A:S:

 

A:S: is a likely extension of ANCIENT SUPREMACY with help from Saevum from ABHOR and their noise is a murky, brooding black metal constantly struggling to restrain the urge to unleash. The tension created by their slow to midtempo pace is undeniable, just as the determined resistance to fidelity (and/or replication quality control standards) puts the listener on edge, searching for the dark melodies that are hidden in the mist. Sometimes A:S come off as pedestrian instead of primitive, but it appears to be a part of their (brilliant) plan...now if someone can snag me a copy of Messa Prima, the predecessor to Necrovento? I'll owe you a coffee and or bloodletting. Until then, listen to the vocals creak in "Antica Supremazia" and welcome to the dark realm. 

NECROVENTO

KEITH JARRETT

 

These sounds land somewhere between (and fluctuate in and between) introspective jazz, new age ambiance and epic orchestral soundtrack movements. You can put it on and get lost, then leave (mentally or physically) for a time....and when you return it will still be there. Even more interesting is that it might still be there after the listen is complete. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel, but please proceed. 

INVOCATIONS // THE MOTH AND THE FLAME

DISSÖLVE

 

Nostalgia is a frequent visitor to these pages; I suppose it comes with the territory when you're posting old(er) sounds and documents alongside newer versions, the comparisons provide context and the nostalgia is inevitable. We can't live in it though. We can't live in what used to be or what we used to have or what we used to be a part of. We can, however, use those lived experiences as a starting point for new ones. Somehow this wisdom relates to DISSÖLVE's debut release Oathbreaker and how I feel as I listen to twelve blasts of furious hardcore from Indonesia. This could have been a band I heard twenty (five?) years ago...ballistic crust tinged with DBeat and fastcore fronted by throat searing vocals from Sleepy...and those words should be all the motivation you need. The band's sound is embodied by "Unforgiveness," which lands near the middle of the track listing - the fasts are faster here, the vocals will raise the hairs on your arm and then after a breath or anticipation, DISSÖLVE the fiercest breakdown outro imaginable. But it's the whole damn thing and not just one track, it's blast after relentless blast for a solid half hour, and it's awesome. This tape from 2024 makes me feel alive and makes me feel like I have lived...which is putting that nostalgia to good use.

OATHBREAKER

COOKING COURSE

 

Even more recipes from your friend Vincent Price, this time eating his way through the world of Greek cuisine. I can't imagine someone cooking along to these in real time, and it blows my mind that Nelson Industries felt it wise to release these as nine (maybe more?) LP series back in 1977....just as it amazes me how enjoyable they are to listen to now. 

COOKING COURSE #4: FOOD OF THE GODS (GREEK CUISINE)

NANA VASCONSELOS // ANTONELLO SALIS

 

About ten years ago I was introduced to NANA VASCONCELOS' Saudades, which remains one of the most beautifully jarring and intense records I know. It's difficult to imagine a release transporting me to a time and a place as instantly as that one still does (and always will), so it was without hesitation that I snagged this 1988 collaboration with Italian multi-instrumentalist ANTONELLO SALIS when I saw the cassette in a jumbled bin of treasures last month. Lester cannot compare to the aforementioned Saudades, and the accordion can be more then a little distracting....but listening to this music through an improvisational and/or Afro-Futurist lens can be transcendent. Is transcendent. Choice cut is the closer "Ondas (Nos Olhos de Petronila)" which combines Salis' smooth jazz piano with the anything-goes percussion of Vasconcelos - it's a perfect landing for a genuinely interesting journey. 

LESTER

DEATHBED

 

As far as I can tell, this relic is the sole artifact left by a raw and depressive blackened death act from Chicago called DEATH BED. It takes them a full five minutes to start cooking, and even then they stop for a doom interlude just as you start to fall under their spell. But then.....from that point on my friends, this shit is bliss. Howling vocals in the death via screamo vein and a shameless reliance on simple riffing. They use force instead of nuance, so much so that "Hell Is Where The Heart Is" feels almost natural in its desperation by the time you get there. Do not come seeking fidelity; come here for passion and bleak honesty. 

DYSTHYMIA

VIOLENCE OF CRUSDAE

 

A message to virtually every North American and European punk: You will never know the true depth and reach of so-called Third World Hardcore. If you're looking, then you will find another new (to you) band every time you take a breath....and if you want more, then every one of those new (to you) bands will lead you down a new (to you) path where you will open more doors and find even more new (to you) bands and scenes. But the parentheticals are important here - because these bands and scene exist outside of the first world DIY structure even though the influences are often apparant (and sometimes blatant). Enter VIOLENCE OF CRUSADE from Kediri, some ten hours roughly east of Jakarta. They left us with a small handful of deadly metallic hardcore releases form the mid-2010s and 2014's Dead might be my favorite. Dark and intense hardcore that leans on technical melodies and uses stadium crust tendencies without ever falling into the subgenre's trappings. "Dead//Suicide" into the dreadfully intense "Balada Rimba Malapetaka" (roughly translated: "Ballad Of The Jungle Disaster" so draw your own conclusions and sit with that shit) will make your hair stand on end but the whole damn thing is incredible and it just makes me think: "Shit - there's more where this came from?!?" And yes, there's always more. 

DEAD