Saturday, September 17, 2016

ANTLERS: Into Endless Chaos

Some people are simply perseverance and resistance personified.

Antlers are a 4 piece Atmospheric Black Metal group based in East Germany. Forming in 2013 after
2 guitar playing veterans of the underground music world (Pablo C. Ursusson and I. Soler) started jamming with bassist Mts and drummer M.

Describing their sound as “Ancient hymns for the Age of decay” and “Black metal written for wanderers and hermits, for battle and meditation, for light and darkness” Antlers are a powerful musical assault played with a mystical edge but never lacking in emotional intensity.

Embarking on endless van tours across the European Metal Circuit playing to sweaty bars full of die-hard fans and even sharing the stage with Rotting Christ, last spring Antlers brought US experimental Black Metallers Addaura out on the road with them. Unfortunately 1 member of Addaura had an accident in Paris, meaning the cancellation of several shows planned for that tour.

But both acts didn't let it effect them and bravely carried on, with the tour coming to a triumphant end with two shows in Antlers' hometown of Leipzig.


Their debut album ‘A Gaze into the Abyss’ was very warmly received throughout the underground and is a great exercise in some kick-ass Black Metal songwriting. Upon it's release, the band swiftly sold out on all their CD copies of the record, but still have Vinyl and Cassette copies left so I urge you to pick one up before they're all gone!

You can read my thoughts on the album at the bottom of this page.

I caught up with the band’s guitarist, keys player and vocalist Ntx to find out what Antlers are up to now....


DMD: It has been over a year since ‘A Gaze Into The Abyss’ was released, how much has changed in that time? Have you already begun writing the follow up?

Ntx: Nothing has changed in a very significant way, just that some of the stuff on that album begins to get quite old for some of us and sometimes it's not so exciting to play some tracks from the album anymore. So we are looking forward to begin to play shows in 2017 with a new setlist. For sure the band is more solid now, we are better friends and we know each other better than we did 2 years ago. We have a bunch of songs ready for the next album, yes.


DMD: At the time of sending you these questions, the tour with Addaura has finished, what were the highlights and lowlights of the tour?

Ntx: The absolute highlight was to meet the guys of Addaura, touring and sharing those 2 great weeks of our lives together, they are an excellent band, but way better people. We didn't know each other before, the whole tour thing was an initiative of Stefan from Vendetta Records.

It's kind of funny, because once we saw we got along pretty well, we began to have fun together. They told us that they were afraid of having to share the bus for the next 2 weeks with some grim German metalheads and we told them we were a bit afraid of meeting some arrogant spoiled Americans. Everything worked just great!

The biggest lowlight was the accident that the bass player of Addaura (Brandon) had in Paris, he fell downstairs carrying just too many gear at once and then he broke his left arm, it was a really bad fracture (both bones of his forearm) and it was a fucking crazy stressed night in Paris, so we had to cancel as well the show the day after in Zurich, a couple of days later he could join us again in Italy and take care of the samplers in the Addaura shows, but it was still a downer...



DMD: I was going to ask, do you guys just have a lot of bad luck on tour or are you just out of control and reckless sometimes?

Ntx: We just walk on the wild side... and it seems we fall quite often.


DMD: How did you guys get the name 'Antlers?' Also I love the wrist Tattoos!

Ntx: The name evokes to me a mysterious and monolithic presence in which death and nature awakens connections with my genuine and untamed essence. Thank you, I guess you mean our antler tattoos, not everybody got one on their wrists though. We got them done after a show in Flensburg at the studio Hand of Doom (https://handofdoomtattoo.wordpress.com) That was a long night of drinks and inks...


DMD: What is each member of the band’s favourite Black Metal album?

Ntx: Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Mts: Darkthrone - Transylvanian Hunger

M: No empathy - Rust

Pablo: doesn’t know


DMD: What is each member of the band’s favourite album that is not considered Metal?

Ntx: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads

Mts: Igorr - Hallelujah

M: En Blanc - Untitled

Pablo: doesn’t know



DMD: 
How is the extreme metal scene in Leipzig, Germany?

Ntx: Quite healthy I would say, even if the word “scene” is something I try to avoid. There are quite a lot of places for shows and enjoying music and to meet together. I would recommend you some other bands from Leipzig like II, Evil Warriors, Chamber, Vidargängr, Lihamon and of course other more popular bands like Sangre de Muerdago or Coldwolrd. I don't know if this is a scene or not, but they are good friends and cool bands.


DMD: Considering you guys are a DIY band who self released your last album, do you plan on staying DIY or do you plan on searching for a record label in the future? Do you still think we need record labels in the age of the internet?

Ntx: Well, that's not really correct. Sure, we have a strong DIY Spirit but we are not gonna be waiting for somebody else to come knocking on our door to do things for us, we like to decide what and when to do things and if we don't find a better option then we will do it on our own.

The question kind of surprises me because I thought it was kind of clear that our first album wasn't self released. The vinyl version was released by Vendetta, the CD by Pest productions and the cassette by Into Endless Chaos.

The Internet is cool to get to know a lot of stuff that otherwise wouldn't be possible to know, but I still love to buy my favourite records on vinyl and enjoy the artwork and pay attention to the lyrics sitting on my couch while it sounds on the turntable with the time that it deserves...


DMD: Where do you guys want to tour next?

Ntx: We want to tour everywhere! I guess the next tour will again be in Europe in spring 2017, hopefully this time we can make it to the UK. Personally, I really want to go on tour to Spain finally and meet a lot of old friends there. It's in our plans as well to visit the US in the next couple of years.


DMD: What are your thoughts on the current state of underground Black Metal in 2016?

Ntx: I would say it's getting more open minded, at least that's my perception.


DMD: What inspires the lyrics?

Ntx: Death, dreams, myths, history, human nature and its contradictions, nature, pain, personal traumas, love, everything around that makes me reflect about something. I would say that basically I try to write a map and find my position in the Universe.


DMD:  What does the rest of 2016 hold for Antlers?

Ntx: Writing new stuff and beginning to record our second album in December,  there’s not much more to tell in this moment...


My thoughts on ‘A Gaze Into The Abyss’

The Album features 6 tracks that all flow very well together with little to no filler slowing it down. Antlers are a flawlessly tight, well-oiled machine and every instrument pulls their weight and absolutely no one is slacking off. 

The drums lead the band for most of the time, pulling off many a dynamic fill or suspenseful build up here and there (Track 2 ‘Carnival of Freedom and Betrayal’ & Track 3 ‘Hundreds’). The well crafted riffs, lead lines and harmonies of the guitars are memorable, and while the solos won’t win any awards for originality you can still hear they’re played with blazing conviction and soul.

The growling vocal attack stays powerful throughout and feels like they have a bit more of a death metal vibe about them, which I really like. 

