Introduction
Five Songs, 6/25/2021
Five Songs

Five Songs, 6/25/2021

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Altar of Plagues, "Feather and Bone"

Altar of Plauges didn't last very long, producing three albums, but the last two of those are masterpieces of metal. Fusing black metal with post-rock aesthetics, rooted in a willingness to let a song stretch out and breathe, I'd actually recommend the third Altar of Plagues album (Teethed Glory and Injury) to someone who wanted to give uncompromising black metal an honest try. However, I actually think their second record (Mammal, which gives us today's track) is slightly better. It's just a lot to take in, with only four tracks, the shortest of which is 8:17. But if you have the patience, and meet it on its terms, it's brilliant stuff.

Mantar, "Age of the Absurd"

We've had a few tracks from Mantar around here, and I continue to know not a lot about them, other than: they're a duo, and they're very loud. That's it!

fIREHOSE, "Honey, Please"

I miss fIREHOSE. I don't really know of any bands making similar stuff these days, which is probably down to me being an out-of-touch old fart, but this stuff just makes me happy.

Two Inch Astronaut, "Play to No One"

Two Inch Astronaut is one of those Five Song success stories, where this project reminded me of the existence of a band that I had totally forgotten about, and caused me to go discover more of their music. Actually this record! And it's good! Nice to educate even myself on my own shit.

SWANS, "Failure"

I've described here before the origins of Various Failures: 1988-1992, where Michael Gira cut together tracks from the Swans albums of that era, along with side project songs, and assembled basically a director's cut of that period of their career. His discontent with the records is clear, in that the era before this was largely just all brought back into print. There's a fair bit that got cut that's not great, but it's a little bit of a shame for White Light From The Mouth of Infinity to get lumped in with the other records from this time, as I think it's a very good record. This song originally hails from that record, and it's a nice atmospheric piece.

Joshua Buergel
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