BAD DRUGS "White Powder" LP
(Rotted Tooth Recordings)
Bad Drugs is one of Chicago’s absolute best noise rock bands, not just of now, of all time. And with the storied history of noisy rock bands formed by the oppressive nature of the Windy (not to mention cold, hot, overcrowded, and stank-ass) City, that’s saying something. "White Powder" is an absolutely punishing, brutal, and gnarly noise rock record through and through. Other bands in the genre sometimes hide their lack of ability behind noise, which is fine and dandy ‘cause we’re all about non-musicians making a racket, but this is not the case with Bad Drugs. Each of these dudes is totally adept at their respective instruments. So adept that even the thick layer of noise that resides between phrases can’t mask the skill residing in these dudes' skulls. By now you should know the Bad Drugs drummer well. He’s been trapped behind the trap set for years now. Remember the awesomely monickered Lightning Bolt-ness of Slut Barf? Remember the post-Coughs art metal of Cacaw? Remember the heavy-handed cave punk of Heavy Times? Kyle Reynolds was the man keeping time and breaking sticks in all of those bands prior and/or during his Bad Drugs tenure. The burnsided bassist Andrew Martinec can also be found making noise with stringed instruments in the (literally) mentally challenged Arts of Life Band and raping skulls in the incredible Psychedelic Santa Traveller around the holidays. We’re not exactly sure where guitarist Patrick LaBahn came from, but we imagine he spent the better part of his youth mastering the electric six-string in a dingy basement somewhere rather than developing standard social skills. You know one must learn the rules in order to break them successfully, and Patrick breaks 'em all with precision. He must know more rules than Coltrane knew and he’s as good an axe-wielder as Dave Knudson. If Knudson had played with Unsane, and Unsane were from Providence, that'd be as close an approximation of the Bad Drugs vibe as we can think of. They have a better sense of humor (not present in their music, but) in their song titles than most bands too. There's the Windy City-centric "Ga'an Fishing" and "Go Ghost a-go-go". The RATM-spoofy “Chilling in the Name of" and the Verhoevenian "Robo Clop". And the album's called "Raw Powder". How brilliant is that? Fucking brilliant! Each and every single goddamn one of these songs R-I-P. Oh yeah, and the vinyl glows in the dark. Each side ends in an obnoxious locked groove. The art is fucking amazing, just like the rest of the Rotted Tooth releases. And it’s limited to 300 hand-numbered copies.

www.myspace.com/baddrugs

Price: 15 €

BLACK ELK "Always a Six, Never a Nine" CD
(Crucial Blast)
"Always a Six, Never a Nine" is the second album and the follow-up to the 2006 self-titled debut from Portland, OR aggro wreckers Black Elk, whose psychotic brand of crushing, noise-rock influenced heaviosity is a return to the unhinged underground rock force of bands like Jesus Lizard, Melvins, Black Flag and Hammerhead. This new album features ten songs of seething weirdness, with the dissonant, crushing riffage, lunging rhythmic push and awesome freaked out, Yow-esque vocals of singer Tom Glose that made their debut a fave among anyone who remembered the days when Amphetamine Reptile ruled the underground rock scene, but with some interesting new elements (bleak, blackened guitar ambience, a smattering of piano, skyreaching guitar harmonies, etc.) that add new shadows to Black Elk's ferocious sound. "Always a Six, Never a Nine" is packaged in a heavy four-panel gatefold jacket with an eight page lyric booklet.

www.myspace.com/blackelk

Price: 10 €

BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS "s/t" LP
(Vendetta Records)
Doom can be slow and low and still rock. Take B.Son for example, whose particular brand of doomic energy is drawn from bands like Harvey Milk, Karp, The Melvins, godheadSilo, more a sort of downtuned propulsive sludge with doom elements, than pure doom. But goddamn if it isn't just as brutal and heck, doomy... Thick ropy buzz bass, pounding destructo drums, throaty howls, grinding guitars, all lurching and swaying like some drugged and demented super rock doom beast, all filtered through a bit of grinding screamo and some buzzed out metallic blackness. There are moments of blisssed out post rockiness, and weird laid back grooves, stretched out near ambience and dense little mathy jams, but those moments just serve to keep the doomed sludge rock fury from becoming too much. Mastered by James Plotkin. Limited edition.

www.myspace.com/sadhusonofabitch

Price: 12 €

BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS "Microbarome Meetings" CD
(Ecocentric Records)
'Nexus' is the centre of something, or a connection, as any dictionary will tell you. Appropriately for Black Shape of Nexus, as the suffocating heaviness of their music functions either way – they can be the centre of your worst nightmares or the connection to all those dark places where you don't ever want to go. Or both. Pummelling you with painfully slow doom and finishing you off with acrid, harsh drones, B.SoN give down-tempo a whole new meaning. Their discography so far also shows a band not afraid to step outside the established norms, following the staggering doom of the self-titled 2007 debut with a limited-edition drone album, the immensely scary "Microbarome Meetings". Hand numbered digisleeve with sticker and one of 25 different live photos. Limited edition of 600 copies.

www.myspace.com/sadhusonofabitch

Price: 10 €

BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS / KODIAK Split LP
(Denovali Records)
Two German heavy weights present one massive track each on this beautiful black slab of vinyl. Having already made their mark on previous, excellent releases Black Shape of Nexus pummel you with painfully slow doom and finish you off with acrid, harsh drones, giving down-tempo a whole new meaning. Kodiak equal their landmates in heaviness yet have a more slowly brooding approach to their dense, monolithic sound bringing together all elements of slow music. Heavy 180g black vinyl in heavy weight glossy gatefold sleeve. Limited edition of 420 copies.

www.myspace.com/sadhusonofabitch
www.myspace.com/kodiakdoom

Price: 13 €

BLACK SUN "Paralyser" LP
(At War with False Noise)
First ever release on vinyl from the UK's most pummeling and heavy band, Black Sun. Having not let up in the past few years with several albums and having worked with notable producers such as Billy Anderson and James Plotkin, Black Sun come out of left-field with their most fully-formed body of work thus far, a raging statement of intent that doesn't let up or fail to engage from the opening guttural screams to the final thunderous crash. The first track "Prison of the Cross" takes up the entire A-side, starting off as a Swans-esque lesson in harsh rhythmical battery, before a beautiful lull featuring Glasgow drone wizard Noma on keys, after which we go into a sort of post-Neurosis chorus which shows Black Sun at their most melodic, before reverting to a raging finale which has a vaguely mid-90s metalcore sound. Amazing! The second side is compositionally more similar to previous album "Hour of the Wolf"; "Hammer the Nails" has a very sub-industrial feel to it - cold and muscular - with the remix stripping the track to its bare bones and highlighting its pounding, rhythmic monotony. The whole side is very stylistically similar to Godflesh's "Slavestate" in both sound and execution. This is a good thing. 500 copies. Comes with an A3 heavy stock, full colour insert with recording information/lyrics printed on one side and bloody wolfsangle on the other.

www.myspace.com/black_sun_1000

Price: 12 €

BLACK SUN / THEY ARE COWARDS Split 7"
(At War with False Noise)
Has been a long time coming but it's finally out! Black Sun take the first side with a surprisingly short, fast and loud number. Still as heavy as the previous LP "Paralyser" but much more in the short, fast and loud vein. This one's been a set-closer for a while now and is a total rager, will hopefully be a nice surprise to a lot of you! This is the first release by Manchester-based sludgers They Are Cowards and it's a beast. Totally focused, grim northern waste-inspired misery, building from a massive Celtic Frost-esque riff. A totally brilliant pairing of northern negativity! 300 copies on heavy weight black vinyl. Foldover covers in PVC sleeves.

www.myspace.com/black_sun_1000
www.myspace.com/theyarecowards

Price: 6 €

BROTHERHOOD OF SLEEP "s/t" CD
(SuiSound Productions)
The “Sleep” referenced in this Greek band's name is not the activity but the band. The songs – all instrumentals – trade in lumbering riffs that take their time to get where they need to go and then stick around even longer. It's the moments when this Brotherhood is less indebted to Sleep that they really shine. Sure, the druggy crawl of “Into Our Sea of Melting Dreams” will please "Dopesmoker" acolytes, but the band is at its best when George G., Serafim G., and Danis A. encroach on 5ive's psychedelia-through-distortion territory.

www.myspace.com/brotherhoodofsleep

SALE! Price: 8 €

BURNING HEADS / MARSHES "Erase Yer Head #8" Split 7"
(Pandemonium Records)
Erase Yer Head was a split-single series by the French Pandemonium Records that ran between 1995-1999, always pairing lesser known noise rock/punk/experimental bands with more widely known names, each volume also featuring exclusive artwork by various artists.
Burning Heads celebrated here their ten years of existence by giving us two amazing tracks: a cover from the Marshes' first album and one punchy hardcore anthem. During those 10 years Burning Heads recorded four albums plus countless singles andsongs for compilations. A lot of work, touring and great attitude that established the group as one of the very best in their genre. Marshes have done three albums so far, are now signed to Dr Strange and include Colin Sears of Dag Nasty/Alloy fame. On this split they contribute an original song and a cover from Burning Heads. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/burningheads
www.myspace.com/themarshesworld

SALE! Price: 4 €

BUZZOV·EN "Violence from the Vault" MCD
(Relapse Records)
"Violence from the Vault" were the first recordings to follow the bands venerable "Sore" album (1994), and would prove to be the last with that lineup. These tracks, unearthed for the first time since their 1995 recording, are a testament to one of the most unique and overlooked bands from the US underground.

www.myspace.com/buzzovenx

Price: 8 €

CACAW "s/t" LP
(Permanent Records)
Back in early 2009, Permanent Records issued Cacaw's debut "Get a Brain" EP and quickly sold through the first pressing of 300 copies. There was an immediate repress, which has also since sold out. Here we are just over a year and a half later, presenting Cacaw's follow-up eponymous LP which has been pressed in a limited first edition of 500 copies. If you dug the brutal noise rock sounds crammed onto the one side of their debut EP, you're gonna flip over their brand new LP. It's heavier, louder, and longer. That's right, two full sides of Cacaw's signature noise rock brutality. A big selling point for their first release was the fact that two of the Coughs are in Cacaw, however, Cacaw have since garnered their own audience and the Coughs reference seems barely worth mentioning any longer. For those of you who haven't heard them yet, Cacaw takes the Coughs sound and distills it down to a more minimal yet no less intense brand of really fucking groovy noise rock. Cacaw have quickly become one of Chicago’s most popular underground rock bands. Fans who have witnessed their live shows always seem to leave begging for more. Cacaw’s second record, just like their first release, is a doozie both sonically and visually. The grooves on the marbled colored vinyl contain some incredibly intense jams. The card stock tri-color jacket has also been diligently hand screen printed by band members. This release is more than a record its a piece of art.

www.myspace.com/cacawband

Price: 15 €

CACAW "Bat Skin Robes" Tape
(Rotted Tooth Recordings)
Artwork of Cacaw's latest and last release "Bat Skin Robes" by Mister City Press features an ornate, serpentine theme that suggests a true indulgence, or perhaps a rare artifact from a strange land. That theme carries through to the music, as the group further refines their brutal sound. Progressing from the unrestrained sludge of their debut "Get a Brain" and the self-titled full length, "Bat Skin Robes" showcases a precise recording aesthetic with more dynamic range. If you are familiar with their earlier recordings, there is simply more presence on this release than their previous efforts, accenting the heaviness by focusing on more than the group’s bottom end. Both Zack Weil and Carrie Vinarsky provide dual bass parts for the recording, but Anya Davidson’s guitar is nothing less than blistering, and Kyle Reynolds prominently features a relentless drum attack based around rapid-fire beats and what sounds like extensive double bass. Stemming from their precise recording aesthetic, framing this release in clearer fidelity and defining the group’s cohesion, this release finally seems to come closer to capturing the sound of the piercing intensity that jumps at the audience during their live shows. Cacaw’s songwriting shifts are also evident through both sides of the release, and at the end of the set, one should be compelled to conclude that this is a different type of heavy on "Bat Skin Robes". This release will be perfect for any fan of off-center sludge, grunge, punk, doom, acid, death metal, hardcore, or attention-grabbing rock music. Cacaw indeed fit the last description perfectly. Green pro-duplicated tape in full colour screenprinted sleeve, limited and numbered to 200 copies.

www.myspace.com/cacawband

Price: 6 €

CAMP BLACKFOOT "Critical Seed vs. The Spartan Society" CD
(Pandemonium Records)
Stop wondering! Camp Blackfoot isn't the name of a detention camp which would only exist in the "Twilight Zone", nor a nudie-holiday camp located in yourr average blaxploitation flick. Camp Blackfoot is a supergroup founded by musicians from the famous Oxford improv band 13 Ghosts, who also regularly play with Derek Bailey and Eugene Chadbourne. Camp Blackfoot’s approach developed partly as a reaction against the subdued, introverted nature of most interesting '90s rock. They were inspired by the innovations of bands like Slint and Gastr del Sol, but couldn't understand why groups working towards greater complexity and originality in recent times don't like to rock. Camp Blackfoot want to take the structure of rock as far as possible, but to infuse it with the energy, aggression and emotional force of early '80s hardcore bands like Black Flag and the Misfits.

SALE! Price: 7 €

CATACOMBS "Echoes Through the Catacombs" CD
(Solitude Productions)
Solitude Productions is proud to present the re-release of the ep of a cult project lead by Xathagorra Mlandroth (Hierophant). This mini-album has previously been released on CD-R only, limited to 500 copies and managed to become a rarity among funeral doom fans. "Echoes Through the Catacombs" has been re-released with 2 remastered bonus tracks and new design, created by Xathagorra Mlandroth.

www.myspace.com/catacombsfanpage

SALE! Price: 8 €

www.myspace.com/thecatalyst

Price: 12 €

CELAN "Halo" CD
(Exile on Mainstream Records)
And here we are: "Halo" is the debut album of Celan - a band you can pigeon-hole at your own gusto and categorize as noise, rock or whatever you like. Please approach this masterpiece as they made it: minds free, ready to be blown away by its sheer class, emotion and musical craftmanship. The line-up features Chris Spencer (Unsane, Cutthroats 9), Ari Benjamin Meyers (Redux Orchestra, Einstürzende Neubauten), Niko Wenner (Oxbow), Franz Xawer (Flu.ID) and Phil Roeder (Flu.ID).

www.myspace.com/celanband

SALE! Price: 10 €

CELESTE "Pessimiste(s)" LP
(Denovali Records)
"Pessimiste(s)" is the debut EP from Celeste, a French act featuring former members of Mihai Edrisch. You could draw parallels from this material to early Isis and early Cult of Luna on some level (mainly in terms of the presence of both crushing heaviness and softer atmospheric elements), though the compositions are shorter/more focused, and the Mihai Edrisch connection brings in a frantic edge that shifts the vibe into a more caustic and jangly direction on occasion. Vocally expect nothing but fierce screams, though… they're not fuckin' around in that department at all. The overall aesthetic of the material is loosely comparable to other acts within circles of the French scene (as well as that of Switzerland) and there are some truly powerful moments on this record that already help to differentiate Celeste from their peers – even at this early stage in their development. Beautiful thick gatefold cover and colour vinyl. Limited to 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/unhiverdeplus

Price: 14 €

CELESTE "Nihiliste(s)" LP
(Denovali Records)
Second album from this French post-hardcore/sludge/doom outfit. Ten tracks of unrelenting heaviness, "Nihiliste(s)" bludgeons the listener with wave after wave of pummeling guitar, unrelenting drumming, and vocal-chord shredding screams. Celeste may not be blazing new ground with "Nihiliste(s)", but the album establishes a strong foundation for them to build upon. Beautiful thick gatefold cover and colour vinyl. Limited edition of 400 copies.

www.myspace.com/unhiverdeplus

Price: 14 €

CELESTE "Nihiliste(s)" CD
(Denovali Records)
Second album from this French post-hardcore/sludge/doom outfit. Ten tracks of unrelenting heaviness, "Nihiliste(s)" bludgeons the listener with wave after wave of pummeling guitar, unrelenting drumming, and vocal-chord shredding screams. Celeste may not be blazing new ground with "Nihiliste(s)", but the album establishes a strong foundation for them to build upon. Stylish cardboard digisleeve.

www.myspace.com/unhiverdeplus

Price: 10 €

CELESTE "Misanthrope(s)" 2LP
(Denovali Records)
There's something special about how the French are able to take a sound that has been beaten to death - that of the apocalyptic metallic dirge that Neurosis pioneered on their "Through Silver in Blood" and developed further by Isis over the course of their first few albums - and twist it into something both bleaker, darker, and at the same time elegant and stentorian. There's Overmars, Year of No Light, Omega Massif and HKY, four bands who all trace their cyclopean sludge metal sound back to Neurosis' revolutionary art-metal, but who all sound radically different from one another and from the more straightforward music that most of their American peers have been creating. From HKY's cosmic industro-doom psychdirge to the sky-reaching "Disintegration" worship of Year of No Light and the blackened avant sludge opera of Overmars, it's obvious that French metallers are some of the best at taking this omnipresent sound and reinventing it in a way that few others are capable of doing. The latest French band to be added to the list is Celeste and "Misanthrope(s)" is their third album. Coming from Denovali, this is much heavier than anything else on the label, and definitely much, much darker, too. As soon as "Misanthrope(s)" opening track "Que Des Yeux Vides et Séchés" blasts forth from the speakers, you can hear the Neurosis influence on the mighty, chugging riffage and tortured screams, but as the song continues to violently wind it's way onward, the increasingly spiteful tone of the vocals and the sheets of dissonant buzzing guitars that coil around the thunderous tribal drums and hypnotic dirgey riffs, and the holocaustal black metal intro of "Toucher Ce Vide Béant Attise Ma Fascination" seamlessly falls into punishing sludge with a truly devastating riff that rises up halfway through, it becomes clear that Celeste are also drawing deep from the oily black pool of French black metal. The nine songs on this album aren't exceptionally long for this style of atmospheric sludge metal, with most averaging around six minutes, but Celeste create some supremely crushing riff-trances in the time they have, combining grinding downtuned Neurosis-esque crush with the sort of dissonant guitar textures that you'd normally expect from a Glorior Belli or Deathspell Omega album. Like most other bands in this style, Celeste also work in some softer extended instrumental sections that build into explosive crescendos of heaviness, but even in these more subdued moments, Celeste never get soft, creating tense buildups that put you on edge rather than soothe you with melodic frippery. No, this album keeps it caustic and black as fuck from start to finish, and set the tone with an unremittingly bleak and nihilistic bent to their lyrics, like what Year of No Light would sound like with their dreamy sludge inverted and drenched in light-devouring malevolence. Clearly, Celeste are shooting for something more than just another attempt at cloning the signature sounds of Neurosis and Isis. Beautiful thick gatefold cover, printed inner sleeves and coloured vinyl. Limited 350 copies.

www.myspace.com/unhiverdeplus

Price: 18 €

CHURCH OF MISERY "Live at Roadburn 2009" CD
(Burning World Records/Roadburn Records)
Third instalment in Roadburn Records' live series. Everybody's favourite Japanese stoner/sludge outfit Church of Misery recorded at their 2009 Roadburn festival show. The night was recorded on multitrack and was mixed and mastered by Marcel van de Vondervoort of Torture Garden Studio fame who also was at the helm for the Wolves in the Throne Room live album.

www.myspace.com/churchofserialkiller

SALE! Price: 10 €

CIRCLE "Meronia" CD
(Ektro Records)
Originally released on the Bad Vugum label in 1994, Circle's debut album has been out of print for years but now Circle has just regained the rights and put it out again on their own Ektro label. There's probably no need to say too much about it, basically if you love Circle and never had a chance to get this before, get it now, it's essential. If you're a Circle fan unfamiliar with "Meronia", you're gonna both be instantly satisfied and in for a surprise. Back in '94, they had a rather different lineup to the one nowadays (or on many of their other albums... bassist/bandleader Jussi has been the sole constant in Circle over the years). But their trademark "circular" repetitive pulse was of course fully formed, and some other things haven't changed either. What is different is the emphasis on angular heavy guitar rock riffs, washes of symphonic magnificence, and the choral vocals - which sound like monks chanting! Like Magma, Circle created their own "language" in which to sing, called Meronian. Pretty incredible. This album links Circle to such late '80s/early '90s alt-metal influences as Gore and Helmet, even Voivod. Turns out, Circle's metal leanings go way back, though of course this weirdness isn't really metal itself. It's some kind of monk-prog that oddly creates a mood that reminds us a bit of Swedish goth/doom metallers Katatonia, if they were a no wave Magmoid motorik space rock ensemble, perhaps. "Meronia" is one of those albums that while listening to it, all other thoughts and worries and everything wash away. The head starts uncontrollably nodding, feet tapping in time, and ... huh, what, where were we? Yep, hypnotic Circle to the core.