Tempo-wise you get a well rounded amount of medium speed, blistering pace to slower crawls. Track 4 ‘To the Throats’ is a good example of this. In the song's first half-pulverising blast beats and some of the album’s most memorable riffs, and when the outro rolls around- more DBSM and Funeral Doom elements are thrown in, emphasised by a piano tinkling joylessly atop the steady gloomy progression.

‘Memories of the Extinct’ also varies in momentum, opening once again on punishing blast beats and catchy riffs, this closing track features a blink and you'll miss it slow section that sounds destined to be joined in on by a chanting metal festival crowd.

While the band don’t rely too much on exhibitionist playing or stray too far from their 90’s Norwegian BM roots, their songwriting wildcard pays off in spades.

Every riff feels like it's been worked on with the intention of being as punishing and as memorable as possible, while the parts of the album that lack speed make up for it with soul-wrenching emotion.

Fans of Wolves in the Throne Room should definitely consider giving this one a spin.

In closing I will say that 'A Gaze into the Abyss' is an extremely satisfying Meat 'n' Potatoes Atmospheric Black Metal record with enough quality craftsmanship to keep you coming back for more. 

The excitement and hype is already building for their next release, and I for one cannot wait!

8/10



Addaura bandcamp


If you enjoyed this Antlers feature check out some more DMD Black metal reviews:

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The Discovery Channel...4 Reviews (God Pussy, Mare Di Dirac, Felix Perez, How I Met Lauren)


Here are 4 reviews containing artists who submit their music to me and music I found online that impressed me.

No ratings, just my thoughts on music I would happily recommend to others.

In this first instalment of 'The Discovery Channel' we have: 
Political Harsh Noise, Ritualist Musique Concrète,
Old-School Prog Ambient and Uplifting Drone.

Let's get started!

The second Discovery Channel can be read here

Submissions:

God Pussy:  Retratando A Realidade Bélica (Portraying the Reality of War) DIY self release

Many thanks to God Pussy himself Jhones Silva, who helped me translate his song titles. 
I first heard God Pussy (Rio de Janeiro’s premier Harsh Noise activist) on the brilliant Ton Doigt Dans Mons Cul compilation Laptop Hooligans 2 alongside Koobatoo Asparagus, Painburn and Yung Stab. 

For ‘Retratando A Realidade Bélica’ (portraying the reality of war) God Pussy deals with a range of themes including: slavery, police brutality, PTSD and the deaths of the innocent caught in the cross-fire of brutal everyday violence. 

Using nothing but his noise equipment Jhones replicates the chaotic, aggressive and terrifying atmosphere of streets descending into a battleground between baton-wielding police and angry, rioting mob.


Opening track ‘Senzalas Contemporâneas' (described by Jhones as: the slave quarters of the past, the prison system today) is a tiny scraping sound transformed into a glitching explosion of furious energy, that crumbles into a throbbing twisted mass of bass, while distortion rains down like a hail of molotov cocktails.

‘Mais Uma Mãe Chora Na Perda De Seu Filho!’ (Another Mother Cries at the Loss of her Son!) 
Is less loud but no less intense, a low hum underneath vile screeching that mirrors the tinnitus filled aftermath of a bomb detonation. 

‘Hoje Noticia - Amanhã Estatística’ (Today’s News - Tomorrow’s statistics) throws in random banging noises and a guitar coughing up some putrid like wah-wah effects in between the sizzling noise assaults. Track 4 ‘Explícito Morticínio’ (Explicit killing) is an automatic rifle firing off rounds of piercing white noise and iron clad feedback. 

‘Trauma E Memória ás Vítimas Do Genocídio’ (Traumatic Memories of Victims of Genocide) sets up the longest track of the release: Repressão, Aniquilamento & Velório (Repression, Annihilation & Funeral) in places this one made me imagine screaming sirens of emergency vehicles being fed through giant piles of effects pedals as well as the faceless wounded writhing in pain. 

‘Justiças Com as Próprias Mãos' (Justice with your own Hands) and ‘Menó Sangue Nos Olhos' (Blood in our Eyes) both feel slightly Harsh Noise Wall, or to be clearer, a Harsh Noise Wall with a few gaps in the brickwork for the other loud, discordant elements to flood through! 

Track artwork is included in the free download
of Retratando A Realidade Bélica

You can really feel Jhone’s heated anger at these various injustices fiercely directed through his noise, two examples of this include: ‘Pobre na MIRA’ (Vulgo ‘Bala Perdida’) Targeting the Poor (a popular saying is an ‘accidental shooting’) which is a vortex of electronic caterwauling and the high frequency tsunami of ‘13 De Maio É Uma Farsa' (the 13th of May is a farce) historically referring to the day in 1888 when Brazil officially abolished slavery and became the last nation in the West to do so.

5 tracks bring this short lived apocalyptic revolution to a deafening close: ‘Ciclo De Corrupção Ativa' (Corruption Cycle Active) ‘Protagonista De Um Filme De Terror’ (Protagonist In A Horror Movie) ‘Cade Os Esquecidos?’ (Where are the Forgotten?) despite all being well executed the one that really picked me up and smacked my ears around was ‘Caos Nosso de Cada Dia' (Our Daily Chaos). 

Concluding with a creepy music box and a single gunshot, ‘Obituário… FIM!!!’ (Obituary ... END !!!)  is both a theatrical and fitting end to an abrasive, hateful but ultimately thought provoking noise barrage.

All things considered, ‘Retratando A Realidade Bélica' is a seriously vicious and appropriate noise diatribe for our times. If you are beyond pissed off at the corrupt establishment then make sure God Pussy is setting fire to your eardrums while you go out and tear it down!




Recently, God Pussy released ‘riot’ and had a compilation appearance on UK Harsh Noise CD-R label ‘harsh noise movement’ you can check them both out here:

https://harshnoisemovement.bandcamp.com/album/riot



Mare Di Dirac: Fumes  (Dusktone records)

Mare Di Dirac are an electroacoustic, Musique Concrète noise duo from Italy. Not just staying put with 2 members they are often found collaborating with multiple musicians. Also the brains behind their own music imprint 'Dusktone Records' to put out physical CD releases they are passionate about as well as their own material.

Donning masks and erecting surreal-soundscapes on the grandest of scales, Mare Di Dirac's work transcends the song structures of normalcy and their performances in venue or studio become theatrical events.

The last MDD record ‘Tupilaq’ featured guest appearance from Mauro Sambo and Paolo Sanna
creating an intriguing blend of experimental jazz, sinister drone ambient and found sound/field recordings. In short, it's a sound artist's dream. ‘Fumes’ continues that wild exploration but ventures into even darker realms. Light an incense stick and prepare yourself.



