Buried Under Noise 001: Dragged Into Sunlight

What is Buried under Noise? Buried under Noise is a segment where we showcase profile of bands that deserve greater attention. These are bands that have created unique, distinct sounds and pushed extreme music in a subculture stereotyped with stagnation.

This week, we look at Dragged Into Sunlight (UK).

Dragged Into Sunlight

Source: Prosthetic Records

Nocturnal creatures reign at night. They lurk behind the shadows, plotting beneath the moonlight. Drag them out during the day, they screech at high pitch and you get a glimpse of how horrendous they are. The wrinkle on the skin of bats, make you understand why they hide behind the darkness.


Dragged Into Sunlight, like their name suggests, are like those bats, vampires or what other ghouls exist in the night. The subject matter of their lyrics is exposed under the light and they crawl back into the darkness.

Source: Bleeder Magazine

If other extreme Metal bands sing about darkness in the supernatural sense, Dragged Into Sunlight uses sound clips from our actual media. Repeating in the background like in a post apocalyptic movie intertwined with white noise.



Dragged Into Sunlight is an extreme Metal band from the UK that manages to combine Black and Death Metal with the knuckle dragging intensity of Sludge Metal. Their aim seems to be to create the most terrifying sounds you can combine from the most evil subgenres of Metal. This band is the British equivalent of Lord Mantis and one the front runners of this new wave of Blackened Sludge.

Source: Exclaim Canada

Playing with a sense of paranoia, the band also refuses to reveal their identities. All members wear balaclava and the band prefers the word "collective" instead of band. Meaning, the band is rotational and no number is fixed, making it harder for people to pin down who's who. So don't bother try figuring out who they are. They probably don't want you to, and hate the breach of privacy in the process.


With the combination of high shrieks, at times furious double bass gets dragged across sludgy fields at a devastating slow pace. Traditional Black Metal, especially the Norwegian branch employ blast beats and snare abuse. Making them good friends with Thrash, thus cross pollinating to create Blackened Thrash. It wouldn't be a stretch to hear Marduk and years later, someone can easily conjure something closer to Skeletonwitch.

Source: Metal Made Fitness

The "Blackened Sludge" Dragged into Sunlight employs, takes a look at Sludge from New Orleans, one of the more underlook genres in Metal. While bands under that moniker sing about drug abuse, depression and entrenched poverty in rural America, Dragged Into Sunlight injects the grim British weather and amp up the psychological torture.


Their debut album, Hatred for Mankind eschews plays upon nihilistic poetry; something that lives up to the name of the album. Even the first few seconds using torturous samples, that are ubiquitous in Sludge and Industrial manages to create that dreaded atmosphere.

Source: Noisey

Dragged Into Sunlight recently released a collaborative album with Gnaw Their Tongues, their French counterpart. This is not your regular split album. This is them writing songs alongside Maurice, the sole member of the band to create the most menacing concoction of this new wave of Blackened Sludge.


They will be touring extensively in 2016 with dates across Europe and the United States. Be sure to check them out if you have chance.


So for those who think extreme music is stagnant, try checking out Dragged Into Sunlight.

Daarchlea - Suns

Daarchlea is one of those bands that use elements that Metalheads are used to, elements that are familiar to the senses of those who dabble in such music yet are able to create something different. On the surface, one could easily throw names like Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir or to a certain extent, Emperor to describe the music played by this band.


While from their past releases there is a slight tinge of Middle Eastern scales in the music, the music on Suns barely has that but move on closer to the modern Black/Death sound, but with light clean vocals sprinkled on top. What is interesting about this band, and made them slightly different from their peers is that the band has decided to use Islamic themes and imagery in Suns.


From the lyrics, touching about creation from an Islamic perspective, to Islamic theology on Qhilav, the band was able to pull it off without feeling as if being forced fed while reading the lyrics or listening to the tracks. Everything is done in a semi-vague manner that uses Arabic terms, giving a sort of exotic feel, like the first time I read lyrcis by Norwegian bands who uses terms from Norse Mythology or how Anaal Nathrakh uses legal terms of Latin origin.

One may say it’s the band’s shtick. Considering how Islam plays a huge role in the daily affairs of a Malay-Muslim in Malaysia, this whole image is honest. In fact, as a non-religious man myself, I would say that this pretty bad ass.

