We're really excited about this. Here's a sneak peak of the cover:
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
DLSODW Update
The Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words tape should be ready within the next week and a half.
We're really excited about this. Here's a sneak peak of the cover:
We're really excited about this. Here's a sneak peak of the cover:
Congratulations to our friend Jenks (Horseback)!
Looks like Jenks will be working with Relapse on his next album.
We expect the Locrian/Horseback 7" (Turgid Animal) to be out before long...
----------------
HORSEBACK Sign To Relapse Records --- 3/31/2010
Relapse Records is proud to announce the signing of North Carolina’s HORSEBACK.
HORSEBACK, the brainchild of Jenks Miller, has released two full-length albums since forming in 2007. The band’s second full-length, The Invisible Mountain, will be re-released through Relapse later this summer. Audio samples from The Invisible Mountain and more can be heard online now via the HORSEBACK MySpace: MySpace.com/HorsebackNoise.
Miller commented on the signing; "Horseback is an ever-evolving project which will explore a variety of sounds and approaches in its lifetime. I am glad to have the opportunity to work with Relapse, and have long admired their commitment to new and challenging music."
HORSEBACK is currently writing for the follow-up album to The Invisible Mountain, a companion album that is tentatively titled Half Blood. Additional details on this release will be announced soon.
HORSEBACK will take part in the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, NC this September. The Hopscotch Festival is presented by Raleigh’s Independent Weekly and this year’s fest will also include PUBLIC ENEMY, PANDA BEAR, LUCERO, HARVEY MILK, OCEAN, and many more. Additional information on the festival can be found here.
We expect the Locrian/Horseback 7" (Turgid Animal) to be out before long...
----------------
HORSEBACK Sign To Relapse Records --- 3/31/2010
Relapse Records is proud to announce the signing of North Carolina’s HORSEBACK.
HORSEBACK, the brainchild of Jenks Miller, has released two full-length albums since forming in 2007. The band’s second full-length, The Invisible Mountain, will be re-released through Relapse later this summer. Audio samples from The Invisible Mountain and more can be heard online now via the HORSEBACK MySpace: MySpace.com/HorsebackNoise.
Miller commented on the signing; "Horseback is an ever-evolving project which will explore a variety of sounds and approaches in its lifetime. I am glad to have the opportunity to work with Relapse, and have long admired their commitment to new and challenging music."
HORSEBACK is currently writing for the follow-up album to The Invisible Mountain, a companion album that is tentatively titled Half Blood. Additional details on this release will be announced soon.
HORSEBACK will take part in the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, NC this September. The Hopscotch Festival is presented by Raleigh’s Independent Weekly and this year’s fest will also include PUBLIC ENEMY, PANDA BEAR, LUCERO, HARVEY MILK, OCEAN, and many more. Additional information on the festival can be found here.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Locrian Photos and Mention in Chicago Reader
There's a shot of Terence Hannum performing at the "Territories" release show on the Chicago Reader blog. This great photo was taken by Carmelo Espanola.
Locrian is also mentioned in the recent article in the Chicago Reader about White/Light's residency at the MCA. There's a link to the article here.
Locrian is also mentioned in the recent article in the Chicago Reader about White/Light's residency at the MCA. There's a link to the article here.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Land of Decay Related: PROFANED MISSIVE zine by T. Hannum
For those of you who so graciously supported our first printing endeavor New Rites a few months ago and maybe even followed up with a purchase of Black Arts Locrian member Terence Hannum has not stopped, we have a limited quantity of his most recent publication Profaned Missive.
Profaned Missive was commissioned by the Admirals of Vice at Fan Death Records for their upcoming ritual of sound and violence the DNA Test Fest III in Baltimore, MD that features some of our fellow heretics Pissed Jeans, Psychedelic Horseshit, Birds of Maya, Sightings, Neon Blud and many many more.
8.5" × 5.5" / 20 pages. Xeroxed silver cover with a black-on-black insert containing a screed against infidels with a oversized fold-out and pro-printed color copies of drawings. Edition of 100 of which the majority will go to the first in line at the festival.
$10ppd (US) / $12ppd (World)
Paypal to landofdecay(at)gmail(dot)com
Sunday, March 28, 2010
"Territories" Review from Ondarock.it
Link here.
-----------------
LOCRIAN
Territories
(Small Doses) 2010
ambient-drone, black-metal, noise
di Francesco Nunziata
plus
less
Coadiuvati da Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded, Anatomy of Habit) alla voce e al sintetizzatore, Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) alla chitarra, Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) al sax e Andrew Scherer (Velnias) alla batteria, Andre Foisy e Terence Hannum dimostrano, con “Territories”, di voler puntare ad un suono ancora più oscuro e “profondo”.
Sempre pregna di quell’angoscia cosmica figlia di una quotidiana desolazione, la loro musica è una miscela particolarmente originale di umori e tensioni disparate, giungendo anche in pieno territorio black-metal durante il piccolo cataclisma di “Procession Of Ancestral Brutalism”. Bisogna, comunque, rilevare che, in questo caso, sono pochi i momenti davvero esaltanti, con una prima parte che si lascia preferire ad una seconda un tantino troppo ripiegata su se stessa, per non dire “manierista”.
Così, se la tetra distesa sci-fi di “Ring Road” non fa altro che continuare a sviluppare le idee di “Between Barrows” (quest’ultima, impreziosita da gelide ferite di sax), la malinconia infinita di “Antediluvian Territory” e il pathos marziale di “The Columnless Arcade”, pur se fascinosi, non vanno a segno come vorrebbero o come dovrebbero. Si ripeschi, infatti, la lenta parata funerea di “Inverted Ruins” e non sarà difficile rendersi conto della qualità altalenante dell’opera.
Che "Territories" sia stato salutato, poi, come il momento culmine della loro ispirazione, dimostra quanto poco si siano ascoltati i lavori precedenti, cui vi consiglio vivamente di tornare.
(27/03/2010)
------------------
Here's a terrible translation below. If any of our Italian friends feel like translating this then we'll be happy to post it.
Strangely, I was listening to Sigillum S's (Italy) newish Wroclaw 071111 CD, a beautiful album in a fantastic package, when I found this.
--------------------
Assisted by Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded, Anatomy of Habit) on vocals and synthesizer, Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) on guitar, Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) on sax and Andrew Scherer (Velnias) on drums, Andre Foisy and Terrence Hannum show with " Territories ", to want to aim for a sound more dark and" profound. "
Always full of anguish cosmic daughter of a daily desolation, their music is a very original mixture of disparate moods and tensions, coming in full black-metal territory during the cataclysm of small "Procession Of Ancestral Brutalism." One must, however, noted that, in this case, there are few truly exciting moments, with a first part that is left to a second preferred a little too inward-looking, to say the "Mannerist".
Thus, if the gloomy expanse of sci-fi "Ring Road" does nothing but continue to develop the ideas of "Between Barrows" (the latter enhanced by cold injury sax), the infinite melancholy of "Antediluvian Territory" and martial pathos of "The Columnless Arcade, although fascinating, are not going to sign as they would like or as they should. They fished, in fact, the slow funereal parade of "Inverted Ruins" and will not be difficult to realize the fluctuating quality of the work.
That "Territories" has been hailed, then, as the highlight of their inspiration, shows how little we have heard earlier work, which I recommend you return.
(27/03/2010)
-----------------
LOCRIAN
Territories
(Small Doses) 2010
ambient-drone, black-metal, noise
di Francesco Nunziata
plus
less
Coadiuvati da Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded, Anatomy of Habit) alla voce e al sintetizzatore, Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) alla chitarra, Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) al sax e Andrew Scherer (Velnias) alla batteria, Andre Foisy e Terence Hannum dimostrano, con “Territories”, di voler puntare ad un suono ancora più oscuro e “profondo”.
Sempre pregna di quell’angoscia cosmica figlia di una quotidiana desolazione, la loro musica è una miscela particolarmente originale di umori e tensioni disparate, giungendo anche in pieno territorio black-metal durante il piccolo cataclisma di “Procession Of Ancestral Brutalism”. Bisogna, comunque, rilevare che, in questo caso, sono pochi i momenti davvero esaltanti, con una prima parte che si lascia preferire ad una seconda un tantino troppo ripiegata su se stessa, per non dire “manierista”.
Così, se la tetra distesa sci-fi di “Ring Road” non fa altro che continuare a sviluppare le idee di “Between Barrows” (quest’ultima, impreziosita da gelide ferite di sax), la malinconia infinita di “Antediluvian Territory” e il pathos marziale di “The Columnless Arcade”, pur se fascinosi, non vanno a segno come vorrebbero o come dovrebbero. Si ripeschi, infatti, la lenta parata funerea di “Inverted Ruins” e non sarà difficile rendersi conto della qualità altalenante dell’opera.
Che "Territories" sia stato salutato, poi, come il momento culmine della loro ispirazione, dimostra quanto poco si siano ascoltati i lavori precedenti, cui vi consiglio vivamente di tornare.
(27/03/2010)
------------------
Here's a terrible translation below. If any of our Italian friends feel like translating this then we'll be happy to post it.
Strangely, I was listening to Sigillum S's (Italy) newish Wroclaw 071111 CD, a beautiful album in a fantastic package, when I found this.
--------------------
Assisted by Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded, Anatomy of Habit) on vocals and synthesizer, Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) on guitar, Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) on sax and Andrew Scherer (Velnias) on drums, Andre Foisy and Terrence Hannum show with " Territories ", to want to aim for a sound more dark and" profound. "
Always full of anguish cosmic daughter of a daily desolation, their music is a very original mixture of disparate moods and tensions, coming in full black-metal territory during the cataclysm of small "Procession Of Ancestral Brutalism." One must, however, noted that, in this case, there are few truly exciting moments, with a first part that is left to a second preferred a little too inward-looking, to say the "Mannerist".
Thus, if the gloomy expanse of sci-fi "Ring Road" does nothing but continue to develop the ideas of "Between Barrows" (the latter enhanced by cold injury sax), the infinite melancholy of "Antediluvian Territory" and martial pathos of "The Columnless Arcade, although fascinating, are not going to sign as they would like or as they should. They fished, in fact, the slow funereal parade of "Inverted Ruins" and will not be difficult to realize the fluctuating quality of the work.
That "Territories" has been hailed, then, as the highlight of their inspiration, shows how little we have heard earlier work, which I recommend you return.
(27/03/2010)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Aquarius Records on "Territories"
LOCRIAN Territories (At War With False Noise / Basses Frequences / Small Doses / BloodLust!) lp 14.98
With every single release these guys get better and better, their sound, a constantly evolving, ultra dense blend of abstract black metal and deep ambient dronemusic, the early records were more about energy and vibe than execution, still eminently listenable, heavy and atmospheric, black and brutal, but their skills as composers and arranges have definitely made leaps and bounds, arriving finally at Territories, the latest sprawling epic from this Chicago duo, here, aided and abetted by a whole bunch of guests, including Blake Judd from Nachtmystium, Andrew Scherer, drummer for black metallers Velnias, and Mark Solotroff, power electronics maestro, and man behind Bloody Minded and the BloodLust! label.
