TERMINUS: extreme metal podcast

Lusted for as much as it is feared, Terminus pushes a bony hand up from the frigid soil to return with a storm of blast beats and autism. A chill wind envelopes the soul- how will the masters of extreme metal critique announce their return? With a bunch of nerdy Finnish stuff, of course! First on the plate is the new split between Serpent Noir and Sargeist. Serpent Noir plays a heavy metal and rock infused take on Greek black metal while Sargeist plays Sargeist as only Sargeist can. Who will be the victor? Can The Black Metal Guy handle noodly guitars inspired by 70s rock? Can Sargeist once again achieve the heights of Let The Devil In? Only a focused and meticulous listen will answer these riddles. After this we cheat a little bit with a record from the last days of 2020- Ride For Revenge's newest opus of shambling, grotesque, primitive black metal. The new record will sound familiar to fans, but emphasizes the most uptempo and burly parts of their sound, jettisoning some of their experimentation for crushing 45-played-on-33 takes on Hellhammer tracks. Wrapping things up is the first and apparently last record by Grieve, another side project of the notorious Werwolf of Satanic Warmaster. This time the target sound revolves around the earliest works of the mighty Gorgoroth, laced with the traditional Finnish sound that Werwolf himself helped establish. What ensues is a thrilling record of gnarly, oldschool black metal that is nonetheless laden with melody and intricacy to carry you through the winter nights.   0:00:00 - Intro 0:08:19 - Serpent Noir / Sargeist - Transcendental Black Magic (World Terror Committee) 1:01:17 - Interlude - The Sarcophagus - “Legend Sleeps Behind the Mountains” fr. Towards the Eternal Chaos (Osmose Productions, 2009) (Out of print and not on Bandcamp, but easily available used and on streaming services) 1:08:25 - Ride for Revenge - Feed The Infamy (Bestial Burst) 1:53:03 - Grieve - Funeral (Werewolf Records) 2:55:27 - Outro - Impious Havoc - “Holy City in Flames” fr. Manifestations of Plague and War (Warfront Productions, 2007) (Available at various underground distros only it appears)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

In this turgid and sprawling episode of Terminus, your intrepid hosts go an adventure of full autism in true Terminus form. References to Spite Extreme Wing? Check. The Black Metal Guy discussing mythology uninterrupted for ten minutes? Check. The Death Metal Guy slowly becoming nonfunctionally stoned while discussing Japanese doomdeath? Check. This episode is a work of ages, featuring four records of tremendously varying sound but rigorous pursuit of personal vision. We begin in true Terminus form with a comfortable starting point: the ferocious, epic, and driving assault of Quebecois freshmen Oriflamme, whose inaugural recording combines delicate strands of French and Mediterranean black metal distilled into a dark, enraged edge of obsidian beauty. Both hosts are invariably stoked, but disagree on some of the finer points: is this outlaw rock? Does it sound like BBH? How do you pronounce the album title, anyway? Discussion ensues but concludes with an obvious command to all Terminators: Buy This Now. In the interest of expanding the show's horizons, The Black Metal Guy brings another debut onto the show with Anahata's first foray into flagon-pounding traditional heavy metal. Anahata's sound is resolutely committed to the traditions of the 80s, but subtle influences from modern extreme metal abound, making for stomping sing-along anthems with exactly the sort of intrigue growing Black and Death Metal Guys need. Still glance longingly at the 3 Inches of Blood hoodie in your closet on occasion? Your moment has arrived. After a visit to the past with Jag Panzer, The Death Metal Guy switches gears dramatically with Midnight Betrothed, an Australian project who presents low-fi, synth-focused black metal with a bevy of bizarre influences- most of them outside of metal. Is it black metal? Dungeon Synth? A weird sort of ambient music? None of the above- it is the advent of (much to The Black Metal Guy's chagrin) Lo-Fi Black Metal Beats to Study or Relax To. Riding high on good times so far? That deficiency is corrected as Anatomia rises from their crypt to bestow a masterpiece of tumorous, deformed doomdeath upon the masses. Your hosts have been long time fans of the band and are pleasantly surprised to see that the ante is upped as the tempo is lowered, as four tracks of slimy, plague-ridden funeral doom obliterate subwoofers and reap souls. In the words of our favorite funeral doom band, Hatebreed: YOUR DOOM AWAITS YOU!   0:00 - Introductory bullshitting 0:09:14 - Oriflamme - L'Égide Ardente (Sepulchral Productions) 0:54:59 - Anahata - Auspicious Atavism (Independent)* 1:48:04 - Interlude - Jag Panzer - “Warfare,” fr. Ample Destruction (Iron Works, 1984) 1:53:13 - Midnight Betrothed - Dreamless (Atrocity Altar/Northern Silence) 2:23:15 - Anatomia - Corporeal Torment (Me Saco un Ojo Records/Dark Descent Records) 3:06:47 - Outro - Disjecta Membrae - De Exorcismis et Suplicationibus Quibusdam LIBER I fr. De Exorcismis et Suplicationibus Quibusdam LIBER I (Independent, 2017) *CORRECTION: Anahata has a third member! Australian axelord Jack Heath plays leads. TBMG mistakenly assumed he was a session contributor.   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