Opening Track ‘SacraFormula’ amongst many audio entities captured includes: 
An unidentifiable (to me at least) reed instrument, a creaking door reversed into a low rumble, and a human voice so manipulated by effects it almost sounds like a cawing crow or some other nameless nightmarish bird. To name a few there are fizzes, sobs, scratching, and heavy breathing all overlapping in the boiling, spitting cauldron of sound. All of a sudden, when it seems to be reaching the tip of it’s summit with a horrified scream, the surging heat is turned off with one discharge of breath.

'Ceremony 00' is more of a slow burner, but still ups the ante with various scattered percussion and a overhead trilling. The low voices return, becoming a grainy, ethereal chant. The primal beating of the drums really give the track it’s ritualistic theme. This undercurrent of drone turns into some heavy sweeping static before dropping the dynamic back down again to soft mouth-made noises looped for a short time like a dripping tap and thumps that seem to resemble footsteps echoing down an imaginary hallway. 

In a faster segment, cymbals crash like merciless waves upon coastal rocks. At this point, the low vocals (are they even human voices anymore?!) start to resemble an ancient boulder being rolled away, the track is laid to rest by clanging rattles and the distant trill.

The ritual continues….

'Representation 01' begins as a loud, snare drum beating away that has a slight industrial feel to it, but still retaining that devotional quality. Layered voices groan and growl away, building until their place in the mix drops totally. Soft cracklings and insect-like scurryings between low buzzing and rustling, clinks of bottles all come together to form a sphere of sound consciousness that swaps to cracking floorboards.

A low piano note rushes in, on probably the most terror-filled track on this release, ‘Deification 10’. Squelching footsteps kick over a spinning glass bottle that falls into a gushing water source, and I can hear what could easily be somebody playing around with the guts of a grandfather clock.

Metallic breathing brings in the piano note again, the water now sounds like it’s draining away but you get the sense that another more malicious, insane presence wishes to make itself known, a pitch bended bell and another rummage inside the clock only add to this descent into madness. The water sounds return, now churned into a fury, meanwhile the sound of birds singing changes into maniacal laughter, only the piano note can signal the end of the darkest chapter in this trip.

Closing Track ‘Quinta Matrice’ sends us off with slow, lightly tapped cymbal hits interspersed with ticking that confirms the clock in the previous song has now been fixed. Fumbling and scrunching are unearthed somewhere beneath it all making the tempo a crawling shuffle. Amongst the ever present stone cold chants is a harmonica drowning in strange effects blaring out brash signals to the untapped regions somewhere inside your brain box it then switches to more of a mosquito dialogue over a tinkling of cymbals. The chants intensify as the ritual nears its climax and with the higher registers of the mouth organ once again at fever pitch, it flares up and it's all over.

What I enjoyed most about this release was that it's a great example of putting dynamics to good use. At times it attained the most tension filled of crescendoes, while the quieter sections still remain threatening. Brilliant vocal work and instrumentation all around. 

Fumes will take you in search of an esoteric utopia, but it is not afraid to drag you through purgatory to reach enlightenment. Heightened awareness and sharpened senses await! 

Listen with a good pair of headphones.

If you enjoyed Fumes check out Mare Di Dirac’s debut record ‘tupilaq' here


Internet Findings

Mindphaser: Canticles of Dune 

Introducing Chilean artist Felix Perez and his Electronic Ambient project ‘Mindphaser.’ Primarily taking influence from the 70s-80s prog era as well as artists from the Berlin School of Electronic Music scene (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze etc) Felix’s musical talents have seen him gradually gaining many online followers over the last few years. 

Recently he released a short full length album inspired by the Frank Herbert book & David Lynch film ‘Dune.’ 

The instruments used help to recreate the scenes and introduce the various characters/events important to the storyline. Felix included a track by track description of the epic audio tale in the link below, so even if you aren’t familiar with the Dune story (like me) then you can still follow the basics of it all.

First in the sequence is ‘Melange’ which has a peaceful meditative feel to it, only hinting at the expanding musical universe to come. The building synth textures in Track 2 represent the enormous spaceship of such magnitude FP mentions in the album’s liner notes. But that soon becomes a more tension filled, fluctuating pattern, as if the vessel has entered more dangerous space-territory. 

On ‘Hammer & Worms’ the frantic scramble for the resources on Dune is shown through a quickening bass line, and washes of keyboard chords. A well played guitar solo helps to complete the track’s ‘desert mirage’ feel.

Listen here:

https://www.mixcloud.com/felix-perez/canticles-of-dune/?play=fb&fb_action_ids=10210188456810521&fb_action_types=mixcloud%3Aupload


‘Canticles..’ also features 2 shorter tracks dedicated to machine characters of Dune, the first is an affair of beeps and bleeps representing the supreme living computer of Dune known as ‘Omnius’ who considers humanity unreliable and therefore useless. While the second machine based track’s robotic theremin cries and whooshing noises represent ‘Erasmus’ an evil robot who conducts diabolical human experiments.

Almost coming back on itself, ‘Beyond Space and Time’ feels like the second part of the intro with rising/falling patterns that seem to take you around the outer rings of the universe. To round things off, a second version of ‘Hammer & Worms’ this time with an arpeggiated synth line fading in and out of audible reach. 

In Closing, ‘Canticles of Dune’ paints a wonderful musical picture of the Dune universe. If you’re a progressive space ambient/film soundtrack fan with a penchant for the bygone 70s-80s Science Fiction entertainment, this is an essential slice of synthspiration.

Enjoyed MindPhaser? Check out an interview with Electronic Ambient / Berlin School musician Michael Brückner here 



How I Met Lauren: ‘im spektrum’  (Zero Sum Recordings)

Zero Sum Recordings is a newly formed tape label based in Brooklyn, New York City. 
Already Dishing out fast-selling limited edition cassettes featuring the ambient sonics of Empty Venice Beach and Abstract Audio Systems. ZSR's motto is: "Low on the noise, high on the haze." 

Put together by the multi-talented Ben Hudgins under his Machine Tribe Recordings umbrella
which also includes his many awesome music projects and the excellent Harsh noise, HNW and Dark Ambient tape label: Endless Landscape of Decay.

Last month, the label had it’s debut release ‘im spektrum’ a 2 part drone piece by German ambient/drone/noise-maker How I Met Lauren. 



SIDE A: After the prologue of a guitar jack lead being noisily plugged in and a handful of slowly passing reverberations like trains in the night, ‘im spektrum’ begins to form as a highly resonant sound beam, topped with ripples of light, fuzzy distortion. 

Building from the ground up, it’s atmospheric audio foundations interlink with soft surface noises making a Brian Eno-esque powerhouse. The emerging drone casts a long, flickering silhouette across the mind’s sky. 

