Northumbria was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the east of England with quite an interesting history. As from about 500 A.C. on, it was quite an important and mighty kingdom, until Danish Vikings conquered the region in the ninth century. But since we’re not an online encyclopaedia…
It’s also a region not that far away from Toronto, Canada, with a notorious university…
Consouling Sounds are pretty active lately, with quite some interesting new releases on their (in mean time fabulous) roster. The label never eschewed to step away from conformity, and with this two-way split (which is part of a picture disc series) they do strengthen their prominent position within the worldwide Sludge / Post-Metal scene (once again). But this release needs to be considered as a collaboration in between three artists: two bands, i.e.
2014 will go down history as the year that Sludge got into the next level of mainstream acceptance.
I can understand why Belgian top-label Consouling Sounds signed Swedish act Snailking, for this trio’s efforts are very much in the vein of what Consouling Sounds stand for: performing extremely heavy and sludgy Doom-stuff with a gloomy basement. The band proved their worthiness in mean time through means of Samsara, their critically acclaimed debut EP.
Hypnodrone Ensemble is a collaboration in between two famous artists, Eric Quach of thisquietarmy-fame, and Nadja’s Aidan Baker (on October 3rd 2014 this top-webzine Concreteweb ( ;-) ) updated the review on Caudal’s second album, Ascension, which was released via the fabulous Belgian label Consouling Sounds on the very same day as this album; Caudal are another project Aidan Baker is involved
Charnia are a quartet (Seppe Batens, Thibaut Meiresonne-Keppens, Diederik Van Eetvelde, and Jelle Pieters) from the Waasland-region, Belgium, formed in 2012. They built quite some impressive live reputation, yet for this debut we had to wait two years. But no tears anymore, for now we can enjoy the first studio recording, Dageraad (Dutch for ‘dawn’ or ‘daybreak’).
Caudal are an international project by some very experienced musicians.
Following the -in mean time legendary- Brethren. Bound Of Blood.-series (a series of split-EP’s with cult-act Amenra and one of the other projects involved within the Church Of Ra-alliance), it was time to create another highlight, going further than the four former splits. As a matter of fact, this is not just a split with individual material from the collaborators, but rather a unique project of magical proportions.
This split-record has been released on vinyl (12”EP) in a limited edition, in 333 copies. 2/3rd of it will be sold at live shows exclusively, 1/3rd was made available via mailorder, yet I guess this edition has been sold out in mean time. So check it out at the band’s live performances.
Belgium’s Alkerdeel did record a handful of demos and EP’s before, but Morinde indeed is the first real studio full length in seven years of existence. Recordings like Luizig, De Bollaf and, especially, De Speenzalvinge, were accepted with pleasure and gratitude within the underworlds of the scene, so I can imagine the impatience of the audience for this release. I am glad too with the at-last-finalisation of the album.
