#malignant records

[norelorn]

Owls Woods Graves / Black punk from Poland 

[tilde44]

after an especially shitty day at work (fuck xtmas), it’s a good thing i came home to some new musics!

Stromstad - New Devoted Human LP (Malignant Records 2017) - STROM.ec + Kristoffer Oustad collab.  STROM.ec is a long-time personal favorite and this one, their first release in five years, does not disappoint.  As always, power electronics with an approach emphasizing more the electricity than power -- give yourself a lobotomy with a live wire.  This time it’s often lain atop a deep lush bed of drones and sometime distant percussion (Oustad’s work for sure), but it still retains STROM.ec’s characteristic fried sizzle.  Repeat listens are sure to reveal new details.  One track features guest vocals (err excuse me, i mean ‘vokills’) by a viking dude from some band no one’s ever heard of called Enslaved.

Trepaneringsritualen - Kainskult CS (Cloister Recordings 2017) - Cassette version on Denver’s Cloister Recordings of the CD/LP on Tesco.  A new proper album from TxRxP with more song-oriented, almost musical, tracks.  Strong vocals and heavy pounding ritual percussion.  Repeat listens are sure to induce reversion to a bestial state.  And just to be fuckin annoying I have to say this tape version sounds & looks great with a beautiful pro-printed cardstock j-card and printed, white tapeshells.  There’s really nothing revolutionary about this project, but somehow he seems to hit the mark every time.  It must be... magic(k)?!

[jeff-a-klena]

Get ready for your eyes to melt and your ears to bleed!

The first unveiling of STROMSTAD is here! A collaborative project between Finnish industrial titans STROM.ec & Norwegian atmospheric heavy weight Kristoffer Oustad, the album “New Devoted Human” will be out on in December on CD, lmtd edition LP and digital. 8 tracks of mind-bending, next generation heavy electronics, featuring a guest appearance by Kjetil Grutle from the mighty Enslaved, mastering by Nordvargr, paintings by Jeff Klena and design by Alonso Urbanos.

https://youtu.be/K4YX3Hyfv7E

[skullheadfuck]

www.facebook.com/harkocity

Available Now!!

Malignant Records​ and Kalpamantra (Official)​ bring you...

V/A: Recrudescence - featuring contributions from the likes of Harko City​ / Steel Hook Prostheses​ / Gnawed​ / The Vomit Arsonist​ / Theologian​ / Nordvargr​ and more....

https://kalpamantra.bandcamp.com/album/recrudescence

[a-doomed-generation]

(Malignant Records)

malignantrecs.bandcamp.com/album/the-rituals www.malignantrecords.com/releases/5778

Following a recent appearance on Drone Mind Vol 5, Ukrainian act Monocube makes his way into the halls of Malignant for his second, full length recording, featuring nine tracks and just over an hour worth of material ensconced in shadowy, enveloping atmospheres, intact with all the hallmarks of classic dark ambient: arcing, cinematic textures, elegiac melody, and timestretched drift. As The Rituals progresses, it becomes increasingly populated by something even more ominous and bleak; undertones of ancient tribalism and fiery invocations arise, mixed with the blackened soot of distant factory churn and the burning remnants of an ashen wasteland. Featuring collaborative tracks with Treha Sektori, Apocryphos, and Asmorod, The Rituals is an immersive and compelling work, seamlessly bound together in an embrace of darkness. Tracklisting: Visiones III, Drowned Sun, Downwards (feat. Apocryphos), Totem Incantation, Fires Shifting – Nocturnal Motion, Through Our Blood, Father Fenris, Anthracite Glow (feat. Treha Sektori), Initiation (feat. Asmorod). TumorCD101. Out December 9th, 2016

[tilde44]

Hey I got some tapes too. From Malignant. The clear winner is Fetters (on the right, with the cloth bag). The label puts it best – "Think Trepaneringsritualen hosting a goth dance party and you start to get an idea of where this project is going." So kvlt it's not on discogs! Def highly recommended.

