Worrytrain - Fog Dance, My Moth Kingdom

Worrytrain is Joshua Neil Geissler from the Chicago area and on this fourth album we are exposed to fifteen tracks of sad beauty performed mostly on piano and cello with occasional strings and electronic noise. The album is glacially paced and drowns the listener in it's warm embryo of melancholy. Cinematic in it's delivery, this release is darkly moody with jarring instances of anger that play out as frenzied attacks on the depression that is sown throughout the songs. A fitting soundtrack to a hopeless world.



Tracklist :

1 Prelude for Piano and Malaria
2 Celestial Police
3 For Auschwitz
4 Thundertrance Interlude
5 Achtung, God
6 Hospitalized
7 Soviet Passages
8 White Phosphorus Angels
9 The Moth Screamed Harvest
10 Saturniidae
11 Cambodia ( Piano Duet )
12 Exorcism for Cello and Malaria
13 The Trenches Choir
14 Ode to Faithful Kataklysm
15 End Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dy9DvQWvaQ

Website : http://www.myspace.com/worrytrain

Label : Own Records

Release Date : October 19th, 2007

Infestus - E x | I s t

After forming in 2003 Infestus slowly shed members over the span of a demo, three full length releases ( this being the third ) and a split cd to arrive at it's current one man lineup consisting of Andras from Germany. He has created an impressively full sounding album that blends a black metal assault with clean playing and agonized vocals to realise varying shades of darkness and despair. The album plays as a coherent whole that should be digested in it's entirety to appreciate the landscape of despondency and madness that it conjures. This is a hypnotising journey into the darkest regions of the mind.



Tracklist :

1 Akoasma
2 Down Spiral Depersonification
3 Darkness Blazing in the Flame of Fire
4 Torn Observer
5 Mirror Mind Reality
6 Der Blick Hinaus
7 Descend Direction Void

Website : http://www.infestus.com/

Label : Debemur Morti Productions

Release Date : May 16th, 2011

Mournful Congregation - The Book of Kings

The Book of Kings finds  Mournful Congregation in fine form on their fourth full length release. With a history stretching back to 1994 it's not surprising that this Adelaide, South Australia trio have mastered the art of funeral doom. The four lengthy tracks ebb and flow with emotion and instrumentation and create a gloomy atmosphere that is solidified by other worldly vocals and acoustic passages that add to the tension of the songs. The playing and production are top tier and this release should be in any year end top ten list for fans of the genre.



Tracklist :

1 The Catechism of Depression
2 The Waterless Streams
3 The Bitter Veils of Solemnity
4 The Book of Kings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2T18s8roI

Website : http://www.mournfulcongregation.com/

Label : 20 Buck Spin

Release Date : November 1st, 2011

Nocra - The Haunting

From the Russian Federation comes this female duo consisting of Lady S on guitar, bass, keyboard and vocals and Tesana on drums.The album paces beautifully in atmospheric/melodic black metal rich with melody and shredded vocals. The keyboards are used to great effect to add texture to the raw brutality of the album without being overplayed. This is an evil gem and is a limited release of 500 copies.



Tracklist :

1 Saturn's World
2 Broken Wings
3 Enlightehed by Death
4 One Winter Evening
5 Omen
6 Damned
7 Butterfly
8 In My Dreams
9 Memories
10 Et Avis

Website : http://www.myspace.com/nocraofficial

Label : Agni Productions

Release Date : February 21st, 2011

The Terminal Orchestra - The Seasons

The Terminal Orchestra is a six piece exploration of melancholy folk from Marquette, Michigan  that blends the isolated atmosphere of their northern surroundings with the world weary but hopeful compositions on this disc. Songwriter Jesse DeCaire is able to inspire compelling music from this band of three guitars, bass, violin and percussion with the result being cinematic and dramatic gold. The plaintive cry of the violin on the 8th track Winter Song lays plain the seriousness of mood that can be conjured by this group. This release is perfect listening for late night winding down or early morning coming of consciousness with the after party blues.


