Showing posts with label metal power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label metal power. Show all posts

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thenn-Threshing the Golden Fields EP (2012)

Thenn is named after a geographical location and a tribe in George R.R. Martin's epic Song of Ice and Fire series. The geographical location is an icebound valley far to the north of The Wall, which guards the realm of humans against the Others (read the books, I don't have time to explain). The tribe is a group of savage, Bronze Age folk similar to the Picts or maybe the Celts, who wear bronze scale armor and worship their king, the Magnar, as a god.

Got that? Good, 'cause it tells you a lot you need to know about the music Thenn plays. That would, of course, be heavy black metal with a singer who sounds like a cannibalistic Orc or, well, Thenn. Brooding guitar sludge and downtuned bridges alternate with soaring solos flying on the wings of dragons, and all the while, that Orc is gnashing his teeth in anticipation of human flesh. Thenn's songs are more dynamic than a lot of the stuff I hear from this genre: the songs have distinct sections, and although they run into each other, that's the point, isn't it? Thenn does a great job of tapering their raging verses off into false stops, only to come charging back with blastbeats and epic, swooping guitar misery. Here comes the Magnar of Thenn again!

Wallow in frigid lakes of gushing blood HERE.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Ramlord/Cara Neir split EP (2012)

Continuing my celebration of all things Punk, and the break from garage/lofi blather, I bring thee a split EP featuring New Hampshire blackmetal/crust masters Ramlord and Dallas wizards Cara Neir.

Ramlord's epic 10-minute "Affliction of Clairvoyance" is an ugly, multi-sequence track that alternates between heavy sludge and thrashtastic speed bridges. One of my favorite LPs this year has been the new Anhedonist LP and, while it's not really the same sorta metal, fans of Anhedonist will prolly dig Ramlord.

That said, I'm not an expert on metal and can't really comment much on Cara Neir's side. This sounds like speed metal to me: blastbeats, epic (like, running around lookin' like a Viking killin' motherfuckers epic) riffs, gremlin vocals. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but I appreciate the contrast in styles on the split: I can't stand splits where the two bands sound the same. Smoke a blunt to this when you need a change from dub.

You can buy this over at Broken Limbs Recordings, or check it out before buying, here. Ramlord lives here,  Car Neir lives here.