Stream rundown: Ordo Obsidium, 30,000 Monkies, Maledicere, Montségur
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Like Doug said in our last stream rundown, so much good new music, so little time. Some of these are pretty fresh—the awesomely titled Somewhere over the Painbow from 30,000 Monkies was made available for streaming just a few days ago—while some may have slipped through the cracks when they initially came out, like Montségur‘s killer lo-fi black metal battle hymns which were released back in February. Anyway, it’s new(ish) music that’s really good, so let’s get to it.
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Ordo Obsidium – A Crooked Path to Desolation
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Ordo Obsidium, from the Bay Area, has a penchant for massive, sorrowful epics that equally pluck atmospheric black metal and funereal doom/death heartstrings. I only just came across Ordo Obsidium, and I wish it had happened sooner—the band has a previous album, Orbis Tertius that I still need to chew on. A Crooked Path to Desolation is great, though, and loaded with big blasts and lots of texture. The album is coming on vinyl in the coming weeks on Eisenton.
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30,000 Monkies – Somewhere over the Painbow
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The name of 30,000 Monkies’ new album, Somewhere Over the Painbow, and the album’s weird-ass artwork are what initially got me to click play. I’m glad I did. The Belgian band’s sludgy stoner/noise rock is catchy, hard hitting and pretty damn interesting. Listen to those fucked-up lyrics, and watch the sinister, wonky and all around gross and uncomfortable video for “Imperial Staches”. Somewhere over the Painbow is out on October 11 on Consouling Auction.
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Maledicere – The Trenches of Hadal
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While Minneapolis’s Maledicere has strains of what might be considered atmospheric black metal, it’s too gruff and sonically ugly to sit comfortably in that genre. The Trenches of Hadal aggressively blasts, and there’s palpable disgust in the singer’s vocals. There’s good depth to these songs, and I like the cold, bitter palette and grand ambition so much that I think Maledicere might be my favorite metal band from Minneapolis, a city with a rich underground known for False and Blood Folke. The Trenches of Hadal is out now on the ever-discerning Handmade Birds.
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Montségur – Under the Banner of Witchcraft
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Legion Blotan is home to a number of obscure and excellent lo-fi black metal bands—from the raucous and chaotic Sump to the Tolkien-themed, murky-yet-epic Vanyar. Now they’ve added Montségur to their ranks, a band specializing in mid-tempo black metal. Under the Banner of Witchcraft has been streaming since February, but Legion Blotan just recently pressed it to a tape. The title track is particularly strong, but the whole demo points to good things to come.
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