Last I recalled, Malaysia wasn't as cold as Norway.

Since this isn’t an anthropology paper, let’s get back to the record. What struck me most is how every single element is represented greatly in the songs. Firstly, the vocal range by vocalist Al-Matin (Which actually translates to “The King” in French. I have no idea if he knows it though), is amazing. He could pull off deep growls that could very well fit in a Cattle Decapitation record and you could easily hear the words he enunciates. This isn’t some random growls that you could throw in a not figure out the words even when not reading the lyrics.


On the flip side of the coin, the Black Metal influence on the shrieks were done in a tasteful manner, that does not sounds like an annoying Dani Filth but sound closer to what Ihsahn pulled off in Anthems. To me, it was sort of surprising considering the band claimed to have Cradle of Filth as an influence in past interviews. While Nergal could be cited as an influence, none of the vocals were the mid-range bark that Nergal has.


As mentioned above, there were clean vocals here but don’t expect deep operatic vocals like Dimmu Borgir but you can expect vocals that are pseudo-calming like Ulver’s Bergtatt but used in a manner that wants to be operatic. The guitars were crisps clear and the modern production definitely helped a lot here. Every single riff had a purpose the transition between haunting guitar tremolos that they pulled off from a Norwegian Black Metal textbook really shines in between the modern Death Metal punches.


The Death Metal riffs aren’t the old school semi-thrash sounding riffs or even the New York, slam inducing riffs but its closer to the more to the straight up modern Death Metal of Kataklysm. There are NO GUITAR SOLOS here but who says you need guitar solos to create good extreme Metal? The riffs here are amazing enough that I don’t have much to complain.


However at one or two times the band sounds as if they were about to transition into a breakdown, making me fear that all that amazing energy accumulated might just go to waste. Then again, that is just a minor gripe and my bad experience of listening to the multitude of Deathcore clones that just doesn’t try to be different from one another.


Another thing that was ringing through my mind is that I wish the band has the bass cranked up higher. The bass here just sounds as if was a hitchhiker along with the ride. Like any traveller, he might have something interesting to say but at the end of the day he is not in the driver’s seat.

Daarchlea @ Rock The World '13. Sort of like a Malaysian Soundwave or Download Festival where bands of various genres play here so there will be Metal bands like Daarchlea thrown into the mix.

This is all layered by amazing drumming that uses the double pedals sparingly but has a knack of using the snare as every good Black Metal band should. The drum rolls to transition from part to another were amazingly connected that it felt like glue. If it weren’t present, the parts would just sound jarring and might fall apart. A lot of bands just skip the transition and expect that two drum beats could connect, and expect the band to just go on.


There are times it could work, say when the band is trying to pull off a surprise tempo change, just like how Cephalic Carnage does from time to time but a band that tries to put glue to different parts, will have to realize that you do need an adhesive, and that adhesive are those amazing drum rolls. Kudos on that.  


On the keyboards, yes keyboards. This is where the Cradle of Filth or Hecate Enthroned influenced comes in. Not only the keyboards replace the orchestra, they add a whole different atmosphere when the Death Metal sets in. It turns it from the conventional Death Metal to the soundtrack of a decapitator in medieval dungeons. Though I’m sure that is no what the band wants you to imagine with their lyrical themes but that is how it sounds like. The piano at times takes the leads and becomes the driving narrative.


On tracks like Qhilav, the piano sets up the battlefield before the battery charges in, creating that mystical feel, almost Goth-like set up. To add another twist to the band’s style, the piano takes it’s time to shine when all the other instruments are set to rest for a minute and gets accompanied by the sound of a Kompang in the instrumental track, Ascend to Arasy.


Kompang for the uninitiated is a Malaysian folk instrument that is similar to a tambourine with Arab origins, normally played during weddings.


I could assume that in future albums the band would add more of the Malaysian influence into the music.

#Hornthrone
Check out Daarchlea playing Suns in it's entirety on the 27th. Don't forget to stop by.

By the end of the record, it will dawn to you that this is a great example of a great modern sounding album. Everything is glued together without sounding so jarring. While many bands decide to combine various genre to create something unique this band combines the genres to make something that feels familiar on the surface but then later on closer inspection shows something slightly different.


