Devouring Ghost - Devouring Ghost Soundtrack (2015)

 Genre: Black Metal
Country: United States

In recent years Mark McCoy has imbued raw black metal with a sense of artistry that has allowed him to create some of the most interesting work in the genre. On the surface he offers everything fans of this style could ask for - blackened dirges delivered in succinct bursts of punk-fueled riffage - but conceptually his releases are often far from the simplistic racket of his contemporaries. His Arts project and its Vault of Heaven album contained all the crudity and ugliness of raw black metal while daring to toy with its structural convention. Hallow dissembled BM and noise into an experience wholly more harrowing than the sum of its parts. Even his more "straightforward" projects - Devil's Dung, Ancestors, Haxan - exude a modicum of depth rarely felt within the genre. His newest project Devouring Ghost continues this trend. Created as the musical accompaniment to his latest exhibition, Devouring Ghost is a soundtrack comprised of stripped down black metal tracks that represent "the transience and mutability of a technically-constructed world."

Devouring Ghosts is Armageddon set to a black metal album. It certainly delivers on Mr. McCoy's promises; it's a viscerally driven and bare-bones BM pieces that successfully employs each of the genre's most well known tropes. On a cursory run-through that may be all it seems, and while undoubtedly enjoyable, leaves a bit to be desired as a whole. However, like most of his projects, repeated listens begin to belie how sinister and complex these hymns truly are. An undercurrent of chord progressions and ambient embellishments sneakily move beneath the more pronounced music, lending tracks like "Intamin" and opener "Trail Severed Grain" vast and winding soundscapes that one would not initially expect them to possess. This grandiosity while awe-inspiring, is far from welcoming. Evocative of a world flaming in monochromatic post-apocalyptic destruction, there is something so mechanical about the record's cold tonality that perfectly satisfies its thematic ambitions. Close your eyes and see a gray-tinted wasteland, littered with the mechanisms we are now so heavily reliant on. If Devouring Ghost was meant to portray the ambivalence in which we race to our inevitable destruction, it has done so with frightening accuracy.

Mark McCoy never fails to impress, and his newest project is no different; in fact, it may be one of his strongest yet. If you're not the type who can be bothered with conceptual tom-foolery but are a fan of raw, destructive black metal than you can still find plenty of enjoyment from Devouring Ghosts. For those of you who enjoy a terrifying narrative woven into terrifying music, Devouring Ghosts will be one of your favorite black metal albums of 2015.

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Monte - "Remote Clairvoyant Continuum" (2015)

Genre: Lo-fi Ambient
Country: France?

Drowned out, lo-fi ambient music with lots of tropical vibes. Not a game changer but certainly worthwhile.

Remote Clairvoyant Continuum

Amethystium- Transcience (2014)

Genre: New Age/Ambient/Darkwave
Country: Norway

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to frolic through celestial meadows with telekinetic cows and friendly elves in a serene, lush world without death, decay and madness? If so I have the right album for you. Featuring lush strings, laid-back percussion, hushed vocals and a otherworldly atmosphere that is just overflowing with melancholy, Transcience is everything that your heart chakra needs and more.

http://bandcamp.am.mu/album/transience

Varg - Ursviken (2015)

Genre: Dark Ambient
Country: Sweden

I've really been into this guy's music since I first heard him on last year's Field Records - Collection (which is a damn fine collection of assorted ambient goodies). Like Varg's other work it feels like walking through a blizzard. A lot of the more synth-ier parts remind me of Paysage d'Hiver, who share similar iced out aesthetics.

Ursviken
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K (Ivan Kamaldinov) - Lumi (2015)

Genre: Minimal Ambient/ Drone/ Field Recordings

Country: Russia

Dreamy, Ethereal, Blissful, this album has everything you could want from minimal ambient. Ever so slow progressions and layer upon layer of lo-fi ambience build up a rich atmosphere, and a cloud of easygoing ambient synths. Small amounts of distortion and static are implemented behind these layers of silky ambience, creating a more personal relationship with the listener, but still keeping that dream-like atmosphere that makes this album so beautiful. Overall solid album, I highly recommend this album to fans of William Baskinski and Datavis. 

https://kamaldinov.bandcamp.com/album/lumi

M. Sage - No Same River Twice (2014)

Genre: Ambient / Field Recordings
Country: United States

M. Sage has a special knack of twisting simplistic beauty into something fragile and haunting. With No Same River Twice he continues down the vein of his other releases from this year, uniting distant guitar pluckings with drones and field recordings. The music retains a fairly basic formula (excluding the track 'Stumbling Blocks, where he gets a bit eccentric on a drum kit), however Sage manages to manipulate these sounds to create a distinctive somber atmosphere which I haven't found on many other releases from the big '14. Perfect for a rainy Sunday morning or a 2 AM identity crisis.

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Black Cilice / Dead Procession (2013)

Genre: Black metal / Ambient / Drone
Country: Portugal

Interesting split with Black Cilice providing their usual brand of raw noisy black metal alongside fellow countrymen Dead Procession who provide a side of drone/ambient with distant haunting vocals. Two brilliant projects that both deserve attention.

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Nahvalr - Nahvalr (2008)

Genre: Black Metal, Ambient, Noise
Country: United States

Before Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga was Have a Nice Life, they were Nahvalr. Very little similarities can be drawn from the two bands musically because one is a shoegaze post-punk band while the other is a noisy black metal band. Really, the only similarity that could be drawn are the feelings of dread that both bands evoke. The interesting thing about Nahvalr is that it's an open sourced album meaning that it takes fan made music and edits and distorts them. The beauty of this album is that despite being made from several different sounds across the globe, it still sounds like a cohesive album. Be warned because this is a really inaccessible album due to its noisy nature.

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RiLF - Ferris Wheel (2010)

Genre: Post Rock/Ambient/Dream Pop
Country: Japan

Just think Sigur Ros with more ambient sections and less use of vocals along with spacey vibes and then you have RiLF. This album clearly influenced by Sigur Ros' ( ) using sparse passages throughout the album and is actually structured in a similar way (happier first half that leads to a more darker tone in the second half). Not the most original band out there but at least the music is done well and sounds incredibly lush.

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Le seul élément - Gin Pleos (2012)

Genre: Post Rock/Ambient
Country: France

Piano-based post rock that incorporates elements from sludge, ambient, noise and drone. It has that bleak feeling that gives off a hopeless and maybe even a post-apocalyptic atmosphere by combining a sense of melody with dissonance. It's just a thirty minute EP so it's definitely worth a listen.

Free Download on Bandcamp