www.circlefinland.com

Price: 10 €

CIRCLE "Tulikoira - The Reissue" CD
(Ektro Records)
The mysterious acronym "NWOFHM" was revealed to the world for the first time in 2005 when this mysterious sequence of letters dominated the centerfold of the booklet of "Tulikoira", a studio album by prolific Finnish rock band Circle. It is likely that the meaning of NWOFHM was initially nonsensical to most of Circle's listeners, but some of them may have been able to dig up the phrase "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" from the nethermost recesses of their helmets, and to deduct that this variation probably referred to a localized Finnish version of this 80's phenomenon - only over twenty years too late. "The New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal" may sound pompous and far fetched, but listening to the album the label does sound quite appropriate. "Tulikoira" is an album that consists of only four tracks but manages to explore quite a few moods and styles during its run. Album opener "Rautakäärme" would be a beautiful hymn if there wasn't a metal band playing riffs at a breakneck speed behind the vocals. The second song "Tulilintu" is a relatively short burst of energy and high-pitched vocals bringing Judas Priest to mind. The rest of the album goes off on a completely different direction altogether, with closing track "Puutiikeri" being a 20+ minute avantgarde jam bookended by bursts of heavy metal riffing.

www.circlefinland.com

Price: 10 €

CIRCLE "Rautatie" LP
(Svart Records/Full Contact Records)
Circle is ever changing, ever Circular. On "Rautatie" the band - which following the introduction of guitarists J. & P. Jääskeläinen is now a six-piece - once again dives into uncharted waters of music, into a miasma of influences that feels vaguely familiar but, in an uncanny way, is not quite real. "Rautatie" is epic hard rock and colossal riffs that corrode into fragments of black metallic atonality over time. Occasionally the album’s majestic elements step aside and let sprinkles of athletic boogie take the center stage. Together the eight tracks on the album form a hard rocking bullet train, speeding ever onwards on a circular railroad to infinity. Or, as Circle itself says: “harvest hark islam nappe jorum puzzle tar pejorative lounge meridian ylem pul alkyd” The "Rautatie" vinyl is a joint release between Svart and Full Contact Records. 350g reverse board jacket, printed inner sleeve, crystal clear vinyl.

www.circlefinland.com

Price: 15 €

CITIZENS "Try Harder" 12"
(Art for Blind Records/Heidache Records/Wolf Among Wolves)
A ferocious follow-up to their debut 7", "Try Smiling", Citizens from Glasgow unleash a four track one-sided 12" of their vicious brand of noise rock -influenced prog hardcore. Truly heavy stuff! White one-sided vinyl in screenprinted sleeve. Limited edition of 350 copies.

citizens.bandcamp.com

Price: 10 €

CLOACA "Lassitude" CD
(Lone Vigil Recordings)
"Lassitude" is the very first release from the just launched UK label Lone Vigil, and is the debut of black industrial post metal doomlords Cloaca. Both the label and the band are fronted by Chris Naughton, he of doom/sludge masters Atavist and neo pagan black metallers Winterfylleth, but Cloaca is a whole different beast than either of those two outfits, and while most descriptions peg Cloaca as ‘experimental industrial doom’, that might be a bit misleading. It might have you picturing a churning avant Godflesh or some sort of machinelike downtuned Swans, when in fact, the sound of Cloaca is much more organic, and much closer to the slow build post metal of groups like Pelican, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, Snowblood, and Isis, the guitars lush and warm, the songs sprawling epics, with spiralling melodies, and dense tribal drumming, brooding and majestic, like a blackened Godspeed, building to explosive howled churning ultra metal blow outs, that transform into roiling chugging grooves, heavy and motorik and mesmerizing. The songs spend much of their time drifting dreamily, spidery guitar melodies draped over loping post rock rhythms, and when they do get heavy, it’s not always explosive crescendos, the band can lock into a riff and ride it out like some sort of black doom post metal Hawkwind, extended psychedelic cosmic metal jams that destroy, heaving hypnotically, thick sonic swells that churn and roil and eventually do explode into some serious heaviness, but it’s not just big chords there either, the band get super dense and complex, start stop rhythms, mathy arrangements, thick and convoluted and so so heavy. Throughout the record, Cloaca deftly flit from moody drift to soaring majesty, to metallic crush, wrapping impossibly hooky melodies and strange disembodied sampled voices around thick slabs of metallic hypnorock, a sound that’s definitely hard to make your own, but these guys have definitely staked their claim on this chunk of epic brooding heaviness. Definitely essential listening for fans of Rosetta, Baroness, The Body, Grails, The Ocean, Angel Eyes, Tides, Souvenir’s Young America, Mouth of the Architect, Irepress, Indian, Conifer and other post metal alchemists…

www.myspace.com/cloacamusic

SALE! Price: 8 €

CLOCKCLEANER "Nevermind" LP
(Fan Death Records)
"Nevermind" is album number two for Clockcleaner. Heads are turning, and ears are burning. "Nevermind’s" sonic assault is a veritable landscape of Panzer tanks frolicking across the Polish countryside of political correctness and all things hallowed by delicate journalists and limp-wristed soundmen. Like the best of Midwest noise-rock from the era prior to the current one in which most bands wear eyeliner, Clockcleaner hammers on the clanging, sheet-metalled riffing, thudding out the low end with concussive drum n’ bass. At it’s most polite and generally appealing, this is as good as anything the Chicago or Minneapolis cranked out in the late eighties and early nineties. At it’s nastiest, this is Flipper or The Dwarves tossing unopened beer cans at your girlfriend’s unsuspecting face from the stage while feedback howls a few feet away. It’s how rock and roll should be. Nothing like a volley of bottles, cans, lit fireworks, and other projectiles to get the party started. So here’s to Clockcleaner keeping that spirit alive and well in the 21st century.

www.myspace.com/clockcleaner

Price: 15 €

CLONE VOL. III Compilation LP
(Blind Date Records)
Clone Vol. III is a compilation series curated by Blind Date Records in Germany and features doom and sludge bands covering some classic tracks. The Clone series pays tribute to the roots of doom and sludge. Hardcore, punk, metal and rock classics played in a slow and heavy manner. Fistula (US) starts with quite a slow and monotonous interpretation of Nirvana's "Something in the Way", which sounds like listening to Nirvana after 2 bong loads and fevered delirium. Kiss' "War Machine" covered by Bad Luck Rides on Wheels (Germany) is a heavy-rocking–two-fingers-in-the-air doom song that makes your brain dizzy after almost 9 minutes non-stop moshing. With Neanderthal's "Crawl", Whitehorse (Australia) picked a power violence classic and discreetly added the characteristic electronic noise background Man is the Bastard and Neanderthal was/is so famous for. SU19B (Japan) did a song of the Swedish black metal pioneers Bathory and painted that song with their very own brutal and slow sludge. On the flipside we have Crowskin (Germany) with a Turbonegro/Black Sabbath combination. Alexandra slips in the position of Hank and Motherfuckin’ Ozzy and....their doom-version with slighly adjusted lyrics simply kills. Sollubi (US) chose one of the most depressive Dead Kennedys songs "Forward to Death". To gain the most evil effect they reduced the speed by exactly 66.6%. The result: nihilistic sludge core at its best that takes Mr. Biafra’s old breath away. Next up we have Habsyll (France) with a song from Tekken that covers all genres between drone, sludge and grind within 77 seconds. Last but not least L7's "Talk Box", covered by Solar Horn (Finland); side-project of two members from Throat. Their "Talk Box" starts with a 4 minute atmospheric drone sound before “it scrares the shit out of you”. Limited to 400 copies on 185g black vinyl. Embossed die-cut sleeve, full colored 12" inlay and 12-page 9" sized booklet.

Price: 12 €

CONDENSE "Placebo" CD
(Pandemonium Records)
Third and final album from this French noise rock band who were active from 1989 to 1997. On "Placebo", the band turned down the heavy distortion and opted for a more vicious approach, comparable to the in-your-face aggression of various Steve Albini outputs. Another forgotten gem from the prolific 90s French noise rock scene!

www.myspace.com/condense

Price: 10 €

CORRUPTED "Paso Inferior" CD
(Nostalgia Blackrain)
This is a re-release of their 1 track over 40 minute CD originally released on Corrupted's own label Frigidity Discos in 1997. Although their sound is mostly known as a hellish eruption of tortured, holocaustic, raging sonic pressure, this masterpiece starts off with silent, effective, dubby introduction leading slowly into chocking, heavy, painful, atmospheric requiem for all living existence. A totally spiritual ultra heavy masterpiece from the depth of darkness and chaos searching for the light in the distance. Definitely this album can be described as a turning point from early agressive style to nowadays deep, inner, atmospheric style, and one of the most important release during Corrupted's career.

www.myspace.com/intoadarkness

Price: 10 €

CORTISOL "S 1 2" CD
(Prodisk)
Reissue of Cortisol's first album from 2004 with bonus tracks from the September 12 demo and the protojam. Innovative slow-motion doom for fans of Khanate and Skepticism. Totally disturbing stuff.

www.myspace.com/cortisoldoom

SALE! Price: 6 €

CROWN ROAST "George" 7"
(Unclean Records)
Another dose of goodness from these Texans, dating back to 1995! Austin's official ambassadors of doom return with 3 new flesheating monstertunes. The 2 songs on side A have original lineup: Dave, Andy & Craig all scream their heads off while their friend George leaves nasty phone messages. Side B features a refried version of Drunks with Guns' "Enemy" that will have lo-fi trendies running for their mommies. Black vinyl.

Price: 6 €

CRUSHERS KILLERS DESTROYERS! Compilation CD
(Shifty Records)
The first in Shifty Records' sludge compendium series, this 5 band battering ram, an hour and fifteen minutes of unrelenting sludge and doomcore starts off with 3 songs of Mugwart's melodic sludgecore, like a more upbeat Eyehategod but still ugly, snarling, and downtuned. The song "40/90" features sick guest vocals from Ben of Beaten Back to Pure. Canadian doomcore sadists Goatsblood follow with 3 brutal dirges, with strafing blastbeats and dual psychotic screams/deep deathgrowls punctuating their suicidal ultraslow sludge. Molehill continue with 3 songs of unabashed Eyehategod worship. Loaded with Southern groove and a melodic attack similar to that of Mugwart, Molehill have that New Orleans blues-metal sound nailed. Fistula deliver a single track, "Dysfunction", but at nearly 15 minutes long, it's a devastating sludge stomper that degenerates into heavy, hypnotic feedback drone, orgiastic free-guitar skree, and pounding battle drums. Totally fuckiing narcoleptic. Sloth wrap it up with 7 tracks of bizarre Midwestern dirge...their songs are a weird, tweaked mashup of blown-out low fi black metal murk played at quarter speed, with rasping vocals and simple, haunting melodies and gut-churning bass thud. It's sort of like a brain-damaged version of old Floor recordings, mixed with Black Mass of Absu or something. Overall, this is an excellent compilation of modern American sludge-fans of the style would do well to check this and the second CD in the series out!

Price: 10 €

CRUSHERS KILLERS DESTROYERS II Compilation CD
(Shifty Records)
The Crushers Killers Destroyers compilations are the finest collection of meaty sludge since the Cry Now, Cry Later compilations that Pessimiser Records released in the ‘90's. Every band on Crushers Killers Destroyers II is different enough to keep the disc interesting, with a common strain of each song being excruciatingly heavy and each band being bad ass. Bands featured include Headache, Weedeater, Fistula, King Travolta, Cruevo, Tusks of Blood, Moho and Sloth.

Price: 10 €

THE CUTTHROATS 9 "You Should Be Dead" 7"
(Reptilian Records)
The Cutthroats 9 was a band formed by Chris Spencer of Unsane and Celan, when he moved to California after Unsane went on hiatus in 2000. This 7" was the band's first recording, released in 1999. Every bit of Unsane's vein-bulging violence is present in The Cutthroats 9 albeit with a slightly groovier approach. Pay no mind to this release being over 10 years old, it still beats the shit out of anything in your record collection. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/thecutthroats9

Price: 6 €

THE CUTTHROATS 9 "s/t" CD
(Reptilian Records)
With his previous outfit Unsane, Chris Spencer (guitar/vocals) assisted in pioneering a more aggressive, less studied direction for noise rock, and for that matter, hardcore and extreme music in general. While developing the blueprint for noise-metal bands to follow, Spencer cut a remarkable, hearing damaged swath through underground music, inspiring a devoted, cult-like following around the globe for a decade. As a power trio, Unsane relied upon a hammering, power-press rhythm section, Spencer's searing six string howl, and distorted vocals that resembled nothing if not the sound of a man trapped in the New York Subway system. And as the principle songwriter, vocalist, and founder of Unsane, Spencer has dropped precisely that amount of weaponry on the table with The Cutthroats 9, with plenty extra in tow. In fact, this trio of dangerous men ratchets up Unsane's intensity level, harnessing a dynamo of fear, rage, chaos, and vengeance, with each track barely escaping derailment and destroyed equipment. Live, The Cutthroats 9 was another story, where smashed drums, trashed guitars, and a general splintering of gear was a nightly experience. This is Reptilian Records' re-release from 2002 of the original Man's Ruin Records release from 2000.

www.myspace.com/thecutthroats9

Price: 10 €

THE CUTTHROATS 9 "Anger Management" 10"
(Reptilian Records)
"Anger Management" was the final recording by The Cutthroats 9 after Dave Curran left the band and before Chris Spencer joined him in New York to re-activate Unsane. The therapy suggested by the title of the record can hardly be heard taking effect as these six songs beat you up and leave you bleeding dry. And you can't help wanting more. Limited edition of 500 copies on blue vinyl and silk screened sleeve.

www.myspace.com/thecutthroats9

Price: 10 €

THE CUTTHROATS 9 "Anger Management" MCD
(Reptilian Records)
"Anger Management" was the final recording by The Cutthroats 9 after Dave Curran left the band and before Chris Spencer joined him in New York to re-activate Unsane. The therapy suggested by the title of the record can hardly be heard taking effect as these six songs beat you up and leave you bleeding dry. And you can't help wanting more.

www.myspace.com/thecutthroats9

Price: 7 €

DANISHMENDT "Un Passé Aride" CD
(Cold Void Emanations/Odio Sonoro/Architect of Noise)
Try to imagine an up-tempo Khanate playing heavily drugged-out Thorns covers, or a rusted, scrapyard Meshuggah, at their most psychedelic, trapped and flailing in a hall of mirrors and you’ll be some way toward approximating the sound made by these five deviants. Kin to such degenerates as Gnaw, Axis of Perdition and fellow countrymen Celeste, Danishmendt are a pulsing, throbbing black hole of bleakly kaleidoscopic riffs, hoarse, phlegm-spattered vocals and hissing, dreadful dark ambience. Digipak.

www.myspace.com/danishmendt

SALE! Price: 8 €

DEAD FLESH FASHION "Anchors" CD
(Baskat Recordings)
This debut full length as performed by Dead Flesh Fashion is a mean, rough and honest mixture of noise, Coalesce-like bulldozing parts and chaotic hardcore/sludge structures. Recorded live in 5 days, these boys will blow you away with their wild energy like they're going crazy in your living room.

www.myspace.com/deadfleshfashion

SALE! Price: 8 €

DEAD IN THE WATER "Echoes... in the Ruins" CD
(Firedoom Records)
Formed in Finland in 2000, Dead In The Water slowly shifted from their early hardcore/crust/punk sound to a more slow doom-paced metal, still laced with their crusty beginnings. The band released a 7" in 2002 and followed that up with an EP in 2003. Now in 2007, DITW offers a depressive, crushing, oppressive full-length debut, pointing the way for a very heavy future.

www.myspace.com/ditwfinland

Price: 10 €

DEATH TRIP "Pain is Pain - The Complete Death Trip 1988-1994" CD
(Ektro Records/Karkia Mistika Records)
At the twilight of the 1980s, several members of Terveet Kädet—Finland's first and fieriest hardcore-punk export—decided to get back to basics. With their mother ship exploring increasingly metallic terrain, the guys invented Death Trip as a decelerated means of unleashing their collective id. Stripping simplistic but hypnotic riffs from crude noise rock and garage grime, the band tapped into a dank, primal, and trashy force over the course of three seven-inch singles released by the hallowed indie Bad Vugum Records. The quartet's methodology is rather straightforward: flat, sustained ugliness with zero crescendos, resolutions or payoff. But Death Trip isn't about relentless evil and angst. As a useful reminder that there's a point to this punishment, the antagonistic yet rollicking spirit that fueled The Cramps and The Stooges often surfaces from the ritualistic murk. A splatter-flick sense of humor pervades Veli-Matti "Läjä" Äijälä's gonzo howls, muffled grunts, and distant cries, and performances featuring bondage masks, meat cleavers, and flasher's raincoats further blur the line between creepiness and kitsch. Compiling the above-mentioned songs with a wad of rare concert and demo material, "Pain is Pain" thoughtfully chronicles Death Trip’s shadowy career. If you dig the antisocial numbness of Sweden's Brainbombs or the stranger side of America's Amphetamine Reptile label, you'll definitely want to join Äijälä and friends on their historic journey down Route 666. Youngsters weaned on crust, doom, and stoner sounds will also hail the hammering of this final nail in the ensemble’s coffin. In addition, Death Trip’s minimalist repetition and ghoulish iconography have substantially impacted the Nordic underground, most notably influencing the music and imagery of the world-famous and mesmerizing Circle.

Price: 12 €

DEMONIC DEATH JUDGE "Kneel" CDr
(Demonic Death Judge)
Amazing material from this fresh Finnish powerhouse featuring members of Total Devastation yet presenting here a more riff-heavy, sludgier and groovier monster. Echoes of Iron Monkey, Eyehategod as well as the groovy death rock of Entombed can be heard here, but Demonic Death Judge aren't ashamed to add elements such as clean vocals, melodic guitar leads and samples into the mix. Definitely ranking as one of the best (if not the best?) Finnish newcomers at the moment. Check them out!

www.myspace.com/demonicdeathjudge

Price: 7 €

DEMONIC DEATH JUDGE / SEMTEX / FROGSKIN "By the Malice of the Evil the Death Come Vol.1" CD
(Cain Records/At War with False Noise/Odio Sonoro/Shifty Records/Boue Records)
Three of Finland's finest sludge riff worshippers each present here an EP's worth of material guaranteed to equally punish and please the listener. It's all here: the riffs, the feedback, the tortured vocals, the heavy smoke and stench of alcohol, the unavoidable influence of Eyehategod, Iron Monkey, Grief, Bongzilla and Black Sabbath, but all of these have been brought together with a Finnish twist, making these three so much more interesting than your run-of-the-mill lazy stoner bands. Limited edition of 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/demonicdeathjudge
www.myspace.com/semtexposse
www.frogskin.fi

Price: 10 €

DE SILENCE ET D'OMBRE "Ascension" CD
(Cold Void Emanations/Cruciatus Records)
This CD collects the first two releases from the French one-man creation, De Silence et d'Ombre. Lengthy, atmospheric and minimalistic compositions drawing inspiration equally from the likes of Hellhammer, early Katatonia and Neurosis - spitting forth soundscapes described as post-black/doom metal. Limited edition digipak, 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/boneashinthefog

SALE! Price: 8 €

DETRITIVORE "Pakt" CD
(Lyderhorn Records)
Alternating between light and heavy, while being simultaneously beautiful and ugly, the Norwegian duo Detritivore manages to mix these elements on their debut LP, "Pakt". Essentially a concept album depicting disillusionment with religion and subsequent descent into darkness, the album is a harrowing experience of not quite drone, not quite noise, and not quite doom metal, but a true amalgamation of the three. "Pakt" is produced by Joakim Jensen, mastered by James Plotkin, and features mesmerizing illustrations by Justin Bartlett. Mini-gatefold CD.

