#reeking aura

[crateofonions]

Ramsay wip!!!! How can a man with such beautiful doe eyes be so evil

[dreamsofconsciousnessmetal]

Deep Cuts [Weekly Mixtape 216]

Reeking Aura | At The Gates | Corpse Water | Fulci | Rotten Tomb | Godless | Jungle Rot | Lair of the Minotaur | Belexum | Xorsist | Chronic Hate | Lago | Sewer Altar | Gadget | Fermented Mess | Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy | Lureplasm | Vomitory | Mortuary

Direct Download [hold + "Save As"]

Music On This Mixtape:

Reeking Aura: "A Forlorn and Frozen Vapor" taken from the album "On the Promise of the Moon"

At The Gates: "Of Interstellar Death" taken from the album "The Ghost of a Future Dead"

Corpse Water: "Spontaneous Human Combustion" taken from the album "...something in the water"

Fulci: "Paura che Uccide" taken from the album "Risorsero dalla Tomba e Fu… L’apocalisse!"

Rotten Tomb: "Mortified" taken from the album "Vestiges of Tortured Souls"

Godless: "Omega Omnipotens - Hosanna in Nullificatio" taken from the album "Adversus Parousia"

Jungle Rot: "Maniacal" taken from the album "Cruel Face Of War"

Lair of the Minotaur: "Prowler Twin Sister" taken from the album "I HAIL I"

Belexum: "Fleshwagon of Bones and Teeth" taken from the album "Belexum"

Xorsist: "Faceless" taken from the album "Aberrations"

Chronic Hate: "Blastphemy" taken from the album "Defeating The Oblivion Of Life"

Lago: "Initiation Rite" taken from the album "Vigil"

Sewer Altar: "Cryonaut Sludge" taken from the album "Fever Dreams of Vengeance"

Gadget: "Flatline" taken from the album "Coerced"

Fermented Mess: "Sickening Odour Of Death" taken from the album "Fermented Mess"

Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy: "Gutted & Corpsed" taken from the album "Fugue Gnawed from the Scabbed God Cerebrum"

Lureplasm: "Blood Porridge Tower" taken from the album "Luridysic Heirloom"

Vomitory: "Two and a Half Men" taken from the album "In Death Throes"

Mortuary: "Cut Their Heads" taken from the album "Great Black Earth"

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 12, Number 4 — Part 2

Haptic

Here’s part two of our monthly run-down of short reviews. Contributors (across both parts) include Christian Carey, Tim Clarke, Bryon Hayes, Jennifer Kelly, Ian Mathers, Bill Meyer and Jonathan Shaw.

Haptic — Ambivalence (Ash International)

Twenty years ago, Steven Hess, Joseph Clayton Mills and Adam Sonderberg initiated Haptic as a vehicle for live performance and improvisational encounters with invited musicians, but far more of their collaborative time has been spent putting home-made sounds under the microscope. But significant anniversaries call for significant measures, so they tossed the boomerang to England, where they undertook an actual tour, including a gig where they stretched sounds and time with bassist Mark Wastell at Café OTO. One track from this digital-only recording presents that concert, the other weaves together parts of three others, and both drift with a subliminal presence that’s persistently beguiling but determinedly insubstantial. Play it at any volume you like, but do consider testing it near the edge of audibility, on repeat, for a day or two.

Bill Meyer

Illusion of Safety & Tam Quam Tabula Rasa — Pàthei Màthos (Luce Sia)

Ever since he reconvened his Illusion of Safety project in 2020, Dan Burke has been quite active. He’s resurfaced legacy work and continues to produce new exploratory sounds. Similarly, Italian post-industrial noisenik Luca Ferrarini recently relaunched Tam Quam Tabula Rasa as a solo endeavor, mining dark caverns of esoteric texture. The two projects share Pàthei Màthos, a split CD on which Burke manifests a single long-form meditation and Ferrarini conjures a suite of six incantations. “Non-Interference” is Burke’s offering, a half-hour-long vignette replete with musique concrète and modular synthesis vibes. On this piece, Burke attempts to get out of his own way by “not interfering too much in how my composition develops.” He succeeds, allowing musical and non-musical images to slide by in rapid succession to create an overarching narrative thread that unfolds methodically and with grace. Ferrarini’s offering is considerably darker hued, with deep drones wrapping around metallic scrapes and clangs that evoke dungeon dwelling and a creeping dread. Pick your poison, as each artist tickles a unique aspect of the human psyche.

