All good things must end, so also the ‘Sounds of the Underground’ section, which has reached it’s 50th edition with PONI, Nytt Land, Infernal Diatribe and Ancient Altar.
From here on I probably will produce single reviews. Way to many releases I’ve covered just deserve their own article. For these four goes the same, but I wanted to create a mix of different, interesting sounds. Enjoy listening to these and keep checking the site for more!
PONI- Nou Nee
Self released/Barreuh
Though it’s summer, these are the rainy days. Grey and sad and for that you should check out the music of PONI. This one man formation from the south of the Netherlands brings a sort of jangly pop noir in lo-fi quality with strange samples and ambient sounds filling up its sound. Inspiration is drawn from folk and slowcore music from the nineties and early noughties. The sound is described as a diary witht he lock open, leaving it there for you to read along if you want. It seems like a fitting description for the sound of PONI I think. Oh, the name is short for ‘Person of No Importance’.
In a way, there’s something raw and direct to the sound of PONI. It’s flowing along easily, without much pressure. Every little slip and squeek is still part of the recordings, the uneven moments, the little cracks in the voice, the natural expression is a big part of what you get to listen to when you check out the music of PONI. Every track is a numbered follow up titled ‘Nou Nee’, which means as much as “Well, no…”. When the artist sings, its mournful and with an uncanny remorse. It sounds tired, weary and tells stories that only a man can tell that has seen the world in all its failings. It makes for a damn good listen.
Ancient Altar – Dead Earth
Black Voodoo Records
For those who are looking for a good slice of doomy sludge, look no further than Ancient Altar. This is not about the first of their endeavors, but already the second album the group from LA has unleashed upon the world. Clocking just over 40 minutes, this record is rather intriguing much thanks to its peculiar cover. This features a bit of a blended version of Humpty Dumpty and a factory, eyeing you with glee in the middle of a barren, apocalyptic landscape.
The sound of the band is something between Eyehategod, Neurosis and all of that jamming with Bongripper. But with that comes an abbundance of Sabbathesque riffing, So that’s what you get on ‘Leader, Liar’, where the riff feels like it could have been one of Tony Iommi’s. But that is the thing with this band, it’s all about that riff and the repetition. That’s good and quite catchy too. I love the switch to that more sludge sound with barked, harsh vocals to shake things up a bit in between. That’s how it works with any doom band really, adding those elements to the repetition that keep things spicy enough. The chanting on ‘Void’ is another example where the band pulls that off brilliantly. This is, in my humble opinion, exactly how a doom band should sound at this point in time.
Nytt Land – Sköpun: Songs from the Elder Edda
Sulphur Flowers
Sometimes in strange regions of the world, it appears that ancient Nordic blood creeps up in the veins of some people and they start doing something exceptional. I don’t mean this in any white supremacist way by the way, just that the urge to take the inspiration of the old Scandinavians and turn it into some expression. Kalachinsk lies to the east in Russia, near the Kazakh border and the city of Omsk. Far removed from the Nordic Fjords, but there the group Nytt Land formed and started making neofolk in that tradition inspired by the Elder Edda. Combining ambient, neofolk and more into a trip back into history to misty coasts and forgotten traditions.
A low sounding horn is blown and leaves a continuous call over which the vocals are chanted in a way you’ll find in soundtracks of Lord of The Rings and such, sounding even a bit like Sinead O’Connor. Songs then explode into folky experiences, with maybe more Celtic elements than you’d expect. Though the attempt at Nordic sounds is clear, even from the use of the language, it may be so that the group has allowed other influences in a bit, but overal the shamanistic, experience remains and mysticism goes instead of any sort of poppy aspirations on this album. Sung in old Icelandic, you are even more baffled probably that this comes from a strange corner of Russia and is made with such an eye for the tradition and great production, but it is. Let these people take you away to foggy realms of dragon ships and Valhallan bravery.
Infernal Diatribe – Videha Mukti
Transcending Obscurity India
The Transcending Obscurity is one hell of a proof that metal is a global thing, delivering music under a global banner and an Indian (and surrounding nations) one, the label delivers quality and delicacies for those who like their metal… different. The band hails from Calcutta and this record is their debut EP. There’s little information to be found on previous endeavours of the bandmembers, but there is a bit about the influences which ranges from the founding fathers like Bathory to current day heavy weights like Gorgoroth. Dark Funeral and Watain. Maybe the middle is the band closest to the sound of these Indian evil sounding musicians.
There’s a clear focus on atmosphere and the spirtual elements of black metal in the sound of this band thanks to the slow and threatening progressions that open up the songs and allow them to stretch out that far. Much tremolo guitarwork, but combined with heavy and slow doomy rhythms. The fascinating thing is that the band somehow mixed in some Indian spices into the fabric of their music, thematically and I have the idea there’s also something in the music itself that makes it sound so different from other bands. Maybe the focus on repetition and moments where strange rhythms take over is exemplary of that. It feels like this band might offfer some tantalizing new sounds in the future!