Price: 10 €

THE DEVIL AND THE SEA "MMVI" 10"
(The Path Less Travelled Records)
Originally released as a demo and here in 10" vinyl format, The Devil and the Sea's "MMVI" is a gargantuan slab of southern sludge, atmospheric post-rock, and cycloramic doom. The most obvious touchstone is Neurosis, but the band manages to flesh out its sound with wildly distorted yet simplistic 'Floydian psych and the unnerving swamp swagger of Louisiana brethren Eyehategod. The songs on "MMVI" are as equally audacious as they are ominous, melding a wide range of emotion with an immense sonic tapestry. Yellow vinyl. Includes digital download coupon. Limited edition of 666 copies.

www.myspace.com/devilandthesea

Price: 10 €

DIAL "s/t" MCD
(Robotic Empire)
The old expression "like a ton of bricks" doesn't even come close here. The weight of a mountain is what Dial drops on you with their absolutely crushing 5-song debut EP. The austere New Zealand outfit originally self-released this as a demo, but the material contained within is leaps and bounds beyond what most bands accomplish even at their best. Dial successfully channels the darkest corners of the Am Rep catalog, the raw ferocity of classic hardcore, offtime kilter of math-rock, and the whole concept that music can actually be dangerous. The air-tight composure of Dial's debut recording is striking; focusing more on space and dissonance than technical shreddery. Obscenely heavy guitars collide with bludgeoning percussion and intense, vicious and scathing female vocals... turning the whole thing into a downright terrifying experience. Add an incredibly crisp recording, and this makes Dial's debut EP one of the most impressive demos in years.

www.myspace.com/dialnotmusic

Price: 7 €

DIET PILLS "s/t" 7"
(Force Fed Records)
Diet Pills are a strange breed, in a scene whose veins are clogged with forgettable, convention following tripe this band carve a different path. The two tracks found here perfectly meld the sounds of Flipper, Jesus Lizard and Neurosis into a monstrously spastic cacophony, wrestling the listener to the floor with the weight of their untamed, bass heavy fuzz. The unhinged David Yow styled vocals set off the mix perfectly, wailing and shrieking through percussive riffing without ever becoming a parody of the Jesus Lizard’s howler. Clear vinyl. Limited edition of 500 copies.

dietpills.bandcamp.com

Price: 6 €

DIET PILLS "s/t" LP
(Force Fed Records)
This is poisonous, evil stuff. Shifting their Melvins-meets-Flipper sound towards a far heavier, constipation-curing (early) Corrupted-esque level, Diet Pills have mastered the power that a truly obscene, downtuned low-end can have, especially when coupled with riff structures that twist and turn in nifty ways. The five songs (in 35 or so minutes) feel drawn out to breaking point, like Unsane at 16rpm, but it’s one of those weird instances where although the whole experience is pretty horrible, it is cathartically so, making you revel in the entire satisfying process. The vocals are unusual for this type of thing and will probably make or break it for you. A sneering, snotty approach like the guy from Circus Lupus at times, the desperate wails certainly augment the sleazy, depressed nature of it all. Black vinyl. Includes a digital download code.

dietpills.bandcamp.com

Price: 12 €

DISCO INFERNO / EXISTENCH Split 7"
(Blind Date Records)
"DISCO INFERNO from Saarbrücken / Germany comes up with 2 songs of intensive furious emoviolence. Those who've seen D.I. live kickin'ass, are ready to die for it !! Disco Inferno play brutal hardcore -metal in tradition of Catharsis/His Hero Is Gone/Reversal Of Man. EXISTENCH (Canada) w/ 8 songs of furious hardcore - grind. Best and craziest stuff. Even EXISTENCH said, that this is their best material, right now. Existench play super fastgrind crust: old Napalm Death/Crossed Out/Dahmer style. Total time is over 10 min. First (and only) press of 1056 copies." (Blind Date Records)

www.myspace.com/existenchnovascotia

Price: 2 €

SALE! Price: 10 €

DOZELIMIT "Constructions of the Highest Architecture" CD
(RAIG)
One thing's for sure - Dozelimit really love their delay pedals. There's hardly a moment on their debut album "Constructions of the Highest Architecture" where the Russian duo aren't bathing their haunting guitar lines and rumbling amp drones in delay, making this exercise in dark metallic dronecraft super spacey and dreamy. This disc features seven untitled tracks from Dozelimit, all slow, down-tuned guitar based soundscapes that combine crushing doomdirge heaviness, endless stretches of shimmering feedback, and buzzing industrial machine drones that often resembles a doomier Troum, or even the instrumental sludge/drone project Fulci. The opener layers gentle delay-flecked guitar strum over descending sheets of metallic drone and shimmer, the dark, cinematic guitar figures that slowly emerge from the gloom have an almost jazzy feel, the softer ambience merging with super-heavy ambient doomdrone and dark rumbling synths. The following track has more floating fragile guitar figures combining with melodious high-end drones to form echoing fragmented melodies that ripple through black space, hovering high above swirling murky seas of tape hiss and granular noise. The guitars move from slowly bending notes that form into a sort of deep-space blues into sheets of blackened tremelo and minimal ambient hum, and heavy rattling vibrations appear, as if from some leviathan engine grinding in the void. Most of the album is this mingling of gorgeous guitar ambience and heavy industrial throb, circular melodies and luminescent ambience stretched across space, the guitar notes decaying into darkness, mutated into strange swarms of high end chitter and nocturnal hum, swirling into clusters of percussive sounds into a kind of psychedelic blackened space music, like Cisfintum or Mauriozio Bianchi mixed with the guitarscapes of MGR. But the last two tracks drop the hammer, unleashing a black wave of crushing ambient doom riffage a la early Sunn O))), slow drifting slabs of monstrous down tuned heaviness and blackened tremolo riffing slathered in droning electronics, weird glitchy noise, and sweeps of oscillator tones that could have been lifted from a Delia Derbyshire score, sculpted into bleak stuttering doomscapes.

www.myspace.com/dozelimit

SALE! Price: 8 €

DRAINLAND / TRENCHES Split LP
(Vendetta Records/De Graanrepubliek/Headwrecker)
Are you ready to take a trip to a land where apocalyptic blues rule and dirge blows in the wind? Well, all you have to do is plug yourself into the new Drainland and Trenches split. Once you press play, both sides will lead you into a cavern of down-tuned weirdness, where bass lines smoke weed that’s been soaked in whiskey. Drainland wrecks shop like only they could, with crust-laden sludge that is tweaked out with all sorts of other awesome influences. The Trenches side reminds you of driving through the desert expanse, on your way to a ghost town oasis. Black vinyl.

drainland.bandcamp.com
trenchesband.bandcamp.com

Price: 12 €

DREAMS OF WHAT LIFE COULD HAVE BEEN Compilation CD
(PsycheDOOMelic Records)
The ultimative sludge/doom sampler with ten nihilistic songs and a running time of 80 minutes. Never heard before recordings from Soulpreacher, Fistula, Grief, Thee Plague of Gentlemen, Negative Reaction, Ramesses and Moss. Seven black doom bands team up here to present you thee ultimate sludge-doom compilation. Evil doom at its bleakest. Ultra heavy, crushing, dark, grim, and doomy. Hail to Hellhammer, Winter, Thorr's Hammer and Autopsy!!!!!

Price: 10 €

EIBON "s/t" MCD
(Aesthetic Death)
Here's release number deux from the Parisian doom band Eibon. This is the first full release from the band, following a split they did back in 2007 with Hangman's Chair, and here unleash their black tar heaviness across two epic songs, each one spreading out for more than ten minutes, each a pummeling, bass-heavy wall of lumbering doom with moments of creepy atmosphere. At their heaviest, this is pure molten death-infected doom, with massive detuned guitars grinding across lumbering ultra heavy drumming, the vocalist spewing horrific snarling screams, some Eyehategod, old school doomdeath, and classic European doom metal all worked into their sound, with streaks of hellish feedback and droning low-end buzz crawling over the chugging dirge, never getting too slow, instead lumbering forward in a massive pounding groove, sometimes slipping into eerie acoustic passages, or drifting into fields of backwards tape noise, sampled opera vocals, bleak psychedelic guitar or atmospheric ambience, but always returning to that incredibly crushing dirge. As always, Aesthetic Death delivers the goods with another massive dose of doom. Packaged in a four panel digipack.

www.myspace.com/eibonmetal

Price: 8 €

EIBON "Entering Darkness" CD
(Aesthetic Death)
"Entering Darkness" is the absolutely superb debut full-length from the French act Eibon. Expect six tracks that add up to an hour's worth of crushing, pulsing doom – loaded with everything from your standard doses of slow, pounding power chords and oppressively thick basslines to droning melodies; sparse clean passages; and forceful vocal growls/snarls that really carry some great texture (to the point where they actually lend a bit of a blackened vibe to the compositions from time to time). All of this is occasionally accented by well-placed samples and efficiently blended ambient noise textures, not to mention some shockingly hard-hitting and emotional moments where surging melodies and dissonant chord phrasings come together to create some of the finest atmospheric doom encountered in quite some time. Once more the recording is great, too. Devastatingly heavy, super dense, but still clear enough to let you get a grip on all of the subtle intricacies that are scattered around the core. Stylish hardcover digisleeve.

www.myspace.com/eibonmetal

Price: 10 €

EIBON / HKY Split 7"
(Music Fear Satan)
Just after releasing their first efforts (HKY "s/t" on Music Fear Satan in 2009 and Eibon "Entering Darkness" on Aesthetic Death in 2010), the two bands team up to offer you one new exclusive track on each side of this 7". Black vinyl, limited edition of 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/eibonmetal
www.myspace.com/hkyrock

Price: 6 €

ELODEA "Voyager" CD
(Storm Inside Records)
After a four-year wait, Slovenian outfit Elodea returned last year with "Voyager" (released by Storm Inside Records). Don't be fooled by the fact that only five songs are present, as the album's total running time is damn near an hour (opener "Becoming One with the Desert" is one of two tracks that tops 14 minutes!) of brooding metal heavily rooted in the "Neur-Isis" type of sound. That being said, the "Neur-Isis" tag can be an insult as easily as a compliment, so it's just a loose jumping off point as far as Elodea's concerned. There are plenty of those thick, churning power chords; harshly shouted vocals; somber clean passages and bits of melody; a few droning wails of feedback or subtle experimental noise/synth textures; and just a little bit of that shimmery post-rock stuff. But there are also some completely raging riffs loaded with weird ascending/descending patterns and surging bends reminiscent of Intronaut's earliest (and best) work – not to mention awesome drumming that generally carries a surprisingly relaxed flow with lots of killer little cymbal flourishes and such. Having Starkweather's Rennie Resmini contribute vocals and lyrics to the entirety of "Fraction of the Whole" is an absolutely incredible touch, too! Overall there are a number of very comparable bands out there, but Elodea strikes a stronger balance between these varying influences, thus creating a much more powerful atmosphere that also carries over nicely into their lyrics and imagery. The CD is limited to just 300 copies.

www.myspace.com/theelodea

SALE! Price: 8 €

ELYSIÜM / MONARCH Split CD
(Shifty/Murder/Solitude/213/Throne/Parade/AmanitaWee Wee/Fidelio/Amertume Records)
Putting five minutes of pure grindcore insanity against nearly an hour of expansive, droning sludge seems an odd idea for a split, but two of France’s fastest rising acts have done just that, with Elysiüm’s raging attack complementing the much hyped Monarch’s dirge-like exploration quite nicely. Both sides are of the highest quality, and fans of either genre would do well to pick this one up immediately.

www.myspace.com/elysium666
www.myspace.com/monarchuberalles

Price: 10 €

ENDNAME "Dreams of a Cyclops" CD
(RIAG)
The first album from this Moscow-based instrumental space-metal group has the heavy prog feel but it's injected into a super heavy sludge/doom weightiness that often sounds like a kind of stately prog-doom. These guys have been compared to Pelican a bit, and there's definitely some of that sound going on here, but EndName add a bunch of their own eccentric sounds and turn it into something uniquely theirs, a mix of instrumental King Crimson -influenced prog, winding doom riffing, space rock atmospherics and quirky electronic soundscaping that puts an emphasis on heavy, hypnotic grooves, incorporating lots of synthesizer, Frippy guitar work, tribal percussion and even didgeridoo into their odd art-metal. The proggy math-doom workout of opener "Inception" goes from stuttering Meshuggah -like riffage and cascading sheets of processed guitar into a repetitious, sinister doom metal riff driven by a lurching angular rhythm and constant harmonic squeals. "North" is slow pounding doom metal mixed with symphonic synth strings and pounding industrial clang, a lumbering cinematic doom instrumental that opens up into weirdly sunny melodic passages, soaring FX-heavy guitar solos, and some baroque Ren Faire keyboards towards the end that makes this sound like some weird proggy 80's doom. The fourteen minute "Eclipse" has Floydian guitar atmospherics flowing into an epic 80's metal/cop show groove with propulsive drums and melodic metallic riffing, a killer hook at the center of it, breaking of into tribal hand-drum percussion and atmospheric droning; halfway into it, the track starts to sound like older Pelican jamming with a drum circle before slipping back into that killer quasi-disco groove, then gets all spacey at the end with odd countrified guitars and more hand percussion. Heavy stop-start riffing dominates "Beyond the Scope" with an almost Helmet / Gore style groove, heavy angular sludge rock with creepy spacey lead guitar. "Dissolution" opens with delayed didgeridoo drones and spacey synth drift, a deep cosmic ambience streaked with backwards guitar, chimes, buried electronic pulse, and synth strings, a total krautrock-inspired dronescape a la Tangerine Dream / Klaus Schulze, an eerie descending melody gradually returning to the ominous didgeridoo buzz. And closer "Dissociation" returns to the massive processed slabs of progged out sludge metal with another lumbering stop/start riff and more sheets of FX-heavy guitar, crushing plodding drone-riffage and swirling cosmic synths merging into a slow and propulsive groove, the drums a mechanical tick-tock pulse, riffs constantly changing and chugging, the drums blasting off into volleys of ferocious double bass later on, joined by percussive clang and crashing cymbals, mutating into a frenzy of spaced out thrash metal riffing at the very end.

www.myspace.com/endnameband

SALE! Price: 8 €

ETHEREAL RIFFIAN "Shaman's Visions" CD
(Ethereal Riffian)
The stoner-doom scene in the Ukraine and Russia was once the home for goth-doom bands but over the last couple of years, these countries have woken up to the joys of traditional and stoner-doom metal. Another new band is Ethereal Riffian and this album titled "Shaman's Visions" is an album that simply had to be made and they have done it. Much like when Sleep released the "Jerusalem" album, this album comes along as a breath of exciting smoke-filled air. While the style has been done many times before, there is something fresh about this that makes this one of the most interesting releases of 2011. Ethereal Riffian play a mesmerizing, hypnotic brand of stoner-doom that is mystical, spiritual and infectious. They are not as "heavy" as you might expect, this is more your meditative kind of stoner-doom, something to let your brain float away with and take you on a little voyage into the cosmos. They are part Sleep, Kyuss, Ufomammut, with a healthy dose of Hawkwind on the side but it is bundled up with something that sounds truly fresh. The album is split into five parts and could be called a "concept" album with each part having its own unique vibe. The CD comes in gorgeous fold-out digipak and this special edition comes sealed in a hand-made cloth bag with a shamanic sigil burned on it.

etherealriffian.bandcamp.com

SALE! Price: 8 €

EXSONANT "Trouble" MCD
(Pandemonium Records)
The first mini-CD (released in 1996) by Exsonant from Lyon, France. The band was often associated with the Touch and Go sound, suggesting a combination of noise rock with more math-y elements. The song "Orient" features a guest appearance from a member of another French noise rock greats, Condense.

SALE! Price: 5 €

FALL OF EFRAFA "Inlé" CD
(Denovali/Halo of Flies/Alerta Antifascista/Sound Devastation Records)
The long awaited final chapter of the "The Warren of Snares" trilogy, Fall Of Efrafa conclude their mythological tale of an uprising against an oppressive regime, based upon an interpretation of the classic novel "Watership Down" by Richard Adams. "Inlé" is crushing yet beautiful; ambient and atmospheric heavy post hardcore, bringing to mind the likes of Neurosis, Buried Inside, Envy, Earth and Godspeed You Black Emperor. Cardboard gatefold cover + 8 page inlay.

www.myspace.com/fallofefrafa

SALE! Price: 10 €

FATUM ELISUM "Homo Nihilis" CD
(Aesthetic Death)
Four long tracks of awesome and epic doom/death from France. Since the self-titled debut Fatum Elisum have progressed and matured, and have now forged their own style of doom albeit with a healthy reference to the early 90s sounds of Cathedral, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride.

www.myspace.com/fatumelisum

Price: 10 €

FIGHT AMP / CASH IN "Jersey's Best Cancer" Split 7"
(Assassinated Records)
Fight Amp and Cash In, two of Jersey's best and most unlikely to be paired together on a split both offer up equally gratifying sides on this limited edition 7". Fight Amp brings a new unreleased track and a Hammerhead cover to the table, while on the flip side Cash In gives you two new tracks of their fast paced dark melodic hardcore. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/fightamp

Price: 6 €

FISTULA "Lessons in Lamentation" CDr
(Crucial Bliss)
At some point last year, the members of Fistula met up with another Ohioan, Steve Makita from the midwest power-violence legends Apartment 213, midwest power-tool noise legends Lockweld, and current second throat for Agoraphobic Nosebleed. At some point, both of these parties decided that joining forces would be a good move and had Makita lug over his toolbox to the Fistula practice space and drag out some of his most lethal circuit-shredders, keyboards and power tools. The end result are two new discs, "Lessons In Lamentation" and "Inverted Black Star", each one possessed by a single hour-plus track of Fistula with Steve Makita conjuring fucking hugungous slabs of apocalyptic free-metal. And it's Fistula's most abstract, demonic music ever, a charred mess of harsh electronic skree and gut-rumbling noise and unholy doom metal. In contrast to it's companion disc "Inverted Black Star", "Lessons In Lamentation" sounds like it's virtually "rocking". Where "Inverted" spews monoto-riffs and malevolent power tool noise across the jet-black waste of it's hour long length, this jam is more upbeat, opening with a massive chugging sludgy metal riff that cycles over and over, slowly joined by a swarm of sizzling feedback and high pitched sine-whine. Crazed shredding solos appear, the central riff changes shape throughout, the whole track seems to be split into three distinct sections. It's super hypnotic as Fistula grinds away endlessly surrounded by Makita's dense and textured noise. Deep monstrous vocals emerge from out of the filth, gutteral invocations that are impossible to decipher. A massive plodding industrial dirge, a meditation on repetitive metal riffing and the blackest feedback, recorded all the way in the red, a majestic crumbling obelisk of monstrous noise-doom. "Lessons In Lamentation" is packaged in a signature Crucial Bliss three-panel sleeve, with artwork from Ralf Burkart, the disc itself attached to the sleeve on a plastic nub. Released in an edition of 300 copies.

www.myspace.com/fistula666

SALE! Price: 6 €

FISTULA "Inverted Black Star" CDr
(Crucial Bliss)
At some point last year, the members of Fistula met up with another Ohioan, Steve Makita from the midwest power-violence legends Apartment 213, midwest power-tool noise legends Lockweld, and current second throat for Agoraphobic Nosebleed. At some point, both of these parties decided that joining forces would be a good move and had Makita lug over his toolbox to the Fistula practice space and drag out some of his most lethal circuit-shredders, keyboards and power tools. The end result are two new discs, "Lessons In Lamentation" and "Inverted Black Star", each one possessed by a single hour-plus track of Fistula with Steve Makita conjuring fucking hugungous slabs of apocalyptic free-metal. And it's Fistula's most abstract, demonic music ever, a charred mess of harsh electronic skree and gut-rumbling noise and unholy doom metal. The title itself points to the pure blackness of "Inverted Black Star": a massive hour-plus wave of bleak, blackened improvised doom riffing, only one or two riffs tops, but each one repeated over and over into infinity as the band and Makita pile on layers and layers of corrosive feedback, pneumatic drill noises, slicing sinewave tones, long black tentacles of undulating drone. About halfway through the disc, a voice begins speaking underneath the crushing sludge and noise, and it creates an effect similiar to hearing a television news bradcast about something really bad from four rooms away, only to sink back into the lumbering, monotonous deathtrance. Utterly crushing. "Inverted Black Star" is packaged in a signature Crucial Bliss three-panel sleeve, all black and green with artwork from Ralf Burkart, the disc itself attached to the sleeve on a plastic nub. Released in an edition of 300 copies.

www.myspace.com/fistula666

SALE! Price: 6 €

FLATLANDS "Vermuyden" MCD
(Sound Devastation Records)
Crushing atmospheric metal in the vein of Neurosis and Cult of Luna, but not following blindly with the new wave of ‘post metal’ copycats. With a penchant for ‘keeping it local’ by including noises, news reports and so on in, around and about their local area this band bring a new and intriguing take on heavy.

www.myspace.com/flatlandstouristboard

SALE! Price: 5 €

FLATLANDS "Black Sluice" CD
(Sound Devastation Records)
After "Vermuyden", Flatlands took on another guitarist, which on this release gives them extra depth, technicality, ideas and heaviness. A progression from the EP, their debut album showcases their true live power. Fantastic.

www.myspace.com/flatlandstouristboard

SALE! Price: 8 €

FLATLANDS / SUNSHINE REPUBLIC Split 12"
(SuperFi Records)
Flatlands are seriously heavy in a stripped-down Isis style, which monolithic, catchy riffs crashing into each other and plenty of screaming. Two quite long songs from them. Sunshine Republic are on a more experimental tip, reminding these ears of House Of Low Culture, though there are elements of doom, post-rock and noise in the mix too. They contribute one really long song. Pressing: 330 grey 12"'s on heavyweight 180-gramme vinyl.

www.myspace.com/flatlandstouristboard
www.myspace.com/sunshinerepublic

SALE! Price: 8 €

FLESHPRESS "Acid Mouth Strangulation" LP
(Svart Records)
Suffocating home-brewed hypnotic sludge rock from the northern swamps. On their fifth full length album Finnish sludge rockers Fleshpress evolve from their days as a rough, gritty metal machine towards the unknown. These three long tracks ebb and flow with an organic pulse, from slowly meditative passages to black swamp-sludge metal. An unsettling but oddly beautiful experience. Black vinyl in gatefold sleeve.

Price: 15 €

FLESHPRESS/THROAT Split 7"
(Kult of Nihilow/Kaos Kontrol)
Two bands that hate you so much they made a record about it. Fleshpress spit forth their most straight-forward sludge blast in a long time and make you want to throw your Big Muff out of the window and run to your mother. Throat presents their brand of sludgey 90s influenced noise rock. No track titles, no useless information, fuck you. Black vinyl in 8-page booklet sleeve. Limited edition of 330 copies.

www.ihatethroat.com

Price: 6 €

FLEURETY "Evoco Bestias" 7"
(Aesthetic Death)
"Evoco Bestias" is the second release in the Fleurety 7" vinyl series. Featuring the first new tracks from Fleurety since 1998 - undeniably Fleurety - avantgarde metal with a necro Norge sound. Recorded at Crystal Canyon Studios, Oslo, with the assistance of Tore Ylwisaker (Ulver) in 2008. Limited to 666 copies.

www.myspace.com/fleurety

Price: 6 €

Disc #1 of "Sight & Seen" also includes a 20 minute featurette that documents the band's history with never-before-seen live footage, photography and interviews.

