From Corners Unknown

Det Eviga Leendet is a new black metal brigade from Uppsala, Sweden. Their name originates from the title of a story penned by Pär Lagerkvist, which was published in 1920. The title translates to The Eternal Smile. It is about a myriad of individuals who reside in a void. They have passed on from their life on Earth and in this blank space, they speak to each other about their lives to pass eternity.

Lenience is Det Eviga Leendet’s debut LP. The unbridled melancholy pouring from each individual note swirls together to forge a blizzard of biting anguish. Though amidst the relentless gales, moments of sunlight manage to break through. In this episode, we step into the blackened void encapsulated in Lenience and watch the sky rise. Thank you so much for listening.

Xerxes The Dark is a dark ambient composer helmed by Morego Dimmer. Founded back in 2005 and established as Iran’s first dark ambient artist, Morego has produced a myriad of albums under this moniker, many of which can be experienced on his project’s Bandcamp page. He has contributed compositions to several labels and web outlets, the most recent appearance of his being on the This Is Darkness Webzine Compilation, Volume II.

Morego’s latest album, Tower Of Silence, released via Zāl Records, is one of utmost despair. Blending sepulchral drones with the murmur of city life, the mechanical failings of rusted hardware, and the groans of ancient lives maligned, Tower Of Silence harbors a metaphor which articulates the current existent state of mankind. It is devoid of all hope, any ray of light, as we are picked apart by carrion and left to decay in the tower’s well. In this episode, we tread through the eons of cobwebs and dust accumulating in the Tower Of Silence and attempt to unearth its dreary secrets. Thank you so much for listening.

Worm Monolith is a rhythmic harsh noise artist helmed by Michigan resident Brandon. This project of his has been gestating for close to a decade now, though he did not begin piecing material together for release under this moniker until early 2018. And in August of that year, he dropped his eponymous LP.

A gargantuan 80 minutes in length, Worm Monolith traverses an interstellar expanse, dragging listeners through a desolate albeit harsh narrative of a lone space traveler lost who seeks signs of life and is ultimately trying to survive. Its concept is rather grand in scope and for me personally, it calls to mind the vivid conceptual albums from cinematic dark ambient composers on the Cryo Chamber label and a myriad of other artists residing in that cinematic subgenre. Though where Worm Monolith obviously differs is in its frigid and harsher tones. It is constructed of a most scathing network of conveyor belts and with each passing moment, you descend deeper into isolation and despair.

This cinematic dimension of Worm Monolith is further fleshed out by a brief, but partially obfuscated description of what unfurls throughout the album’s narrative. And Brandon’s reason for this is that he wants listeners to forge their own stories as to what transpires throughout the album’s duration. He provides listeners a handful of story signposts, and the rest is up to your interpretation. Now, the concept of this record is not self-contained to this single release; it is actually just the first chapter in a trilogy of albums Brandon is crafting. Where the end of Worm Monolith leaves you wondering what happened to the story’s protagonist, his next album will carry forward with a new character, one that will grant Brandon the flexibility to flesh out his world whilst simultaneously exploring new auditory terrains.

In this conversation, Brandon discusses how his project Worm Monolith came into existence. He dives into his eponymous LP and articulates some of his thoughts and ideas regarding what transpires throughout the album’s story. Additionally, he looks toward the future, leaving us a couple of morsels regarding the concept and feel of the second album in his trilogy. There is much, much more to unpack in this conversation. Thank you so much for listening.

Aneurysm is a noise rock/power slop quintet from Boston, Massachusetts. Their first demo dropped back in October of 2014 and since then, they have churned out a handful of EPs and a split with Goya. Just at the beginning of February 2019, they dropped their LP Awareness, which was co-released between Constant Disappointment Records and Tor Johnson Records. In this episode, we delve into the ten tracks of unfettered punk energy pouring from Awareness and marinate in its slop of slurred notes, all while getting eviscerated by its chunky rhythms and unhinged ramblings. Thank you so much for listening.

A small note: We have retired the “Voices From Corners Unknown” series name in favor of more focused album review podcast episodes. We will be continuing with this format for the foreseeable future.

