Song Premiere: Venowl & Auditor- "Mounds of Scorched Teeth (Unmastered)"

I feel like I'm constantly having firsts here on this site. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do, because today's first is something I'm used to seeing only on more prominent sites. I have the first available track from the impending release from Venowl & Auditor entitled Acid Revealing Open Wounds. This release showcases some rather new territory for Venowl, who do seem to benefit from rising to the challenge of working with others. When they force their churning noise through the paradigm of another artist, they expand in new directions. Auditor's contributions to this release manifest as a sort of tension, something reeling in Venowl's typically rabid sound and forcing it along a newer path. While this isn't nearly as painful as having teeth burnt out of my skull, these guys continue to create sounds that walk the masochistic line between enjoyable and hideous in all the best ways. The crawling horror of Venowl is slow and meticulous, with loose arrangements allowing for Auditor to fill in the gaps with bursts of noise, melody, and everything in between. About halfway through, things become truly deconstructed and it almost feels like witnessing people being torn apart. Those who have enjoyed previous works from Venowl or Auditor's former project, Iron Forest, should know what to expect, although there are a few surprises hidden in the murk.

Unmastered copies of this CD will be sold in a specially packaged edition at Venowl & Auditor's upcoming show opening for Wreck and Reference in Chicago. Fully mastered audio will be available on a separate release later this year from Altar of Waste paired with a bonus disc of unreleased material from Venowl. For now, enjoy the first of this album's two tracks, "Mounds of Scorched Teeth."

Music Review: Venowl- "Gnawed Gristle and Bone" EP

Welcome back to another Black Metal and Brews review of a new Venowl release. In addition to being an incredibly enjoyable group for me, they've got an obscene amount of releases for me to cover. While there are sections of their back catalog I'm still attempting to gather and share with you all, today's review focuses on a brand new EP, which is currently up for pre-order (and will be released on November 25th) on Ominous Silence. That's right, this is the first pre-release review and it's a fitting one. While the previously featured "Patterns of Failure" was an absolute nightmare of an album, with dense production only adding to the horror Venowl created, Gnawed Gristle and Bone has a clarity that shows the listener just how chaotic the music can get.

This one song album opens with humming feedback and a glistening ambiance. This album was mixed by Garry Brents from Cara Neir and mastered by Mories from Gnaw Their Tongues, and it definitely shows. If you've ever heard the aural violence of Gnaw Their Tongues or the intensity of Cara Neir, you need only imagine how insane their involvement makes this album sound. As always, Venowl create some of the slowest, most violent music I've ever heard. The shrieks of anguish are no longer buried in the mud. They're now at the forefront of the music, creating an agonizing sense of terror. Every time the song starts to form a listenable pattern or some sort of groove, the band intentionally takes the song out of what could become a comfortable territory and steers it into a new variety of noise. The guitars churn at some of the lowest frequencies possible, providing more of a grinding sound atmosphere more than a collection of riffs. There are no melodies here for you to hum with, there is no hope of escape. Halfway through this twenty-three minute long torture ritual, some sort of keyboard or choral atmosphere creeps into the background. Instead of providing a sense of comfort, it only adds another smothering layer to the discomfort Venowl revel in.

This album's title and sound evoke the sensation of being a live animal on some sort of factory farm, being forcefed into machinery to be packaged and sold as meat to others. You can hear your own heart beat heavily with anxiety. Your breath becomes deep and slow. It almost feels like being hunted. As always, Venowl are the sort of band who are best described in sensations rather than familiar musical terms. Any attempts at giving this a proper categorization will only give the listener a preconceived understanding that will inevitably fall short.

If you like music that might cause your bowels to evacuate, give this a listen. This is definitely a more developed work than some of the material I've heard from Venowl in the past, although it is no more sterile or safe than anything else they've created. If anything, this is the sound of a band who is becoming an incredibly efficient killing machine. This is by far the most unsettling release I've heard all year and I expect it to be even more gripping when it's released in physical format. There will be 75 grey cassettes released, each    with a burgundy/maroon o-card sleeve with letter-pressed artwork, and given this label's commitment to high quality small run releases, I anticipate it will sound incredible.

Music Review: Venowl- "Patterns of Failure" CD-r

Venowl are a band who present a major issue for me as a writer. I love music, especially harsh and chaotic music, the kind that often eludes definition. My problem as a writer is that no matter how peculiar and challenging an album or artist is, it's my duty to put abstract sounds and feelings into words. The restrictions of the English language put me in a rough position when writing about music like this. In other words, Venowl have created something so hideously compelling that it cannot be described.

Patterns of Failure is not Venowl's newest release, but has recently been reissued by the band. This material differs from the tune I previously reviewed on their 4-way split. This album was written by Venowl as a 3-piece with the aid of a guest vocalist, creating an oddly structured spiral of noisy terror. The album starts at the pace of a funeral march and simply builds upon itself until it becomes a towering monument to wretchedness. The vocals howl from every direction as if carried by the wind.  The production retains a level of clarity that surprises me given how murky this music is. If this is to be called black metal, it's primarily in spirit, as these songs sound like the most horrifying take on sludge I've ever heard, if it can even be labeled as such. The tuning is low, the pace is slow, yet the music fits no classification. It's not a problem for anybody other than myself, as I wish so desperately to describe this music yet struggle to do so.  If anything, the nameless filth that Venowl creates deserves its own subcategory. If somebody came up to me looking for new black metal, I would not instantly think of Venowl. If somebody came up to me looking for new sludge or noise, I would not instantly think of Venowl. If somebody came up to me and asked for something ugly and new, Venowl would be one of the first bands I could recommend. I don't think a band has confused my vocabulary and senses in such a way since I first was introduced to the overwhelming sounds of Nurse With Wound so many years ago.

