:04-19:55
PLAGUE PITS (Switzerland)
The Frozen Ground
19:56-23:18
BLANCHE BIAU (Switzerland)
Kette aus Diamanten
23:36-26:56
CHEMICAL WAVES (Italy)
Мрак (feat. SEXUAL PURITY)
26:57-31:13
FEARING (CA)
Carried Away
31:14-34:23
FOREVER GREY (CA)
The Other Side
34:24-37:53
NIGHT HEXE (UK)
Against the Grain
37:54-41:07
SAD MADONA (France)
Crimes
41:08-45:38
TERMINAL SERIOUS (Italy)
Nobody Sees Us - feat. Çağla Güleray (Ductape)
46:09-50:24
UNDER A DARK LIGHT (France)
Tout Est Détruit En Toi
50:25-53:53
THE WANING MOON (Costa Rica)
The Burning Woods
53:54-END
WHOREHOUSE (US)
Haunting Me
0:25-3:46
BERATOR (Chicago)
Dead Rats
— Cavernous vocals in a furnace of intense death metal with thrash pace and suffocating texture in a live recording.
4:40-14:58
WHITE WARD (Ukraine)
Phoenix
— Still strange, post- and black metal with jazzy overtones and that wonderful wailing saxophone. Their brand of juxtaposition within juxtaposition that is stunning and dramatic.
15:32-21:00
ESOCTRILIHUM (France)
Sydtg
— A solo onslaught of annihilating, demonic, raging and weird effects. Packed with an aggressive and unholy pace.
21:23-26:04
INEXORUM (MN)
Dark Sky Sanctuary
— A 70's retro guitar touch in a gorgeous post-atmospheric black metal with a chugging death and harmonizing pleading guitars.
26:27-32:08
DESICCATION (CA/NV)
Beneath Crumbling Skies of Flesh and Bone
— Vampiric shimmering black metal with waves of spacey melodic bouncing in the atmosphere.
32:28-36:51
TERMINAL NATION (UK)
Sacrificial Capital
— A new split with Kruelty, an epic set of riffs that are head decapitating in a mix of hardcore and death.
37:11-42:48
HASEROT (TX)
Incantations at Dusk
— Satisfying groove with throaty vocals, ripping guitar solos amid immense tension.
43:42-49:14
INANIMATE EXISTENCE (CA)
Wandering White Halls
— Brain is stretched in unknown proggy positions with tight, spinning guitar and blistering head churns.
49:32-53:30
YATRA (MD)
Terminate By The Sword
— A mid-paced death mosh pit in sound, body-dipping, hair twirling good time.
53:46-END
DEATHWHITE (PA)
Quietly, Suddenly
— Doom and goth-influenced building to emotional intensity with rich aching melodies
0:25-7:47
HEAVING EARTH (Prague)
The Lord’s Lamentations
— Badass soundtrack with instrumentals bookending magnificent proggy, melodic death.
8:40-13:53
LUMINOUS VAULT (NY)
Invoke Radiant Gleam
— Industrial, psychedelic synth and acerbic black creating a vivid scape of brutal and atmospheric.
14:22-18:55
ARTIFICIAL BRAIN (NY)
Cryogenic Dreamworld
— Challenging, meditative, atmospheric alien death in dystopian melodies.
19:12-28:08
DOLDRUM (Denver)
The Disappearance
— Twisted, howling experimental black metal with drowning meditative and reflective sections.
29:00-34:45
BLACK LUNG (MD)
Demons
— Sexy, psychedelic 70's retro mixed with heavy and gorgeous melodic.
35:14-41:57
SISYPHEAN (Lithuania)
Scorched Timeless
— Chilling intense black metal, with suffocating vocal effects and dissonant guitar, and drops of shimmering, stark beauty.
42:26-46:34
ORIGIN (KS)
Panoptical
— Nerd-level technical death, a dissonant jazz of musicianship. Reminiscent of Archspire.
47:21-52:39
OBSCENE (IN)
I Shall Drink The Earth's Blood
— Dirty, evil death metal and head-churning groove.
53:09-END
CAVE-IN (MA)
Amaranthine
— These guys are solid hardcore with grunge vocals.
Tribute to Andy Fletcher. All legendary new wave.
0:25-5:02
DEPECHE MODE
The Sun and the Rainfall
5:03-9:33
DEPECHE MODE
Shake The Disease
9:34-12:43
YAZOO
Ode To Boy
12:44-16:57
ALPHAVILLE
A Victory Of Love
16:58-21:07
THE SOUND
Winning
21:08-24:53
GENE LOVES JEZEBEL
Bruises
24:54-29:23
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Lips Like Sugar
29:24-33:19
TONES ON TAIL
Performance
33:20-35:39
THE CURE
Killing An Arab
35:40-40:09
BAUHAUS
In the Flat Field
40:10-45:44
PINK TURNS BLUE
I coldly stare out
45:45-50:40
MAGAZINE
Parade
50:41-53:21
THE SMITHS
This Charming Man
53:22-56:58
THE SISTERS OF MERCY
No Time To Cry
56:59-END
THE CHURCH
Reptile
0:25-7:29
TRIBUTE TO BAUHAUS - Soil Records
https://dearsoil.bandcamp.com/album/honoris-iii-tribute-to-bauhaus
CHRIS SHAPE FT. VELVET KILLS (Italy)
Bela lugosi's dead
— Amazing tribute; Bauhaus is legend.
8:14-19:43
TÓMARÚM (GA)
As Black Forms from Grey
— A screech vocal whip, slathered onto black melodic and wildly technical harmony.
19:59-25:52
URGRUND (AU)
Part 3 Der Pfad der Finsternis
— 90’s Urgrund is psychedelic, tense black metal with a textured guitar.
26:14-33:34
TZOMPANTLI (CA)
Yaotiacahuanetzli
— Tribal magic, medieval atmospheric instrumentals, and a guttural fiery dense death.
33:50-38:52
THE DARK ALAMORTÉ (CA)
Ungiving Sorrow
— Blastbeats with black melodic with ravaging chugging hardcore.
39:44-46:19
CELESTIAL SEASON (Netherlands)
Mysterium
— Really, this band name? I fought against it and found the beauty in the moody melodic doom with the churning riffs that hit.
46:57-52:23
MORTUUS INFRADAEMONI (Germany)
Der Todten Tantz
— A lifestyle of horror black metal, demonic gurgles, a frenetic pace and adding the depths of ferocity.
52:46-58:46
ASSUMPTION (Italy)
Oration
— Heated hiss of sweat trickling slowing, a rumble of death slowed down by 900 years, but still a nod to chugging riff and glory.
59:05-END
HOLD ME DOWN (VA)
Faces
— Noise, grind and post-industrial.
0:25-5:31
EUCHARIST (Sweden)
Nexion
— Blustery blizzard black metal, raspy sexy vocals, riffs and synthy ambient breaking the pummeling glory.
6:32-13:35
KATHAROS (Sweden)
Feigned Retreat
— Metal that places an axe in the hands of warriors, snarling and entangling vocals, majestic melodic with just the right acerbic dissonance to fuck shit up.
13:57-19:44
THE SPIRIT (Germany)
Repression
— Technical death, beautiful guitar leads, proggy instrumentals and the pummeling of cold black pace.
20:08-25:23
THOS ÆLLA (GA)
Deep Within The Hexevoid, For Seven Aeons Slept
— Thrash pace and tight, complex, melodic guitar compositions with range of inferno and screeching vocals, synth and acoustic guitars.
26:02-29:34
XAOC (VA)
Denouncement Ceremony
— Down-tuned proggy, dissonant death with creepy guitar tunes and raw and blistering drums.
29:58-37:49
NEGATIVE PLANE (Ireland)
Even The Devil Goes Into The Church
— Bleed over your pentagram.
38:12-45:25
UFOMAMMUT (Italy)
Psychostasia
— Spectacular Ufomammut has even gotten better at their version of psychedelic stoner.
46:07-52:41
COSMIC PUTREFACTION (Italy)
Cradle Wrecked, Curtains Unfurled
— Revel in the distortion, the confusion, the haunting synth and depths unheard.
53:09-57:12
HELLISHKILLER (Brazil)
Burn it all (heaven's on fire)
— Pummeling fire-breathing black and war metal steeped in horror and dark .
57:55-1:03:46
THE NEST (all)
Altar
— Supergroup of Dread Sovereign, Wolvennest, Saturnia Temple, and Ruins of Beverast!!! Playing live at Roadburn, and now an album. Multiple layers of guitars in a swirling psychedelic with surprises everywhere.
1:04:24-END
MISERY INDEX (MD)
Rites of Cruelty
— One of the best bands drops yet another tight as fuck, teeth clenching madness.
0:25-6:52
VIANDE (France)
Les Dents Du Gouffre
— Writhing sinister creeping death with atmospheric vocals and a slice of textural dissonance with scalpel drums.
7:46-13:56
BÂ’A (France)
Bellum
— French black metal is creative, pitting theatrical with punk, languid with intense, energetic with moddy.
14:15-21:24
MIZMOR & THOU (Portland & Baton Rouge)
Subordinate
— Two powerhouses in a secretly-made collaboration that is just immense. Massive doom and black metal.
21:42-25:26
UNDEATH (NY)
The Funeral Within
— Lightning speed to an explosion in a hundred different directions, from mid-paced to pummeling to groove.
26:03-32:43
ANDE (Belgium)
Density
— A soothing vacuum of quiet, until the storm hits with ferocity of black metal pace, carving into the atmosphere.
33:08-40:45
VANUM (NY)
Frozen in Vile Illumination
— Blue ice, breath in clouds, majestic, beautiful, crisp. Melancholy builds into a raging medieval war.
41:40-53:11
ULTHA (Germany)
Rats Gorged The Moon...And All Fell Silent
— Peaceful, gorgeous melodic, builds into an inferno. The baritone mixed with the desperate shriek is hot.
53:31-1:01:56
DENALI (UK)
Deathless
— Death and doom with orchestral beauty and groovy riffs.
1:02:25-END
FEARING (Santa Cruz)
However Long
— One of my favorite dark wave bands that had to be played immediately as soon as the album released.
Goth, dark wave show!
0:25-3:32
LOCUST REVIVAL (AU)
No Funeral
3:33-5:55
NIGHT VOYAGER (Ukraine)
Last time I walked down your street
5:56-9:16
TSAFFIRE (CA)
Lying To Me
9:17-12:13
NEKUDA (AU)
Ночь
12:14-16:01
CURSES (Germany)
Miriam
16:02-21:01
KRUR (Italy)
Blood and Stardust
21:02-25:18
UNDER A DARK LIGHT (France)
Tout Est Détruit En Toi
25:33-29:22
URBANDONED. (Germany)
Retina
29:23-32:01
FOREVER GREY (CA)
Familiar Faces
32:02-36:01
PRINCIPE VALIENTE (Sweden) - I know I played this one before, but their full album just released!
I Am You
36:02-39:55
Q-7 THREE TIMES (Switzerland)
N-2//Hello
39:56-43:28
PORTRAIT (CA)
Coward
43:58-50:02
MOTU IMPROPRIO (Italy)
Cleansing
50:03-53:15
NIGHTS TEMPLAR (CA)
Claustrophobia
53:16-56:13
SLOW DANSE WITH THE DEAD (NM)
Crusophia II
56:14-END
ÜBERSPANNUNG (France)(strange, playful, experimental wave)
La gvatado
0:25-4:45
GOLGOTHAN REMAINS (AU)
The Malign Hordes of Aborrence
— Australian dissonance that barks and gurgles, bleak black and aggressive death metal with angular drums blasting and a muddled thick rhythm.
5:42-12:16
MESSA (Italy)
Rubedo
— Ethereal, still and achingly lovely, eventually crashing into sludgy and unexpected complexity.
12:38-17:02
VIMUR (GA)
The Greatest Dying
— Sharply falling swords, a pummeling black metal, lurching into riffs, and a vocal slice.
17:42-25:24
MWWB (UK)
Altamira
— Soothing, strange vocals with guitars that ride high and sludgy massive headbanging.
25:50-33:20
MORTUUS INFRADAEMONI (Germany)
Omne Vitae In Tenebras Mergit
— Raw, bloody black metal with vocals howling from a parallel universe filled with monster wars and red skies.
33:45-39:16
HELTEKVAD (Denmark)
Du skæbnesvangre stund
— Epic and vivid black metal, almost folk but more Viking glory.
39:38-43:39
WOLF (Sweden)
Shadowland
— Unique vocals and intense solos intensify this stoner heavy metal.
44:47-55:17
BHLEG (Sweden)
Grönskande gryning
— Just like PAYSAGE D'HIVER (who started their 2020 album with an icy wind), Bhleg repeats a tranquil bird chirping. Peaceful building to guttural, beautiful with rabid, bleak with gorgeous.
55:47-END
MESHUGGAH (Sweden)
The Faultless
— Legendary Meshuggah incorporates a passionate, atmospheric death into their signature sound.
0:25-6:32
GRAND HARVEST (Sweden)
Sol Maledictor
— A death rumble and blast beat meshed with a chilling black blanket, supported by a blistering rasp.
7:24-13:59
KVAEN (Sweden)
In Silence
— Another Swedish powerhouse, packed with flying calloused fingertips and melodic glory with black flair and anthemic thrash.
14:26-20:59
NIGHT DEMON (CA)
In Trance (Live)
— Did you make this for me? An album of Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden and Scorpion covers plus incredible retro 80s metal originals. This Scorpions cover was done live in Germany with fucking Uli Roth joining them onstage.
21:19-29:26
VÉHÉMENCE (FR)
Par le Glaive
— French folk and acidic sharp black metal and a cauldron of beer.
30:11-37:45
FALLS OF RAUROS (Portland)
Known World Narrows
— That traditional pacific northwest black metal that infuses driving black metal with achingly beautiful melodic rapture.
38:13-43:03
NITE (CA)
Thorns
— Soothing, sinister, whispered vocals in an energetic heavy metal thrash style, both modern and nostalgic.
43:59-48:21
SENZAR (Ireland)
Unforgiving Twilight
— Morose, black metal crooning with a death metal groove melodic metal and a sludgy pit of textural guitars and atmosphere.
48:47-53:16
IDOL OF FEAR (CAN)
Phantom
— Melodic doom with emotionally-laden gorgeous guitars.
53:31-END
DESOLATE SHRINE (Finland)
Cast to Walk the Star of Sorrow
— Finnish black and heavy fucking death, what else do you want.
0:25-8:56
AEVITERNE (NY)
Dream In Lies
— Drumming a harrowing pace in death dissonance and a vivid melodic, progressive and sludge with industrial, hardcore and electronic and a raspy black metal vocal.
9:52-18:23
PILLAGING VILLAGERS (WI)
The Crisis
— Folk, punk, and a charming theatrical horror cinematic atop a glorious thrash with some serious death chugging riffs.
18:59-24:30
STONE AXE (WA)
Deep Blue
— I’ve missed this soulful retro blues, this time from a gritty, sweet 70’s style American band. Croon away guitars.
25:01-30:47
ARKAIK (CA)
Wayward Opulence
— Vocals are their own rhythm section, mixed with ethnic flutes and technical guitar solos that are really special.
31:05-37:33
WRACK (Oakland)
Abyss Within
— A deeply immersive melodic sludgy doom with vocals that blend in its inky depth.
37:49-39:52
INFERNAL LEGION (Poland)
Cursed
— Muttering demon alien black metal.
40:11-47:29
BLACK FUCKING CANCER (San Jose)
Eradic Hate
— Grim, seething brutal black that encircles and tightens.
48:11-53:00
GHOST (Sweden)
Darkness At The Heart Of My Love
— I never gave Ghost a chance, and this album is such a fun, glam, heavy metal retro with incredible harmonizing guitars and gorgeous vocals.