Tracklist:

1 Introduction
2 Summer Song
3 Interlude No. 1
4 Fall Song
5 Interlude No. 2
6 Winter Song
7 Interlude No. 3
8 Spring Song

Website : http://theterminalorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/the-seasons

             http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Terminal-Orchestra/139745606052790

Label : Phratry Records

Release Date : February 22nd, 2011

Clara Engel - The Bethlehem Tapes

Clara Engel is a singer songwriter based in Montreal by way of Toronto. Her music can best be described as dark folk but that title doesn't come close to conveying the depth of emotion and sorrow that bleeds from her voice with accompaniment on acoustic guitar and cello. The album was recorded in an afternoon while travelling in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and proceeds dirge like with haunting beauty that engrosses the listener with it's poetic sadness. This is an amazing release from Clara and accompanist Taylor Galassi.



Tracklist :

1 Accompanied by Dreams
2 Trembling Dust
3 I Only Bet on the Rain
4 Hole in the Sun
5 Heaven of Leaves
6 Light Years
7 Skywalk to Crescent Town

Website : http://claraengel.bandcamp.com/
                http://www.myspace.com/claraengel

Label : Independent

Release Date : April 24th 2010

Hellas Mounds - New Heaven / New Earth

Sometimes an album is able to capture a moment in time and this EP by Phoenix, Arizona's six piece Hellas Mounds does just that with an instrumental offering of dark, brooding post-rock that reflects the turmoil raging in my mind. The songs build from glacially paced emotive moods to crashing crescendos reminiscent of GYBE! and the best of the genre.


Tracklist :

1 Passage I
2 Movement I
3 Movement II
4 Passage II
5 Movement III

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUGDQaV0At8

Website : http://hellasmounds.blogspot.com/

Label : Saw Her Ghost Records

Release Date : March 2nd 2010

A Death Cinematic - Your Fate Twisting, Epic In Its Crushing Moments

A Death Cinematic is a one man project originating from the midwestern United States that features multiple layers of looped guitar and improvisations done  with minimal post recording manipulation. The EP begins menacingly  and sets the tone for a journey through madness including washes of anger and detuned wonder. The final track opens with amp noise and feedback but gives way to a beautifully simple guitar that awakens emotions  long thought dead. I can't end without mentioning the packaging for this disc. A Death Cinematic is an artist of many disciplines and the digipack is entirely hand made with wood veneer, cardboard, artwork, and a poem typed on paper that he constructed. In an increasingly digital era this is a release that I treasure for it's visual and tactile art as well as it's audio.



Tracklist :

1 Your Fate Twisting, Epic In It's Crushing Moments

2 .

3 In The Tumbling Dawn Lights, Their Eyes Fall Frozen Through The Mist And Rain

Website : http://www.myspace.com/adeathcinematic

Label : simple box construction

Release Date : July 3rd 2011

Zakhm - The Way for Suicide

This ep finds Zahedan Iran's Zakhm mining the depths of human misery on it's third release. The minimalist ambient/DSBM project of lone member Sad is entrancing and draws the listener into a world of pain and suffering that is raw and oppressive through the first five tracks with the last drops of blood exiting during Last Tear. The end track leaves us with the contemplation of what remains in the shadow of our existence.


Tracklist :

1 Sad Funeral (intro)
2 The Way for Suicide
3 Must Kill
4 Last Winter's Sunset
5 End of Life
6 Last Tear
7 Push Me Down

Website : http://www.zakhm-home.com/blog/

Label : Rigorism Production

Release Date : January 7th 2011

Sig:Ar:Tyr - Godsaga

Godsaga is the third full length release from London Ontario's Sig:Ar:Tyr which is comprised solely of Daemonskald playing all instruments and singing. The album blends black metal, folk and ambient beautifully and deals with the concept of loss and sacrifice in the Icelandic epic of Egil's saga and Odin's hanging from Yggdrasil. The blending of acoustic guitar and blackened riffs works to great effect and projects a mood consistent with the lyrical themes. The level of musical proficiency is high and impresses with the fact that it is all accomplished by one man.



