From Corners Unknown

In episode ten, we discuss the blackened thrashy death metal self-titled LP from Sol de Sangre, the harrowing and engulfing noisescapes of Caustic Reverie’s Ultra Vires, and Unholy Union, the debut feedback-laden EP from Florida-based blackened crust quartet, Cyclopean Blood Temple.

Thank you so much for listening and your continued support. Let us know what you think about each of these releases below and please feel free to leave us some album suggestions for future episodes.

Hacksaw is a grinding old school death metal outfit from Glasgow, UK. Just shy of one year ago, Mark Williamson delved into the festering hellscape of goregrind with the intent of taking his musical production more seriously whilst simultaneously paying homage to horror films of old. Though he began Hacksaw almost exclusively as a goregrind project—with splotches of grooves and sludge contaminating each track—he quickly twisted his sound to incorporate death metal elements (this is most apparent on his latest EP, Raw Fucking Gore). What has remained constant in Hacksaw's sound is Mark's abundant use of film samples, which provide context for his vomit-gargling vocals. The spew of sludge and undiluted HM-2 buzz also purvey; it is with these raw death metal components that Mark has masticated Hacksaw into something more brutal and most vile.

In this conversation Mark talks about how he began Hacksaw and explains how this project is an outlet for him to express his love for schlock and old school horror films. He claws deeper into the tracks on Raw Fucking Gore, details his plans for his follow-up record, speaks about making Hacksaw a live band, and muses about some of his most favorite gorefests. Thank you so much for listening.

Third Island is a sludgy, doom-infused post-metal outfit from Limerick, Ireland. The band was established in 2015 when three long-time friends, John, Liam, and Seamus, converged after John returned from living abroad in Vancouver, BC for five years. They hammered out their sound in the confines of a metal closet for months, constructing riffs and rhythms, which soon led to their debut EP, Dusk—a dense, gloomy embrace of sleep paralysis and night terrors. Just shy of two years later did the three string players drop their first LP, Omelas. Based on the poignant short-story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas", written by Ursula Guin, Third Island fleshes out the utopia's initial bliss, unveils its veneer, and revels in its seedy underbelly to form a swell of complex emotions.

In this conversation, Third Island discuss their approach to composing riffs, explain why their releases are concept-driven, and highlight some hilarious moments between themselves. Thank you so much for listening.

Apostle is a three-piece chaotic hardcore outfit hailing from Marietta, Georgia. Back in the summer of 2017, Cam, a multi-instrumentalist, began constructing the archetype of Apostle when his two-piece mathcore outfit, Branches, sunset during those sweltering months. He was not alone in this endeavor, however. Cam's good friend Evan, who played drums for Atlanta-based grunge quartet She Came From Above, helped him actualize Apostle's sound and within just a few weeks, the duo began feverishly writing only to record a couple months later. In November 2017, they cracked fresh earth with their single "Cowards"—an exhilarating burst of caustic hardcore infused with black metal; a couple months later came roaring their EP, Shallow Graves. Soon thereafter, Cam and Evan recruited Murice of grinding sludge outfit Ladybird to play guitar and provide back-up vocals. And now the trio forges ahead, sharpening their teeth on stages across Georgia, and continuing to write fresh, menacing riffs to unleash upon the larger Atlanta underground.

In this conversation, Cam and Evan discuss their respective musical backgrounds, describe how they came together to form Apostle; they detail the recording process and concepts underlying Shallow Graves, and take us through various corners of the Atlanta music scene. Thank you so much for listening.

In episode nine, we discuss the eclectic melding of black, death, and doom metal with neoclasssical etchings in W.A.I.L.’s second volume, the flesh-mincing hardcore in TETELESTAI’s debut EP CRVSH SVTVN, and the unsettling doom infused post-metal tale of Omelas as articulated by Third Island.

Thank you so much for listening and your continued support. Let us know what you think about each of these releases below. Please feel free to leave us some album suggestions for future episodes. Episode 10 will be delayed about one week as Connor is traveling out of the country.

American Standards is a chaotic mathcore quartet from Phoenix, AZ. Established back in 2011, the band has undergone a multitude of line-up changes in its seven-year existence. This has not stopped them from destroying ear drums and performing spastic, unhinged live shows, however. The outfit's latest album, Anti-Melody,—which is about to turn one year old—is their most varied effort to date. After letting this eight-song cluster of dissonance persist, they are now actively sculpting a fresh approach to unleashing their aural onslaughts: craft a single track, release it into the world, let it breathe, and then begin chiseling away at the next. The result will be an EP of intense, razor-sharp focused chaos.

In this conversation, American Standards discuss their return to the Pacific Northwest alongside their close friends in Steaksauce Mustache. They describe some of the insane shows they played on their succinct string of live dates and speak about their new plans for producing math-slathered noise.