53:12-END
KUOLEMANLAAKSO (Finland)
Surusta meri suolainen
— Oh, that Finnish black metal.
Special goth/dark wave show!
0:25-3:49
HAUNT ME (Austin)
Dancing In The Dark
3:50-7:56
DUCTAPE (Turkey)
Kesik (ft. Brek)
7:57-11:14
THIS COLD NIGHT (Austin)
New American Punk
11:15-15:30
7 RAINBOWS IN EXILE (Serbia)
Demon with the Boys Eyes
15:31-20:11
MORPHIC FIELDS (Brazil)
End
20:12-22:37
NIGHT VOYAGER (Ukraine)
Last time i walked down your street
22:38-27:04
DOVE TRIBE (Norway)
Let Us Drown
27:19-30:32
FAREWELL FOREVER (Houston)
Lament of the Unbeloved
30:33-35:00
ANGST4 (Germany)
Ein Bild
35:01-38:09
ILL HUMANS (CA)
Daisies
38:10-41:56
SKELESYS (Berlin)
Time
41:57-45:11
GRAYSONS (Austin)
Can't Get Out
45:12-48:31
THE PALEST GREY (death rock/Christian Death-loving)(FL)
Suicide
48:32-51:49
KARL KAVE (Switzerland)
Biz under d Lüüt go
51:50-55:52
PRINCIPE VALIENTE (Sweden)
(full album releases 3/18, this is a remix by Ash Code!!)
Porcelain (Ash Code Remix)
55:53-END
VESTRON VULTURE (Mexico)
Space Goth Coast to Coast
0:25-5:54
REVEAL! (Sweden, 12/2021)
Doppelherz
— Avant garde, textured, black psychedelic, carnival ride of an album.
6:58-13:10
HATH (NJ)
Decollation
— Tangled, snarling, livid, thoughtful, emotional with a line of explosive riffs. HUGE.
13:31-20:01
NON EST DEUS (Germany)
Hexenwahn
— This is a black in all its glory, with a hefty melodic doom.
20:18-24:19
RUDE (Berkeley)
Calamity From The Sky
— Heated thrash with a bit of angularity and a whole lot of death. Made for swirling.
24:50-33:11
LOS MALES DEL MUNDO (Argentina)
The Silent Agony
— Argentinean desperation, reaching to the depths of your soul. Vicious and enormous black metal.
33:57-37:19
TYRANNY ENTHRONED (St. Louis)
Essence of the Black Heart
— Raspy black vocals in a chugging, seething and glorious groove. Loved this.
37:40-47:11
SYLVAINE (Norway)
Mono No Aware
— This band does ethereal vocals to perfection, perfectly coupled with a shriek that paints the sky and strummed emotion.
48:05-53:50
NEGATIVA (Spain)
XXVII
— Musician from Hässlig (played next), completely different. Definitely bleak black metal with breaking minimalist black metal.
54:09-57:17
HÄSSLIG (Spain, 11/2021)
Among the Ruins
— A mohawk in corpse paint, with punk blood in jangling raw extreme black metal.
57:48-END
MIDNIGHT (Ohio)
Snake Obsession
— Audiences love this live band – it is made for stomping, romping and beer.
0:25-4:08
SVRM (Ukraine)
Поклик могил
— Intense, beautiful, grief-stricken black metal.
4:47-11:44
1914 (Ukraine)(2021)
Pillars of Fire (The Battle of Messines)
— One of the best “sludge” albums of last year with death and black and groove and a spectacular Ukranian vocal.
11:56-15:39
DELIRIUM (Ukraine)(2021)
Затерянные (feat. Povod)
— Ukranian post-punk!
15:57-20:19
KËKHT ARÄKH (Ukraine)(2021)
Crystal
— Melodic, including instrumentals and piano, behind the raw, stripped, and difficult.
20:39-28:26
EIGHT BELLS (Portland)
The Crone
— Dreamy psychedelic and post-metal in a touching mix that breaks into explosive and badass. Heavenly female lead singer.
29:21-34:28
ALLEGAEON (CO)
Vermin
— Clean, baritone death and black metal screech in a catchy, romping death and prog.
35:01-38:11
CORPSEGRINDER (FL)
Devourer of Souls
— Any politics in going solo and making a Floridian death metal album? Solid, savage, technical and surprising in parts.
38:27-45:33
DEATHHAMMER (Norway)
Thrown to the Abyss
— Duo creating a desperately-paced thrash, a dose of King Diamondesque vocals and a heavy metal glory shining over it.
46:11-END
SHAPE OF DESPAIR (Finland)
Solitary Downfall
— Majestic, misty doom staying in a lush forest.
0:25-8:31
PURE WRATH (Indonesia)
Those Who Stand Still
— Tormented and distressed black metal with delicate beauty. Just, amazing.
9:29-13:12
LUNAR BLOOD (NJ)
Gnawed
— Immersive black and death metal distortion with crusty attitude, another journey of an album.
13:45-19:00
IMMOLATION (NY)
Noose Of Thorns
— 11th badass album from a powerhouse of death with immense lovely groove and spectular angularity and technical guitar maneuvers.
19:26-26:54
FESTUNG (Germany)
Fallt!
— Hypnotic ambient and drone and synth in an anguished black metal with soulful vocals and melodies. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
27:52-34:17
KRALLICE (NY)
Dismal Entity
— Krallice succumbs to the melodic, bringing in more earthy orchestral and spacey synth to their nerdy technical math metal. Brain-expanding as usual. Probably my favorite album by them yet!
34:36-38:58
SCHIZOPHRENIA (Belgium)
Stratified Realities
— Frantic thrash and raspy death vocals and a crazed set of technical guitar.
39:26-46:19
DARVAZA (Norway/Italy)
This Hungry Triumphant Darkness
— Darvaza is a warrior black metal with an energetic black and roll, playful if you will.
47:04-54:52
NOIRCURE (Italy)
Mirifical
— Ethereal shoegaze becomes frantic, shrieks and layered black metal.
55:18-END
VENOM PRISON (UK)
Castigated in Steel and Concrete
— The proggy, melodic flair to the brutal death is incredibly endearing.
0:25-7:39
ABHORIA (CA)
Sunless
— Rich, dark, technical American black metal with a majesty of vocal styles and sweet, proggy guitar.
8:42-13:09
DET EVIGA LEENDET (Sweden)
Retch
— Det eviga leendet's vocalist is Mare Cognitum with 5 anonymous band members in a tight, black metal racing to the edge of time. Just, intense.
13:32-18:53
CLOAKROOM (IN)
Dissembler
— Touching, 90’s style indie mixed with distorted stoner guitar and an angelic shoegaze singer. Just love this 90’s retrovitalist sounds coming out now!
19:14-24:28
VORGA (Germany)
Starless Sky
— Vivid, emotional German black metal with a knife of a vocalist slicing through your thirsty veins, in a fantastic debut.
25:06-31:05
Μνήμα (Greece)
Suicidal Necromancy
— The band name means “tomb”, and this is as cold, but completely alive in a suffocating black metal, raw and bleak in energy, collapsing in melody.
31:57-39:17
CULT OF LUNA (Sweden)
The Silver Arc
— My, my, I dig this album, when I thought I had outgrown their style. Their gorgeous singer is brooding and sultry, the music is immersive and meditative, spacey and even psychedelic. A real surprise.
39:34-48:24
NOCTURNAL TRIUMPH (US)
The Hammer of Immateriality
— Desperate shrieks line a brutally bludgeoning black speed.
49:18-56:56
AUTHOR & PUNISHER (CA)
Drone Carrying Dread
— Uber-drums, doom and post-metal with modern unique twists.
57:19-END
GLOAMUS (CAN)
When Those Icy Waters Swept Them Away
— Thrash fun and a black and roll pace with delicious riffs, and a meandering melodic breaking it up.
Special dark wave/goth show!
0:25-3:40
RUBY LUSTRE (Portland)
Amends
3:41-7:54
THE FUNERAL WAREHOUSE (France)
Long Way Out
7:55-11:49
ANY LEAVE + SECOND PLANET (Berlin)
Don't just want
11:50-14:55
INTO HER FINAL SLEEP (GER)
Hollow
14:56-20:08
BONE PIXIE (UK)
solemn verglas
20:09-25:21
TRAITRS (CAN)
The Way Through A Bird's Love
25:34-28:32
FRENCH POLICE (Chicago)
Club De Vampiros
28:33-32:02
CEMETERY DOLLS (NY)
Twilight Winter
32:03-34:53
GIVE MY REMAINS TO BROADWAY (CAN)
Forever Bleed
34:54-38:08
HOME FRONT (CAN)
Bit Of Dust
38:09-42:08
DETECTS (MS)
No One Tells
42:09-46:27
THIS COLD NIGHT (TX)
90°
46:28-49:10
TORCH (Netherlands)
Blood Rituals
49:11-52:47
IAMNOONE (Italy)
The Sun won't shine
52:48-56:39
SUFFERING FOR KISSES (WA)
Monsters
56:40-58:48
UNPLEASANT SOUNDS (Russia)
Catchy, Catchy
58:49-1:01:58
MORPHIC FIELDS (Brazil)
Dreams
1:01:59-1:05:24
VAGUE LANES (Oakland)
Here Now
1:05:25-END
TABLERAZ (France)
GLASS (autoremix)
0:25-8:03
WIEGEDOOD (Belgium)
Now Will Always Be
— Spectacular technical black metal with crystal clear moments to create a meditative experience.
8:57-14:28
AETHEREUS (WA)
Behold, The World Eater
— Tight melodic death mass with haunting psychedelic using piano and violin and noodling heavy metal. Great album.
15:09-25:00
ÆQUOREA (CA)
Mirrors
— If you loved Batillus, this is made for you. Massively melodic sludge and post-metal with that erupt in incredible vocals.
25:34-30:35
DESCENT (AU)
Despotic
— A head-churning moody death elevated by a sharp screech.
30:56-35:10
SOM (?)
Heart Attack
— Rhythmic nostalgic shoegazy pop and a soothing vocalist with bits and pieces of thick sludge. What an album!
35:34-39:35
NOCTURNAL GRAVES (AU)
Across the Acheron
— Glorious riffs in a sinister death and thrash with a vicious black metal vocalist. Guitarist is in Deströyer 666, which rules.
39:55-44:24
WOMBBATH (Sweden)
At The Giant's Feet
— Swedish death metal with surprising twists like violin, and all of this is insanely groove-tastic.
45:17-48:08
WILDERUN (Boston)
Distraction Nulla
— This is all about vocals, a theatrical production, epic instrumentation in a cinematic, progressive and retro heavy metal. So much here.
48:21-53:09
NECROPHAGOUS (Sweden)
Wreaker of Pain
— Running man death, e.g. fucking infectious as all hell.
53:29-END
THUMOS (US)
The Just
— A beautiful, haunting, instrumental post-metal and sludge.
Best of 2021, Part 3, including the #1 album, THE SILVER (Philly)
0:25-7:42
GREY AURA (Netherlands), album - Zwart vierkant (Black, Modern)
El Greco in Toledo
— Grey Aura builds from a multitude of instruments like piano and horns creating an avant-garde, proggy, psychedelic black metal and hardcore with playful electronics.
8:56-15:26
FRIISK (Germany), album - ...un torügg bleev blot Sand (Black, Melodic)
De Hoat
— Melodic sludge and black metal with electric vocals in a bleak and cutting set.
15:57-18:02
FULL OF HELL (MD/PA), album - Garden of Burning Apparitions (Extreme)
Reeking Tunnels
— If you see this band live, you will never miss out on another album. An explosive lead singer mixed with a bright organism of sound that spreads and evolves. Experimental and grind with synth and saxophone.
18:20-23:38
PRAISE THE PLAGUE (Germany), album - The Obsidian Gate (Black, Melodic)
Blackening Swarm II
— Tortured and bleeding vocals in a mix that is ferocious with speed, swinging from soft to epic.
24:09-27:52
ARCHSPIRE (CAN), album – Bleed the Future (Extreme)
Drone Corpse Aviator
— The vocalist stands out in a play of patterns over a playful technical death that is somehow endearing and beautiful.
28:32-34:34
THE RUINS OF BEVERAST (Germany), album - The Thule Grimoires (Hypnotic)
Polar Hiss Hysteria
— This band came out with an album in 2017 that is in my top albums of all time. This album incorporates a breeze of murmurs and chants in a powerful and magical tribal sound. I love this man, period. He can do no wrong.
34:54-40:20
BURIAL (Italy), album - Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos (Death, Doom)
— Absent Visions Conceive Unspeakable Beings
Pondering, blistering death, and atmosphere that doesn't lessen the impact.
40:57-45:26
ALUSTRIUM (Philly), album - A Monument to Silence (Death, Melodic)
Blood for Blood
— Groove cuts across the top of muscular, technical death that explodes in a million delicious directions.
45:46-50:44
DREAM UNENDING (US/CAN), album - Tide Turns Eternal (Death, Doom)
The needful
— Beautiful, minimalist passages and a soulful voice stands stark against the technical death.
51:01-56:11
ÆNIGMATUM (Portland), album – Deconsecrate (Death, Melodic)
Undaunted Hereafter
— Moody, meandering and a bit of jazz until you are pulled into the aggression.
56:34-1:02:08
KARMA VIOLENS (Greece), album – Mount of the Congregation (Speed/Thrash)
The Observer
— A black metal vocalist in a thrash and technical pace. Just so much here.
1:02:38-1:07:36
IN MOURNING (Sweden), album - The Bleeding Veil (Death, Melodic)
At The Behest Of Night
— A spectacular vocalist that swings from soothing to demonic, swinging paces and technical balanced with emotional.
1:07:57-1:14:00
SPELLJAMMER (Sweden), album - Abyssal Trip (Stoner, Jams)
Among the Holy
— Bass-heavy stoner with sparkling romantic melodic. A lovely album to massage your brain to oblivion.
1:14:23-1:17:21
DISKORD (Norway), album – Degenerations (Death, Modern)
Dragged For Coronation
— Jaunty, neck-lurching death with a carnivalesque, story-telling atmosphere.
1:17:36-1:23:12
WESENWILLE (Netherlands), album - II: A Material God (Black)
Burial ad sanctos
— Sharp knives carve a bloody trail, the sound changing colors. Beautiful, vivid, imaginative.
1:23:40-1:26:41
REPLICANT (NJ), album - Malignant Reality (Death, Modern)
Rabid Future
— Fractured sounds break into the guttural death with piano and pleading vocals. Soft to horror to aggression.
1:27:01-1:31-01
CREEPING FEAR (Paris), album - Hategod Triumph (Death)
Wearing the Skin of the Wicked
— A burning pace plummets to mid-paced and slow, all of it groovy with massive energy and incredible guitar solos.
1:31:34-1:35:39
VIRIAL (Italy), album – Transhumanism (Death, Modern)
Aurelia I – Deterioration
— Melodic guitar-noodling penetrates every aspect of this pummeling death structure.
1:36:00-1:40:39
DORMANT ORDEAL (Poland), album - The Grand Scheme of Things (Death, Melodic)
Sides of Defence
— Ruthlessly groovy and riveting compositions, with complex pace and melody. Mosh thoughtfully.
#1 Album of 2021:
1:41:19-1:46:19
THE SILVER (Philly), album - Ward of Roses (Black, Modern)
Breathe
— Modern black is just my favorite. One of the best vocalists of the years that is its own erupting instrumentation. The sound is a mountain of majestic black that entreats your entire soul to join.
This week, #2 album. Next week, #1! See below for Best Album Art.
0:25-6:50
MORAL COLLAPSE (Bengalaru), album - S/T (Death, Modern)
Abandoned rooms of misspelled agony
— Vivid, storytelling death with plenty of seething and explosions. Loved the experimental sections with creepy violins and sexy saxophones. Made for parties with music snobs.
