Ivan Tibos.

Sometimes it is almost an orgiastic pleasure to introduce an underestimated act, one that truly deserves deep-going fame. Okay, EugeneKha surely is a well-known name within its specific genre, and within the Russian Electronic / Ambient scene especially, but I wonder about his notoriety right here. I do follow this project for a couple of years, but this act has tens of releases, with several I have not got through yet. But what I listened to in the meantime was really satisfying, without any exception (live material included).

It took some time, it has been too long, way too long, but finally, after more than two years, LycanthropY return with a new epos, called A.V.R.E.I.L. A.V.R.E.I.L. stands for ‘anno volcanii, rex efferorum, imperium lucis’, and means something like ‘year of the volcano, king of savages, empire of the light’.

Astarium is the solo-outfit of Nikolay ‘SiN’ Sikeritsky, who also runs NitroAtmosfericum Records. I wrote several reviews in the past for Concreteweb about Astarium (as well as for NitroAtmosfericum Records), and as you can see (enter the band’s name in ‘search’ or go to ‘reviews sorted by artist’), I deeply like the refreshing approach of this act.

On April 10th I published another review for Raison D’Être, this time for the collaboration called XIBIPIIO – In And Out Of Experience, created with another notorious artist, Germany’s Troum (http://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/raison-dêtre-troum). It was released via Peter Andersson’s own label Yantra Atmospheres, and via Transgredient Records, a sub-division of Drone Records.

Moribundo are a young band from Spain, formed in 2014 by multi-instrumentalist Juanpa ‘Evilead’ Pérez (also known from bands like Elderdawn, Bizarre and Nangilima) and lyricist Justo ‘Mortvs Vyrr’ Arganda (who does not ‘sing’ himself).

Aorlhac are an act from France, and more specific from Auvergne and Aurillac. The band is named after the (old) Occitan name for the city of Aurillac, and must be pronounced as ‘our-yuck’ or something. It’s the Occitan history too that inspires the members, and the rich heritance of this region’s history. Aorlhac were active in between 2007 and 2010, and they started a trilogy about their roots.

On March 27th 2018 I published a review for the re-mastered release of Atra Vetosus’ debut album From The Eternal Night, which deserved some additional attention, at least in order to promote this band’s newest full-length album, Apricity.

I had not heard of them before, but apparently Shattered Sigh are active for more than a decade. They were formed as Black Whirlpool in 2006, and in 2010 they changed their moniker into the current one. Investigation, however, taught me that it was not that strange at all that I did not know them. There was only one official release until now: 2011’s untitled demo with songs written when the band was still known under their former moniker. Then things went silent, until last year.

Mekigah are a solo-outfit (in the earliest days, it was a duo) by Vis Ortis, who has been helped once again by a whole horde of same-minded session musicians for this successor of 2014’s Litost, amongst whom Black Rhino / Serpent Pig’s Leith Carnie, who took care of production and mix of this album as well, Yippie Brain’s Thomas K.

The scene from India is not exactly where we refer to when thinking about Extreme Metal. When it comes to labels, my knowledge is limited to one hand full of labels worth mentioning (Metal Masala, Cyclopean Eye Productions, Tormented Whores Of Da’ath Records (unfortunately defunct) and, of course, mighty Transcending Obscurity Records (owned by the fantastic guy Kunal), are those who dwell within my memory [and collection]).