The tone, or probably the musical “accent” that the band has, gives the band identity. I remember a while back in an interview that Mirai of Sigh said that them speaking Japanese 24/7 probably have accidently led to the band putting in their accents or the more melodic elements of the Japanese language into their song writing elements.


That probably made the band sound different from their other Black Metal peers. Daarchlea’s Suns, just like the amazing Malaysian record, Langsuyr’s Asyik has accidentally added the tone, the accents of the language or elements they pick up in life. It sounds Malaysian, it has the musical feel of a Malay-Muslim musical heritage and that is probably what made Daarchlea sound different from the rest. Get it for excellent Malaysian Black/Death Metal.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daarchleaofficial

Beginner's Guide on How to Interact with Non-Metalheads with "Transitional Bands"

transitional

tranˈzɪʃ(ə)n(ə)l,-ˈsɪʃ-/

relating to or characteristic of a process or period of transition.

As a Metal fan, I get pretty frustrated (and assume many others are) when our music gets misrepresented. We cringe when a band is tagged with the wrong subgenre. Of course Metallica isn't Death Metal they're Doom Metal. See what I did there? Unfortunately the way many respond to those claims are by unleashing hordes of keyboard vikings and attack them as if they just made the most racist comment in the history of the internet. Who can resist the Shakespearean nature of lines like;

you are so fucking stupid motherfucker slayer is one of the greatest thrash metal band and you motherfucker offended him. you better die motherfucker 

 And who else could not be charmed by the romantic poems like this;

eat shit for not liking black metal. I bet you listen to steel panther

No wonder Metalheads get misrepresented, these people never get the chance to be corrected. The worst part is that when new fans try to climb up the genre to something heavier (or for some, more extreme), they immediately get crushed by elitists, acting like Gollum.

Now, there are some people who will definitely not bulge and still make ignorant comments about how Metalheads are just potheads who never grew up. But like any form of bigotry, they would still stay bigots. The question is right now, how do you handle people who honestly want to know more about the subculture? Let's say somebody who already listens to Metalcore, or even Nu-Metal, and they want to know more or you want to recommend bands. It's stupid to suddenly shove them Anaal Nathrakh's "Between Shit and Piss We Are Born" and comprehend the madness behind it. Even the song title seems too extreme and might give them a heart attack. So this where you have to give them "transitional bands." These are bands that are heavier than usual but sort of accessible, to help them transition to heavier stuff. Now I'm not going to give traditional "Heavy Metal" bands like Sabbath, Priest, Maiden or Metallica since there's still possibility that they might stumble upon them in classic rock stations. These are tracks that they might come upon unless someone recommends them. Below are some recommendations:

1) At The Gates - Under A Serpent Sun

Why: Now this would seem like an obvious choice for some but here's the reasoning anyway. This track is fast, quick, catchy and is the basis of most modern Metalcore bands. It's something emo or Metalcore kids could easily latch too without being too alien. It may take time for them to get used of not having a breakdown during the bridge but by time there's a possibly they'll crave more for faster tracks and Thrash-ier riffs.

2) In Flames - Episode 666

Why: Well, simple the melody lines are just to get into but the riffs are crunchy enough to give them the "kicks." Most of In Flames is mid-paced anyway and this could give some variations to those don't something too fast.

3) Ludicra - In Fever

Why: This could be their first exposure to Black Metal, one of the more impenetrable subgenres due to their harshness, lofi aesthetics and elitist attitude. So instead of giving them Darkthrone's Transylvanian Hunger or Mayhem's Deathcrush, show them the "artsier" side of Black Metal. Another quality of this band is that the band has strong female figures and a charismatic female vocalist. At least you could dispel the stereotype that not all metal is chauvinistic and misogynist.  If they go down darker roads, that's just a positive but they just need a gateway.

4) Ulver - Capitel 1: I Troldskog Faren Vild

Why: Still too complex and heavy for them? How about something that's calming instead. This album practically inspired the whole Shoegaze and Post-Rock influenced bands in today's Black Metal. This track specifically has no shrieking vocals and could be a really calming track that even a non-Metalhead could enjoy. The folk influence could even crossover to some of your indie/hipster fans just like how it happened with the new gen of Shoegazers in Metal today. Just hope that they are able to open their minds to other tracks with the regular Black Metal vocals.