8:17-14:32
ESOCTRILIHUM (France), album - Dy'th Requiem For The Serpent Telepath (Black)
Baahl Duthr
— Imagine an alien god that injects cold malevolence into its warriors. This is what they listen to get enraged, and then soothes them in death.
14:57-20:17
STORTREGN (Switzerland), album – Impermanence (Black & Death)
Timeless Splendor
— All the genres embedded and aligned. Swirling technical guitar solos with demonic chatter that spreads to a touching melodic black.
20:50-27:12
PARANORM (Sweden), album – Empyrean (Speed/Thrash)
Intelligence Explosion
— A black metal screech in a playful and moody thrash dance that makes you leap in joy mid-mosh.
27:34-31:37
FRACTAL GENERATOR (Ontario), album – Macrocosmos (Death)
Ethereal
— Yet another multi-faceted vocalist with headbanging riffs and angular pace with bouts of jazz influence. Just, surprising.
32:25-37:51
CLOAK OF ALTERING (Netherlands), album - Sheathed swords drip with poisonous honey (Black, Modern)
I have missed the light so much
— This is made for me. Industrial and experimental synth that made me nostalgic for the first time I listened to the brain-warping legends of yore. These guys inject modern romantic black metal for the wretched part of your soul.
38:16-42:42
CRYPTOSIS (Netherlands), album – Bionic Swarm (Speed/Thrash)
Game of Souls
— Another most infectious thrash that races and careens off kilter with proggy pace. Somehow finds time for some synth just because they want to blow your mind.
43:04-48:08
SPECTRAL WOUND (Montreal), album - A Diabolic Thirst (Black, Melodic)
Fair Lucifer, Sad Relic
— Feral and textured black metal, sharpened with pain and slowed to create the aching, and a vocalist that stains your brain.
48:39-57:16
AD NAUSEAM (Italy), album - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse (Black & Death)
Horror Vacui
— Snaking compositions of black pummeling, death growls, horror atmosphere and suddenly, unexpectedly, heart-palpitatingly breaks into a soothing solace.
56:37-1:01:41
KANKAR (Germany), album - Dunkle Millennia (Black)
Thüringer Schwarzmetall
— Of course, German black metal with a stunning style of rock and melodic that also that weaponized vocal that straightens your toes.
1:02:06-1:06:50
INFERI (TN), album - Vile Genesis (Death)
No Gods But Our Flesh
— Dramatic, explosive, swarming and harmonizing guitars with a range of vocals. But basically this just shreds.
1:07:11-1:11:56
STORMRULER (St. Louis), album - Under The Burning Eclipse (Black)
At the Cliffs of Azure City
— That exquisite screech with raw black metal fury that allows your head to decapitate to a chomping riff. Technical and pure at heart.
1:12-19-1:15:46
PUPIL SLICER (UK), album – Mirrors (Extreme)
Husk
— Abuse and torture in a package that ripples with tension, with modern grind and hardcore and spectacular breaks into melody and groove. Strength and agony.
1:16:03-1:23:40
SPIRE (AU), album - Temple of Khronos (Hypnotic)
Hymn IV - Puissant
— Theatrical, carnivalesque black metal in a meditative atmosphere that envelops your brain. You know, hypnotic.
1:24:06-1:27:52
OBSCURA (Germany), album - A Valediction (Death, Melodic)
The Beyond
— Twirl with me to Obscura, hair whipping behind until you are just part of that noodle-y death chomp, the sharp edges mixed with beauty. Oh those vocals bounce and crash on top.
1:28:18-1:34:43
CIVEROUS (LA), album - Decrepit Flesh Relic (Death, Doom)
Herodacy
— Atmosphere filled with ash, a crawling heated vocalist follows with a badass pummeling pace. The sound mixes an atmospheric doom and a murky textured death. Perfect for car ride and a fist out the window.
1:35:06-1:40:43
KHEMMIS (Denver), album – Deceiver (Stoner, Jams)
Obsidian Crown
— Khemmis has that lead singer that is unbelievably expressive in both beauty and menace. The songs vary from majestic to stoner and heavy metal. All of it memorable.
#2 Album of 2021:
1:41:18-1:45:53
GABESTOK (Denmark), album - Én gang rådden, altid rådden (Black, Modern)
På gravens rand
— This stood out to me starkly against the rest of the albums, with the weird raw production, notes of 60’s garage rock, and the sexy rocking psychedelic meandering black metal that stayed weird and creepy and evil. An album that sounds different with every listen.
Best Album Art
Scarred (Luxembourg), album - S/T https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3968482678_10.jpg
KLUVIM (Israel), album - Om Mani Padme Hum https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2708034658_10.jpg
Altered Dead, album - Returned To Life https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1572633909_10.jpg
Werewolves, album - What A Time To Be Alive https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0103034480_10.jpg
Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum (Belarus), album - Šahrartu https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0764825667_10.jpg
Mordkaul, album - Dress Code: Blood https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2692337893_10.jpg
Black Hole Deity, album - Lair Of Xenolich https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4162162910_10.jpg
Culted (Sweden), album - Nous https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0649041842_10.jpg
Anatomia (Japan), album - Corporeal Torment https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2876908082_10.jpg
Nightfall (Greece), album - At Night We Prey https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0263275372_10.jpg
Turris Eburnea (Italy), album - S/T https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1506248864_10.jpg
Grima (Russia), album - Rotten Garden https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4211161359_10.jpg
Unflesh (New Hampshire), album - Inhumation https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2586676173_10.jpg
Spectral Lore (Greece), album - Ετερόφωτος https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2232699247_10.jpg
Grey Aura (Netherlands), album - Zwart vierkant https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1722429475_10.jpg
Oryx (Denver), album - Lamenting A Dead World https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4001120803_10.jpg
Erdve (Lithuania), album - Savigaila https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1393930651_10.jpg
Graveslave (MN), album - No Center https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3232968585_10.jpg
Creeping Death (TX), album - The Edge of Existence https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0368191437_10.jpg
Atræ Bilis (CAN), album - Apexapien https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3070867920_10.jpg
Hate (Poland), album - Rugia https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4023207229_10.jpg
Sunless (MN), album - Ylem https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1261055484_10.jpg
Worm (FL), album - Foreverglade https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1911764557_10.jpg
Burial (Italy), album - Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1334662437_10.jpg
Abscession (Sweden), album - Rot of Ages https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0057203844_10.jpg
Civerous (LA), album - Decrepit Flesh Relic https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1981082110_10.jpg
Khemmis (Denver), album - Deceiver https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2933389309_10.jpg
Cadaveric Fumes (France), album - Echoing Chambers of Soul https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2766636704_10.jpg
Ferriterium (France), album - Calvaire https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2987418005_10.jpg
Best of 2021, Part 1: post-punk, dark wave and goth.
0:25-5:38
KILL SHELTER & ANTIPOLE (Norway), album - A Haunted Place
A Kiss in the Rain
5:39-9:14
COMA THERAPY (GA), album - This House Was Built on Terror
It's Really Really Dark Outside
9:15-11:53
TWIN ION ENGINE (CA), album - S/T
Sun
11:54-16:12
CREUX LIES (CA), album - Goodbye Divine
I Wish I Was You
16:13-20:22
TWIN TRIBES (TX), album - Altars
Portal to the Void (She Past Away Remix)
20:23-24:16
TOPOGRAPHIES (CA), album - Ideal Form
This Evening Also
24:29-28:52
PINK TURNS BLUE (GER), album - Tainted
Not Even Trying
28:53-33:37
SCULPTURE CLUB (SLC), album - Worth
Fluttering
33:38-39:52
ROPES OF NIGHT (GER), album - Impossible Space
Impossible Space
39:53-44:53
TRAITRS (Toronto), album -
Sweet Home
45:09-49:24
BLEIB MODERN (GER), album - Afraid To Leave
Bitter Smile
49:25-53:42
HEAVE BLOOD AND DIE (Norway), album - Post People
Radio Silence
53:43-57-13
JE T'AIME (France), album - JE T'AIME Live at Gibus
The Flying Dutchman (Live at Gibus)
57-14-END
UNTO OTHERS (Portland), album - Strength
Downtown
0:25-7:21
DARKEST MIND (Belgium)
Prophecy of the Stillborn
— I love this whole album. Furious glory and heartbreaking stillness, raspy evil vocals with soulful black metal. Just full.
8:27-14:30
CADAVERIC FUMES (France)
A Desolate Breed
— First of all, Cadavaric Fumes is a disgusting name, so off to an excellent metal start. Yeah, it's a cavernous filthy mix of rampant death metal, but it slows down to this deliciously melancholy, self-reflective pace and guitar melody and decapitating headbang riffs.
14:55-22:53
KADAVAR & ELDER (GER)
From Deep Within
— Big fan of Kadavar, and stoked to see this collaboration. Just a stellar classic rock with modern spacey and psychedelic meandering that is delicious.
23:31-32:32
DESSIDERIUM (AZ)
Moon Lust Delirium
— Journeys of melodic streams to mountainous black metal and dissonant death valleys. But this will let your heart soar high. Really fucking badass.
32:53-39:42
PHRENELITH (Denmark)
Awakening Titans
— A moody melodic atmospheric death along with earth-shattering headbangs.
39:58-44:39
INHERITS THE VOID (France)
Unfathomable Echoes
— Ruthlessly bitter and chilling black metal with guitar shards and hurtling pummeling icicles.
45:29-51:25
MALIGNANT ALTAR (TX)
Channeling Impure Apparitions
— Vomiting vocals in the thickest textured swinging down to the dirtiest riffs and guitar soloing mayhem.
51:44-57:06
VAHRZAW (AU)
Death Of An Unknown Architect
— A meld of styles including technical death, speedy thrash, acoustic guitar and frenetic black metal.
57:24-END
PYREXIA (NYC)
The Day The Earth Shook (Survival Of The Fittest)
— Guttural monster death, old school style.
0:25-7:42
DORMANT ORDEAL (Poland)
The Borders of Our Language are not the Borders of Our World
— Poland death is multi-flavored with variation in pace and melody and a ton of groove, so good.
8:30-13:07
REDEMPTOR (Poland)
Debris
— Chugging and technical broken with moody and sultry singer. Super fit and hot, I mean talented guys.
13:28-24:29
SO HIDEOUS (NYC)
Motorik Visage
— Orchestral, literally, black metal that takes you on a roller coaster ride.
25:14-32:23
OPERA DIABOLICUS (Sweden)
Darkest Doom on the Brightest of Days
— An opera of epic guitar flights, harmonizing vocals, theatrical vocals, bellowing organs and orchestra. What a surprise.
32:58-35:34
LOCK UP (Chile/USA/UK/Sweden)
Ashes
— Strangled vocalist from At the Gates, Misery Index/Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death bassist are terrible musicians. Just kidding, they have created a teeth-grinding, punk and grind speed-driven fest.
35:51-42:55
CEPHEIDE (France)
Les Larmes
— Romantic, soulful river of pain runs through the scorching French black metal.
43:23-49:53
UNANIMATED (Sweden)
The Poetry of the Scarred Earth
— 4th album since the 80s, able to swing with modern times. Punchy and groovy death with a beautiful melodic black.
50:54-53:51
SERMON OF FLAMES (Ireland)
I//H//D//O//D//E//S//I//W//A//C
— September release of a sharp, cruelly-edged tectonic plate of sound. Death and electronic in a cool mix by a duo.
54:09-END
HYPOCRISY (Sweden)
Worship
— Swedish headbanging with a vocalist that slays.
0:25-7:19
IN MOURNING (Sweden)
Beyond Thunder
— In Mourning shot me in the heart. Vivid breaks to riffs, which breaks to stunning and theatrical, along with evil and raspy in a prog and death.
8:11-11:37
FORTRESS (CA)
Anguish
— Classic rock, speed and heavy metal with flying guitar solos and an incredible singer.
12:03-17:27
ABSCESSION (Sweden)
Rot Of Ages
— Don’t write this off as another death album. Another doom and death with unique effects, including melodic and spacey. Really a stunning range.
17:49-22:30
TOWER (NYC)
Lay Down the Law
— Female-led 80’s anthemic heavy metal perfectly encapsulated that makes you want to lip sync and air guitar.
23:07-29:15
CYNIC (CA)
Architects of Consciousness
— Instrumental-heavy new age candlelit death metal with a proggy, death and jazz drummer.
29:33-36:10
IMPERIALIST (CA)
Majesty of the Void
— Floating blast beats create a rhythmically meditative space with melodic solos and a fantastic set of emotional variation.
36:26-41:49
ÜLTRA RAPTÖR (CAN)
SpaceFighter (442 AlphaClass Pegasus SubC35.2)
— Speed-frenzied salute to excellent hair metal.
42:21-48:35
IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT (NYC)
Transmission to Mercury (Live at Slipper Room)
— A brilliant live album with smokey jazz and proggy, experimental black metal with a sexy saxophone.
49:25-53:24
KREATIONIST (Belgium)
Il Pleure Dans Mon Coeur
— Wonder twin powers activate with post-metal, romantic doom and black metal in a gorgeous mix.
53:48-END
EXODUS
Antiseed
— Yeah, you know Exodus, super solid thrash.
0:25-7:35
OBSCURA (Germany)
Forsaken
— Intertwining, spinning guitar solos in a technical, noodly death reminiscent of At the Gates.
8:40-12:57
DOLD VORDE ENS NAVN (Norway)
Løgnens abstinenser
— Theatrical, vivid debut of black metal within pools of languid, orchestral and gorgeous.
13:29-20:29
CIVEROUS (LA)
Hubiku
— Another topnotch debut of disturbing doom and horror death with a massive propulsion to head bang.
20:45-28:51
KHEMMIS (Denver)
The Astral Road
— Majestic doom that lifts your soul. Period.
29:35-35:36
THE TEMPLE (New Zealand)
Hell Incarcerate
— Most likely 67% of Ulcerate in this New Zealand duo that is a thicker, monstrous death mix in an indulgent pace that breaks into a lonely atmosphere.
36:12-40:56
PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND (France)
Jouis, Camarade
— My 2016 Best Experimental Extreme. Intensity is their meditation, with weird bouts into 70’s style experimental industrial within the coldest of black metal swarms.
41:35-47:13
CONVERGE and CHELSEA WOLFE (MA/CA)
Scorpion's Sting
— Think Neurosis with a metal goth female vocalist. Converge have outdone themselves with their storytelling, beautiful and ethereal with a blast of jamming psychedelic guitars. Really fun.
48:06-53:05
VERTEBRA ATLANTIS (Italy)
Carnal Denouement
— Debut with a member of Cosmic Putrefaction creating a textural masterpiece. 3 layers of vocals, instruments that mosh together until melding to an evil death carnage.
53:33-1:00:30
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT (GER)
Morgen
— Stabs me in the heart with their cinematic and plaintive, and the chomping bite of quintessential German black metal.
1:01:08-1:06:05
DREAM UNENDING (US/CAN)
the needful
— A duo creates the exquisite painting of floating vocals, gorgeously harmonized guitars in a doomy paradise. Members of Tomb Mold, Outer Heavens, Innumberable Forms and Sumerlands.
1:06:39-END
STORMKEEP (Denver)
The Serpent's Stone
— Soaring, anthemic black metal to pound your mug of mead to. And then get emotional with the epic and folk. Members of Wayfarer and Blood Incantation.
