MUDKISS FANZINE

Bonjours, mes amis! With the winter solstice bearing down upon us at an irresponsible pace, it seemed prudent to wind up 2009 with an overview of the last 12-months spent grubbing about in the margins, as well as a round up of the last new releases of the year. I will deal firstly with the groups and records that have found a place in my heart during the past 12-months:

Corrupted

Hevi – vokills, bass guitar
Talbot – guitar
Chew Hasegawa – drums
Yokota – bass guitar
Takehito Miyagi – keyboards

I have been aware of Corrupted’s existence for a while now, but 2009 finally saw me come to terms with the absence of Corrupted product on my shelves. A hard-copy frenzy of frantic Ebaying and extensive mail order action eventually saw me capture all four full-length outings, plus a handful of their much-sought-after 7” 45s and splits. Formed in their native Japan in the late 1990s, Corrupted are a doom/sludge metal band who are widely regarded as having pioneered the funeral doom genre. Corrupted's signature sound is characterized by down-tuned guitars and bass, playing slow, monotonous riffs, under deep layers of feedback, driven by martial drum patterns. The vokills veer from harsh, guttural grunts, to whispered rasps, and punctuate the band’s trademark eternal instrumental sections (Corrupted are not known for their brevity!). With each subsequent album, Corrupted have further honed and developed their sound, culminating in 2005’s magisterial El Mundo Frio, their most expansive release to date.

El Mundo Frio contains one 72-minute song featuring shimmering acoustic sections, atmospheric rumbling, haunting harp interfaces, utterly crushing down-tuned heaviness, and elements akin to early Godspeed You! Black Emperor that serve to lighten an otherwise shaded tar pit of industrial sludge. Corrupted’s song titles and lyrics are mainly delivered in Spanish (see discography below), though Japanese and English also feature occasionally. The band refuse to talk to journalists, pose for promotional photos, or play the music business ‘game’: a belligerent intransigence inherited from the UK’s anarcho-punk-syndicates of the early 1980s. Finally, Corrupted’s stunning artwork is also worthy of both praise and note: monochromatic imagery (stone circles, beaches, clouds, war-torn desolation), a quality old school logo, and an attention to detail long abandoned by lesser bands and their design teams. In short, a package you can treasure!

Corrupted’s admirable media stance is evidenced by the following official statement:

“We've never done an interview and we don't let professional photographers take our picture. This is our policy — more an attitude — that we'd like to keep. Our expression of being Corrupted is in the sound, lyrics and artwork of our records. Of course, we always appreciate the people who buy our records, see us play and support us, along with the fanzines, labels, distributors and event planners. We do not reject all media, or bash writers who express themselves through articles or reviews. All are free and it's only through our personal expression of using the media that we exclude interviews.”

Corrupted Discography

Albums:

• Paso Inferior (1997)
• Llenandose De Gusanos (1999 - HG Fact)
• Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos (2004 - HG Fact)
• El Mundo Frio (2005 - HG Fact)

EPs:

• Anciano (1995)
• El Dios Queja (1995)
• Nadie (1995) (2008 repress, Throne Records)
• Dios Injusto (1999)

Singles:

• La Victima Es Tu Mismo (2001)
• Vasana (2007 - HG Fact)
• An Island Insane (2007 - HG Fact)

Splits:

• with Grief (1995)
• with Black Army Jacket (1997)
• with Enemy Soil (1997)
• with Noothgrush (1997)
• with Scarver's Calling (1999)
• with Phobia (1999)
• with Meat Slave (2000)
• with Machetazo (2000)
• with Sloth (2000)
• with Discordance Axis and 324 (2001)
• with Cripple Bastards (2002)
• with Infaust (2002)

Compilations:

• Raggle Taggle (1996 - Tag Rag]
• Una De Gato Cuerno De Vaca (1996 - Tee Pee Records]
• Painkiller Vol. 1 (1996 - Devastating Soundworks]
• Reality #3 (1999 - Deep Six Records)
• Homeless Benefit EP (1999 - Bad Card Records)
• Twin Threat To Your Sanity (2001 - Bad People Records)

http://www.dxmxtx.com/corrupted/

Thou

Combining elements of doom, sludge, black metal, post-rock and Arthur Rimbaud, Baton Rouge’s Thou make one unholy-drugged-up-mess of a noise that manages to encompass beauty, rage and desperation, often in the space of the same song. Two LPs to the good – Tyrant (Southern Lord – reissued vinyl) and Peasant (Autopsy Kitchen - CD) – Thou have recently been signed by messers Anderson and O’Malley, and a debut long player for Southern Lord Records is threatened for sometime in 2010. Thou are one of the most promising contemporary entities I’ve come across this year, and are destined for unassailable cult status – or obscurity - as I’m fairly certain you collectively refer to it, dear readers!