5) SubRosa - Borrowed Eyes, Borrowed Time

Why: This could be their introduction to Doom Metal. Accessible, catchy lyrics but with crushing guitar riffs. Probably the lightest between all of the recommendations here. Older and more traditional Doom Metal may come off as too cheesy for them, due to the 80s aesthetics. At least this kind of Doom is much more modern and more palatable for the modern ear.

Bonus:

(1) Listen to Agalloch's Pale Folklore though they might more likely to get into folk rock after listening to that instead.

(2) For your indie rock friends, listen to Vaura. It's a mix of Joy Division with Black Metal influences, from tremolos and blast beats. However, the band is barely Metal.

All in all, this might be easy listening to you, but you have to think from an outsider's context. Always remember, the rule of thumb is to not be an idiot shoving any of your precious metal CDs into their faces. Only give them these bands to them if they want to no matter how much you like those bands, or else it's like rape. No one likes rape. If you have any other tracks you may think is suitable (Enslaved? Opeth?), please do comment below.

PS/ Now I feel like a preacher teaching people how to convert. Ugghh.
PS2/ If you are not versed in metal, no Metallica is not Doom Metal, they're Thrash Metal.

Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.

Lord Mantis - Death Mask

When was the last time have you ever felt disturbed by a song? Not through psychology but through how grotesque is the subject matter. Music that was specifically designed and engineered to make you feel gross. Was it Butchered at Birth? Or the amazingly detailed, description in the vegan propaganda by way of Cattle Decapitation's Forced Gendered Reassignment?


Both takes "disturbing" to a different level. The idea was too push forward boundaries on what is acceptable in the realm of freedom of speech. In the words of Carcass's Jeff Walker in Sam Dunn's Metal Evolution;

"Dead corpse, dead corpse. Human or animal? What's the big deal?"

As time goes by, imitators go through the revolving door, trying to emulate these records. Some take gore to cartoon-ish levels that you can't help wonder if those bands are just parodies. It makes us wonder if the Metal scene has become too desensitized that any attempt to push buttons is futile. So what angle do bands go to after when gore, religion and even politics have been attacked?


Blackened Sludge monsters, Lord Mantis takes a different approach in stuffing it into your face. Knowing how the Metal scene has been masochist, male dominated and fueled by testosterone, the band decides to serve up an image of a tortured hermaphrodite instead. Though not the first band to do so, and they had previously used an amputated, gender switched Jesus Christ on a crucifix on their previous album before, the band was successful into making people feel disturbed.


What's best about the band attacking our senses is that they managed to question us, whether did we feel disturbed due to the violence demonstrated or the fact that the Metal scene still fears the exploration of sexuality in the scene.


They force you to ponder how violence has been done upon the transgender community and how Metal, despite being a case for misfits, haven't been the best scene for transgenders to mingle around.


Even women, despite how legitimate their taste are, has to make themselves more legitimate and have proof themselves, before hanging out with the boys. At that point, you realize that Metal isn't the escape from an oppressive force that we pretend to have, but an extension of a patriarchal society, extending their arms, to lock the doors to our "exclusive" club.

More family friendly-art so that you can buy the album as a Christmas gift for your 12 year old niece! 
(Make sure she doesn't google the album title.)

But this isn't a review on Jef Whitehead's art and the political critique that the band wishes him to espouse, nor is this an essay in a Gender Studies class. So the question now that might be ringing in the reader's head is that, whether the music corresponds to how disturbing is the material presented. Lord Mantis's music, throughout the years, shows the transition of disturbing imagery in Metal like the paragraph above. When they started off, the band's debut sounded cartoon-ish and almost into Municipal Waste like territory. Given, that they still play Sludge but the music shows that the band is still growing up. Their second album, Pervertor has a more matured sounding tone, but still looking for an actual sound to latch themselves onto. To be fair, that is how most experimental bands work. This album of theirs is a few notches of Pervertor by giving us the heaviest, Sludge riffs the band has ever written and with Black Metal shrieks that sounds like the screams of a man, narrating your death, while him being tortured at the same time.


