“Another week, another genre mashup for Iceberg, the frozen fringe-dweller. After a disappointing—and apparently controversial—dive into more straightforward waters, I was excited to spy the black/neofolk/prog tag on the newest release from Finnish one-man band Iterum Nata. Jesse Heikkinen spent some time with countrymen and fellow genre-blenders Hexvessel before striking out on his own, and this will mark his fifth solo release.” Moose mania.
It’s becoming apparent that our filtering systems work quite well! The crew has done a fine job pulling filth from the workings and releasing the pressure to the system. A second too late and the toilets would have backed up.
“The last record from the curiously-named Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree, 2019’s Grandmother, did not grace these pages but for some reason, I was aware of it and it made enough of an impression on me that I was interested to review its successor, Aion. Buzzing around since 2014, Bees released their debut, Medicine, in 2017. A whimsy, faintly progressive doom record with a few hints of stoner around the fringes, it was solid. Grandmother was an altogether more interesting affair. A tightly-written slab of doom that upped the progressive quota by dialing in some psychedelia, as well as a rumbling darker edge, it showed a lot of promise.” Tapping out the vein.
“The niche within a niche label I, Voidhanger often scrapes the fringes of underground styles for acts embracing the weird, the strange, the vaguely musical—curious but rarely captivating for me. Par for the course, I’d never heard of Denmark’s Tongues before snagging up Formløse Stjerner, but something about the tumultuous landscape of the nihilistically nautical cover called to me like a Danish white whale, a hvidhval, if you will. Feel the Willies!
“I think it’s fair to say that the planet we inhabit has seen better days. It’s hot and getting hotter. Not insignificant portions of it are actually on fire and other, still larger parts will soon be underwater. It is packed with rubbish that will outlast all of us, even as we expand exponentially to fill the ‘space’ left behind by all biodiversity we have, directly or indirectly, wiped out. And on its debut, Philadelphia quintet Quiet Man (formerly God Root) would like to draw your attention to this dire state of affairs. Their message? We’re all fucked. Their chosen medium? Psychedelic sludge, noise, and drone.” Loud quietus.
“When I shared with the slack hacks gathered in the AMG Break Room, the offensively purple artwork for ,b>Old Spirit’s Burning in Heaven, the Boss Ape piped up, “That the guy from Vanishing Kids,?” I shrugged noncommittally. I didn’t know whether it was the guy from<,b>Vanishing Kids, had never heard of Vanishing Kids and was unsure whether expression on those leathery features was a smirk or just a sign the old fella had gas again. I just wanted to revel in a group at how awful the artwork was. Denied this opportunity, I trudged back to my cubicle and started working the foot pedal that powers up AMG-issue computers to do some research.” Old spirits and missing kids.
“The Abbey of Thelema was a commune in Sicily run by Aleister Crowley. Home to the wild hedonism and magick of his cult, the Abbey met its unceremonious end in 1923, when Crowley’s shenanigans convinced Mussolini to boot him out of Italy. Finnish psychedelic doom outfit The Abbey aims to carry on the Abbey’s legacy. ,b>The Abbey’s debut Word of Sin draws inspiration from occult organizations and their mystical practices.” Nuns DO have fun.
“Bosco Sacro is an Italian quartet whose style is unclear, ranging from doom to trip-hop to psychedelic, with drone, post-rock, and of course, ambient tied in there. For their debut, expect lush atmosphere, dark distorted bass, and Giulia Parin Zecchin’s formidable vocal performance, ranging from post-punk slurs to soprano siren croons, recalling the duality of This Is Oblivion’s Lulu Black.” Sacro blue.
![The Nest – Her True Nature [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/The-Nest-Her-True-Nature-01.jpg.webp)
“First things first. When I say this is essentially Wolvennest and pals, I mean just that. It’s fundamentally Wolvennest with some guest vocalists, so, if psychedelic blackened ambient drone doom isn’t your thing, the door is just over there.” Wolves in The Nest room.
![Psychonaut – Violate Consensus Reality [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/a3982478728_10_1.jpg.webp)
“Mixing slow-build dynamics, psychedelic excursions and cathartic crescendos with sudden explosions of fury, Psychonaut draws inspiration from the likes of The Ocean and Baroness (in that bygone era when Baroness wrote compelling music and didn’t crush their albums into unlistenable garbage at the production stage). Complex, sprawling, dense, and yet accessible, Violate Consensus Reality swirls around the listener.” Psychodrama.