SIDE B: Still flying high and shining bright, the shadowy drone continues it’s slow cloud like movement never pausing once to take in the aerial view. But as we all know, what comes up must come down and the descent from the upper echelons is due. Almost reluctantly stripping itself away until nothing but the gentle hissing of tape is left. Roll credits. Now leave in peace.

Pre-judging by the artwork I was convinced this was going to be a depressing ride, but instead you have the musical equivalent of a slow motion daybreak that turns into the brightest of auroras. 

'Im spektrum' is uplifting Drone, done right! Turn it up, close your eyes and let the music engulf you. 

There’s only a few copies left of this one, so get it or regret it!

Thanks to those who submitted their music to me, keep ‘em coming in!

If you would like to be considered for a review or a  press interview send me an email containing a link to your music here: lungsofashes@gmail.com 

Sunday, August 28, 2016

James Shearman: London Wallin'


“Noise is all around us for all of our lives, but it will always take a particular mindset, attitude and approach to sound to begin viewing those 'noises' as suitable for music or sound art.”

Photo by Adam Reid


London’s young noise hero James Shearman has been carving his name firmly into the underground consciousness since bursting onto the scene in 2013 with the mammoth 80+ minutes long ‘My Personal Noise Virus’ to becoming the curator at HNW net label which has seen releases from HNW Heavyweights such as: Vomir, The Rita, See Through Buildings, Dosis Letalis, Natural Actors, Sumbru and KIRA.

With enough solo projects and indie labels to make even Shane Embury’s jaw hit the floor, his two primary music endeavours currently are: the self styled dream sludge / drone gaze outfit ‘Echoes throughout the caverns of Leytonstone” and ‘A Raja’s Mesh Men’ which utilises elements of harsh noise, HNW, and power electronics to name a few. 

ARMM has appeared on many platforms including Vanity Pill (who released the ARMM self titled cassette) the Swedish tape label Hatets Dok, and the prestigious Minneapolis label Altar of Waste. Amongst all this, James secured himself a spot at Tempting Failure, a noise & performance art festival taking place at multiple venues across London.

Listen below for James’ release in the ongoing ‘Blue Velvet’ series, a string of beautifully packaged extra long HNW releases by various artists co-ordinated by label owner Cory Strand.

I caught up with James to learn more about his musical beginnings, his love of painting and his thoughts on the EU referendum…

Editors note: This interview was conducted prior to the Brexit and James’ performance at TF2016. 


DMD: Growing up, what music influenced you and stayed with you the most?

JS: My mother and my father have had a large and lasting impact on my musical taste. My mum would play me a lot of artists I still really enjoy to this day, people like Boards of Canada, Massive Attack, Lamb and Kate Bush. My dad would play me people like Jimi Hendrix, the Sex Pistols and PiL, Nirvana and Jeff Buckley. It was a good vibrant mix of music and of course it joined up and built upon the many other ways music would reach my young ears. 

When I was about 12 years old my South African uncle was staying with us at my mum's place and he introduced me to Slipknot's self-titled album, he burned me some CDR's of albums by System of a Down, Ministry, Placebo, Sublime, Nine Inch Nails, etc. At around that point I was probably opened up to a lot more 'teenager' sounds and got completely sucked into it all. 

Those CD's did stay with me a long time, but you wouldn't really hear any influence from those groups in my work today. It's interesting, music I love the most is generally loved for being some distant and cherished piece of nostalgia- capable of bringing back the most unsuspected emotions and taking me back to another time - it is less-so to do with what really inspires and influences me to make my own music, as the two are not mutually exclusive at all really.

DMD: Where and how did you first hear about Noise?

JS:  I think I first heard about 'Noise', as a subgenre term, on either Soundcloud or Last.fm. I began using both as a result of the burgeoning desire of all modern teenagers to procreate cross-platform social media identities. 

Something you could very well say would later come back to echo itself, if not indirectly fuel elements, in my 'noise identity' (I am of course referring to the popular habit in Noise of one artist having multiple aliases, often a seemingly ridiculous amount).

I've written about my inception to Noise before and tried to mark the exact moment - I gave finding the artist Mutant Ape on Last.fm as the moment - although in hindsight I'm sure that was essentially a period of finding lots of similar artists like him at the time, and his standing out because of how un-tasteful and offensive it seemed to me at the time, and the large disparancy between what I felt as I first experienced it and how I later felt returning with a better frame of reference. 

I don't think you can really credit any one moment as your catalyst into Noise. In the womb, sound is muffled by a body you're within, and suddenly at birth the world is opened up to your ear canals and the rush and flood of noise begins and never lets up. 

Waterfalls, high force gale winds, being on an aeroplane, being in a car on a motorway, walking past a construction site, the whir of insects at night in an expanse of forest, a downpour of torrential rain - noise is all around us for all of our lives but it will always take a particular mindset, attitude and approach to sound to begin viewing those 'noises' as suitable for music or sound art.

DMD: Did you ever play any 'normal' music in bands? Also tell us the epic talez of ‘A Raja's Mesh Men' and ‘Echoes..Leytonstone’…

JS: I began taking lessons in guitar when I was around 12, I did those for a few years with very limited success but still messed around in some school bands, often just transferring what I knew to bass playing. Then I gave up the lessons and took a bit of a hiatus from it all. 
Later on, I began teaching myself with some classic, cliché Guitar for Dummies, etc. style books, one was a nice one on blues guitar inherited from my dad. It got to the point pretty quickly though where I figured I knew enough chords, I'd taught myself enough 'technical skill' (barely any) and now had to focus on treating the instrument as less something that needed to be learned and more something which needed to be experimented with. 

I would like to think you can receive that attitude a lot as a listener with the work I do with the Echoes...Leytonstone project. 

I was briefly in a band called H00VES playing guitar and we played a mixture of noise rock and grunge, we had a whole ton of jams and stuff but only played two shows and both were pretty weird to be honest - I mean, the very first was more a weird, experimental jam than any of the more 'normal band' stuff we occasionally tried to go for in jams, and the second was just a bit under-prepared I guess (although some people said they enjoyed it).

I also even way-way-way more briefly joined by these two lovely Norwegian dudes in their band Methbreath playing bass in one jam/rehearsal and one gig before they ended up leaving my hometown, London- for theirs in Norway. 

There might be some other 'normal band' stuff I'm forgetting but it's not ever something I've been particularly eager towards, I've always been a lot more invested in my self-directed stuff - and there's been an increasing momentum for the various forms that takes to get more and more experimental as time passes. 

Speaking of self-directed stuff, I did an [attempted] post-rock(ish) project called Overground as well, and this began before any of the projects I've already mentioned. 

