drone – Page 16 – Wonderbox Metal

Interview with Nadja

Nadja’s stunning 41 minute album Sv is a masterclass in tense atmosphere and relentless smouldering soundscapes. As a highly prolific band that have released a plethora of quality material, Sv stands up there as one of their best pieces of work and should ideally be required listening for any discerning music fan. I had the privilege to quiz Aidan Baker, 50% of Nadja, about the release…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker (guitars, vocals, drum machine) and Leah Buckareff (bass, vocals). We make music that has been variously called metalgaze, drone-doom, and (our preferred term) dreamsludge. This is music which incorporates elements of doom metal and industrial with the melodicism and textures of shoegaze and experimental/ambient music. Continue reading “Interview with Nadja”

Messa – Belfry (Review)

This is the début album from Messa, a doom/drone metal band from Italy.

Messa provide the listener with almost an hour of occult retro doom and dark ambience.

This is akin to a strange-yet-effective mix of Sunn O))) and Pentagram, with deliciously seductive female vocals included. Some tracks are dark ambient/drone, full of mysterious atmospheres and distorted malice, while others take Continue reading “Messa – Belfry (Review)”

Nadja – Sv (Review)

This is the latest release from Nadja, a doom/drone duo from Canada.

If you haven’t encountered the highly prolific and individual Nadja before, then I highly recommend them. Having amassed a pretty dauntingly huge discography over the years, Nadja have released some impressive music in their time. Continue reading “Nadja – Sv (Review)”

Interview with Gridfailure

For someone who’s not massively into noise/drone/experimental/whatever music, Gridfailure has been a bit of an eye-opener for me. It differentiates itself from a lot of its peers simply by being pretty damn good. That’s it, really. The soundscapes on Ensuring the Bloodline Ends Here are made up of just good music; here we have something that builds, turns, changes and emotes, exactly what you want out of an album, no matter what it’s composed of. David Brenner, the evil genius behind the band, was kind enough to give a bit of insight into the birth of Gridfailure…

Introduce us to Gridfailure!

Gridfailure is comprised of only myself, David Brenner; the act is as of now a solo project that happened “by accident”. I’ve been playing live and recording with Theologian since last year, Summer 2015, and within that time have heavily expanded upon the bass/vocal or vocal-only responsibilities I’ve had with any of my prior acts many moons ago. All of a sudden I was unloading a wealth of accumulated ideas, recording for Theologian, in the meantime creating a plethora of toxic runoff that would not be used on our records. One day this past February I was playing with unused recordings from random sessions basically just learning how to use music creation software. Suddenly these songs just kind of “happened” within layering this dark waste, and I started creating new material to merge them together in a very Frankenhooker fashion. Gridfailure was a random name I came up with while writing lyrics for a then non-existent band in the dark during our blackout of Hurricane Sandy, then just sat there in a folder… it just popped out while these tracks were aligning, and the project was brought into existence right then, randomly dicking-around with abandoned source material and old scribble. Continue reading “Interview with Gridfailure”

Gridfailure – Ensuring the Bloodline Ends Here (Review)

Gridfailure is a one-man solo experimental project from the US.

This is a mutated, corrupted, experimental release that incorporates all manner of guitars, electronics, keyboards, noises, violins, bongos, harmonicas, and much, much more into its aborted embrace.

Okay, but is it any good? This is the Continue reading “Gridfailure – Ensuring the Bloodline Ends Here (Review)”

Schammasch – Triangle (Review)

Schammasch are a Black Metal band from Switzerland. This is their third album.

Here we have a bold, monster of a release; divided into three parts, each lasting about 35 minutes, the entire body of work clocks in at a massive 105 minutes in length.

Schammasch play forward-thinking music that’s rooted in Black Metal, but also visits other styles such as Doom, Post-Black Metal and Progressive Metal.

Continue reading “Schammasch – Triangle (Review)”

Deveikuth – 0.∅ (Review)

Deveikuth are a French Funeral Doom/Drone band and this is their latest release.

Now this is some heavy stuff.

The first track starts off with some sickeningly distorted bass that seems to overwhelm everything else as maniacal vocals scream obscenities into a bucket. A dirty bucket filled with filth.

The striking vocals overlay the constant feedback howling and murky distortion of the tracks. Said vocals are unhinged and sound quite disturbed. Juxtaposed against the slow, unhurried music it creates quite an impression over the 12 minute playing time.

Track two is more of an ambient, mood-interlude, albeit one that lasts for six minutes. Strange sounds and odd noises accompany some semi-excited drums like something esoteric stalking something playful. Apart from a kind of spoken word bit near the middle, it’s instrumental and a nice change of pace and mood after the disconcerting menace of the first song.

The final song is the longest here at almost 17 minutes and shows the band in more of a build-release mode, with some extra atmosphere included too. Shrieking, wailing vocals accompany equally turbulent music as Deveikuth pull you under the water and hold you there, enjoying your gurgling demise.

This is a release that reeks of pain, anguish and warped sensibilities. It’s not for the faint-hearted and not for people that like clean, easily digested music.

Check it out.

Boris/Merzbow – Gensho – Split (Review)

This is a split between two well-known, (in underground circles, at least), Japanese groups; Boris and Merzbow.