http://noladiy.org/thou/
http://www.myspace.com/thouband

Thorr’s Hammer

Dommedagsnatt (Southern Lord) is the artefact that birthed Southern Lord - and the label's maiden voyage into inky darkness. These totally cult recordings by the blackened doom band, Thorr's Hammer, were previously only available through Moribound Sound on cassette. Active for a mere ‘heavily-stoned-weeks’ back in the winter of 1994/5, Thorr's Hammer ooze raw, nihilistic doom, and feature the unsurpassable vokills of Norwegian goddess, Ozma (aka Runhild Gammelsæter). Delivered in her native Norwegian tongue, Ozma's guttural vokills are contrasted by angelic choral sections, creating a haunting atmosphere of reverent doom. The accompanying funeral dirge is duly provided by Stephen O'Malley (Burning Witch, sunn 0))), etc), Greg Anderson (Goatsnake, Ascend, sunn 0))), etc), Jamie Sykes (Burning Witch) and James Hale (Subharmonics). Remastered by Count Schneeberger, this vinyl version comes in a stunning gatefold heavy stock sleeve, is pressed on clear vinyl, and is limited to 500-copies, direct from the Lord. 

http://www.southernlord.com
http://www.myspace.com/thorrshammer

Blue Sabbath Black Cheer

Thus far, I have only managed to snare a couple of items by this superbly monikered experimental noisecore duo, but I am awaiting further arrivals from US mail order houses and tardy Ebay vendors. The group’s most recent long-playing release – Dead Death, Death Dead (Gnarled Forest Recordings/Troubleman Unlimited) – comprises 3-previously issued cuts (released in obscenely small numbers, obviously) and one all new recording, so it’s basically a new, never-before-heard record! Simples. Blue Sabbath Black Cheer are thankfully nothing like the clichéd stoner sludge their name implies, instead they mould blackened outsider art noise more akin to Wolf Eyes or Wraiths than Pentagram or Clutch, and for this you should be eternally grateful.

http://www.myspace.com/bluesabbathblackcheer

Beneath Oblivion

Cincinatti’s Beneath Oblivion snuck under the radar on my penultimate visit to Tempest Records (http://www.temrec.com/ - shouts out to Rich and Russ) in this year of our Lord, 2009. One Year of Deprivation/No Man or Deity (Mylene Sheath Recordings) are as desolate and bleak as their titles suggest. This is primal sludge/doom of the unremitting stripe, cloaked in the mystery of ritual, and sacrificed at the altar of hope. Pressed on limited swirly red and white vinyl (slightly incongruous, considering the genre, I’ll grant you), this 10” offering is totally indispensable in every sense of the word.

http://www.myspace.com/beneathoblivion

V/A – Swedish Death Metal (Index Verlag)

Bespoke, all encompassing 3-CD set of Swedish Death Metal assembled to accompany Daniel Ekeroth’s expansive tome of the same name, this immaculately realised collection perfectly summarises the spirit at the heart of the phenomenon. Featuring Morbid, Nihilist, Entombed, At The Gates, Dissection, Marduk, Grave, Therion and a host of growling death-stars, this 52-track selection captures the genre at it’s demo stage: raw, uncompromising and unsurpassed. Considering my love of the compilation as an art form, this beautifully packaged artefact is up there with the best: the Nuggets/Rubble/Pebbles equivalent of its genre/time/space.

http://www.myspace.com/tamarapress

V/A – Grind Madness At The BBC (Earache)

The second unavoidable 3-CD compilation of the year, this one compiles 118-bursts of grindcore from the archives of the Godlike genius that was John Peel. Recorded deep in the bowls of the BBC, this establishment-rocking collection takes in complete sessions by Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Godflesh, Unseen Terror, Heresy and Intense Degree. Harsher, louder, and, in many ways, more brutal than their eventual commercially released counterparts, these recordings epitomise the squalor at the heart of the genre, reflecting the turmoil at the eye of the storm. Again, a handy aural companion to ‘the book of the scene’ – this time Albert Mudrian’s superb Choosing Death – The Improbable Story Of Death Metal And Grindcore – like it or not, this is where punk went next! http://www.myspace.com/grindmadness

