Nazxul "Distance Begins"

Nazxul Live LP (Decius Productions, 2002)

For the record (HA!), picture discs bite. Sure, they can look pretty, but they are also usually possessed of disgusting levels of surface noise. I buy them only when the music therein is available in no other format, such as the live album, Live (recorded 1999, released 2002), by Aussie black metallers Nazxul. Today's song originally appeared on their first studio album, Totem, way back in 1996. The pic above is actually the b-side of the LP, but the a-side pic is just kinda boring, so I've allowed my megalomaniacal sense of control to go overboard and present the prettier picture. Yeah! Bite me. Oh, yeah, it just came in a clear plastic sleeve; I had to go out and buy a cardboard sleeve for it before filing it in my collection, for its own protection.

Nuit Noire "Lutina"

Nuit Noire Lutina 7" EP (Drakkar Productions, 2002)

Nuit Noire are the world's greatest fäerical blasting punk band. I started listening to them when I found their second album, Infantile Espieglery, in a used CD store near my house. Something about the raw, frantic, screaming, almost naïve sound of them really drew me in. The fact that they're a duo certainly helped, too. Oh, and that the handwritten text on the cover looked like it'd been written on notebook paper by a little girl. And they're French, like toast, Jacques Tati, camembert and S.V.E.S.T. And they write lots of songs about fäeries.

Tormentor "Branded with Satan"

Tormentor The Seventh Day of Doom CD (H.L.K. Prod., 1997)

It musta really bit to have been a rock'n'roll band behind the Iron Curtain. I would think it was probably completely illegal when Tormentor started, though I could be wrong. Today's song is from their 1987 demo tape, which was officially reissued on CD in 1997 in Italy. I've also seen a pirated CD version with a solid black cover and the band name written in white in a completely different font. I'm guessing the sound quality here is kinda crap due to probably not being recorded under ideal conditions. Or maybe the CD was just mastered from a crummy copy of the tape. I EQ'd it a tiny bit to lessen the mud; hope you don't mind.

Diocletian "Annihilation Ritual"

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Diocletian
Demo I : 2005
cassette
(self-released, 2005)

In my Vassafor post the other day, I mentioned they share members with Diocletian, right? Go check. I'll wait.

 

 

 

See, I was right! And . . . here's the first song from their first, and only, demo tape, which they released themselves in a numbered edition of 99 copies (mine is 44!). They re-recorded it for their split LP, Chaos Rising, with Denouncement Pyre, who are not Kiwis but, rather, Aussies.

Vassafor "Craft of Dissolution"

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Vassafor
Southern Vassaforian Hell
7" EP
(Drakkar Productions, 2006)

New Zealand is probably best known, musically, in the rest of the world for spawning Split Enz and Crowded House, who were both led by the brothers Finn. Not quite as well known is the indie pop/rock world of Flying Nun Records and the more dissonant sounds of the now defunct Xpressway label.

Much like France, though, I doubt most people think of NZ as a source of raw, blasting black metal. In this case in the form of Vassafor and Diocletian. Incest abounds, however, as they also share members, just like SE and CH.

S.V.E.S.T. "Homo Fragilis"

S.V.E.S.T.
Inkisitor/S.V.E.S.T.
split 10"" EP
(End All Life, 2007)

Ah, France! Wine, cheese, pastry, and raw, hateful black metal.

^_^

S.V.E.S.T. is allegedly an acronym for Satanas Vobiscum Et Spiritum Tuo. I hated Latin class, so I prefer the short version.

Circle of Ouroborus "The Judgement Star"

Circle of Ouroborus
Star / Rise
cassette
(Northern Sky Productions, 2006)

Now that ゆらゆら帝国 have called it a day, Circle of Ouroborus just might be my favorite currently extant band. A good deal of their releases are cassettes, and, as of this writing, I have 15 of 'em. Roughly half are cassette-only, such as this one, which was released in a limited edition of 50 unnumbered copies.

Circle of Ouroborus are an interesting bunch. I first heard them on a split CD I bought for the tracks from the Dutch band Urfaust; I ended up liking the CoO stuff more, though. Their music ranges from acoustic, folky material, such as presented here, to post-punk à la Joy Division to raw black metal. Both members, Antti and Rauta, also play in a few other bands. I have several CD's and a tape by Rauta's band Vordr, and I highly recommend them. They come across to me as sort of a black metal Rudimentary Peni.