(https://soundcloud.com/hellstoneoverground)

As for the epic talez of A Raja's Mesh Men and Echoes...Leytonstone. Well, they really are epics you know, this is going to be a long read. Echoes...Leytonstone (fully titled Echoes throughout the caverns of Leytonstone) began first, and essentially began as I started borrowing my dad's Boss ME50 guitar pedal and experimenting with its long delay and cave-like reverb - at the exact same time I was listening to a lot of Nadja (Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff) and it suddenly dawned me I could pay some appropriate homage to them and their sound with some of the results of this experimenting I was doing.

I was also listening to a bunch of black metal bands and this along with my various pursuits in creative writing and my attraction to aspects of the post-rock genre, and its silly/long titles, all converged to form the genesis of this moniker.

 A little while into this project I discovered the sustain function on this pedal generated a white noise signal, and that white noise could be distorted and turned into a blinding noise which could then further shift and change with the other modulation FX - this is how the first incarnation of ARMM was born, which was called Self-sustaining Cells. 

I'd called it this because I wanted it to be loosely based around the idea of existentialism; extremophile and microscopic life-forms, and the likelihood that the entire existence of humanity will be just a small grain of sand in the timeline of the world and all of its inhabitants. 

After some time using this name, my dad referred jokingly to this noise project once as Self-defeating Soundwaves, and a few months later I decided I wanted to stop doing 'serious noise' and name myself after what was essentially a disparaging joke. I stuck with that name for a while and played a bit, I even supported Svartvit (the amazing Dutch titan of noise, who is a touring-machine, it was a show I got him to play in London while he was on tour). 

Eventually I got quite a lot of people saying they hated the name and I decided to give in and pander to my audience - I decided to use something which seemed equally inane and insignificant to me but hilariously could still come across as "serious-sounding" to all those caught unawares. 
A Raja's Mesh Men is an anagram of my full name, James Shearman, which I decided upon after glancing over a full list of it's anagrams on an online anagram generator.

The URL to the bandcamp page is Enema Smash Jar, another anagram of my name. (also at one time the name of the ARMM bandcamp's "full name" was Shaman Jam Seer). Many people have told me they had imagined it was in reference to something classical, probably of Indian origin, and this was slightly my deceptive intention - to create this kind of illusion of reference. 

Now I'm beginning to focus on an album series for ARMM which re-imagines these imaginary reference points into a finite form, an actual ongoing piece/body of literature crafted by myself and accompanied by noise to serve as the definitive source of this 'fictional reference'. 
The first piece in this series was the album 'Ugrak' which was released as part of the HNW Tape Swap 2016, co-ordinated by James at Vagary Records, and accompanied by a veritable horde of unimaginably high calibre HNW artists.

 I am astounded and eternally grateful to be working with such great people, both on this swap and elsewhere in the past (a brief shout-out to an amazing friend and artist, Liam McGeorge, of Tsuun, formerly Distorted Souls Within A Corrupt Vision, who was the very first artist I ever made a split release with, and who I have worked with so much and always enjoyed every second of it, and who has contributed an immense amount to the international/internet noise community).

Photo by Naddy Sane


DMD: How did you get into doing live noise shows? Do you just improvise or do you have a setlist pre-planned-? Also, how much have they changed since you started performing a few years ago?

JS: I got into doing live shows for bands before I started even doing noise, and once I began doing noise it took me a while to actually curtail my shows into this realm but it eventually happened - last year it culminated full-force and I had a monthly noise night running in North London from March - August. I got into doing live shows because I knew a lot of friends in bands, and many had a very DIY ethic, and I was brought up around an amazing community of squatter artists living at the now-demolished 491 Gallery of Leytonstone. 

The place is a legend, I won't go into much of the history as I could type for hours and hours on it. There are plenty of resources out there for people who want to learn about it - one of London's longest running squats and incredibly artistic and community-positive social hub. 
Most of my live sets as Echoes...Leytonstone and ARMM began entirely as improvisations - eventually for ARMM I would outline what gear I would use and what I would vaguely do, and for Echoes...Leytonstone I began having specific chords/riffs I'd use and vague ideas of where they might go. 

Since then things have changed only slightly. I do some collaborative work, two duos, one with my good friend Charlie Wheatley called Prolonged Version and the other with my girlfriend Rosie King called The Portable Prison - both are noise projects and both have always been pretty much entirely improvised. 

ARMM is beginning to go the way of always being meticulously planned, or at least having some base concept it works outwardly from - this is all being thrust into motion mostly for the fact I've been accepted onto a local performance arts festival called Tempting Failure - while I am programmed as my own name (something I have done before for site-specific sound art installations and exhibitions), the initial idea was to do a very ARMM-type noise set for it. The initial idea grew into about ten other ideas and each of those has mutated and then been cut up into some kind of hideous Raja'stein Monster. 

I'm really looking forward to how I deal with having such a complex idea of what I'm doing and how it should be, and following a plan/rehearsal with a noise set to this extent for the first time.

DMD: Do you have any pre-show rituals?

JS: I don't have any set ones, no. I conduct plenty of pre-show rituals - drinking water so my throat feels okay and 'braced' if I know I'll be screaming later, drinking a lot of alcohol if I know I don't have to worry about precision and I'm doing some kind of silly, chaotic improvised mess which will not at all suffer for it, talking with people before the set as I would before anyone elses' - trying to maintain a sense of normalcy I suppose. I can sometimes get attacked by nerves but it has become something I have to deal with a lot less as I perform more, and more frequently too.


Photo by Hazel Brown


DMD: Any releases (noise or otherwise) this year that really blew you away?

JS: I always find it really hard to organise releases in my head in terms of the year they came out because I'm constantly discovering new music and, more often than not, there are current releases but they are interspersed with releases from all over the place, many from outside of this decade.
I can say without a doubt that the new collaborative album from Full of Hell and The Body did blow me away, and I know that came out this year. But as for noise releases, Brent Gunn (formerly GRVD) just whacked up a ton of new stuff on his bandcamp and I loved all of it immensely - I'm really, really happy and excited to be working with him on a split release. 

Brent also pointed me towards the new stuff Methlab Explosion is making - his new albums this year have all been killer, what he does with the sound pallette he operates within is exactly what I want from that "subgenre" (I suppose I'm talking about noisecore? but it's more than that, there is a further distilling, which is escaping definition - which is a good thing, there shouldn't be an easy umbrella term for any and every sound, because sounds and our experiences with them just don't work like that).

Maybe this sounds like a shameless plug but I have immensely enjoyed all of the new albums on the Harsh Noise Wall netlabel to come out this year - I'm the curator, but of course, I'm doing this because I want to find and hear great wall-noise releases and showcase them, and this year has seen some really great artists step up to be involved and I'm eternally grateful. 

Also, I just checked and Happy Being Sad by Charlotte Braun came out this year - and this is truly one of my favourite wall-noise works of all time - and as for noise releases from this year blowing me away - half of the label's output falls into that category! It's called GERÄUSCHMANUFAKTUR, and another highlight from this year from it would definitely have to be Alocasia Garden's album Mask of Light. 