Bryon Hayes

Lia Kohl — Music For Union Station (Superpang)

Sometimes they say you had to be there, and sometimes they’re right. In the case of this performance, I was, and “they” have a point. Lia Kohl’s piece for ten musicians to play at rush hour in Chicago’s Union Station will mean something very different to a person who doesn’t get to watch the uptight guy who looks really hard at his gun magazine while trying to ignore the string players sitting on his bench, or the bemused looks on the Mennonite (I assume) travelers as the instrumentalists stood up and moved from place to place. But its brass and string passages, moving slowly through a cloud of echo-laden hubbub and the occasional beeping luggage cart, yields rewards when you play it slowly on repeat. File this one next to Discreet Music and let your attention wander.

Bill Meyer

Modern Silent Cinema — Passages XXXIII-XLIII (for Piano, Guitar, and Bass) (Bad Channel)

Modern Silent Cinema is Brooklyn renaissance man Cullen Gallagher’s instrumental project; he also plays in multiple bands, makes films and writes film and literary criticism. His Passages series collects brief, evocative bits of music, recorded in lo-fi echo and hiss and laced with field recordings. He made this edition while his mother was in the hospital, working in his childhood home to process grief, uncertainty, memory and love through music. (His mother eventually recovered enough to paint the album cover.) You can hear all that in these unvarnished compositions, like the migraine pounding tensions of piano-based “XLII” or the bass that underlines pensive keyboard figures in ominous “XXXIV.” “XXXIX” leans into rock, with its keening, pushing guitars, electric and acoustic layered together, rushing headlong who knows where. Not all is bleak, however. “XXXV” is all lyrical guitar, full of light and space and contemplation. Tracks are engaging enough, but somewhat self-contained. In the end, these cuts work like incidental music to one person’s life story, illuminating Gallagher’s shifting mood and thought process but perhaps not really intended for a wider audience.

Jennifer Kelly

Prymek and Sage — Shelter (AKP)

Shelter is a comforting album to experience. The music is gentle yet exploratory; it’s sweet and kind like sunlight through a kitchen window warming some tasty treat left out for us to enjoy. It’s redolent of the camaraderie of two long-time friends with minds melded in song. Chaz Prymek and Matthew Sage are ramblers who’ve left their sonic signatures across the American Midwest, and they’ve been collaborating for decades. Shelter captures their sonic symbiosis, unfurling with an effortless mellowness that is both pleasant and relaxing. Guitar and piano improvisations form the nexus of the songs, with harmonium, synthesizer, clarinet and vocal moans adding subtle adornment to the proceedings. The lush sonics are as beautiful as they are gentle, as captivating as they are leisurely, and unfold like the warm hug that we all could probably use right about now.

Bryon Hayes

Reeking Aura — On the Promise of the Moon (Profound Lore)

The fellas in Reeking Aura are now calling their music “atmospheric death metal,” seemingly motivated by the inclusion of passages of stringed instruments (cellos and stuff) into some tracks on On the Promise of the Moon. That’s not an especially neck-snapping transition from the sonic profile of Reeking Aura’s previous LP, Blood and Bonemeal (2022), which incorporated some pretty sounds, as well. On the other hand (or in the other nostril), the contrast of those melodious, mellifluous moments with the nasty textures suggested by song titles like “Manure Like Magma,” “A Forlorn and Frozen Vapor,” and “Sifting for Fungal Inheritance (A Mildewy, Acrid Mulch),” is quite violent. The band mostly pulls it off; the players are all quite skilled, having done time in numerous metal projects (among them Buckshot Facelift, Sentient Horror and Artificial Brain), and they work the changes with a sort of subtlety. Then again, it’s hard to know if “subtlety” is a relevant term for music that includes the alarming growl of Will Smith, whose “vocals” sometimes cleave close to the ever-alarming throat fart. Manure and vapor, indeed. Quite the atmosphere.