A few months ago, out of the blue, Terminus received a bold and brazen email to the effect that we would interview Cromlech. What had we done to deserve this? Cromlech is the brother-band of Into Oblivion, whose Winds of Serpentine Ascension placed #1 on the Terminus Aggregate Top 10 for 2020. The Norns ordained our paths would cross, and so they did. Cromlech plays Epic Doom, forged from the same mythril as Solstice and Candlemass, but steeped in the dragon's blood of black and death. In this freewheeling juggernaut of an interview, The Black Metal Guy speaks with every member of Cromlech (except Kevin) about writing and recording their forthcoming record, Ascent of Kings (Hessian Firm), oppressing the peasantry of ironic retro-metal, and sacrificing to the shade of Robert E. Howard. Plus a whole bunch of other stuff. What emerges, over the course of the conversation, is a band whose swaggering pride is backed by serious artistry, loyal comradery, relentless shit-giving, and remorseless shitposting. This is as close as it gets to being in the practice room with Cromlech. Gird thy loins.   00:00 - Cromlech - Origin and destiny 10:41 - "Every week for seven years" - Writing and recording Ascent of Kings 16:30 - Crossbridge of the helix - Brandon, Jake, et. al. on the Cromlech rhythm section 21:27 - "Riff Tyrants" - Baron and Roman on collaborative guitar work 28:30 - The Ritual Airing of Grievances / a digression on Emperor / a further digression on the noble art of shitposting 36:42 - Spotlight on Kevin - Kevin as frontman and lyricist / Roman on collaborative vocals 40:36 - Cimmerian Codex - Conan The Barbarian, Celtic Frost, and some surprising links to classic 80s heavy metal 45:35 - Extreme heavy metal Pt. I - Vibrato and "exploded" vocal chords 47:58 - Interlude - “Iron Fist / Iron Will,” fr. the Iron Guard EP (Independent, 2017 / CD by Forgotten Wisdom Productions, 2018) 58:18 - Extreme heavy metal Pt. II - Wielding the mighty chug / the legacy of Solstice / Baron's formative influences / metal nerd Easter eggs 1:06:15 - Extreme heavy metal Pt. III - cross-pollination between Cromlech and Into Oblivion 1:15:42 - Brothers in arms - Cromlech's remarkably stable lineup / "forge your own flesh" / pushing musical boundaries 1:32:53 - More on sound quality and production for Ascent of Kings 1:37:38 - The Cromlech / Hessian Firm alliance - Getting signed and working with Nick 1:43:17 - "Gatekeeping is necessary, essential, and mandatory" 1:54:45 - Outro - Wagner - end Act I, Scene 3 of Siegfried (Bayreuth Records, 1876), in which Siegfried reforges his father’s sword, Nothung, then cleaves the anvil asunder. Fr. Decca's complete Ring Cycle (Wiener Philharmoniker, Georg Solti conducting).   Cromlech recommends: Oath of Cruelty - Summary Execution at Dawn: "very aggressive, riff-oriented black thrash" Korrosive: "Our fuckin brothers. Thrash, not for wimps and posers." New album Kaustic Hordes coming soon. Hessian Firm bands, esp. Mefitis: "Kevin, listen to The Misfits!"   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

In this shimmering and vast episode of Terminus, your intrepid hosts venture into a block of advanced, high-concept black metal laced with elements of Orthodox, post-black, post-punk, electronic, ambient, neofolk, and just about anything else you can think of- after some oldschool death metal, if you're into that sort of thing. Long-running Indonesian battalion Devoured opens the festivities with The Curse of Sabda Palon, their first record in 9 years. Originally starting as a pummeling brutal death project, the band has since shifted gears into a unit which combines the dramatic, fluid melody of Dismember with delicate underpinnings of Southeast Asian folk music. We take some time investigating the role of vocals and drums in this style, as well as linking it to recent oldschool revival weirdos like Incertus- highly recommended for those who want something more from "retro-death." It's all uphill and downhill and sideways and inside out from here as we begin our block of abstract black metal with Inferno, underrated stalwarts of the Czech scene returning with a record sure to make waves in the Orthodox scene. Inferno combines high-level black metal guitar technique with a dizzying array of textures and instrumental voices to create something expansive and alien yet oddly mystical and comforting. Black metal psytrance? A natural progression of Aosoth? We cover these possibilities and more. After a brief return to forgotten pre-post-metal with Minsk, we're back in the fray with Fyrnask, a German project which laces a core of vicious and abstract black metal with slabs of dark ambient, neofolk, and post-industrial music, all of which contribute to a lonely, hermetic whole. Your hosts go back and forth on the relation of parts to the whole- Fyrnask is a band who are capable of doing excellent, straight-up ripping black metal, but would that be worth sacrificing the breadth of their arrangements? You be the judge. Finally, we conclude with something a little more traditionally Terminus with Secret Fire, a Canadian project which creates black metal more immediate and traditional than the previous two artists, but no less winding and abstract. TDMG and TBMG immediately become broiled in debate- is this Graveland? Winterfylleth? House of First Light? Something we've never heard of?- but ultimately conclude, unsurprisingly, that it's great music, no matter the results of the Rorschach test.   00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Collapsor 0:11:20 - Devoured - The Curse of Sabda Palon (Sadist Records) 0:48:15 - Inferno - Paradeigma: Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity (Debemur Morti) 1:34:31 - Interlude - Minsk - Waging War on the Forevers fr. Out of a Center Which is Neither Dead Nor Alive (At A Loss Recordings, 2005) 1:45:12 - Fyrnask - VII: Kenoma (Van Records) 2:31:17 - Secret Fire - The Old Beast Law (Throne of May) 3:16:54 - Outro - Imperial Trumpet demo - Side A fr. Rehearsal Demo 1 (House of First Light, 2015)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