And the guests make their presence felt right away, on opener inverted ruins, a smoldering doomic plod, more power electronics than black metal, with Solotroff ranting over a sea of swirling buzz and skree, glitched out electronics, and some simple stripped down drumming. Over the course of the track, it begins to coalesce into a more ominous creep, shedding noise as it goes, before finally slipping into a deep shimmering drone, which introduces the next track, a lush, slow building cinematic dronescape, constantly shifting layers, drifting through clouds of cymbal shimmer and blackened buzzing strings. It's not until nearly the end of side one that black metal rears it's ugly head, a flurry of manic riffing, and they're off, a pounding midtempo blast of raw feral blackness, insane shrieked vocals, chaotic drums, muted riffs, all blurred into a blackened haze, lo-fi and muddy, but also epic and intense.
The flipside opens with another bout of power electronics, dueling synths unfurl undulating layers of wheeze and warble and buzz, laced with shimmering overtones and fragmented melodies, a churning black sonic sea, that eventually fades out leaving, a smoldering stretch of shadowy guitar, of blissed out ambience, a short stretch of crystalline chiming guitars laid over a warm whir, shoegazey and blissed out, which finally leads into the closing track, the weirdest of the bunch, with organ and saxophone, acoustic guitars, and pretty much all the gusts present and accounted for, a bleak buzzing driftscape, sort of post industrial, keening melodies over fractured buzz, and deep rumbles, creaks and skree and groaning low end, finally explode into full on melodic black metal, martial drumming, epic riffing, more tortured vokills, cool tangled woozy minor key melodies, a swirling druggy ambience, weirdly catchy and otherworldly, but still heavy and psychedelic, maybe our favorite track, and the perfect way to wind down this serpentine blackened outsider drone metal journey...
With every single release these guys get better and better, their sound, a constantly evolving, ultra dense blend of abstract black metal and deep ambient dronemusic, the early records were more about energy and vibe than execution, still eminently listenable, heavy and atmospheric, black and brutal, but their skills as composers and arranges have definitely made leaps and bounds, arriving finally at Territories, the latest sprawling epic from this Chicago duo, here, aided and abetted by a whole bunch of guests, including Blake Judd from Nachtmystium, Andrew Scherer, drummer for black metallers Velnias, and Mark Solotroff, power electronics maestro, and man behind Bloody Minded and the BloodLust! label.
And the guests make their presence felt right away, on opener inverted ruins, a smoldering doomic plod, more power electronics than black metal, with Solotroff ranting over a sea of swirling buzz and skree, glitched out electronics, and some simple stripped down drumming. Over the course of the track, it begins to coalesce into a more ominous creep, shedding noise as it goes, before finally slipping into a deep shimmering drone, which introduces the next track, a lush, slow building cinematic dronescape, constantly shifting layers, drifting through clouds of cymbal shimmer and blackened buzzing strings. It's not until nearly the end of side one that black metal rears it's ugly head, a flurry of manic riffing, and they're off, a pounding midtempo blast of raw feral blackness, insane shrieked vocals, chaotic drums, muted riffs, all blurred into a blackened haze, lo-fi and muddy, but also epic and intense.
The flipside opens with another bout of power electronics, dueling synths unfurl undulating layers of wheeze and warble and buzz, laced with shimmering overtones and fragmented melodies, a churning black sonic sea, that eventually fades out leaving, a smoldering stretch of shadowy guitar, of blissed out ambience, a short stretch of crystalline chiming guitars laid over a warm whir, shoegazey and blissed out, which finally leads into the closing track, the weirdest of the bunch, with organ and saxophone, acoustic guitars, and pretty much all the gusts present and accounted for, a bleak buzzing driftscape, sort of post industrial, keening melodies over fractured buzz, and deep rumbles, creaks and skree and groaning low end, finally explode into full on melodic black metal, martial drumming, epic riffing, more tortured vokills, cool tangled woozy minor key melodies, a swirling druggy ambience, weirdly catchy and otherworldly, but still heavy and psychedelic, maybe our favorite track, and the perfect way to wind down this serpentine blackened outsider drone metal journey...
Locrian "Drenched Lands" 8 - Track through Utech Records (Edition of 13)
Link here.
Unfortunately Land of Decay has no copies of this release. If you are interested, then contact Utech Records directly.
Description from the label
-------
Locrian > Drenched Lands > Utech Records > UR8X046
Drenched Lands was a huge album for underground superstars Locrian. So huge, in fact, that there seems to be no amount of available formats able to contain it. Not cd. Not lp. Not even cass. Drenched Lands required a format so archaic and unplayable as to put the final nail in the coffin. The corpse must never rise again. After lengthy negotiation Utech Records has secured the rights to issue this incredible album on 8-track. Each tape was painstakingly recorded on AGFA 45 Lear Jet Stereo 8 blanks using the Cadillac of vintage machines, the Sony TC-228. Make no mistake that this is the ULTIMATE edition. Only thirteen copies made. Buy now!
Unfortunately Land of Decay has no copies of this release. If you are interested, then contact Utech Records directly.
Description from the label
-------
Locrian > Drenched Lands > Utech Records > UR8X046
Drenched Lands was a huge album for underground superstars Locrian. So huge, in fact, that there seems to be no amount of available formats able to contain it. Not cd. Not lp. Not even cass. Drenched Lands required a format so archaic and unplayable as to put the final nail in the coffin. The corpse must never rise again. After lengthy negotiation Utech Records has secured the rights to issue this incredible album on 8-track. Each tape was painstakingly recorded on AGFA 45 Lear Jet Stereo 8 blanks using the Cadillac of vintage machines, the Sony TC-228. Make no mistake that this is the ULTIMATE edition. Only thirteen copies made. Buy now!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Twitter Review of "Territories" from Christopher Weingarten
137)Locrian/Territories: Perfectly scummy ambient misery merchants strike haunting balance between spectral noise and spectral metal.
Link here.
Link here.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
"Territories" Review at Stereokiller.com
Link here.
Locrian "Territories"
Eventually, it all comes back to noise. Every peak, every height, every genre inevitably gets broken down and reduced to its most primitive and minimalist essence, allowed to start anew, begin again, rise from the ashes… whatever. Proven time and time again, it’s the noise factor that allows for creative growth, its foundation suitable to build something cohesive.
It makes sense, once you consider this, that the first decipherable statement to screech from the analog slump of “Inverted Ruins,” introductory track from ambient metal duo, Locrian, is “Tradition has failed.” Although more of an indictment of conventional wisdom, or the human tendency to allow habit to automatically dictate behavior, it’s also reason enough to create something unusual. Obviously.
As constructors of their own brand of Avant noise metal, Locrian members André Foisy and Terence Hannum spend a lot of time fashioning aural dwellings, the amps kicking out less a form of music than a form of abstraction. Last year’s Drenched Lands was essentially a cassette playing back some nightmarish creations, bookended by six-string sorrow. Their new album, Territories, brings more music to the creepscape, “Inverted Ruins” a slow and steady blender of industrial squeal, garage percussion and synthesizer. The swelling science fiction tone of “Between Barrows” leads into “Procession of Ancestral Brutalism,” which is probably the album’s most straightforward moment. Guitars blaze, drums shatter, screams are buried under the weight of static and other obscuring noise pollutant.
Stormy avalanches, industrial catastrophe, perpetual pulsations… “Ring Road” essentially breathes as guitars grind their way through the sonic murk, a hissing valve the suitable backdrop for loose guitar play in “Antediluvian Territory.”
With “The Columnless Arcade,” Locrian generate a four-minute chorus line of machined drone before turning to their instruments for the song’s remaining length. Screams are cold and far off, the music itself surprisingly passionate. Melody gets some attention, Territories an attempt at building more out of Locrian’s dark expanses while not completely abandoning that part of their persona.
---------------
Purchase here, here, here or, here.
Locrian "Territories"
Eventually, it all comes back to noise. Every peak, every height, every genre inevitably gets broken down and reduced to its most primitive and minimalist essence, allowed to start anew, begin again, rise from the ashes… whatever. Proven time and time again, it’s the noise factor that allows for creative growth, its foundation suitable to build something cohesive.
It makes sense, once you consider this, that the first decipherable statement to screech from the analog slump of “Inverted Ruins,” introductory track from ambient metal duo, Locrian, is “Tradition has failed.” Although more of an indictment of conventional wisdom, or the human tendency to allow habit to automatically dictate behavior, it’s also reason enough to create something unusual. Obviously.
As constructors of their own brand of Avant noise metal, Locrian members André Foisy and Terence Hannum spend a lot of time fashioning aural dwellings, the amps kicking out less a form of music than a form of abstraction. Last year’s Drenched Lands was essentially a cassette playing back some nightmarish creations, bookended by six-string sorrow. Their new album, Territories, brings more music to the creepscape, “Inverted Ruins” a slow and steady blender of industrial squeal, garage percussion and synthesizer. The swelling science fiction tone of “Between Barrows” leads into “Procession of Ancestral Brutalism,” which is probably the album’s most straightforward moment. Guitars blaze, drums shatter, screams are buried under the weight of static and other obscuring noise pollutant.
Stormy avalanches, industrial catastrophe, perpetual pulsations… “Ring Road” essentially breathes as guitars grind their way through the sonic murk, a hissing valve the suitable backdrop for loose guitar play in “Antediluvian Territory.”
With “The Columnless Arcade,” Locrian generate a four-minute chorus line of machined drone before turning to their instruments for the song’s remaining length. Screams are cold and far off, the music itself surprisingly passionate. Melody gets some attention, Territories an attempt at building more out of Locrian’s dark expanses while not completely abandoning that part of their persona.
---------------
Purchase here, here, here or, here.
"Procession of Ancestral Brutalism" on Extremities Radio 4/24/2010 WPRB
Link here.
Some great stuff on this playlist, Voivod, Carcass, an expert from Mark Solotroff's solo Archive volume 1 cd, Climax Denial, and some other good stuff.
Some great stuff on this playlist, Voivod, Carcass, an expert from Mark Solotroff's solo Archive volume 1 cd, Climax Denial, and some other good stuff.
Bad Year Media on "Territories"
LOCRIAN - TERRITORIES
LOCRIAN RELEASES THEIR NEXT LP "TERRITORIES" MARCH 8TH... FUCK... BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE LP I HAVE TO SAY THAT LISTENING TO THESE SONGS PAINTS THE SAME PICTURE AS READING THE CORMAC MCCARTHY BOOK THE ROAD. AN ASHEN DEAD WORLD THAT HAS BEEN BURNED TO THE GROUND WHERE NOTHING LIVES. TERRITORIES IS EQUAL PARTS DRONE, BLACK METAL, DEVASTATING FEEDBACK, INCORPORATING MORE DRUMS, VOCALS. THESE TWO SONGS ARE INCREDIBLE. DIFFERENT FROM DRENCHED LANDS IN A GOOD WAY. IN A WAY THERE IS MORE TO THE TRACKS, MORE LAYERS THAT SEEM TO COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER.
BUY THIS LP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. THESE GUYS PUT SO MUCH TIME AND EFFORT INTO THEIR PACKAGING AS WELL AS THEIR MUSIC. EVERYTHING IS HAND NUMBERED AND THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING MORE.
More here.
