Sutekh Hexen / BLSPHM Label: Sentient Ruin Laboratories – SRUIN037, Bestiarie – VOLXVII Format: Vinyl, 7″, 45 RPM, Limited Edition, Reissue, Purple Country: USA & Europe Released: 04 Aug 2017 Style: Noise, Black Metal
This is Bestiarie Vol. XVIII
The infamous cassette from 2014 printed in only 50 copies now assumes its final and ultimate form.
Heavy black cardstock sleeves letterpressed with silver inks one by one by hand by Demian Johnston of BLSPHM himself, encasing a standard 45 RPM purple vinyl or extremely limited black vinyl + letterpressed OBI strip.
Artwork by Steven Wilson Layout by Kevin Gan Yuen Mastered by James Plotkin
Moloch – Verwüstung Label: Metallic Media Format: CD, Album Country: US Released: 19 Mar 2014 Style: Black Metal
“The album includes two types of music, reflecting what I gather are Fjordsson’s two divergent musical passions. The first and last tracks are wordless dark ambient pieces. They are markedly different from the six songs that come between them, but they don’t feel tacked on. They feel more like steps in a ritual, ithe first n preparation for what is to come – the emotionally harrowing storm of black metal. The cumulative effect of these songs is both electrifying and exhausting. It’s almost a relief when the final track arrives… I’m kind of dumbfounded that something this good is just one more surge in what seems to be a ceaseless flood of creativity from this band.” (No Clean Singing).
Label: Prophecy Productions – PRO 190 PIC Format: Vinyl Picture LP Album Country: Germany Released: 30 Sep 2016 Style: Shoegaze, Post Rock, Black Metal
“Kodama” the fifth album from Blackgaze pioneers, Alcest, marks the French duo’s ferocious return to the stylistic maximalism of its early albums while continuing the band’s relentless pursuit for new sounds and fresh ideas. “Kodama” is the Japanese word for ‘tree spirit’ and ‘echo’ and from the album’s structure and dynamics to its cinematic sound, “Kodama” indeed ‘echoes’ Alcest’s 2010 classic, “Écailles De Lune”. But this is no simple back-to-the-roots album: the band has more punch, rhythm and organic feel than ever before. While clearly influenced by bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Dinosaur Jr, Grimes and The Cure, “Kodama” ultimately reveals itself as Alcest’s ‘Japanese album’, drawing substantial inspiration from Japanese art and culture.
Originally triggered by Hayao Miyazaki’s anime film “Princess Mononoke”, “Kodama” picks up on the fate of its protagonist and, at its core, deals with the sensation of not belonging; of living in between worlds, be it city and nature or the physical and spiritual one. Duality is also crucial for the visual approach of the album, realized by French graphic designer duo Førtifem. Paying tribute to Japanese illustrators like Takato Yamamoto, the visuals portray contrasting elements like nature/urbanity, youth/death, femininity/animality and combine poetic elements with darker ones that were not present in Alcest’s earlier works.
By giving the album a cultural, stylistic and compositional narrative, Neige and Winterhalter keep “Kodama” from just being the latest improvement on the Alcest sound and instead make the album a most rare and exciting thing: a vital, relevant record from a pioneer that not only upholds the band’s trailblazing legacy but actually makes you want to see where they go next.