On this throbbing and tumescent episode of Terminus, we bring you five bands with distinctive hybrid sounds, each drawing on a wealth of reference points that don't usually go together. The Death Metal Guy leads off with what must be the best-selling underground (now, by accident, overground?) black metal record of all time -- that one with the dude in a cape with a flower and sword. There's a camp of people who think it's genius and authentic. There's (almost certainly) a camp of people who think it sucks and is false. But what does Terminus think? Let us consider the songs.... The Black Metal Guy replies with a strong candidate for Feel-Good Hit of The Summer -- the new one from the Korpsånd circle's Gabestok. Though black metal in spirit, Én gang rådden, altid rådden is rooted in some very different musical formats, from the nastiest beer-stained corners of punk and metal history. Even the way this band uses BM ideas is unexpected, leading to a masterfully original sound. After the break, the Death Metal Guy brings us two new EPs. Chapels of Gore places industrial-noise methods at the service of BM aesthetics, continuing the legacy of TDMG's beloved Kembatinian Premaster. Incarceration plays really fast, high-energy blastbeat / breakdown music that sounds very modern, yet hearkens back to the days of primordial extreme metal, in that it really doesn't fit into any of the major genres. Finally, The Black Metal Guy wraps it up with something uncharacteristically polished, a "fancy riffs" band called Obsolete. This leads us back to an old conversation about the relationship between technical death metal and thrash, and opens up into a new conversation on the difference between tech- and regular-metal song structure.   00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Kult of Odium 0:13:39 - Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman (Livor Mortis) 0:59:24 - Gabestok - Én gang rådden, altid rådden (Strange Aeons Records) 1:38:32 - Interlude - Gastunk - “胎児 [Sad],” fr. Dead Song (Dogma Records, 1985) / Kuro - “No more no,” fr. Who The Helpless (Blue Jug Records, 1984) 1:44:11 - Chapels of Gore - The Venereal Shrine (Independent) 2:03:24 - Incarceration - Empiricism (Dawnbreed Records) 2:24:04 - Obsolete - Animate//Isolate (Unspeakable Axe) 3:04:29 - Outro - Martyr - "Warp Zone," fr. Warp Zone (Galy Records, 2000)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Back on T37, we delved into the sophisticated songwriting of The Visceral Sovereign, the debut of a brutal death project named, unforgettably, "Anal Stabwound." Needless to say, The Death Metal Guy had to get in touch with sole mastermind Nikhil T., also known for his guitar and drum covers on Youtube. In an all-killer no-filler 45 minute conversation, Nikhil outlines his methodology for writing brutal death metal, discusses his journey to multi-instrumental mastery, and sheds some light on the strangely-structured internet scene at the vanguard of brutality.   00:00 - Introduction / origins of the Wound 07:38 - "It's a lot of shifting dyads" - Motivic songwriting / art of riff-construction / place of melody in BDM 16:28 - "Maybe I've played guitar way too much" - Nikhil's instrumental background / practice and learning new stuff 20:30 - Interlude - Anal Stabwound - "Demiurge of Abhorrence," fr. The Visceral Sovereign (Inherited Suffering Records, 2021) 24:24 - "A very fine balance to maintain" - technique as athleticism 26:32 - "Everyone else lives in Europe, or whatever" - remote collaboration / brutal death "combo" format 36:45 - "I don't take too much in people saying, 'Oh, this is garbage'." -  brutal death and slam vs. normal death metal 44:30 - Avoiding the "riff after riff approach" - future of Anal Stabwound 47:26 - Outro - Korpse - "Molestation Condonation," fr. Insufferable Violence (Unique Leader, 2021)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

In this twisted, maddening parody of a Terminus episode, we review only brutal death metal and raw pagan black metal. If you like elegant tremolo leads, immersive atmospheres, or vast, epic compositions, you are shit out of luck -- here you will find only viscous desolation and savage blades. For once, we let The Death Metal Guy off the leash at the beginning of the show, and what does he do? Using phrases like "a lattice-work of slams",* he makes a systematic case for the artistic importance of brutal death. For you lovers of single-minded, extremely inaccessible sound, there's the Phillipine band Exerminated. Will Genesis of Genocide be the BDM album that finally sends The Black Metal Guy running for the hills? Next up, it's far more BM-positive fare from the cool dudes in Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, whose cacophonous mangle of eerie dissonance and iron snare evokes the monstrous angelic forms of Neon Genesis Evangelion (see T2 for a review of their last record). On the second half of the show, TBMG unleashes our arsenal of short-release reviews, with: 1. A high-concept split release by Panzerwar (see T22) and Lungtoucher, centered on the clash of Saxons and Norsemen in what is now Yorkshire, northern England. 2. A promising demo from Spanish (no, Catalan!) newcomer Turment Nocturn. If you're worn out from hearing TDMG obsessively analyze complicated death metal riffs, get ready for TBMG to obsessively analyze some of the simplest riffs we've ever had on the show. 3. Finally, the booted berserkers of Doppelaxt raise their doppelaxen high above the mountain of the slain, offering red tribute to the black banner of PABM (PENNSYLVANIA BLACK METAL, that is). This band has learned the wolven mysteries of 90s Poland, but strikes with a hardcore-punkish speed that could only come from North America.   00:00 - Introductory bullshitting 0:06:14 - Exterminated - The Genesis of Genocide (Comatose Music) 0:49:34 - Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduduodenoscopy - The Rotted Plinth of Sachiel (Stillbirth Records)** 1:33:13 - Interlude - Cephalotripsy - "Consummating Omophagia," fr. Uterovaginal Insertion Of Extirpated Anomalies (Amputated Vein Records, 2007) 1:38:59 - Panzerwar / Lungtoucher - The Battle of Jórvík split (Independent) 2:23:46 - Turment Nocturn - Sense Misericordia (Narbentage / Negra Nit) 2:44:33 - Doppelaxt - Kill the Opposition (Independent / Cassettes thru to Signal Rex) 3:11:39 - Outro - Doppelaxt - “My Journey Towards Idealism,” fr. Kill The Opposition *TDMG credits this to the excellent oldschool RYM reviewer Syncline. **TDMG accidentally says that their 2020 EP, Adoration of Decaying Innocence, was their first official release. In truth, that was a 2019 demo called, uh, Interspecies Defloration.   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

On this regal and abundant episode of Terminus, we bring you one record in a style we talk about way too much, and three others in styles we rarely cover. Perhaps one will strike your fancy.... We begin with the return of Sielunvihollinen, standard-bearers for the stern and stomping "street" variant of Finnish black metal, and an old favorite of TBMG. This is quite distinct from the Finnblack formula, as it's been popularized abroad, and provides a good window into the deeper reaches of the Finnish underground. We give special attention to the 'hollinen's gritty heavy-metalisms, and their skill at generating variation within self-imposed parameters. Next up, TDMG initiates our first full-length review of anything dungeon synth -- Grîmmöld's The Dying Kings of Man. We're both DS-skeptics, to say the least, but we find this strangely compelling, especially in the way it reaches into properly aggressive BM, and properly sinister dungeon drone. I'm sure many of you are connoisseurs, so we'd be curious to hear whether the strong points of this record are as unique as we take them to be, or a fixture of the burgeoning nowadays DS scene. After the break, it's time for something completely different with TDMG's other pick, a British _____-core band called Pupil Slicer. They play extremely choppy rhythms and technically demanding skronk-leads at the tempo of grind, with a fair number of Big Pit Riffs thrown in just for kicks. It takes TDMG back to his teenage mathcore phase, but it doesn't quite land with TBMG. Finally, in honor of TDMG's concept of "Tony Hawk Pro-Skater Soundtrack Black Metal" (coined earlier in the show), TBMG pulls a 180 nosegrab tailspin in aesthetics and brings on..... a post-black band called Sertraline. What's gotten into him??? Let's find out....   0:00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Liquid Viscera 0:14:41 - Sielunvihollinen - Teloituskäsky (Hammer of Hate) 0:58:44 - Grîmmöld - The Dying Kings of Man (Independent) 1:35:35 - Interlude - Moon and Azure Shadow - “Age of Darkness and Frost,” fr. Age of Darkness and Frost (2020 remaster by Repose Records) 1:44:26 - Pupil Slicer - Mirrors (Prosthetic Records) 2:26:50 - Sertraline - The Streetlight Was All We Needed (Hypnotic Dirge Records) 3:15:00 - Outro - Heaven In Her Arms - "赤い夢" ("Red Dream"), fr. 黒斑の侵蝕 ("Erosion of The Black Speckle") (Ape Must Not Kill Ape, 2007) Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