Reece who does that project is someone I consider to be a close friend, even though we have not really known eachother that long nor realistically spent much time hanging out, he's had me down to Folkestone, his hometown, to play two of his shows for his label, Vanity Pill, as ARMM. I also did my first ever physical release as an eponymous ARMM c40 on his label. I have really, really enjoyed myself both times and I am always looking for new ways to foster and support his work with both AG and VP, as both are magnificent feats and deserve much more recognition than they currently attract.

I could reel off shout-outs to noise friends for a while I think, it's best to say that in the world of noise, a year is a very long time - you need a smaller frame. But honestly, I've begun to let go of favouritism all together, so many people are doing such great things, it becomes very hard to really hone in on "what I like best" - even making it down to a handful!

DMD: How did you become the curator at HNW netlabel?

JS: I had been collaborating and splitting with the founder of the HNW netlabel, Luke (Social Drift), for some time. As of September 2014, and the Uitgeschakeld and DSWACV releases, I came on board to help run the label by finding new submissions. As of June 2015, Luke asked me if I would like to continue with the netlabel on my own, and I gratefully accepted - and have updated the layout and begun to more actively seek submissions as the sole person at the helm. 

My main focus has been to diversify the roster as well I could - and to begin trying to be a bit more singular in an aesthetic vision (although, there is already lots of room for movement and little limitation in terms of 'fitting in visually' due to the disparate nature of previous artworks). 

At the time I'd always knew I wanted to begin curating a netlabel of my own sometime, and so it was nice to be offered to take over with one which I was already involved with and see it grow and blossom into something entirely new as a result of my own work and efforts - and the gracious help of those who I looked to to help build it into what it is today. 

I'm currently compiling the 100th release which will be a LARGE compilation - I have above 60 submissions in already, and waiting on a number from people who have told me they are in process - I may be extending the deadline so that we can reach 100 submissions, I feel the delay will probably be worth it in the long-run.

DMD: What are your thoughts on the refugee crisis and how did you vote in the EU Referendum?

JS: I voted to remain in the EU. I haven't read enough resources of information about the vote, but at the same time, I feel when decisions like these rest upon this kind of 'democratic process' of a voting system, suddenly the "two battling campaigns" become the only viable resource offered to people, and often both campaigns are just made up of various media-sanctioned pieces of propaganda.
I mean, I love propaganda, there's a poster of Donald Trump making out with Boris Johnson which is part of the Remain campaign and I love it. 

I took A Level History at college and one of my favourite parts was analysing political cartoons. But what I'm saying is, even if I had the time and inclination to seek out [actually-useful] information to guide my opinion on the matter, I'd probably have to sift through so much deceptive bullshit first - it not only infuriates me but it fills me with a lethargy toward the whole thing (and yeah, I know that was the whole malicious intention of the dastardly Lizard Rulers of the Illuminati when they crafted the campaigns to begin with). 

As for the refugee crisis, once again, I feel that I only really know what I know from unreliable sources, but I feel firm in my opinion that "the UK has not done enough to help refugees during this crisis". I'm not about to write an essay explaining why I think that, but there it is! My own personal thoughts on the refugee crisis are muddled and mostly overly anxious towards the whole thing. It fills me with an irreparable dread and sparks some flint under the kindling of misanthropy which rests somewhere deep inside of me, perhaps deep inside of us all, besides our humanitarianism.

DMD: Let’s talk about your career as an artist and painter. What is your ethos as a painter? What painters inspire you? Do you see making art as just a separate entity from the music?

JS: I certainly don't view these things as careers - I've always been making visual art, since I was a small child I would draw. I can't escape the notion of it being a labour of love, it's too ensnared in my personality in such a way it would be crass to "sell myself" by trying to seek a career path out of it. But it's interesting, I have thought about it. 

I try to exhibit when I can, but often feel I shouldn't even try and go for something if I don't think I'll be able to respond to a brief or theme well, because I often feel very modest and perfectionist about past endeavours and artistic responses I've made. 

I love symbolist painting - I looked at a lot of symbolist painters and paintings during my time doing Fine Art at A level. Isle of the Dead, the best-known painting by Arnold Böcklin, is one of my favourite paintings. I have a transcription of the painting and a black and white photocopy of the same transcription up in my room by my bedside, it's nice to wake up to. My ethos as a painter is hard to figure out - I feel like if I had one I would be constantly letting it down, constantly changing my mind. 

I do feel that everyone should paint, everyone should try to see if it will be something they enjoy, and if they do enjoy it they should really try and keep at it in terms of finding the time. 

Some people really, really love baths - but a busy lifestyle leads them to not having one for months and months on end, even a year or more, and I feel like analogously, many painters behave the same way - many who would and could be truly great if they just gave themselves some more time. In many ways, this whole labour of love idea - that I am essentially being very hobbyist with my visual art and can't foresee much 'career' future in it beyond pipe dreams - probably overlaps a little into my music and my noise and sound art especially.

On different days you might ask me this I will differ greatly though - some I will be very set on some day being able to live off some of it (maybe the music, maybe the visual side, maybe artistic practise like performance or sound in a more 'art world' setting), others I will be much more inclined to view it all pessimistically.

DMD: What gear do you use for recording?

JS: I mostly use the gear to hand, that can and often does change. Very recently I was given a digital sampler rack by my dad as an early christmas present since he'll be out of the country come December. I haven't started experimenting with it yet and finding ways to use it in my set-up but I'm sure it'll become a nice addition. 

I mostly use old headphones as microphones and use the feedback from them pitch-shifted with Boss ME50 for most of my wall noise and general harsh noise making. But I also have a contact mic and have only really recently begun to delve further in to the many potentials and possibilities there are for me in using that. My mixer is just a cheap piece of junk - an old four channel Behringer, it does the job, and in spite of numerous bumps and breaks it still works fine which is nice.

DMD: Can you tell me the 5 movies that made you who you are?

JS: The five movies that have made me who I am? Can a movie really make you who you are? I really loathe making lists like this, but I think I can manage it: 
Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock has had a profound impact on me. There's also La Jetée by Chris Marker. Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa is of course in this list. Waking Life by Richard Linklater has had a really lasting impact as well. And what else? Bugsy Malone perhaps?

DMD: Can you give me your 10 desert island disks?

JS: It’s very hard to come to terms with the idea and prospect of this for me lately - there was a time where I could reel this off with complete ease, a very different time for me mentally and musically indeed - now I spend so much time finding and hunting down new music and artists to digest. 
The concept of favouritism and the resultant attachment you feel for particular albums and releases is becoming very strange to me more and more with each day - but I'll give it a shot as I seemed to fair well with the film one. 