Disc #2 is intended lure in both massive fans and completists alike. A data disc (which means you pop it in your computer), it includes:
- high quality audio files of both Atlanta shows (not just the one shown on disc #1)
- the complete and edited film of Floor that ended up on the cutting room floor (which clocks in at over 2 hours of video)

And in addition to this, the band has opened up their video vaults to include over an hour of archival footage spanning Floor's career from 1993 at Churchill's in Miami to their final shows in 2002.

"Sight & Seen" is housed in an elaborate package which was initially used on Chunklet's landmark "Anthem" 2xDVD release by Harvey Milk in 2006. "Sight & Seen" is a one-time release of 700 never to be reissued.

www.myspace.com/floor

Price: 16 €

FOR THE SICK - A TRIBUTE TO EYEHATEGOD Compilation 2CD
(Emetic Records)
Amazing tribute compilation to the masters of down to earth motherfucken post amplification blues. Cover songs performed by Dot[.], Unearthly Trance, Cable, Bowel, Alabama Thunderpussy, Deadbird, Kylesa, Rue, Brutal Truth, Byzantine, Buried at Sea, Raging Speedhorn, The Unholy 3, The Esoteric, Total Fucking Destruction, Triac, One Dead Three Wounded, Halo of Locusts, Minsk, Ramesses, The Mighty Nimbus, Lair of the Minotaur, Sourvein, Bloody Panda, Mouth of the Architect, Left in Ruin, Watch Them Die, Ozenza, Swarm of the Lotus, Ichabod, Kill the Client, Sowbelly, If He Dies, He Dies and The Nain Rouge.

www.myspace.com/eyehategod

Price: 13 €

FUN "Zu-Pa!" LP
(If Society)
Fun's second long play is everything the first record "Szklarska Poreba" was and a whole lot more - meaner, dumber, tighter, slower, heavier, softer, smarter, faster and a shitload more clever than you, boy! Recorded by Steve Albini (Shellac, Big Black, Rapeman) in Chicago, Illinois. How about that? This record kicks everyone's ass.

www.myspace.com/noisecorewalze

Price: 12 €

GATHIENS "Nesh" CD
(Murkhouse Recordings)
Heavy, psychedelic, instrumental rock music. Recorded in the summer of 2006, this gem sat dormant for some time before picked up by Murkhouse Recordings as their first full-length release, though it briefly attracted the attention of Battle Kommand Records. Strong guitar playing with big chords and memorable melodies is paired with a backbone of sweetly technical drumming, with a delicate layer of cinematic ambience over the top. The whole album has a strong sense of dynamics, having an almost classical feel to it. Compared to bands such as Isis, Boris, Pelican, Tool, and even Pink Floyd; Gathiens possess a delicacy and intricacy that many post-metal bands lack.

www.myspace.com/gathiens

SALE! Price: 8 €

GHAST "May the Curse Bind" CD
(Todestrieb Records)
"May the Curse Bind" is Ghast's debut album, a record that will bring them much deserved attention. The power Ghast evoke on this album can not go unnoticed and once experienced will not be forgotten. No band has collided doom and black metal into such a crushing and bleak recording, elevated by colossal production from Muscle Studios (Hateful Abandon, Salute). As crushing and morbid as it is fierce and aggressive! Ghast's sound, built up from the early Souldust demos is now crystallized on CD and presented for your agony.

www.myspace.com/souldustgrave

Price: 10 €

GHÄST / RAPE-X Split CD
(Obskure Sombre Records)
Filthy droning doom versus harsh hateful electronics. Ghäst is super sparse, slow motion blackened doom, still plenty lo-fi, the drums murky and down in the mix, the guitars more of a distant moan, sometimes soaring to the forefront, before drifting off again, the vocals super distorted and effected and harsh. All around this plodding blackness, creepy drones soar and shimmer, wail and keen, offering up a mournful abstract backdrop for Ghäst's miserablist blackdoom. Rape-X play scuzzy, filthy power electronics; all crack dens, backstreet abortions and low-life criminal acts.

www.myspace.com/ghastdoom
www.myspace.com/hardcocaine

SALE! Price: 8 €

GLOOMY SUNDAY "Beyond Good and Evil" CD
(Solitude Productions)
Debut album from the Swedish band Gloomy Sunday "Beyond Good and Evil" executed in stoner sludge doom style. Music in the vein of Electric Wizard, Eyehategod and Crowbar will suit all extreme doom metal fans' tastes.

www.myspace.com/gloomysundaydoom

SALE! Price: 8 €

GNAW THEIR TONGUES "All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity" 2LP
(Burning World Records)
Picking up where 2008's "An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood" left off, Gnaw Their Tongues is back with nine new tracks of fearsome blackened orchestral chaos and abstract horror that still sounds like little else out there. On "Dread", there's an even heavier bass-assault compared to the other releases, and this is easily the heaviest Gnaw Their Tongues release yet. This monstrous, noxious bottom-end roar that skulks and slithers throughout the album suggests a foul fusion of Abruptum (which is still the closest reference point to Gnaw Their Tongue's black chaos) and Leonard Rosenman's most nightmarish film scores, piled in towering heaps of sadistic noise, warped orchestral strings, degraded samples, shrieking voices, and punishing lurching doom draped in suffocating atrmosphere. Hyper-abstract black metal sound-collage? Wagnerian avant-doom psychosis? That's one way of putting it, but Gnaw Their Tongues is ultimately impossible to pin down, defying simple categorization as this album plunges even deeper into a black pit of total cinematic horror, sexual perversion, and shapeless heaviosity. The gorgeous double LP set comes in a thick gatefold jacket with the exact same artwork and album design as the cd gatefold, only bigger of course. And the last side has three tracks ("Thee, I Invoke, Akephalou", "I Hear Only the Clanking of the Scythe ", "A Promise of Revenge Whispered from Stitched Lips") that don't appear on the CD release (or anywhere else!). Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/gnawtheirtongues

Price: 18 €

GNAW THEIR TONGUES "Per Flagellum Sanguemque, Tenebras Veneramus" CD
(Crucial Blast)
"Per Flagellum Sanguemque, Tenebras Veneramus"; roughly translated: with blood and whip, we worship the dark. This is the latest collection of atrocities from Gnaw Their Tongues, an eight song investigation into the rites and rituals that emerge from the copper-scented frenzy of the serial killer, the obsessive acts of death worship enacted by those that live on the edge of abyss, the limits of experience sought by black cults. The sound is, as always, immensely heavy, with fractured drums and tunderous tympani skins reverberating within a maelstrom of seething black doom, screeching classical strings, horns, piano, and some of the most vomitous vocals imagineable. However, "Per Flagellum Sanguemque" is marked by the most frenetic percussive attack heard thus far from Gnaw Their Tongues, with volleys of chaotic drumming, fractured blasts, and maniacally complex patterns that sometimes seem to border on free-jazz drumming.

www.myspace.com/gnawtheirtongues

Price: 10 €

GOSPEL OF THE FUTURE "s/t" CD
(Epidemie Records)
New band supported by Epidemie Records are Czech's Gospel of the Future, who recorded their self-titled debut album in Studio Hostivar, Prague. 8 heavy gloomy sludge / metal / hardcore evil compositions shall bring pleasure to all lovers of Neurosis, Boris or High on Fire. English graphic designer Chris from the grindcore band Narcosis took care for nice, dark stylish design of the album which come out in 6 panels digisleeve.

www.myspace.com/gospelofthefuture

SALE! Price: 8 €

GRIDS "s/t" 7"
(Lunchbox Records)
Grids has been around for a couple of years now (and now sadly defunct) and has made quite a dent in the North Carolina scene. Loud and noisy like a wonderful mix of old school Am Rep worshippers sacrificing all of their friends' ears for their own sadomasochistic fun. For fans of Clockcleaner, Pissed Jeans, Young Widows, Jesus Lizard, all things heavy. Grey marble vinyl. Comes with an mp3 download card.

gridsnc.blogspot.com

Price: 6 €

GRINDING HALT / DIET PILLS Split 7"
(De Graanrepubliek/Shove Records/Adagio830/Forcefed Records)
Finaly some Grinding Halt vinyl again. Here showing some of the slower side of their set. Two songs of which one is somewhat of a noisy hardcore song while the second has 90's mosh written all over it. On the flip side there's Diet Pills insanity. Hints of Dystopia and Jesus Lizard thrown in a blender. It's so heavy it makes you wonder how it would fit on the vinyl. Great Dutch/UK team up! Black vinyl.

www.grindinghalt.nl
dietpills.bandcamp.com

Price: 6 €

GRUEL "s/t" 2LP
(Feast of Tentacles)
This is the only recording Gruel made, or will ever make since they announced their recent split, and what a testament it is! Like The Melvins playing King Crimson's "Red" album, this is at both theatrical, beautifully composed, and troglodyte-ianly heavy. Utterly immersive, each passage of quiet atmospherics is shattered by a barrage of brilliant repetitious riffing. Four 15 minute-long songs and it's totally captivating from start to finish. Will definitely be right up the alleys of those into Melvins, Swans, Grief, Throbbing Gristle, Goblin, Harvey Milk etc. Black vinyl in full colour fold-out sleeve.

www.myspace.com/gruel23

Price: 15 €

GRUEL "s/t" CD
(Flat Earth Records/At War with False Noise)
CD issue of this instant classic of avant-sludge. This is the only recording Gruel made, or will ever make since they announced their recent split, and what a testament it is! Like The Melvins playing King Crimson's "Red" album, this is at both theatrical, beautifully composed, and troglodyte-ianly heavy. Utterly immersive, each passage of quiet atmospherics is shattered by a barrage of brilliant repetitious riffing. Four 15 minute-long songs and it's totally captivating from start to finish. Will definitely be right up the alleys of those into Melvins, Swans, Grief, Throbbing Gristle, Goblin, Harvey Milk etc.
500 copies in a stickered PVC sleeve, with the disc wrapped in a big double-sided full colour poster.

www.myspace.com/gruel23

Price: 10 €

GÜNNA VAHM / FIGHT AMPUTATION Split 7"
(Reptilian Records)
Scarcely available split release from two brilliant U.S. noise rock bands, this being one of the first releases by both. Günna Vahm takes side A with some awesome noise rock: yelled vocals, tons of dynamic shifts between lightly distorted riffing and quirky abrasive textures, a little melody and some more memorable playing, etc. It's really quite original, maybe coming off like Fugazi meets Craw, but chunkier? "Slouch, Pointed Toes" has spoken vocals and is driven by a more rocked out rhythm section, standing out from the other song offered. Also present is an excellent recording with an even mix and clear tones, with the perfect amount of dry warmth and bite. It's not too intricate or overly rhythmic, they're just great writers. Fight Amputation is up next with some heavy and subtly dissonant hardcore/punk. There's a good amount of speed and screaming vocals, with an underlying His Hero is Gone sort of thing going on, but nothing too blatant (especially not the vocals). Generally the tracks are to the point without being stale, and they spice up the writing with lots of quick changes and little discordant runs. "Emergency Rations" has an almost doomy break with the rhythm section and feedback, lasting a little longer than anticipated. They've got a killer sound as well. It's heavy with strong clarity and a cohesive mix. Black vinyl in black/white sleeve.

www.myspace.com/vahm
www.myspace.com/fightamp

Price: 6 €

GÜNNA VAHM "Man Hands for Rump Lust" MCD
(Reptilian Records)
Listen up! You don't know Günna Vahm, but don't worry, neither does anyone else. Here is your chance to take your head out of your ass and educate yourself. "Man Hands for Rump Lust" was released in 2006 and remains unrivalled in terms of hard-hitting, hate fuelled and obnoxious noise rock. Had the band not split up, they should have been up there with the likes of Pissed Jeans albeit with a few more lines of coke in them and generally more prepared to destroy everything in sight... just for the fuck of it. For what it's worth, Günna Vahm has been a huge inspiration on Throat. You need this.

www.myspace.com/vahm

Price: 8 €

HABSYLL "MMVIII" CD
(Odio Sonoro)
Debut album from this powerful band from Toulouse, France. Huge swathes of noise, odd drumming, odd sounds, it really sounds fucked up - totally slow, brutal and grimm. Somewhere between Moss, Grief, Corrupted, Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine, and noise/chaotic bands like Burmese, Grand Ulena, Wolf Eyes... not for melodic doom rock fans. Presented in a great 8-page digipak.

www.myspace.com/habsyll

Price: 10 €

HAGGATHA "s/t" LP
(Choking Hazard Records)
This is the second album of the awesome sludge band from Vancouver, Canada called Haggatha. They self released 300 copies for their fall 2010 Canadian tour and Choking Hazard repressed 250 copies!! Featuring members of Osk and Goatsblood, Haggatha is in the same vein as Moloch and Thou. 7 killer sludge songs!! Black vinyl with special etched label. Please note! The sleeves were damaged during shipping, so these are sold with a lower price.

haggatha.bandcamp.com

SALE! Price: 8 €

HARVEY MILK "Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men" 2CD
(Relapse Records)
One of the most unusual and confounding records in the heavy rock world, and from the most unlikely of bands, Harvey Milk's "Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men's" uniqueness is legendary. A monument to unfettered originality on all fronts, "Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men" is at times fragile, minimal, and achingly beautiful; other times it suffocates with tar-black, crushingly heavy dirges that bend time. The tension that permeates the arrangements is exhausting, and the heart-on-a-sleeve vocals of Creston Spiers are truly gut-wrenching. Simply-stated, "Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men" is unprecedented, uneasy listening that walks the finest of lines between difficulty and beauty.

www.myspace.com/harveymilk

Price: 13 €

HATEFUL ABANDON "Move" CD
(Todestrieb Records)
"Move" is the long anticipated follow-up to 2008's "Famine". The music is darker, the lyrics are bleaker. The planet is dying, they’re printing money to burn it. Forming single-file into the abyss. They are trying to slow the inevitable; this is the sound of acceptance. Hateful Abandon present their despondent and angry reaction in "Move". The sound remains uniquely their own, but progresses with new techniques and a harder attitude. A strong leading bass, twisting and ambient guitars, the percussive backbone from Swine, new electronic prominiscence and the soulful roar of V/M! Influence remains from seventies and eighties visionaries Killing Joke, Public Image Ltd, Dead Can Dance, Joy Division, The Cure; and a background in black metal, though these are only pointers to the distinctive sound Hateful Abandon have managed to refine on "Move".

www.myspace.com/hatefulabandon

Price: 10 €

HAWKS "Barnburner" LP
(Army of Bad Luck Records)
Rising out of the cacophony come Hawks, Atlanta's newest and most distrubing rock quartet. Their debut "Barnburner" showcases ten tracks of booze fueled noise that has been described as a "sleazy orchestra" of "ungodly racket." Empty bottles clanging, spare change rattling, antique brass bellowing from beneath the clamor - all of this swirling together into an amalgam of tonal chaos. Guitarist Andrew Wiggins screeches and whirs against the primal and destructive cannonade provided by the rhythm section composed of bass player Sean Fitzgerald and drummer Shane Patrick. Among this pandemonium, vocalist Michael Keenan howls like a feral child, if that child were to have the capacity for speech. And yet, these songs have an infectious quality about them. They wriggle their way into the listener's mind and set up residence like a clew of earworms. These are hymns of sex and violence, of death and transformation, of public humiliation and private perversion. "Barnburner" is a dirty and unseemly snapshot of a damaged and seedy group of individuals. Too imperfect to exist on their own, Hawks have stumbled upon a strange sort of synergy - together. This, their first full length record, showcases the band's ability to document their own self-destructive tendencies, and in doing so, present something of horrific beauty. Black 180g vinyl. Huge poster insert and download code coupon.

hawksnoise.bandcamp.com

Price: 15 €

HAWKS / CAFE FLESH Split 2x7"
(Trans Ruin Records)
Hawks have a well-earned reputation as relentless noisemongers; their cacophonous, go-for-the-gut rock and certifiable stage antics have been striking fear and discomfort in the heart of timid concertgoers for almost three years running. And, in fairness, to listen to their their music is to invite a certain amount of punishment—atonal and abrasive guitars rip at your face while violently lumbering bass lines and thundering drums try to drag you under. Standing firm in the face of such rusty, mean aggression is no easy task. In many ways the two tracks on the group’s latest effort, a double split 7" with France’s Cafe Flesh, picks up where their impressive debut, "Barnburner", left off. "Hey Regina" and "Pity Party" are both lean and ferocious, and just a little bit paranoid. Of the two, "Pity Party" is slower and moodier, a jagged, belligerent stomper fueled by buzzsaw guitars and Michael Keenan’s furious snarls and howls. Not to be outdone, "Hey Regina" is a brutal battering ram that flies by at a blistering pace and obliterates everything in its path. No band in Atlanta delivers music this raw and bruising. Their scorched-earth songs may sound unhinged, but, musically, everything is airtight and maniacally on lock. For their part, Cafe Flesh deliver two songs that skew slightly more towards the melodic, but that are no less pummeling. It’s easy to see why Trans Ruin would want to pair these two bands together. They’ve got the steel-chewing AmRep sound down cold with serrated guitars that churn seamlessly through piercing noise rock and discordant hardcore punk. "Stopping Speaking" is the standout track, a tense, tightly-knit effort that rumbles along ominously before plunging headlong into a jarring chorus. Two gold/black swirl vinyls in a nice double-7" sleeve.

hawksnoise.bandcamp.com
www.myspace.com/cafefleshjarnac

Price: 9 €

HEAVY LORD "Chained to the World" LP
(Solitude Productions)
Third album by the Dutch riff masters of sludge/doom! Contribution of The Void Studio (known from such bands as Celestial Season, Motorpsycho, etc.) where the album has been recorded, mixed and produced made it possible for the band to reach a new level, presenting the listeners amazing and heavy sound. Compared to the previous record: "From Cosmos to Chaos", the music became more brutal and destructive. Presence of mature musical skills, make the band one of the representatives of the genre. Limited edition of 500 copies. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/heavylord

Price: 12 €

HEAVY LORD "Chained to the World" CD
(Solitude Productions)
Third album by the Dutch riff masters of sludge/doom! Contribution of The Void Studio (known from such bands as Celestial Season, Motorpsycho, etc.) where the album has been recorded, mixed and produced made it possible for the band to reach a new level, presenting the listeners amazing and heavy sound. Compared to the previous record: "From Cosmos to Chaos", the music became more brutal and destructive. Presence of mature musical skills, make the band one of the representatives of the genre. CD edition comes with a poster by Interzone.

www.myspace.com/heavylord

SALE! Price: 8 €

HEAVY LORD "Balls to All" CD
(Solitude Productions)
The fourth album from the Dutch band Heavy Lord. On one hand, this work continues the tradition of harmonic mixture of stoner doom metal and sludge doom metal; on the other hand, this is the most progressive and mature album from the band. As before, the basis of Heavy Lord's music is powerful crushing guitar riffs. Combining energetic and meditative elements in compositions the musicians reach a new artistic level on the "Balls to All" album which can attract attention of new fans of the genre.

www.myspace.com/heavylord

SALE! Price: 8 €

HEBOSAGIL "Colossal" CD
(Kaos Kontrol)
Colossal is the word that is bludgeoned into your mind when Hebosagil's debut album forces itself out of your speakers and 43 minutes later you know you have experienced something colossal. This five-piece from Northern Finland boldly mold their colossus from diverse influences and elements, their approach ranging from slow, crushing doom to violent hardcore bursts and riff-heavy sludge, all forced through unhealthy doses of distortion and performed with fiercely rocking energy. "Colossal" includes 7 tracks perfectly showcasing Hebosagil's varied and uncompromising style, but most importantly everything has been tied together with excellent sense of songwriting and dynamics, complemented by the crushing production. Will cause vibrations to fans of Electric Wizard, Sourvein, Godflesh, Autopsy, Eyehategod, Entombed and Motörhead.

www.myspace.com/hebosagil

Price: 10 €

www.myspace.com/hebosagil

Price: 5 €

www.myspace.com/hebosagil

Price: 10 €

HEBOSAGIL "Herätys" 7"
(Kult of Nihilow)
Hot on the heels of their brilliant second album "Ura", Hebosagil spits three new songs in your face, delivered on a shiny black 7" vinyl just like they're supposed to be. "Herätys" might be Hebosagil at their most abrasive, dissonant and chaotic yet at the same time there's a catchiness and such energy in the songs and performance that you'll need to cancel your online Viagra order now. Stick this 7" on your turntable and you'll be pounding like a locomotive!

www.myspace.com/hebosagil

Price: 6 €

HEBOSAGIL / TWO BEATS OFF Split 7"
(Psychedelica Records/Verdura Records/Posion Idea Records)
Seriously, this one is a monster. Super intense ass-kicking by both bands. Hebosagil has a gigantic sludge/metal/hardcore sound with loads of potential for headbanging and fist-shaking. And what about Two Beats Off then? Well, overwhelmingly energetic noisy hardcore punk that has a charming messy edge into it. Black vinyl. 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/hebosagil
www.myspace.com/tbo

