Extrema Ratio

Pick Your Poison [ Instagram: @reneestanyol ]

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MANES / Scion

Album: Slow Motion Death Sequence (2018)

After calling it quits a few years ago, Manes are back with a new album and that’s good news! [...] “ ‘Slow Motion Death Sequence’ is truly a record for late nights – when the small hours draw addictive fascination from seemingly outlandish soundworlds ” [...]: the blurb is taken from their BC page and I think that pretty much sums it up!

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MYSTICUM / Fist Of Satan

Album:  Never Stop The Madness: The Roadburn Inferno (2018)

The Godfathers of industrial black metal, period. The sickest, the coldest and uncompromising one. They planted the seed in 1996 with a debut album that featured synths and a drum machine (which back then in BM was still unheard of) but it took them almost 20 years to gave it a follow-up (the backbone of this live recording, actually): if you already know their story, it's not a hard guess to say that the madness they were talking about somehow stopped them along the way. Anyway, an essential band that without wearing any facepaint scares the bejesus out of me more than any other BM act.

(Note: this video is NOT from the DVD that came along with the CD)

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SPEKTR  / That Day Will Definitely Come

Album: The Art To Disappear (2016)

I've always liked artists (and people in general) who think out of the box and aren't afraid to dare and try something different: French duo Spektr falls into this category. You can never tell what's goin' to happen next within a song, nor imagine which possibile (or impossibile) turn it could take: nevertheless, everything makes always perfect sense. Ferocious black metal riffs, alienating industrial/ambient patterns and the occasional dub or jazz (😮) digressions blend with surprising ease into a challenging but oddly listenable unicuum. Not the easiest task to accomplish if you don't know how to handle properly and smartly all of the above: 👏 bra-vo 👏!

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ENUFF Z’NUFF / Where Did You Go

Album: Diamond Boy (2018)

🗣️🎶 [...] "Climbing up the mountaaains 🎸 Everybody needs a place to hiiide 🎸 Never knowing where you're goooing / Flying through the clouds intooo the skyyyyy" [...] ... and here comes the fanboy 🕺, yay! It happens every time a new Enuff Z'Nuff album is out, I can't resist their powerful Beatles-que melodies with that little psych flavour in the background. I'm a huge fan since "Strenght" came out and still to this day I think they had reap less than what they have sow. I saw them years ago play a small club here in Italy like they were playing the biggest US arena: after the gig I met Donnie Vie and Chip Z'Nuff and they were both super super cool and kind, such down-to-earth guys. This band will always have a special place in my 🖤, definitely!

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BEHEMOTH / God = Dog

Album: I Loved At Your Darkest (2018)

The first single and the related, amazing video (NSFW, that’s why is not here) from the upcoming album "I Loved At Your Darkest" - what a great title! - will probably cause some serious stir (in italian the title could be hastily mistaken for a blasphemy, plain and simple). But Nergal likes to provoke and he's really good at it 'cause he's a very smart guy who knows what he's talking about and will always stand up for it (do yourself a favour and read his autobiography). You can agree with him or not but you can't deny his intellectual honesty neither his skills as an artist as well, 'cause once again this song is cool AF 🤘

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DERNIERE VOLONTE / Trop Tard

Album: Immortel (2010)

Every music freak has an artist who is a sort of Linus' security blanket in which find inspiration, strenght, solace, you name it - whatever you're looking for or you're in need of from time to time, as a little act of care and love towards the most important person in your life: Yourself. Mine is Dernière Volonté (cannot tell why but that's it), and despite the moniker - Last Will, in English - it always works great.

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WOLVENNEST / Ritual Lover

Album: Void (2018)

Wolvennest new album is impressive to say the least. While the pachydermic heaviness of the claustrophobic riffs nails you to the ground, an hypnotic spiral of eerie yet fascinating melodies slowly creeps under your skin and then keeps growning until it stucks into your brain. It would be unfair to label such an addictive listening with its own unique identity as "this" rather than "that": we're talking black metal, psych, doom, ambient and that's right but the whole of this stunning record is way more than the sum of its parts.

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q[T]p PROGENIE TERRESTRE PURA / The Greatest Loss

Album: starCross (EP) (2018)

(tip: jump to 5:28 and start headbanging!)

Another fine release from q[T]p (Progenie Terrestre Pura), interesting band which keep on expand their musical boundaries. "starCross" is an EP a little bit darker than their previous works but no less heavier nor captivating. For the first time the lyrics are in English, so if you're into sci-fi (not my cup of tea but is still an added value) you'll also enjoy the intriguing plot: otherwise, the well-crafted mix of industrial and atmospheric black metal will surely do.

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ACTORS / We Don’t Have To Dance

Album: It Will Come To You (2018)

🗣️🎶 [...] “We don’t have to dance / We don’t have to talk / We’ll just fade into each other / until we’re gone” [...]

