What I've Been Listening To

Hi Everyone,

It's been a very long time. I got bored of writing about new music in a corporate setting and simply stopped a little over a year ago. I found a very old download blog I curated and remembered a simpler time when we would show each other what we found instead of hyping the latest Relapse Records or whatever release. No more paid promotion, no more PR lists, just what I have at my disposal. Here are five albums I've been enjoying lately.

Thanks,
Jon

1) Mournful Moon - Twilight,My Passion*

Melodic, melodic, melodic black metal from Greece, sounding more like Far Away From The Sun than His Majesty At The Swamp. Lots of sharp, pointed guitars and goopy, oozing keys to be found, plus some great vocals. Their last album (the purple one) is also great.

*note the lack of space post-comma. extra cult.

MY PASSION

2) Lungfish - Feral Hymns

So this is a bit of a departure from anything we ever covered on this blog before. Lungfish are (were?) an emo band? Meditative punk? Drone rock? Fuck if I know, but vocalist Daniel Higgs should never shut up ever. Feral Hymns, after twenty years, received a proper vinyl treatment by their home label, the famous Dischord Records. Even if Lungfish are in a perpetual state of Schrodinger's Band Activity, this reissue gives me a modicum of hope that maybe, maybe I'll get to see them one day.

Time Is A Weapon

3) Convulsing - perdurance

The brainchild of Australian multi-instrumentalist and multi-disciplinary artist Brendan Sloan, progressive/avant-garde/weirdo-blackened-death-metal mastery can be found within perdurance's hallowed halls. The third proper Convulsing record, perdurance's emotional and physical intensities are unmatched, using jagged transitions and dime-turn, bouncing riffs to convey a variety of colors, shapes, and sounds unheard in death metal before. Also, Brendan is a stellar person.

Ferocious and Smart

4) Lone Sentinel - Vampyric Obsolescence

Simply put, this is the best dungeon synth album of the year. I know it's only April. Shut up. Having seen most of this album performed live on multiple occasions, there is a metallic intensity found here (no doubt due to the harsh vocals, live drums, and real guitars) that most "black metal inspired dungeon synth" completely misses. The Lone Sentinel can also be found in Sorrowmoon, who recorded my favorite record of 2024.

Eternal Devotion To The Old Gods

5) Hateful Abandon - Threat

After a decade-long wait, Hateful Abandon are back. Those of us who are old remember SWINE and VICE MARTYR's (now V/M) early-to-mid 2000s forays into depressing, raw black metal (even this project's roots are as such), but Hateful Abandon's own full-length works have always been much more interesting and peculiar. Drawing from a host of gothic and industrial influences, Hateful Abandon's existence from 2006 onward was always a favorite of mine, reaching a pinnacle at Threat. This is heavier than your favorite death metal band.

WHITE KNUCKLE TENSION