Tracklist:

1 Nights All Nine
2 Midwinter Sacrifice
3 Blood of the North
4 Black Sun's Bane
5 Eternal Return
6 Sleep of the Sword
7 Sonatorrek
8 Godsaga
9 Distant Northern Shore

Website : http://www.sigartyr.com/SIGARTYR/News.html

Release Date : May 3rd 2010

Label : Morbid Winter Records

Garden of Sadness - Travesty of a Human Being

Garden of Sadness is a one man project from Poland consisting of Marek playing and singing on this depressive opus full of despair and isolation. The album progresses at a funereal pace with the only trajectory being downward as the listener is drawn into an existence rife with anguish. The mood created is unrelenting and serves as a fitting soundtrack for those that feel the heavy burden of this life.



Tracklist :

1 Distorted in Pain
2 My Empty Life
3 Chains of Infirmity
4 Another Failure
5 Surrounded by Their Laughter
6 Kill Another Day
7 No Shelter From Suffering
8 Self - Loathing

Website : http://www.myspace.com/gardenofsadness27

Label : Beneath The Fog Productions

Release Date : January 1st 2009

Lantlos - .Neon

Neon is the second album from the German post metal/shoegaze band consisting on this release of multi instrumentalist Herbst and vocalist Neige. The blend of light and dark that is this genre is infused with jazzy chords in some of the softer parts to create an interesting contrast with the more blackened moments. The album plays with an almost soothing effect and is realised in an overall optimistic mood.


Tracklist:

1 Minusmensch
2 These Nights Were Ours
3 Pulse/Surreal
4 Neige de Mars
5 Coma
6 Neon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_ApaSELFUM

Website: http://lantlos.com/

Label: Prophecy Productions

Release Date: June 14th 2010

Wintercult - Neverending Selfhatred

Wintercult is a one man project from the Russian Federation in the depressive black metal genre. The production on this album is raw which furthers the atmosphere of misery that is unrelenting and oppressive. The vocals exist in the realm of suicidal agony and take the music to a place haunted by the demons of isolation and despair. The album cover is a perfect representation of the images conjured during a listen to this fine release.



Tracklist:

1 Frozen in Melancholy
2 Neverending Selfhatred
3 Submerged in Desolation
4 Nocturnal Silence
5 The Somber End

Website: http://www.myspace.com/wintercultofficial

Label: Unsigned

Release Date: December 7th 2010

Vigri - Pink Boats

Vigri is a five piece band from Reykjavik, Iceland and on this first self released album they deliver a dreamy, melancholy pop masterpiece. They seem to have an innate feel for haunting melodies that are all their own and the vocals shine with their immediately memorable sound. Apparently the album was mostly recorded with a laptop and one microphone in various places around Iceland including a restaurant, retirement home and church. This is amazing considering the quality of the recording. I feel lucky for having stumbled across this album and look forward to future releases.



Tracklist :

1 Awakening
2 Drag Down the Dark
3 Animals
4 Coin Finder
5 (fyrir) Skikkan Skaparans
6 Sleep
7 Maternal Machine
8 I Augsyn
9 Fume
10 These are the Eyes

Website : http://www.myspace.com/vigri

Label : independent   gogoyoko

Release Date : May 25th 2011

Altar of Plagues - Mammal

This second full length from Cork, Ireland's, Altar of Plagues brings an atmospheric black metal gem. With extended songs the band is able to cover plenty of ground and seamlessly blend black metal, post rock and ambient into a cohesive whole that draws you in and keeps you listening. The inclusion of a vocal lament by an elderly woman in a funerary custom during the third track adds to the weight of this listen. The mood is set early and captivates on this impressive release.