Price: 6 €

HEIRS "Fowl" LP
(Denovali Records)
Upon returning to Melbourne after 67 shows across Europe and Japan, Heirs commenced work on their second album, "Fowl". With the baton of core song-writing being handed from drummer Damian Coward to guitarist, Brent Stegeman, Heirs turned their attention toward their electronic underbelly, honing in on the industrial vapour and blackened ambience that permeated their debut, "Alchera", distilling the underlying sense of melody with an arresting sense of dread. "Fowl" displays a deliberate shift towards a broader sonic palette, enabling the band to incorporate disparate in­uences and approaches to create a sound that is uniquely their own. From wheezing blasts of industrial steam to weeping passages of gothic suspense, "Fowl" is a fully realised analysis of the repugnant. Its pugilistic rhythmic foundation, reverb soaked guitars, crackling electronics and deadpan dark-wave meditation create an abstract dronescape of industrial dirge and metallic ambience coalesced into an ambitious whole. For fans of Swans, Controlled Bleeding, HTRK, Pelican, Godflesh and Nadja. Limited edition.

www.myspace.com/heirsmusic

SALE! Price: 10 €

HEREM "I - Pulsa diNura" CD
(Rusty Crowbar Records)
Oppressive sludge, riff oriented stoner, laid-back doom and a slight touch of coarse death metal - they're all here but none of them in a dominant role. "Pulsa diNura" is the soundtrack of brimstone rain lashing from the sky while avoiding easy classifications and manerisms. Two demos and years of work have resulted in seven tracks of madness, gloom and groove . The trademark heavy and warm soundscape of the demos is still present in an even more refined wall of sound with clear, balanced and dynamic finishing to strike well placed licks upon the skins of closed minded zombies.

www.myspace.com/heremband

SALE! Price: 10 €

www.myspace.com/heycolossus

Price: 10 €

www.myspace.com/heycolossus
www.myspace.com/dethscalator

Price: 12 €

www.myspace.com/heycolossus

Price: 12 €

HEY COLOSSUS / FIELD BOSS Split 7"
(At War with False Noise/Black Horizons/Crucificados Pelo Sistema)
Great split from two of the UK's most exciting heavy bands, perfectly complimenting one another! Hey Colossus don't do things straight, and what we have here is a slo-mo cover of Andre Williams' "Jailbait", battered into submission by HC's trademark downbeat dirge. The blues on downers. Field Boss are bloody brilliant. The band previously known as Tractor have been knocking around for a few years but this is their first "proper" release. It reminds me a lot of early Unsane; they've got that Am Rep sound down to an absolute tee, really thick guitars, monotonous, hollowed-out drum sound and in-the-red vocals pushed down in the mix. One might hear the first Fudge Tunnel record (surely one of the most overlooked albums ever?!) in there as well. "I got a headache on my birthday". Fits it perfectly, brilliant! 300 copies on heavy black vinyl. Three-panel screen-printed cover, metallic ink.

www.myspace.com/heycolossus
www.superfirecords.co.uk/fieldboss

Price: 6 €

HIGHGATE "s/t" CD
(Totalrust Music)
The album of Kentucky sick trio Highgate offers 1 untitled track, but not less than 54 minutes of nasty combination between hybrid minimalistic doom, experimental noise and grim black metal. Expect for a loud and noisy production and prepare yourself for the worse! The sound of apocalypse…

www.myspace.com/therealhighgate

SALE! Price: 8 €

HKY "s/t" CD
(Music Fear Satan)
Formed 3 years ago and after ten shows in Paris, HKY unleashed their first effort with four lengthy tracks. The result sounds like dark and cold metal with lots of programming, sampling and keyboards which give a very particular gloomy atmosphere to the record. All the members have plenty of experience from different bands and musical projects (Vengeance, Every Reason To..., ((Remote)), Immemorial, Crossing the Rubicon, etc.) but the strength of HKY is the massive universe within each track and their musical block between Jesu, Tarantula Hawk and Darkspace. The CD version in digisleeve is limited to 1000 copies. The artwork was done by Chuck (from Warsaw Was Raw).

www.myspace.com/hkyrock

SALE! Price: 8 €

HOLY HELL "Kill Jesus" LP
(Northern Heritage/Rusty Crowbar)
An official re-release of the 1989 demo, "Kill Jesus". Legendary bizarre and heavy death/doom metal from Finland. Holy Hell later changed their name to Unholy. Re-worked artwork and re-mastered audio. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/originalunholy

Price: 14 €

HORSE LATITUDES "Gathering" CD
(Aurora Borealis)
Horse Latitudes are an excellent new band from Finland playing unique occult metal. Comprising of two basses and a singing drummer, it's clear this band is out of the ordinary, and the debut album is full of unexpected material. Somehow combining elements of epic sludge, Nordic leftfield underground metal bands like Urfaust and Ride for Revenge, and with hints of the Bradford Doom sound of yesteryear, particularly in the vocal delivery, this is a potent sonic brew. Heavy, throbbing bass, emotive and yet strangely detached vocals and tribal pounding drums distill into a powerful metal beast tearing the cosmos asunder. The album is presented as a jewel case CD with six panel booklet. All artwork was created by the band.

www.myspace.com/horselatitudesmetal

Price: 10 €

HUMID "s/t" 7"
(Suggestion Records/Dunkel Prod.)
Apparently the only release from the Norwegian psychedelic noise rock band Humid, this 7" dates back to 1996. Three tracks packed with jangly post-punkish reverb, dirty and gritty guitars of noise rock with a twist of psychedelic and spacey atmosphere. Full colour sleeve, blue vinyl, limited edition of 1000 copies.

Price: 5 €

HÄVITYS / WARD Split 7"
(Ruori Records/Ritual Hate Records/Roina Records)
Nice old-school style split release showcasing two fresh Finnish bands; Hävitys blasting four tracks of vicious crusty grind core keeping a distance to the modern and clean sport grind mentality whereas Ward offer their long awaited first officially released track of thick and crusty sludge/doom filth. Black vinyl in stylish sleeve.

havitys.bandcamp.com

Price: 5 €

Price: 10 €

IMINDAIN "And the Living Shall Envy the Dead" CD
(Weird Truth Productions)
First album of UK mournful doom band Imindain, who started in 2002 and released 2 demos "Endless" (2002) and "Monolithium" (2006) . This first album contains re-recorded versions of 3 songs from the "Monolithium" demo and 3 more songs. The album was mixed by Greg from UK veteran doom band Esoteric. Powerful mid/slow tempo based drumming with a lot of impressive fills. Guitar harmonies with sorrowful mood. Vocal with a variety of voices from deep low grunts to hysteric high screams and mournful mid-tone clean vocal. Dramatic song structures mixing aggression and tranquility. Everything is done the way it should be. Mourn in despair and be doomed!

www.myspace.com/imindain

SALE! Price: 8 €

THE JAM SESSION "När mörkret väller över" CD
(Concubine Records)
"'När mörkret väller över' is the third album from swedish gods The Jam Session. A twelve songs cd clocking in at 46 minutes of doom, sludge and dark hardcore, a new approch to music, a brutal mix between swedish metal heaviness and emotional/ambient atmospheres. The tracks are slower, longer and more emotive than ever, in the same time 'När mörkret väller över' is the most brutal, dark, ambient Jam Session's work and the best offer so far. Recorded and mixed by Joakim Petterson from grind masters Regurgitate. Artwork and layout by Mattias Frisk (www.nerofrisk.se). For fans of Baroness, Black Sabbath, Isis and Eyehategod. So be ready, the black cats are back!" (Concubine Records)

www.myspace.com/thejamsessionmjolby

SALE! Price: 8 €

JAVELINA "s/t" LP
(Translation Loss Records/Triumph of Death Records)
Southern sludge it is, and Javelina heaps on plenty of influences with gusto and aplomb to put together a ripsnorter of an album. Throw in equal parts Eyehategod (speed it up a bit and use less heroin, though) and “Technocracy”-era Corrosion of Conformity (well, add moments of “Blind”, too), add a dash or two of Soilent Green/ Goatwhore, and include a few post-thrash, sludge, stoner touches evocative of newer acts such as The Fucking Wrath, and you have Javelina’s debut full-length in a nutshell. Limited to 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/javelinaphiladelphia

Price: 12 €

JOE4 "Enola Gay" 10"
(Whosbrain Records)
Joe4 are a trio from Zagreb, Croatia which began playing at the end of 2008 as a four piece, later dropping one member out. Joe4's music owes much to the creative epoch of the 90s underground labelled "American noise rock". Rage, sarcasm and cynicism are injected into highly structured yet compact arrangements and wrapped around noise- and volume filled songs. Like their inspirations, Joe4 lays out rebellious, quarrelsome and obscene images in their efficient and workman-like assaults, not far from the likes of Shellac, Tar, Janitor Joe and The Jesus Lizard. "Enola Gay" marks the debut release from Joe4 and makes good promise of what's yet to come. Black vinyl. Sleeve includes poster and digital download code.

joe4.bandcamp.com

Price: 10 €

JOURNEY TO IXTLAN "s/t" CD
(Aurora Borealis)
Pan pipes carry on the air as the eagle circles the mesa, your mouth full of sand and peyote mulch as the sun beats down. Riding out of the desert like the ghosts of future past in a dune buggy powered by dreams come Journey to Ixtlan. Totally heavy, very psychedelic, and utterly sun kissed this is the sound of new age doom & occult desert rock. Journey to Ixtlan are an anonymous badass rock band of desert dwellers, in some cases living outside the law at the very margins of society, who converge infrequently to render their physical surroundings in psychotropic sound. Their heavy sound owes as much to doom metal as it does to psychedelia, as much to now as it does to then, as guitar, bass, drums, keys and vocal chants intertwine like shamanic smoke. To listen to Journey to Ixtlan is to participate in a ritual out of time, to tread the path of Don Juan, to lay on the mesa as a 'man of power' and be touched by the sun at the heart of the cosmic stage. Truly a very special album, presented as beautiful matte finish mini gatefold, with printed inner spine.

www.myspace.com/j2ifan

SALE! Price: 8 €

JUCIFER "If Thine Enemy Hunger" CD
(Relapse Records)
The infamous Jucifer has returned with its long-awaited new full-length "If Thine Enemy Hunger". "...Hunger", the Athens, GA power-duo's first proper album in almost four years, serves up an unforgettable collection of the melodic, bombastic rock that is their calling card. The dreamy, seductive vocals of the gorgeous Amber Valentine melt into monolithic walls of guitar and pounding drums (courtesy of wildman Edgar Livengood) to form the most infectious heavy rock you will ever hear. With a sound as big as the hooks it's 15 tracks carry, "If Thine Enemy Hunger" is a total eargasm and vibrant return to form by one of the US's most unique rock bands.

www.myspace.com/jucifer

Price: 10 €

JUCIFER "L'Autrichienne" CD
(Relapse Records)
The fourth album from this Southern noise punk riff monster duo is a raw sonic palette varying in tempo and volume that never lets up! Oddly enough, this intense release centers around French noblewoman Marie Antoinette, and is extremely well-thought out and deep. This is definitely the most ambitious Jucifer record to date. Amber Valentine's distinctive voice varies from harsh, banshee screams to softly moaned intonations against a raw palette that varies in terms of tempo and volume but never wavers in emotive intensity. Jucifer reinvents metallic shoegazing on "L'Autrichienne".

www.myspace.com/jucifer

Price: 10 €

KARP "Kill All Redneck Pricks" DVD
(Molasses Manifesto)
"Kill All Redneck Pricks: A Documentary Film about a Band Called KARP" is the story of three friends overcoming odds through rock'n'roll music. Set in the Pacific Northwest against the backdrop of the Olympia, WA post punk and riot girl movements of the early 90's, the film details the joys and tragedies of a band called KARP as each band member's life serves as a lightning bolt to a separate destiny. "Kill All Redneck Pricks" is the biography of a friendship… because ultimately the sound a band makes is the sound of their friendship. Film includes KARP, The Whip, Big Business, Melvins, Joe Preston, Calvin Johnson, Kathleen Hanna, and original music by Kimya Dawson. DVD extras include complete 3 camera shoot of KARP's appearance at the Yo Yo A Go Go Festival 1994 and 1997.

www.karplives.com

Price: 16 €

www.myspace.com/bloodtime

Price: 15 €

KEPONE / ED HALL / HEADBUTT / BEAMTRAP "Erase Yer Head #7" Split 7"
(Pandemonium Records)
Erase Yer Head was a split-single series by the French Pandemonium Records that ran between 1995-1999, always pairing lesser known noise rock/punk/experimental bands with more widely known names, each volume also featuring exclusive artwork by various artists.
Kepone is named from an outlawed pesticide that breaks down the human nervous system. Kepone toured with Jesus Lizard, Lunachicks, Sloy, Helmet and established themselves as a brilliant live band. After three albums out on Quarterstick/Touch and Go, nobody should ignore that Kepone is one of the best rock bands ever. Ed Hall first appeared on the Texas live circuit in 1987, did two LPs on Boner Records, before being invited to tour with the Butthole Surfers. Then, they did three albums on Trance Syndicate, recorded a Peel Session, and toured extensively displaying their amazing and unpredictable guitar/bass work, propelled by mind-numbing rhythms and packed with a very warped Texas world view. Art and noise terrorism since 1990, Headbutt has involved over 30 people in total, across 30 odd releases and 9 European tours. Beamtrap formed in Montpellier, France in January 1994, performing noise rock without guitars after being unsuccessful finding a guitar player. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/keponetribute
www.myspace.com/eddhalll

Price: 6 €

KODIAK / NADJA Split LP
(Denovali Records)
In doom and drone, genres where much of the stuff can sound remarkably similar, here is a band that stands apart as a beacon. Nadja have the deep drones and all the darkness of doom, but also have intricate melodies that permeate their long dirges...What's commendable about Nadja is the alchemical experimentation with the genres resulting in a unique concoction of doom metal, drone, shoegazer layering, and avant-rock explorations. Kodiak is not a band that you just play for enjoyment; it needs time and attention, but when it locks you in its slowly developing, pachyderm-paced punishing groove, Kodiak has a lot to offer, proving that monotony and monolithic heaviness are enough to make great songs, if you know how. Kodiak definitely know it. Thick gatefold covers and 180g heavyweight vinyl. Limited edition.

www.myspace.com/kodiaksoundscapes
www.myspace.com/nadjaluv

Price: 15 €

KOWLOON WALLED CITY "Turk Street" 10"
(Feast of Tentacles/Howling Mine)
Get a load of this five song ep, of fierce, furious, crushing heaviness. Think Unsane, old Helmet, The Melvins, Buzzov-en, Neurosis of course, this is some seriously heavy shit. The guitars massive and downtuned, a relentless sea of roiling chug and churn, the drums dense and pounding, the vocals a throat shredding howl. The AmRep vibe is all over these songs, the sound incredibly thick and corrosive, the rhythms alternatingly pounding and lurching, most often settling into a lumbering almost-groove, the melodies buried amidst the crunch and rumble, sometimes surfacing as the band slips into something more dynamic, letting the guitars moan and keen, the drums getting all spacious, sheets of Eyehategod style feedback, a weirdly doomy sort of abstract sludge, before slipping back into a furious grinding metallic crush. The vinyl is limited to 300 copies, and is pressed on cool swirled red and black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/kowloonwalledcity

Price: 10 €

KOWLOON WALLED CITY "Gambling on the Richter Scale" LP
(Feast of Tentacles/The Perpetual Motion Machine)
On "Gambling on the Richter Scale", their first full-length, San Francisco's Kowloon Walled City add a touch of finesse to the grinding pummel introduced on last year’s "Turk Street" EP, which drew comparisons to Neurosis, The Melvins and other low-end explorers, from the ‘90s AmRep roster to the current crop of sludgecore contenders. These eight new crushing tracks unleash a barrage of noisy, down-tuned hardcore and sludge. Silver vinyl in black/white sleeve.

www.myspace.com/kowloonwalledcity

Price: 12 €

L'ACEPHALE "Malefeasance" 2LP
(Aurora Borealis)
In the wake of their polarising first Aurora Borealis release, "Mord und Totschlag", L'Acephale return with "Malefeasance", a lengthy and complex affair that further explores their fascinations and strikes headlong into the darkest of musical vistas. The journey this time is perhaps even more academic: further ethnographic audio elements are now present, more spacious passages, a deeper approach. The album begins with "Vainamoinen Nacht", a distinctly ambient and largely gentle piece, as warping tones begin to collide with the intoning of the Eddas and Slavic choirs. "Hitori Bon Odori" continues themes found on "Mord und Totschlag", repetitive acoustic riffing, joining with vocal chants and some executioner's snare rolls. "A Burned Village" is a more black metal track, slow martial drums and staccato riffing, with layers of vocal and even some aetherial keyboard. Perhaps these last two tracks best show the nature of Set Sothis' collaborations with Markus Wolff (Waldteufel, Crash Worship), sharing some of his vocal and percussive styles. "From a Miserable Abode" takes us into more familiar L'Acephale territory as droning distorted guitar is swallowed gradually and ineffably under panning layers of shrieked vocals, swathes of electronic noise and maelstrom before passing over into Tibetan ritual music like some horrific and excoriating funerary rite. The album continues with "Sleep Has His House", a near 15 minute track of feedback scree cut through with repetitive heavy handed strumming and culminating in a curiously intoned vocal piece that recalls prime Swans. Album closer "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted" is a knowing 23 minutes with some of the quietest moments on the album, as dreamlike interludes pass into arcs of harsh noise followed by acoustic guitars before once again entering the dream state, a field recording from beyond consciousness. By no means do L'Acephale make music for the casual listener, nor will this album appeal to all, in many ways they transcend the listener's preconceived ideas of what may be expected: L'Acephale are perhaps most successful at operating beyond the constraints of genre altogether, and "Malefeasance", with its dark, dreamlike and harrowing atmospheres, is their testament. 180g black vinyl double LP with a giant fold out double sided poster (90cm x 60cm), 20 page full colour booklet as with the CD, and all housed in matte LP sleeve with 5mm spine and poly outer bag. This is a weighty and exquisite release, limited to only 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/lacephale

SALE! Price: 14 €

LENTO "Icon" CD
(Denovali Records)
Lento's first album "Earthen" has received great attention and rave reviews, so their long-awaited second album had to be confronted with high expectations - these expectations are easily met and exceeded by "Icon". The foundations for "Icon" had been laid during two years of intense touring in Europe. In this time, Lento have started to develop a more chaotic and restructured songwriting. This new level of sound has then been perfected during numerous hard rehearsals in the touring period, and has been deepened in a period of one year, which Lento spent isolated in their home-based studio. In that year, Lento managed to cast the molten outcome of their creative process into ten new songs. Matteo Spinazzè (Zu/Original Silence/Fm Einheit) has led the drum tracking, while Lorenzo Stecconi (Lento/Ufomammut/Lloyd Turner) has taken care of guitars/basses and the final mixing flow at his Locomotore Recording Studio in Rome, Italy. Finally, the songs went to James Plotkin (Khanate), who has taken care of the mastering process in Philadelphia, U.S. The final result is 10 tracks with a total running time of 37 minutes. On "Icon", Lento explore a new range of emotions and feelings, and build up a very deep and dark universe driven by their usual postcore fury. Already with "Earthen", Lento convinced their listeners by being one of the most overwhelming and mind-blowing bands of today. On "Icon", the song structures have been particularly developed to repeat and strongly strengthen this impression. Digipak.

www.myspace.com/lento

Price: 10 €

LIMITED READERSHIP #2 Magazine
(Limited Readership)
Second issue of this brilliant U.K. zine featuring interviews with Pollution, Milk Music, Spike in Vain and Condominium alongside tons of features, articles and reviews in a nice punky old school style. 32 A4 pages in black/white.

Price: 4 €

LORDAMOR "s/t" CD
(Descending Towards Damnation)
Excruciatingly slow Finnish black/doom metal in the vein of Unholy, Worship, Thergothon and Beherit with lyrical themes involving man's dark shadow-nature, decay and death.

www.myspace.com/lordamor

SALE! Price: 8 €

MALACHI / THE BASTARD NOISE "The Immortals" Split CD
(Housepig/Hear More!/200mg)
Three labels, two bands, one crushing release! Each group contributes two tracks, alternating between doom-laden hardcore and deep space sonic experimentation. Malachi (featuring members of Artimus Pyle, What Happens Next? and Fuck Face) brings together a mix of crusty hardcore and unstoppable doom, all shot through with mournful cello melody. The Bastard Noise lineup of Wood, Nelson and Rauf (also responsible for the critically-lauded "Rogue Astronaut" CD) come forth with their signature oscillator-based transmissions from the void, isolated communications from beyond Alpha Centauri. This split release is brought to you by Housepig, Hear More! and 200mg, in a heavy poly sleeve with a unique shifting-color six-panel insert by Thumbprint Press.

www.myspace.com/malachimilwaukee
www.myspace.com/mitbnoise

Price: 10 €

MAYDAY "Staplegun" 10"
(Stormstrike Records)
Probably best known for their "Les 120 Journes de Sodome" split 7" with Integrity, while everything they recorded was fucking outstanding, their final release, "Staplegun" (1995), remains the best of the bunch. Probably never actually referred to as having the "holy terror" sound back in the day, but Mayday most certainly did right down to the visual imagery and lyrical content and were significantly ahead of their time in terms of pioneering a completely dark, twisted "metalcore" sound that falls somewhere between the chugging rhythms and abstract subject matter of Integrity and the eerie atmospheric dissonance and sick vocal sneers of Starkweather, without sounding like either of those bands. There are just a lot of pulsing rhythms with super thick basslines interspersed with clean passages often accentuated by subtle little noise textures and general weirdness buried deep in the mix not to mention the maniacal vocal work. Black vinyl.