It has been a good while since we published a film discussion podcast, but with our schedules finally beginning to align again, we were able to delve into the seedy underbelly of the 1986 horror classic, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Starring Michael Rooker as Henry, this utterly bleak and morose tale loosely recounts the crimes of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. Henry resides with his roommate and eventual partner in crime, Otis (played by Tom Towles), both of whom house Otis’s sister (Tracy Arnold) as a guest at their flat while she seeks a new job around the city. What unfolds is a rampant, seemingly random murder spree where Henry’s actions are carried out exempt from the law’s intervention. Thank you so much for listening.

Just as a small aside, at the beginning of the episode, we call this series Celluloid Obscurities Episode 7. Within the last several weeks, we have decided to retire this series name, thus the reason for the new “Film Discussion” title. We will continue ahead with future film discussions in this manner. Thank you for your continued support.

NONE is a sweltering albeit meditative amalgamation of neofolk, black metal, dark ambient, harsh noise, and pangs of industrial thrums, sometimes lacerated by harrowing shrieks. Helmed by Nicholas, who resides somewhere in California, NONE was originally founded as an acoustic duo between himself and a close friend of his. However, the dual effort fell through as time passed along, and instead of halting the project and not having it develop to fruition, Nicholas took it upon himself to carry NONE forward.

This project contrasts tonally against Nicholas’s other endeavors, some of which include a death metal outfit named Plague Phalanx, a black metal project named Awakened Abyss, and Thangorodrim, an occult rock project. Above all though, the starkest contrast of NONE relative to his other endeavors is that he’s going at this one alone. In October of 2017, NONE made its debut with a hypnotic, and at times, brooding single titled “When the End Will Come”. And several months later, in May of 2018, NONE’s debut EP, Infernal Temples of the Meditant was cast into the ether.

It is this EP where I first learned of NONE and when it first struck my ears, I was rather perplexed by the natural coagulation of seemingly disparate genres and tones. A passage of dark ambient led me through a portal toward this looping acoustic neofolk riff, which lulled me into a serene trance as each strum flickered like candle light in an engulfing blank space. And as the blackened ambience tumefied, stifling the still air, industrial throes cracked and writhed, conjuring malefic tension as the guitar matched its mechanical stride. It left quite the indelible impression on me as it’s a sound I’ve not really heard elsewhere and the realms it transported me to were vibrant, yet harrowing.

In this conversation, Nicholas discusses the blend of genres, feelings, and energy comprising NONE. He goes into his writing process, what the project represents for him personally, his latest single titled “Battlefields”, and how he sees it developing in 2019 and beyond. He also divulges the intriguing notion that NONE is more than just the name of his project and his stage name, but a deity of his own construction. Thank you so much for listening.

In episode twenty-seven, we vacate the halls of bone and flesh to journey to the quirky, synth-laden krautrock mountain of worms on Return to Worm Mountain’s eponymous LP. We get doused in the effervescent ambient energy of FOUDRE!’s Kami 神 and we simultaneously roil in its telluric drones as it shapeshifts into industrial-tinged throes. And we get smoked out by the delectably hefty stoner doom crunch of Azimuth from Summoned by Giants.

As an aside, the “Voices From Corners Unknown” series name will be retired after this episode. In its place, we will begin simply calling this series “Reviews” and we will also begin breaking each album discussion out into their own individual episodes. This is intended to make each episode more digestible and focused. We will additionally be discontinuing the numerical ordering of this series and instead, we will begin publishing these episodes in the numerical order in which they appear on our podcast feed. This way, it will be clearer to follow the chronology of our podcast feed without the three distinct series (Artist Interviews, Voices From Corners Unknown, Celluloid Obscurities) bleeding together.

Thank you so much for listening. You can find relevant links, artwork, and tracks to sample below. The discussions of each album begin at the following timestamps:

00:02:16 – Return to Worm Mountain’s eponymous LP

00:31:05 – FOUDRE!’s Kami 神

00:57:05 – Summoned by Giants’ Azimuth

01:18:47 – Other album recommendations

Duncan Park is a rather eclectic musician based in Durban, South Africa. Chief among his instrumental palette is guitar. Through the process of honing his craft with this instrument, he has simultaneously fostered skills with synth, bass, percussion, and a sundry of other odd instruments, which he injects throughout his body of work. He began producing folk tunes under his own name and he cast his first cluster of songs off into the Bandcamp ether in early 2017. And as he forged ahead with this solo endeavor, he sought avenues to broach the traditional verse-chorus confines. Though tendrils of psychedelic timbres and a particular spacious aura permeated several of his earliest EPs, it was not until December of 2017 that Duncan fully embraced the liberating architecture of drone on his album After the Earth Has Burned—a breathtaking stream of serenity to wander about endlessly.

