CD

Tolkien freaks will recognize the name ‘ohtar’ as being an esquire of King Isildur, who brought the broken pieces of the king’s legendary sword to the elfish city of Rivendell after some cowardly attack. But it is the name as well from a Polish band which was formed more than two decades ago. Ohtar, the band, recorded some demos and split contributions during the late Nineties and the early 2000’s, and in 2003, Supreme Art released the impressive debut full length album When I Cut The Throat (re-released afterwards on vinyl and tape).

Damn, this has taken quite some time… The last Saturnalia Temple recording was released five years ago. That one, called To The Other, saw the light via one of the oldest Metal labels from French soil, Listenable Records, and it is the very same label that takes care of Saturnalia Temple’s newest full-length studio album, Gravity. It’s available via the modern digital sources, as well as on vinyl (12”LP) and compact disc (digipack).

Finnish artist Juho Huuskola aka J.H. did form Shades Of Deep Water almost fifteen years ago as a solo-outfit to canalise his negative and isolationist ideas and thoughts about humanity, cosmos, reality and evolution. During the second half of last decade, he released some demonstrational recordings and one official EP, eventually followed by a first full length studio album, Waterways (independently released at the end of Summer 2013 on cassette).

The Mediterranean island(s) of Malta are not exactly a ‘big’ country within the international Extreme Metal scene. However, it houses some cool bands and projects. A quite productive musician from Malta is Mark Azzopardi, known from his activities in e.g. Martyrium (which he left a while ago), Khaospath and Draugûl. A couple of years ago, however, this artist moved over to Sweden. Recently, by the way, he also joined forces with some Swedish musicians to form the band Myronath.

Sometimes you have one or another label that signs a new band because they believe in that band’s craft. Well, that’s exactly what happened with Harvst. Harvst is a duo, consisting of vocalist / lyricist (and visual artist) Dornh and multi-instrumentalist / producer Wynthar (you might know him as well as the guy behind Frostreich). They did write and record a handful of tracks, of which six got eventually gathered under the moniker Narbenhein.

Forbidden Rites are a young band from Mexico, consisting of guitar players Juan Carlos Martinez and Raul Campos, drummer Hugo Olivos (formerly in Inhearted and Hatevomit, and currently part of Vomitile), and vocalist / bassist Vlad Marin (guitar player in Xiuhtecuhtli).

Hailing from Norway, Therapy Productions is a new label for the mentally disturbed, so it didn’t take that long for me to get in touch. Their aim: Pushing the limits of sound / redefining what genres are / exploring new territories / not trying to conform / showing the world something new / crossing boundaries / making art. Please enter the world of sonic deformation…

Pär Boström is known from truly great projects like Cities Last Broadcast, Kammarheit, Altarmang (which he runs in partnership with Kenneth Hansson) or Hymnambulae (with his twin sister Åsa), as well as the Cryo Chamber Collaboration line-up, but apparently he is the guy behind Aindulmedir too. The latter is an outfit which he describes as a project that creates winter music for bibliophiles and hermits.

I had not heard of the band Golgata before, a project that consists of members Spokesman 1 (guitars) and Spokesman 2 (bass, vocals and guitars). Seriously? But you know; whatever these guys call themselves, it is of no importance. Even if their artist’s names were ‘Trump and Putin’, ‘Corona and Sars’, ‘Black and White’ or ‘Gol and Gata’ (or ‘Aleksey and Korolyev’, haha), it wouldn’t actually matter. What matters is this: Skam.

I know, this one has been sold out in the meantime – at least when talking about the physical copies (compact disc and cassette), yet still it is important to focus on this release somehow. I will keep it short and to-the-point, but it is sort of my duty to give some promotion to this artist and the great label involved.