The guitars come crushing in, by repeating those huge Sludgy riffs and are able to use monotony to their advantage. The best way to explain this concoction is to imagine a band playing Brutal Death Metal without using the elements of such. The tracks are slow, brooding and uses the thickest of all distortion applicable to a Sludge breakdown and play it like a slam riff. The fast brutal parts, normally associated with Death Metal, now is replaced and comes in the form of the faster Hardcore Punk influenced Sludge, with drums that blast like a Black Metal record.


While heavily influenced by Black Metal, especially it's more perverted forms, the band utilizes riffs off the e-string rather than tremolos that is normally used in the Scandinavian form. Tracks like Possession Prayer, uses the drums in a tribal state, that almost reflects the track title. The drums goes into a form of frantic and the vocals goes into frenzy territory that reminds me of the scarier moments of Anaal Nathrakh.


The stand out track for me would be Negative Birth, that probably has the most Black Metal influence in comparison. In fact, for most of the song is on a full on blast that could easily remind you of the gnarlier moments of Gorgoroth but the bass carries on the Sludge influence. While at breaks from the Black Metal fury the guitars were carrying the band was not afraid to pull off Sludge riffs, without compromising the song. Later on the album, the band goes into Doom Metal territory, as if showing off the range that the band has.


The last track Three Crosses though entertaining, seems to be a huge change in tone where the music becomes more and more melodic. In fact, I would say this crosses into Doom/Black category. Even the vocals here seem to be on a higher register, highlighting the Blackened atmosphere, well treading into Deppressive territory at times, crossed with guitar leads that could very well be on a Jesu track. In fact, I was half waiting for clean vocals to come in.

Judging from most broke Sludge bands, they probably live there too.

Despite how much I enjoy the album, there are several things that I don't get from the album. The track "You Will Gag For Your Fix" seems like a misplaced interlude that does not correspond with the rest of the album.


In fact, it could have been shorter, and just been slapped with Negative Birth to create one track. The build up felt like it was leading to something, only to face a dead end. The track doesn't even try to flow into Negative Birth. Another thing that perplexed me was the "robot voice" vocals in Coil. But that didn't get to me long, it was surprising me at first because I didn't expect it but I got used to it at the 2nd listen.

To sum it all up, the band takes Sludge into a different territory, by bursting into Black Metal when appropriate, as if trying to make a statement against the Shoegaze influenced Post-Black Metal bands that has been popular in the past few years.


It's as if Lord Mantis is trying to tell the rest of the world, there are many other ways to do the melodramatic build up that the Post-Rock bands have been trying to do. Sludge could be one of it, rather than creating half baked hybrids of Godspeed! You Black Emperor.


If the Post-Black Metal bands were using Post Rock in building up scenes of drama, then Lord Mantis is using Sludge to build up towards the horrific scenes in torture porn.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lordmantisofficial

Bandcamp: http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/death-mask

Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.

Cara Neir - Portals to a Better, Dead World

I don't mind me some Skramz or Post-Hardcore and I absolutely love my Black Metal. However, when I hear this eclectic mix of Skramz, Post-Hardcore, Crust Punk and Black Metal I get confused. On paper, this thing is something the Metal scene would definitely hate.

Somebody has the guts to take my precious Metal and dip it into cauldron of different subcultures that have a bad track record in doing so?

Yes, the Metal scene is very much like Gollum. But if you were to take all those bias tendencies and open up your mind a little, you would find this record is amazing. After all, would you have found Metal if your mind was weld shut in the first place?

Obligatory forest photo. You need them for proper Trvepoints^TM . For Kvltpoints^TM, get a Candelabra and xerox your photos 10X instead.

Cara Neir is band that is really hard to pigeonhole a genre onto. Aptly, enough, the band stays away from cornering themselves into one by just calling their music "Experimental Black Metal" if that makes sense to you. The band refuses to stay into the norm set by musicians of yesteryears and changes their sound from one record to another.

Their 1st album has a Post-Rock/Doom Metal/Black Metal mix while their EP right after this album I am reviewing plays Black Metal that has strong Post-Hardcore influence, and has Sludgy moments, all rolled into one short Grindcore-length micro-song. (It's called The Overwatch and you can buy it here)

So this album takes a different route and decided to go for a crossover appeal. To say that this is merely a Skramz influenced Black Metal album is an oversimplification. This is more than that.