Tracklist :

1 Neptune is Dead
2 Feather and Bone
3 When the Sun Drowns in the Ocean
4 All Life Coverges to Some Center

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnjQKd7imq4

Website: http://www.altarofplagues.com/

Label: Profound Lore

Release Date: April 25th 2011

Pale Roses - Fear of Dawn

Pale Roses is a neofolk band from Lorient, France that keeps it stripped down to mostly acoustic guitar and vocals with splashes of bass, piano and drums. Their influences are laid plain with a song called Sol Invictus and like it's namesake it conjures images of plaintive balladry on the moors. The vocals are prominent in the mix and while not always perfect they project a mood of a troubled troubador watching the world disintegrate. The video I'm including is not on this album but it's the only one I can find and it is also a great cover of a Saxon song.



Tracklist :

1 Flow My Tears
2 Four Winters
3 Sol Invictus
4 Lord Gregory
5 Heroes Dawn
6 When the War is Over
7 Niflheim
8 Pagan
9 Two Ravens
10 Are You Ready( For Total War) ?

Website : http://www.myspace.com/morepaleroses/blog

Label : The Eastern Front

Release Date August 10th 2010

Heretoir - Heretoir

The debut full length from German duo Heretoir is a post black metal album that mixes acoustic passages with washes of heaviness to achieve an atmosphere of bleakness and modern decay. The occasional use of clean vocals heightens the tension felt throughout the album and the inclusion of a few short ambient tracks furthers the overall mood. This release should appeal to fans of genre leading bands Alcest and Amesoeurs.



Tracklist :

1 The Escape Part I
2 Fatigue
3 Retreat to Hibernate
4 0
5 Weltschmerz
6 Graue Bauten
7 The Escape Part II
8 To Follow the Sun
9 Heretoir

Website : http://www.myspace.com/heretoir

Label : Northern Silence Productions

Release Date : February 25th 2011

Musk Ox - Musk Ox

Musk Ox is Nathanael Larochette from Ottawa, Ontario and he gives us a beautiful sonic expression of landscape that delivers you to the isolated Canadian wilderness to contemplate life. The mostly nylon string guitar compositions are enchanting and the vocals appear like the wind. There is an organic feel to this record that is captivating, you can feel the moss beneath your feet and and see the opening sky. A beautiful journey.



Tracklist :

1 Un Jardin Au Bout Du Monde
2 Sur Une Infinie Route De Terre
3 Entre La Terre Et Le Ciel
4 Les Plus Beaux De Nos Jours
5 Lullaby For Ghosts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45R4dqbTJb8

Website : http://www.myspace.com/embraceinashes

Label : Absurdist Records

Release Date : January 19th 2009

Kanashimi - In My Tears

Hailing from Shizouka Japan, Kanashimi translates as sorrow or sadness and those feelings are abundant here on the third release. The band's sole member Misanthropy creates a suffocating atmosphere of hopelessness with recurring piano melodies, funeral paced drums, distorted guitar and vocals that sound as if channelled from some other realm. While only three tracks at twenty minutes this EP feels complete and is a fine release in the depressive, suicidal, black metal genre.



Tracklist :

1 In My Tears
2 Algos
3 Life

Website : Unknown

Label : East Chaos Records

Release Date : February 2010

Download : http://www.mediafire.com/?34d9147q507801j#1

The Last Days - When the Tomorrow is a Grey Day

The duo from Sao Paulo, Brazil and Toluca City, Mexico gives us a post rock EP that washes over you in waves of echoing melancholy. From the ambient beginnings of the title track the album builds incrementally through emotion but really takes hold with shredded vocals in " Soul of a City " which is the only nodding black metal track on the release. The album closes much as it started with with a more ambient feel that allows the listener to digest what has just transpired. The atmosphere is not as bleak as the song titles may suggest and at times one may even detect an undercurrent of contentment in the music. Perfect listening for a lazy, rainy day.