------------------------------------
Buy
LOCRIAN RELEASES THEIR NEXT LP "TERRITORIES" MARCH 8TH... FUCK... BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE LP I HAVE TO SAY THAT LISTENING TO THESE SONGS PAINTS THE SAME PICTURE AS READING THE CORMAC MCCARTHY BOOK THE ROAD. AN ASHEN DEAD WORLD THAT HAS BEEN BURNED TO THE GROUND WHERE NOTHING LIVES. TERRITORIES IS EQUAL PARTS DRONE, BLACK METAL, DEVASTATING FEEDBACK, INCORPORATING MORE DRUMS, VOCALS. THESE TWO SONGS ARE INCREDIBLE. DIFFERENT FROM DRENCHED LANDS IN A GOOD WAY. IN A WAY THERE IS MORE TO THE TRACKS, MORE LAYERS THAT SEEM TO COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER.
BUY THIS LP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. THESE GUYS PUT SO MUCH TIME AND EFFORT INTO THEIR PACKAGING AS WELL AS THEIR MUSIC. EVERYTHING IS HAND NUMBERED AND THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING MORE.
More here.
------------------------------------
Buy
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Basses Frequences: LP + CD Special [Europe Customers]
Basses Frequences is offering a special for people ordering the "Territories" LP and "Rain of Ashes" CD.
For both releases, it'll cost you only 17 Euros. Act quickly because we're (Land of Decay, Bloodlust! and Small Doses) are almost out of the "Territories" LPs.
The special information can be found here.
For both releases, it'll cost you only 17 Euros. Act quickly because we're (Land of Decay, Bloodlust! and Small Doses) are almost out of the "Territories" LPs.
The special information can be found here.
Monday, March 22, 2010
LOD 009 Announcement: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words
We're really excited to announce our next release which will be for Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words.
Land of Decay 009 will be a cassette limited to 100 copies of DLSODW's sold out "No Words" release. "No Words" was originally released in very small editions on the artist's When Skies Are Grey label. Needless to say, we loved the material on the original tape:
a live set recorded during the artist's performance at Keiller's Park (Sweden).
The Land of Decay version will have some special bonus material from the artist. We expect to have copies of this release sometime within the next month.
More information on this release soon!
Land of Decay 009 will be a cassette limited to 100 copies of DLSODW's sold out "No Words" release. "No Words" was originally released in very small editions on the artist's When Skies Are Grey label. Needless to say, we loved the material on the original tape:
a live set recorded during the artist's performance at Keiller's Park (Sweden).
The Land of Decay version will have some special bonus material from the artist. We expect to have copies of this release sometime within the next month.
More information on this release soon!
Pics of Mark Solotroff with Locrian
Photos taken at our "Territories" release show at the Abbey Pub last week.
Photographs by Elizabeth Floersch here. Thanks Elizabeth!
Steven Hess was also on stage, but he was overtaken by the fog monster.
More photos from the show here.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Release Show
Thanks so much to everyone who came out for the "Territories" release show last night and to all the bands that played. Everyone sounded solid and huge through the Abbey's PA system.
Here's a photo of us performing "Inverted Ruins" w/ Mark Solotroff. Thanks to Vadim for the shot.
"Territories" Review from I Heart Noise
Link here.
---------------
Review – Locrian – Territories (Small Doses, 2010)
Posted on March 19, 2010 by admin
In comparison to “Rain Of Ashes”, Locrian’s new record “Territories” seems to be a bit more epic and diverse album. At its core, its still explores the post-industrial/post-apocalyptic motive – a soundtrack to the game of survival in a nearly destroyed landscape, if you will.
Where disc is different from “Rain” is in the amount of genres/moods that the band explores – there’s more familiar noise/drone/ambient elements, but also elements black metal. That’s right – black metal, complete with insane drumming and screams (courtesy of guests from bands like Nachtmystium).
The only real disappointment, to my ears, comes in the form of a title track – Skullflower-esque “Inverted Ruins” which featured Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded) on vocals. There’s a painful squealing/feedback that overtakes the track and is rather off-putting. The same effect can be heard in the beginning of “Ring Road”, but thankfully it disappears as the track progresses.
Other than that – this record is solid, and it further demonstrates the band’s continuing refinement of their own approach to black metal/ambient/drone music. Whether its a combination of Megaptera (remember them?) like eeriness and black metal insanity on “Ancestral Brutalism” or minimal/ambient undertow of “Between Barrows”, it all seems to come together rather well.
---------------
Review – Locrian – Territories (Small Doses, 2010)
Posted on March 19, 2010 by admin
In comparison to “Rain Of Ashes”, Locrian’s new record “Territories” seems to be a bit more epic and diverse album. At its core, its still explores the post-industrial/post-apocalyptic motive – a soundtrack to the game of survival in a nearly destroyed landscape, if you will.
Where disc is different from “Rain” is in the amount of genres/moods that the band explores – there’s more familiar noise/drone/ambient elements, but also elements black metal. That’s right – black metal, complete with insane drumming and screams (courtesy of guests from bands like Nachtmystium).
The only real disappointment, to my ears, comes in the form of a title track – Skullflower-esque “Inverted Ruins” which featured Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded) on vocals. There’s a painful squealing/feedback that overtakes the track and is rather off-putting. The same effect can be heard in the beginning of “Ring Road”, but thankfully it disappears as the track progresses.
Other than that – this record is solid, and it further demonstrates the band’s continuing refinement of their own approach to black metal/ambient/drone music. Whether its a combination of Megaptera (remember them?) like eeriness and black metal insanity on “Ancestral Brutalism” or minimal/ambient undertow of “Between Barrows”, it all seems to come together rather well.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tonight! "Territories" Release Show at the Abbey Pub Chicago
Thursday March 18, 2010
The Abbey Pub
3420 West Grace Street
Chicago, IL 60618-4215
773.478.4408
http://www.abbeypub.com/
Doors: 8:00 PM / Show: 8:30 PM
$8.00 in advance / $10.00 at door
21+
Locrian
(Record release show for "Territories" LP, a co-release by At War With False Noise, Basses Frequences, BloodLust!, and Small Doses)
http://www.myspace.com/thelocrian
Harpoon
http://www.myspace.com/harpoonrockin4u
Anatomy of Habit
http://www.myspace.com/anatomyofhabit
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anatomy-of-Habit/65210152926
Sun Splitter
http://www.myspace.com/sunsplitter
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Event links
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/ygr88p9
Last.fm: http://tinyurl.com/ygdkod7
MySpace: http://tinyurl.com/ydeav8h
"Greyfield Shrines" LP Review from Existence Establishment
Link to review here.
Diophantine Discs still has some copies of this LP available here.
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Locrian – Greyfield Shrines LP
18 March 2010 xdementia No Comment
Locrian – Greyfield Shrines LP
Diophantine Discs
Greyfield Shrines is a record that is successful on at least a few levels. The first is that it’s just a damn solid release, and the second is that it’s actual guitar drone that I like. I really appreciate when artists can break my jaded opinions and Locrian has done just that. It was only about 5 minutes into the one track – that takes up both sides of this LP – that I starting thinking about how Locrian sounds much like a darker Emeralds here. I know I have reviewed Locrian before but I cannot quite remember the quality of their work, although I can almost assure you that they have come a ways since that split tape.
The track is a typical build-up, jam-out, noise-the-fuck-up, then die, outing. But you know what? I’m not tired of it yet, and Locrian makes this trip quite enjoyable. The build-up works just as well as the best drone releases can deliver and by the time we’re knee deep into side B and the jam is raging Locrian is just bringing it. Sweeping washes of noisy electronics, melodic but screaming guitar lines, and a feathery bed of bass drone to just let the listener bury themselves in.
Although Greyfield Shrines is great and all, maybe it’s just the guitar but I can’t help thinking about how bad-ass it would be when the drums finally kick in. Unfortunately at this stage in the game Locrian still can’t quite provide enough compositional interest to make me feel like this isn’t just half a band playing really good tunes, but still looking for that last member. Outside of the Emeralds reference I might compare this to Tarentel, Birchville Cat Motel, or even Tarantula Hawk (minus the drums of course).
Grefield Shrines presents a definite success story for both band and label. Although I’m not a fan of the 2 insert-style LP artwork the printing is classy metallic silver on black stock with some cryptic images and designs. Text is sparse but just enough to satisfy. In addition the swirly grey LP is quite fitting to the whole release. Nice work.
Composition: ★★★☆☆
Sounds: ★★★☆☆
Production Quality: ★★★½☆
Concept: ★★★☆☆
Packaging: ★★★☆☆
Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆
Diophantine Discs still has some copies of this LP available here.
----------------------
-------------------------
Locrian – Greyfield Shrines LP
18 March 2010 xdementia No Comment
Locrian – Greyfield Shrines LP
Diophantine Discs
Greyfield Shrines is a record that is successful on at least a few levels. The first is that it’s just a damn solid release, and the second is that it’s actual guitar drone that I like. I really appreciate when artists can break my jaded opinions and Locrian has done just that. It was only about 5 minutes into the one track – that takes up both sides of this LP – that I starting thinking about how Locrian sounds much like a darker Emeralds here. I know I have reviewed Locrian before but I cannot quite remember the quality of their work, although I can almost assure you that they have come a ways since that split tape.
The track is a typical build-up, jam-out, noise-the-fuck-up, then die, outing. But you know what? I’m not tired of it yet, and Locrian makes this trip quite enjoyable. The build-up works just as well as the best drone releases can deliver and by the time we’re knee deep into side B and the jam is raging Locrian is just bringing it. Sweeping washes of noisy electronics, melodic but screaming guitar lines, and a feathery bed of bass drone to just let the listener bury themselves in.
Although Greyfield Shrines is great and all, maybe it’s just the guitar but I can’t help thinking about how bad-ass it would be when the drums finally kick in. Unfortunately at this stage in the game Locrian still can’t quite provide enough compositional interest to make me feel like this isn’t just half a band playing really good tunes, but still looking for that last member. Outside of the Emeralds reference I might compare this to Tarentel, Birchville Cat Motel, or even Tarantula Hawk (minus the drums of course).
Grefield Shrines presents a definite success story for both band and label. Although I’m not a fan of the 2 insert-style LP artwork the printing is classy metallic silver on black stock with some cryptic images and designs. Text is sparse but just enough to satisfy. In addition the swirly grey LP is quite fitting to the whole release. Nice work.
Composition: ★★★☆☆
Sounds: ★★★☆☆
Production Quality: ★★★½☆
Concept: ★★★☆☆
Packaging: ★★★☆☆
Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
"Falling Towers / After The Torchlight" Cassettee Available Now
We now have copies of these if you'd like to order. Please send:
$8.50 USA/$10.00 Rest of World @ postpaid
papyal to: landofdecay@gmail.com
Description from Label:
I'm very pleased to present this new release from Locrian, adding to their impressively solid discography. It sees them as a three-piece with the addition of Mr. Lemos, and a bit of a thickening up of their now trademark sound on these two tracks. Shards of guitar improv, blackened howls, buzzing electronics and a constant progression through many chilling and evil zones. Audio is played in reverse on b-side, for perfect sound symmetry. Silver ink on black with silver and blue glitter metallic paper. J-card is 7-panels. Edition of 200 copies on hi-bias chrome tapes. Click here for a full shot of the cover.