In this (relatively) short but high-ABV episode of Terminus, we bring you a fresh bouquet of the new spring's finest flowers -- albums about death, meth, swords, and burning boats. Exhale the rot of last year, and breathe in the smoke on the wind. To lead off, The Death Metal Guy checks in with the captains of Danish Nautical Black Metal (DNBM), Ildskaer, whose Den rædsomste nat was one of 2020's more pleasant surprises. On this new EP, they make good use of the format -- not unleashing a full broadside like they did last year, but training their batteries to a new level. There's a lot of subtlety to explore. The Black Metal Guy follows up with a killer album-length demo from ЛЕШИЙ (or "Leshiy"), a black metal configuration of Russia's Pleskau Brethren Circle. ЛЕШИЙ play simple, direct music inspired by sounds we all know and love -- so what is it that makes them so damn good? TBMG has a few ideas, and launches into the most detailed riff analysis we've done in a while. After 90 minutes discussing noble, martial black metal, it's time to lower the tone, and TDMG has got what you need. If what you need is 37 minutes of artfully composed brutal death metal about addiction, recovery, and the rot at the heart of middle America, that is. Metharoma's Pipe Dreams is the first thing we've covered by one of TDMG's favorite nowadays BDM auteurs, Brian Forgue (Syphilic), and features Jacob Schmidt from Defeated Sanity. Finally, we close out with a new Terminus favorite -- the rumbling, primordial black/death of Poland's Upon The Altar. TBMG is proud of his find, but he hands off the wheel to TDMG, our resident expert on all things Paul Ledney. You could think of this review as a tour through UTA's armory of arcane riffs: riffs that are only one note, riffs played over and over, riffs written by the drummer, and at last, the mighty Riff Where Nothing Happens Very Specifically.   0:00:00 - Introductory bullshitting 0:11:52 - Ildskaer - Paa dækket kalder de døde (Independent) 0:43:46 - ЛЕШИЙ (Leshiy) - ПОГАНЫЕ СНЫ (Horrible Room) 1:16:25 - Interlude - Bekhira - “The Devil and The Sorcerer,” L’Elu du Mal (Aura Mystique Productions, 2005) 1:21:05 - Metharoma - Pipe Dreams (Through the Alley) (New Standard Elite) 1:56:16 - Upon the Altar - Absit Ab Ordine Luminis (Putrid Cult) 2:34:08 - Outro - Demoncy - "Joined In Darkness," fr. Joined in Darkness (Baphomet Records, 1999 / reissues by NWN)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

On this megalithic episode of Terminus, we finally bring you a well-balanced roster -- two black metal bands and two death met- ok, sorry, one is basically deathcore, but it's not like the other deathcores, we promise. The Black Metal Guy leads off with one of the final works of Lam -- Unseen Forest Patriot, recorded under the battle-mask of Zarabanda Moon. Most of you are familiar with Lam's projects Sanguine Eagle and Hand of Glory, and many are still feeling his loss. We begin with some background on his black circle, The House of First Light, and some thoughts on his personal legacy. Then we review the record. Terminus will release a proper memorial to Lam in coming months. Next, The Death Metal Guy introduces Kaal Akuma, a Bangladeshi band whose pummeling death metal taps into the same eldritch forces as black metal. As TDMG points out, this is what "atmospheric / cavernous" death metal should be, and it really hits home with TBMG. Together we sperg over Kaal Akuma's mastery of folkish melody and their wild, intuitive playing, and do some speculation on the essence of subcontinental death/black metal. After the break, TDMG comes in for round two with Sarkrista, a Finno-Germanic (like, literally from Finland and moved to Germany) black metal band who epitomize everything TDMG loves about the modern, melodic Sargeistian sound. You can imagine how this goes over with TBMG..... We discuss. Finally, TBMG throws a curveball in the form of Humanity's Last Breath, a Swedish band playing a bleak, inorganic hybrid of "downtempo" and Orthodox BM. HLB has won a lot of respect in the hardcore scene, and it's time we found out what all the fuss is about. We were expecting some sick beatdowns w/ downtuned riffs over blastbeasts, but we got something far more original and challenging. This is another case of "core" bands setting the pace in the extremity arms race -- grit your teeth and turn it up.   00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Transgressor (reissue) and Reaver (ft. mem. of Draghkar and Azath) 19:48 - Zarabanda Moon - Unseen Forest Patriot (Livor Mortis / Unseen Forest Patriot) 01:04:48 - Kaal Akuma - In the Mouth of Madness (Dunkelheit Produktionen) 01:44:53 - Interlude - Adversarial - "Cursed Blades Cast Upon The Slavescum of Christ," fr. Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism (Dark Descent, 2015) 1:49:52 - Sarkrista - Sworn to Profound Heresy (Purity Through Fire)* 2:38:40 - Humanity's Last Breath - Välde (Unique Leader) 3:29:25 - Outro - Sovereign - “Dogman I,” fr. Dogman (Devil’s Child Records, 2008) *Correction: Sarkrista is native to Germany -- they did not relocate there fr. Finland.   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