This interview was conducted in-person in Portland, OR. There is a decent bit of background noise (cars driving by) as we sat on the back patio of the bar American Standards played that evening, though my hope is it makes for a more immersive listen. More in-person interviews are planned over the coming months. Thank you so much for listening.

protoU is drone/dark ambient project from Sasha Puzan, who resides in Kyiv, Ukraine. Founded back around 2015, Sasha debuted protoU alongside Dronny Darko (Oleg Puzan) on the Cryo Chamber label with Earth Songs—a dense, immersive journey that begins with the birth of the universe and ends with humans leaving Earth in 2135. Eight months later, she released her solo debut, Lost Here. It is now just beyond the two-year anniversary of Lost Here and during those revolutions about the sun, Sasha released two full-length solo records and also converged with a bevy of Cryo Chamber artists to forge many collaborative albums. Her output, to say the least, teeters on prolific. And this doesn’t even account for her other project, Hivetribe,—a duo between herself and Oleg—that placed a delicate ambient release titled Foreign Winds into the ether in September 2017.

It is fitting that nearly two years since Sasha founded protoU, she released a sequel to Earth Songs, titled The Edge of Architecture, which simultaneously serves as a companion-piece to her ambient trilogy, the first chapter of which is named Khmaoch. Where Earth Songs explored the beginning of time and the evolution of Earth and Khmaoch delved into humanity’s primordial past, The Edge of Architecture observes humankind in the current concrete jungles they have constructed for themselves.

In this conversation, Sasha takes us back to some of her earliest musical beginnings with violin and choir. From there, she details her aspirations to become a DJ and how, after trying this for a time, fell in love with ambient music. She describes a handful of her releases, focusing some specific attention toward The Edge of Architecture, and she takes us deeper into her sound, exploring the lush, vibrant, and organic boughs that form her unique style. Thank you so much for listening.

In episode eight we discuss the engulfing and monolithic drones on Nachtstücke from dark ambient artist HIEMIS, the melodic tides of From Harbour’s crushing hardcore debut Fatigue, and the atmospheric yet utterly chaotic split between microcosmys and La Torture Des Ténèbres titled THE GODS THEMSELVES.

We dedicate this episode to Caleb Scofield, vocalist and bassist of Cave In, Zozobra, and Old Gloom, who tragically passed away a couple of weeks ago. May he rest in forever lasting peace.

Thank you so much for listening and your continued support. Let us know what you think about each of these releases below and please feel free to leave us some album suggestions for future episodes.

Graham Williams is quite a prolific producer of ambient, drone, and, at times, caustic and unsettling noise. He operates under four guises: <1, dR0ne, R0[nought], and Fencepost, each of which are distinguished by specific compositional structures and production techniques. I've had the sincere pleasure of interviewing Graham on FCU before and much has developed with his endeavors since. His Fencepost Reclamation Project, an open-ended remix project available to essentially any music producer, is on its fourth volume boasting 454 tracks and 227 unique artists as of this writing. He has also published a couple splits, one being between three of his own projects and the other with two sludge bands saihatsu and WREK. And at this moment, Graham is actively forging a new industrial-edged moniker with aforementioned sludge artists.

Above all of his recent work, though, Graham is in the final stages of launching his new record label, Audient Void. To inaugurate its coming into existence, he will be casting two bottles into the sea. Each will contain an identical compilation of Graham's Lovecraft-based compositions pertaining to the author's harrowing stories of the deep unfathomable unknown. The first will be propelled from the Holme Dunes in Norfolk. And the second will be thrown somewhere into the Atlantic. Once the pieces of glass are floating in the abyss, Audient Void will go online and with each release put out by the label will receive limited runs of physical media.

This is one of the longer conversations to be featured here, but there is much to explore in Graham's rapidly expanding discography. He speaks about each of his monikers, delves deeper into some of his more unsettling releases, describes how music production helps him combat his PTSD, and muses about some of his favorite films. Thank you so much for listening.

Lovelace is an ambient-laden doom trio from St. Catherines, Ontario helmed by vocalist and guitarist Figgy. In 2017 she embarked on a musical endeavor to explore her inner self and revel in some uncomfortable, shell-breaking moments necessary for growth as an artist. Her sound began with only acoustics in mind, but it soon flourished into crushing doom with help from Jameson of Pelham-based Decline. Figgy went to Woodcutter Studio one summer day, a bit unsure of how her voice would spill out as she had not sang in front of close friends before. But when the moment came to record, she grasped, for a moment, a shard of her essence and poured out her words in phantom tones. This resulted in Lovelace's frigid yet lustrous three-song demo, which was placed into the ether early August 2017.

Since their debut, Lovelace has played a myriad of shows across St. Catherines and the larger Ontario area. In mid February 2018 they put out a new track, "Bible Hvmper", which is featured in the beginning of this conversation. And at this moment, the three-piece is working tirelessly to craft their first LP with no particular release date in mind (though we can hope it will see the gloom of day later this year).

In this conversation Figgy discusses her early footsteps taken to create Lovelace, explores the meaning behind some of her lyrics, describes the ephemeral bliss and personal growth from playing before an audience for the first time, and a good deal more. Thank you so much for listening.