LOCRIAN "Falling Towers / After The Torchlight" cassette @ Aquarius Records
We don't have copies of this tape yet, but it's available at Aquarius and from Black Horizons. We do still have copies of "Territories," but it's running low.
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LOCRIAN
Falling Towers / After The Torchlight(Black Horzions) Latest jam from these atmospheric black metal drone ambient soundscapers. Now expanded to a trio, this epic two track workout finds the band sounding better than ever. Slow burning riffs churn relentlessly over a swirl of electronics and rumbling drones, vocals drift ghostlike throughout, melodies peal amidst the crumbling low end and heaving blackness, like some epic post doom, stripped of it drums and blurred into whirling shimmering riffscapes, haunting and otherworldly, abject and post industrial, pulsing and throbbing, gradually transforming from doomdrone to dreamdrift, but remaining heavy and mysterious.
The second track begins with a buzzing black riff, but instead of exploding into a blast of black fury, the riff seems to melt into the background, the various drones and tones bleeding into the riff, all smeared into a swirling black cloud of slow burning blackness, washed out and gauzy, growing more and more abstract, the riff pulled apart, the notes left to drift amidst a vast sea of wheezing chordal shimmer and crumbling glitched out electronics. So awesome. And if that wasn't enough, the flipside features a palindromic rendering of the two songs, the whole first side played in reverse, a warped woozy, swooping bit of twisted droned out black mystery.Super sweet packaging, silver reflective sticker on the tape, seven panel, silver ink on black matte j-card. LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!
Monday, March 15, 2010
New Rites and Black Arts: UPDATE
LAND OF DECAY is now officially out of both Terence Hannum's NEW RITES and BLACK ARTS zines.
You can pick up NEW RITES from:
WesternExhibitions
Quimbys
Half-Letter Press
and BLACK ARTS from:
WesternExhibitions
Half-Letter Press
Keep your eyes open for a third zine titled PROFANED MISSIVE printed exclusively for those in attendance of the annual ritual named the DNA TEST FEST put on by the negative creeps at FAN DEATH RECORDS in the cesspool named Baltimore, MD at the atrocious urine stain of a venue called $ONAR.
"Territories:" Featured New Release at Permanent Records (Chicago)
LP - Locrian - Territories
Locrian is one of our favorite local experimental acts. We've discussed many of their previous releases in past updates and we're always stoked to see Terence or Andre roll into the shop with a box full of new records. Locrian is always progressing and trying new things, different line-ups, and keeping things interesting in general. They never let Locrian get stale and for that we thank them. Well, Andre came by this week with a box full of records. We're stoked. Here's the story behind their new jam.
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"At War With False Noise (UK), Basses Frequences (France), BloodLust! (USA), and Small Doses (USA) are pleased to announce the co-release of "Territories," the second studio full-length from Locrian. The album was recorded in January 2009, at Phantom Manor Studios in Chicago, IL, and it features a group of collaborators including Blake Judd (Nachtmystium, Twilight), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Andrew Scherer (Velnias), and Mark Solotroff (Anatomy of Habit, BLOODYMINDED). André Foisy and Terence Hannum have spent the last several years honing the Locrian sound and they have taken elements from noise, power-electronics, drone, and black metal to come up with a truly unique approach that reflects the sprawling urban decay that surrounds them in Chicago. After nearly two dozen releases, they have found themselves in the world of "Territories." For this release, Locrian has pulled out all of the stops and they have fleshed out the band with the help of Mark Solotroff on vocals and synthesizer, Blake Judd on guitar, Bruce Lamont on saxophone and vocals, and Andrew Scherer on drums. The results of this massive collaborative effort are apparent from the moment that the album starts. The textures run darker and deeper; the vocals -- sometimes three layers deep -- seem to be conjured from the decrepit muck of a failed civilization; the feedback takes on a more pronounced presence; and the augmented line-up allows for full-on black metal assaults that burst out of the tortured drones that Locrian have come to be known for. Truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, "Territories" may well be the most fully realized form of Locrian's dystopian vision. As with their previous album, "Drenched Lands" (2009, At War With False Noise and Small Doses - CD; BloodLust! - LP), "Territories" was skillfully mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service, and the sound could not be more monumental. The LP is pressed in a black vinyl edition of 500 copies, is housed in heavyweight, full-color, true LP sleeves, and it includes an 11" x 11" double-sided, full-color insert. A compact disc edition of "Territories" is planned for summer 2010." - Bloodlust
Locrian is one of our favorite local experimental acts. We've discussed many of their previous releases in past updates and we're always stoked to see Terence or Andre roll into the shop with a box full of new records. Locrian is always progressing and trying new things, different line-ups, and keeping things interesting in general. They never let Locrian get stale and for that we thank them. Well, Andre came by this week with a box full of records. We're stoked. Here's the story behind their new jam.
-----------
"At War With False Noise (UK), Basses Frequences (France), BloodLust! (USA), and Small Doses (USA) are pleased to announce the co-release of "Territories," the second studio full-length from Locrian. The album was recorded in January 2009, at Phantom Manor Studios in Chicago, IL, and it features a group of collaborators including Blake Judd (Nachtmystium, Twilight), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Andrew Scherer (Velnias), and Mark Solotroff (Anatomy of Habit, BLOODYMINDED). André Foisy and Terence Hannum have spent the last several years honing the Locrian sound and they have taken elements from noise, power-electronics, drone, and black metal to come up with a truly unique approach that reflects the sprawling urban decay that surrounds them in Chicago. After nearly two dozen releases, they have found themselves in the world of "Territories." For this release, Locrian has pulled out all of the stops and they have fleshed out the band with the help of Mark Solotroff on vocals and synthesizer, Blake Judd on guitar, Bruce Lamont on saxophone and vocals, and Andrew Scherer on drums. The results of this massive collaborative effort are apparent from the moment that the album starts. The textures run darker and deeper; the vocals -- sometimes three layers deep -- seem to be conjured from the decrepit muck of a failed civilization; the feedback takes on a more pronounced presence; and the augmented line-up allows for full-on black metal assaults that burst out of the tortured drones that Locrian have come to be known for. Truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, "Territories" may well be the most fully realized form of Locrian's dystopian vision. As with their previous album, "Drenched Lands" (2009, At War With False Noise and Small Doses - CD; BloodLust! - LP), "Territories" was skillfully mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service, and the sound could not be more monumental. The LP is pressed in a black vinyl edition of 500 copies, is housed in heavyweight, full-color, true LP sleeves, and it includes an 11" x 11" double-sided, full-color insert. A compact disc edition of "Territories" is planned for summer 2010." - Bloodlust
Friday, March 12, 2010
Agitated Atmosphere: Locrian - Territories
A really kind review from Justin. Thanks a lot!
Link here.
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Listen to “Procession of Ancestral Brutalism”:
Link here.
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Agitated Atmosphere: Locrian - Territories
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosphere hopes to pull back the curtain on a wealth of sights and sound from luminaries such as Locrian.
The dark recesses visited by Locrian are all too familiar to those who have grappled with their inner demons with accompaniment by doom metal and industrial acts for the past quarter-century. The dark cloud that looms over Territories, the latest LP from Locrian through Small Doses, finds the group delving into the bottomless abyss of uncertainty.
Album opener “Inverted Ruins” straddles the line of between industrial’s past and doom’s present. The vocals are gnarled and venomous, scratching out their story into the ebon ember melody. The slow and heavy pace is counterpointed by sharp, high-pitched screeching; the clawing of our hapless victim desperately attempting to dig his way out from under the endless layers of dirt in which he is buried. The trip into darkness is one Locrian has taken many times, yet one that will leave listeners deeply affected by the scorched tones in which they are repeatedly baptized.
It’s this fearlessness that drives André Foisy and Terence Hannum’s vision. The combination of white noise, variable static, low-end tunings, and spatial arrangements turn Territories into a viscous mix of tar, oil, and mud that is unwashable. The machine gun guitar of “Procession of Ancestral Brutalism” mimics the frantic scrubs of Lady Macbeth unable to rinse the blood of her evil deeds away; the anguished screams represent her confrontation with her sins; the crashing cymbals the thunder claps of the gods passing their stern judgment upon her. Territories is all these and more. An album as complex and theme-heavy as classic literature and as technologically integrated as human flesh meeting cybernetic parts, Territories captures the malaise of modern living in its onyx-tinted Petri dish. As we swim around, confused by the blackness of our surroundings and confounded with how to clear up our messes, Locrian hovers in the disconnected netherworld capturing every emotion in its medieval ooze to cast us in plaster for ever more.
Justin Spicer is a freelance journalist who also runs the webzine, Electronic Voice Phenomenon. He writes the Monday News Mash-Up for the KEXP Blog. You may follow him on Twitter.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
"Rain of Ashes" and "Territories" Review from Animal Psi
10 Mar 10 - Vinyl, CD, Review
The attentive listener will notice the vivid emergence of Locrian from behind the grey fogs which otherwise populate the ruined landscapes they imply. With varying parts drone, doom, black metal, power electronics, and post-punk, the duo of André Foisy and Terence Hannum have defined their own inexchangeable position in the field with epic gestures toward a comprehensive vision of blackened science-fiction. With each release the details of this world become more pronounced, an ingratiation which develops through heightened musicality. 
Entering a fever pitch with these two latest long-players, the pair are figured at first as specters (an identity improvement from their earlier position), phantom powers who command the materializing bodies of guitars and keyboards. Unfortunately too elongate for the vinyl treatment of the latter, ‘Rain of Ashes’ makes diligent use of every square minute of the 60 minute disc, both in compositional richness and structural novelty. Recorded in a single session without overdub, the tracks reveal an impressive loose-tight combination of multi-modal, shared vision and a young pair really hitting stride in lesser-orchestrated collaboration. As in previous works, guitar plumes generate weight and height while synthesizer passes through effects for texture and rhythm. However, the revelation of riffs and melodic grids puncture this mass to create a dialectical monster of hairy, howling detail and dense grind. Distilled to a central hush of layered reverb, the soundtrack’s ominous hook is reduced to a single telephonic scale like a razor which cuts through the electronical storm which these two exert impossible control over. Again wanting for vinyl over CD – and here I should add this is a repress from a cassette release, with a beautiful jewelcase booklet of photography – the pair offer an anachronistic nod to BF labelmate Nicholas Szczepanik and “chiasmus” with the second, reverse-track “Sehsa Fo Niar”: were the title not too gauche of a giveaway, the uncanny disturbance of inhalation which comes with the most abstract of backwards recordings breaks the brilliance of this deconstructive move as it lingers too long on the track as a whole. An object which like some molten tool box cooled to a single clump in the snow, the track is reproduced in its (backwards) entirety, unable to tell us about the tools which were inside, or even the shape of the container. As a sound object, this of course works nicely to hit various constructions from a different slant – more than merely the flipside – but despite this one-off insight, it can only tarnish the power of this towering pair.