On this auspicious, equinoctial episode of Terminus, your hosts battle through Sunday-night braindeath to bring you.... the show, featuring three bands that gravitate towards slower tempos without being "doom," and one band with lots of punk beats and songs about owls. The Black Metal Guy leads off with that one, the self-titled debut from Vermont's Strix Askesis. This is stompy, jangly pagan BM shot through with a surprising range of non-metal influences, to the point it may not even be metal anymore -- in other words, it's American outlaw rock. Oh, and since he totally forgot to mention it on the show, TBMG (who writes these descriptions) would like to add that the greatest of those non-metal influences has gotta be Sonic Youth, esp. songs like "Stereo Sanctity" and "Cross The Breeze." If you dig wild, earthy, life-affirming music you'll love this -- and you won't have heard anything quite like it. Next, in accordance with our Party-mandated quota for Eastern-bloc black metal, TDMG brings us Russia's Malist. This one is hard to pin down. On the one hand, it's polished and melodic. On the other hand, it's brooding and burly. If you've been following our long-running conversation / debate about the "Mgla effect" in modern BM, and the overall turn toward more immediately catchy riffing, this is a crucial one. TDMG continues his run with a great new find, also from Eastern Europe -- the Polish death metal band Incertus. You could say Incertus play "old school death metal," but from an alternate timeline in 1985. This one is better heard than described, but suffice to say it hits on both levels -- crushing / guttural and cryptic / melodic. Incertus has a wonderfully imaginative vision of what death metal could still be, encapsulated by their improbable choice of a cover track.... Finally, TBMG decides it's time we had a talk - a talk about the new Ruins of Beverast, that is. Since you're all familiar with the monumental works of Alexander von Meilenwald, we take a freer approach with this one. It's less a sample-based review, more a rolling conversation where the new record leads us to thoughts on TRoB as a whole, and vice versa. So pour yourself a Scotch or doppelbock, light your ancestral tobacco pipe, and get ready to pensively stroke your beard / goatee / chiseled jawline, sometimes starting up from your richly-upholstered armchair to shout your disagreement, other times turned away toward the rain-spattered window, lost in eerily familiar dreams of megaliths in snow....   00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / rundown of bands and labels 0:05:18 - Strix Askesis - Strix Askesis (Independent) 0:57:22 - Malist - Karst Relict (Northern Silence Productions) 1:36:11 - Interlude - Dark Tranquility - "Unfurled by Dawn," fr. A Moonclad Reflection (Slaughter Records, 1992). This EP is an ancient artifact, but it's included on this comp, and you can buy other early DT directly from the band. 1:43:28 - Incertus - Predestination to Damnation (Defense Records) 2:17:10 - The Ruins of Beverast - The Thule Grimoires (Ván Records) 2:52:08 - Outro - The Ruins of Beverast - "50 Forts Along the Rhine," fr. Rain Upon The Impure (Ván Records, 2006)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

Back on T37 we got all fired up about Returned to Life, the long-awaited return to life of Victoria, BC's Altered Dead. Now, the complete lineup of Mic (guitars/vox) and Julian (drums/vox) joins The Death Metal Guy for a Terminus interview as chill as it is high-spirited. TDMG and guests are very much on the same wavelength, so after a few brief formalities, it's onward to the ins and outs of songwriting, sound quality, and the creative dynamics of actually playing in a band. If you're new to death metal, this has got everything you need to know to start your own band, and maybe steal one of the setups they tried before nailing the sound on the new record. But along with all that juicy detail, you'll hear these two old friends just riffing, which gives a far more "three-dimensional" feel than you could get in a one-on-one interview. Mic says what is probably the funniest thing ever said on this show (involves Bolt Thrower), and by the end, you'll feel like you've just spent a dimly-recollected weekend on the Victoria metalpunk scene (hangover and head injury not included).   00:00 - Introductions / two-man death metal?? / evolution of the sound 10:33 - "It's gotta roll forward always" - What makes an Altered Dead song? / riffwriting vs. soloing vs. jamming 27:22 - Interlude - Altered Dead - "Mental Suicide," fr. Returned to Life (2021) 32:07 - "I'm not gonna ask you the 'what are your influences question,' but...." - 80s roots / Victoria crust and grindcore / 00s and nowadays OSDM 41:16 - "You could just fucking die!" - mystical ticket stub / perils of Green Jelly / extreme metal in 90s console games. 48:20 - "Might as well use this too!" - 8-string guitar / recording / amps and cabs.... real gear hours 55:45 - "I listen to extreme metal everyday" - is there such a thing as death metal fatigue? / non-metal favorites 58:03 - "It's a bit surprising actually" - Altered Dead come to terms with fame and fortune. 01:01:34 - Outro - Ceremonial Bloodbath - "Primitive," fr. The Tides of Blood (2020)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

On this week's episode of Terminus, we try out a new format. Sort of by accident, we ended up with two EPs and a very short full-length, plus a fan submission and a debut album. We're thinking that every month from here on, we should do a roundup of demos, EPs, and maybe some full-lengths by very new projects. Let us know what you think.... Anyway, to the music. TBMG leads off with a pair of EPs steeped in one of his favorite sounds, the marginal true-BM classics of late-90s Scandinavia. Chicagoan war metal gang Malthusian Kommand has way more to do with Sweden than Ross Bay, while Swiss hermit Goifer traverses towering peaks and shadowed valleys with an eccentric spin on Norwegian melody. TDMG follows up with a band that embodies the wild, willfully nerdy imagination at the heart of heavy metal. Sol Draconi Septem, a supergroup of dudes from the French BM scene, aims for a "swords and planets" atmosphere with a soundtrack-y, almost electronic variation on stuff like Summoning. As usual, TBMG gripes about riffs, and TDMG comes up with one of his left-field comparisons. After the break, we're back with a 20-minute ripper / gripper from Polish ____-grind band Zatrata. TDMG hears deathgrind, TBMG hears crustgrind, and for once, everyone's opinion is valid. Zatrata's fiercely condensed, craft-intensive attack handily outdoes the legion of American "darkcore" bands who've long struggled to achieve something like this. We close out with an in-depth review of the debut by Exsanguinate, a Terminus listener (and now patron) who sent his record in a few weeks back. It's difficult to describe how this band sounds -- we do our best on-air -- so let's just say it's an extremely original take on high-plains American black metal. As TDMG says, "he's got the hard part done first," so our job is to help C.J. zero in on the center of his music.   0:00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / rundown of bands and labels 0:16:19 - Malthusian Kommand - Unravelling the Purity Spiral (Independent) 0:42:32 - Goifer - Grabschlöfer (Repose Records) 1:03:38 - Sol Draconi Septem - Hyperion (Time Tombs Production) 1:45:08 - Interlude - Sear Bliss - "A Mirror in The Forest," fr. Letters from the Edge (Hammerheart, 2018)* 1:49:59 - Zatrata - Zatrata (Selfmadegod) 2:11:55 - Exsanguinate - Violence Is The Natural Law (Independent) 2:54:57 - Outro - Earth - "Raiford (The Felon Wind)," fr. Hex; or Printing in the Infernal Method (Southern Lord, 2005) *As far as The Black Metal Guy remembers, this is the very track that inspired the term "Cool Wizard Music."   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