SALE! Price: 4 €

MENTAT "Amarillo Abisal" CD
(Odio Sonoro/Boue Records)
Debut full-length from the Spanish band, Mentat. The sound is fairly difficult to pin down but they have a strong experimental side to their sludge, doom and post hardcore sound. Mostly screamed vocals are given the perfect counterpoint by some beautiful ambient sections and the use of brass and clean piano offer nice depth to the heavy sound. Six tracks in 56 minutes. Limited edition of 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/mentatrock

SALE! Price: 7 €

MERCURY 4°F "Phased" LP
(Suggestion Records)
Mercury 4°F were a Swiss noise rock/space punk band in the mid-90s who released a handful of 7" and 10" vinyls (on such classic labels as Bovine Records etc.) and "Phased" is their only full-length album as well as their final record, released in 1997. Definitely a varied mix of styles here, from noise rock to punkish space rock to stoner rock, such names as Big Black, F/i and Head of David have been thrown as comparisons, but that's only a part of the deal. Black vinyl. Limited edition of 600 copies.

Price: 12 €

METHADRONE "Better Living (Through Chemistry)" CD
(ConSouling Sounds)
Methadrone has come a long way since its conception as a 2-bassed sludge/drone monolith. Craig Pillard (who has been part of Evoken, Incantation, e.a.) gradually expanded his sound through experiment with acoustic guitars and other vocal collaborations. "Better Living (Through Chemistry)" is pushing beyond the boundaries of traditional doom music, resulting in well balanced atmospheric pieces of music which make this third full album the apogee of Methadrone's oeuvre this far. On this innovative journey, that bridges the gaps between doom, drone, dark ambient, wave and even neo-folk, Pillard sided with Jason Wallach (The Unquiet Void), Tara Vanflower (Lycia) and Thierry Arnal (fragment.) to present their next step in the evolution of gloomy music.

www.myspace.com/methadrone

SALE! Price: 8 €

MILGRAM "Vierhundertfünfzig Volt" CD
(Pandemonium Records)
Milgram refers to the psychologist Stanley Milgram, who, during his experiments on submission to authority, persuaded 280 subjects that they were collaborating to a test on the effects of punishment: sending 450 volts electric shocks to people. The punished people were in fact the psychologist's colleagues which were simulating screams, convulsions and total silence... death. Despite of that, 60% of the subjects applied the lethal doses. Milgram is a French band founded during the spring of 1997, consisting of 4 musicians (drums, guitar, 2 bass guitars and vocals). The band recorded their first album "Vierhundertfünfzig Volt" at the end of 1998, bringing a welcomed addition to the French post-hardcore/noise rock scene.

www.myspace.com/milgram

SALE! Price: 7 €

MOLOCH / CORPUS DEI Split 7"
(Feast of Tentacles)
Moloch from the U.K. play awesome sludge à la Eyehategod and Grief. Corpus Dei are from Buffalo, N.Y. and play brutal hardcore in the vein of His Hero is Gone played by members of They Live. Black vinyl in black/white sleeve.

www.myspace.com/molochscum
www.myspace.com/corpusdei

Price: 6 €

MONKEYPRIEST "The Psalm" CD
(Féretro Records)
The debut full-length album from this Spanish sludge powerhouse. Just like on their previous EP, "Defending the Tree", Monkeypriest still spits forth crude and uncompromising sludge similar to greats such as Iron Monkey, Grief and Eyehategod. No post-rock noodling here nor black metal crossover, simply no-holds-barred crusty riffs, groove and negativity.

www.myspace.com/monkeypriest

Price: 10 €

MONKEYPRIEST "The Psalm" LP
(Féretro Records)
The debut full-length album from this Spanish sludge powerhouse. Just like on their previous EP, "Defending the Tree", Monkeypriest still spits forth crude and uncompromising sludge similar to greats such as Iron Monkey, Grief and Eyehategod. No post-rock noodling here nor black metal crossover, simply no-holds-barred crusty riffs, groove and negativity. Limited edition of 300 copies.

www.myspace.com/monkeypriest

Price: 12 €

MOS GENERATOR "Songs for Future Gods" LP
(Burning World Records/Señor Hernandez)
Born from the ashes of a scene that promised the second coming of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath but delivered only watered-down bar bands and radio-friendly alt rock, scene veterans Shawn Johnson (ex-Mindfunk), Scooter Haslip (ex-Voodoo Gearshift), and Tony Reed (ex- Treepeople, Goodbye Harry) felt the instinctual need to strip down to the basics of hard rock. Their debut, "Songs for Future Gods", virtually oozes sludge through your speakers when first played. The rhythms are tight, and Reed's guitar playing has grown all the more explosive. The fact is, Mos Generator plays kick-ass, honest, old school heavy rock'n'roll. Dynamic, resilient, instinctive, and unpredictable - never boring - Mos Generator is a must-see the next time the band comes to your town. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/mosgenerator

SALE! Price: 10 €

MOUNT SHASTA / DENISON KIMBALL TRIO / ZEEK SHECK / KILLDOZER "Sides 7-10" 2x7"
(Skin Graft Records/Gasoline Boost)
Volume three in the Skin Graft Records/Gasoline Boost 7" series with 90s noise rock bands doing cover versions of AC/DC classics. Chicago's swamp boogie masters Mount Shasta kick off with "Whole Lotta Rosie", a full on rock fest that will have you jumping around the house and searching for that closeted jean jacket! In stark contrast, Denison Kimball Trio exercise more restraint than anyone would expect from two members of The Jesus Lizard. Duane and Jim commit "Back In Blanc" (note: that's not a typo), an atmospheric salute that glides off the turn table and plants itself deep in your right hemisphere. The second platter picks up with the wild and wooly Zeek Sheck. Rose Perkins-Meyers and her friends from the Chicago no wave scene funk "Wowy - AC/DC I'm Electric", an electro-acoustic slice of divine oddness in the Ralph Record tradition. The legacy of the late great Killdozer continues with "Let Me Put My Love Into You", a slow, powerful dirge of unearthly heaviness. A fitting tribute from a band renowned for their tributes. The sleeve, in Skin Graft tradition, is a 12-page comic book where Todd Fischer (Nood Ham) joins his brother Mark to illustrate "North Pole Vaulting", continuing the deconstruction of the story introduced on "Sides 1-4". Two black vinyls in a comic book sleeve.

Price: 9 €

MOURNER "Still" MCD
(Mourner)
30+ minutes of arcane and nihilistic doom from Nashville! Mourner is a four-piece group of musicians (including members of Loss) bonded by the creation of doom in its most raw, arcane and nihilistic state... drawing influence from a wide array of musical styles and art, emotions, experiences, the occult and esoteric and an overall bleak and daunting feeling. Limited edition of 333 copies.

www.myspace.com/mourner777

SALE! Price: 5 €

MR. PETER HAYDEN "Faster than Speed (or Violating Special Relativity)" 2LP
(Mikrofoni)
In the album notes for Mr. Peter Hayden's "Faster than Speed" album it states "The songs deal with time" and time is exactly what you need to fully appreciate the spacious, lush sounds that are projected over two tracks that both have playing times of over 30 minutes each. Using sounds created by guitars, bass, drums, percussion and finished with synthesizers, piano, wind instruments and various acoustic elements. The soundscapes here are very cinematic as styles from doom metal, drone, psychedelia, space rock to experimental prog-rock are interwoven into an endless stream of ambient, flowing hypnotic music. It's pure music made for meditative listening as there is no catchy hooks, no riffs to make you grab your air-guitar and while it has certain melodic segments, the emphasis is on slow-building atmospherics. Two slabs of black 180g vinyl in beautiful gatefold sleeve.

mrph.bandcamp.com

Price: 20 €

MULTICULT "s/t" LP
(Multicult)
Strong debut album by the Baltimore trio Multicult. Dirty, rhythmically heavy noise rock having that gritty garage-y vibe all throughout, but also maintaining a clear emphasis on actual song structures, reminiscent of the sound once so prominently connected with the names Amphetamine Reptile and Touch & Go. Multicult has been compared to such bands as Big Black, early Unsane, Brainbombs, Birthday Party and Clockcleaner, so if any of those names ring a bell, check out Multicult. Black vinyl. Limited edition of 300 copies.

multicult.bandcamp.com

Price: 13 €

MULTICULT "Open Fire" 7"
(Amplified Noise Recordings)
This here two song single follows the self-titled twelve inch that the band put out earlier this year. If you were to search around and make an assumption based on the very little information you can find about the band, then you’d think they were merely focused on some blunt forceful sounding noise rock. Granted, the band is in fact noisy, but their music is greatly beat/rhythm driven. Both sides of this single combine some razor sharp guitar plucking with very strong rhythms that has a bit of a Skin Graft vibe to it, albeit not as damaged or arty. It’s a bit of a meeting between a lot of the noise rock that’s been heard out of Baltimore lately and the workman/technical side of things of the past Midwest. Guest appearances by Rebecca/Lady Piss and Jake/Triac. Black vinyl. Includes a digital download coupon for the two tracks included on this 7" as well as two bonus tracks.

multicult.bandcamp.com

Price: 6 €

MURKRAT "s/t" CD
(Aesthetic Death)
Welcome to the Australian year of the rat - voyage into the world of the soothsayer and bow down to the unbridled imagination of the dark witch of Murkrat. This CD features 3 brand new tracks, alongside bonus material from the 2006 "Murky Ratmass" demo. This is primitive doom at its most fundamental and monotonous - yet, simultaneously, at its most beautiful and enchanting. Long bass lines, bewitching harmonies and ethereal vocals... these spellbinding tracks will haunt you! Imagine: total misanthropy meets doom metal meets Diamanda Galas meets Portishead meets Mordor meets Gallhammer - and you'll still be nowhere near...

www.myspace.com/murkrat

Price: 10 €

MURKRAT "Drudging the Mire" CD
(Aesthetic Death)
The second album from this Australian band is nothing short of stunning - some of the darkest, most depressed and enchanting doom - emanating directly from the heart and soul. Plenty of bands claim to be dark and depressive, but this album makes those bands seem light weight and weak. This music takes you to darkest voids, then strips you of your emotions and then will remind you of your pathetic insecurities. A beautifully balanced album - it will reward you finely if you dare to enter the world of the Murkrat.

www.myspace.com/murkrat

Price: 10 €

MÖSE "Halfway to Nowhere" CD
(Solitude Productions)
The debut full-length album from the Belgian sludge doom metal band Möse presents results of many years' work of musicians having performed numerous gigs and released a 7"-single and a split-album. The band features members of Thee Plague of Gentlemen and Neuthrone. The powerful sound is ensured by professional mastering and the crushing compositions of “Halfway to Nowhere” proclaim the appearance of a new serious representative of the style in Europe.

www.myspace.com/mosedoom

Price: 10 €

MÖSE / HOG MOUNTIN Split CD
(PsycheDOOMelic Records)
After mighty outputs by NYC sludge kings Negative Reaction, and a V/A sampler, we dig out US based Hog Mountin, a pissed off sludge band that lies somewhere inbetween Grief, Crowbar and Eyehategod. You can expect pretty heavy "scream the lungs out" sludge throughout most of the music. On the other side of the split you get a couple of killer tunes by the Belgian Möse, a misanthropic sludge-metal outfit that released a killer 7" in the past. Raw, energetic material like you might got to hear live on their European shows.

www.myspace.com/mosedoom
www.myspace.com/hogmountin

SALE! Price: 8 €

NEGATIVE REACTION "Endofyorerror" CD
(PsycheDOOMelic Records)
"Endofyorerror", originally released in 1996 on their own record label, was Negative Reaction's first full length CD. After 7 years, and two other full length CDs including "The Orion Chronicles" in 2000 featuring the 38 minute long "Moon Song" and "Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures", Negative Reaction's first co-release with Game Two Records in the USA, and PsycheDOOMelic Records in Europe in 2003, this 2003 re-release of "Endofyorerror" by PsycheDOOMelic Records comes to you with slight differences from the original release. The two original bonus tracks have been replaced with one song from the "Orbit EP", Negative Reaction's first release with Game Two Records in 1998. We hope you enjoy this archival masterpiece from the gods of sludge.

www.myspace.com/negativereaction

SALE! Price: 8 €

NEGATIVE REACTION "Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures" CD
(PsycheDOOMelic Records/Game Two Records)
The third full-length from New York's Star Wars obsessed psychedelic sludge lords with over a decade of experience. Back to basics, hard-hitting approach with nods to their hardcore past. Eight tracks of seriously heavy, torturous doom, co-release with Game Two from the U.S.

www.myspace.com/negativereaction

SALE! Price: 8 €

NEGATIVE REACTION "Tales from the Insomniac" CD
(Spare Change Records)
Negative Reaction’s brutal sludgecore has been informed by that very outlook since its inception in 1988. Spanning three decades of melding the piss-your-pants aggression of NYHC mavens Agnostic Front with the feedback mayhem of Eyehategod and the riff worship of Sleep, never before has their viciousness come to the surface as it does on "Tales From The Insomniac".

www.myspace.com/negativereaction

SALE! Price: 8 €

NEGATIVE REACTION / WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS Split CD
(Spare Change Records)
Painful and punishing slow doom assault from two bands. When the Deadbolt Breaks is some intense hardcore sludge with some nice changes here and there to make for an interesting bludgeoning session. Negative Reaction are up to the usual slow motion sickness sounding more tormented than ever. Weird vocals in "Loathing" . Get it tortured listeners of Unearthly Trance, Stumm, Esoteric, Weedeater, Saviours, etc...

www.myspace.com/negativereaction
www.myspace.com/whenthedeadboltbreaks

SALE! Price: 8 €

www.myspace.com/heilneigemorte

SALE! Price: 8 €

NEKRASOV / MOON / NEKROS MANTEIA "The Haunting Resonance" CD
(Fall of Nature Records)
"The Haunting Resonance" contains three lengthy tracks, for a total of 47 minutes of playing time. First up is Nekrasov, the Melbourne-based solo project of Bob Nekrasov, bringing together elements from fierce black metal and dark ambient, creating an almost cinematic horror atmosphere. Moon maintains Nekrasov's ambience with a death industrial/ambient piece. Nekros Manteia departs from the black metal and dark ambient of the other two bands by presenting more of a sludge/post-rock approach with some smoked out psychedelia thrown in.

www.myspace.com/nekrasovguts
www.myspace.com/moonmyth
www.myspace.com/nekrosmanteia

Price: 10 €

NESSERIA "s/t" LP
(Throatruiner Records/Swarm of Nails Records)
Active since 2004, Nesseria's members work with passion to create their own uncompromising extreme music, keeping intensity and energy as their only prerogatives. Nesseria always considered live performance as their main goal and form, to count today more than 100 shows in France, Japan, Spain, U.K., Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic. 3 split CDs and one split vinyl testify their continual sonic mutation, the will to keep questioning their sound. Nesseria is more eager than ever to express its rage and disgust through creation and dedication. For all those who forgot the meaning of the words 'violence' and 'intensity', these guys are coming to fix it for good with their first album. Some harassing blast between Converge, Celeste, Botch, Shora and Nasum. Red vinyl. Limited edition of 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/nesseria

SALE! Price: 10 €

NO BALLS "Less" LP
(Who Can You Trust? Records/Streaks Records)
After the demise of Brainbombs, Dan Råberg and Drajan Bryngelsson formed No Balls. Perhaps a little less obscene and over-the-top provocative than Brainbombs, No Balls still reeks of dirty sex and presents the sort of mean and nasty proto-punk/no wave sound like you'd expect from these Swedish men. Limited edition of 650 copies. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/neuballs

Price: 12 €

NORTT "Galgenfrist" CD
(Avantgarde Music)
Nortt's black metal / funeral doom hybrid has never sounded darker, deeper, or more chilling. This is the Danish entity's third album, his funeral path having started a long way back in 1995, along the way generating various demos and albums, including a rather well known split album with American Xasthur.

www.nortt.dk

Price: 10 €

NUISANCE DRILLED "All is Well, Euphoric Ending" MCD
(Revulsion Records/Dogma Artistic Guerilla)
The debut CDEP of heavy hitting howling sludge violence from the depth of Klang Valley, Malaysia. Nuisance Drilled on this recording consists of 3 members of Sarjan Hassan and 1 member from Banzai 606 which both are thrash core bands. But if you think this is another thrash core band, you might be slightly wrong. They're more towards sludge with rocking guitar solos and vocals screaming as if he's seeing ghosts or maybe suffering unbearable pain. This CDEP contains 6 tracks with samples from "Enam Jahanam" movie between each song. A very artistic and conceptual EP. Comes in a digisleeve with the frontman's artwork scattered all over the inlay.

www.myspace.com/nuisancexdrilled

SALE! Price: 3 €

OBSKURE TORTURE "Spilling the Blood of the World" CD
(Rotting Grave Distribution)
Raw and torturous death influenced funeral doom from Denmark. This album contains both their "Necro Rituals" demo (2004) and their "Worship the Beast" EP (2006) along with a brand new song. This album is highly recommended for people into Necro Schizma, Nortt, Mournful Congregation and is only for the true Devil worshippers! Limited to 500 copies.

SALE! Price: 8 €

OD VRATOT NADOLU "Mercury" CD
(Fuck Yoga/SuperFi Records/Insulin Addicted Records)
Od Vratot Nadolu is a two-piece act from Macedonia that consists of bass, drums, and vocals, and "Mercury" is their debut EP. As would be expected of most any bass-centric, powerviolence-leaning band, these guys have and will continue to draw comparisons to Man is the Bastard (which is obviously not a bad thing) with these eight tracks in about 18 minutes of winding, distorted bass runs, hammering percussion, and a dual vocal attack of assorted shouts and growls. Don't expect a lot of explosive, chaotic speed, though. In fact, what works so well about this material is that there are a lot of pounding, midpaced tempos that benefit from the breathing room that a two-piece band offers. The recording is also rugged but clear, and suits their stripped down approach quite well. Every now and then it sounds like they might be throwing in some keyboard textures, but maybe they're just applying weird, atmospheric effects to some of the basslines? That being said, they keep things pretty straightforward for the most part, and that's perfectly fine. If you prefer generally tried and true approaches to this particular niche, Od Vratot Nadolu totally nails it. Limited edition of 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/odvratotnadolu

Price: 7 €

OMEGA MASSIF "Geisterstadt / Kalt" 2CD
(Denovali Records)
The sounds of this album may remind you of the good old records of Pelican and Isis, but Omega Massif go much further. The spiralling melodies overlaying the rolling riffs and pummeling basses make the songs of "Geisterstadt" sound celestial and infernal at the same time. The diversity and ingenuity of Omega Massif is maybe best seen in the 10 minute monster "Nebelwand"- starting with fragile drums and melodies, the tension slowly increases by including an accordion, followed by short outbursts of massive sound walls. However, Omega Massif are not in a hurry, and so it takes 6 minutes until the powerful sound storms interweaved with the elevated melodies typical for the band finally take the lead and dominate the song until the end. This is not the usual silent start/big climax thing well-known from postrock records - this is one of the best instrumental/ metal/doomcore records in the past years! And remember that this is only Omega Massif's debut, one can only vaguely guess what is to be expected in the future. Comes in heavy triple gatefold cardboard covers and includes the demo "Kalt" as a second bonus CD!

www.myspace.com/omegamassif

Price: 15 €

OMEGA MASSIF / MOUNT LOGAN Split CD
(Vendetta Records)
Summit of the two German masters of instrumental post metal/post rock from north of Bavaria. The former Switchblade worshippers Mount Logan surprise with their turn towards weird Albini-esque noise rock deconstructions, occasionally even with vocals added. Omega Massif, as you would expect from them, once again create a dark, moody and opulent soundscape with heavy crushing guitars and irresistible killer grooves.

www.myspace.com/omegamassif
www.myspace.com/mountlogan

Price: 10 €

PAGANUS "s/t" CD
(Totalrust Music)
Paganus full-length features 4 tracks of vicious extreme doom metal clocking in at almost 50 minutes! A raw extreme heaviness filled with crushing riffs, "doomy soundscapes", wicked vocals and lots of negative emotions… Recommended for fans of Burning Witch, Khanate, High on Fire, Neurosis...

www.myspace.com/paganusdoom

Price: 10 €

PARTICLE SEPARATOR "Cheap Digital" CD
(Verdura Records)
Brand new experimental noise rock band from Tampere, Finland. Featuring members of Frivolvol, Candy Cane, Plain Fade and Tuvalu, this four-piece defies genre conventions with 8 tracks that carry elements of mathy hardcore, Chicago noise rock and some mellow psychedelia, all coated with freaked out vocals which sound like Mike Patton and Jake Bannon gave birth to a bastard black metal offspring.

particleseparator.bandcamp.com

Price: 7 €

POLLUTION "Nasty DNA" LP
(Feast of Tentacles)
Pollution are a raw hardcore outfit featuring members of Unearthly Trance. Their debut album entitled "Nasty DNA" was previously only available on CDr format, but Feast Of Tentacles stepped up and released this ugly sucker on vinyl as well. Pollution are a harsh, raw, dissonant hardcore outfit with some AmRep influences reminding of classics such as Born Against and Rorscach. If you like your hardcore clean and buff, this won't do the trick for you. Black vinyl in black/white sleeve.

www.myspace.com/pollutionpollutionpollution

Price: 12 €

POLLUTION "Smut" LP
(C6 Recordings)
Brooklyn’s Pollution probably doesn't need much of an introduction really after a slew of pretty smoking releases over the past year or so. Now they have a new self-released LP to tout about titled "Smut" that delivers in the same vein of some of their recorded live material, in that it’s straight up break neck paced dirty hardcore. There just isn’t a way you can listen to this record and not get incredibly pumped up listening to it. "Smut" will no doubt put a smile on the face of those who have been following the band. The riffs are plentiful and the raw production emits a sort of energy that really captures a “live” vibe, and so far that’s the setting in which this band really shines. To have a record like "Smut" that can harness much of that is quite the accomplishment and most certainly makes for a great record.

www.myspace.com/pollutionpollutionpollution

Price: 15 €

PORE "Dorsale" CD
(PDCD)
Debut album from this French noise rock/industrial/metal outfit, released in 1992. Fronted by David Valli (ex-Davy Jones Locker), Pore was heavily influenced by the sound of Godflesh, Helmet, Gore and presented their mechanical, powerful and bass-heavy version of it. Rare original edition!