[fluidsf]

Unstable Matter 2 Monocube: Substratum (2019) Reviewed format: CD album on Cyclic Law / Malignant Records Catalogue number: 137TH CYCLE / TUMORCD120 Welcome to a new review in the Unstable Matter series on this blog in which I will be featuring more releases of the darker side of underground music in styles like Dark Ambient, Death Industrial, Industrial and Power Electronics, focusing mostly on physical releases from various artists and labels. In this second review I’m discussing this recent album titled Substratum by Ukrainian artist Monocube whose piece Hortus Amoris I also reviewed rather favorably in my review of the Kaleidoscope compilation on Flaming Pines. Monocube kindly sent me a review copy of the CD version of this album quite some time ago, but today I can finally get to reviewing Substratum, which also fits in well with the more intensified focus on darker underground music that I will be taking in this coming season of reviews. Substratum was released in a collaboration between the labels Cyclic Law and Malignant Records, who combined release a variety of dark experimental music in styles like Industrial and Dark Ambient and take a serious artistic approach to their releases which besides the excellent music also feature detailed gorgeous artwork and packaging designs, some great attention to detail in the presentation of music too, that is clear. Indeed also with Substratum and in particular this CD version I have here you can find some lovely artwork complimenting the music, in this case by Sukker.og.Pepper Studio in Berlin. The CD is housed in a thin but also harmonica like matte cardboard sleeve with the artwork wrapping all around the sleeve and CD featuring dark surreal imagery created in a mixed media style. The organic earth like textures and collages of human figures compliment the deep, at times diffuse and hypnotic music on Substratum very well and the quality of the print shows the imagery in good quality on this physical format. Great presentation and that obviously brings us to the music on Substratum itself. Substratum as an album feels quite like a subconscious hypnotic journey in various phases but with recurring musical elements. Indeed, the obvious “cyclic” tag definitely does apply to the way the album flows through its 8 long tracks and compared to Monocube’s track Hortus Amoris his approach is considerably more abstract, minimalist and texture based on this album. Starting with first track Sehnsucht it’s noticeable Monocube goes for a decidedly more clouded approach on this album. Deep reverberated resonant and bassy drone, ghostly clangs, shifting sounds and metallic guitar tones float through the soundscape backing the slowly repeating melody that drives the piece. There’s an eerie sense of threat and uncertainty, a kind of feeling like sitting in a cathedral at night, the surrounding environment of the huge building is peaceful and quiet but as clouds move past the moon and shadows shift through the coloured windows, memories of ancient times start to appear in your mind, like experiencing the construction of the church up close. The clanging deeply reverberating elements in the piece add a ghostly kind of cold to the atmosphere of the piece but the brightly tinkling attacks of the guitar tones also brighten up the situation somewhat. Just like in Hortus Amoris, there is hope shining in between the gloomy shadows but the clouds seem to be blocking out sharp thoughts of an eventual brighter resolution to the threatening waves of fear lurking in corners. Prima Materia follows as a wave of dark ambience that appears to depict some kind of ancient ritual being performed in the cellars of the aforementioned church this album feels like being played in. The bass drone of the piece is quite strong and has a warmly flowing movement and the slowly changing tones of the bass form a melodic line which even feels like subtly referencing more atmospheric kinds of UK Garage tracks by for example Burial, though still obviously staying on point with the Dark Ambient style and being firmly integrated in the soundscape of the piece. Sharp somewhat noisy synth tones attempt to pierce through the haze of incense, candles and shadows flowing through the cellars hinting at some inner struggle or even metaphorically expressing “a brittle soul”, but their brightness also radiates an energetic light breaking the dark. Highly resonant male vocals depict the aforementioned ritual in wordless chants that flow through the whole church building and the ever changing melodic direction of the whole piece in general gives the music an eerie sense of mystery. Then on Luft we have a dronescape in which a fluid organic bass drone accompanies what sounds like a strong stream of wind, air (Luft) flowing through a huge space, with tinkling low guitar tones reverberating like subtle hints of melancholic memories from many years ago. Subdued synth whines add subtle hints of danger to the environment and there’s a strong forceful stream of feedback that rises out of the hazy wind about halfway into the track and which adds a quite abrasive but also fitting kind of cloudy resonance to the dronescape that slowly moves back into the background overtime. The combination of the ghostly drone and intense feedback stream gives the music quite an intriguing combination of ambience and Industrial harshness which conjures up surreal images of ruins, nature breaking into an ancient