As winter hurtles headlong into slushy spring, and the collective ABV of the northern hemisphere rises a couple points, we return with Terminus 41. This time, we've got another uniformly strong lineup, all black metal, with two very typical picks from each of us. Prepare yourselves for Total Termination. The Black Metal Guy leads off with the long-awaited return of Frisia's Kjeld, whose 2015 record Skym channeled the fearsome melodies of 90s Norway into a modern, blasting frontal assault. After that, the Second Wave revival took off, and other bands got all the credit. Now, the masters return to claim their throne with Ôfstân ("Distance"), where ice-cold essence shades into beautiful maritime light. (For more on the Dutch scene, we've also just uploaded an interview with Arjan from Heidens Hart Records, who put this one out.) The TBMG bloc continues with Szary Wilk, a well-chosen fan request that frankly floors both your hosts. This Polish band likes werewolves and they like the 90s Polish scene, but they've forged a wide-ranging and original modern sound. If you like elegant songwriting and big, dumb heavy metal Conan riffs - in other words, if you listen to this show - you'll love it. The Death Metal Guy segues into the second half with a forgotten Polish classic, then hits us with a double-barreled blast of Gallic despair and paranoia, courtesy of Suicide Circle. You may be familiar with the vocalist / bassist, Meyhna’ch - he played in some old French band. Here, he's found two ideal collaborators, and together they've cranked out a record that stands alongside his earlier material. This is hostile, gritty, urban stuff, made for a world in restless quarantine. Not for vampyres. And at last, TMDG brings our death spiral home with the grinding mecha-warblack of Persian band Lavizan Jangal. Here, we delve into an esoteric interpretation of Darkthrone, and wander shell-shocked through desolate post-industrial soundscapes. We've heard that L.J. has some ties to Trivax, a British band originally from Iran, whose new single we featured on the news segment of T38.   0:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus News ft. Serpent Dweller  25:00 - Kjeld - Ôfstân (Heidens Hart) 1:12:34 - Szary Wilk - Wrath (Putrid Cult) 2:00:38 - Interlude - Plaga - "Slaying The Spiritless Abel," fr. Magia Gwiezdnej Entropii (Societas Oculorum Arcanorum, 2013) 2:09:00 - Suicide Circle - Shotgun Prayers (Osmose) 2:52:14 - Lavizan Jangal - تاریکی و مرگ  or "Darkness and Death" (Careless Records) 3:26:46 - Endvra - "The Devils Stars Burn Cold," fr. Black Eden (Red Stream, 1996). Out of print and not on Bandcamp, but all of Christopher Walton's releases as Tenhornedbeast are available from Cold Spring.   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

After dedicating 2020 almost entirely to reissues, Dutch black metal cornerstone Heidens Hart is back with two major new releases -- Sagenland's Oale Groond (see T35) and Kjeld's Ôfstân (out today, March 5 - review forthcoming). Since The Black Metal Guy spends a lot of time geeking out about the Dutch scene, and this label in particular, he figured he'd take the opportunity to speak with founder and sole operator Arjan (also 1/2 of Sagenland). Over the course of the conversation, Arjan touches on many key aspects of his aesthetic, from folk-inspired minimalism and ineffable yearning, to the individual, imaginative transformation of canonical sounds. One gets the sense of a man who simply happens to live in the present -- a man for whom trends are as far away as the nearest city, and the modern world is, at most, an inconvenience.   00:00 - Introduction 04:05 - "It's more rewarding to write a flowing song" - Folkish melody vs. Norsecore / minimalism and drone / songwriting for Sagenland 19:26 - "It can be 50 years ago or 5000 years ago" - melancholy and nostalgia / barrows and dolmens 24:54 - One country, two sounds - rural, regional Dutch BM vs. the big city metal scene 34:58 - "Independent since the beginning" - roots of Heidens Hart and the Dutch scene in the late 90s 44:50 - "Maniacal and crazy" - an introduction to Blackdeath, the Satanic Russian black sheep of the HH roster 50:58 - Interlude - Blackdeath, “Hass aus dem Himmel” fr. Phantasmhassmagorie (HH2019). Followed by more on Blackdeath and alternate histories of black metal. 01:04:20 - "Without being a ______ clone" - introduction to the German Medieval BM of Pest, the Anglo-Saxon neofolk of Wolcensmen, and other recent HH releases. This section gives a good sense of Arjan's overall taste in music. 01:23:06 - "It sounds.... bothered." - history of WROK, Dutch grand masters of gorked basement goblin BM. 01:31:46 - Outro - Wojnar - end of “Part one - Część pierwsza eposu,” fr. Kiedy duch wojny nade mną powstanie  (HH reissue, 2019; Slava Productions, 1999)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