In no way is my lack of words meant to signify disapproval of this band. In fact, I find it refreshing to hear something that brings so many visuals to mind, yet so few musical terms. As I've been attending a music class in college lately, I've been thinking in terms of melody, harmony, and structure so frequently that I have almost forgotten how nice it can be to enjoy music that simply bleeds itself all over the listener and requires no other basis for enjoyment. I seldom find myself this energized by music so slow, but there's a violent intensity here that knows no pace. If you're at all intrigued by this ugly and dirge-like music, you can give it a listen on Venowl's bandcamp or buy it directly from the band, thereby funding future sonic torment from these talented individuals. They've only got 50 copies of the album created for this run, so hurry up if you want a piece of this mess for yourself. For a beer pairing, the band themselves have recommended Victory's Storm King Imperial Stout, and I couldn't agree more. It's dark, bitter, and complex. Much like Venowl, it's description makes it sound unappealing, but it's worthwhile if you're a patient sipper (or listener).

Music Review: Horseback/Njiqahdda/Venowl/Cara Neir split Cassette

Well, this review is quite the undertaking. Handmade Birds has produced another monstrous split cassette from four of the most daring and unique bands in extreme music today. Each of these groups has a distinctive sound, even apart from the other groups sharing this cassette, which makes this split a unique and cherished addition to any collection. Since there's a lot to review here, I'm jumping from the intro right into the details. Here we go.

Side A of this cassette features one track each from Horseback and Njiqahdda. Horseback open things up with the off-kilter track "Heathen Earth," possibly a nod to the Throbbing Gristle album of the same name. As any Horseback listener knows, they tend to keep their music unpredictable and this is no exception. The opening of this tune is as funky as anything I could imagine them doing, yet builds up in a very ceremonial fashion, as if the band has prepared to summon the very song itself. I envision walking up to a fire-lit ritual where Horseback is waiting to guide the listener into the deeper recesses the rest of the tape will explore. Layers of droning guitar and elevating feedback build over the steady pulse of drums and bass playing in unison as the song makes its way into more familiar Horseback territory, complete with intense black metal inspired vocals and the foggy atmospherics they've built their reputation upon. Even at its thickest and most intense, this song maintains a shimmering, trance-like beauty which will likely appeal to folks who aren't as well versed in music of this nature. The incredibly prolific Njiqahdda follow with the monumental "Towers Constructed to Break the Sky," which is also featured upon their recently released Towers and Tides EP. The production here is noticeably cleaner and this music is more technically slanted, yet the band manages to maintain an atmosphere of beauty and passion despite it. The drums are incredibly well played and produced, which I'm always delighted to hear. When the clean introduction caves in to the distorted guitars and faster drumming about a minute in, it feels so seamless. The bellowed vocals have the mud-covered inflection of groups far sludgier, bringing to mind Neurosis more than most progressive-leaning extreme metal groups, which is a nice touch. The song's title and musical textures work quite nicely to evoke imagery of man's constant ambition towards self-deification, which is a pleasant excursion for my mind to embark upon. The peaks and valleys of Njiqahdda's track are easy to follow and despite its great length, it's no great effort to listen and be captivated through its entirety.

The B side of this tape contains a new track from Venowl and three songs from Cara Neir, whose aggression has already graced this blog.  Venowl's contribution, simply titled "III," provides a stark contrast to the melodic tones of the prior two groups, delving into the fuzz and filth that I so often speak about throughout this blog. The pace is slow, the guitars and drums tend to attack at the same moment, making each pulse of the song painfully delightful. This feels like it was recorded in a poorly lit basement in the true fashion of classic black metal, but with a different take on the sounds of the genre. The vocals are shrill and tormented, the production is murky yet does nothing to mar the intensity here, and the band's dissonant attack on the listener provides little to soothe or relieve the tension they create. The entire song makes me feel like I'm being dragged headfirst down a stairwell into a dungeon while hearing the screams of other prisoners. I'd love to know what the lyrics are, as I have a feeling these guys have some pretty dark inspirations behind their hideous assault. Closing this split are three intense cuts from Cara Neir, starting with the pitch black fury of "Minus His Confidence." While the band certainly haven't given up their outside influences, this song is as close to pure black metal as anything I've heard from them and it absolutely shreds. Despite the absurd pace of the song, these guys still manage to fit in a break for a wild guitar solo and a few other little touches of brilliance. For a pair of young musicians, these guys are quickly carving out a niche for themselves, and hopefully other equally talented groups will begin to follow suit. The meaty punk-inspired blackness of "No Right Path" feels like another full-on assault, although it's a fraction of the length of closing masterpiece, "Seize and Exist." This seven minute tune returns to more of Cara Neir's trademark territory, opening with chaos all across the board that hones itself into a pummeling blackened attack, marching forcefully onward just long enough to surprise the listener when the song breaks down into a spacey dirge a couple of minutes in. For a band drawing from such a broad range of influences, these guys continue to impress me with their ability to meld it all together without sounding forced or pretentious.

This entire cassette impressed the hell out of me, to be honest. I figured I'd be able to pick a standout track or particular artist whose music touched me in a particular way, but each group's contribution is so unique and enjoyable that I'm just going to recommend you get a copy and that you do it quickly. Only 250 of these gems were made and I see the price escalating quickly via discogs and ebay once these sell out. Get it for only 9 bucks from Handmade Birds. It's already sold out over at EEE Recordings, but you should check out that store if you're interested in more Njiqahdda related releases, they've got a ton of great stuff.