This is a mammoth release that contains almost two and a half hours of music, evenly split between both artists. This is an exact split too, as the two sides are designed to be played either separately or simultaneously; doing the latter provides yet a different experience as the music of the two syncs up to provide the listener with something greater than the sum of the individual parts.

Boris’ side features 9 songs that are all percussion-less versions of some of their existing tracks. This reinterpretation of their own work lends the songs a different quality to the originals, (some of which I’m familiar with and some of which I’m not), creating dreamy soundscapes and indulgent forays into emotive colour and feeling.

The band have picked tracks that demonstrate their emotive and Doom/Drone side well, resulting in an emotive and atmospheric release that easily stands up on its own even without its counterpart music from Merzbow.

As someone who’s a massive fan of all things drums, I’m pleased with how well the music holds up without percussion and this Boris side of the split is stronger and more effective than I expected.

Merzbow is a legendary noise-maker that I have been aware of for so long now that I can’t recall. However, apart from the odd collaboration or guest spot on someone else’s music, I have never actually heard anything by him. Due to my general antipathy towards most percussion-less noise, I’ve never felt the urge to particular seek out his music, so it’s taken this long to hear anything by him.

With that in mind, we turn our attention to these four colossal tracks that are designed, as with the Boris ones, to be played individually or in conjunction with those of his split-mates.

Unfortunately, as alluded to previously, most noise leaves me rather cold, and although I can appreciate that these Merzbow tracks have structure and do create harsh soundscapes with squeals, feedback and distorted crackles, etc., it’s ultimately not a style I can claim to love.

Having said that though, these tracks do have their moments, and due to the prolonged playing time I was very surprised to find myself eventually settling into it. Shocking! As I say; in general this is not a type of music that really does that much for me, so it’s testament to his skill as an artist that I can actually willingly listen to this and take something from it.

None were more surprised than I. It seems that Merzbow deserves his reputation after all.

So here we have it, a very long and surprisingly enjoyable release that certainly won’t be for everyone, but may be more to your liking than you might first think.

However, that’s not the end of it, and this is where the genius comes in; play the two artists together as is intended, and everything changes. All of sudden, the Merzbow contribution works wonders when taken alongside the Boris tracks. The resulting soundscapes combine the harsh frequencies and dreamy guitar-based drones to produce four long tracks that paint some really evocative musical pictures.

This, for me, is the ultimate way to enjoy this release. Taken in at the same time, the entire experience gets elevated and I wouldn’t really listen to it any other way now.

Some releases are a challenge to review and this one has been a marathon of exploration and expectation-destroying revelation. It has been worth every second though, and I can’t wait to hear what you think about this one.

Convulsif – IV (Review)

Convulsive are an experimental band from Switzerland. This is their fourth album.

After the blackened mindfuck, (in a good way), that was CD3, Convulsif return with something a bit different that’s actually superior. It’s mostly instrumental, dark and surprisingly addictive.

Featuring bass, clarinet, violin and drums, this is an experimental foray into noise and unusual Rock. These instruments come together in a variety of ways to produce music that is always trying to push the envelope and always manages to be emotive, in one fashion or another.

Largely gone is the experimental Black Metal of their previous release, although stylistically and atmospherically we’re not a million miles away from it with some of he crawling Doom/Drone here; IV can still be dark and foreboding when it wants to, as well as displaying any number of other moods.

Instead, this release has an even more diverse approach than its predecessor. Doom, Post-Rock, Black Metal and Grind are all merely ingredients to be liberally sprinkled around during these 37 minutes, and Convulsif leave few stones left unturned in their quest for sonic excess.

Disturbing noises and unsettling vibes are frequently the order of business for IV, mixed in with Grindcore-level extremity and exploratory bludgeoning. Add in some Jazz and some sexy bass workouts and you end up with a compelling collection of twisted soundscapes that really succeed where such an eclectic, esoteric assortment of tracks could so easily fail.

If you’re in mind for something a bit different that has a lot to offer, check out IV; you won’t regret it.

Dark Buddha Rising – Inversum (Review)

This is the sixth album from Finnish Doom band Dark Buddha Rising.

Dark Buddha Rising are purveyors of Psychedelic Doom/Drone. It’s a minimalistic-yet-shaded affair, with all varieties of dark catered for. It’s also bleak in a comforting, warm sort of ceremonial way.

There are only two tracks here, but these amount to 47 minutes of music. This is a slow-burning release, steeped in a lazy insistence; it will absolutely get to where it’s going, but it will not be hurried at all. Acting like the relentless tide of glacial marching, the band proceed to build and build until you almost can’t take it any longer.

There’s a definite Old-School, almost 70s vibe to parts of the music, although this is darker and heavier than anything from that era. The vocals are both hypnotic cleans and screeching wails; both add value to the musical onslaught and both provide a different emphasis for the listener as they work their way through the tracks.

Understated-yet-atmospheric keyboards add spice to the warm recording and the heavy bass sound provides enough low frequencies to crack glass.

This isn’t ultra-slow music; it’s on the slow-side of course, but it picks up the pace a bit here and there, although not enough to be described as fast.

The band this reminds me of most is Drone/Doom legends 5ive, although Inversum is more ritualistic in a way. Dark Buddha Rising are not a million miles away from this and it’s safe to say that if you’re a fan of 5ive then you’re likely to enjoy what Dark Buddha Rising do too.

Tune in and drone out.