It’s that time again! Grim Kim is back with yet another underground gem that, thanks to a high-profile spot on the almighty Watain’s first headlining American killing spree, may not remain very unknown for much longer. Pay attention, so that when they blow the fuck up and everyone’s rocking the band’s twisted-ass logo on their jackets, you can out-metal your friends by saying, “Maaan, I’ve been into those Book of Black Earth dudes since their split with Fall of the Bastards came out back in ‘05…”

Borne from the ashes of distortion-happy demons TEEN CTHULU, Seattle’s BOOK OF BLACK EARTH have been kicking up a storm of unlight since 2003. After self-releasing their 2006 opus The Feast, the band was snatched up by Prosthetic Records (in a wise move on the label’s part) and have been tour-menting the nation ever since. After catching their set at New York’s Knitting Factory the other night, I decided it was absolutely imperative that these dudes get some more attention, because godDAMN were they good! Intense, unrelenting, and tight as fuck, this West Coast menace does black/death metal right – effectively pulling together the punishing brutality and decimating hyperblasts of death metal with the cruel rasps and epic atmosphere of black metal, then adding just a touch of doomy melody and more than a little grind (unsurprising, considering their drummer Joe Axler’s crusty past in SKARP & SPLATTERHOUSE).

Imagine that – an extreme metal band that uses keyboards, but… DOESN’T suck (I know, I could hardly believe it either, but ladies and gentlemen…they exist)! Imagine a young EMPEROR jamming with the dudes from AT THE GATES and an even younger DISMEMBER, clean up the guitar tone a bit, add in some ashes from a burned-out church, and you’ve got a pretty clear-cut idea of how fucking awesome Book of Black Earth sounds.

Currently making the rounds on the Black Metal Magic tour supporting labelmates WITHERED and blood-chucking black metallers WATAIN, BOOK OF BLACK EARTH very well may be coming to a city near you – unless you already missed ‘em, you sorry fuck. They’ve got a new record out on Prosthetic, which is entitled Horoskopus and is, apparently, a concept album about

“the hidden astrological elements of the Christian church. From its origins as a state sponsored religion in the fourth century to the present day, it has been guided by astrological concepts conceived centuries before Jesus Christ was mythologized as the ‘Sun’ of God,” according to vocalist / guitarist T.J. Cowgill.

Check that shit out…

BOOK OF BLACK EARTH - Funeral of Peace [5:03m]

 

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Round Three! Grim Kim's back (in black?) to spread the word on her latest obsessions and open yer ears to some of the best bands that the uber tr00 underground metal scene's got to offer. This time around, we're slowing it down and uglying it up a bit. Crack open another beer, spark up a fatty, and come on in. Welcome to Revelations of…Doooooooom.

It takes a lot to make me go out on a limb and replace Dopesick with something new and untested; luckily for me, one of those things happens to be seeing the 20 Buck Spin logo on an alien CD. If you haven't heard of 20 Buck Spin by now, you're truly missing out; they put out amazing records by amazing bands, and I'd confidently place them amongst the creme de la creme of underground independent labels right now (hell, if only for that Coffins/The Arm and Sword of a Bastard God split they released last year). Anyway, I now owe them an even bigger slice of my soul for sending me the debut album from SAMOTHRACE.

Samothrace hail from Lawrence, Kansas, and play bluesy, crippled doom, steeped in Midwestern pathos and heaped with layers upon layers of crushing distortion and sinewy melodies that recall Neurosis at their best and Across Tundras at their darkest. Harsh vocals rattle in a bourbon-soured throat and spin tales of naked desperation and lonesome nights overtop mammoth riffs and painful dirges. Menacing yet delicate, captivating and hypnotic, Life's Trade's advance is as slow and unstoppable as the tides themselves.

This band…is…SO…GOOD. I'm blown away. You know that rare, magical moment when you put on a new album and fall so deeply in love with it that you've inadvertently become a lifelong fan by the time the first chord's been struck? This is that kind of album. Life's Trade might just be the best release of 2008 (or at least has earned a spot in my Top Ten). I'm well aware that I'm gushing away like a schoolgirl with a crush, but really, I am dead fucking serious - you NEED to hear this band.