And then they were a band. With huge contributions by Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), and Blake Judd (Nachtmystium), the pair of Foisy and Hannum are joined by drummer Andrew Scherer for three of the six tracks to fully realize the metal fetish which informs their distinct brutalism. Assembled by four labels, ‘Territories’ is not only a high watermark for Locrian but a remarkable good-faith gesture by several of the scene’s most vital patron-labels. Akin to the darkest of Coil’s private press, “Inverted Ruins” begins the disc with a single blade of head-splitting feedback quickly offset by a watery melody of synthesizer strain - the maneuver then reversed, reciprocated, cauterized into arbitrary chunks by a Whitehouse laser – and tattered, immediate percussion, all while Solotroff adds a wonderfully-dissembled John Balance sermon (lyrics included in the liner notes). Lamont’s saxophone smoothes out with sustained tones and murmuring strings in the cold-ass passage “Between Barrows”, a magnificent deception leading into the twin central peaks of “Procession of Ancestral Brutalism” and “Ring Road”: the former a deteriorating black metal of sheet-metal crash and howling vocals ala Wolves in the Throne Room, sooty with tape effects, its ten minutes are matched by the latter, a busy erasure of heat-swollen synth sequences and distorted guitar phased in trick wall of sound texture. Clean lines of guitar noir form the disc’s second interlude like a test track leading into the crackling transmissions which begin “The Columnless Arcade”, accumulating layers of noisy curtain which part midtrack to expose, like a secret less shameful than indulgent, a belligerent prog-metal of pull-offs, sustains, and woven notes - Hannum’s shredded vocals like a wraith beneath the glassy finish of whole tones of Locrian guitar and synthesizer which finally reveal themselves in full. It’s exceedingly rare to anticipate an album exploding onto the scene without some jaded sense of fluke connections or passing fancies but only by an essential power and brilliance which cannot be confused. ‘Territories’ is one of those moments, and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving outfit. And if this isn’t the moment which does it for Locrian, I’m probably not alone in feeling relief that they’ll be ours for a little longer. On black vinyl, limited to 500 copies. Highest recommendation. (Basses Frequencies CD, 9€ HERE; and At War With False Noise/Bloodlust!/Small Doses/Basses Frequencies LP, $15 HERE)permalink
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Locrian/Harpoon 7" Review from Maeror3
Link here.
7" still available from HeWhoCorrupts Inc. here.
If you're in Chicago, then you will be able to pick up copies at the "Territories" release show on Thursday March 18th, w/ Harpoon, Anatomy of Habit and Sun Splitter.
If you can read Russian, then the review looks like this:
Hewhocorrupts Inc., HWC-023, 13 Nov 2009
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Just for giggles, here's a free online translation from Russian-English:
Smartly published (an envelope with a stamping and a different sort инсерты) seven-inch Split two metal commands, one of which, namely «Locrian», has not bad declared herself and on an industrial stage the нойз-fatal albums and works in style guitar dark drone ambient, and the second, «Harpoon», on this plate, apparently, debuts. «Locrian», certainly, have surprised – instead of мрачноватого a gnash and a rumble the duet valiantly tears columns high-speed блэком, executed duly “ dark art ”. Rectilinear guitar риффы, up to "bones" изъеденные дисторшеном, constantly accelerated бластбиты, with enviable energy getting out on the foreground, and suffocating скримминг. However, the more close the needle approaches to "apple", the неувереннее becomes accelerated, the joins ears of noise фидбеков more, the canons блэка are stronger are erased, leaving a place any acid шумовой than improvisation. Rather vigorous thing, which dirty sound blamed kindly emphasizes a crash and clicks. Colleagues across Split, «Harpoon», not less vigorously hill a field death/trash metal – they too piously firstly follow canons, and also, as well as «Locrian», from the middle dare to dump mad rate and to make a noise a little to designate somehow the difference from numerous executors of similar music. Almost all time the vocalist hysterically shouts in a microphone, muffling rhythmical twitchings and "hum" of guitars (which on record are a little ruined and removed somewhere back) and high-speed «мочилово» drums. If not last minutes one and a half, would be most, that on is, the standard of a genre. But also with them together « To The Tall Trees » is, first of all, music for mad слэма while « Ancestral Brutalism » assumes brain activity.
The Tall Trees» - это, прежде всего, музыка для безумного слэма, в то время как «Ancestral Brutalism» предполагает мозговую деятельность.
7" still available from HeWhoCorrupts Inc. here.
If you're in Chicago, then you will be able to pick up copies at the "Territories" release show on Thursday March 18th, w/ Harpoon, Anatomy of Habit and Sun Splitter.
If you can read Russian, then the review looks like this:
Hewhocorrupts Inc., HWC-023, 13 Nov 2009
- Locrian - Ancestral Brutalism
- Harpoon - To The Tall Trees
Шикарно изданный (конверт с тиснением и разного рода инсерты) семидюймовый сплит двух металлических команд, одна из которых, а именно «Locrian», неплохо заявила о себе и на индустриальной сцене своими нойз-роковыми альбомами и работами в стиле гитарного dark drone ambient, а вторая, «Harpoon», на этой пластинке, судя по всему, дебютирует. «Locrian», конечно же, удивили – вместо мрачноватого скрежета и гула дуэт лихо рвет колонки скоростным блэком, выполненным по всем правилам “темного искусства”. Прямолинейные гитарные риффы, до самых «костей» изъеденные дисторшеном, постоянно ускоряющиеся бластбиты, с завидной энергией вылезающие на первый план, и удушливый скримминг. Правда, чем ближе игла подходит к «яблоку», тем неувереннее становится набранный темп, тем больше вливается в уши шума фидбеков, тем сильнее каноны блэка стираются, оставляя место какой-то кислотной шумовой импровизации. Весьма бодрая вещь, грязный звук которой винил любезно подчеркивает треском и щелчками. Коллеги по сплиту, «Harpoon», не менее бодро окучивают поле death/trash metal – они тоже свято поначалу следуют канонам, и также, как и «Locrian», с середины позволяют себе сбросить сумасшедший темп и немного пошуметь, чтобы обозначить как-то свое отличие от многочисленных исполнителей подобной музыки. Почти все время вокалист надрывно орет в микрофон, заглушая ритмичные подергивания и «жужжание» гитар (которые на записи немного провалены и отодвинуты куда-то назад) и скоростное «мочилово» барабанов. Если бы не последние минуты полторы, был бы самый, что ни на есть, стандарт жанра. Но и с ними вместе «To The Tall Trees» - это, прежде всего, музыка для безумного слэма, в то время как «Ancestral Brutalism» предполагает мозговую деятельность.
http://www.hewhocorruptsinc.com
http://www.myspace.com/thelocrian
-------------------------
Just for giggles, here's a free online translation from Russian-English:
Smartly published (an envelope with a stamping and a different sort инсерты) seven-inch Split two metal commands, one of which, namely «Locrian», has not bad declared herself and on an industrial stage the нойз-fatal albums and works in style guitar dark drone ambient, and the second, «Harpoon», on this plate, apparently, debuts. «Locrian», certainly, have surprised – instead of мрачноватого a gnash and a rumble the duet valiantly tears columns high-speed блэком, executed duly “ dark art ”. Rectilinear guitar риффы, up to "bones" изъеденные дисторшеном, constantly accelerated бластбиты, with enviable energy getting out on the foreground, and suffocating скримминг. However, the more close the needle approaches to "apple", the неувереннее becomes accelerated, the joins ears of noise фидбеков more, the canons блэка are stronger are erased, leaving a place any acid шумовой than improvisation. Rather vigorous thing, which dirty sound blamed kindly emphasizes a crash and clicks. Colleagues across Split, «Harpoon», not less vigorously hill a field death/trash metal – they too piously firstly follow canons, and also, as well as «Locrian», from the middle dare to dump mad rate and to make a noise a little to designate somehow the difference from numerous executors of similar music. Almost all time the vocalist hysterically shouts in a microphone, muffling rhythmical twitchings and "hum" of guitars (which on record are a little ruined and removed somewhere back) and high-speed «мочилово» drums. If not last minutes one and a half, would be most, that on is, the standard of a genre. But also with them together « To The Tall Trees » is, first of all, music for mad слэма while « Ancestral Brutalism » assumes brain activity.
The Tall Trees» - это, прежде всего, музыка для безумного слэма, в то время как «Ancestral Brutalism» предполагает мозговую деятельность.
http://www.hewhocorruptsinc.com
http://www.myspace.com/thelocrian
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Bloodlust! Update
Update from Bloodlust! records here.
Bloodlust! has some of the last copies of Locrian's first studio recording: Plague Journal. If you're interested in picking that up then you should move quickly!
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I have less than 20 copies of the new Locrian "Territories" LP left in stock, and less than 20 copies of their "Plague Journal" 7-inch. The "Rhetoric of Surfaces" CD remains in-print and in-stock. Thanks to everyone who has already ordered the LP!
Bloodlust! has some of the last copies of Locrian's first studio recording: Plague Journal. If you're interested in picking that up then you should move quickly!
------
I have less than 20 copies of the new Locrian "Territories" LP left in stock, and less than 20 copies of their "Plague Journal" 7-inch. The "Rhetoric of Surfaces" CD remains in-print and in-stock. Thanks to everyone who has already ordered the LP!
"Territories" Description from Reckless Records
Available at all of the Reckless stores and here:
2010 release from this Chicago duo, this time roping in the best of the Chicago noise/metal crowd. This record has it all - harsh drones, black metal ambience, power electronics-like synth whines, doom drums, throat-shredding vocals. Features guest turns from MARK SOLOTROFF (BLOODYMINDED, ANATOMY OF HABIT), BRUCE LAMONT (YAKUZA), ANDREW SCHERER (VELNIAS) and BLAKE JUDD (NACHMYSTIUM). Pick this up and prepare yourself - this is an intense listen. H I G H L Y R E C O M M E N D E D ! ! !
2010 release from this Chicago duo, this time roping in the best of the Chicago noise/metal crowd. This record has it all - harsh drones, black metal ambience, power electronics-like synth whines, doom drums, throat-shredding vocals. Features guest turns from MARK SOLOTROFF (BLOODYMINDED, ANATOMY OF HABIT), BRUCE LAMONT (YAKUZA), ANDREW SCHERER (VELNIAS) and BLAKE JUDD (NACHMYSTIUM). Pick this up and prepare yourself - this is an intense listen. H I G H L Y R E C O M M E N D E D ! ! !
Monday, March 8, 2010
Thanks for Your Orders
Hey everyone,
Thanks for ordering the "Territories" LPs. We're already almost out of them so please get in touch asap if you'd like one.
We're really overwhelmed by how quickly these are selling. We might not even have any by our release show on March 18th!
Thanks for ordering the "Territories" LPs. We're already almost out of them so please get in touch asap if you'd like one.
We're really overwhelmed by how quickly these are selling. We might not even have any by our release show on March 18th!
OMG Vinyl on "Territories"
Link here.
The second vinyl album of forward-thinking metal from the peerless Locrian. It’s hard to attach a sub-genre to these guys, they incorporate a wide range of influences into a very cohesive whole, but that whole is definitely grey, oppressive and depressing (that’s a good thing if you like this kind of music). Totally nihilistic music made my two very nice gentlemen, Territories also includes contributions from members of Nachtmystium and Yakuza, among others. Priced right at $18 shipped in the US and limited to 500, you can read more and sort out ordering details at lndofdecay.blogspot.com, bloodlust.blogspot.com or discogs.com.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Locrian "Territories" Out TODAY, Saturday, March 6, 2010
Land of Decay has copies available if you are interested. Our Land of Decay catalog is up-to-date, so please click here to view the catalog.