SALE! Price: 8 €

PORE "Rotation" MCD
(PDCD)
Second and final proper release from this French noise rock/industrial/metal outfit, released in 1993 after which the band only did a few compilation appearances. Fronted by David Valli (ex-Davy Jones Locker), Pore was heavily influenced by the sound of Godflesh, Helmet, Gore and presented their mechanical, powerful and bass-heavy version of it. Rare original edition!

SALE! Price: 6 €

PROFETUS "Coronation of the Black Sun" CD
(Rusty Crowbar Records)
Heavens are dripping with black seeds of doom when the Profetus congregation burdensomely shambles its burial march onwards. Scandinavian funeral doom pioneers of the early 90s have had a big part in the process of shaping Profetus as the embodiment of their despondency. Yet their musical roots in Finnish underground black/death metal scene lay a strong effect of rawness on their solemnly forged sound - finally burying everything under a suffocating blanket of northern snow. "Coronation of the Black Sun" offers 4 tracks and 50 minutes of funeral doom in devastation of solitude, saturnine bleakness and despair - guided with lyrical and conceptual Luciferian light shed by the author Johannes Nefastos to invoke this majestic and mesmerising journey into oblivion.

www.myspace.com/profetus

SALE! Price: 10 €

PUS "s/t" MCD
(Féretro Records/Universal Tongue)
Brand new sludge/crust band from the U.K., here presenting their debut release. Six tracks and thirty minutes of slow and heavy riffage jam-packed with darkness and low-end groove, just the way you like it. CD comes in a gatefold wallet, limited to 500 copies.

www.reverbnation.com/pushatesyou

SALE! Price: 7 €

PYRAMIDO / GUN MOB Split CD
(Ecocentric Records)
Gun Mob from Germany blasts the first half of this disc with 9 tracks of d-beat/crust while Pyramido from Sweden offer two lengthy tracks of their heavy and hypnotic sludge/doom. An odd pair perhaps, but it works!

www.myspace.com/thegunmob
www.myspace.com/pyramidodoom

SALE! Price: 8 €

QUARTIER ROUGE "Les Années Lumières..." MCD
(Throatruiner Records/Swarm of Nails Records)
This chaotic French band delivers noisy hardcore that has been compared to such names as Daughters, Dazzling Killmen and The Jesus Lizard. 20 minutes packed with pummeling dissonant riffs, panic-struck drums and thumb-up-the-ass vocals. Can't go wrong with a combination like that! 300 copies in digisleeve.

www.myspace.com/quartierrouge

SALE! Price: 6 €

RAVENS CREED "Militia of Blood Sacrifice" MCD
(Iron Pig Records)
From the unholy hell pits of Nottingham, England, the mighty Ravens Creed are unleashed upon the world. With ex members of Iron Monkey, Cerebral Fix, Skyclad, and GBH with Orange Goblin vocalist Ben Ward at centre stage, Ravens Creed are the audio equivalent of having your face smashed in with a bag of rusty hammers. Total thrash holocaust with tunes that stick in your head like nails, the fours tracks are all masterpieces of filthy dirty thrashing metal. Buy or die!

www.myspace.com/wwwmyspacecomravenscreed

SALE! Price: 4 €

RAWRADARWAR / DEER CREEK Split LP
(Game Two Records)
This awesome split features Boston's brutalizing RawRadarWar and the punishing heaviness of Denver's Deer Creek. RawRadarWar is fronted by former Only Living Witness and Milligram vocalist Jonah Jenkins in his most ferocious persona yet. RawRadarWar occupies Side A of the LP with an epic cut of scathing, rumbling sludge doom and two tracks of dark, ambient noise-scaping. Side B features four desolate doses of the heavy from Deer Creek. The vinyls come on black/red mixed vinyl and are limited to only 500 copies. Features original "Doom Tornado" artwork and layouts by Paul Vismara.

www.myspace.com/septicyouthcommand
www.myspace.com/deercreek

SALE! Price: 10 €

RAWRADARWAR / DEER CREEK Split CD
(Game Two Records)
This awesome split features Boston's brutalizing RawRadarWar and the punishing heaviness of Denver's Deer Creek. RawRadarWar is fronted by former Only Living Witness and Milligram vocalist Jonah Jenkins in his most ferocious persona yet. RawRadarWar kicks off the CD with an epic cut of scathing, rumbling sludge doom and two tracks of dark, ambient noise-scaping. Second off are four desolate doses of the heavy from Deer Creek. The CD version features two bonus ambient noise tracks from RawRadarWar and three "Mammon" demo tracks from Deer Creek. The CD is limited to 1000 copies. Features original "Doom Tornado" artwork and layouts by Paul Vismara.

www.myspace.com/septicyouthcommand
www.myspace.com/deercreek

SALE! Price: 7 €

RISING OF YOG-SOTHOTH: TRIBUTE TO THERGOTHON Compilation 2CD
(Solitude Productions)
Long-awaited tribute album to one of the most famous funeral doom metal bands Thergothon who were the forefathers of the style which gave birth to numerous followers among musicians and fans among listeners. "Rising of Yog-Sothoth: Tribute to Thergothon" is the first wide-range attempt to pay tribute to this great band. Seventeen bands (Asunder, Officium Triste, Evoken, Imindain, Colosseum, Mournful Congregation, Worship, Umbra Nihil, Persistence in Mourning, Nojda, Otzepenevshiye, Krohm, Inter Arbores, Astral Sleep, Aarni, Axis of Advance and Singultus) of various styles and countries including Great Britain, Finland, Russia, USA, Netherlands, Australia, Germany and Canada took part in this tribute being outstanding and interesting by musicians somehow influenced by Thergothon. Yog-Sothoth is rising!

SALE! Price: 10 €

ROUGH ROPE "Demos + Wizards" Tape
(Failed Recordings)
Simply one of the most promising new U.S. noise rock outfits in 2011! Crude, unpolished and unapologetic rock music which escapes the latest fads in the scene and manages to discover their own sound. As the Shiny Grey Monotone blog so brilliantly described: "One night... Cherubs... Drunkdriver... Flipper... Hawks... and The Melvins were all hanging out together. And they all drank some punch. And they all passed out. And then some stuff happened. And then 9 months later... this was born." Green tapes with silver on-shell printing in rough xerox sleeve.

roughrope.bandcamp.com

Price: 5 €

RYE WOLVES "Oceans of Delicate Rain" CD
(Aurora Borealis)
Rye Wolves' debut album "Oceans of Delicate Rain" features canyons of psyched out doom into stratospheric bottom heavy spacerock, Rye Wolves traverse a globe swathed in oceans of discordant metal and mountains of math rock. Rye Wolves, hailing from Oregon, USA, are one of those rare bands who manage to both challenge and entertain the listener by turns, from the ferocious opener "Frank Miller" to the subtle menace of "Blood Moon" and on to the epic 11 minute plus "No Matter" that closes the album, "Oceans of Delicate Rain" shreds speakers and buries nations under its epic, monumental sound.

www.myspace.com/theryewolves

SALE! Price: 8 €

R.Y.N. "Astral Death" CD
(Unrest Productions)
R.Y.N. is the project of UK drone duo Pete Burn (Marzuraan) and Dean Glaister (Romance). With one previous 7" on Drone Records, this is their first full-length album. 6 long tracks of waving and slowly shifting massive drones, based on guitar, bass, metal and effects. The sounds here are just flooding immensely, there's nothing 'concrete' you can hold on to; the mind and body seem to be washed out slowly by these rustling feedbacking and deeply reverberating overtune-waves. "Astral Death" is a journey into the pulsating, meandering heart of disintegration. Edition of 500 copies.

SALE! Price: 7 €

SCUL HAZZARDS "Landlord" LP
(Whosbrain Records)
Scul Hazzards are a deconstructionist rock band from Brisbane, Australia who combine elements of noise, math and indie rock to create aggressive and relentless music using fractured arrangements. Referencing the likes of The Jesus Lizard, Rapeman, (early) Sonic Youth, Swans, Birthday Party and (early) Blonde Redhead, but sounding like none of them in particular, Scul Hazzards' similarities focus on the core ideals of these bands rather than emulating their musical aesthetics. "Landlord" is the second album from Scul Hazzards and serves a more powerful blow compared to their already impressive debut album. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/sculhazzards

Price: 12 €

SEPPUKU / MUTANT APE Split 7"
(At War with False Noise/Turgid Animal)
The incredibly busy George Proctor smashes us across the chops for the duration of his side of this slab with a punishing six minute lesson in harsh noise brutality. It sounds like a large collection of faulty electric appliances being launched down the stairs of a building on fire. Fucking GREAT! On the flipside is a couple of tracks by the band formerly known as Tetsuo. This side sees a change of direction from the previous lo-fi clatterings of before and contains two mercilessly heavy tracks of full-on noise doom!! First track, "The Sound Of Slow Decay" does exactly what it says on the tin...repetitive sub-Sabbath riffing which eventually kills itself, followed by "Vincent Price's Wife Is Dead", which sounds like a hokey 70s nightmare sequence from a Hammer film gone wrong. Stick-on laser printed sleeves and a confusing insert that doesn't really shed much light on anything. Black vinyl, 220 copies.

www.myspace.com/thetruetetsuo
www.myspace.com/mutantape

Price: 5 €

SERPENT THRONE "The Battle of Old Crow" LP
(Modus Operandi)
Serpent Throne hails from the city of brotherly love (Philadelphia) and includes at least one member of the now defunct Otesanek. The band plays a brand of hard rock that harkens back to the golden age of heavy riffs and tasty solos called the 70's. This album is chock full of catchy heavy riffs and sweet soulful leads. The guitar duo of Fenton and Argott is really the highlight on the album and they deliver the goods in spades. The band's rhythm section are no slouches either and hold it down with just the right pomp and swagger. A bad vocalist could ruin this band so it's fortunate that there are no vocals. The sound of the recording is not retro per se; it does have an analog, warm and fuzzy vibe but does not have that deliberately sought after vintage tone. Black 180g vinyl. Limited edition of 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/serpentthrone

Price: 12 €

SEVEN FOOT SPLEEN "Reptilicus" CD
(Tsuguri Records)
While severely overlooked during the 90s sludge heyday, Seven Foot Spleen recorded plenty of material during their 4-year existence (1994-1998), and deserves the same accolades as similar, much lauded outfits of the pre-2000 sludge boom. The band's mixture of giant sloth rampage, ragged crust, syrupy southern grind, and inhuman vocal spew has few peers. Nestled amongst the branches of early Neurosis' gnarled, punk-fuelled esotericism, proudly exposing the roots of Flesh Parade's feral crusty grind, and reviling in Cavity's untrimmed outgrowths circa "Drowning", this collection compiles 7" material, compilation rarities, and unreleased gems. To everyone that's been waiting for a proper goodbye post-"Enter Therapy", closure is upon thee!

www.myspace.com/sevenfootspleen

Price: 10 €

SHADOW OF THE TORTURER "Marching into Chaos" LP
(Blind Date Records)
"Marching into Chaos" contains 5 songs of very slow, epic and thick music with frightening dual vocals. This album absolutely thrills and pushes you on the next rack to crush your mangy head. Project with members of Aldebaran, Yob, H.C. Minds etc.. 223 copies on black vinyl, 110 copies on white vinyl. This is the black vinyl edition.

www.myspace.com/shadowofthetorturer

Price: 12 €

SHADOW OF THE TORTURER "Marching into Chaos" CD
(Memento Mori)
Ritualistic, abyssic and soul torturing über-doom from Seattle, WA with an ex-Aldebaran and ex-H.C. Minds member on guitars and vocals. This is not the same recording that was released through Blind Date Records on vinyl in 2009. The band was not satisfied with the production so they re-entered the studio a few months later and re-recorded everything. The CD includes five tracks of their own plus a cover of Black Sabbath's "Who are you?". All artwork and layout by Glyn Smyth/Scrawled Design (Unearthly Trance, Wolves in the Throne Room, Cough...). Be doomed. And be dead. Limited edition of 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/shadowofthetorturer

Price: 10 €

www.myspace.com/shitandshine

Price: 10 €

SINK "The Process" CD
(Kult of Nihilow/Kaos Kontrol)
There is obscure and then there is Obscure. The difference is subtle, but when you hear Sink, you know the limit between obscure and Obscure has been surpassed. The Process is a beast that drags you below the surface and lets you gasp for air just enough to keep conscious and experience the horror. Monumental wall of sound built from demented vibrations, violent distortion, wailing feedback, reverberating clashes and almost choral (in)human voices echoing in your mind like amplified painful memories; and when the wall collapses, the undertow pulls you deeper into paranoid and disturbing surroundings filled with static drones, scorching electrical trills and gravely impressive Obscurity that defies mental health. You may never reach back to the surface… This is not a sludge record. This is not a drone record. This is not an experimental record. This is The Process. CD comes in special fold-out full colour carton sleeve. Limited edition of 1000 copies.

www.sinkprocess.com/sink

Price: 10 €

SINK "Truth & Severance" MLP
(Kult of Nihilow)
Following up their debut album "The Process", Sink delivers two massive pieces which plunge even deeper into the primal wilderness that is the sound of this amazing Finnish sextet. The slowly building atmospheric drones, reverberating riffs and sparse percussions may appear minimalistic at first listen, but the sonic mycelia will eventually grow on you and the richness of Sink's sound will be revealed. No categories needed for this band - this is simply some of the best music coming out of Finland at the moment and you absolutely need to check it out! Housing the black vinyl is a heavy cardboard sleeve with silver printing. Limited edition of 266 copies.

www.sinkprocess.com/sink

Price: 12 €

SINK "The Holy Testament 1" LP
(Svart Records)
This is the 1st part of Sink's The Holy Testament opus. Finnish underground psychedelic black-drone nomads lead us down a spiral path to nothingness. A strange, choking mixture of choral black metal guitars, deep vocal hum and melting electronics over hypnotic, cavernous drumming. A genre-breaking trip to black ecstasy. Black vinyl in gatefold sleeve.

www.sinkprocess.com/sink

Price: 15 €

SKEPTICISM "Stormcrowfleet" CD
(Red Stream)
Finnish veterans of funeral doom! Skepticism's debut album "Stormcrowfleet" is huge, like an impressive vast monument. All songs move incredibly slow and create a very dark and depressive feeling that is beyond anything you've ever imagined. Tragic and epic doom for souls that weep for the darkest doom and funeral marches! This is the epitome of tragedy!

www.myspace.com/officialskepticism

Price: 10 €

SKEPTICISM "Ethere" MCD
(Red Stream)
On "Ethere", Skepticism display three lengthy tracks of primitive funeral doom. "Ethere" could be viewed as a beneficial factor when entering total depression. Listening to Skepticism is like being surrounded by fog and darkness. This obscure release, first released in 1997, has yet again been re-issued by Red Stream.

www.myspace.com/officialskepticism

Price: 8 €

SKEPTICISM "Aes" MCD
(Red Stream)
"Aes" reached uncharted melodies and the music is bludgeoningly heavy and brutal for the amount of heart crushing feelings it brings with each listening. Skepticism is a respected being by an open minded group of elite funeral doom people that will very much be attracted to the appeal of this unique release. Innovative use of clear paper packaging and obscure layout make this pleasurable to your eyes as well as ears and mind.

www.myspace.com/officialskepticism

Price: 8 €

SKEPTICISM "The Process of Farmakon" MCD
(Red Stream)
Unhurried in its heart tearing outcome, this taster release bludgeons you like the burden of a thousand tragic deaths. Critical funeral doom in a jewel case.

www.myspace.com/officialskepticism

Price: 8 €

SKEPTICISM "Farmakon" CD
(Red Stream)
Skepticism re-introduces funeral doom through plodding drums, detuned guitars, and medieval keyboards, resulting in a compositional masterpiece. "Farmakon" is neo-classical melancholy forged with chthonic sludge...

www.myspace.com/officialskepticism

Price: 10 €

SKULLFLOWER "IIIrd Gatekeeper" CD
(HeadDirt Recordings/PDCD)
Original edition of Skullflower's acclaimed 1992 album "IIIrd Gatekeeper", featuring the line-up of Matthew Bower (guitar), Stuart Dennison (drums and vocals), and Anthony DiFranco (bass), released on HeadDirt, the label run by Justin Broadrick of Godflesh/Jesu/Final fame back in the early 90's. Skullflower at their heaviest, grinding out slow, sludgy riffs and crushing, almost industrial rhythms amid a tempest of psychedelic guitar noise and dense sheets of feedback - easily the most crushing, rock-based music that Skullflower ever produced. "IIIrd Gatekeeper" served up a skulldozing dose of post-industrial dirge rock that sat comfortably next to Godflesh, Swans, and Ramleh in terms of dark, druggy, hypnotic lumbering heaviness. Rare original CD edition!

www.myspace.com/skullflowervibes

Price: 10 €

SKULLFLOWER "IIIrd Gatekeeper" CD
(Crucial Blast)
A reissue of Skullflower's acclaimed 1992 album "IIIrd Gatekeeper", featuring the lineup of Matthew Bower (guitar), Stuart Dennison (drums and vocals), and Anthony DiFranco (bass). "IIIrd Gatekeeper" is an immensely heavy album that was originally released on HeadDirt, the label run by Justin Broadrick of Godflesh/Jesu/Final fame back in the early 90's, and featured Skullflower at their heaviest, grinding out slow, sludgy riffs and crushing, almost industrial rhythms amid a tempest of psychedelic guitar noise and dense sheets of feedback - easily the most crushing, rock-based music that Skullflower ever produced. "IIIrd Gatekeeper" served up a skulldozing dose of post-industrial dirge rock that sat comfortably next to Godflesh, Swans, and Ramleh in terms of dark, druggy, hypnotic lumbering heaviness. This reissue is presented with new liner notes, a new package design that retains all of the original artwork from the HeadDirt release, and a remastering job courtesy of Scott Hull at Visceral Sound.

www.myspace.com/skullflowervibes

Price: 10 €

SKULLFLOWER "Orange Canyon Mind" CD
(Crucial Blast)
"Orange Canyon Mind" by the legendary UK free/drone/psych outfit Skullflower, features some of the most searing, synapse scorching droneworks that Matthew Bower (the man behind Skullflower as well as Sunroof! and The Hototogisu) has unleashed to date. "Orange Canyon Mind" is the follow up to 2002's awesome "Exquisite Fucking Boredom" and continues that albums utter mutation of stoned out riffs pulled taffy-like into eternity/oblivion and star-rupturing blasts of sonic white light. Over the 8 tracks/60 minute running time, Bower and cohorts build massive horizontal drones and melodic supernovas. Superb, beautiful, brain melting stuff.

www.myspace.com/skullflowervibes

Price: 10 €

SKULLFLOWER "Tribulation" CD
(Crucial Blast)
This emission from the UK trance-noise legends Skullflower is a black-void beaming of utterly destroyed drone rock and crushing amplifier obliteration that rains down black ash and punishing blasts of feedback skree on the listener. A dynamic, bleary-eyed meditation. An avalanche of powerdrone that threatens to take your cranium apart and transport your grey matter into filthy new dimensions infested with melodic razor cuts and submerged mantras. A triumphant eruption of apocalyptic meta-metal and radioactive raga swarms, guaranteed to loosen eardrums. This album is one of the heaviest, harshest slabs of guitar armageddon from Matt Bower since the glory days of Total, and bridges the void between the krautrock/celestial free drone influence of the last few Skullflower albums, and the blackened molten death of his Mirag material.

www.myspace.com/skullflowervibes

Price: 10 €

SLEEPPERS "Subconscious Nocturnal Activity" CD
(Vicious Circle)
Another forgotten noise rock gem from France! Sleeppers' second album, released in 1997, shows their own heavily rhythmical sound combining with influences from Unsane and Neurosis who they toured with in France a year prior to this release. Percussive foundation, aggressive and noisy riffs, distorted pissed off vocals - what else do you need?