0:25-4:47
PINK TURNS BLUE (Germany)
Not Even Trying
4:48-7:49
DEATH OF THE LAST BEAUTIFUL JAGUAR (TX)
Faces In The Dark
7:50-11:25
DEAR AGENT (Germany)
Prospects
11:26-16:05
DENNER (France)
Together in Obscurity
16:06-19:28
DUNKELWALD (Spain)
Babbulkund
19:29-24:11
SUFFERING FOR KISSES (Seattle)
To Kiss The Stars
24:26-27:03
GRIMDELUXE
De Torenflat
27:04-29:55
MА́ITSA (Russia)
Навсегда
29:56-34:32
PLASTIQUE NOIR (Brazil)
Asleep In The Night Train
34:33-40:00
DUCTAPE (Turkey)
Hata (Delphine Coma remix)
40:01-43:39
SHADOWHOUSE (Portland)
Already Know
43:40-48:58
SILENT STAR (UK)
To Hell Or To Hackney (Too Late)
48:59-52:16
SPIRE CIRCLE (UK)
So Many Times
52:17-55:41
GHOST PAINTED SKY (MA)
There Against the Wall
55:42-END
PROPTER HOC (Scotland)
I Don't Know Her
0:25-9:52
PROPHETIC SCOURGE (France)
The Dragonchaser (Crowned On The Throne Of Loti)
— French dramatic ballet with style and violence, bludgeoning technical death with sweet melody and theatrical vocals.
10:45-15:23
THULCANDRA (GER)
Scarred Grandeur
— Lush acoustic washes over a black metal landscape and a vicious barb-throated vocalist.
16:06-24:59
MYSTRAS (Greece)
To The Builders
— From the brain behind Spectral Lore. Ethnic black metal layering history with modernity.
25:32-31:39
MORTIFERUM (WA)
Eternal Procession
— Train rumbling vocals in a slow heated death that falls off the rail.
32:02-35:21
AUTOKRATOR (France)
The Great Persecution
— Creepy noisy meditative death that plummets to body-shattering riffs.
35:55-39:17
PORTRAYAL OF GUILT (TX)
The Sixth Circle
— Murky sludge coupled with a razor sharp vocal, clearing to chomping hardcore, throw in industrial effects and pummeling black metal. Reminded me of Fister.
39:42-43:35
SUCCUMB (SF)
Soma
— Burning witch metal.
44:25-49:39
EXSUL (AZ)
Noesis
— Sultry vocals bellowing into a hellish death.
49:59-55:30
EMMA RUTH RUNDLE (LA)
Citadel
— Sweet organically gothic mood.
55:51-END
GRAND CADAVER (Sweden)
Empire Of Lies
— A missile hit of death swinging from menacing to extremely groovy.
0:25-4:10
ARCHSPIRE (CAN)
Reverie on the Onyx
— Reincarnated classical musicians teleported to the future to become metal gods. Insanely technical and tight, but not robotic, not bloodless.
5:36-11:42
GHOST BATH (ND)
Sanguine Mask
— North Dakota is a place to make achingly despondent black metal, mixed with acoustic echoing guitars and a bellowing vocalist.
12:09-16:28
SUNLESS (MN)
Flesh-Particle Amalgamation
— Proggy dissonant technical mathy-grind with a vocalist who breathes into the chaos.
17:10-22:23
1914 (Ukraine)
Mit Gott Für König Und Vaterland
— Death-forward, black-infiltrating, sludge-loving, groove-heavy, with authoritatively hot vocals.
22:47-26:43
CONTRITION (Chicago)
For Misery
— Members of Cobalt, Yakusa, Chrome Waves. Ferocious bourbon death and down-tuned sludge.
27:24-33:29
BURIAL (Italy)
Dark Womb Of Outern Creation
— Another incredible album cover. Sinister atmosphere building into a seething rage. Love this album.
33:52-41:09
BE'LAKOR (AU)
Foothold
— Pleading vocals in a sweeping, chugging, proggy melodic death that is both headbang worthy and beautiful.
41:29-48:24
APPARITION (LA)
Feel
— Slithers under the heavy weight of groove and guitars and a funereal death-spacey atmosphere.
49:26-56:50
WORM (FL)
Murk Above the Dark Moor
— Another fantastic album cover. Trippy melting dungeon death.
57:28-END
BIZARRE (Spain)
The Advent Of Eternal Pain
— Doomy pace within unrelenting aggression, melodic guitar and proggy time-signatures with a spectrum of vocal styles.
Special new wave/dark wave show!
0:25-5:03
KILL SHELTER + ANTIPOLE (Norway)
The Edge of Reason
Just played these guys from a Sisters of Mercy tribute album. This is their full-length release.
5:04-9:19
CREUX LIES (Sacramento)
I Wish I Was You
Just saw them live opening up for Twin Tribes - absolutely amazing, even if the lead singer wears gym shorts.
9:20-13:00
SJÖBLOM (Sweden)
A Game
13:01-15:35
BITTERBONES (CA)
Die Tonight
15:36-19:16
EN SUITE CABINET (ANY LEAVE + SECOND PLANET) (Berlin)
Wait a sec
19:17-23:49
LIFE CULT (AU)
Waiting
24:04-28:33
MENTAL FATIGUE (Poland)
form
28:34-32:12
FLUID GHOST (France)
My Best Nightmare
32:13-35:42
PARIS ALEXANDER (FEAT. EIRENE) (UK)
Son Chemin
35:43-39:58
WITHOUT EMOTION (France)
Sombre Royaume
39:59-43:11
SLOW DANSE WITH THE DEAD (NM)
Don't Speak (I'd Rather Hear Nothing At All)
43:42-47:10
VESTRON VULTURE (Mexico)
Rendezvous in Rotterdam
47:11-50:03
KILLMOURE (LA)
The Night
50:04-54:13
THE DREAMS NEVER END (Portugal)
Partir
54:14-57:45
IC2 (Italy)
A Night
57:46-END
THE SECRET EXPERIMENT (UK)
Cold Light
0:25-6:34
CRYSTAL COFFIN (CAN)
Shapeshifter Huntsman
— A sci-fi story of dystopian black metal, synth-filled instrumentals, organic meanderings and a distraught vocalist.
7:39-15:22
DEVIANT PROCESS (CAN)
The Blessings of Annihilation Infinite
— Boiling-a-frog-slowly technical death. The vocal unleashings are unreal. Funky bass is what death needed.
16:02-23:23
THE SILVER (Philly)
Then Silence...
— Crypt Sermon and Horrendous create a universe of genres and paths that lead into momentous, heart-ripping journeys. Drama, dude.
24:08-29:02
MICHAEL BEACH (AU)
Irregardless
— A minimalist psychedelic pop and alternative rock reminiscent of a melodic Violent Femmes.
29:19-37:37
VORTEX OF END (Paris)
Putrid Fluids
— Ambient horror fill a dizzying melodic black, super French and stylish.
38:07-43:00
HATE (Poland)
Velesian Guard
— Sweet and salty, atmospheric black mixed with doom and death with a bludgeoning throat.
43:48-48:43
DØDSDRIFT (Germany)
Enthauptet
— The sun breaks over an ash-covered apocalyptic empty land.
49:27-END
NOLTEM (CT)
Figment
— Donovan told me to listen to it.
0:25-5:33
HEGEMON (France)
Heimarménè
— A penultimate melodic black metal from French romanticists, soulful and raging.
6:48-12:18
MYNDSNARE (Bangalore)(newly released from 2008)
Layers Of Hypocricy
— 2008’s Myndsnare being released by Subcontinental Records. Thrash and hardcore energy in an infectious tight death.
12:42-19:23
HAVUKRUUNU (Finland)
Routapanssari
— My Best Folk from 2020, more of the charming and dynamic black with indulgent guitar solos and cool spacey and organic moments.
19:47-24:14
CREEPING DEATH (TX)
The Edge of Existence
— Sexy, rumbling vocalist in a hella heavy headbanging death with a bit of hardcore and of course, amazing album art.
24:38-30:20
BLACK SITES (Chicago)
Nocturne/Everything Went Black
— Proggy and melodic hard rock with a heavy metal vocalist and sweet riffage.
30:51-39:15
ALDA (WA)
Stonebreaker
— Strummed with brutal, atmospheric building to cascading, unfolding stories and a wicked black metal vocal.
39:41-44:32
ATRÆ BILIS (CAN)
Bacterium Abloom
— Modern angular tech death with a splattering of slowed-down melodic portions. A debut full-length!
45:32-49:47
ORDER (Norway)
Rise
— Original members of Mayhem know what they are doing. Charismatic and vicious vocals in that early thrashy black metal style.
50:12-54:42
TENTATION (France)
Blanche
— Long-haired French guitar-loving retro 80’s infectious heavy metal.
55:02-END
WOLVES' WINTER (Argentina)
Gnosis of the No-Light
— Razor sharp black metal rolling in a cauldron of caustic and melodic.
0:25-5:59
ETXEGIÑA (France/Spain)
Nosotros los Etxegiña
— Theatrical vocals rasped by a demonic witch in a moody black metal nightmare, giving way to organic.
6:50-19:03
SELTAR (NJ)
Niebla
— A gorgeous journey to a swath of shimmering black metal. Sweet, tragic, surprises.
19:32-26:26
XENOSIS (CT)
Personification of the Unconscious
— Proggy death that pushes the limits in angularity and complexity, angry and unique.
27:07-31:08
KRYPTOS (India)
Dawnbreakers
— Their 6th! album, more of the retro, infectious heavy metal and thrash with a unique compressed vocal.
31:41-38:08
FUSTILARIAN (Portugal)
Swallowed By The Nether Regions Of Chaotic Isolation
— Always technically solid from Portugal. Tortured vocals and chilling effects pack a blast of a black metal solo project.
38:43-40:48
FULL OF HELL (MD/PA)
Reeking Tunnels
— Vocal machete in a hardcore-leaning death with electronic effects and mesmerizing noise.
40:59-46:21
CULT OF THAUMIEL (anonymous)
Palaces of Iniquity
— Anonymous blistering satanic black metal. Weirdos.
47:17-54:33
ABSTRACTER (Oakland)
Warhead Twilight
— Somehow rageful in the slumbering doom pace, with a heated ash of a vocalist.
54:57-END
SADISTIC FORCE (TX)
2,000 Volts
— Music for an evil dive bar.
0:25-5:17
KILL SHELTER & ANTIPOLE (Norway)
Nine While Nine (Sisters of Mercy cover)
— OMG, a Sisters of Mercy tribute album, and I paid for the expensive shipping. Kill Shelter & Antipole have an AWESOME new album this year, check them out. https://antipole.bandcamp.com/album/a-haunted-place
6:33-12:13
VIRIAL (Italy)
Project Cyclops
— Intergalactic guitar noodling in a doomy tech death that is a blast.
12:45-20:00
VEILBURNER (PA)
Nocturnal Gold
— Oranssi Pazuzu-ish psychedelic, industrial effects and pagan horror in a dramatic black and death. Multiple listens to get through it.
20:38-29:33
A THOUSAND SUFFERINGS (Belgium)
Stilte
— Stark melodies saturate your slumbering brain, and then kicks it in with distorted atmospheric black metal. Good exercise.
30:13-37:32
WITHERING SOUL (Chicago)
Of Blackened Pillars
— Epic artful death with plaintive melodic and brooding vocals. Fit in some groove and this is just fun.
38:17-42:01
UNTO OTHERS (Portland)
Little Bird
— Doom, hard rock, heavy metal with goth-loving musicians. Crisp, aching melodies, anguished vocals and sweet guitars have a metal edge.
42:37-47:13
LLNN (Denmark)
Interloper
— Sluggish guitar building to a contrasting eruption. Dark and light, from nothing to a mountain. Soft with dissonance.
48:16-51:25
COGNIZANCE (UK)
Forbidden Alchemy
— Infectious death mixed with tech death. Guitars are a tornado creating intricate intensity all in short bites of songs.
51:52-END
UNREQVITED (CAN)
Funeral Pyre
— An 80's Jim Henson movie montage with some black gaze.
0:25-5:25
ABORTED (Belgium)
Drag Me to Hell
— Spectacular intricacy and technicality with frenzied solos and vocals that blaze into your soul.
6:47-14:36
DEFACEMENT (Netherlands)
Wounded
— Cryptic Shift guitarist lends his talent in a sinister spaced-out death that is unexpected with emotion. Definitely made for a scary basement. Allow it to grow.
15:08-19:42
BLAZON STONE (Sweden)
Hell on Earth
— Don’t be scared by the power metal. This is warrior anthemic with heavy metal speed and endearing lyrics.
20:07-25:15
LAMP OF MURMUUR (WA)
Dominatrix's Call
— Last year’s split was great. Anonymous black metal with a crisp black metal and a wailing vocal. And a Christian Death cover on this album!
25:44-28:54
LVCIFYRE (UK)
Tribes of Khem
— Heated ash for vocals, jagged demonic death blowing blistering black.
29:31-33:45
CARCASS (UK)
Eleanor Rigor Mortis
— Legendary band, another release after 8 years. Fresh and energetic with seasoned technicality.
34:10-37:44
BLOODPHEMY (Netherlands)
In Cold Blood
— Rumbling angry vocals in a stomping black metal with breakdowns and hints of piano as a surprise sound.
38:05-43:18
NOCTURNAL WANDERER (OR)
Distant Stars in Distant Skies
— Green hills for this type of Oregon black metal with a blast of heavy metal guitar.
44:22
OCCULSED (Atlanta)
Peryphlegethonic Mindflaying
— Creepy, mesmerizing, hypnotic, piercing and dangerous.
49:58-END
KNOWLEDGE THROUGH SUFFERING (Italy)
Of Flesh
— Epic journeys in each of the (3) songs in an inferno of black metal and a range of tempos with a scouring vocalist.
0:25-5:42
INFERI (TN)
Carving Thine Kingdom
— A marathon of solos, speed and harmonized vocals in a breathtaking technical complexity relentlessly stumbling into a frenzy forward.
6:50-11:54
PORTRAIT (Sweden)
Curtains (The Dumb Supper)
— Swedish long-haired heavy metal balanced perfectly with galloping riffs and a vocalist that soars.
12:21-17:20
BLACK MASS (Boston)
Nothing Is Sacred
— Rock their thrash with a fresh moody vocalist with a tinge of pagan.
17:45-21:16
REPLICANT (NJ)
Relinquish The Self
— Oh hells yea, intricate and angular in a perfect muscularity with a rich, deep bass.
21:36-26:10
MEHENET (New Orleans)
Whom God Did Despise
— Voodoo avant-garde metal with a range of vocals from clean to rasped evil that drinks from the wells of New Orleans.
26:51-32:31
CHROME WAVES (Pittsburgh)
Sometimes
— Romantic, melancholy post-black gaze that somehow is aggressive.
32:57-35:59
NUNSLAUGHTER (OH)
To a Whore
— Jaunty anti-Catholic death in a short, tight package.
35:54-40:52
FLESHBORE (IN)
The Scourge
— Inverted devoured vocals with chugging riffs in a beastly death tech, just tuff.
41:27-45:41
THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA (Sweden)
Midnight Marvelous
— Triumphant montage music with fizzy psychedelic synth and groove made for short shorts and knee highs.
46:25-53:40
SUMMONER CIRCLE (TN)
Vessel
— Bluesy, sludgey, synthy black metal.
54:06-END
RORCAL & EARTHFLESH (Switzerland)
— Meditative, mesmerizing noise and ambient with black metal highlights that somehow just rips.
Special dark wave/post-punk show.