Jonathan Shaw

Status: Expunged — 2am Tim’s Rip (self-released)

Alberta’s Krystina Windrim, aka Status: Expunged, has had a busy 2026 already. On the heels of her excellent 2025 Skullcrusher LP (also reviewed in Dust) she’s put out the genre boundary-pushing Breaktempo… In Space album and the remastered early tracks compilation EP Your Comforting Warmth in This Frozen Abyss. But as good as those both are, her most recent release might top them both. Which might surprise anyone who bounces off the pretty funny, very Canadian framing she’s given the songs here; after all, how often do you hear something mind-blowing that’s about (to quote two song titles) “Hackin’ Contraband Darts” and “Whippin’ Shitties in the Tim Ho’s Parking Lot.” And yet mind-blowing it is, and no less noisy and fun than anything on Skullcrusher. In places melancholy and foreboding do creep in (like the title track and “Buck Seventy on the QE2”), but without ever letting the pace or the interest drop. It’s riveting stuff even if you’ve never partaken of the titular activity.

Ian Mathers

[mydarkwearyeyes]

What Only Worms Witness

[radiophd]

reeking aura -- fires in deep frost [ep, 2025]

[ifeellikeaporsche]

Coupla notables & runner-ups: 2022

Here it is, list season begins. Four releases from a stacked year that got more attention than most, and were just barely edged out of my own Top Ten. Worthy in their own right, now put under the microscope.

Dead Void, Volatile Forms (Me Saco Un Ojo)

Been a big fan of the death metal scene in Copenhagen, which is still among the world's best. But like the trajectory of the Icelandic black metal surge a few years ago, a lot of the bands are getting too melodic and/or predictable for my taste. Impressive musicianship, no doubt, but how many times are they gonna re-write the same Death songs over and over? Enter Dead Void, who returned this year to follow-up their crushing The Looming Spectre demo from 2018. Where their peers are polished and seamless, Dead Void lurch forward with an inebriated stomp and sway; sometimes transitions are clunky, guitars groan and wail under their own weight, and the vocals are feral reverberations from below. The imperfections work to their advantage somehow, not only to differentiate them from the monolith of modern OSDM acts, but also to highlight their ferocity. Dead Void tear and claw their way through these five tracks; there is a palpable hunger on Volatile Forms. Songs like "Atrophy" and "Sadistic Mind" have the feel of the first two Eyehategod albums, filthy and desperate, and it also highlights the rough slow-fast transitions the band employs. The band runs closer to death-doom hybrids like diSEMBOWELMENT or Winter than pure death metal, bursting out of mantle-cracking riffs to barrage the listener with an assault of full-on thrash, and ultimately returning to the grimy depths. "The Reptilian Drive" is probably the weakest track, the two chord riffs overstaying their welcome, but it's still hard to deny the powerful drumming and squalls of guitar noise that pass as solos. If you like your metal slower, very dank and cavernous, and don't mind a little gristle here and there, Volatile Forms is your fix.

Gu-N, s/t (An'archives)

Might be a bit silly, but I've been buying the An'archives stuff almost purely for the presentation: Alan Siwa's beautifully silkscreened jackets and obis, thoughtful liners, and the postcards are a nice touch, too. The music is primarily focused on the sub-sub-underground of Japan, and ranges from the jaw-dropping to stuff that maybe should've stayed obscure, but all of it is head-scratching and deeply singular. File this Gu-N LP with the keepers. Featuring artists from groups like C.C.C.C., Hijokaidan, Incapacitants, Fushitsusha and LSD March, this is creeping noise reimagined in a guitar-bass-percussion lineup, with an unsurprisingly large helping of electronics and homemade instruments. I'd have guessed this would be either a caustic mess or a too-polite meeting of the minds (á la that Gagmen album), especially given that these four tracks are all improvisations, but it's wildly compelling. The tracks grow and throb, like a sped-up video of a fungus growing, and no one instrument or performer drowns out another. It reminds me a lot of the Dead C on their recent mostly-instrumental albums on Ba Da Bing, but there's a gnawing intensity burbling up behind these tracks, as if they're collaborating with Tom Darksmith or Joe Colley. The band never reaches all-out destruction like some of the members' other groups, and they don't have to, but the threat lingers throughout. Bowled me over, and continues to do so the more I lean into it. According to the writeup, this is a sampling of the band's improvisations; let's hope there's more releases in the works from the vaults of Gu-N.

