Because I am quite thrilled by Sombre Présage, I heard about Occultum Productions, a label hailing from Lyon, a city in the South-East of France. And the first time when I was delving deep into their catalogue, I was so impressed. This label, unfortunately underestimated (but I will change that, haha!), houses several highly qualitative bands and projects – it would be stupid to list up some of them, for (almost) all of them a worth being mentioned.
Despite all melancholy and tristesse involved – see further – it is a pleasure to experience the Dark Aural Art created by an Australian woman, named Samantha Kempster. You might know her from her activities in (sadly defunct) Sydney-based Atmospheric Doom-Death act Myraeth (one of the better acts in their specific genre from Down Under, but unfortunately inactive since a couple of years). She has been working as well with bands like Rise Of Avernus or Inclemency, being a guest / session member on viola and / or violin.
I must say that I do not know that much bands, or projects, if you want to, hailing from the state of Alaska. But one of my faves for sure is this one: Common Eider, King Eider. This multi-artistic collective has created several highly interesting recordings in the past – with gratitude to e.g.
Well, when it comes to Cryo Chamber, I am very often enthusiastic about the projects involved and their releases. Some of the better Ambient artists release their material via this label. So does Atrium Carceri, which actually is the main project of the owner of Cryo Chamber, Simon Heath. With this project, Simon created some hands full of fine and stunning stuff in the past, always taken care of with eye for detail, diversification and soul.
One of the longest-living, and most influential, (Death) Metal bands from Cyprus is Vomitile, active since 2007. They have three official releases since then, the independently released EP Rotting Life (2010), the debut full length Igniting Chaos (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions, very early 2013), and Mastering The Art Of Killing (2014, Pitch Black Records).
You know, the scene from Turkey has a lot of bullshit going on, but there is some highly interesting stuff out there as well. I am, personally, quite a ‘fan’ of all bands and projects that involve Emil Togrul, and I do deeply adore acts like Zifir, Cosmic Funeral, Hatevomit, Illusions Play or Valefor, amongst several others. Within this list, you might also find Xoresth, a project formed in 2013.
I do not think that Azaghal do need an extended introduction, so I’ll keep it brief. This Finnish horde started in 1995, first as Belfogor, then under the Nargoventor-moniker, and under their current name they dwell around as from 1998. Throughout the years, the band recorded and released quite some material, with a couple of absolute highlights included.
For some reason, I have great respect for the Berlin-based label Bleeding Heart Nihilist Productions. They have a small yet quite eccentric roster, with just few yet highly interesting releases. I did write some reviews in the past (enter this label’s name to find out) and there are some coming up soon. First I will focus on the album KotzeAdel by Animo Aeger.
Endless Winter do profile themselves as a Doom-only label, and you can accept that very literally. They release only Doom for sure, but it can be every kind of Doom existing: Epic Doom, Traditional Doom, Stoner-Doom, Doom-Death, Doom Rock, Funeral Doom or, for my part, Doom Doom. That also explains why a band like Satori Junk is part of their roster.
Fleurety might not be that well-known, I think, but the members are quite notorious names within the (Norwegian) Metal scene. The band was formed in 1991 (!) by Svein Egil Hatlevik (drums and vocals, and additional synths) and Alexander Nordgaren (electric and acoustic guitars, bass). The first one is or was also involved with diverse bands, such as Dødsheimgard, Umoral, Stagnant Waters, Strid (since last year) and many more.
