Hexis - XI

Procella by Hexis

Post-Hardcore with even vague Black Metal influences hardly goes down this smooth. Hexis (facebook) is a metallic Hardcore band that takes an approach to their Metal influences not unlike both Celeste and The Secret did before them, layered in feedback, sometimes dissonant sometimes melodic tremollo picking and a compromise between epic and complex structures. When looking at the continuity in quality of their songs, it’s obvious this band is tapping from a wide array of influences, mixing them to a cocktail that could very well deliver (at least equally) amazing songs for a looong time to come.
Last Fm tags as post-metal, post-hardcore, black metal, chaotic hardcore, hardcore

click the image above to buy stuff directly from the band

Iskra/Doom Siren Split

Privileged Morality by Iskra

Gun Drone by Doom Siren

Crusts do it better. Doom Siren (myspace) is a death metal band I just can’t imagine not slam dancing to, and Iskra (website) bring some of the most awesome blackened tremolo-picking riffs that graced your ears. The latter have recorded their finest work to date, for this split, and on the other side of it Doom Siren brings you amazing, yet simplistic and old school yet melodic metal.
Last fm tags as crust, blackened crust, black metal, hardcore,anarchist black metal, grindcore, crust, crustcore, punk, hardcore 

click the image above to be redirected to the label that released this record, and email them here to order it!

Out Of The Box On Sunday XXIX

Command Of The Formless by Pale Chalice

BWWWOOOO))))AAAAAHHHHHH
Last fm tags as black metal, usa black metal, usbm, metal,american black metal

Young And In The Way – V. Eternal Depression

The Great Blue Norther by Young And In The Way

This is a band who, on previous releases, reminded a lot of the blackened crust subdivision, with only hints of hardcore music. On this release, Young And In The Way (website) seem to have shed any links to any form of punk music to play an all out blackened metal style of auditory onslaught. From the uptempo crispy but still melodic tremolo-picking guitars to the suicidal atmospheric style of ambience, they pull out all the stops and give a genuine signature touch to all of the above. The growling vocals are straight up nasty and the varying tempos in between songs pulls you back and forth like a bungee-cord.
Last fm tags as crust, hardcore, blackened crust, black metal,sludge

click the image above to buy this record directly from their record label!

Out Of The Box On Sunday XVI

 listen to Thieves by The Funeral Pyre, as a preview to this record

With all the shoegazing black metal-influenced bands popping up, I start turning back tot his release. The Funeral Pyre (blog) is a long active band that had symphonic elements on their previous releases, but dropped those for an extra  guitarist and a butt-load of melodic influences. When bands, coming out of  some sort of black metal scene, turn to the melodic approach, they seem to lose most of their oomph, to make room for that very melody. Leave it tot his band, coming out of metalcore,  to discover and display a seemingly perfect compromise between grim black metal and dark melodic metal(core). No children of bodom guitar wankery or soilwork whining vocals. Just straight up blastbeats and 180 BPM tremolo picking, that occasionally blends into an atmospheric sound which could appeal to people who prefer that side of blackened metal. In their later releases, they added some sludgy downtempo interludes and build-ups to the mix. But this is surely the highlight of their oeuvre.
Last fm tags as melodic death metal, black metal, death metal, blackened death metal, metalcore  

click the image above to support this band, by buying stuff directly from them

Martyrdöd – In Extremis

 listen to In Extremis by Martyrdöd

Martyrdöd (myspace) a Swedish hardcore band with a broad spectrum of black metal -influences added to their crusty metal sound. ambient and haunting metallic melodies clashing with that  stenchore OOMPH! the pitch black darkness of atmospheric black metal compliments the dark hardcore brand of crust music as . making for the most interesting sound in the latest musically progressive waves in the anarcho scene. these swedes had released a self-titled record before this one, and the album 'Sekt', more recently.
Last fm tags as crust, blackened crust, d-beat, hardcore, black metal 

click the image above to order this album or some of their shirts.

Okkultokrati – No Light For Mass

 listen to Walking Sleep, Sleeping Eye by Okkultokrati

Black ’n Roll is probably the most ridiculous musicterm that I consider accurate enough to refer to. Gritty with a dark undercurrent and rock’n roll grooves, like Marduk or Darkthrone pursue(d). Perhaps Okkultokrati (myspace) have what modern bands in pursuit of this sound lack, a foundation in hardcore music. The typical vocals with a tad too much of a delay effect, as if they were recorded in a dungeon, and mid-tempo guitars that play smooth transitions between noisy (punk) rock in the vein of (the latest albums by) Black Flag and black metalish rock in the vein of Venom.

Last fm tags as black metal, hardcore, hardcore punk, punk, norwegian

click the image above to buy the band's merch

Neige Morte - Neige Morte

listen to Need Some Air by Neige Morte from their self-titled album and let it speak for itself.

BWOOOOAAAAAHHHHH))))

Last fm tags this as  noise, black metal, experimental, ambient,french

click the image above to buy this release from the Aurora Borealis record label!

out of the box on sunday IV

Let the record show that I am (and have been ever since discovering it altogether) hugely into the darkest of Black Metal bands. Lurker Of Chalice, Weakling, Deathspell Omega, Vehementer Nos, Blut Aus Nord, Dragged Into Sunlight, ... they just rev my engine.
German one-man studio project The Ruins of Beverast (too kvlt for the interwebz) is the pinnacle of said breed of blackened metal. I imagine that this project is the outcome of one man's uncompromised outtake on what music should sound like. without other bandmembers sticking their nose in his creative proces, telling him what to do what not to do, or any compromise in between. these songs are pure and uncut soundtracks to a bunch of musicnerds roleplaying a satanic ritual. you can just feel Beelzebub knocking on the floor, directly underneath your feet as every pulsing resonance lurks him closer, while thinking "Bring. It. On" as it adrenalizes you as well.
Last fm tags as black metal, atmospheric black metal, ambient black metal, depressive black metal, german

too kvlt for the internet

Celeste - Pessimiste(s) (remastered 2010)

 listen to Diluons nos souvenirs d'enfance by Celeste

Celeste (Facebook page) is an eclectic band that rose from the ashes of french Screamo masters Mihai Edrisch. they play a coherent mix of diverse influences, from screamo to post-metal to downtempo black metal and a broad-minded range of hardcore music. they have released 4 albums which always had the most incredible artwork, and recently remastered and then repressed the first of those releases. when you place their records alongside eachother, their individual sounds are also very coherent. maybe not enough variation for some, but I'd prefer a straight forward decent band over a band that juggles between beneath average and above average songs any day.
on another note, I would like to mention that this band is probably the coolest band I've ever seen live. they have this gimmick, in which they make the room pitch black, use a stroboscope, an overabundance of smoke from a fog machine and a faint miner light attached to their foreheads. when you add that up you get the eeriest and most alien visual display.  it's the raddest thing ever, especially in combination with this pitch black music.
Last fm tags as screamo, sludge, post-hardcore, black metal, french

click the image above to order records or merch directly from the band!

for this certain release, check the site of denovali records