On this week's bright, shiny, punctual episode of Terminus, we've got a bit of a role reversal for you. The Black Metal Guy gets the first half of the show, with some uncharacteristically polished, modern-sounding, death-metal-ish stuff. On the second half, The Death Metal Guy brings you an interesting sampler of.... raw black metal? TBMG leads off with the Spire's long-awaited, carefully-crafted Temple of Khronos. While anyone who liked Entropy (2016) will like this record, it's a bit of a stylistic curveball, not so much a forward leap as a clever sidestep. Your hosts try to figure it out, as they bang their heads to these memorable, dramatic songs. Next, TBMG continues his reign of terror with the debut full-length of Carcinoma, who sit at the crossroads of several subgenres of dissonant, punishing black and death metal. Unlike many of their ortho-, disso-, and cavernous competitors, however, Carcinoma cut through the murk with convulsive, high-intensity body music. After the break, The Death Metal Guy takes over, and it's stomping time. He introduces us to Qwälen, a new Finnish BM band whose crust / hardcore roots show in their refreshingly intense, aggressive take on the style. TBMG digs it, but he feels like he's heard this somewhere before.... TDMG closes out with one of his classic off-the-beaten-path finds, nocturnal rainforest BM from Costa Rica's Ancient Spheres. This band is steeped in the spirit of 90s Scandinavia, transposed about 50 degrees latitude south, and 90 degrees longitude west. No point trying to describe it any more, here. This band rules. Just listen.   00:00 - Introductory bullshitting / rundown of bands and labels 07:55 - Spire - Temple of Khronos (Sentient Ruin Laboratories) 52:02 - Carcinoma - Labascation (Rat King Records) 01:27:16 - Interlude - Sectioned - “Beautiful Struggle” into “Starved Lives,” fr. Annihilated (Independent, 2019) 01:35:45 - Qwälen - Unohdan sinut (Time to Kill Records) 02:08:40 - Ancient Spheres - Prayers of the Black Flame (Independent) 02:58:18 - Outro - Zargof - "Beyond the Dark Gates of My Promised Fortress," fr. Departure For The Cosmic Twilight (Ars Magna Recordings, 2005). Digital released independently on Bandcamp *for free*.   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

A week after our review of Silvanthrone's debut LP, Forbidden Pathways to Ancient Wisdom, The Black Metal Guy calls up guitarist and songwriter Spellbearer to learn the band's story and shoot the shit about songwriting. Over the course of this relaxed but high-density conversation, Spellbearer discusses the uphill battle to record Forbidden Pathways, makes the case for teaching yourself songs by only one great band, and leads us through the cryptic mists to the essence of true PABM (Pennsylvania Black Metal). What emerges is the portrait of an understated but assured young warrior coming into his full power, guided by a rare sense of where he stands in the tradition.   00:00 - Introduction / lineup / Goathex 03:50 - "Alright, Lombardo beat!" - how Silvanthrone plays music 10:19 - From the S/T EP to Forbidden Pathways 18:04 - "The most masterful riffing I can imagine" - learning from vs. imitating influences / tempering melody in blood / picking with power and inflection 34:52 - Interlude - Silvanthrone, “Ghosts of The Desolate Corridor,” fr. Forbidden Pathways to Ancient Wisdom (Nihilistic Noise Propaganda, 2021) 39:09 - "I never understood how reviewers do it" - we talk over the Terminus review (Ep. 38) 45:49 - Quest for The Double LP - short vs. long full-lengths / record vs. CD vs. radio vs. aux 52:27 - Pennsylvania Black Metal - the circle and the ancestors / Spellbearer's path ahead 01:03:54 - Black Task, “Sex and Destruction” fr. the Black Task EP (Damnation Records, 1985)   NOTE: The Thai black metal band Spellbearer recommends is กาฬพราย, pronounced “Kan-Prai.” You can check out the full-length demo, ทุกขอัคคี  (Blaze of Suffering), on Greg Biehl’s crucial Youtube channel.   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

In this long-awaited (sorry!) episode of Terminus, your hosts explore the outer limits of death metal, refine the contours of a new subgenre they've just named (see Elegiac segment in Ep. 38), and sing the praises of really loud drums (that's bands #2-4, and the snare on #1 isn't bad either). The show lurches off to a gronkulated start with Ad Nauseam, an Italian death metal (?) band as abrasive as they are musically sophisticated. Their serious knowledge of music theory and composition gives them an arsenal for taking that most underwhelming of subgenres, "dissonant black/death." to the levels of high artistry and frenzied extremity it's always attempted. In the process, we return to a conversation that's been coming up a lot lately -- "Is this even death metal, anymore?" Next, we finally check out a band we've heard good things about from one of our patrons, and The Internet in general - Aphelion, whose high-energy Missouri black metal runs through a vast array of styles, yet exudes a very particular vibe. What core sound is this new band striving toward, and how does it fit into where the American scene these days? Leading off the second half, we're back with some totally killer blackened sludgegri..... Just kidding, it's more Slavblack. This time, it's Ulvegr, veterans of the Ukrainian scene who play a fiercely focused, stormblasting variant of their native style. The Black Metal Guy praises their elemental riffcraft, while The Death Metal Guy hails the sharply punctuated drum attack, and - as always - finds a couple interesting musical parallels.  Finally, it's been only a few months since we reviewed Pan-Amerikan Native Front's split with Ifernach, but P.A.N.F. is back with a decisive victory in Little Turtle's War. Here, Kurator of War leads us through 18th-century warscapes of cinematic scale, shrouded in smoke, peppered by gunshots, and paced by the pulse of shamanic battle-drums. We link P.A.N.F.'s flagship Native BM to the broader currents of American "outlaw rock," and talk over the significant growth in songwriting. After we'd already recorded the episode, we learned a couple interesting things from Kurator. First, he wrote LTW in 1.5 months. Second, the massive drum sound here and on the split comes directly from the Iron Hand of Dan Klein (ex-F.I.N.), who also handled mixing and mastering.    00:00 - Intro / Terminus News ft. Black Hole Deity and Deiquisitor / rundown of bands and labels 00:23:01 - Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse (Avantgarde Music) 01:09:12 - Aphelion - The Chill of Heavens Abandonment (Independent) 01:48:19 - Interlude - Bob Dylan - "The Times They Are A-Changin'," fr. The Times They Are A-Changin' (Columbia Records, 1964) 01:51:31 - Ulvegr - Isblod (Ashen Dominion) 02:28:03 - Pan-Amerikan Native Front - Little Turtle’s War (Stygian Black Hand - USA / Les Fleurs du Mal - CA / Death Kvlt - UK + EU)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