I came across this band reading a review, out of curiosity I checked their Bandcamp page and listened to their debut album: really interesting and pretty impressive 👍 ! Synth-driven post-punk at its finest with at least 3 outstanding tracks ("Hit To The Head", "Crystal" and "We Don't Have To Dance"), but the whole album provides an infectious and groovy vibe and is highly enjoyable from start to finish. Mind you, to some extent is a revivalistic album but is very far from being nostalgic.

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THE SISTERS OF MERCY / When You Don’t See Me

Album: Vision Thing (1990)

(... put on your 😎 and read with a deep voice) [...] "We are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. We are intellectual love gods." [...] The Sisters Of Mercy in their own words. It took them 3 album and a fistful of EPs to redefine the concept of gothic rock (... and shape my inner goth as well, I guess 🤣) for years to come: their influence is still huge nowadays. I've been lucky enough to see them live in the late 80's and still a couple of times a few years ago, but I wonder now 🤔 if I'll ever be so lucky to hear - one day - their 'possible' fourth album which is talked about since forever. I'll keep on waiting.

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CORAZZATA VALDEMONE / Tapum

Album: Canzoniere Strafottente (2018)

Notevole e ben riuscita opera di rivisitazione del canzoniere militare Italiano del '900 per Corazzata Valdemone. Dalla deriva ambient/noise di 'Tapum' (da brividi) passando per la rilettura tutt'altro che calligrafica dello stornello d'epoca (con un 'Serenatone', ma non solo, da applausi) fino alla dissacrante 'Bel Laccio' (pregna di quella sottile ironia ed acuta intelligenza che alla Corazzata mai ha fatto difetto), questo 'Canzoniere Strafottente' è l'ennesimo pezzo pregiato - se non uno dei più brillanti in assoluto - di una discografia mai banale ne' fine a sé stessa. Una volta di più, Corazzata Valdemone ha SEMPRE ragione!

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THE MISSION / From One Jesus To Another

Album: Masque (1992)

🗣️🎶 [...] “And Jesus walks on water / but does he ever walk on air?” [...]

Another album that I could never do without. I've never been the biggest Mission fan (... someone said Sisters Of Mercy 😎?) but to this day I still know by heart every single note and every single word out of it. I guess everyone has a few album that will always be someway special not only in their record collection, so to speak: and for me "Masque" - with songs like "She Conjures Me Wings", "Like a Child Again", "From One Jesus to Another" - is one of those.

🗣️🎶 [...] “And the beauty of it all is I no longer care” [...]

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MARDUK / Viktoria

Album: Viktoria (2018)

Yet another ✌ winning ✌ round for these BM legends whom back in the day had a huge impact on me with 'Opus Nocturne'. Nothing much has changed since then: I still love 'Opus...' and what the band has done through the years. This new release is no exception: a further kickass 👊 album!

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SOCIAL DISTORTION / Reach For The Sky

Album: Sex, Love And Rock’n’Roll (2004)

🗣️🎶 [...] “Yesterday is history, and tomorrow’s a mystery” [...]

To me this album is still stirring and inspiring like few other. Musically it's absolutely brilliant (that's nothing new, we're talking Social Distortion here) and lyrically Mike Ness is on top of his game: this thrilling and sometime heartbreaking collection of songs about life, love and loss speaks right to the heart and touches the soul with the simplest, direct and genuine words. That's why it'll always be one of my all-time favorite.

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GHOST / Rats

Album: Prequelle (2018)

With Cardinal Copia instead of Papa Emeritus IV on the heritage line it was inevitable that something would have changed: the man behind the mask (...) is pretty smart and surely knows how to lead the dance (no pun intended) in today's music business. 'Prequelle' sounds like a solid album full of good songs but the sinister aura of classics like 'Con Clavi Con Dio', 'Monstrance Clock' or 'Cirice' isn't there anymore, replaced by some really catchy tunes. Ghost seems now a less ominous entity and a more approachable band and that's nothing wrong with that as long as the music is still good like it has always been.

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BURN THE PRIEST / Inherit The Earth (The Accused Cover)

Album: Legion: XX (2018)

To me this album goes way more further than the sum of his parts. It's an heartfelt tribute not only to the songs and the artists hereby covered but also and foremost to the spirit and the attitude behind the hardcore/punk scene. And let's be honest, D. Randall Blythe (alongside with his bandmates - great job, Burn the Priest!) is one of the most credibile and genuine figure when it comes to pay such kind of due respect.

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ATRAX MORGUE / Sickness Report (Full Album Stream)

Album: Sickness Report (1996)

Atrax Morgue was the brainchild of the late Marco Corbelli, a true pioneer of the Italian noise/industrial scene. Disturbing noises, exhausting loops and analog synthesizer sounds manipulated in real time through oscillators and filters were the main core of his project. It really is an uneasy listening, but it's also profoundly fascinating. Anyway, not for the faint of (h)ear(t).

Tracklist: 0:00 Evisceration / 4:06 Massive Vulval Warts / 8:26 Deformed / 11:45 Brain Penetration / 15:18 Sphrenix Nor / 18:10 Ipoleptic /  20:50 Arphenia /  25:03 Chronic Disease / 29:17 Slow Agony of a Dying Organism