Details below:
---------
Artist: Locrian
Title: "Territories"
Format: LP
Label: At War With False Noise / Basses Frequences / BloodLust! / Small Doses
Catalog Number: ATWAR073 / BF23 / B!147 / DOSE85
Genre: Black Metal / Drone / Experimental / Noise / Power Electronics
Edition Size: 500 Copies
At War With False Noise (UK), Basses Frequences (France), BloodLust! (USA), and Small Doses (USA) are pleased to announce the co-release of "Territories," the second studio full-length from Locrian. The album was recorded in January 2009, at Phantom Manor Studios in Chicago, IL, and it features a group of collaborators including Blake Judd (Nachtmystium, Twilight), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Andrew Scherer (Velnias), and Mark Solotroff (Anatomy of Habit, BLOODYMINDED). André Foisy and Terence Hannum have spent the last several years honing the Locrian sound and they have taken elements from noise, power-electronics, drone, and black metal to come up with a truly unique approach that reflects the sprawling urban decay that surrounds them in Chicago. After nearly two dozen releases, they have found themselves in the world of "Territories." For this release, Locrian has pulled out all of the stops and they have fleshed out the band with the help of Mark Solotroff on vocals and synthesizer, Blake Judd on guitar, Bruce Lamont on saxophone and vocals, and Andrew Scherer on drums. The results of this massive collaborative effort are apparent from the moment that the album starts. The textures run darker and deeper; the vocals -- sometimes three layers deep -- seem to be conjured from the decrepit muck of a failed civilization; the feedback takes on a more pronounced presence; and the augmented line-up allows for full-on black metal assaults that burst out of the tortured drones that Locrian have come to be known for. Truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, "Territories" may well be the most fully realized form of Locrian’s dystopian vision. As with their previous album, "Drenched Lands" (2009, At War With False Noise and Small Doses - CD; BloodLust! - LP), "Territories" was skillfully mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service, and the sound could not be more monumental. The LP is pressed in a black vinyl edition of 500 copies, is housed in heavyweight, full-color, true LP sleeves, and it includes an 11" x 11" double-sided, full-color insert. A compact disc edition of "Territories" is planned for summer 2010.
Tracklisting:
A1. "Inverted Ruins"
A2. "Between Barrows"
A3. "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism"
B1. "Ring Road"
B2. "Antediluvian Territory"
B3. "The Columnless Arcade"
Discogs listing: http://www.discogs.com/Locrian-Territories/release/2153397
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Price: $18.00 USA/$20.00 Canada+Mexico/$24.00 Rest of World @ postpaid
Please use landofdecay@gmail.com for PayPal payments
Details below:
---------
Artist: Locrian
Title: "Territories"
Format: LP
Label: At War With False Noise / Basses Frequences / BloodLust! / Small Doses
Catalog Number: ATWAR073 / BF23 / B!147 / DOSE85
Genre: Black Metal / Drone / Experimental / Noise / Power Electronics
Edition Size: 500 Copies
At War With False Noise (UK), Basses Frequences (France), BloodLust! (USA), and Small Doses (USA) are pleased to announce the co-release of "Territories," the second studio full-length from Locrian. The album was recorded in January 2009, at Phantom Manor Studios in Chicago, IL, and it features a group of collaborators including Blake Judd (Nachtmystium, Twilight), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Andrew Scherer (Velnias), and Mark Solotroff (Anatomy of Habit, BLOODYMINDED). André Foisy and Terence Hannum have spent the last several years honing the Locrian sound and they have taken elements from noise, power-electronics, drone, and black metal to come up with a truly unique approach that reflects the sprawling urban decay that surrounds them in Chicago. After nearly two dozen releases, they have found themselves in the world of "Territories." For this release, Locrian has pulled out all of the stops and they have fleshed out the band with the help of Mark Solotroff on vocals and synthesizer, Blake Judd on guitar, Bruce Lamont on saxophone and vocals, and Andrew Scherer on drums. The results of this massive collaborative effort are apparent from the moment that the album starts. The textures run darker and deeper; the vocals -- sometimes three layers deep -- seem to be conjured from the decrepit muck of a failed civilization; the feedback takes on a more pronounced presence; and the augmented line-up allows for full-on black metal assaults that burst out of the tortured drones that Locrian have come to be known for. Truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, "Territories" may well be the most fully realized form of Locrian’s dystopian vision. As with their previous album, "Drenched Lands" (2009, At War With False Noise and Small Doses - CD; BloodLust! - LP), "Territories" was skillfully mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service, and the sound could not be more monumental. The LP is pressed in a black vinyl edition of 500 copies, is housed in heavyweight, full-color, true LP sleeves, and it includes an 11" x 11" double-sided, full-color insert. A compact disc edition of "Territories" is planned for summer 2010.
Tracklisting:
A1. "Inverted Ruins"
A2. "Between Barrows"
A3. "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism"
B1. "Ring Road"
B2. "Antediluvian Territory"
B3. "The Columnless Arcade"
Discogs listing: http://www.discogs.com/Locrian-Territories/release/2153397
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Price: $18.00 USA/$20.00 Canada+Mexico/$24.00 Rest of World @ postpaid
Please use landofdecay@gmail.com for PayPal payments
Thursday, March 4, 2010
"Territories" Review from Anti-Gravity Bunny
Link here.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Locrian - Territories (At War With False Noise / Basses Frequences / Bloodlust! / Small Doses, 2010)
Locrian - Procession Of Ancestral Brutalism
Where the fuck do you start with a record like this? I guess the first thing I should mention (in case you didn't notice) is that Territories is too much of a monolithic beast to be contained by individual labels or continents. It took FOUR labels to put this thing out. That right there should clue you in as to how fucking massive this record is.
Then there's the fact that this isn't just André & Terrence playing, like most Locrian releases. Nope, they've recruited, like, every awesome metal dude around. Mark Solotroff (of Bloodyminded) on vocals and synths, Blake Judd (of Nachtmystium) on guitar, Bruce Lamont (of Yakuza) on sax and vocals, and Andrew Scherer (of Velnias) on drums. DUDES. We get it. You're trying to make to most badass record ever. No need to go overboard (just kidding, always go overboard please).
What Locrian usually go for is black. You know, black metal, blackened ambience, black doom, black noise, all the black one record can handle. But combine their entire discography's blackness and you still can't muster even a half hearted fight against the epic black hole that Territories.
This record is fucking incredible. It opens with a super textured lurching hunchback of a song, with piercing squelches of feedback over a gurgling swamp of vocals and noise. The next song chills out a bit with some not-too-scary low end drone played by a mourning sax and commiserating synths, accentuated by spurts of crashing cymbals. But the third song is where they fucking kick it into gear. All out black metal fury that totally fucking annihilates in the most gorgeous way possible. I don't think I've heard them delve this far into the BM yet, and it's so. fucking. good. It's not especially fucked or twisted that way I normally like my black metal, but it's not too straightforward either. They balance the blast beats and wall of buzz with droning static and plodding thunder in a way that makes me think "Why don't they always do this? It's unbelievable." But then I listen to the rest of the record and remember why.
Territories finishes with 3 more songs that really get into some true terror, blackened rumbling, traipsing thrumming, soaring static, and more of that torturous feedback. Clouds roll in and shit gets dark, heavy, and scary as fuck. Helicopters flying in launching tear gas rockets to stop the rioting masses, decrepit malfunctioning machines topple, rusted tetanus infections, doomsday alarms, the demise of our society. And it all culminates with a black metal march of triumph over the decay, proof that even in the Future American Dystopia, no matter how debased and degenerated we have become, it's still going to be fucking beautiful.
Heavy Focus Comp Info
More information here.
dose86
various artists
heavy focus benefit compilation 2xcdr
this compilation was put together to raise some funds for the heavy focus fest this april. it features most of the artists scheduled to perform. all profits go to cover costs and pay the travelling artists. co-released with phage tapes. 2 cdrs and insert packaed in a hand-screened arigato pack.
track list:
disc 1
1. Squid Fist- Hall Mall
2. Climax Denial- Push My Buttons (Libido Mix)
3. Being- Take Off
4. Regoshere- Pitbull Holocaust
5. Seth Ryan- 01cnn_frk
6. Wilt- Bodies Fall Away
7. xALLxFORxTHISx- Throat
8. Grain Belt- Devil's Whip
9. Werewolf Jerusalem- Left With Nightmares
10. Koufar- The Difference
11. Custodian- Untitled No. 37
disc 2
1. Teeth Collection- Untitled
2. Juhyo- The Buried Session
3. Disthroned Agony- Eternal Blackout Inebriation
4. Bloodyminded (Featuring Jason Schuler)- Ten Suicides (Live)
5. Cock ESP- Sliced Cuntz
6. Paranoid Time- No Entertainment IV, VIII & IX
7. Infirmary- Close The Gates
8. Plasmic Formations- Untitled
9. Gnawed- Ostrich
10. Locrian- Inverted Ruins
11. Envenomist- Angelic
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Zelienople: Out Sonds from Chicago
Link here.
Thanks to Zelienople for playing us on your podcast. There's some great stuff on there. It's actually been way too long since we've seen Zelienople play.
------------------------------
For this podcast, I decided to focus on local music from my hometown of Chicago. This mix is obviously not comprehensive, rather I tried to limit my selections to the more "out sounds" of the city. So this is a tiny portion of examples of Chicago sounds created by experimental musicians, i.e. electro-acoustic, ambient, noise, free-jazz, improvised, free-folk, etc. I found that I had to narrow down selections even when limiting my reach to this small corner of the city’s music scene, especially when it came to musicians that create long-form pieces like Haptic, Brent Gutzeit, Illusion of Safety, TV Pow etc. I also didn’t want to have too many tracks from one sub-genre (I could have devoted the whole podcast to artists from the fertile Free Jazz scene). I’m sure there are many that I forgot to include, others that I don’t know about and still those that I only have music by on the vinyl format (I don’t have the means to make digital files from LP’s) but this is a sample of what I have in my digital collection of music from Chicago.
[Podcast Available Through Link]
1. Equus Haar : Spires That In The Sunset Rise (Curse The Traced Bird Secret Eye, 2009)
2. Hail To Thee, Malthusia : Baker/ Hunt/ Sandstrom / Williams - Extraordinary Popular Delusions (Okkadisk, 2008)
3. Three Henries VI : Pillow - Three Henries (Hapna, 2001)
4. Cloudy : Kevin Drumm - Sheer Hellish Miasma (Mego, 2002)
5. Live recording : Scott Tuma & Jason Ajemian - Live at 3030 (unreleased, 2003)
6. Both Literally and Figuratively : Pan•American - White Bird Release (Kranky, 2009)
7. Used to be a guy : Male / All Are Welcome (Other Electricities, 2009)
8. Obsolete Elegy in Cast Concrete : Locrian - Drenched Lands (At War With False Noise, 2009)
9. MudSaltCrystalsRocksWater : The Zoo Wheel - First Born, Grand Days (Lucky Kitchen, 2004)
10. Night Bear : Ill Professor / The Miracle of Luck - Plustapes (upcoming, 2010)
11. Thème de l’Amour Universel : Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Les Stances a Sophie (Universal Sound, 1970)
12. Fading Cold : Boxhead Ensemble - The Last Place to Go (Atavistic, 1998)
13. Signposts (For Lee Friedlander) : Vandermark - Beat Reader (Atavistic, 2008)
14. 5th One Is The Dark : Mako Sica / Dual Horizon - La Société Expéditionnaire (upcoming, 2010)
15. Heisenberg Boulevard : Neil Jendon - Grand Omega Minus (unreleased, 2005)
Thanks to Zelienople for playing us on your podcast. There's some great stuff on there. It's actually been way too long since we've seen Zelienople play.