Their debut album was recorded and mixed by Sanford Parker (Buried At Sea, Pelican, Nachtmystium); Life's Trade is out now on 20 Buck Spin. Buy their records, wear their shirts, go see them on tour (they're playing 70 dates - 70 DATES. You have literally no excuse to miss them when they roll through your town). Above all, listen to this band; you owe it to them, and goddamn, do you owe it to yourself.

Samothrace - Awkward Hearts [10:02m]

 

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Welcome once again to Revelations of Doom, Grim Kim's guide to all things ugly, obscure, and awesome in the good ol' extreme metal underground. This time around, the spotlight comes to rest upon a genre quite near and dear to my heart - nasty, blasphemous, and raw-as-fuck black metal. Welcome to hell.

If the existence of our current Commander in Chief isn’t enough proof that the Lonestar State is a veritable breeding ground for pure evil, take an ear to some of its more sinister musical exports and you’ll find proof enough. After all, the likes of AVERSE SEFIRA, BROWN JENKINS, RIGOR MORTIS, and the mighty ABSU all hail from this conservative stronghold. For those of you that like your black metal as raw and diseased as the bloody meat that WATAIN tends to chuck at their crowds, allow me to introduce you to BAHIMIRON, Christraping progenitors of the next great Texas chainsaw (gutsfucking) massacre.

BAHIMIRON have been spreading their own particular brand of aural terrorism throughout the underground for years, releasing a string of cult demos and coming together with like-minded hellraisers SARGEIST on a 2006 split release. Their sound is brutal, ugly, and mean; positively nasty basslines (lain down by Jenoside, who also injects a rare shot of estrogen into this very male-dominated genre), appropriately rough-edged riffs straight outta circa-1994-Norway, a vocalist who sounds like he’s gargling a cathedral’s worth of broken stained glass, and a drummer who perpetually sounds as if he’s seconds away from losing all control and descending into outright chaos all lend a hand in making up the sonic maelstrom that is BAHIMIRON. This shit is fucking bestial.

The fine folks at Moribund just released Southern Nihilizm, Bahimiron’s first album of all-original material, this past August. Fans of BEHERIT, HORNA, BEHEXEN, and DARKTHRONE take note - if you haven’t already been worshipping at BAHIMIRON's blackened altar, it’s well past time for you to start.

Bahimiron - The Cauldron Born [4:11m]

 

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Speaking of Drudkh, their influence seems to be reaching far past the borders of their Ukrainian homeland, this time crossing the English Channel to take hold of an ambitious young band who named themselves for the October moon…

WINTERFYLLETH (or "Winter Full Moon" if ye happen to speake Olde English) hail from the dreary Northwest of England, the birthplace of heavy metal and home to more misbehaving royals and shoddy dental work than I care to think about. Unlike the squeaky-clean commercial heights and frighteningly extreme depths to which countrymen CRADLE OF FILTH and AANAL NATHRAKH (never thought you'd see those two mentioned in the same breath, eh?) have taken black metal, WINTERFYLLETH choose to walk a different path.

Marrying the grave-robbing grimness of old ENSLAVED or ULVER with the ethereal woodland ambiance and atmospheric folk touches of DRUDKH and ISENGARD, WINTERFYLLETH have made considerable headway in carving out their own niche within the sparse but rabidly dedicated sub-subgenre of black/folk metal. As a purely English band, they choose to create their music using their ancestral Anglo-Saxon history for lyrical fodder, dubbing themselves "English Heritage Black Metal." Also inspired by the natural beauty of the English countryside, they delve into tales of blood, valor, and battle, telling the stories of those who came before them and died for the glory of England.

One of my favorite labels, Profound Lore, snapped these guys up and will be releasing WINTERFYLLETH's debut album, The Ghost of Heritage, come fall (October 14, to be exact), as well as a split with related project WODENSTHRONE (who also rule!). Check 'em out, and prepare to be conquered!

WINTERFYLLETH - Forging [ 5:13m]

 

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