0:25-6:19
ROPES OF NIGHT (Germany)(https://ropesofnight.bandcamp.com/album/impossible-space)
If Death Was A Color
6:20-9:53
PRISMS (Florida)(https://prismsmzk.bandcamp.com/)
Summer Bummer
9:54-13:00
NIGHT RITUAL (Philly)(https://nightritualmusic.bandcamp.com/album/u-n-b-e-c-o-m-i-n-g)
Simplicity
13:01-16:01
ANTI:AGER (UK)(https://antiager.bandcamp.com/releases)
Hollow Shell
16:02-19:16
TWIN ION ENGINE (San Diego)(https://tie-music.bandcamp.com/album/sonar-ep)
Dead Lights
19:17-23:02
CLAUSTROPHOBIA (UK)(https://claustraphobia.bandcamp.com/)
Lies
23:11-28:02
NIGHT IN ATHENS (London)(https://nightinathens.bandcamp.com/album/metropolis)
Metropolis
28:03-32:35
NUL TELEXES (UK)(https://swissdarknights.bandcamp.com/album/menhir)
Dialectic (Broken Nails remix)
32:35-36:27
LETTEN 94 (Switzerland)(https://letten94.bandcamp.com/releases)
Red Lights Soft Skins
36:28-40:33
FOTOCRIME (KY) (playing in Oakland/Golden Bull/10-19)
Crystal Caves
40:34-44:58
ARIEL MANIKI and the BLACK HALOS (San Jose)(https://arielmaniki.bandcamp.com/)
Strangers - BatBoy Slim remix
44:59-48:12
THE NINTH HEAVEN (India)(https://theninthheaven.bandcamp.com/)
Magic Circle
48:13-53:25
ANGEL'S ARCANA (Athens)(https://swissdarknights.bandcamp.com/album/the-reveries-of-solitude)
Ravenheart
53:26-END
SANCTUARY OF PRAISE (UK)(https://sanctuaryofpraise.bandcamp.com/)
New Bliss
0:25-7:35
GRAVESLAVE (MN)
In the Mouths of Giants
Uncomfortable, throaty vocals coupled with crusty guitar melodies and a swinging pace from reflective to strong creates a complex scrape into your brain.
8:39-12:30
OUR PLACE OF WORSHIP IS SILENCE (WA)
Mdłości II
A 2-piece covers Mgla along with pummeling, oppressive death mayhem.
12:51-18:05
WHITE STONES (Spain)
Freedom In Captivity
Peaceful melodies turn into funk and death and it is weird and fun.
18:37-24:22
HOODED MENACE (Finland)
Those Who Absorb the Night
An angry lumbering doom.
25:36-30:40
GOST (MI)
Burning Thyme
This song reminds me of Nature's Revenge by Skinny Puppy, so that says it all. Beautiful, nostalgic industrial done with a modern twist.
31:22-37:19
OXYGEN DESTROYER (WA)
Their Reign Has Begun
Their sophomore album is wretched and spewed with breaks of groove that still decapitate in less than 30 minutes.
37:45-43:35
THYRFING (Sweden)
Träldomsord
Moody Viking epic metal.
44:30-48:39
WORMWITCH (Vancouver)
Hit the Lights
Another storm of an album with an eye that holds the gentle until it hits you with all its shrapnel.
49:21-END
QRIXKUOR (London)
Serpentine Susurrus - Mother's Abomination
Culminating, exhilarating drama with a force of dystopian textures.
0:25-4:32
DISKORD (Norway)
Beyond The Grime
— Immersive, explosive tech death that bleeds to psychedelic creating strange structures and melodies.
5:29-12:08
ÆNIGMATUM (Portland)
Despot of Amorphic Dominions
— Unexpected melodic progressive shredding death that is just. . . .fun.
12:36-18:44
NECRONAUTICAL (UK)
Slain In The Spirit
— Pagan, operatic and other weirdness mixed with proggy death in a hell of a black metal blast.
19:14-26:58
KRIGSGRAV (TX)
Spirit Walker
— Ride this black metal with guitars harmonizing badassery, sultry and muscular vocals, death pummeling and a lovely yearning.
27:52-34:49
BURIAL IN THE SKY (Philly)
On Wings of Providence
— Death that exceeds in every direction: tech, deathcore, vast vocal range and massive dynamic instrumentation and compositions. Just a huge album.
35:16-41:28
WOMAN IS THE EARTH (SD)
Crystal Tomb
— Juxtaposition black metal. Vivid and stark. Rage against beauty. Reflective against blistering.
41:49-46:51
VAELMYST (LA)
Spineless Throne
— Groove is foremost in this death and heavy metal and a blast of thrash. Great debut.
47:51-52:10
WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM (WA)
Primal Chasm (Gift Of Fire)
— One of their best, American black metal impeccably produced, creating an anguished and of course richly-melodic immersive experience.
52:42-END
RAMIHRDUS (WI)
A Forgotten Past
— Desolate, lonely, bitter black with beautifully composed synth and instrumentals. The bleached vocal is chilling.
0:25-5:24
TRAITRS (Toronto)
Sweet Home
5:25-8:45
AUSTERE MOON (NY)
Leave the memory (nightstyle version)
8:46-12:23
ESSES (Oakland)
Caged Beasts
12:24-15:26
GRAYSONS (Austin)
Through The Ether
15:27-19:36
PERESTROIKA (Montreal)
Just Another Day
19:37-23:18
HEXATE (Sweden)
Clitoris
23:33-29:21
MÖTHERSKY (NYC)
Let Go
29:22-34:13
NICE COLD NATION (France)
Silent in the dark
34:14-36:32
SECRET ATTRACTION (AZ)
You
36:33-40:30
THE COLD FIELD (AU)
Break This Chain
40:31-46:40
THEN CAME THE RAIN (Paris)
Afterworld
47:11-50:55
THYMIAN (Switzerland)
It Is Just Natural
50:56-56:10
CHAPOVSKI (AU)
Silvery Sky (Dark Sky)
56:11-END
THE MIDNIGHT COMPUTERS (France)
New Dawn Fades (Joy Division cover)
0:25-8:29
PRAISE THE PLAGUE (Germany)
Beyond
— Explosive, thick with riffs, and melodically-inclined black metal with an absolutely epic lead singer bookended with lethargically-paced atmospheric.
9:43-13:09
VASSAGO (Sweden)
Evil of Satan
— Guitarist of King Diamond Andy LaRocque is a legend and lends some incredible guitar solos in this demonically-sped black metal.
13:32-22:03
NETHERBIRD (Sweden)
Atrium Of The Storm
— More moody black metal with incredible guitars that soar, dramatic, vivid and epic.
22:32-24:26
GALVANIZER (Finland)
Blaze From Within
— Ugly death with a ton of thrashy energy.
25:15-32:59
LUMINOUS VEIL (US)
Balms on the Wellspring Scar
— Organ and piano add to the expressive languidity that breaks the textural black metal from a 2-piece.
33:23-37:36
ONDFØDT (Finland)
Han Bor i Skuggona
— Gawd yes, Scandanivian monsters-on-the-mountain-are-attacking-the-warriors metal. So good.
37:53-42:22
HEXORCIST (FL)
Exulting the Adversary
— Floridians brings it with neck-churning sinister death.
43:05-48:21
USHANGVAGUSH (Boston)
I
— First nations band, First nations are indigenous people of from a part of Canada and Maine, including one song sung in Miq'maw. Raw anguished black metal with post and indie.
49:29-54:34
CAINHURST (UK)
Daylight Denied
— Horror, horror, not whore.
54:57-END
PROFANE DESECRATION (MA)
Dead Planet
— Decompress from the uglies in your brain to the uglies in the sound.
0:25-9:19
CRAVEN IDOL (UK)
The Gods Have Left Us for Dead
— Stunning moody black metal with a lava hot drummer, and technical guitar noodling. Just love this.
10:26-16:46
LYKHAEON (Switzerland)
Descent Into Ruinous Splendor
— Epic stories built by a 2-piece, a Cryptmaster vocalist and ominous, dramatic drummer. Devilish atmosphere.
17:23-22:38
NIGHT CROWNED (Sweden)
Enslingen
— Gothic black metal retaining the aggression including a sharply-edged vocalist and technical guitar bordering on a retro 80’s heavy metal. Drama galore, really fun melodic black.
23:08-28:49
ERDVE (Lithuania)
Savigaila
— YOU pronounce it. Swirling deathcore with dynamic pace and mood, swinging in style that all take you to the bottom of the ocean.
29:24-32:56
TEMPLE OF DREAD (Germany)
Empyrean
— Jaunty thrash breaks a surging death the only way Germans can do it.
33:35-39:40
SEPUTUS (NY?)
The Will To Live
— More torture from members of Pyrrhon in the form of angular death and noise.
40:03-43:53
NECROGOD (Sweden)
Remain The Same Again
— The vocals are insane, along with a heavy-bass sound and distorted guitar in a solid debut.
44:52-54:57
BLACK DROP EFFECT (Sweden)
19th November
— Technically not new, except the physical release is brand new. Members of Ov Shadows making yet another excellent bout of melodic, tight black metal.
https://kandelaber.bandcamp.com/album/injecting-pain
55:22-END
NARZISSUS (Austria)(released 12/2020)
Heimkehr
— Weepy romantic novel soundtrack. Well, for a weirdo.
0:25-4:52
OPHIDIAN I (Iceland)
Sequential Descent
— Icelandic proggy tech death breaks into catchy riffs, cascading harmonies, heavy metal solos, and a biting range of vocals. I asked, they are going to have more vinyl soon.
6:14-12:07
STORMRULER (St. Louis)
Fear the Old Blood
— 2-piece with weaponized vocals riding alongside pummeling death and melodic black, swinging from bleak to blistering.
12:36-20:28
FRIISK (Germany)
Torügg bleev blot Sand
— Epic melodic sludge in a devastating, emotional black metal and electric vocals.
21:11-29:18
CALLIOPHIS (Germany)
The Art Of Shudder
— Germans retain that edge with their melodic, in a slow funeral pace that is heart-wrenching, building a larger post- and death metal.
30:15-34:01
SUIDAKRA (Germany)
Redemption
— More perfect German death, bringing in folk balanced with monstrous drums and riffs.
34:30-39:14
CONCILIUM (Portugal)
Shadow Gospels
— Depressive, monochromatic raw mix of black and death with portions of acoustic and atmospheric.
39:34-43:22
LACERATION (CA)
Parasomnia
— Windsor whips out wicked death structure and tempo, fly those fists.
44:14-49:54
MYRDØD (PA)
Submerged Within the Gelatinous Celestial Bath
— A murky bloodied throb of black metal playing with buzzing mechanical industrial noise. Imperceptible melodic blinking on and off
50:33-55:04
DUNGEON SERPENT (CAN)
Decay
— 1-person technical death with shining melodic and distorted, medieval guitar in spectacularly unique arrangements.
55:31-END
MESARTHIM (AU)
Tidal Warping
— A Runner-up to my Best of 2019. Australia creates a distant frontier of music that doesn’t show influence. Just weirdos.
New post-punk/dark wave!
0:25-4:44
COMA THERAPY (GA)
House of Lords
4:45-8:07
SKLTN CHR (Austin)
Modern Art
8:08-12:09
DESPERATE JOURNALIST (UK)
Personality Girlfriend
12:10-14:57
EMPTY. (WA)
Rooftops (Molchat Doma Cover)
14:58-19:32
ROPES OF NIGHT (Germany)
Strange Moons
19:33-24:05
HANTE.(Paris)
Catharsis
24:34-29:19
S Λ I N T (CO)
Sober
29:20-34:00
LYCIA (AZ)
Except
34:01-38:57
URBANDONED. (Germany)
Only Heartache
38:58-43:31
MORTAL BOY (LA)
Passion dance
43:47-47:33
TELEFONEMA (Argentina)
Romper (feat. Violenta Josefina)
47:34-50:38
VESTRON VULTURE (Mexico)
VCR Romance
50:39-54:41
WHISPERING SONS (Belgium)
Flood
54:42-END
COLDVVAVE (Indonesia)
The Solemn Respite Of The Cursed Faith
0:25-5:55
PARAM-NESIA (CAN)
Home
— This EP (I usually never play EPs) builds and spills in an exceptional story. Biting precision breaks into groove and drives into the unexpected.
7:03-13:51
SVNEATR (CAN)
Mourning Sun
— Pronounced Sun-eater. Chomping badass technical black metal, organic instrumentals, heavy metal solos, and a sprinkle of spacy.
14:28-22:46
KHANDRA (Belarus)
Thanatos
— Cold Belarus creates varying black metal pace, including a mid-paced melodic with churning texture pitted against noise and effects. Perfect torment.
23:07-28:16
DRAWN AND QUARTERED (Seattle)
Proliferation of Disease
— Sinewy smokey death metal with alien guitar.
29:12-36:57
AMENRA (Belgium)
De Evenmens
— Big and epic battling with stark minimalist, inspired by Neurosis. I also recommend Buried Inside’s 2005’s Chronoclast if you like this emo sludge doom.
37:23-41:36
CATHEXIS (TX)
Mortuus in Perpetuum
— Hot proggy death that you can only find in the middle of a wild, hot desert. But somehow cold and sharp.
42:09-45:34
FRACTAL UNIVERSE (France)
Withering Snowdrops
— The French know how to articulate their arty mayhem. Angular pace and chugging riffs with surprising jaunty bouts of jazz influence.
46:25-54:03
NOCTAMBULIST (Denver)
Depletion
— Denver surges with their bitter. Machinistic drums and battling vocalists are just part of the un-sweet merge of technical death and screech of black.
54:35-END
HEAVY TEMPLE (Philly)
The Maiden
— A 70’s groove with a lovely lead singer and all of it jams.
0:25-7:02
ALUSTRIUM (Philly)
This Hollow Ache
— Even if you don’t think you like tech death, this is a huge album that shouldn’t be missed. Intense, rage-filled, but countered with great melodic and emotive vocals.
8:36-11:59
DESASTER (Germany)
Failing Trinity
— A runner-up in 2016’s best thrash category. Power and grit packed into hoppy riffs and blasts.
12:33-17:08
ALLUVIAL (Atlanta)
40 Stories
— Prog incorporating technical heavy metal guitar solos, ballads, epic vocals, all in smaller chunks. Refreshing.
17:38-20:44
THORN (AZ)
Maw of Eternity
— 1-person brilliance broken into varied genres including death and doom and sludge in a creepy atmosphere.
21:12-25:21
INHUMAN CONDITION (Florida)
Crown of Mediocrity
— Floridian all the way: muscular, sweaty death that stomps your butt.
25:57-29:41
GNOSIS (Florida)
The Eleventh Step The Gate Unknown (feat. Stephan Necroabyssious)
— Florida again, this time pagan black metal with heavy metal guitar solos. Medieval, in the best way.
29:57-34:35
BLOODBEAT (Germany)
Intention to Kill
— Thrashy beat with catchy riffs and a great singer. Simply good.
34:42-39:04
EYE OF PURGATORY (Sweden)
The Lighthouse
— Swedish thick death with a cool mix of synth keyboards and a roaring vocalist.
39:29-43:36
THE DAY OF THE BEAST (VA)
Annihilation Prayer (Shallow Be Thy Graves)
— Pagan, chunky death made for a circle dance.
44:33-53:26
HANTERNOZ (France)
Ce Que le Fleuve a Pris
— MOFO bright French black metal with a hella varied mix of spoken vocals, languid guitar and even flutes and synth.
53:43-END
DELVING (Berlin)
Delving
— Elder lead in his own project of instrumental, psychedelic, krauty post-rock.
All new post-punk/dark wave show!
0:25-4:35
TWIN TRIBES (TX)
Portal to the Void (She Past Away Remix)
4:36-8:20
RINGFINGER (CAN)
Floorsong
8:21-12:33
PERTURBATOR (Paris)
Lustful Sacraments
12:34-17:16
JASON PRIEST (London)
Be Thankful, Billy
17:17-22:31
IAMTHESHADOW (Portugal)
Falling [thewalkingicon Remix]
22:32-28:11
FLESH OF MORNING (TX)
Fantasy
28:23-31:33
THOUGHT LEADERS (Oakland)
Jane Doe's Estate
31:34-33:55
KABLÉ (Poland)
Na tamie
33:56-39:39
KHANTED (Sweden)(remastered release from early 2000)
Deception
39:40-44:04
COLD CAVE (LA)
Promised Land
44:05-47:25
THE HERE TODAYS (Finland)
Miranda
47:56-51:55
PULSATIONS (Denmark)
Neglected Synapses
51:56-54:16
IMÁGENES RETRO (Mexico)
La vida ya no puedo sentir
54:17-END
TORCH (Denmark)
You Will Rise (I Will Fall)
0:25-3:56
CODE (UK)
Scolds Bridle
— A theatrical avant-garde black metal gem with a massive vocal spectrum.