In no order:
1. A Winged Victory for the Sullen - S/T
2. Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Midnight Radio
3. William Basinski - A Red Score In Tile
4. Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972
5. Alocasia Garden - Visitor
6. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
7. Cremation Lily - Fluids Of October
8. Lamb - What Sound
9. Burial - Untrue
10. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

DMD: How many tapes/physical releases have you released in your noise career?

JS: Woah there, let's not call it a noise career! I haven't produced too many really. I'm not sure I'm even really keeping count. My very first physical release was graciously bestowed upon me by Reece of Vanity Pill Records. Based in Folkestone, Reece is responsible for some amazing projects (Alocasia Garden, Flesh Prison, Penetration Colony, Cancer Man) and his label has done some really, really amazing work, I highly recommend them. That was A Raja's Mesh Men's self-titled album - dubbed to a c40. Since then, I've had a noise wall split release on the Black Tape Series by DeathSex Electronics with the US-based HNW artist Big Hole. 

DeathSex is run by James who also does some really great HNW as The Judas Cradle, Cherry Blossoms at Night, etc. More recently I took ARMM in a very ambient direction - with lots of influence from people like Cremation Lily and Reece's Alocasia Garden project - on the Swedish label Hatets Dok run by Tomas - that label is also out of this world in terms of artistic output. 
All of these people I've mentioned so far put so much work in, it really puts many to shame, including myself. 

Which brings me on to my split release with Willowbrook which I put out myself on a venture of my own - This Is A Noise Label - I'd been meaning to start a DIY label for ages before I settled on TIANL, but I still settled too early - what kept me away from it was that I was sure I'd be too lethargic and not productive enough, and exactly that has ended up happening. It's a big shame, but I know eventually, financial and social situations will shift and I'll end up having a lot of time and resources for it and really be able to pick the ball up running.  



There's probably tons I can't recall too - for instance, it escaped my memory for a while but my drone project Echoes...Leytonstone appears on a release on Invisible City Records - a remix I have done of a people-eaters track and a people-eaters remix of one of mine, to close the album "the only thing left to fear". 

Alistair who does the people-eaters project is someone whose sounds I have been solemnly contemplating and digesting eagerly for years and years, being one of the first experimental things for me to ever find when I first began looking on Soundcloud! 

So yeah, I'm sure there's a few I'm forgetting. There's a physical release of the first proper Prolonged Version album on The Junkyard Procession, a label by this great guy Karl from Leeds. Still probably a few I'm forgetting - it's nothing big though, all mostly super-small runs, or large runs that many are leftover from still!

DMD: Considering the existence of your Drone Noise Wall project Gumble, you must love simspons-wave am I right?

JS: Interesting you should ask me that - I would say I like simpsons-wave, I'm not sure about love. It definitely hasn't been given enough time to grow, or even breathe, as an idea, let alone a sub-genre, yet. 
I'm happy it's come to exist, but at the same time it does seem to exist for many people as a meme, or worse, as a simple fad. I'm weary of people viewing it as such, lauding it as such. I really liked the Simpsons as a child, and I have a lot of nostalgia for a lot of the classic Simpsons moments. 
I tried to pay homage to this with my one-off Simpsons-themed wall noise release "Roasting On An Open Fire" by the project Gumble, in a similar way to how I try to pay homage to my childhood memories and nostalgia for Pokémon with my ongoing wall noise project Kamex. 

I seemed to realise directly after making Gumble that certain people feel certain topics and subjects are too silly for noise - I find this really weird, one of the first people to really inspire true awe as a noise-maker for me was Tim Drage, also known as Cementimental, and some of the sets I saw him perform at my earliest attendances of noise shows. Tim was often costumed, if he wasn't he had this long hair swinging about all the over place, he'd often flip his pedals off the stage after a set, he'd be making the most harsh and visceral sounding mess of noise, jumping between pedals and their settings frantically - it was really a spectacle to behold and something about it was so un-serious, so fun! 

So, coming from this background - this fear in noise of being silly, or this idea that certain topics and subjects which are too 'fluffy' or not 'transgressive' enough to fit well with noise - it just doesn't really make a lot of sense for me, but I can respect where they're coming from - I mean, if I can imagine well an outsider to noise's perspective inwards, I'd hope I should be able to imagine well an insider's differing perspective. But it can be hard - there are a lot of complete assholes in the international noise community, and a whole bunch of not ~complete ones~ but just plain ignorant people who would probably be nice people if they just took a bit more time on their education and their personality. But every scene probably has to deal with stuff like this - every society does, it seems.

DMD: Will there be a follow up to Echoes…Leytonstone (live at Bell Culture) released this year?

JS: The live show I did performing as Echoes...Leytonstone in a local church was part of a closing event to an exhibition and residency which involved another opening event of live performance and some film screening events as well - all by the amazing artist in residence Ilia Rogatchevski, who also later invited me on to his radio show with Resonance Extra, "Come On, Come Down" to perform some live minimal drones using loose jack leads, and to talk a bit about my music and sound art and just have some general late-night radio banter.

(listen here: https://www.mixcloud.com/resonanceextra/come-on-come-down-james-shearman-31st-january-2016/ ) 

The show I did for the end of his residency, Bell Culture, was a response to being asked to play - it was my first time playing in a church. I don't have any intention to 'follow up' the set in any way - but I can foresee ways in which the second (if it comes?) time I play a church with this project would end up taking the shape of a follow up. 

DMD: Is there anything else we need to look out for under the Shearman moniker this year?

JS: Well, there surely is - there's tons! I'm always doing tons! I can't help myself. I've been doing this collaborative duo project with my partner Rosie King, The Portable Prison. We're about to begin stepping that up from a simple pedal noise duo to an actual performance art vehicle - submitting proposals for various events and stuff. 

It's exciting but also perhaps a bit too ambitious, who knows. I've also begun this 'vapornoise' (if you want to call it that, I'm not sure that I do) netlabel called SSN Technologies. I’ve been getting some submissions in, in spite of it mostly being my own work still. One of the main ideas beginning it was having somewhere to create alias after alias and for most of it to be kind of anonymous, for most people to not know it's all/mostly me - of course now I'm saying that in an interview it can hardly remain so - but it probably will for some, right? You never know who's out here. Lurking on the web. Nor do you know what they have and haven't seen! What they do and don't know. 

I like thinking about that most before going ahead with a project idea or idea for a label or whatever. I've also recently begun this project called 'Dog Milk', also with Rosie, which began as an artist alias and is now a bandcamp page for several different 'incarnations' - some soloist variants of my own, but some further collaborations which aren't just me or Rosie, or further ones which are but with different and new set ups, and maybe even some day some soloist variants of friends and others...

Related Links:


















Want more HNW related readings? 

