Archive for October, 2011

Album of the day: Craft – Void

Posted on Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from CVLT Nation: Sweden’s Craft are a pillar of modern black metal, whether you know it or not. Formed in 1994, Craft (formerly Nocta) brought a hateful, misanthropic quality to their sound that shared a kindred spirit with their more extreme pagan brothers to the south, while bringing a slightly more unhinged, punk spirit to the table. With a riff heavy style reminiscent of Darkthrone, Craft have returned after a six year hiatus with their new album Void. Six years is a hell of a long time between releases, but if you’re seeking a perfect example of stripped down, classic, blown out black metal, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better record this year. Weighing in at over fourty five minutes, there’s enough variety on this record to warrant many a close listen.

After a short ambient swell of an opener, we cut into the first track, ‘Serpent Soul’. With a sinister riff that sounds like it could have come straight off Transilvanian Hunger, singer Mikael Nox takes the reins, his voice a gravel laden growl that lies perfectly on top of the writhing instrumentals. Slowing things down near the midpoint you get the chance to appreciate the masterful guitar work of Joakim Carlson and John Doe as a slow, extended solo morphs into a repetitive buzzsaw riff interplaying perfectly with the lead guitar.

The next track, ‘Come Resonance of Doom’, opens up with a plodding, hypnotic, bass driven riff accented perfectly by guitar flourishes. The dual guitar work of John and Joakim kicks into overdrive two minutes in, a simple but incredibly catchy riff taking over for Mikael. For a band that’s been together for so long, the one that stands out here is that nothing dominates any one track on this record. With relatively clean production the lead and rhythm guitar work in tandem, never sounding redundant or overbearing. Mikael’s vocals are perfect in the mix, and Dirge Rep’s drums, albeit simple, are the glue that keeps this well oiled hate machine running.

Continue reading: Craft…Void Review « CVLT Nation.

Tags: Album of the day, black metal, Craft, CVLT Nation, southern lord, Trust No One Recordings, Void
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Album of the day: Russian Circles – Empros

Posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: For their fourth album, Empros (first directly for Sargent House), the instrumental three-piece Russian Circles returned to producer Brandon Curtis of The Secret Machines, who also helmed 2009’s Geneva. The reasons why are fairly obvious: What the Chicago outfit was able to accomplish with Geneva ...read more

Tombs Confirmed For Roadburn Festival 2012

Posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Brooklyn’s Tombs bears the mark of total devastation. On the latest album, Path of Totality, Tombs not only evoke the classic sound and feel of black metal in its finest hour they also explore their disparate UK post-punk influences. And keep things incredibly listenable. The band has marched ahead boldly ...read more

Bob Wayne Added to Lineup For Roadburn 2012

Posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Over the years, Roadburn has evolved to encompass a vast range of music styles and genres. Rather than pursue diversity for diversity’s sake, however, the idea has always been to put together an interesting and exciting festival. Now we are about to push the sonic boundaries once again by welcoming ...read more

AUN Confirmed For Voivod’s Au-delà du Réel at Roadburn Festival 2012

Posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

We are very happy to report that AUN have been confirmed for the Voivod-curated Au-delà du Réel event at Roadburn 2012, set for April 13th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.  AUN are a Montreal-based duo that melt the boundaries between psychedelic, ambient and doomgaze music, creating vast ethereal ...read more

La Otracina Confirmed for Roadburn Festival 2012

Posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

La Otracina is the New Wave of Psychedelic Heavy Metal, a contemporary musical vision exploding with classic influences and mind-warping sonic fusions! Their sound is a dense and majestic universe where the epic glory of 70’s proto-metal and hard-rock dance with the graceful complexity of cosmic progressive rock and the ...read more

Album of the day: Sólstafir – Svartir Sandar

Posted on Monday, October 24th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from Metal Underground: The Icelandic heathens that make up Sólstafir continue to push past the boundaries of their origins, hitting a serious landmark in sound on their fourth full-length album, Svartir Sandar. A description like “post-black metal” doesn’t even begin to do the album justice, as these songs ...read more

Monday Song: Black Sabbath – Faries Wear Boots ( Paris 1970)

Posted on Monday, October 24th, 2011

Every Monday morning we’ll post a kick-ass song to get your week going.

Album of the day: Hull – Beyond the Lightless Sky

Posted on Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Lovingly pinched from Teeth of the Divine: I rather enjoyed Hull‘s full length debut, Sole Lord as it was a nice sludgy record bolstered by a variety of smooth layered vocals, not unlike Baroness. However, once I hit play on their sophomore record, it was apparent Hull has changed up ...read more

Album of the day: Hammers Of Misfortune – 17th Street

Posted on Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

Lovingly pinched from About.com: Heavy Metal: 17th Street is the fifth studio album released by visionary, San Francisco, CA-based progressive metal band Hammers of Misfortune. I have to be honest: reducing their genre to “progressive” feels disingenuous. Hammers of Misfortune are Hammers of Misfortune, full stop. They borrow elements from ...read more