Bong - Thought and Existence (2018)

Mike Vest (from Newcastle, UK) is one of the best and most prolific guitarist in the heavy, slow and psychedelic rock music (he's also doing 11 Paranoias, Blown Out, and other bands), Bong is its slower and more drone inclined band. The new album to be released in May with Ritual Productions and called Thought and Existence is about "the inward expansive nature of the mind and our senses". By now you probably know what to expect. It is indeed very slow, repetitive, trippy and immersive music, and on this albums the trio has been highly sucessfull in achieving that and making it a really strong and enjoyable listening experience. Maybe their best album. I really like it.

The Ritual Productions BC page.

Scorched - Excavated for Evisceration (2018)

This new release from Scorched, called Excavated for Evisceration (do you like poetry?), is not a new album but the gathering of two demos from 2015 and 2017. But it's a good release anyway and I'm discovering them thanks to it, so... What they play is old school thrashy death metal (what a surprise!), vicious riffing for a putrid feel. Could remind early Cannibal Corpse and Autopsy, not exactly, but this kind of stuff... There's also some horror movie style synth interludes, useless in my opinion, but not really a problem either.  If you're into old school death metal I recommended you give it a try.

The BC page.

Pessimist - Pessimist (2017)

I discovered Pessimist with the excellent 12'' Balaklava (in 2016), and the self-titled album he released last year (again on Blackest Ever Black) is also high quality stuff. Sowewhat dub techno with the addition of excellent jungle loops. Combining techno and drum & bass (I said "jungle" because I'd say it's quite old school sounding d & b) is not easy, but Pessimist masters it. With this album he's building an atmosphere that is like a wandering in an old factory/warehouse that is haunted by the echoes of the rave/soundsystem of the nights. I like it.

The BC page.

Voidhanger - Dark Days of the Soul (2018)

Dark Days of the Soul is the third album from Polish trio Voidhanger. Their music sounds like a cool mix of Entombed, Marduk, Martyrdod  and Impaled Nazarene, trashy black/death with a healthy dose of d-beat. They keep things simple and straight to the point and they're good at it producing catchy and memorable songs that anyone into this kind of radical metalpunk would dig.

The BC page.

Emanation - Temple Sleep Crystallization (2016)

Temple Sleep Crystallization is the second album from the Spanish one man band Emanation (you can read HERE my review of it's previous one). This is the kind of black metal that would feel at ease in the company of bands like Blut Aus Nord, Aluk Todolo or Chaos Echoes. There's definitely a black metal base (low-fi guitar sound, blast-beats on some traks, a bit of croaked vocals, the anguished feel), but sounding a bit like it's played by free jazz musicians, plunged into a vortex of dissonance, and passed through a krautrock machine (repetitive patterns and the general weirdness). It is a very special and excellent album.

The BC page.

Repulsione - Desecrating (2018)

Repulsione is an Italian two bass guitars and a drummer grind trio. Desecrating (released by Wooaaargh this month) is their third album (I think, I'm discovering them with this one... but they started in 2004. shame on me, I'm slightly late! ). On these fourteen tracks you'll enjoy some cool deathgrind grooves as well as faster bursts of grind/PV with a "schling schling" snare sound that I really like, with also some good traditionnal grind vocals. Old school sounding but offering something different as well, this is a very nice album I will listen to many times.  Recommended!

The BC page.