In this bracing late-winter blast of Terminus, we review four really cool bands in two distinct halves, each pointing "beyond metal" in the way we've been talking about lately. In Part I, The Black Metal Guy brings two prime examples of the bright but rough-edged sound that's come to characterize the best of USBM, and floats a new term to capture what separates this distinctly American style from Black Metal proper. Leading off, the prolific one-man project Elegiac returns from a year in the (literal) wilderness with Father of Death, a lengthy and ambitious release that blends bulldozer Bathory beats with soaring backwoods heathen melodies. TDMG brings some interesting, unexpected reference points to the table, and we argue about whether Elegiac has "arrived" quite yet. Up next is Silvanthrone, a young band from Pennsylvania (they'll have you know!) who put a distinctive spiritual and compositional twist on the familiar Franco-Finnish sound. We try to figure out what makes this sound more American than European, what work the more Euro / Chivalric riffs are doing here, and whether we can pin down a distinctly "Silvanthrone" style of composition. Not to be outdone, The Death Metal Guy comes in with two bands that carry their genres -- "death metal" and "Slavonic black metal," respectively -- so far into abstraction, it's difficult to even call them metal anymore. Each attains a kind of monolithic, fundamental-level-of reality presence, so strap in, dudes, it's time to get metaphysical. After the break, we check out the new EP by Astral Tomb, another group of young dudes who've been lumped in with the likes of Blood Incantation because of their name. This sounds nothing like Blood Incantation, or.... anything else, really! TDMG hails the extreme precision of their "sloppy," improvised-sounding chug / skronk attack, while TBMG rhapsodizes over the links to primordial guitar noise. Finally, we venture into Siberian wilds in the snowshoe grooves of Devilgroth, whose majestic Svyatogor carries swirling Slavonic trem far beyond the confines of the riff and the blastbeat. This isn't what you're expecting, either -- it depends on some cross-genre connections that nobody saw coming, and truly carries the BM tradition into uncharted territory.   0:00 - Introductory bullshitting / Terminus news ft. Trivax / rundown of bands and labels 20:40 - Elegiac - Father of Death (tape on Sacrificial Sounds / CD on Todesritter this spring) 1:03:49 - Silvanthrone - Forbidden Pathways to Ancient Wisdom (Nihilistic Noise Propaganda) 1:45:03 - Interlude - Aorlhac - "Sant Flor, la cite des vents," fr. La Cite des Vents (Those Opposed Records, 2010 - reissued in 2016). 1:51:18 - Astral Tomb - Degradation of Human Consciousness (Blood Harvest) 2:33:08 - Devilgroth - Svyatogor (Werewolf Promotion / Nebula Aeterna Productions) 3:20:35 - Outro - Branikald - “The Sail’s Wild Kin,” Frost Vision (Stellar Winter Records, 1999)   Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com

"We invoke thee, Black Podcast of Chaos. We evoke thee, O mighty Terminus. Awaken now from your aeonic slumber - rise up from the abyss! Podcast of forgotten lore - let your Chaos rule forever more. Cohosts - Raise your double heads! Let your opinions.... rule again!"* And lo, we have answered your evocations, returned from the hoary winter's deep with a massive episode full of new ideas (!), common threads, jeremiads against hollow trends, and grandiose pronouncements about the future of black metal. To whet your palates for the new Ruins of Beverast, we begin with a highbrow Germanic solo project you probably haven't heard of -- Vergeblichkeit. This is weirdly original music, like 80s goth rock built with "parts" from all over extreme metal, but structured in a way that draws your attention to the whole. It's music that takes time to digest, and you'll hear us getting more into it as the segment goes on. We pair that with the new full-length from Norse / Swedish folk-synth-black duo Haljoruna, in advance of its tape release on Old Mill Artifacts. The mood couldn't be more different from Vergeblichkeit, but there is a similar ambition at work. The Death Metal Guy waxes eloquent on Haljoruna's reconstruction of Scandinavian black metal from entirely new parts, and The Black Metal Guy frames it as an evolutionary adaptation to The Internet. In lieu of an interlude, we've crammed in a longer-than-intended mini-review of the new Maquahuitl EP. We play the lead song, "El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez," in its entirety. It's a short release, but a decisive moment in the history of USBM, and well worth your time. In Part II, we're back to somewhat more familiar waters. First, we check out of Gates of Doom, a stadium-sized melodic death/black band whose debut album tells the story of the Roman city Aquileia (located in their native north-Italian region of Friuli). There's obviously a lot to like about this album, but it awakens TBMG's hatred of the "polished melodic BM" trend, and he goes Full Metal Autist. Will TDMG be able to call him back from the edge of madness? We close out with a panoramic review of Oale Gruund, the debut by Sagenland, a (sort of) new band from the hart of the Dutch scene around Heidens Hart Records. Though TDMG really likes the riffs, he finds the songs as a whole difficult to get into. He voices his objections, TBMG voices his replies, and together we arrive at (what we think are) some pretty interesting ideas about musical "scale" and structure, and a better understanding of the Dutch sound as a whole. TL/DR we're back, feels good, check it out. 00:00 - Introductory bullshitting 09:30 - Vergeblichkeit - Die Almosen der Wunde (Independent) 48:24 - Haljoruna - Haustblot (Old Mill Artifacts)** 01:27:53 - Maquahuitl - Con Su Pistola en La Mano (digital and tape on Balamku / LP forthcoming on Goatowarex and Not Kvlt Records) 01:55:27 - Gates of Doom - Aquileia Mater Aeterna (Cult of Parthenope) 02:26:54 - Sagenland - Oale Gruund (Heidens Hart) 03:10:37 - Thesyre - "The Cult of Victory," fr. Duality (CD by Selbstmord Services / LP by Blasphemous Underground Productions). FYI, this veteran Quebecois band is back from a decade-long break, and all their stuff is up on Bandcamp now (see album link). * Apologies to Dissection. R.I.C. Jon. ** On the show we pronounce it "Hausblot" -- we'd seen it spelled a couple different ways, but this is how it's spelled on the band's website. Terminus links: Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon Terminus on Subscribestar Terminus on Instagram Terminus on Facebook thetrueterminus@gmail.com