------------------------------
For this podcast, I decided to focus on local music from my hometown of Chicago. This mix is obviously not comprehensive, rather I tried to limit my selections to the more "out sounds" of the city. So this is a tiny portion of examples of Chicago sounds created by experimental musicians, i.e. electro-acoustic, ambient, noise, free-jazz, improvised, free-folk, etc. I found that I had to narrow down selections even when limiting my reach to this small corner of the city’s music scene, especially when it came to musicians that create long-form pieces like Haptic, Brent Gutzeit, Illusion of Safety, TV Pow etc. I also didn’t want to have too many tracks from one sub-genre (I could have devoted the whole podcast to artists from the fertile Free Jazz scene). I’m sure there are many that I forgot to include, others that I don’t know about and still those that I only have music by on the vinyl format (I don’t have the means to make digital files from LP’s) but this is a sample of what I have in my digital collection of music from Chicago.
[Podcast Available Through Link]
1. Equus Haar : Spires That In The Sunset Rise (Curse The Traced Bird Secret Eye, 2009)
2. Hail To Thee, Malthusia : Baker/ Hunt/ Sandstrom / Williams - Extraordinary Popular Delusions (Okkadisk, 2008)
3. Three Henries VI : Pillow - Three Henries (Hapna, 2001)
4. Cloudy : Kevin Drumm - Sheer Hellish Miasma (Mego, 2002)
5. Live recording : Scott Tuma & Jason Ajemian - Live at 3030 (unreleased, 2003)
6. Both Literally and Figuratively : Pan•American - White Bird Release (Kranky, 2009)
7. Used to be a guy : Male / All Are Welcome (Other Electricities, 2009)
8. Obsolete Elegy in Cast Concrete : Locrian - Drenched Lands (At War With False Noise, 2009)
9. MudSaltCrystalsRocksWater : The Zoo Wheel - First Born, Grand Days (Lucky Kitchen, 2004)
10. Night Bear : Ill Professor / The Miracle of Luck - Plustapes (upcoming, 2010)
11. Thème de l’Amour Universel : Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Les Stances a Sophie (Universal Sound, 1970)
12. Fading Cold : Boxhead Ensemble - The Last Place to Go (Atavistic, 1998)
13. Signposts (For Lee Friedlander) : Vandermark - Beat Reader (Atavistic, 2008)
14. 5th One Is The Dark : Mako Sica / Dual Horizon - La Société Expéditionnaire (upcoming, 2010)
15. Heisenberg Boulevard : Neil Jendon - Grand Omega Minus (unreleased, 2005)
Locrian/Cold Cave Chicago, Thursday, June 17th: Tickets on Sale now..
Cold Cave
Locrian
Date: Thursday, June 17th
Location: Empty Bottle
Time: 10:00pm
Cost: $10
Tickets on sale here.
This is REALLY going to happen this time.
Locrian
Date: Thursday, June 17th
Location: Empty Bottle
Time: 10:00pm
Cost: $10
Tickets on sale here.
This is REALLY going to happen this time.
Another Track from "Territories" Posted on Myspace
"Inverted Ruins" is the opening track from "Territories" and features Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded/Anatomy of Habit) and Andrew Scherer from Velnias.
Link here.
You can check out another track from "Territories" (Procession of Ancestral Brutalism) at Brooklyn Vegan if you haven't done so already.
These LPs should be available for ordering any day now.
Link here.
You can check out another track from "Territories" (Procession of Ancestral Brutalism) at Brooklyn Vegan if you haven't done so already.
These LPs should be available for ordering any day now.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Update on Locrian c40 from Black Horizons:
link here.
2/2/10 update from Black Horizons:
2/2/10 update from Black Horizons:
2/2/10
Yeap, time for a new release. It is a C40 from Locrian, and it is one of the best tapes I've ever done. The Warmth - Privacy from God C52 was supposed to drop at the same
time, but due to it being a "printjob from hell" it is delayed until next week. In other comings up, the Tecumseh 10" is now a 12", and is at testpressing stage. Shortly.
Then will come an Anakrid LP and a Yellow Swans / Oakeater split LP. The Swans album that just dropped, that is not their last record. This one, given the way I
tend to release things, will be. It will also be worth the wait, especially since it is shared with Oakeater. Watch for all this come summer. I am on the move.
Thank you to everyone for their continued patience and support. This label means the world to me, and no, it is not dead. You will all know when it is.
Small Doses: Territories Delayed Slightly
Link here.
From Small Doses:
From Small Doses:
One of the packages of Locrian LPs on their way to Basses Frequences HQ was accidentally routed to Italy somwhere. We’re pretty sure it is now France-bound, but as soon as its delivery is imminent, we will all make the LP (and me the cassette) available. I’ll keep things updated here.
I’ll also have the Heavy Focus Benefit compilation 2cdr ready for purchase at the same time!
Creaig Dunton (Brainwashed) on "Territories"
Link here.
Locrian, "Territories"
Written by Creaig Dunton
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Looking back, it has only been a bit over a year since the Greyfield Shrines LP, my first exposure to these guys, yet in that year I’ve heard as significant amount of development and change in their work. While that release was reminiscent of the intentionally minimalist drone of Sunn O))), subsequent work has brought in greater elements of noise, electronic music, and post-punk alternative. This LP is perhaps the ultimate culmination of that, being released by no less than four labels and featuring guest appearances from members of Bloodyminded, Nachtmystium, Yakuza, and Velnias.
At War with False Noise/Basses Frequences/Bloodlust!/Small Doses
The change and evolution of their sound is immediate once "Inverted Ruins" launches. The carefully controlled feedback of Andre Foisy’s bass guitar and the simple echoed stabs of Terence Hannum’s synths could be on any of their releases, but the addition of live drums from Velnias member Andrew Scherer and the distant, disgusted vocals of Bloodyminded’s Mark Solotroff push the sound closer towards rock territory, while synthesizer drones and digital noise pull it in the opposite direction. The song slogs along at the pace of stoner rock, but there’s far more noise experimentation going on for it to drift into caveman riff-heavy Sabbath territory.
The long "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism" embraces the squall of black metal, but with a distinct sound and structure that contradicts the genre’s infatuation with muffled flatulent production and cookie monster vocals. Aided by Nachtmystium’s Blake Judd on vocals and guitar, it’s not surprising that it conjures images of black metal, but the complex layering of guitars over Hannum’s almost prog-rock synth lines and Scherer’s freak out drumming, all with a cavalcade of vocal parts sounding like Mayhem and Can battling it out with neither side dominating the other.
The closing "The Columnless Arcade" features the same line-up, with the addition of Yakuza’s Bruce Lamont on saxophone. The screamed tortured vocals and rapid staccato guitar also give a metallic sheen to the proceedings, but there is a greater aridness to the track, a bit more light let in. Shades of the post-punk guitar sound that appeared on the recent 7" split with Harpoon are here as well, giving a purer tone and color than other artists are usually able to muster.
Between these longer pieces linger a few shorter, more sparse instrumental bits that are no less captivating. The sustained organ and insect saxophone of "Between Barrows" have a meditative quality that fits well between the louder, more boisterous tracks. Similarly, "Antediluvian Territory," which sits as the penultimate track, is a sparse duet of organ and guitar, which soars and rings on with a melancholy beauty that calls to mind, at least in mood, some of the best moments of the Cure’s Seventeen Seconds for some reason.
This time last year I thought these guys were doing something different in the field of drone metal, which has continued to be an overly cluttered genre, but I wasn’t sure exactly what that difference was. While I have been concerned at their prolificness over the past year, their output has never been superfluous or unnecessary. Territories stands as the full realization of the tapes, EPs, and split 7" singles that the band has issued in this time, perfectly encapsulating their dark, dystopian sound with the ideal balance of pure heaviness and pensive drone. Topping this one will be tough, but I’m thinking they will be able to do it in time.
Locrian, "Territories"
Written by Creaig Dunton
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Looking back, it has only been a bit over a year since the Greyfield Shrines LP, my first exposure to these guys, yet in that year I’ve heard as significant amount of development and change in their work. While that release was reminiscent of the intentionally minimalist drone of Sunn O))), subsequent work has brought in greater elements of noise, electronic music, and post-punk alternative. This LP is perhaps the ultimate culmination of that, being released by no less than four labels and featuring guest appearances from members of Bloodyminded, Nachtmystium, Yakuza, and Velnias.
At War with False Noise/Basses Frequences/Bloodlust!/Small Doses
The change and evolution of their sound is immediate once "Inverted Ruins" launches. The carefully controlled feedback of Andre Foisy’s bass guitar and the simple echoed stabs of Terence Hannum’s synths could be on any of their releases, but the addition of live drums from Velnias member Andrew Scherer and the distant, disgusted vocals of Bloodyminded’s Mark Solotroff push the sound closer towards rock territory, while synthesizer drones and digital noise pull it in the opposite direction. The song slogs along at the pace of stoner rock, but there’s far more noise experimentation going on for it to drift into caveman riff-heavy Sabbath territory.
The long "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism" embraces the squall of black metal, but with a distinct sound and structure that contradicts the genre’s infatuation with muffled flatulent production and cookie monster vocals. Aided by Nachtmystium’s Blake Judd on vocals and guitar, it’s not surprising that it conjures images of black metal, but the complex layering of guitars over Hannum’s almost prog-rock synth lines and Scherer’s freak out drumming, all with a cavalcade of vocal parts sounding like Mayhem and Can battling it out with neither side dominating the other.
The closing "The Columnless Arcade" features the same line-up, with the addition of Yakuza’s Bruce Lamont on saxophone. The screamed tortured vocals and rapid staccato guitar also give a metallic sheen to the proceedings, but there is a greater aridness to the track, a bit more light let in. Shades of the post-punk guitar sound that appeared on the recent 7" split with Harpoon are here as well, giving a purer tone and color than other artists are usually able to muster.
Between these longer pieces linger a few shorter, more sparse instrumental bits that are no less captivating. The sustained organ and insect saxophone of "Between Barrows" have a meditative quality that fits well between the louder, more boisterous tracks. Similarly, "Antediluvian Territory," which sits as the penultimate track, is a sparse duet of organ and guitar, which soars and rings on with a melancholy beauty that calls to mind, at least in mood, some of the best moments of the Cure’s Seventeen Seconds for some reason.
This time last year I thought these guys were doing something different in the field of drone metal, which has continued to be an overly cluttered genre, but I wasn’t sure exactly what that difference was. While I have been concerned at their prolificness over the past year, their output has never been superfluous or unnecessary. Territories stands as the full realization of the tapes, EPs, and split 7" singles that the band has issued in this time, perfectly encapsulating their dark, dystopian sound with the ideal balance of pure heaviness and pensive drone. Topping this one will be tough, but I’m thinking they will be able to do it in time.
