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Gonemage Toys With Chiptune Black Metal on "Handheld Demise" (Full Album Stream)


If you follow Invisible Oranges at all, you know that we love Garry Brents. From Homeskin to Cara Neir, this Texas multi-instrumentalist and (literal) studio wizard takes ideas from distant music genres and somehow brings them together in a cohesive and energetic way. As Gonemage, one of his many solo projects, Brents fuses speedy, catchy black metal with chiptune and bitcrushed video game-influenced music. Weird? You bet it is. Fun? Incredibly.

As it is with Brents’ other bands, Gonemage is prolific–Handheld Demise, which is streaming below, is the project’s fifth release this year, following a handful of singles and a… Waluigi-themed chiptune war metal EP(?), among others–but the project doesn’t lose any of the potency that many severely active black metal bands tend to when releasing tons and tons of music.

What makes Handheld Demise so unique is simply how overwhelming it is. Though there are moments of coherence, for the most part Brents layers as much as he possibly can–melodies, samples, vocals, synthesizers, et cetera–to make a ridiculous, near-carnivalesque atmosphere. Handheld Demise is incredibly colorful, but also pixelated and jagged, acting as black metal’s answer to the new wave of hyperpop. Also, as if Brents wasn’t busy enough, Handheld Demise features a ridiculous cast of vocalists–over 40 of them (list included below the stream below). Listen to Handheld Demise in full below.

Nightmare Sprites (Guests):
Alec A. Head – Backing clean vocals on 2, 3, 5, & 10. (Ghostbound)
Armando Puente Jr. – Backing falsetto vocals on 1 & 12.
AV Kid – Backing clean vocals on 4.
B. Elkins – Backing low vocals on 4. (An Evening Redness)
Bob Dzrunkel – Backing vocals on 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, & 13.
Brendan Sloan – Backing vocals on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 10. (Altars et al)
Cameron Davis – Backing vocals on 5, 6, 9, & 10. (Cicada the Burrower)
claire.computer – Noise outro/outro lyrics on 7 & 9. (claire.computer)
Cuticult – Chiptune composition/instruments on 8. (Cuticult)
Danae Lelina – Lead chorus clean vocals on 6.
Dave Petersen – Bitcrushed/Digitized vocals on 2 &10. (Hallucinogenic Bulb)
Deedee – Backing vocals on 2 & 3. (MSPAINT)
Déhà – Backing clean/harsh vocals on 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, & 11. (Various)
Fire-Toolz – Backing vocals on 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, & 13. (Fire-Toolz)
G.E.F. – Backing low vocals on 2, 4, 9, & 10. (Thecodontion)
Gene Hex – Backing clean and harsh vocals on 5 & 12. (Evening of Light)
Greg Kennelty – Ambient outro on 5, Ambient intro on 11 (Chalk Portraits)
Grotesque Misalignment – Backing vocals on 11. (Grotesque Misalignment)
Ivan Belcic – Backing vocals on 2 & 13. (Kosmogyr)
Jay Spurcăciune – Backing low vocals on 3. (Cold Brats – vocals recorded/edited OsimetriC Music Productions)
John Kerr – Backing vocals on 1, 2, 3, & 4. Aux percussion on 3 & 4. (Pyrithe)
Lorenzo Vincenzo – Lead falsetto vocals on 12.
Lunar Cult – Chiptune/DS Outro on 13. (Lunar Cult)
Matthew Giniat – Backing vocals on 2 & 10. (4th Time’s the Charm)
Melora Cayce – Backing vocals on 5 & 10. (Wound Licker)
McMansion – Backing vocals on 4. (McMansion)
Michael Alan Prince III – Backing vocals on 1. (Lord dealwithit)
Mirai Kawashima – Lead vocals on 4. (Sigh [!!!!])
Misandr – Backing vocals on 3, 10, & 11. Noise intro on 13. (Misandr)
Nicholas Hertzberg – Backing vocals on 1 & 10. (All Of The Blood)
Ophelia Jocelyn – Lead/backing clean vocals on 2, 5, & 13. (Opheliac)
Rail/Slave – Intro/sampling on 9. (Rail/Slave)
Ria Wigley – Backing vocals on 12. (Karnstein)
Rich Loren Balling – Backing/lead clean vocals on 2, 5, 6, & 7. (Pyramids)
Ryan Harper – Backing vocals on 3 & 4. (Tumultuous Ruin)
Sammy Gurule – Backing/lead shrieking vocals on 4, 5, & 13. (Warren of Ohms)
Sofia Schmidt – Clean choir vocals on 2, 10, & 13. (Ethereal Kingdoms)
Stilgar – Backing clean vocals on 2, 5, 6, & 12. (Thecodontion)
Winterquilt – Chiptune outro on 2 & 11. (Winterquilt)
Yin Shyen – Lead clean vocals on 7.
Zach Jenckes – Backing vocals on 1. (The Holloway Tape)
Zooey “Räudig” Klamma – Additional falsetto vocals on 1 & 11. (Chainmail)

Handheld Demise is out September 30th via Fiadh Productions (LP), Weregnome Records (cassette [US]), and Xenoglossy Productions (cassette [EU – ROW]).