Absentia Lunae - "Historia Nobis Assentietvr" CD

An Italian black metal act, Absentia Lunae's second full-length (which translates from Latin as "History Will Prove Us Right") begins promising enough, with the experimental, wartime soundscapes of "Neuropa Calling". From there, these boys successfully fuse some unusual elements to their scaldingly fast and nihilistic metal. "Senteza Al Criterio" is a rollercoaster of highs and lows, from the generic blastbeats it opens with, to the almost Morricone-like Western vibe (with martial drumming) it ends up with. Nice work there, combining black metal with some different tempos and moods. "Nel Gelido..." also has this wise variance and plenty of shifts. "l'immutabile Richiamo.." even breaks with the Cookie-Monster vocals for a chorus that reminds almost of Fear Factory's Burton Bell, full of swooning gothic melody. The deep, spooky atmospheres of the closing cut, "Il Sole Ritrovato.." are fine enough to stand alone. Tie it all up with some nicely clear recording and mixing, and you have an album with plenty of power, proving that Absentia Lunae are striving for more than simply "black metal". Solid work, and a band that has much to offer for extreme/metal listeners. (ATMF)

Absentia Lunaespace

The Snake The Cross The Crown - "On A Carousel Of Sound, We Go Round" DVD/CD

Great news for fans of underrated indie rock act The Snake The Cross The Crown (like me)...Seriously, I love these guys' music, thanks to Chris Tracey for bringing them to my attention! It seems the band are releasing a DVD documentary, packaged with a CD of unreleased and B-side recordings...the film is directed by Nicholas Kleczewski, and is available for preorder through the Snake The Cross's website, though the UPS shipping of $9.00 minimum outright sucks, and prevents me from ordering immediately. Anyway, the trailer is now available, and here it is. These guys are so very good, and receive so little attention. Check out their CDs on Equal Vision, "Mander Salis" and "Cotton Teeth", which assimilate both Dylan and Radiohead, so if either of those artists appeal to your way of thinking, you should look at this. Pronto. Great guys, too. Saw them play a tiny bar in Eville (Indiana) to almost NO crowd, shamefully, a few years back. Support music like this...really!

The Snake The Cross website

The Snake Crossspace

The Black - "Alongside Death" CD

These Swedish lads have no qualms about opening their latest with a pair of blasting, buzzing, trebly black metal xeroxes. I had tuned them out after a few minutes, even. No dynamics, no diversity, and in other words, utterly forgettable. The third cut, "A Contract Written In Ashes" finally slows things down, and basically shows a more developed direction with varying tempos and their classic metal roots showing. The rest of the LP, save for the refreshingly bleak, moody, and ambient instrumental "The Wrath From Beneath", further embraces the stereotypes and limitations of the black metal scene. I think The Black have some better material waiting to be released, as this one's pretty well another blur of black metal redundancy. (Pulverised)

The Blackspace