The way this album starts isn't exactly how you would imagine a Metal album should. The first few notes could easily get a Metalhead question whether they got the wrong record. The distortion was light, and the chords were more in an uplifting manner, rather than the usual bitter sounds of a frostbitten Black Metal band.


Now from those words, the first thing that many would imagine is the band Deafheaven, that has combined Shoegaze, Skramz, Post-Hardcore and Black Metal into polarizing effects. Where Deafhaven sounds like a bunch of Shoegazers trying to play Black Metal, Cara Neir sounds more like a Black Metal band trying to play Skramz.


It's like an immigrant who settles into another country and learn their language, no matter how well they know their grammar or phrases, there would be a sense of discordance while they speak in those first few years. They retain their accent, and remain distinct in the community.


If Deafheaven was a Shoegaze immigrant who planted their flag into Black Metal country, Cara Neir sounds like a Black Metal band who has a PR status in Skramz country. Even in the vocals show the difference between the "accents."


The vocal style from the Punk spectrum, when they try to scream in their more metallic genres, has a degree of melody that is still in the throat, not allowing a full shriek to occur. Cara Neir does the opposite by trying to add melody in that shriek but mostly retaining a harsh vocal sound in their throat.


It is exactly how you are not sure whether the album cover belongs to a Skramz band or not as the leanings are much more closer to Metal instead. Now the PR status may conjure images of that person returning to his homeland once in a while, despite adopting a new home. Well, that is what happens in this record.


Every time the guitars decideds to take a break from the blasting and the well programmed drums, enter a drum transition, the distortion gets heavier and the tremolo becomes more of a common feature. By the time the track Red Moon Foreboding rolls in, the Skramz is kept to a minimum.


Now even though the tracks becomes "Blackened" as many journalists may say, this album is not influenced by the Marduk branch of Black Metal but more like the artsy side of it, like Ulver or even Enslaved. As if being foreshadowed by the record title, the music does go to darker pastures. In fact, towards the 2nd half of the record, instead of having the vocals being shriek over,


Death Metal-esque low growls take the center stage while also showing off the vocal range of vocalist Chris Francis. The last track, 3380 Pounds, carries on a Doom-laden vibe, and at times teasing you with sounds that could easily accompany the more Doom influenced Agalloch songs. At points, the guitar starts to drift to folk influenced riffs that you would associate more with the more melodic Scandinavian bands instead.

The artsy side of Punk has not only influenced their music. Their lyric-writing, takes into a pseudo-philosophical approach, filtered through the eyes of life in the suburbs.


I have to admit, most of the lyrics here has a very poetic-sounding touch, that can only be written if someone were exposed to modern depressive poetry that at times can make no sense at all. Below is taken from the track Forlorn Love (even this sounds like a cheesy Skramz title)

The stupid cupids grant your wish and summon sister's laws and cheat your way in
Henry murdered Karen and the spoiled son too, he knew this spider had spun a past vile

The band may have something hidden under it, but I'm not getting the message here. Now older, Skramz bands also have the same philosophical approach but I'm am not well versed in it so whatever references that have made here, goes over my head.

To wrap it all up, while if you were to allow your Black Metal to gain a bit of influence from here and there, you might enjoy it. I definitely do, but I have a wider range of music than the average person has. A regular Black Metal fan who wants to keep it pure, as I can imagine will definitely hate it.

In fact, I would call this Deafheaven without the the Post-Rock parts that come off as pretentious and has well avoided the constant blasting, and allow the drummer (or in the case the computer drums) to go the Amebix route, and drum like a Crust band instead.

This is a rough experimentation on the crossover appeal to the artsier side of Punk and from the artsier side of Black Metal. It's Circle Takes the Square blended with early Ulver. One day, when this genre becomes an established trope, I'm sure many would trace back roots to this album.

PS/ I enjoyed this more than Sunbather. Come get me hipsters.
PS2/ I used the term Skramz instead of Screamo so that people don't get confused with the modern usage by shitty modern "Screamo" bands


Bandcamp: http://caraneir.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caraneir


I'm not putting out a youtube video this time because it's unfair for the band to be judged from one track alone. The whole album needs to be listened as one for that gradual change in tone throughout the album.

Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.