After a spell of being sick and sapped of energy in the months following After the Earth Has Burned‘s release, Duncan tapped a raw nerve pulsating in his chest. From this spilled a new project, Listeriosis. Malefic he blends lo-fi black metal with passages of skin-tingling blues and grisly undercurrents of sludge. Each track he writes is impromptu, taking only a couple hours apiece. And though the production quality is intentionally bereft of polish, Listeriosis channels pure, undiluted anguish.

In addition to the two aforementioned projects, Duncan contributes guitar snippets and arrangement ideas to a zany experimental electronic project titled Dr. Haphazard’s Magic Factory. And more recently he formed a synth-laden krautrock duo with drummer Cam Lofstrand titled Return to Worm Mountain. Duncan’s love toward genres serene and extreme observes no boundaries as is evident by the seemingly disparate styles he embraces and conjures in each of his endeavors. And what’s most surprising is that so much of his work has been trickling out in such a brief time frame and the noticeable evolutionary strides in each of his releases are remarkable and captivating.

In this conversation, Duncan delves into each of his projects and discusses what he has learned from them. He speaks about how he came into contact with extreme metal, his love for drone, how his compositional approach has evolved as he works with more musicians, and a good deal more. Thank you so much for listening.

In episode twenty-six, we wander across the ancient, frost-bitten crags sculpted on Gaetir The Mountainkeeper’s Fornjörð. We stagger through the melodic funeral doom death march of VANHA’s Melancholia and on Andromida’s More Than Human, we soar atop its illustrious, cinematic djent compositions.

Thank you so much for listening. You can find relevant links, artwork, and tracks to sample below. The discussions of each album begin at the following timestamps:

00:02:16 – Gaetir The Mountainkeeper’s Fornjörð

00:33:28 – VANHA’s Melancholia

01:01:37 – Andromida’s More Than Human

Sharon is a violinist based in Toronto operating under the moniker of VANCORVID. Originally from Dublin, she moved from her homeland to Toronto for a fresh start at a new career and to explore a myriad of artistic endeavors on this broadening horizon. After spending some time finding her footing on this new soil, she joined a couple of orchestras to maintain and sharpen her violin skills, whilst simultaneously garnering a deeper knowledge and understanding of orchestral arrangements. While this learning process will never reach a genuine conclusion for her, it’s one of her goals to flourish enough so that one day she can craft her own symphony.

Amidst her first couple of years of being in Toronto, VANCORVID sprouted up in an unplanned manner. The project is an ethereal tonic of experimental electronic and violin-based arrangements, enshrouded in chilling ambient auras, and interlaced with whispered, dreamlike vocals. What is of sincere intrigue is how this project sounds relative to her wealth of past collaborations and her orchestral work. She has dabbled in punk, indie, hip-hop, and classical music, among others, however, when she composes as VANCORVID, it is of electronic ilk despite her having few direct production experiences within that genre.

Her debut track, “Breathe”, which released in the summer of 2017, is one of oceanic ambient swells frothing with evocative violin undulations. “Summon”, her newest composition, harbors an airy spoken word introduction caressed by an ethereal violin melody. The track soon gives way to a mountainous expanse of electronic beats asynchronously gliding alongside a sundry of majestic strings. It articulates a dimension of VANCORVID’s process of healing by summoning a power beyond the corporeal realm—the Irish goddess, Morrigan—for guidance and strength. “Breathe” too encapsulates another dimension of VANCORVID’s healing and together with “Summon”, these two tracks comprise what will eventually culminate into an EP titled Hatch. Though its release is not yet determined, this EP will crystallize VANCORVID’s non-linear journey of tumult and subsequent growth.

In this conversation, Sharon delves into VANCORVID’s unique, evocative blend of tones and timbres. She discusses the writing process of “Summon”, her love of crows—or corvids—, paying respects to Morrigan, and the process of healing. Thank you so much for listening.