5:07-8:26
GRAVERIPPER (Indiana)
Cherenkov Light
— Black and roll thrash with rocking retro heavy metal solos and an infusion of melodic in the whole package. Just love it.
9:01-15:42
CLOAK OF ALTERING (Netherlands)
I slip into a coma
— A black metal horror movie score invoking the experimental industrial of yester-year.
16:09-22:13
CIRCLE OF SIGHS (LA)
We Need Legends
— An anonymous band creating snarling metal with exploratory goth and synth, a bit of krautrock, and a whole lot of wild space.
22:40-30:54
DÖDSRIT (Sweden)
Mortal Coil
— Melodic black metal pulsing to a stark melancholy without becoming post-metal.
31:46-35:15
GHASTLY (Finland)
Out of the Psychic Blue
— Fervent alien death that wrinkles into psychedelic, creepy and foreboding through-out.
35:36-41:32
TYPHONIAN (Germany)
Disembodied
— Blistering death and thrash with beautiful guitar solos. This is such a fun album.
42:04-46:47
PORTAL (AU)
Offune
— From Avow: expanding, brooding, raw scraped guitars swirling into a hurricane.
47:33-52:23
WORMLIGHT (Sweden)
Aeon Of the Wolves
— Emotional, strong vocals in a melodic, poignant, reflective black metal.
52:55-END
EPIPHANIC TRUTH (ANON)
The Truth Of The Beast
— An anonymous band dropping 3 massive song, each its own massive journey. Brilliant churning death and moody epic sludge that breaks into proggy-organ and jazzy synth stuff.
0:25-4:36
OV SHADOWS (Sweden)
Raums Hymn
— Unreleased song added to a new cassette release of their frosty black metal 2020 album.
5:44-12:50
ESOCTRILIHUM (France)
Dy'th
— Complex French black metal integrates technical, creative, haunting, pagan, dense death and pockets of experimental instrumentation.
13:27-18:03
JESS AND THE ANCIENT ONES (Finland)
Love Zombi
— I'm glad they waited (4) years to come out with something that sounds fresh. Organ-heavy, bluesy, joyful pagan rock.
18:32-28:51
TERMINALIST (Denmark)
Invention of the Shipwreck
— An impressive debut album of technical death and thrash with proggy interludes and dynamic guitar work.
29:38-33:38
AN AUTUMN FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN (Netherlands)
Melancholia
— Falkor metal, with all-encompassing spacy, majestic instrumentals stabbed with its vocalist.
33:53-37:11
VULTURE (Germany)
Malicious Souls
— Anthemic heavy metal and speed with full retro vocals.
37:51-41:02
DEPRESION RADIKAL (Argentina)
Azul
— Baritone goth vocals in a bass-toned synth dark wave with touches of experimental. A heavy-hitting post-punk and wave album. Free download!: https://tumberorecords1.bandcamp.com/
41:17-45:31
SCULPTURE CLUB (SLC)
Shed to Salt
— Robert Smith meets The Ocean Blue, dark mixed with floatingly sweet.
46:23-50:47
UNPLEASANT SOUNDS (Russia)
Cold
— Oh, this woman’s vocals. Dark wave euphoria that is richly danceable.
51:11-END
ANATOMIA (Japan)
Dismemberment
— Growls in space, with horror noise and funeral death.
0:25-8:40
TVAER (MN)
IV
— Wicked black metal is integrated seamlessly with emotionally wrenching acoustic and melody.
9:40-17:13
GUTVOID (CAN)
Murmurations From Twilight Bodies
— A split between four bands; all filthy death. This one by Gutvoid is a cool death and psychedelic atmospheric blend.
17:54-26:15
PANOPTICON (MN)
Rope Burn Exit
— Minnesota tells a story of a massive starry sky and aggro men in black hoods raising a fist to it.
26:51-33:09
THROAT (Finland)
Conveyer Line
— The Finnish always have something surprising to offer. Here it is futuristic horror industrial noise and a proggy post-punk.
33:34-41:30
WRECHE (Oakland)
Mysterium
— One man’s mad brain offers experimental black metal with a lot of piano and no guitar.
42:05-48:00
VIOLET COLD (Azerbaijan)
Togetherness
— Thanks to my buddy Donovan for pointing out this album. They have always been a strange meld of black gaze, electronic and a lot of emo, which becomes touching. Great new album.
48:49-55:24
GRAVE MIASMA (UK)
Rogyapa
— Groove and atmosphere in a murky mid-paced death, I’m all for it.
55:53-END
URBANDONED. (Germany)
At Last (Fragrance cover)
— A new German dark wave band does their danceable version of a favorite band of mine, Fragrance.
0:25-7:50
GREY AURA (Netherlands)
El Greco in Toledo
— First a duo, now a truly wild trio. Moody psychedelic black metal, ethnic instrumentals, a bit of aggressive hardcore and jazz. Has a bit of Imperial Triumphant without the death metal. The whole journey is spectacular.
9:08-13:25
HUMAN FAILURE (AU)
Crown on the Head of a King of Mud
— 1-person Australian barrage of off-center death with the best noise vocals and feedback screams. Monstrous in this incredibly satisfying way.
13:53-19:10
VREID (Norway)
Into the Mountains
— Best part was the use of melody. Organic post-metal builds into an epic black metal and surprising genre switches that I won’t name – what a blast. You can lose your brain in it.
19:35-24:35
FEED THEM DEATH (London)
Eulogic (Negative Dialektik)
— Yes, feed us the weird. Snarling sludge, mechanical grind, disturbing electronics and sometimes plodding pace leaves you scratchy.
25:14-33:07
ORYX (Denver)
Last Breath
— Metal heads understand the need for meditation. Oryx uses drone, instrumentals, melodic and repetition mixed with sludge and doom and a set of fucking hot vocals.
33:27-39:20
ODAL (Germany)
...um Ewiges zu schaffen
— Germanic black metal and their drama. This is in supplication to Mother Nature with folk and heavy metal influence.
39:42-45:49
SIGIL (CAN)
Vessels
— Another proggy turn in black metal that keeps it fresh with hardcore aggression.
46:52-52:58
HADIT (Italy)
The Submission of Rage for Propulsion Divine
— Oppressive is the gift from this duo. Distorted, meandering, explosive and just weighty. You know, f’n heavy.
53:24-END
MALUM (Finland)
Devil's Creation
— Finnish vocals is a weapon in a raw Satanic black metal with cool keyboard effects.
0:25-3:49
CRYPTS OF DESPAIR (Lithuania)
Condemned To Life
— Vocal extremes, hurricane of death noise and crushing beat with an underlying melancholy. A powerhouse of an album.
5:07-9:07
ALTARAGE (Spain)
Forja
— Sinister, meditative drone pace builds to a cacophony, with pockets of grind and sludge and death chugging. Runner-up up in my Best of 2016, and another hit.
9:47-14:14
THE ARMED (Detroit)
Average Death
— 90’s-esque indie blended to modernity with a Converge-textural hardcore, industrial and synth, and pop. 19 musicians include some famous ones.
14:34-19:08
DESOLATE REALM (Finland)
Spire
— 2-piece heavy metal includes all the good stuff, including a jamming guitar, breaks into ballads, and a heavy dose of headbanging.
19:23-25:03
DEATHTRIPPERS (UK)
Unity of light
— Lovely goth vocals in a richly melodic and romantic electronic dark wave.
25:50-33:29
SPECTRAL LORE (Greece)
Initiation Into The Mystery
— Last year’s split with Mare Cognitum led to this chaotic, beautiful, abstract and ethnic black metal.
33:55-40:33
BONES OF THE EARTH (Arkansas)
Machine Rising
— The unexpected galaxy-driven compositions took me out of what I was listening to. Already a unique mix of doom, proggy sludge, droning guitars, and chomping hardcore
40:55-42:24
BONE CUTTER (San Jose)
Sea of Broken Needs
— 2 thumbs-up to the song titles. Short and sweet crushing grindcore and death that is unexpectedly charming.
42:53-48:57
UNGFELL (Switzerland)
Tyfels Antlitz (Wie e Huerä zwei Chind empfanget)
— Just picture these dudes in Heidi-pigtails on a Swiss countryside singing their fantasy medieval and orchestral black metal. .
49:55-53:57
CICADA THE BURROWER (Madison)
Where Old Crystals Grow
— Shimmering with sharp waves right under the surface. Meandering jazz meets raw aggression. All proceeds off this record go to the ACLU, yah!
54:40-END
PAYSAGE d’HIVER (Switzerland)
Wärzä
— Paysage d’Hiver’s “Wanderer” continues to explore an alien world. A shorter album than last year’s stunner, but still a raw biting wind.
Special new wave/cold wave/dark wave/electro/synth/industrial show - all super brand new songs.
0:25-3:43
CHEMICAL CLUB (NM)
Drunk in the Dark
3:44-7:03
JE T'AIME (France)
Fuck Me (Live at Gibus)
7:04-10:32
LESSER ANGELS (OR)
Cloth and Ashes
10:33-14:27
BLACK PLASTIC (Chicago)
Savage
14:28-19:04
SEVIT (TX)
War Chest (Unholy Mix)
19:05-21:37
CAWATANA (Hungary)
White (Again) - (live)
21:38-25:45
KÆLAN MIKLA (Iceland)
Sólstöður
25:58-29:40
DELIRIUM (Ukraine)
Затерянные (feat. Povod)
29:41-33:14
GRAVEYARD GOSSIP (Portland)
Lift The Veil
33:15-36:10
SEXUAL PURITY (Ukraine)
Chains
36:11-40:06
HALLOWS (Seattle)
All That Is True Dies
40:07-45:58
HANTE. (France)
Blank Love
46:29-51:14
BLACK LULLABIES (LA)
Crown Shyness
51:15-55:15
UR URSULA VERA (?)
Slow Danse With The Dead - So obnoxious
55:16-END
LESSER CARE (TX)
Palm
0:25-6:52
GABESTOK (Denmark)
Tågens melodi
— A duo creating pagan horror psychedelic black metal and punk thrash with notes of 60's garage guitar and a whisper rasp. Album shipping fees of fucking $20, but I pushed forward.
7:58-13:29
KARMA VIOLENS (Greece)
Kingdom of the Deserters
— Another duo-charged frenetic death with delicious groove and flourished guitar solos and an infusion of thrash pace.
14:07-20:30
SPECTRAL WOUND (Montreal)
Diabolic Immanence
— My 2018 choice for Best Traditional Black Metal, this is their follow up album. The vocalist stains your brain with his monstrous shrieks that invoke pity. The black metal is raw, leaving you broken. This is pure devastation perfection.
21:01-26:57
INTONATE (Montreal)
Sever
— Gloomy, moody, reflective death metal transitioning into doomy instrumental sections. Menacing and romantic.
27:48-32:43
AUTARKH (Netherlands)
Cyclic Terror
— On my pile for a while and was persuaded to take another gander after their burning Roadburn performance. Solid industrial bent in this version of textualized chaos. Electronic effects serve to abrade and soothe.
33:19-37:43
KËKHT ARÄKH (Ukraine)
Crystal
— Opposing black metal with a gentle touch is not surprising. These musicians are incredibly thoughtful. This version uses melodic strains behind the raw and stripped sound providing a touching, nostalgic and difficult result.
38:05-44:22
CREEPING FEAR (Paris)
Hategod Triumph
— Chugging pace and a massive slab of death pummeling with excellent guitar solos.
45:09-49:25
BEWITCHER (Portland)
Electric Phantoms
— Black’n’roll with catchy heavy metal that dives into speed. Raise a flagon.
49:50-57:52
ILDARUNI (Armenia)
Boundless Numen Gardens of Ardini
— Armenian traditional instruments that bring that ethnic edge to an emotional, riff-heavy black metal
58:30-END
ASH CODE (Italy)
Indifference
— Italian cold wave remixing Clan of Xymox and Molchat Doma, big in the scene right now.
0:25-4:51
CRYPTOSIS (Netherlands)
Game of Souls
— Groove-leaning, proggy, intricate thrash breaking into synth and guitar solo interludes.
5:44-9:37
THRONE (MI)
All Creation Wept
— Best guttural and screeching vocals emoting utter fury, a dance between black and death in a hyper-pace.
9:57-17:03
CATHARTIC DEMISE (CAN)
Disparity
— More tight thrash with cool heavy metal melody and a biting guitar and drum coupling. Fist up.
17:35-23:15
SOOTHSAYER (Ireland)
Cities of Smoke
— Sludge that unravels to massive drums and desperate, enraged vocals with instrumentals that transform to savage explosions. Free download from bandcamp! https://soothsayer.bandcamp.com/album/echoes-of-the-earth-atmospheric-doom-sludge-metal
23:53-26:56
OLD NICK (CA?)
Bastion Of Bubonic Debauchery
— Do a line of coke, take a hit of acid, turn on the black metal and go on a carnival ride.
27:20-32:10
INOCULATION (OH)
The Edge of Town
— Relentless sharp death metal infused with cool effects and noodle-y guitar creating a head-churning affair all around.
32:30-37:00
HORNDAL (Sweden)
Horndal's Blodbad
— Shimmering melodic over a dramatic hardcore vocal and abrasive sludge band with filthy riffs. But the melody, that shit was good.
37:21-41:46
PHLEBOTOMIZED (Netherlands)
No Surrender
— Hailing from 1989 and still rocking a modern brutal death with unique doomy melodic, even from old farts.
42:38-56:40
夢遊病者 (aka Sleepwalker) (NY, Japan, Russia)
Redemption / Retaliation
— Bros. This is sound that will break apart your bored brain with meditative psychedelic, jazz, black metal, and just out-there.
57:09-END
MIRROR OF HAZE (Norway)
Drifting into the Void
— A dark Norwegian gothic with sweet vocals.
0:25-4:48
MORAL COLLAPSE (Bengalaru)
Your stillborn be praised
— Bangalore/Bengaluru band Moral Collapse has guest musicians from huge bands like Death and Gorguts, creating a tight proggy technical death that builds a balanced and infectious sound, and spots of experimentation like horror violins to mix it up.
6:01-11:44
VITRAIL (CAN)
Devant l'Autel
— Languid, unrushed and anguished melodic interweave with a black scratched vocal and vicious drums.
12:09-13:54
DEAD NEANDERTHALS (Netherlands)
Restraining Order
— Deranged grind with a saxophone vocal that sounds like it is being murdered; and disjointed drums creating their brand of mayhem.
14:23-20:12
STEEL BEARING HAND (TX)
Per Tenebras Ad Lucem
— Death and thrash are hand in hand with sped up tempo and sharp guitar solos with variety of tempo and a bit of doom. All of it erupts.
20:53-29:23
LABORED BREATH (Oakland)
Hypoesthesia
— Where you start is not where you end. Theatrical black metal with meditative sections proves dense, but worthy of unpacking.
29:59-36:33
UNFLESH (New Hampshire)
Amongst Horrors Must I Dwell
— Technical death metal swings to melodic black metal with beautiful acoustic passages that really take it to an atmospheric route.
37:03-44:30
MYRDØD (PA)
Heart ov Gharlrath
— Bloodied, monstrous vocals with a swarming atmospheric black propelled with a death beat and industrial groove in parts, eventually breaking back to its mangled horror.
45:31-49:20
ORECUS (Sweden)
My Manifest
— Straight-forward pummeling death infiltrated with heavy groove, made for the bangers.
49:37-53:09
CELESTIAL SANCTUARY (UK)
Mass Extinction
— Unafraid of a doomy slower pace, eventually building to massive head-churning death and part grind.
53:33-58:17
PUTRESCINE (San Diego)
The Abyss
— Off-centered brutal death, with multiple layered melodies making it weird, and added female vocals.