Slugdge - Gastronomicon

Slugdge's Gastronomicon is a post-modernist Black/Death/Sludge Metal masterpiece, that can only exist today, due to the establishment of tropes. Matt Ross and Kev Pearson are the Dan Harmon of the Metal scene and unfortunately like Mr. Harmon, isn't given enough attention. For those who don't know what is postmodernism, may have difficulties in reading this post but here's a short definition, courtesy of Lord Google;

noun: postmodernism; noun: post-modernism

1. a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.

There are many ways this band reminds me of Dan Harmon's Community. It takes the conventions, typically seen their respective media. Dan Harmon takes the tropes he has seen through television and movies while Slugdge takes the over the top lyrics of bands singing Lovecraftian themes, mythology, cosmic dangers and blends all of them to create their own folklore, with intergalactic cosmic slug conquerors in the place of Chthulu this time.


Using that gimmick and not going so serious about it, the bands glorifies these tropes, celebrates them as it is the identity of the subculture, while pulling off something comedic. We don't laugh at the tropes, we laugh at the comedy created through the tropes. Just like how Community, glorifies pop culture and nerdery (for a lack of a better term) making you laugh along with the nerds, rather than laughing AT the nerds like a certain TV show. How can one not feel the majesty of the Ancient Slug One when reading quotes like this;

"Rhaexorog the lord of all protector of what lies beyond
the greatest of the chosen ones, anointed of the netherslugs "

 And not laugh at the same time that the destruction of our universe and galaxy is at the hands of a creature known to be killed by our Grandmothers using kitchen salt in our garden. Surely somewhere out there a little kid is screaming "ewww" while pouring salt all over these slimy creatures (You're welcome, now you have your weekend schedule filled). At that point, the band is not what you are laughing at, but the actual content of the lyrics. As if rewarding us, the bands uses puns as reference to great bands of yesterday, as an audio equivalent of a battle vest.

Exactly how Community is already fun as it is, but you could spot the Stanley Kubrick or West Wing references in the episodes, you will get an extra kick and feel special. Dan Harmon managed to pull in the people who understood those complicated reference in the background and make them belonged in the universe of Community.

They feel as if they are part of that universe, a universe that understands their sense of humor and that is what this band is also doing through their lyrics and song titles. Salters of Madness is truly streets ahead. Same as the lyric content, you feel as if you were pulled into that universe. What may seem as something alien, becomes familiar to you as only the ones who know the genre conventions know where it is heading.

Where slugs roam free

Just like the elaborate set-up, and the genre pastiche that Community uses, Slugdge were not afraid to combine every single influence they have and they wear it proud. Community uses the sitcom format while presenting tributes to Mad Max, John Woo action movies, and Doctor Who being channeled through Inspector Spacetime, while Slugdge doesn't give a fuck about the genre conventions and did something honestly original.


While primarily using Death Metal as their template, the Black Metal influence comes in the tremolo, and the atmosphere, reminding me of mid-era Behemoth. Rather than purely blasting their way through with double bass and picking up the pace like Nile, the band balances their slow parts in the verses with blistering speed only when necessary.


In fact, at times, the band sounds doomy and may very well stay in the mid-paced Death/Doom region but then all of a sudden Black Metal comes in to rip off your face. The sound resembles exactly their subject matter of slugs. They may come off slow when you see them from a far, but when you look at their gross faces you, feel as if you were just sucked at rapid pace into that horrendous black hole of terror.


Then when you thought that the tracks were just on the brutal end of the spectrum, clean operatic vocals strike in. Like God Dethroned's In The Sign of the Iron Cross, the clean vocals serves as a menacing though of how majestic is this. In any good pseudo-opera vocals, the clean vocals in this album were served with echo, simulating an experience where the music consumes you and surrounds you, despite being in a massive cavern.


Just when you thought they ran out of tricks, songs like The Sound of Mucus come in and play a hard hitting Sludge tempo and catchy riffs, that could easily remind you the heavier tracks of Kylesa. The semi clean vocals on this part sounds less operatic and visceral, as if trying to remind you that the threat you are about to see is real and will cause grievous hurt.

Just like Slugs, real versions of college aren't that fun. Slugs must be spelled with capitals now.