Monday, March 1, 2010
The One True Dead Angel on "Territories"
Link here.
Locrian -- TERRITORIES lp [At War With False Noise / Basses Frequences / Bloodlust! / Small Doses]
Here we have an album so immense, so blackened, and so heavy that it required four separate labels to lift it off the ground and cram it down your throat. Part of what makes this one so heavy is the additional firepower they bring to the game -- their diabolical fusion of noise, drone, and black metal is augmented by additional sonic death courtesy of guests Andrew Scherer (Velnias) on drums, Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) on guitar, Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) on sax and vocals, and Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded, Anatomy of Habit) on electronics and guitar. With the duo of Locrian backed by a full band, the result is a sound that's louder, thicker, and goes off in more directions than ever before. The opening track, "Inverted Ruins," makes this clear from the beginning, with plodding drums, bowel-scraping noise, and a serious commitment to skin-crawling dissonance. "Between Barrows" opens with an ominous cyclotron drone that could have been lifted from one of their earlier albums, but soon it is overlaid with eerie cymbal washes straight out of the Book of Khanate and more power-electronics hum, and as the piece progresses, the drone and crackling noise are embellished by dark ambient washes and eerie feedback drones, all playing out in languid but anguished fashion, like an unsettling prelude to violence. That violence finally arrives in "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism," where -- after an uneasy introduction of vaguely atmospheric ambient noise -- a buzzing guitar, pounding drums, and pained howling swaddled in mountains of reverb usher the album firmly into pure, antagonistic black metal territory. "Ring Road" returns to the more familiar pleasures of grinding, near-industrial tones and screech-laden power electronics, a deliberately grating sound that evolves into a dark, throbbing drone made even more threatening by the alienated noises that rise and fall in the background; the song eventually dissolves into a swirl of static and devolved black metal guitar wailing, like a lost soul disappearing down a rabbit hole. "Antediluvian Territory" is not quite so sinister but every bit as eerie, with a plinking guitar figure creeping across a burnt ambient soundscape of fogged-out noise and cryptic tonal dread, while "The Columnless Arcade" ends the album with an orgy of noise fed through enormous amounts of delay and echo as huge, shuddering drone action threatens to topple the entire sonic architecture into a cold, poisoned ocean... and then the pounding drums, treble-heavy black metal guitar, and hellish vocals burst forth without warning and the sonic destruction REALLY begins. What a way to end a completely filler-free album. Heavy, heavy stuff, o my brothers and sisters, heavy stuff indeed. If you haven't been smart enough to worship Locrian yet, you really should pick this up and get with the program.
Locrian
At War With False Noise
Basses Frequences
Bloodlust!
Small Doses
Locrian -- TERRITORIES lp [At War With False Noise / Basses Frequences / Bloodlust! / Small Doses]
Here we have an album so immense, so blackened, and so heavy that it required four separate labels to lift it off the ground and cram it down your throat. Part of what makes this one so heavy is the additional firepower they bring to the game -- their diabolical fusion of noise, drone, and black metal is augmented by additional sonic death courtesy of guests Andrew Scherer (Velnias) on drums, Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) on guitar, Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) on sax and vocals, and Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded, Anatomy of Habit) on electronics and guitar. With the duo of Locrian backed by a full band, the result is a sound that's louder, thicker, and goes off in more directions than ever before. The opening track, "Inverted Ruins," makes this clear from the beginning, with plodding drums, bowel-scraping noise, and a serious commitment to skin-crawling dissonance. "Between Barrows" opens with an ominous cyclotron drone that could have been lifted from one of their earlier albums, but soon it is overlaid with eerie cymbal washes straight out of the Book of Khanate and more power-electronics hum, and as the piece progresses, the drone and crackling noise are embellished by dark ambient washes and eerie feedback drones, all playing out in languid but anguished fashion, like an unsettling prelude to violence. That violence finally arrives in "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism," where -- after an uneasy introduction of vaguely atmospheric ambient noise -- a buzzing guitar, pounding drums, and pained howling swaddled in mountains of reverb usher the album firmly into pure, antagonistic black metal territory. "Ring Road" returns to the more familiar pleasures of grinding, near-industrial tones and screech-laden power electronics, a deliberately grating sound that evolves into a dark, throbbing drone made even more threatening by the alienated noises that rise and fall in the background; the song eventually dissolves into a swirl of static and devolved black metal guitar wailing, like a lost soul disappearing down a rabbit hole. "Antediluvian Territory" is not quite so sinister but every bit as eerie, with a plinking guitar figure creeping across a burnt ambient soundscape of fogged-out noise and cryptic tonal dread, while "The Columnless Arcade" ends the album with an orgy of noise fed through enormous amounts of delay and echo as huge, shuddering drone action threatens to topple the entire sonic architecture into a cold, poisoned ocean... and then the pounding drums, treble-heavy black metal guitar, and hellish vocals burst forth without warning and the sonic destruction REALLY begins. What a way to end a completely filler-free album. Heavy, heavy stuff, o my brothers and sisters, heavy stuff indeed. If you haven't been smart enough to worship Locrian yet, you really should pick this up and get with the program.
Locrian
At War With False Noise
Basses Frequences
Bloodlust!
Small Doses
Playlist for Locrian DJ Set at Exit: Sunday, February 28, 2010
We had a good DJ set at the Exit in order to celebrate our upcoming release "Territories."
There were some dudes from some shitty metalic harCdore band on Relapse called Misery Index that showed up before we even started and requested us to play their own songs. So...we decided not to jam any of Misery Index's metalic harCdore tracks and to start off with a band that Relapse released when they were a more interesting label: Dead World. We do admit, however, that Dead World's best release was their last one which was released on Bloodlust! But Dead World's work on their Relapse releases was awesome too and way better than most of crap that Relapse puts out today.
So we decideded to play an Assück song for the Misery Index dudes (an ersatz version of Assück.) We had a very general audience, so we had to keep the tracks mostly "mainstream" according to our host. We tried our best, but the Misery Index dudes complained when we threw in too many experimental and power-electronics tunes. You can't please them all!
Anyway, here's our DJ set from the night.
1) Dead World - "Warhammer"
2) Uncreation's Dawn - "Lifeless Domain Opens"
3) Inquisition - "Embracad by Unholy Powers of Death and Destruction"
4) Morbid Angel - "Dominate"
5) Krallice - "Time Husk"
6) Voivod - " Experiment"
7) Forteresse - "Deluge Blanc"
8) Obituary - "Don't Care"
9) Emperor - "Towards the Pantheon"
10) Sun Splitter - "Carn of Old Eyes"
11) Hatjan - ""Destruction Et Annihilation"
12) Nachtmystium - "A Seed for Suffering"
13) Black Sabbath - "Trashed"
14) Ash Pool - "Sin of Life"
15) Locrian - "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism"
16) Carcass - "Buried Dreams"
17) Anthrax - "Caught In a Mosh"
18) Church of Misery - "Shotgun Boogie"
19) Amesoeurs - "Ruines Humaines"
20) Horseback - "Invokation"
21) Corrupted - "Sus Futuros"
22) Kreator - "Ripping Corpse"
23) Velnias - "Into Arms of Oak"
24) The Ruins of Beverast - "God's Ensaguined Beastiaries"
25) Iron Maiden - "Children of the Damned"
26) Intrinsic Action - "Motivation"
27) Slayer - "Necrophobic"
28) Suffocation - "Infecting the Crypts"
29) Leviathan - "Vesture Dipped in the Blood of Morning"
30) Dissection - "Night's Blood"
31) Locrian - "The Columness Arcade"
32) Dark Funeral - "Open the Gates"
33) Mayhem - "Freezing Moon"
34) Catacombs - "In the Depth of R'lyeh"
35) Eyehategod - "Ruptured Heart Theory"
36) Void - "Time to Die"
37) Metallica - "Battery"
38) Buried Inside - II
39) Weakling - "Cut Their Grain and Place Fire Therin"
40) Runhild Gammaseater "Collapse -- Lifting of the Veil"
41) Prurient - "Returning Truth"
42) Assück - "The 1,000 Mile Stare"
43) Tragedy - "Conflicting Ideas"
44) Locrian - "Inverted Ruins"
There were some dudes from some shitty metalic harCdore band on Relapse called Misery Index that showed up before we even started and requested us to play their own songs. So...we decided not to jam any of Misery Index's metalic harCdore tracks and to start off with a band that Relapse released when they were a more interesting label: Dead World. We do admit, however, that Dead World's best release was their last one which was released on Bloodlust! But Dead World's work on their Relapse releases was awesome too and way better than most of crap that Relapse puts out today.
So we decideded to play an Assück song for the Misery Index dudes (an ersatz version of Assück.) We had a very general audience, so we had to keep the tracks mostly "mainstream" according to our host. We tried our best, but the Misery Index dudes complained when we threw in too many experimental and power-electronics tunes. You can't please them all!
Anyway, here's our DJ set from the night.
1) Dead World - "Warhammer"
2) Uncreation's Dawn - "Lifeless Domain Opens"
3) Inquisition - "Embracad by Unholy Powers of Death and Destruction"
4) Morbid Angel - "Dominate"
5) Krallice - "Time Husk"
6) Voivod - " Experiment"
7) Forteresse - "Deluge Blanc"
8) Obituary - "Don't Care"
9) Emperor - "Towards the Pantheon"
10) Sun Splitter - "Carn of Old Eyes"
11) Hatjan - ""Destruction Et Annihilation"
12) Nachtmystium - "A Seed for Suffering"
13) Black Sabbath - "Trashed"
14) Ash Pool - "Sin of Life"
15) Locrian - "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism"
16) Carcass - "Buried Dreams"
17) Anthrax - "Caught In a Mosh"
18) Church of Misery - "Shotgun Boogie"
19) Amesoeurs - "Ruines Humaines"
20) Horseback - "Invokation"
21) Corrupted - "Sus Futuros"
22) Kreator - "Ripping Corpse"
23) Velnias - "Into Arms of Oak"
24) The Ruins of Beverast - "God's Ensaguined Beastiaries"
25) Iron Maiden - "Children of the Damned"
26) Intrinsic Action - "Motivation"
27) Slayer - "Necrophobic"
28) Suffocation - "Infecting the Crypts"
29) Leviathan - "Vesture Dipped in the Blood of Morning"
30) Dissection - "Night's Blood"
31) Locrian - "The Columness Arcade"
32) Dark Funeral - "Open the Gates"
33) Mayhem - "Freezing Moon"
34) Catacombs - "In the Depth of R'lyeh"
35) Eyehategod - "Ruptured Heart Theory"
36) Void - "Time to Die"
37) Metallica - "Battery"
38) Buried Inside - II
39) Weakling - "Cut Their Grain and Place Fire Therin"
40) Runhild Gammaseater "Collapse -- Lifting of the Veil"
41) Prurient - "Returning Truth"
42) Assück - "The 1,000 Mile Stare"
43) Tragedy - "Conflicting Ideas"
44) Locrian - "Inverted Ruins"