Abu Lahab - We Beheld the Last Contraction of the Seraph

Abu Lahab in history is known as the Father of Flame and this one man industrial black metal band from Morocco certainly lives up to that moniker. This fourth or fifth release (depending on the source, info is scarce) opens with a wall of noise that progresses downward into the pits of hell. With agonising wails, effected instrumentation and crazed spoken word and samples this album borders on madness but it holds together with an energy that is at once unsettling and mesmerising. The music is harsh and memorable and while I have no idea what the lyrics are there is no mistaking the vibe of this EP. This is pure darkness and must be heard.

Tracklist:

1 And No Health Was Left in Us
2 Sharpen the Tooth of Thanatos
3 Levitation of the Gravida
4 Agony of a Hatching Eye
5 Gyrosophism

Website: http://www.last.fm/music/Abu+Lahab

Label: self released

Contact: kaleemuallah@gmail.com           

Release date: 2012

Grisatre - L'idee de Dieu

This first full length from Grisatre begins with a hauntingly delicate piano melody and continues on with alternating DSBM epics and more subdued interludes.Sole member Rokkr of France has put together a cohesive album of introspective tracks that infect the listener with a lingering malaise symptomatic of a world in decline. The shorter instrumental tracks heighten the depressive feel of the album and are a perfect compliment to the more blackened songs with their anguished vocals and moody riffs. This is an outstanding release.



Tracklist :

1 V
2 IV
3 III
4 II
5 I
6 L'esquisse des astres

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

Label : Dusktone

Release Date : July 15  2010

Soley - We Sink

We Sink is the first solo full length for Iceland's Soley having been preceded by the ep Theater Island. The album is a seamless collection of melancholic pop beauty built around wonderfully morose piano and her haunting and at times reverb drenched vocals. Comparisons could be made to You are Free era Cat Power in it's ability to convey such emotion with sparse arrangements and that is only a good thing. I look forward to hearing much more from Soley as I am hooked on this record.



Tracklist:

1 I'll Drown
2 Smashed Birds
3 Pretty Face
4 Bad Dream
5 Dance
6 And Leave
7 Blue Leaves
8 Kill That Clown
9 Fight Them Soft
10 About Your Funeral
11 The Sun is Going Down I
12 The Sun is Going Down II
13 Theater Island

Website: https://www.facebook.com/soleysoleysoley

Label: Morr Music

Release Date: September 2nd, 2011

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