Lilac, s/t (self-released)

Chicago, you're still ground zero for rough 'n burly rock accompanied by sneering spoken-yelled vocals. Shellac looms large over Lilac, as I'm sure the band loves to hear, but I also hear a good bit of those coasties Fight Amp on this record, too. Driving the album are big muscular riffs, boosted largely by the rhythm section, and even someone who's heard it all oughta be able to appreciate the energy injected into a oft-emulated, rarely this-well-executed genre. My personal favorite is the opening riff to "I'm Old" (check those lyrics, too), but the band hits on just about every song. The mixing and mastering by Seth Manchester probably plays an outsized role here; everything sounds clear, the bass and drums extra punchy, and the guitars are precise and noisy as a buzzsaw cutting metal. Some of the music I used to listen to in this vein makes me cringe now, but Lilac skewers topics like the casual misogyny commonly employed among "edgy" rock bands. Anya Davidson leads the attack on songs like "I.U.Dea" and "Woman In Power," the lyrical efficiency putting out backwards conservative talking points like a cigarette butt under a heel. That's not to say that this record isn't without its less than inspired moments, like "Burn Down the White House," a comparatively juvenile, unambiguous sentiment on an otherwise brutal yet cleverly indirect lyrical record. It's a more than forgivable offense - I mean, who hasn't thought that same thing in the last few years? - and it's especially easy when the rest of the record holds treasure like the seasick riff of "Sewage Alphabet" that hits at 0:18 in. Good lord. Seems the biggest problem with this record is that not enough people are talking about it or buying it, so go help Lilac cruise through the rest of these LPs they painstakingly put together and released themselves.

Reeking Aura, Blood & Bonemeal (Profound Lore)

Reeking Aura's three-song demo dropped in the midst of 2020 on Parasitic Records, and was quickly purchased and lost in the deluge of my Bandcamp Friday purchases. I thought it was good, but I didn't think it was good enough to land them on Profound Lore, one of metal's preeminent labels. It makes more sense now that I know the vocalist in Reeking Aura was, until recently, also the voice of Artificial Brain, who have a couple of LPs on Profound Lore. The vocalist in question, "Big Will" Smith, is an outsized, affable personality with arguably the best guttural metal vocals in the game. Set him up in a death metal band featuring three guitarists, and you've got my attention. Reeking Aura is a bit of a concept band, something poorly summed up as a band focused on the smells emanating from the life-death-rebirth cycle of nature, and on their debut LP, the concept grows to include a "caretaker" of a farm slowly succumbing to "morbid psychosis." The lyrics, for the curious, are available with the LP and on the Reeking Aura Bandcamp page. I'm not sure any of that adds to my enjoyment of the record (though the Reeking Aura shirts that say "Agricultural Death Metal" certainly do), nor am I sure that it could: Blood & Bonemeal is flat-out one of the most fun death metal records I've heard in ages. The ante is upped from the demo musically, too, even if it's a bit cleaner than I normally like my death metal. The vocal performance shines, and the triple-guitar attack is as potent as you'd imagine. There are big chunky riffs, leads that twist and spiral skyward, and peppered in are a few well-placed and well-executed Mournful Congregation-worthy breathers, specifically the last couple minutes of "Pyramid Shaped Plow / The Caretaker." I especially like the opening track and how it grabs you by the shirt, but it's always the ascent-and-decay of "Harvesting the Hatchet" and the rumbling doom of "Grublust" that end up my favorites. Those Death ripoffs I mentioned in the Dead Void review? Reeking Aura is basically one musically, but with a distinctive personality, one unafraid to put down washes of pastel watercolors on the cover and immediately start a circle pit. Blood & Bonemeal has been a perfect workout soundtrack for me, just over thirty minutes with built-in breaks, punishing enough and engaging enough to make repeat listens worth my while. Reeking Aura's flying a bit under the radar, and the lack of touring probably didn't help, but this is a damn fine slab of death metal. Purchase, and channel your own inner vegetative mush.

[bizarrobrain]

"A Vegatative Mush That Melts Among the Shelves Lined With Meats of Indeterminate Origin" by Reeking Aura - From "Blood and Bonemeal" (2022)

[dreamsofconsciousnessmetal]

Formed by members of Reeking Aura and Buckshot Facelift, Thætas are up-and-comers from the NY area who write songs with a dissonant/avant sensibility, whilst also showcasing their brutal slamming death metal roots. Their second album The Irredeemable Age will be released on June 26th by Profound Lore Records.

[photo by Jessica Canale]

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