All in all, Slugdge just like Community, can even be enjoyed even if you were to just enjoyed Death Metal for a year. Maybe you would pass it off as another record, just as many decides to skip this and watch Parks & Rec instead but you cannot deny the brilliance of it. However, it's the ones that understood what were the band was talking about and why did Dan Harmon decide to pull off an action movie in a 30 minute sitcom with paintballs, that will enjoy the full extend of this record.


Oh, did I mention it was free on their bandcamp? It's free!

Bandcamp: http://slugdge.bandcamp.com/
Slugdge: https://www.facebook.com/Slugdge

If you are too lazy to download:

Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.

Daarchlea - Dher Phalse Mesaya

I'm not a Muslim, nor am I a religious man. In fact, agnosticism and skepticism, has always been proper descriptors to my "belief system" ever since my teens. So when I first heard that there is a band that uses Islamic imagery and Arabic/Middle Eastern influences in their music I was a bit skeptical.


Not so much on the usage of Middle Eastern influence in the music but how well do Islamic teaching goes with metal, and in this case Melodic Death Metal with Black Metal influences. Bands like Melechlesh, Behemoth, and even Nile have well integrated Middle Eastern influences in their music. Christianity has also dabbled with Black Metal, ranging from utterly cheesy "I love Jesus" but in a pagan-esque way, to the old testament, vengeful God portrayal that could make me say "Hallelujah" in a heartbeat.


The closest I thought an Islamic tone ever work in Extreme Music was in a sarcastic manner like what the Hardcore Punk band, Fearless Iranians From Hell had as a gimmick. Even Taqwacore Punk bands were sort of cheesy.

By the time I saw this videoclip, let's say my skepticism has sort of quelled. The Islamic imagery seems to work well, akin to the Old Testament vibe that most Christian Metal bands have. The band however employs a sense of Sunni-Supremacy ideologue (to a certain extend, I suspect anti-Shiite), for the lack of a better term. Also, clearly showing the influence on their song title. "Dher Phalse Mesaya." Reminded me of the Muslim Hardcore Punk badasses at the end of the movie Taqwacore, Bilal's Boulder. Whether they should be celebrated for those views, it's up to you to judge. I'm not here to be Reza Aslan or to debate the tenets of a religion that I only understand the basics of.

Now on the music instead. The band employs quick paced melody lines, and by quick paced I mean alternating between blast beats, complex rollings and your regular Death Metal double bass.Now judging from that song only, the band does not seem shy to show their Black Dahlia Murder influence. At times they jump to Dimmu Borgir like clean vocals that somehow managed to fit well into the song. Normally when bands copy Demon Burger, they order an extra slice of melted cheese with it. The droopy ones were my concern. All in all, I can say the track sounds like a very melodic Behemoth, with clean vocals towards the end.

Now these, bad boys (maybe holy would be a better adjective) also have an album, coming out this 27th of August. Even their album inlay has the Arabic influence all over it. To be honest, I thought this was a nice alternative to the typical artwork most Metal bands had.

Don't forget to check out Suns, on the 27th of August and their album launch where they will be playing the whole album, on the 27th of September at Alt HQ, Bukit Bintang. Will definitely be there.

https://www.facebook.com/daarchleaofficial

Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.

Tombs - Savage Gold

This is one hell of unique sounding band. In this era of how music is starting to stagnate and bands just copy and mimic each other rather than crafting their own identity, listening to the band is like climbing out of your six foot deep grave. Crushed under the weight of dirt, but refreshing to get out of that tomb.

The band's style is a unique take on Black Metal, infused with Post Metal leanings you might hear on Neurosis a but, sprinkled with Sludgy goodness and a Post-Punk influence that they're not afraid to show off. Savage Gold isn't their debut but the album has been long anticipated, after gaining some notoriety in the underground. In fact, Decibel Magazine described the band's album as the most anticipated album in 2014. That tag, with the amount of bands that the journalists at Decibel Magazine has to listen, carries A LOT of significance for this band.

This one of the tracks from the album. Trippy video clip. This is like Post-Black Metal on acid. Maybe that's how they get their uniqueness? ;)

While for some of us, we might not be able to get their album directly, you can always check out their tracks on spotify. Their other albums are on it and it's a great alternative rather than just downloading it illegally. At least the band gets some advertising revenue from the streaming service. Keep the money flowing for our favourite bands, and we get to hear more of them.

Don't forget to click like on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TombsBklyn

This is Aural Chaos

Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.