Welcome to the land of the buzz and rumble . . . This month’s installment of Through a Speaker Rumbly is called . . .
ARTEFACTS OF UNPRONOUNCEABLE EVIL!
There’s a certain eldritch mystique to a band whose name you can’t even begin to pronounce. Not to mention how immediately inaccessible a band can come off when their moniker looks like they just leg-dropped the keyboard and went with whatever series of letters appeared. And you know we worship inaccessibility here at Through a Speaker Rumbly.
HÄXENZIJRKELL
(TASR’s [unofficial] pronunciation suggestion: Hawks’n’Zí’jerkle)
Thus far Germany’s Häxenzijrkell’s only material available to the public is this single thirteen minute opus called “Lughnasadh.” (We’re gonna go with “Lug Nasa duh.”) After an initial run of 80 home-dubbed cassettes depleted quicker than a sleeve of Ritz crackers in High On Fire’s tour bus, Amor Fati swooped in and grabbed up the rights to a repress of the “cassingle.” Thirteen minutes may not seem like enough metal for your money, but the track goes by like an elephant funeral procession while UFOs hover overhead, eulogizing via hypnotic intercoms. There’s the warm, ectoplasmic atmosphere of the tape, but then there’s the guitars and the drums, all disembodied and phantom, like another radio station bleeding through. Speaking of, definitely don’t jam this one while driving. Or do. But only if it’s at night and you’re climbing up some Lynchian serpentine hills and you’ve got somewhere cosmic to be.
LJOSAZABOJSTWA
(TASR’s [unofficial] pronunciation suggestion: Actually, we’re waiting to hear back from our linguistics expert on this one.)
At first glance, Minsk’s Ljosazabojstwa may seem like a black metal band. And they are, in a way. Sort of like how Archgoat is a black metal band? Except . . . this isn’t exactly bestially or martially inclined, either. These Belaruskies have no time for preconceived notions–which you’ll notice immediately upon hitting play. Staražytnaje licha strikes hard with the rage of Menelaus; other times it pursues, sable-coated and sleek through murky sudamerican jungles. Sometimes it’s just otherworldly. The drummer’s got this rabid attack that’ll shift into a gnarly groove before you know what’s hit you; the vocals are growly and hollow; the guitars switch seamlessly from death-doom leads into barbaric blackened assaults and back again with veteran finesse; and we’re pretty sure that’s a synth haunting the second track. A few copies of LSZB’s demo (that’s a band-sanctioned abbreviation, mind you) landed stateside, but with the demo being free to stream/download on Bandcamp, only the tr00bs of d00m are nabbing the tangible. Too bad because Ljosazabojstwa sound best when you imagine yourself in the early ‘90s, jamming their tape after getting it on accident with a huge Osmose order. More than just an unexpected surprise, though, Staražytnaje licha is one of the best demos you’ll hear all year. We guarantee it*.
[Let it be known and understood that neither Through a Speaker Rumbly, nor Decibel Magazine, nor Red Flag Media guarantee you anything. Except that someday, as with all living things on this planet, someday you will die.]
KUSENPOLTTAMARUUMIS
(TASR’s [unofficial] pronunciation suggestion: Koo-Zen’pot-tama-roomies)
Just two Helsinkians make up Kusenpolttamaruumis. Which means “piss-burned corpse,” by the way–or so we’ve heard. That sounds about right. Kusenpolttamaruumis’ self-titled demo is, cutting to the chase like they do: d-beat-powered blackened grind. Similar to what’s going on in Finland right now with bands like Scumripper and Obduktio. Most of the time these two guys are just galloping along, astride their black horses of crustilence, lopping off heads with black-smoke emitting chainsaws whenever they can. But occasionally the moonlight captures the Kusenpolttamaruumis duo just so and shit gets evil. Then it’s right back to the carefree, reckless, “let’s drink battery acid and burn stuff with our piss, dude!” attitude. If nothing else, it’s evident that Albrecht, the drummer, and Peksujeff, the dude who does everything else, are having a great time killing people with all these purulent beats, rusty razor riffs and depraved vocals. And somehow, like Ljosazabojstwa’s tape, there are yet copies of Kusenpolttamaruumis’ self-titled demo tape out there, just collecting dust in distros. Meanwhile they’ve already released another album, but digitally only. They’re hoping dudes like you and me will pony up the cash so they can put it one out on tape for us to buy, too. Total support!
That’s it for this month’s installment of Through a Speaker Rumbly. Remember, if you don’t buy it you don’t own it! Only material possession is real!