building, the wind destroying its thick walls during a storm with the guitar tones sounding like a guitarist playing inside the building without stopping, paying no attention to the ongoing onslaught of the elements, staying in his continuous peaceful quaint mood. An intriguing combination of textures and melody. Visions V follows which feels like an “aftermath” piece of Luft, With its dark melodies and more diffuse bassy drone we are back in the church in terms of textures and atmosphere, Industrial clangs and shifting sounds similar to Sehnsucht return and the feedback stream from Luft seems to return here in a fragmented and more filtered noisy manner. The resonant layers of texture and eerie alarm like sound of the noisy feedback sweeps combined with falling synth tones conjure up a feeling a dark feeling of losing hope after a natural storm of destruction has ended. Still, not all hope is lost and even through the darkness the Eastern like raga vibes coming out of the bass drone at times do also emit a sense of peace even in this dangerous environment. The Opposite Of Nadir starts the second half of Substratum which also on the sleeve of the CD is clearly pointed out. This piece (on which Finnish musician Antti Litmanen is featured) moves into even darker territory combined with some great high pitched crackling metallic synthetic sounds, featuring more diffuse filtered resonant drone layers and some great scattering synth effects that sound like some kind of alien insect. The track is quite a bit more drone based in nature, consisting mostly of ever interlocking hazy drones that infinitely rise and fall creating wide clouds of deep mysterious cold mist, flowing past you and constantly threatening a possible impeding doom. Indeed listening to this piece I could almost feel the cold temperature of a deserted grey landscape, a place permanently in a state of fear, no sounds but the hollow fuzzy sound of the cold wind as it flows through the trees, making the leaves rattle until they simply fall off. Opaque follows a similar theme of organic Dark Ambient drones with a more open glassy resonant sound to it, bursts of noise sound like distant hits of thunder, far away clangs of metallic doors and tubes reverberate but the music also returns to the more ritual like elements like in Prima Materia. The bass drone has a hypnotic meditative quality to it and the high pitched tones floating through the soundscape have a piano like ring to them as well as layers of vocal like clouds that give the music a captivating chant like atmosphere. The feeling is again quite tense and mysterious but we seem to be getting closer to the sunlight again as even through the storm of thunder and lightning we can already hear the distant sounds of people again. Action In Distans in a way feels like a distant version of Sehnsucht, following a similar melodic line within its drone layers, the Industrial clangs feel more ghostly in the piece however, being heavily filtered and sounding quite cloudy. As a whole the piece feels quite like a musical expression of a very dark cloudy night sky, with the clouds seemingly forming shadows on the moon, its faint light only subtly shining through. High pitched resonances also form a subconscious interlude to the high pitched tones in final track Limen. Limen features Cyclic Law label head Visions and as a finale of Substratum amasses various layers of drone and noise that you can recognise from earlier in the album (particularly Visiones V) into a continuous fuzzy droning haze that is both eerie and meditative. The noisy wind sounds and resonant hiss mixed with the continuous synth drone and repeating synth pattern form a “time freeze” in a way, like holding a moment in time for an infinite period, not letting it continue, while the eerie clouds of the natural elements gather and fill it with a mass of ever evolving mist. A very hypnotic deeply layered intense piece that forms a great final track to this album. Substratum is a very consistent yet also varied album of Dark Ambient, Drone and Industrial noise influences which seems to follow a subconscious cycle of atmospheric situations, eventually returning to the human real world and freezing the moment to remind us that the hazes of organic droning doom might always be in the shadows, but that meditating to this music can save us from doom too. The music is often dark and mixes at times sharp vibrant synth tones with the more classic drone elements to create rich variations in textures but the varying shifts in mood per track also create a nice dynamic in the album’s flow. Monocube’s music is definitely always changing and evolving, both drones and Industrial elements create equally strong impressions on Substratum and I would definitely recommend this album to fans of Dark Ambient but also Industrial and Noise fans looking for music that hits some abrasive spots but also blends in ambience with the fuzz. This is an excellent mixture of both melody and atmosphere, a great album to keep exploring again and again. The CD version of Substratum is available from Cyclic Law here: https://www.cycliclaw.com/releases/monocube-substratum-cd-137th-cycle

[tilde44]

i picked up this disc when malignant was having their 5 for $25 sale a couple weeks ago, and this whole album is excellent but this slow-burner* track really does it for me.  def enthusiastically recommended.

*the album is apparently about norwegian witch-burnings hah