CD

When I think of Palma De Mallorca, I usually see beaches and bars, bikinis and more bars, beaches and bikinis (there’s nothing else to experience out there, you see; and since I do not like beaches, I’ll focus on the bars and the bikinis…). But this Balearic island is also home to Helevorn, a combo that celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. Happy birthday to you and stuff… No, seriously, Helevorn are a band from the city of Palma, dwelling around as from the very end of last century.

…an older one, released about one year ago, yet too interesting to ignore… …yet I’ll keep it short…

Five years and something ago, two Canadian musicians joined forces under the Zaum banner with one goal: to create a form of Doom that trespasses all boundaries and limitations. Kyle Alexander McDonald (Shevil) and Christopher Lewis (Iron Giant) created a first album in 2014, which was the impressive Oracles via I Hate Records (link: see below).

French label Occultum Productions houses many great projects and bands, especially from their home country, yet some international acts as well. One of those is My Deathbed, hailing from Greece. It is an outfit by a human being (I think) named Void, who promotes joy and happiness (completely following the ideology of the label indeed). It is quite a productive project, with almost two hands full of releases in less than two years.

Despite being formed at the beginning of this century, Sigillum Diabolicum are not exactly the most productive outfit from West-European soil.

Czarna magia is Polish for ‘black magic’, so when I did receive an album from a band with that specific name (I got it from The End Of Time Records’ chieftain Dev), I knew this wouldn’t be a Pop or Rock album, yet something that might tease me. Well, believe me: it does!

After two albums that were released via Cephalopagus Records, Portuguese one-man army Sílení signed to Eighth Tower Records (creating superspectrum sounds from ultraterrestrial dimensions), run by Sonologyst’s Raffaele Pezzella, to have this next album released.

The young Russian label Distorted Void has a small yet very interesting roster. It houses material by acts like Psionic Asylum, Onasander, Hiemal and Uzbazur, and they did compose and release some very attractive compilations too. I recently wrote a review for the first Forgotten, Abandoned, Desolated compilation, and this review deals with another compiled sampler, consisting by thirteen pieces by as much projects from all over our globe.

I do not exactly exaggerate when defining Distant Voices as a very unique label. Okay, about the musical taste one can discuss (I do not discuss, for I adore about all releases), but each single release is like a unique thing, almost like a collector’s item. Every release is handmade and extremely limited, with no repressing whatsoever, so all copies must be adored, idolised.

When composer / guitarist David ‘HellRazor’ Meza and bass player / vocalist Maria Alejandra ‘Blasfemia’ Pacheco Zambrano started playing under the moniker of Lucifera (it was somewhere in 2008), they did play cover songs in the first place. Everything from AC/DC to Metallica, or from Rock Goddess to Motörhead passed the revue. Yet soon, the band started writing, recording and playing self-written stuff.