Tracklist :

1 When the Tomorrow is a Grey Day
2 Make the Change
3 The Time Will Never Come Back
4 Soul of a City
5 A Vague Look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvo7HNsHD0s

Website : http://www.myspace.com/thelastdayssuicide

Label : Pest Productions

Release Date : July 1st 2010

Knox Om Pax - Laudanum

Taking the name from a book by Aleister Crowley the one woman project from Milwaukee, Wisconsin delivers a haunting cello and piano based album of droning melancholy. The subdued anguish of this release comes to the fore on third track " Salt, Sulfur, Mercury". While relatively short I would hesitate to call this an EP as the emotional ride is intense and exhausting and the listener is left wanting more but relieved that the sadness has quieted. This is the only thing I know that Jess M has created but I long for more.



Tracklist :

1 The Builders of Adytum
2 Agapae
3 Salt, Sulfer, Mercury
4 L.O.S.T
5 The Abandonment of all Hope
6 Laudanum

Website : http://www.myspace.com/knoxompax

Label : Destructive Industries

Release Date : 2007

Malneirophrenia - M

Malneirophrenia is defined as the state of depression after a nightmare or the time between nightmare and waking when reality is questioned. This is an appropriate moniker for the instrumental trio from Reykjavik, Iceland as they play a brooding style of music they've labelled chamber punk. The band consists of piano, cello and electric bass performing a dark variety of classical with metallic and cinematic qualities. An amazing debut that is at times softly mournful and at others crescendoing into razor sharp fury. It is an engaging and engrossing listen.



Tracklist :

1 Halpin's Theme
2 E Tu Vivrai Nel Terrore
3 I am the Arm and I Sound Like This
4 Le Diaboliche Alchimie Del Dottor Morte
5 It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us, Bach!

6 La Mattanza

7 Every Morn and Every Night
8 Inquietanti Segne Premonitori
9 Music Control Instruction No. 1
10 Il Valzer Degli Zombi

Website : http://malneirophrenia.com/

                http://www.myspace.com/malneirophrenia

Label : Unsigned

Release Date : January 1st, 2011

Menace Ruine - Union of Irreconcilables

This is the third full length release from the Montreal duo and it is a scary, atmospheric blast from hell. Droning noise washes over the listener like a plague and is relentless in it's ability to hypnotise. The vocals vary from tortured screams to haunting female singing that are darkly folk. Classification seems useless as the album straddles drone, noise, black metal and experimental but the common thread is that it is extreme in every way. If ever there was a soundtrack to the underworld this would surely be it.



Tracklist :

1 Collapse
2 The Upper Hand
3 Not Only a Break in the Clouds but a Permanent Clearing of the Sky
4 Corridor de Perdition
5 There Will Be Blood
6 Nothing Above or Below
7 Primal Waters in Bed

Website : http://www.myspace.com/menaceruine
                http://www.menaceruine.com/

Label : Aurora Borealis

Release Date : May 17th 2010

The Arcane - Rivers of Endless Sorrow

From Beirut, Lebanon comes this impressive album from The Arcane. The octet covers a lot of ground with sounds reminiscent of prog rock, gothic and symphonic metal, and early 70's psychedelic UK rock. There are alternating male and female vocals and both are strong with hooks everywhere supported by tasteful guitar leads. I can't seem to stop playing this record. This should be a hit everywhere.

Tracklist :

1 Rivers of Endless Sorrow
2 Flame Dance
3 To the Sea
4 Last Dance for the Dead
5 Dark Seed
6 Listen To Me
7 Human Sin
8 Souvenir

Website : http://www.myspace.com/arcanelebanon

Label : Unknown

Release Date : June 2010

In My Shiver - Black Seasons

The debut album from Italy's In My Shiver mixes shoegazy guitar alongside more blackened parts with pure black metal vocals to create a mournful and desolate atmosphere. The pairing works well as the songs flow seamlessly between post rock and more evil territory. Misanthropy and hopelessness are the lyrical themes that weld the songs together on this excellent first effort.



Tracklist :

1 Night Feelings
2 Around the Sadness
3 Enshrine Your Sorrow
4 The Hills of Hate
5 The Cold Depths
6 Dawn of the Chaos
7 Promise Your End

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ij-cHSf1Cw

Website : http://www.myspace.com/inmyshiver

Label : Solitude and Despair Music

Release Date : December 21st 2010