www.myspace.com/sleeppers

SALE! Price: 8 €

SLEEPPERS "Adrenalien" MCD
(Vicious Circle)
The follow-up to Sleeppers' second album "Subconscious Nocturnal Activity", this MCD was released in 1998. Somewhat heavier and more aggressive approach than before with more straight forward structures. The band definitely had their own sound yet clearly belonging to the 90s scene alongside Unsane, Today is the Day, Helmet, etc.

www.myspace.com/sleeppers

SALE! Price: 5 €

www.myspace.com/sloathrock

Price: 12 €

SLOMATICS "Kalceanna" CD
(Spirit of Division)
Slomatics' new full length "Kalceanna" has much in common with its Irish title. 'Kalceanna', which is Irish for 'storm', serves as a fitting point of reference for the thick dense music that Slomatics create. Consisting of a mere two guitarists and a drummer, Slomatics have wilfully augmented the classic 'power trio' formation, choosing to do away with bass entirely. You'd be forgiven for assuming Slomatics were at least a four piece. Furthermore, you'd also be forgiven for assuming they had a bassist, because the sheer low end saturation they achieve is impressive to say the very least. Slomatics construct lumbering, towering riffs, built on a solid foundation of simple yet effective rhythmic patterns. Vocals are used sparingly, delivered in a half sung, half shouted style that is well pitched in relation to the music. Joe's defiant delay soaked howl serves to punctuate and enhance the songs leaving the rest of the band with ample sonic headroom. Throughout this album, the emphasis remains on the beautifully textured low end and crushing cyclical grooves. The band indulge in fuzz saturated, glacially paced riffs but never loose sight of the need for a good hook. Slomatics strike a healthy balance between low end drone and straight up stoner rock groove, wisely retaining a song based approach throughout. Their sound isn't a million miles away from the now defunct US band Floor. However, Slomatics clearly have their own take on sludge and doom and it's one that will likely take them far in years to come. As it stands, "Kalceanna" is a superb offering, one very worthy of your attention should you have any interest in good underground music.

www.myspace.com/slomatics

SALE! Price: 8 €

SNAKES ALIVE "s/t" CD
(Sentient Recordings)
Debut full length for Los Angeles' Snakes Alive. Taking a huge step forward from the split LP with Wire Werewolves, Snakes Alive take their brand of powerful, heavy rock into amazing new levels by doing the near unthinkable, and writing catchy, well crafted songs without compromising their unique and original musical vision. Certain bits are more black metal than others where gurgling vocal harshness and repetitive note fluttering are offset by Sabbath riffs and Orange amp buzz. The moments of pure anger, like "Victor" and "Fog Tiger" have a Floor-like sensibility, as "Twisted Mind of I" takes the psychedelic black metal idea in the opposite, harsher direction from Enslaved, and "Iron Vulture" veers towards a High on Fire stoner rock snarl. The combination of psychedelic textures and eyeball scorching artwork from the late great Daniel Kraus, make it as weird as it is heavy. Melting your mind, and your face.

www.myspace.com/snakesalivemusic

SALE! Price: 6 €

SOLAR HORN "Rebirth Ritual" Tape
(Kaos Kontrol)
After several years of infrequent stages of activity, Solar Horn presents their first own official release, previously having taken part in Blind Date Records' Clone III compilation with a cover version of L7's "Talk Box". Compared to the sparse live appearances over the years, "Rebirth Ritual" presents a less psychedelic and more violent sound with heavy emphasis on monotonous bass riffs, endless layers of painful feedback and wailing guitars as well as minimalistic drums and metal junk percussion. No intention to please or entertain, instead purely to purge negativity from the members' system. Pro-duplicated black tape in crude "no frills" sleeve. Limited edition of 100 copies.

www.kaos-kontrol.org/solarhorn

Price: 4 €

SOLLUBI "At War with Decency" CD
(Choking Hazard Records)
Sollubi are a side project from the guys of Fistula and Rape X. They play a very original kind of psychedelic sludge. You'll find the down tempo and the heavy sound of Fistula combined with the psychedelic and noisy vibe of Rape X. They sound like a tribute band of Hawkwind made by -(16)-.

www.myspace.com/sollubi

Price: 10 €

SON OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL MAGGOT Compilation CD
(Tsuguri Records)
Many moons ago, there was a compilation called Transcendental Maggot. It was released on Meconium Records and boasted, among a slew of grinding noise acts, contributions from Sourvein and Benümb. That was 2001. Fitting enough, then, that 10 years later, on Tsuguri Records – the new name of the label helmed by Jon Cox of Seven Foot Spleen – there should appear the 20-track, 67-minute slaughterfest Son of the Transcendental Maggot with songs from the likes of Russian stoner punkers The Grand Astoria, North Carolinian psychedelic mavens U.S. Christmas and Atlanta sludge dwellers Sons of Tonatiuh. There are a total of 13 bands for 20 songs, and along with the familiar names – the aforementioned, plus The Wayward, who once proliferated their tech-punk mayhem in the form of a 2006 self-titled via Black Box Recordings, the label founded by Mike Hill, now of Tombs – there are a host of lesser-known acts, among them Oakland chuggers Pigs, the remarkably under-produced Ahleuchatistas, Akris, Enoch, Yellowthief, Yuugen Syndrome and Shit and Shine.

Price: 10 €

SONS OF KINGS "s/t" CDr
(Sons of Kings)
Sons of Kings is a fresh Finnish power trio who among others draw heavy inspiration from the Cisneros-Pike-Hakius trinity. Long, driving bass riffs paired with hypnotic drum battery and nicely executed guitar work which adds a certain psychedelic element to the sound. The music is mostly instrumental, although vocals are sparingly used for choir-like chants. Pro-pressed CDr in full colour digipak.

www.myspace.com/sonsofkingsmusic

SALE! Price: 5 €

SPLINTERED "Smokescreen" 7"
(Suggestion Records)
Another great release from this British experimental noise rock outfit, this 7" dating back to 1996. One side-long track and four shorter flipside tracks of the hypnotically percussive, lo-fi droning, experimental guitar feedback and riff grit that has always made Splintered so appealing. Full colour sleeve, blue vinyl, limited edition of 1000 copies.

www.myspace.com/splintereduk

Price: 5 €

STABAT MATER "s/t" CD
(Northern Heritage)
Debut full length of genocidal blackened deadly doom. No groove, no ambient-drone, etc. Just obscure discordant vibrating guitars, bass, drums and vocals creating real songs, pure soundtrack for witnessing crucifixion. Band known from split 10" w/ Worship, split 7" w/ Mournful Congregation, split LP with AM, V/A Crushing The Holy Trinity, etc.. This album is all new material and certainly progression forward, yet remaining true to unpleasantly rough production values and non-entertaining approach.

SALE! Price: 10 €

STUMM "I" CD
(Aesthetic Death)
"Heres a new release from UK label Aesthetic Death, who havent put anything new out since Esoteric's Pernicious Enigma (at least as far as we know). And this debut full length from Finnish extreme sludge/trio Stumm definitely fits in with the likes of Esoteric. Just looking through the grim black-and-red booklet for this CD clues us in that this is going to be an unfiltered stream of negative energy, from the creepy cover image of the little boy curled up, fetal-position style in a corner, to grisly images of substance abuse, suicide, and homelessness. Grim shit. It doesn't get lighter when this CD unfurls it's four songs across 35 minutes of RAW, primitive, massively heavy Finnish DOOM, with thick and filthy syrupy riffs churning over and over again, slow and snail-crawling, sometimes stripped down to a single powerchord banged out ad infinitum, a nihilistic sludge feast that references the points between Eyehategod, Grief, Melvins, and Khanate (James Plotkin from Khanate actually mastered I). Spattered with feedback and hoarse tortured howling over spare, planet-shaking drumming, these four tunes are super slow, saurian numbers that sometimes pause to hang in mid-air before crashing back to earth. Fans of monstrous ultradoom like Fleshpress, Corrupted, Moss, Bunkur, etc., can't go wrong with this one." (Crucial Blast)

www.mikseri.net/stumm

Price: 10 €

SUBMERGED "Oxygenate" MCD
(Bad Vugum)
Authentic Finnish mid-90s noise rock sound from this underrated Oulu-based quartet. Submerged were described to "combine the dissonance of Big Black with the riffing of Helmet" and adding the slightly more metallic heaviness of Fudge Tunnel into the mix, the description should be enough to wet the appetite of people into the aforementioned bands. Simply put: you need this disc.

www.myspace.com/mikkojuntunen

Price: 6 €

SUPER TIMOR "Cauchemar d'Esque" CD
(Parade Records)
Smashing debut from this french sludegore-doom killing machine. Influences are Eyehategod, Bongzilla and Electric Wizard. Brutal artwork by Tom Denney (Southern Lord, Lair Of The Minotaur, Kylesa, Rwake, Mugwart, Buried At Sea, etc).

www.myspace.com/supertimor

SALE! Price: 6 €

TALBOT "Eos" CD
(Slow Burn Records)
The first full-length album of Estonian duet Talbot attracts attention with its originality: although the music is played without a guitar, it features fine melodies and solid sound, while the sound blast created by bass and drums can serve as a standard for other modern bands. Talbot's music features elements of various music genres from post rock to traditional doom metal thus creating a unique atmosphere and memorable sound. The CD comes in a digipak. Limited edition of 500 copies.

www.myspace.com/talbotmusic

Price: 10 €

TEMPLES "s/t" CDr
(Temples)
Another newcomer in the Finnish doom/sludge/??? genre. Free flowing and heavy low-end riffage sucking fumes from various directions, all the way from classic prog and psych sounds to early metal and modern savagery à la High on Fire, Electric Wizard and the like. Temples are definitely from the "stoner" end of the spectrum compared to sludgier or doomier Finnish bands yet a welcomed addition to the bunch.

temples.bandcamp.com

Price: 5 €

TEMPLES "Periplaneta Nova" CD
(Mikrofoni)
Debut album from Temples, a Finnish stoner/doom/space/psychedelic quartet. Four lengthy tracks of free-flowing jam-like riffage and dense psychedelic effect textures. If the likes of Hawkwind, Om, Sleep among others are your usual choice to provide musical background for bong-loading sessions, Temples are right up your alley. Stylish full colour booklet.

temples.bandcamp.com

Price: 10 €

www.myspace.com/tenhornedbeast

SALE! Price: 8 €

TENHORNEDBEAST / MARZURAAN Split CD
(Aurora Borealis)
Split CD by two of the lesser known greats from the Northeast of England. TenHornedBeast is the dark vision of Christopher Walton, part of the much feted Endvra, masters of 90s dark and occult ambient. "Law of the Needle", clocking in at over 28 minutes, is an oppressive opus of doomed drone, both monolithic and multifaceted. Pure power. "Elongated, sinister drone, ...distant, echoing string resonance from bowed guitars and cold, steely walls of distortion" think the good folks at Boomkat, as well they may. Marzuraan contribute "Into Countless Battles", 13 minutes of narcotic guitar haze. The gruff metal grunts of the "Solid Wood" LP have been replaced by a subdued, almost crushed vocal, totally stands out. "Acres of textured guitar, low end pressure and brooding drums" say Boomkat. Can't wait to hear more from Marzuraan - this is epic, like a bassier, looser, Mogadon dosed Jesu with a man past caring roped in to give his thoughts on where its all gone wrong. Pete from Marzuraan did the artwork and layout. Printed on heavy textured card and with 2 diecut runes. Comes in a pvc bag.

www.myspace.com/tenhornedbeast
www.myspace.com/marzuraan

SALE! Price: 8 €

THE STRANGLERS - CHAPTER 1 Compilation 2CD
(Choking Hazard Records)
Painfully heavy compilation from Choking Hazard Records, bringing together bands from both sides of the Atlantic for a truly punishing experience. The bands featured are Atavist, Moloch, Austrasian Goat, The Whorehouse Massacre, Stasis, Feast of Sins, Ghost Empire and Welter in Thy Blood. Limited edition of 500 copies.

SALE! Price: 10 €

THOU / MOHORAM ATTA "Degradation of Human Life" Split LP
(Feast of Tentacles/Halo of Flies)
NOLA's most hardworking band Thou put out their fifth release of 2009 with "Degradation of Human Life". Here we see Thou's swampy gloom (including a Minor Threat cover song) coupled with Mohoram Atta who does an excellent brand of His Hero is Gone/Cursed hardcore with a touch of black metal. As with all Thou releases expect only the utmost quality here. Beautiful matte jacket with more of the excellent imagery you'd expect from them along with a matching innersleeve. Black vinyl.

www.myspace.com/thouband
www.myspace.com/mohoramatta

Price: 12 €

THROAT "Pee" 7"
(Kaos Kontrol)
Hot on the heels of their "Licked Inch Fur" 12", Throat deliver two new songs that shouldn't disappoint people who enjoy their watersports golden and compromising situations naked. Black vinyl in full colour sleeve. Limited edition of 330 copies.

www.ihatethroat.com

Price: 6 €

THROAT T-Shirt
(Throat)
Throat t-shirt with brilliant artwork by Andrew Walter (www.andrewwalter.co.uk). Printed black on heather grey Fruit of the Loom Classic Valueweight t-shirts.
Sizes available: L, XL, XXL - all in very limited quantities!

View larger image here

Price: 10 €

THROAT "Sub Pop" T-Shirt
(Throat)
Apologies to Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. White print on black Fruit of the Loom Classic Valueweight t-shirts.
Sizes available: S, XL - all in very limited quantities!

View larger image here

Price: 10 €

TIDES / GIANT Split CD
(Level Plane Records/Teenage Disco Bloodbath Records)
While both bands share slower tempos and amp-worshiping guitar tones, Tides and Giant manage to strike their own course in a scene that is rife with boring clones and uninspired songwriting. Tides write gorgeously lush soundtracks to movies not yet made, filled with emotive guitar work, dynamic drumming, and huge production. Giant's sole track on this record features the band's three-guitar line weaving its way through both the heaviest of distortions and hauntingly euphoric passages. The CD comes packaged in a gatefold jacket with letter press printing on both front and back cover.

www.myspace.com/tidesrites
www.myspace.com/obraveyoung

SALE! Price: 8 €

TODAY IS THE DAY "Temple of the Morning Star" CD
(Relapse Records)
"Temple of the Morning Star" was the most widely circulated Today is the Day album, and over the span of a year it allowed the band to grow from an infamous fringe group to the wildly influential band of today. "Temple of the Morning Star" is an undisputed classic.

www.myspace.com/todayistheday

Price: 10 €

www.myspace.com/toddranch

Price: 12 €

TORCHE "Meanderthal Demos" 10"
(Amnesian Records)
Before Torche were recording their masterpiece of an album, "Meanderthal", they were completely unorganized and quickly trying to scramble for material to put the album together. This recording, engineered by Torche's own Jonathan Nunez, documents the band pre-"Meanderthal" showcasing seven rougher, rawer, heavier and slightly different versions of tracks later recorded at God City with Kurt Ballou. An essential for any serious Torche fan... and the unserious ones too. Originally released on tape via Rotting Chapel and later on 10" vinyl on Amnesian in a limited edition of 1000 copies.

www.myspace.com/torche

Price: 10 €

www.myspace.com/ultraphallus

Price: 10 €

UNHOLY "History" Booklet
(Northern Heritage/Rusty Crowbar)
A free-word summary of the past by the four core members of Unholy. Includes full discography, lyrics and never before seen photos. Check out the offer to get this for free with 3 vinyl releases! Glossy offset printed 32 pages booklet.

www.myspace.com/originalunholy

Price: 3 €

UNSANE "Occupational Hazard" CD
(Relapse Records)
New York's much feared noise rock trio deliver their heaviest, most punishing record to date! Totally bludgeoning rock with inescapable grooves!

www.myspace.com/unsane

Price: 10 €

UNSANE "Blood Run" CD
(Relapse Records)
NYC noise rock kingpins Unsane bombard the listener with punishing, abrasive music delivered with the subtlety of a head-on car crash. "Blood Run" administers immeasurable amounts of the band's unequalled combination of blood, guts and violence as vocalist/guitarist Chris Spencer's scraping guitar work and vocal angst is cemented by a pounding rhythm section and domineering air of volatile aggressiveness. "Blood Run" is a sordid soundtrack for the musical masochist.

www.myspace.com/unsane

Price: 10 €

VENNT "s/t" CD
(Housepig/Hear More!)
A three-way summit on bleak doom and buzzing misery. Sandy Saunders (Torso), Darcy Spidle (Divorce Records) and Jordan Hines mix drums, bass, electronics and vocals into a thick morass. Vennt stakes out territory at the intersection of black metal, drone, doom and power electronics, then fortifies the barricades. US Edition, co-released by Housepig and Hear More!, features a copper cover with insert in a heavy poly sleeve, and is hand-numbered and limited to 400 copies.

www.myspace.com/vennt

Price: 10 €

VILLAINS "Drenched in the Poisons" CD
(Aurora Borealis)
Epic filth and metallic depravity from New York City featuring members of Unearthly Trance, Cattlepress, Hemlock etc. Their debut full length, "Drenched in the Poisons" conjures up the danger and proud unholy spirit of early metal and acid punk. A vomitous fornication unto the whiskey whores and foul souls passing out in the dark. These eight aural lashes come at the listener criminally intoxicated and definitely not nice. Dirty metallic onslaught highly recommended for fans of early Bathory, early Venom, Abigail, Barbatos... You get the idea. Hammer of the posers. Fucking great album.

SALE! Price: 8 €

VIR' "Horna" CD
(Mosquito Records/RAIG)
A mixture of shimmering krautrock and pulverizing doom-drone, starting off with a gorgeous black field of sparkling melodic chimes and pulsating synths buried under layers of rumbling drone, very reminiscent of Tangerine Dream and Cluster but bathed in endless shadows, before moving into the crushing thirteen minute second track. Here the band moves into punishing waves of amplifier sludge and static distorted chords drifting through space, like Black Boned Angel or Sunn O))) moving through jet-black expanses of Teutonic space music, grinding guitar drone smeared in caustic noise and deep bass blasts, wheezing synths streaking overhead, distant mechanical rhythms and robotic tribal beats appearing through the murk. The sound is massive, and regardless of how heavy this becomes, there is always that classic kosmiche music sound underneath it all, making this much more than just another slab of rumbling guitar-drone exploration. The third track layers multiple strummed guitars all playing a simple two-chord riff with more gurgling electronics and crackling distortion while a frantic male voice shrieks in Russian over top, and the end result sounds like a weird sort of ambient power-electronics before it moves into a seven minite stretch of massively low-end guitar-feedback undulations and metallic scrapings. The last two tracks explore similiarly weird territory, all revolving around immense oceans of distorted guitar drone that are populated by blasts of harsh noise and menacing Prurient-style high-end feedback abuse, blissed out krautrock ambience, distant free-jazz horns, densely layered collages of voice recordings, thunderous sheet-metal reverberations, weird electronic sounds, fragments of sampled dance-pop music creeping through the filth, and other random sound events floating through VIR's monstrous dronemetal galaxies... Weird, nightmarish droneological heaviness for sure, but it totally works, invoking all kinds of apocalyptic hallucinations through these stretched out slabs of black murmur.

www.myspace.com/virband

SALE! Price: 6 €

VOG "s/t" CD
(Shifty Records)
A primo dose of hulking psychedelic sludge metal here from this Virginia outfit, who enigmatically call themselves Vog. This self titled debut is a crusher, grinding out seven burly jams of gnarled sludge somewhere in between Goatsnake and Eyehategod, with a hefty dose of Today is the Day's psychotic metallic noise rock and loads of awesome Hawkwind-esque space rock FX! Vog's singer embellishes these cosmic tarpit beatings with layers of intense yowling screams and deep monstrous roars, but then he also kicks in with some killer clean crooning vocals a la Dax Riggs from Acid Bath or Pete Stahl from Goatsnake. Killer stuff, blending together megaheavy sludge/doom metal with vicious bursts of hardcore punk, Southern rock swagger, and noisy psychedelia all splattered with those spacey electronic effects into an evil bad acid trip atmosphere. Anyone into mindbending sludge metal should definitely be checking these guys out.

SALE! Price: 8 €

VOLITION "s/t" CD
(Totalrust Music)
The full-length album of this British gang delivers eight songs of punishing sick doom that consists of ultra heavy downtuned guitars, slow pounding drums, guttural vocals (from deep grunts, to fucked up screams) and an excellent dirty, yet crushing production! This hour of filth has been recorded, mixed and mastered at Studio 1in12 by Bri (Lazarus Blackstar) and is recommended for fans of Coffins, Corrupted, Winter, Noothgrush, Toadliquor…

www.myspace.com/volition666

SALE! Price: 8 €

WALK THROUGH FIRE "Furthest from Heaven" CD
(Aesthetic Death)
Take us to the place where the doom vibration reigns supreme. Take us to the place where all we hear is the heavy sonics of sludge. There's a band that can take us there – Sweden’s Walk Through Fire will be our guide and their new album, "Furthest from Heaven" will be our soundtrack. Walk Through Fire’s title track kicks off this record. The first thing that stands out is the ethereal melodic drumming that has the power to put you into a dream state. This band uses repetition in a way that works magic on your eardrums. Walk Through