58:39-END
ROOSEVELT (Germany)
Strangers
— The antithesis of the previous songs, some euphoric disco pop to sweeten your brain.
0:25-4:02
DEMISER (SC)
Deathstrike
— Debut thrash from a fiery rasp in a Lemmy style and guitars that careen off a cliff.
5:08-12:34
SEPULCROS (Portugal)
Marcha Funebre
— Funeral doom death? This one engulfs and saturates, and then explodes into a cavernous death with monstrous beat. Be patient, this is gratifying. Massive album.
12:58-18:10
HERZEL (France)
La Flamme
— French heavy metal that jam with guitar rides, with changing tempos and epic leadups to dramatic Mercyful Fate vocals.
18:35-23:24
VARMIA (Poland)
bielmo
— Tribal Polish black metal with strange instrumentation including the didgeridoo and a range of vocals, including chants, female vocals and a guttural mutterer.
24:13-28:47
GREENLEAF (Sweden)
Tides
— 20 years for me, following this band. The lead singer was also shared with Dozer, another fave. The new vocalist has been around for a while now, and he is as epic. Sun-drenched Swedish retro done perfectly.
29:11-34:01
TURRIS EBURNEA (Italy)
Unified Fields
— A duo from Cosmic Putrefaction and Krallice, mesmerizing with twisted death and a touch of really unique melodic and droney bits.
34:31-40:17
MARIANAS REST (Finland)
Pointless Tale
— Finnish decompresses you with their style of melancholy blackened and a hot vocalist.
40:49-47:55
GENGHIS TRON (NY)
Alone In The Heart Of The Light
— Synth-based psychedelic, post- and spacey-rock that is immersive and heady.
48:47-54:13
KOLDOVSTVO (?Russia?)
IV
— Dr. Zhivago metal. Dramatic, romantic and melancholy-sweet driving to a bitterly cold ending.
54:40-59:24
MARASMUS (KC)
Archaic Burial Rites
— Marasmus balances delicate instrumentation and a brutal technical death. Raw and sparse that packs a wallop, with a blast of riffs when necessary.
59:49-END
HAPLESS WRETCH (London)
Necrotizing Fasciitus
— 10 minutes of filthy grime-y death that is as impactful as a much longer album.
0:25-6:48 STORTREGN (Switzerland) Grand Nexion Abyss — Guitars galore; strummed to galaxy-driven solos to technical. Textures and genres include technical death, melodic black, and a blast of proggy lurches and massive riffs. A chilling rasp of a vocalist drops perfectly to the hottest muscular. Huge album.
8:02-11:59 PUPIL SLICER (UK) Wounds Upon My Skin — Yes, this album is that good. Not just another Dillinger; this pulls its weight from all directions. Grind and noise make way for massive riffs and groove with unexpected moments. Her vocals are strength and agony.
12:27-16:50 ENFORCED (VA) Malignance — Lighten this shit UP, with some brutal hardcore. Richmond in the HIZ-HOOOOOUSE. Appropriate fist on the album cover.
17:23-28:02 MARE COGNITUM (Portland) Luminous Accretion — Intricately woven guitar and drums, building to always something bigger. The suffocation is manageable with breaks of melody and a softened edge. Always stellar.
29:04-36:14 WESENWILLE (Netherlands) The Descent — A duo that has packed it all in there: sharp, angular, chaotic black metal sweetened with drama. It will take time to figure it out.
36:52-40:57 KANKAR (Germany) Thüringer Schwarzmetall — Another 2-piece with a powerful weaponized vocal, an equally effective drum, and moments of beer rock’n’roll warming it all up.
41:34-46:00 LUNAR SHADOW (Germany) And Silence Screamed — 80’s heavy metal soul with poignant lyrics and reflective ballads. Emotional and solid.
47:04-51:02 DVNE (Scotland) Enûma Eliš — Pronounced Dune. Thick, rich sludge with proggy overtones and epic breakdowns. A cool breeze of post-metal and experimental ambient really break it apart.
51:36-57:59 FUATH (Scotland) The Pyre — Two Scottish bands in a row! This is the most medieval warrior wintry black forest black metal you’ll hear in a while.
58:23-END TOPOGRAPHIES (SF) Lonely Figure — I wondered how the vocalist Gray Tolhurst, son of the Cure's drummer/keyboardist, ended up in San Francisco. He was going to college here! He pushed away cold wave and post-punk for a long time, and finally broke down. We should be so lucky. This is a luscious, poppy, misting, moody, dreamy album.
Tribute to our dear friend Brian who was gone before his time. These songs represent the time we spent together dancing, drinking, gossiping, griping, loving. And yes, there are two Hole songs.
0:25-4:16 SKINNY PUPPY (CAN)(1988) Testure
4:17-8:52 KMFDM (UK)(1990) Friede
8:53-11:45 HOLE (USA)(1991) Teenage Whore
11:46-15:12 HOLE (USA)(1994) Doll Parts
15:13-18:58 BAUHAUS (UK)(1981) Passion of Lovers
18:59-23:55 MINISTRY (USA)(1989) Thieves
24:15-27:08 PIXIES (USA)(1989) Monkey Gone to Heaven
27:09-31:35 DEPECHE MODE (UK)(1987) Never Let Me Down Again
31:36-34:38 THE SMITHS (UK)(1986) Bigmouth Strikes Again
34-39-38:25 NINE INCH NAILS (USA)(1989) Down In It
38:26-44:07 YAZ (UK)(1982) Situation (U.S. 12'' Mix)
44:38-47:31 THE CURE (UK)(1985) In Between Days
47:32-52:34 NEW ORDER (UK)(1989) Dream Attack
52:35-56:29 SISTERS OF MERCY (UK)(1985) Nine While Nine
56:29-END PINK FLOYD (UK)(1975) Wish You Were Here
0:25-5:04 INVULTATION (Ohio) Cathedral Of Impaled — Ohio weirdos in a cavernous death, pummeling raw black, and a sludgy groove.
5:58-9:44 SIGNIFICANT POINT (Japan) Attacker — Stylish retro Japanese that hit 80’s soaring epic heavy and speed metal on the head. Jamming, harmonizing, technical guitars steal the show.
10:06-14:09 THROWING BRICKS (Netherlands) Constant Failure — This will thaw your heart and pummel it to a pulp all at the same time. The desperate vocals really threw some arrows. Hardcore, sludge, black, post-metal and even drone.
14:52-20:51 KRALLICE (NY) Disgust Patterns — Krallice off-roads and it is the insane that our brains need. The masters of dense, technical prowess break under atmospheric vocals and avant garde synth to create a post-apocalyptic sound.
21:39-26:57 VOID (London) VIII: The End (This Is the Way the World Ends) — Another weird album with multiple facets: moody mathematical, industrial, funk-bass and theatrical psychedelic. A member of Hexvessel and Grave Pleasures.
27:32-30:12 SWAMPBEAST (LA) Convulsing In The Shit And Piss Of Man — Absolutely no “swampy stoner” here. This is some filthy, deranged death with heavily head-bangable moments.
30:44-35:21 FORHIST (France) VI — Vocalist of Blut Aus Nord creates his style of modern, well-produced black metal with a touch of folk.
35:39-39:46 NIGHTFALL (Greece) Darkness Forever — Haunting instrumentals build to melodic death and frenzied thrash.
40:06-45:17 BAEST (Denmark) Towers of Suffocation — Don’t underestimate a hearty portion of old school debilitating power death.
46:07-49:21 BLEIB MODERN (Germany) Loony Voices — Melancholy, of course. This is post-punk that knows mood.
49:41-END NOCTAMBULIST (Netherlands) De Leegte Wenkt — Dutch black metal. What can go wrong.
0:25-3:01 KNOLL (Memphis) Inherent of Life — Intense vocals line up with the sharp knife of grind, with death breakdowns and a meditative drone. A powerhouse, mixed by Kurt Ballou.
4:04-9:48 PARANORM (Sweden) The Immortal Generation — Thrash-driven, angular death blast with noodling guitars, reminiscent of our 80’s favorites. It unpacks into a full universe of sound. Vinyl won't be offered until August-September.
10:12-16:24 OMINOUS RUIN (SF) Deception — Absolutely no superfluous note in this tight, crisp, proggy tech, with atmospheric and organic pockets and badass guitar wizardry. Stark mofos.
16:43-23:43 SPELLJAMMER (Sweden) Lake — Speaking of downtuned epic stoner doom, Spelljammer has come out of a 5 year retirement. Take a huge hit, feel this propel you into its cloud, Swedish gods of composition.
24:27-28:22 SUMMONING THE LICH (St. Louis) Demon of the Snow — Death-charged debut diving into chomping thrash, swift tech death and tempo changes with the backdrop of fantasy-based themes.
29:08-36:32 IOTUNN (Denmark) The Tower of Cosmic Nihility — Epic, grandiose metal with emotional vocals soaring high, the vocalist is the stunner. He is also the vocalist from Barren Earth and Hamferd. Reminded me of While Heaven Wept.
37:02-41:51 CULTED (Sweden/CAN) Lifers — Distorted doom, somber raw stoner, and industrial groove with machinic drone and hushed vocals with the most incredible album art.
42:28-47:10 LESSER CARE (TX) Head On The Floor (live) — More moody, richly melodic dark wave from a surging alternative scene in Texas. Fucking Texas. I guess I’d be depressed there too.
48:13-55:50 LAMP OF MURMUUR (UK) Curse of Silent Thunder — Part of a split with anonymous band dai-ichi, I love the melody shining through the fury of the thin, raw black metal that break into massive riffs. Both bands kill it on this split.
56:20-END EMPYRIUM (Germany) The Wild Swans — Crystal melodies soothing and rolling out in waves that eventually erupt into post-metal with a monstrous vocalist.
0:25-5:44 SPIRE (AU) Hymn III — Textural black metal slowed down to moody and reflective. The vocalist adds multiple dimensions with low growls, high shrieks, chanting and an overall thundering performance.
7:03-13:55 SENYAWA (Indonesia) Istana — Written-up by the NYT, Senyawa is an incredible part of the huge Indonesian experimental scene with a wild ride on homemade instrumentation. They offered graphics and audio files out to whoever wanted it, asking different labels to create mixes to appeal to their local region. 44 labels took them up on it. This one is from a British label.
14:39-21:07 SUFFERING HOUR (MN) Obscuration — Another explosive black metal band playing with death muscularity and lower-paced meditative atmospheric with a seething, gravelly vocalist.
21:39-23:38 GRAVESEND (NYC) Ashen Piles Of The Incinerated — Intensity ramps up through this album, gritty death, atmospheric grind and punk experimenting with density, aggression and mood.
24:21-29:23 HEAVE BLOOD AND DIE (Norway) Post People — The band name doesn’t necessarily match the chill post-punk 70’s influenced krautrock political band. Fantastic album.
29:39-32:26 SOCIOCLAST (San Jose) Concrete and Steel — Monstrous groove grind with blistering death and dread.
32:47-37:18 DEAD EXALTATION (India) The Transformation — Indian technicality puts this away with a blast of death and prog and satisfying riffs.
37:36-45:15 LIQUIFY (WA) Quest for Eternity — Jamming psychedelic brain candy that lets the brain just breathe. Lovely.
46:04-50:12 DEIQUISITOR (Denmark) Below the frozen Tundra — Demonic vocals claws you while burying you alive with a raw bleak death.
50:30-55:26 SARIN (CAN) Reckoner — Meditative stoner post-metal with a focus on unique instrumentals; another decompressive album.
55:45-END MOTORAMA (Russia) Up — Sweet, bubbly new wave from one of my faves in this genre.
0:25-7:42 AD NAUSEAM (Italy) Inexorably Ousted Sente — Frenetic black and pummeling, technical death hurtling against each other, creating a universe of density, breaking into rippling, meandering, brain melting compositions.
8:51-12:51 EMPTINESS (Belgium) On n'en finit pas — A bleak, unrefined goth mixed with some traditional melodic bass and synth, but thrown off-kilter by evil vocals and nothing sweet.
13:18-18:21 HUMANITY’S LAST BREATH (Sweden) Tide — Cinematic and horror experimental deathcore that explodes out of the traditional djent beat and muscular vocal.
18:46-22:14 EVIL (Japan) 閻魔天 Enmaten — Chomping old school black metal speed with technical badass rock and roll guitar.
22:55-30:27 DSKNT (Swiss) Deconvolution Jψ [Part I] — A cavernous, disorienting black metal with a hurricane of satisfying riffs that erupt out of nowhere.
30:51-36:43 CAEDES CRUENTA (Greece) From the Darkest Paths of Golgotha — Majestic Greek black metal with desperate raw vocals and gothy synth work.
37:17-40:17 INTELLECT DEVOURER (AU) (09/2020) Demons of the Skull — Released last year. A member from StarGazer, but very different. Guitar shredding technical death with changes to lurching slow pace.
40:34-44:19 REVULSION (Finland) Unravel — First full length after 10 years. Throaty death with some Finnish mood.
45:14-50:01 UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE (UK) Stationary State — Reimagined weirdo staticky drone meditation.
50:34-END ALKERDEEL (Belgium) Trok — Bludgeoned.
0:25-4:17 PORTRAYAL OF GUILT (Austin) Masochistic Oath — Broken shards of bleak hardcore mixed with a demonic vocalist and grind, electronic, melodic pop.
5:49-17:05 THE RUINS OF BEVERAST (Germany) The Tundra Shines — One of my favorite metal bands, whose 2017 album made it to my top 20 of the last 20 years. Another vivid, moody, psychedelic, tribalistic black metal journey with surprising clean vocals that cut through. Touching. Massive.
17:34-22:31 EXIMPERITUSERQETHHZEBIBŠIPTUGAKKATHŠULWELIARZAXUŁUM (Belarus) Tahâdu — Anonymous group takes you on a weird, crazed death ride with a moody, rich doom. Unexpected.
23:00-27:20 STARGAZER (AU) Star Vassal — Indulgent, weird, proggy death with a rumbling and often theatrical singer, that culminates into kickass riffs.
28:00-36:44 THERMOHALINE (Argentina/Brazil/Belgium) Sirens — A debut that nails you to the wall with intensity, and changes shapes to droning guitars, industrial and keyboard effects.
37:08-40:27 ALTERED DEAD (CAN) Prosodemic Realms — Throat-clenched vocals within a hurricane of bleak death, slowed down to headbang-worthy sinister doom when needed.
41:02-47:26 TRIBULATION (Sweden) The Wilderness — Take the time and meld with this fantasy metal with vampiric blood and a storm of heavy metal and rising melody. Excellent.
48:18-54:27 AETHYRICK (Finland) Flesh Once Divided — Frosty massive black metal that often slows to dramatic vibrant melody.
54:50-END THE SUN CAME UP UPON THE LEFT (Portland) A Coward’s Expression of Doubt — A fantastic split with moody, gorgeous acoustic and gothic melodies.
0:25-8:34 GRAVE GNOSIS (FL) Anathema — Orthodox Satanic band practice dark spiritual arts in the form of sound, invoking spirits. That’s some dedication dude.
9:49-15:03 NOVAE MILITIAE (France) Faithfully Reduced to Ashes — Look, so this released last year, but just got released in the US by Sentient so we’ll go with that. USA! Another bout of Satanic black metal with a spectrum of pace from pummeling to lethargic to dense atmosphere.
15:46-22:53 AUTONOESIS (Toronto) (Released 8/2020) Horrors of Nothing — Long form thrash mixing death and black with guttural rasps and neck-wrenching spins. Such a great debut last year.
23:21-29:52 MYRDØD (PA?) Elders Cave — One person gurgling bloody chaotic swarming offset fighting hammering. Surprising.
30:44-35:17 SHAME (London) Human, for a Minute — Album name ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ is a color used to weaken. Disjointed punk pop, late 70’s style post-punk, and noise rock with Idles-style vocals.
