Self Release

Well, you know, I do not mind -not ever- to listen to stuff that lacks of originality. I just have a few conditions: please do not act like a cheap copycat, please respect the scene (which does not mean that you cannot reinterpret narrow-minded borders, of course), and please convince me.

And that’s exactly what this German act does: playing uncompromising, no-nonsense Death / Thrash material in the vein of ‘the old school’ (whatever this might mean this time), yet without becoming some cheap ‘tribute’ band whatever.

A young but quite interesting label, born to promote the underground of the Extreme Metal scene, and to distribute releases from especially the local scene, is Romania-based Loud Rage Music. They have some interesting bands on their roster, with three hands full of acceptable releases (for several of them, I did write a review in the meantime, and there are a couple of them coming up soon). But I do really adore the fact that they try to promote their local, national scene too.

I usually do not write an article about a short preview on an upcoming release. But if asked very kindly, I can’t say no. Why should I ignore a good band anyway, especially when a review might mean some additional promotion and attention? So here I am…

Faunus Amadeus Loki acts under different monikers, both in collaboration with other artists (think Dracul - Order Of The Dragon), as well as solo (Herrenvolk, Stark von Oben, Endoki Forest); I recently wrote and updated the review for Endoki Forest’s Black Sorcerers Forest or Herrenvolk’s EP Imperator – see the upload of March 4^th 2016 and March 28^th 2016 respectively.

Ten years ago, in meantime, vocalist Hesgaroth and instrumentalist Denosdrakkh (respectively the lyricist and song composer too) started this outfit, Lutece, after they disbanded Dark Requiem. They wrote and recorded some first material, and in 2007 they released the debut album …And Ancestors Still Remain.

Vorbkt are a one-man outfit from the windy South-East of Canada, where the Atlantic crushes and smashes upon the shores of civilization. The guy behind the project (-z?) started this project in 2011 and since then he recorded and released two hands full of stuff, especially independently released.

One of the several solo-outfits started by the very young multi-instrumentalist Damien Anton ‘Elisa’ Ojeda is Born An Abomination, quite a productive outlet. On March 28^th I did upload a review for an album by Sadness, another project from this person, and in the near future there will be a handful of others too (for e.g. Left Alone…, more Sadness material, or Nänmëë).

Sometimes it’s just incomprehensible that musicians can be enormously productive. Such an example is Damien Anton Ojeda aka Elisa aka E., born in Mexico and currently living in Oak Park, Illinois. He is active in several solo-projects, such as the new outfit Left Alone… or Born An Abomination, and used to release material under names such as Aevilian, A Nightlit Poesy, Iniquitous Depression and Evocative Atmosphere too.

It is not strange that hadn’t heard of Ande before, because it seems to be a new project by Jimmy Christiaens, from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (Flanders, somewhere…). With Light (which actually lasts for twenty two minutes), Ande bring three Black Metal tracks, accompanied by four very short untitled instrumental pieces (though, not totally untitled, for they are called I, II, III and, indeed, IV).

Our Lowlands have always been quite underestimated within the Black Metal scene, and actually it isn’t that strange, seen the glorious quality of so many acts from all over the world. Once in a while, a band from Belgium or Holland sort of ‘breaks through’, reaching an audience outside our artificial borders. Unfortunately, so many bands from our countries remains too ‘low’. Will The Shiva Hypothesis prove the opposite?