New Releases:

Black Breath – Razor To Oblivion (Southern Lord)

Debut 4-track EP reissued by those caring dudes at the Lord, Seattle’s newest hardcore heroes, Black Breath, employ a heady blend of punk rock, thrash and metal to stake their claim as the natural successors to Nirvana’s abandoned throne. Crushing Motorhead, Discharge and Bathory into a Petri dish, Black Breath demolish contemporary opposition in the space of just under 15-explosive minutes. This one has come out of nowhere, single-handedly reinvigorating a genre long since stagnated in the mire of over-familiarity.

http://www.myspace.com/blackbreath

Eagle Twin - The Unkindness Of Crows (Southern Lord)

Salt Lake City’s Eagle Twin number Gentry Densley (gtr, vokills) and Tyler Smith (drums). Densley was previously the musical visionary behind influential jazz, prog, metal, hardcore warriors, Iceburn (1991-2001), and if your idea of a vokill made in hell takes in Tom Waits, Howlin’ Wolf and Tuvan throat singing, then this loosely themed concept album based on the ‘Crow’ poems of Ted Hughes could well be the abomination for you. The riffs are heavy and humble, gritty and authentic, roping in shards of neo-Earth and glimpses of King Crimson, The Unkindness Of Crows is a progressive tour de force of mind-bending proportions.

http://www.myspace.com/eagletwin

Habsyl – MMVIII (tUMULt)

Released by tUMULt in collaboration with 5-other labels - At War With False Noise, Obscure Sombre, Psychedoomelic, Skyr and Odio Sonoro - MMVIII is the long awaited debut full-length from French abstract-doom trio, Habsyll. Operating along similar lines to fellow country folk, Monarch, and US tar pit dwellers, Trees, Habsyll reach a face-contorting 3-bpm at full tilt! Over 17.06 torturous minutes, opener II unfolds in all its sickening glory to reveal the black heart beating at its core. Waves of tortured vokills and a deluge of collapsing sludge banks drift across the aural horizon to poison the well of creativity at its source. This is radical, random doom, harbouring abstract melody deep within its body of work. I fluctuates in and out of consciousness for a further 28.36 minutes, stretching the template established by II  

to its illogical conclusion. Repeated listens reveal hidden depths, reticent beauty, yet despite the apparent arbitrariness of it all, there is a methodology to Habsyll that more than equals the abstraction. A difficult listen, then? Assuredly, but in these times of vacuous accessibility over meaningful content, you’ve got to put something in if you want to get anything back out.

http://www.tumult.net/catalog/habsyll.html

Amocoma – Go To Hell (tUMULt)

Remastered from their ultra-lo-fi demo origins (plus 2-previously un-issued bonus tracks), Go To Hell firmly establishes Amocoma as one of the more challenging one-man-bedroom BM outfits vying for the obscurist’s collective attention right now. The vokills may scream in unison with the cognoscenti of genre politics, but the bass-led melodies possess a vaguely Cossack inference that suggests they were born somewhere deep within the USSR. The songs are mostly propelled by the constant tub-thumping of subdued D-beats, and, to be honest, this is quite unlike anything I’ve heard all year. It’s hard to put your finger on exactly what makes Amocoma such an engaging prospect as there are elements of all manner of genres rattling around beneath the lo-fi sea of FX, but by the time we reach the remarkable closer, You Shall Yet Rise, it could be argued that Go To Hell is in fact a rusty pop record! Amocoma are totally fucked up, and I’m loving it.

http://www.tumult.net/catalog/amocoma.html

Black Cobra – Chronomega (Southern Lord)

Convened in 2002 by ex-Acid King man, Rafa Martinez, and ex-Cavity member, Jason Landrian, Black Cobra have hit pay-dirt with Chronomega, their third full-length outing, and debut on Southern Lord. Stuffing the Motorheadisms of High On Fire with a sizable dollop of Southern Fried Buzzov*en has procured a cohesiveness missing from earlier releases. Produced by the current production prince of US heaviness, Billy Anderson, there is simply no disputing the weight of Chronomega. It’s incredible the noise this pair make with just a guitar, a drum kit, and a bunch of microphones - the sound and feel is enormous. Luckily, Rafa and Jason have written some songs this time round, and inspite of the undisputed heaviness, this is the record that connoisseurs will remember Black Cobra for.

www.southernlord.com

Jean Encoule – www.mudkiss.com - November 2009