35:42-41:35 ABERRATION (MN) I — Oppressive nature of Minnesota lends to a black metal filled with unease.
42:03-47:02 HULDER (OR) From Whence and Ancient Evil Once Reigned — One woman band mixing pagan, acoustic and medieval flair to a turbulent black metal.
47:48-51:12 SVRM (Ukraine) Життя — Emotionally relentless with intense vocals and grief-stricken melodies. Pummeling breaks to guitar breaks to folk instrumentation. Gorgeous.
51:47-END DEAD NEANDERTHALS (Netherlands) (part of) Cosmic Slime — Members of my #1 2020 album Cryptae created another form of immersion: a distorted meditative drone sound wave. Love the touch of horn. You can download the 27 minute song for free from bandcamp (https://deadneanderthals.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-slime).
0:25-8:28 AKHLYS (CO) (released 12/2020) Ephialtes — An ancient, warped, sinister, atmospheric black metal witch rasps out evil spells between bloody teeth.
9:54-14:55 FRACTAL GENERATOR (Ontario) Shadows Of Infinity — Stealthy knife vocal outlines vicious turns and decapitating riffs while everything rains down in bullets.
15:26-21:12 GRAVEHUFFER (MO) Madwolf — Smart, strange, varied, jaunty crusty metal sludge with horns, sounding like Imperial Triumphant on a joyride. There is so much here.
21:39-28:07 HERETICAL SECT (NM) (released 12/2020) Ritual Inversion — Misting, howling, raging atmospheric horror breaking into a hurricane of distortion and pummeling, ripping apart into multiple organisms.
28:52-31:36 WARSTONE (MA) (Released 11/2020) Holy Steel — If you like Gatecreeper, take a gander of this powerful set of throaty grind, death and slow-churning sludge. Excellent.
32:03-33:06 GATECREEPER (AZ) Starved — Short bundle of death-grind and one massive epic doom song with heated growls.
33:41-41:18 DREAD SOVEREIGN (Ireland) Nature is the Devil's Church — Primordial lead singer has been one of my favorite for years. Another one of his projects of retro heavy metal with death tone and warm stoner psychedelic.
41:39-47:48 SHAIDAR LOGOTH (MN) (released 12/20) Machin Shin — Minnesota screams despair in a ferocious atmospheric black metal.
48:37-52:04 STASS (Sweden) As The Seasons Bleach Your Bones — Swedes roll out rock and death, epically catchy, surprising tempo lurches and a tuff boy mosh pit attitude.
52:26-57:41 MALAKHIM (Sweden) Slither O Serpent — Just a touch of melody within a cauldron of bubbling black and death sweetens it just right.
58:08-END BLOSSOM (MN) Ingurgitating the Caliginous Orifice — Short and sweet songs blasting out a crust and death impact.
Best of 2020, Show 2 of 2, counting down to my #1 Album!
Album Cover Art The Spirit (Germany), album - Cosmic Terror: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3996197371_10.jpg Psychotic Waltz (CA), album - The God Shaped Void: https://www.insideoutshop.de/images/products/large/0IO01998_637115800934067991.jpg Phalanx (CA), album - Golden Horde: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2404742206_10.jpg Blasphemer (Italy), album - The Sixth Hour: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0764213119_10.jpg On Thorns I Lay (Greece), album - Threnos: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0195263489_10.jpg Peripheral Cortex (Germany), album - God Kaiser Hell: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4257315599_10.jpg Xenobiotic, album – Mordrake: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2471456487_10.jpg Intronaut (CA), album - Fluid Existential Inversions: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0798790118_10.jpg Heathen Foray (Austria), album – Weltenwandel: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4089437681_10.jpg Man’n Sin (France), album - Garden of Starvation: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3989012929_10.jpg Korgonthurus (Finland), album – Kuolleestasyntynyt: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0719671308_10.jpg Crystal Coffin (CAN), album - The Transformation Room: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4001452580_10.jpg Hyborian (KC), album - Volume II: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3175924485_10.jpg Death On Fire (IN), album - Ghost Songs: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4129148932_10.jpg Roman Ring (Chicago), album - The Halogen: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0817157893_10.jpg Forlesen (Bay Area), album - Hierophant Violent: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4215778864_10.jpg Graveir (AU), album - King of the Silent World: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3127444269_10.jpg Light Dweller (AZ), album – Hominal: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0718838473_10.jpg Khôra (Norway), album – Timaeus: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0231645775_10.jpg Khthoniik Cerviiks (Germany), album – Æequiizoiikum: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0281983332_10.jpg Xythlia, album - Immortality Through Quantum Suicide: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3169528353_10.jpg Gaerea (Portugal), album – Limbo: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3738186031_10.jpg Fides Inversa (Italy) , album – Historia Nocturna: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1364049488_10.jpg Question (Mexico), album - Reflections of the Void: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3893888604_10.jpg Krallice (NYC), album - Mass Cathexis: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0574786205_10.jpg Ars Magna Umbrae (Poland), album – Apotheosis: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3001886981_10.jpg Expander (Austin), album - Neuropunk Boostergang: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2673049905_10.jpg Astringency (TX), album - Of Vacant Planes: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2891681845_10.jpg Yatra (MD), album - All is Lost: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2190231781_10.jpg Amiensus (MN), album – Abreaction: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0885904814_10.jpg Lord Almighty (Boston), album – Wither: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1449725673_10.jpg Maladie (GER), album - The Grand Aversion: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3234487487_10.jpg Goratory (Boston), album - Sour Grapes: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3844836567_10.jpg The Deviant (Norway), album - Rotting Dreams of Carrion: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2586727345_10.jpg
Behind My Vocals Statiqbloom (NYC), album - Beneath The Whelm Deathmaze (Belgium), album - Eau Rouge Riki (LA), album - S/T IAMTHESHADOW (Portugal), album - Pitchblack
Modern Black WAYFARER (Denver), album - A Romance With Violence The Crimson Rider (Gallows Frontier, Act I) (0:25-10:50) — Western romance and melody infused with epic, pummeling, majestic black metal with a fiery lead singer.
UPRISING (Germany), album - II Monuments (12:25-19:35) — Folk and punk lend the steel-tipped boot of anti-nazi black metal a surprising groove and heart.
RUNNERS-UP: Khthoniik Cerviiks (Germany), album - Æequiizoiikum Esoctrilihum (France), album - Eternity Of Shaog Meslamtaea (Netherlands), album - Geketend in de schaduw van het leven Calligram (Europe), album - The Eye Is The First Circle
Alternative & New/Cold/Dark Wave Saturday Album: MOANING (LA), album - Uneasy Laughter Keep Out (20:16-24:26) — My Saturday album is my most played album of the year. Buy this on vinyl and twirl in your living room, arms outstretched as you belt every word and fall in love with every sweet note. I cannot recommend more.
FEARING (Santa Cruz), album - Shadow Pictured Perfect (25:08-30:02) — Fearing played on my birthday in 2019 opening for She Past Away (Turkey); and I knew I had to follow them. And I was rewarded with the most danceable goth-leaning dark wave of 2020.
RUNNERS-UP: Pleasure Policy (Oakland), album - Forever Statiqbloom (NYC), album - Beneath The Whelm Deathmaze (Belgium), album - Eau Rouge Riki (LA), album - S/T IAMTHESHADOW (Portugal), album - Pitchblack
Black'n'Death VREDEHAMMER (Norway), album - Viperous Winds of Dysphoria (30:50-35:42) — Industrial-influenced keyboards and beat deconstruct this tight guitar soloing, neck-wrencher.
HAAPOJA (Finland), album - Mullan Keskeltä Tunne Kylmä, Tunne Pelko (36:15-41:39) — Scraped off the bowels of death with strangled vocals and alien guitar tone. Melodies shine between the crust and grime.
WARDAEMONIC (AU), album - Acts of Repentance Act IV – Sufferance (42:07-50:32) — The name suggests straight pummeling, but this was a journey, each song providing dynamics in thought and structure.
RUNNER-UP: Earth Rot (AU), album – Black Tides of Obscurity
Debut SKELETON (Austin), album - S/T Catacombs (51:23-55:50) — What a difficult category to choose from. Listening to Skeleton is like how I would imagine them live, massive chomping energy in complex morsels of structure and brutality.
RUNNERS-UP: Autonoesis (CAN), album – S/T Diabolic Oath (Portland), album – Profane Death Exodus Thætas (NYC) , album – Shrines to Absurdity Kommand (CA), album – Terrorscape Abyssal Ascendant (France), album – Chronicles of the Doomed Worlds, Pt. 2: Deacons of Abhorrence Antzaat (Belgium), album – For You Men Who Gaze into the Sun Well Of Night (Ohio), album – The Lower Planes of Self-Abstraction Cynabare Urne (Finland), album – Obsidian Daggers & Cinnabar Skulls Carnosus (Sweden), album - Dogma of the Deceased Volcandra (Kentucky), album - Into the Azure
Mood ORANSSI PAZUZU (Finland), album - Mestarin kynsi Oikeamielisten sali (56:38-1:02:14) — Do you expect me to skip Oranssi? Because they consistently put out excellent, unique albums that can’t possibly be matched by their next recording? And yet they did it again, with their signature black psychedelic, hypnotic, eclectic textures creating a new fold in your brain.
SERMENT (CAN), album - Chante, Ô Flamme de la Liberté Flamme Hivernale (1:02:47-1:10:40) — Each song includes the sound of wind; soothing, still pockets before an unrelenting pummeling of heart-wrenching black metal with a range of emotions.
CONVOCATION (Finland), album - Ashes Coalesce Martyrise (1:11:11-1:21:16) — I am not a funeral doom fan, but these guys use it to create an immensely satisfying, sinister, atmospheric death with hot, taloned vocals.
Modern Death AFTERBIRTH (NYC), album - Four Dimensional Flesh Spiritually Transmitted Disease (1:22:16-1:26:23) — Don’t turn away from the dehydrated guttural upon guttural vocals. It becomes a droning texture within the experimental, psychedelic grind and death with raging technical guitar. The melody pops, flares and bubbles to create a weird, unique experience.
#1 Album: CRYPTAE (Netherlands), album - Nightmare Traversal Monastic Tomb (1:27:06-END) — Power surges in the suffocating ocean of Cryptae. It will bash you against its raw edges, a hypnotizing pain that becomes pleasurable. It cracks open to melodic threads and drowns you again. A nightmare, a dose of reality, a meditation.
RUNNERS-UP: Wake (CAN), album - Devouring Ruin Ulcerate (New Zealand), album - Stare Into Death and Be Still Bedsore (Italy), album - Hypnagogic Hallucinations Sepulchral Curse (Finland) , album - Only Ashes Remain
RUNNER UP CATEGORIES Heavy Metal Retro Doom NITE (SF), album - Darkness Silence Mirror Flame
RUNNERS-UP: Wytch Hazel (UK), album - III: Pentecost Traveler (CAN), album - Termination Shock Eternal Champion (Austin), album - Ravening Iron
Melodic Death FIRES IN THE DISTANCE, album - Echoes From Deep November
RUNNERS-UP: Countless Skies (UK), album - Glow On Thorns I Lay (Greece), album - Threnos Rannoch (UK), album - Reflections Upon Darkness Descend (Sweden), album - The Deviant
Sludge KONVENT (Denmark), album - Puritan Masochism
RUNNERS-UP: Vile Creature (CAN), album - Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm! Garganjua (UK), album - Toward the Sun Irist (GA), album - Order Of The Mind Drought Year (NC), album - Adorned with Death (also industrial) Black Royal (Finland), album - Firebride
Best (Livestream) Shows Mr Bungle: Unbelievable Obituary: Savage Greg Dulli: Gorgeous Deathgrave: Local Halloween theatrical fun Terry Gross: Trippy with a handsome drummer
Behind my Vocals: Moaning (LA), album - Uneasy Laughter Fearing (CA), album - Shadow Pleasure Policy (Oakland), album - Forever
Speed/Thrash-Influenced KVAEN (Sweden), album - The Funeral Pyre Revenge by Fire (0:25-6:40) — Black metal with epic guitar solos and truth-laying vocals creating chomping, rifftastic, scrunch-face metal
HELLRIPPER (Scotland), album - The Affair of the Poisons The Affair of the Poisons (8:47-13:35) — Sniff up this line of pure adrenalin that charges, blasts and rips up your evil soul. RUNNERS-UP: Mr. Bungle (SF), album - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Warbringer (CA), album - Weapons of Tomorrow Havok (Denver), album - V Carnosus (Sweden), album - Dogma of the Deceased Bütcher (Belgium), album - 666 Goats Carry My Chariot Midnight (Cleveland), album - Rebirth by Blasphemy
Folk HAVUKRUUNU (Finland), album - Uinuos Syömein Sota Kunnes Varjot Saa (14:08-19:02) — Medieval ethnic Finnish Viking folk bubbles in a cauldron for drunk warriors. Guitars strum as witches dance to epic soaring intensity and indulgent guitar solos.
Grind/Technical/Extreme ANAAL NATHRAKH (UK), album – Endarkenment Libidinous (A Pig with Cocks in Its Eyes) (19:54-24:07) — Theatrical, operatic grind playing with a range of serial killer vocals, riding atop a mountain of structures. Not your grandfather’s grind.
RUNNERS-UP: Spectrum of Delusion, album - Neoconception Xythlia (MN), album - Immortality Through Quantum Suicide Benighted (France), album - Obscene Repressed
Split SPECTRAL LORE AND MARE COGNITUM (Portland, Greece), album - Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine Mars (The Warrior) (24:43-33:10) — The yin and yang achieved between rage and peace, meditation and torture, vicious and still. A thicket of dense sounds part for clear, majestic black metal moments.
RUNNER-UP: Krallice/Geryon (NYC), album- Wolf/Astomatous
Black Metal VALDRIN (Ohio), album - Effigy of Nightmares Basilisk Of Light (34:12-39:07) — A pool of bloody, dense, monstrous black metal from which no sweetness can emerge.
SNORLAX (AU), album - II Encapsulated Apocalypse (39:38-44:30) — Towering vocals within a red-hot, blistering furnace of evil.
RUNNERS-UP: Cult of Fire (Czech Rep), album - Moksha ...And Oceans (Finland), album - Cosmic World Mother Naglfar (Sweden), album - Cerecloth
Death QUESTION (Mexico), album - Reflections of the Void A Fate Worse Than Death (45:17-51:03) — Thoughtful, moving death with headbanger riffs. More than you expect.
SKELETAL REMAINS (CA), album - The Entombment Of Chaos Synthetic Impulse (51:35-56:15) — Old school death impact with the violent joy of power in every song.
RUNNERS-UP: Ulthar (CA), album - Providence Undergang (Denmark), album - Aldrig i livet Faceless Burial (AU), album - Speciation Puteraeon (Sweden), album - The Cthulhian Pulse: Call FromThe Dead City
Melodic Black PANZERFAUST (CAN), album - The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render unto Eden The Snare of the Fowler (57:44-1:07:29) — Cathedral meditation in a stormy, richly instrumented, epic black metal.
REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER (France), album - Ascension Stellar Cross (1:07:55-1:15:51) — Brooding, primal, anguished black metal that flips over into something different.
AFSKY (Denmark), album - Ascension Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død Tyende Sang (1:16:40-1:24:39) — Cold, shimmering soulful slicing and soothing, powerful in the melancholy and sweet of disappearing notes as much as the explosive wall of sound.
#2 Album: GAEREA (Portugal), album - Limbo Null (1:25:19-END) — Muscular vocals collapsing into shrieks, guitars propelling each other, and multiple layers of black metal giving way to death metal bold.
RUNNERS-UP: Blaze Of Perdition (Poland), album - The Harrowing of Hearts Silver Knife (Belgium), album - Unyielding/Unseeing Liminal Shroud (CAN), album - Through the False Narrows