Click here for an interview with Ben Rehling of See Through Buildings  

Click here for an interview with Vincent Ceraso of KIRA

Click here  for an interview with Nemanja Nikolić of Dosis Letalis



Tomhet: EP & Album Review


Alberta, Western Canada is probably most famous for being home to the award-winning band Nickelback, but just down the road in the small town of High River lurks Tomhet.
Operating under the alias Xaphan, his music couldn’t embody a more polar opposite to the chart topping millennia rockers. 

Since forming in 2004, his one man Black Metal project Tomhet (Swedish for emptiness) has assembled a small cult  following through releasing demos, splits, and albums adding up to roughly 26 releases.

Throughout his career, Xaphan has pitted steel sharp black metal riffing against ambient minimalist synths, in the process widely exploring the styles of both Atmospheric and Depressive Suicidal Black Metal. Determined to not be stuck in the Black Metal box, his more recent efforts have seen him dabbling in Post Industrial music and Dark Electronica (both ‘Caliginous’ releases and the 2014 online EP ‘Anchorazor’).

Sometimes, his decision to dip his toe in new musical pools can draw a dividing line between his listeners. Tomhet’s last release ‘Of A Dying Star’ which was performed only on synthesisers (a concept first explored on ‘Celestial Tranquility’ back in 2009) brought him as much flack as it did praise. But despite the quality of those releases, I for one am relieved to hail the return of the axes to Tomhet’s sound.


Extinction in Time-Lapse review

The 10th Tomhet EP kicks off with a brief yet foreboding passage simply dubbed ‘Intro’ and explodes into the second track, lead by a catchy guitar riff (reminiscent of 90’s era Darkthrone) played over relentless rapid fire blasting drums draped in anguished screams. It then switches to a more sinister chord progression before returning to the main riff once again. It doesn’t stick around too long though and is replaced by a soaring lead line amongst the tornado blasting that fades into a final exhaled breath of distortion.

Third track ‘Blind To Our Demise’ serves as the EP’s mini epic, pummelling programmed drums give way to slow drifting guitar chords that mirror winter fog. A quick drum count  cues up a melody that demands you at least think about putting a noose around your neck even just for a second, soon it all spirals into a dissonant inferno and we are left with nothing but the beautiful noise it leaves behind.

The EP closer ‘This Failing Species’ contains a looped keyboard pattern which evolves into a choir of sorrow while drums pulse beneath like beating hearts, the ensemble builds up to a climax of despair before expiring, leaving a mournful atmosphere long after the music has stopped. 

Overall, ‘Extinction in Time-Lapse’ is a short but solid release that kept my intrigue throughout and had a good balance of the Black Metal and Ambient forces at play. Check it out!

8.5/10


Nightmares in Damask Review

It is difficult to sum up Nightmares in Damask in one word. Depression is of course the obvious word choice but even that doesn’t begin to describe half of it. Put simply, this album doesn’t represent a world where the birds sing joyously come sunrise. 12 years since the project began and the drum machine has been ditched, making Nightmares the first Tomhet release to feature 100% live drums. 
It is also more guitar and vocally driven, leaving the Ambient sections for the bookend tracks.

After a grainy, wind-ridden intro, ‘My Coffin in Her Arms’ saunters in on slightly slower blasts than we’ve come to expect from Tomhet. Taking the speed down a few gears to a crawling pace which sets the tone for the majority of the record, guitar triads bleed like freshly slashed wrists before another round of frantic blasting erupts (this time sounding like the kit is about to fall apart) then disappears into a whisper of amplifier noise. 

On ‘The Heavens Were Soaked In Kerosene’ arpeggiated guitar lines rain down heavily (which make me recall Austere) while grating vocals circle overhead like vultures over a battlefield, both eventually building up into a tormented frenzy. ‘Pit Of Loneliness’ begins with an overspill of feedback into Xaphan’s cries of despair, commanded by one of my favourite riffs on the album which unfortunately doesn’t stick around long enough for me to enjoy it.

‘Through A Tidal Wave Of Panic’ is the album’s angst-ridden centerpiece and certainly lives up to it’s name. Mixing together gentle swaying sections with bursts of medium speed drum blasts, for this track perhaps envision yourself having a calm walk through snow covered forests before some unspeakable terror has seized you and the walk now turns to a fearful sprint. 

Both tracks ‘Calcified, Docile And Confused’ & ‘In Darkness I Hear Their Screams’ uphold the albums’ generally unyielding misanthropic suicidal feelings. While on ‘Clawing Beneath My Sealed Grave’ the vocals bubble away menacingly and the returning guitar triads are saturated in a state of desperate urgency.

This is the first Tomhet record (to my knowledge at least) scattered with much shorter songs than he is normally known for. Upon first listen, their place in the tracklist felt questionable, but after a few spins these short interludes separate the longer tracks well. Since the pace of the album is considerably slow, they add a much needed energy boost and will keep the speed demons content for now.



‘Raining Napalm Molotovs' features a scream that sounds like Xaphan is falling down a well, meanwhile ‘Crucified and Pissed Upon’ & ’Their Shadow Kingdom Ablaze’ both feel like they are about to derail any second, arriving with a clatter of guitar and drums caught up in a Tasmanian devil like blur, both are gone in the blink of an eye.

With a strong sense of dread, ‘The Sky As An Ocean…We drown’ the album’s longest track sticks the keys in the ignition of the hearse and leads a gloomy procession while Xaphan howls in pain. Presumably during all this grey skies send down a mighty storm and the world weeps eternally, powerful stuff. On closing track ‘Exit Us’ droning blackened ambient synthesisers transport us to the very depths of his sprawling cavernous abyss. 

It is heavily apparent that either Xaphan’s drumming still needs to catch up to the drum machine but that still remains to be seen if that is his final goal. I am sure most fans will find it in their blackened hearts to forgive him, either way the addition of live drums certainly will play a large dictating role in how the next release will sound. At times I felt I was missing some cleaner guitar parts which I personally feel could have added more dynamics to the album’s overall aesthetic, but nothing’s perfect. 

I wouldn’t be surprised that come next release another sonic change will have occurred Seeing how often Xaphan has been noted to switch musical paths. As much as I found a lot to love about this full length I would definitely be lying if I considered this to be Tomhet’s strongest work yet considering the quality and diverse material he has released before it. It certainly remains a transitional statement of a record marking a re-birth of the Tomhet sound.

But if you like your Black Metal steak cathartically raw, there can be no doubts in my mind that Nightmares in Damask will satisfy your (Transylvanian) hunger. 

8/10 

Visit Tomhet’s official bandcamp here

A limited number of cassettes for Extinction in Time-Lapse and Nightmares in Damask are available from Californian label Grey Matter Productions get ‘em while they’re hot!

Also keep those tired eyes peeled for a Tomhet CD release planned with Italian Black Metal label war against yourself