Ivan Tibos.

The Obscurity Within… is the first full length by Dutch horde Entrapment. The band’s demos and 7”EP’s were sold out very quickly, but this debut will, of course, appear in a much larger edition.

That’s such a pity - at least for / to me.

Nowadays, thanks to the constantly growing sickness called ‘downloadable copies’, most labels do send us but an i-pooled edition of new material, most of the time a couple of days / Weeks after the actual release of the new stuff. I can spit my bile endlessly but I’ll spare you th…, no, I’ll save my own time and energy.

I don’t know whether it is really meant to mean something like to purloin, but what I do know is that Verdonkermaan is the third part of a trilogy, once preceded by Krach and Grond. And there is no doubt about this continuation: Verdonkermaan is a logical, merciless successor!

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.

Shortly after the decision to re-release some older stuff (i.e. the first parts of the Mass-concept), ConSouling Sounds will release Amenra’s first live-album as well.

AmenRa is one of the most important Belgian / international acts within the Post / Sludge-scene, active for more than a decade and influential both within the Belgian scene as outside. During the early 2000’s, AmenRa released four albums under the Mass-moniker (self-released or available via Hypertension), followed by some newly written stuff, released as self-produced studio material or in split / EP-edition.

This 7”EP-split consists of two songs, both of them the first official outlet from the guys behind these projects as solo-act.

One of Holland’s most active personalities when it comes to the darkest shades of noisy noises is Maurice ‘Mories’, the guy behind Gnaw Their Tongues. The grimmest souls amongst us might know this sweet guy from acts like Aderlating, Cauteror / Soulwound, Seirom, De Magia Veterum, Astral, Cloak Of Altering and many more.

I do follow this Belgian act as from the very beginning and I do appreciate the permanent positive evolution they made. In the early years, Gorath played decent yet somewhat faceless (Black) Metal, but by each recording they went stronger and more convincing. The continuously perfecting totality made both last Gorath-albums, MXCII and Apokalypsis (both reviews still available within the archives-section), make the top of my end year’s lists in respectively 2010 and 2011, and now it’s time to praise the Horned One once again.

Denver-based band Royal Talons debut with a self-called album that presents five tracks that last for forty six minutes. And honestly, this might be one of the most impressing debuts I’ve heard this year.

Royal Talons bring a firm, heavy, rather obscure and oppressive mixture of Sludge, Post-Punk, Stoner and Doom Metal with an own face. The whole sounds somewhat psychedelic, hypnotic and gloomy, with an experimental base to reveal tradition and creativity at once.