Funeral Circle - 2009 - Sinister Sacrilege

FUNERAL CIRCLE was formed in 2006 by the strange wizards PILGRIM and HERETIC with intent to seduce virgins and perform weird sacrifices in the depths of Vancouver. They evoked the cultists BLACKTHORNE and PATRIARCH to channel their black spells of thunder and lightning. Upon the departure of HERETIC in 2007, the LORD SADDLER and the GRAND INQUISITOR were beckoned to complete the circle and chant their incantations. Growing weary of destroying false metal, LORD SADDLER left later that year, and the GRAND INQUISITOR summoned his magick axe. In 2008, a cryptic demo was released on tape - limited to 100 copies. BLACKTHORNE was burned at the stake by MALPHAS, the wicked Priest, and replaced him subsequently. In the Year of the Ox, FUNERAL CIRCLE performed their most recent ritual - SINISTER SACRILEGE - soon to be released by the Miskatonic Foundation. Down.

Dopethrone - Demonsmoke

The Throne was established in March 2008 as a completely D.I.Y. project created in the very core of Hochelaga. After only 3 weeks of legendary drunkenness and sacred bong worship, Dopethrone already composed 4 songs and was talking about an album concept... A year later, the new album: "DEMONSMOKE" was materialized. In the spirit of "Do-It-Yourself", The Logo and concept was created by Vincent (guitar - vocals), the recording by Thomas (drummer) and the CD was produced by Vyk (bassist)...

The band with a name like that, in unsurprisingly a blend of stoner and demonic sludge along with a tinge of traditional doom. With a look to back to old school sludge with the hatred and filth dripping out of the bands' amplifiers along with a certain influence of modern sludge (no, not bands like Cult Of Luna and The Ocean), this band will be loved by fans of bands such as Bongzilla and Weedeater.


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Cortisol - Meat (2005)

Truly heavy nauseating sludge that will cause your walls to crumble down. Unbelievably heavy! Its Eyehategod slowed down 5 times and with vocals that are more hateful than dystopia or goatsblood and a guitar tone that will give nightmares to Khanate's dude (whatshisname?. Shit's good!
RAPIDSHIT

Atavist / Nadja - 12012291920 / 1414101

First collaborative record with Nadja.

How much is there one can write about a monotonous piece of ambient drone? As I was in search of Atavist's full-length albums, I came across this collaboration with Nadja, a Canadian band who I have come to love and cherish over recent months. So, I decided i'd give it a whirl and see what it was like.


This isn't the most mind-blowing piece of work. Its not heavy, its not fast paced and nor is it one spectacular solo after another. Its beauty is subtle. A collage of repetitive riffs, placed one after another swells and is about ready to burst into a fast paced explosion of massive proportions. Perhaps a disappointment to most, this never truly gets going. Its slow and very rarely changes. When it does, its subtle but entrancing. Subtlety is imperative as both Nadja and Atavist struggle to get this piece heard over the hundreds of ambient drone bands out there.


Although subtlety reigns supreme, one comes to find it increasingly important to the outcome. Beautiful melodies and sweeping riffs crash together like waves onto a wall. No vocals are present, so it may take the listener some time to both appreciate this full-length and also to gain the patience to get through this in one sitting, which is needed due to both lack of vocals and the intimidating song lengths of the two tracks. I believe song length is a major turn-off to many. Most people have no time for songs that increase over the six minute mark as it can become quite draining. This collaboration is certainly that.

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Atavist / Nadja - II: Points at Infinity

Second Collaborative Record with Nadja.

Atavist & Nadja's last collab was decent enough if not the most mindblowing thing ever; consisting mostly of some extremely relaxed (some may say comatose) ambient jams. Quite the patience tester but also pretty cool and with some relatively surprising results. This one's a fair bit different from that one, really. Higher highs, lower lows.

First track's probably where it's at. It'™s a real slow, haunting tune with some very down tuned guitar and those man-choir vocals that everyone seems to be loving these days. It's a patience tester but very, very cool; imagine a kveldssanger tune slowed down by 800% or so and you wouldn't be too far away. A pretty simplistic tune that will likely bore the pants off the average punter but I enjoy it a fair bit, it's just a real nice mellow tune that moves along at a beautifully glacial pace.

Second track's not nearly as good but most people will find at least the first few or so minutes interesting enough. This one's all about getting raped by massive riffs and it's impressively heavy; all tar black sludge riffs and screamed vocals. Well, that's what the first third is about. I can't for the life of me figure out why they go back to the drone, though; it's a real anticlimactic move and the lack of building or movement within said drone is a real bummer. Long, sustained tones and studio trickery can be cool, but not right after you're all excited about a huge riff-fest.

A pretty poor move, really. Still, the first track is terrific and while the second track could perhaps be better divided into two songs it's still pretty cool. Nadja fans will want this, newcomers to the band would be better off with something else.

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Atavist / Satori / Nadja - Infernal Procession... And Then Everything Dies

CD Limited to 1000 copies in a 6-panel out sized sleeve.

Perhaps being the best know of the trio of bands, Nadja leads off first with "Time is our Disease", a long track that has most of the characteristics I associate with Nadja: huge molten slabs of layered and distorted guitar dirge trundling through the space in my head and grinding down any grey matter not previously flattened by other Nadja tracks. The music can be repetitive at times yet it progresses inexorably towards some kind of climax which may or may not eventuate. Early on the singing verges on the whispery and wistful but after the halfway point the vocals acquire a more sinister, even monstrous edge. The music reacts accordingly, becoming thunderous and taking on a kind of doomed magnificence as if a flame is burning brightly and defiantly in the face of an insidious and horrible death. Not a great deal is new to me apart from the treated guitar melody that appears at the end.

Atavist's "Certitude" perhaps suffers from coming second to Nadja's thunder: Nadja can sound quite massive and this has the effect of making Atavist sounding a bit thin and tinny. But what these UK musicians lack in the thickness of the sound, they compensate by investing a lot of passion and conviction in what they do, and they prove to be no less grand and ambitious than Nadja. When Atavist let rip around the 6th minute, they are full of righteous anger and aggression with slashing guitar riffs, sharp and exacting percussion, bared fangs and unsheathed claws. This music certainly commands your attention and holds you rapt all the way in spite of the tinny nature of the production; I think this says a great deal about the care the musicians put into playing and improvising together, and into structuring the track as well. Prior planning with room for improvising make for a long piece of often exhilarating music, especially towards the end when the guitars begin to howl and you feel caught up in an all-embracing howling storm.

Satori present the dark ambient piece "Abyss", an appropriately bleak, murky soundscape with strange unseen creatures chirping indecipherable bug-noise messages. Ghostly tones fade or slide in and out of the blustery soundscape and dust storms get stirred up quite a lot. Not much actually happens during this track - the musicians tend to let the weather buffet you and no more.

Abyss