MoRkObOt: MoStRo (Supernatural Cat, 2006)

A trip through sonic magma. Red-heated basslines, basaltic bass bursts (there are two basses in here), and eerie ambient vapours. Unsettling and hypnotic, "MoStRo" is not the ordinary jazz/noise/core stuff with a harder edge. Here and there you can find the dominant "sparsely angular" sound of the Italian underground, but the main element here is the deeply enthralling flow and its evocative power. Anarchic, but surprisingly "narrative", geometric though blatantly psychedelic, the album fuses the dragon-lairs of early Pink Floyd, the swamps of Melvins and the esoteric wedges of math-metallers Tool with a distinct Zu-esque (or should I call it "Zornesque"?) vibe. I know the description would fit for many unexciting bands, but trust me: "MoStRo"'s better than them all. 

A somehow misterious band, MoRkObOt is a trio whose elements are disguised under the names Lin, Lan and Len (presenting as "messengers" of MoRkObOt). This is their second album.

Tracklist:

1. Tobokrom
2. Zorgongollac
3. Kaklaipus
4. Cammut
5. Skrotocolm
6. Poldon

Download (192 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:
Transgender: Sen Soj Trumàs (Snowdonia/New LM Record, 2003)
Taras Bul'ba: Incisione (Wallace, 2005)

Contropotere: Il seme della devianza (Skuld, 1991)

A grim, filthy, monster-heavy post-hardcore maelstrom, often on the brink of thrash metal (even doom metal at times). The songs are long, tortuous and convulsive: an everchanging flow of guitar stabs, upsetting vocal howls which reminds more of a black magic rite than of an ordinary hardcore punk record. A constant hail of blast beats, broken by apocalyptic sludge riffs and chainsaw intrusions (or offhand King Crimson quotes) even seem to mark the entrance to the chaotic realm of Today Is the Day, Neurosis or Flying Luttembachers. The frightening frame is completed by an aggressive anti-capitalist stance, a devious, cyberpunk version of the anarcho-punk attitude of Franti or The Ex.

"Il seme della devianza" isn't really an accomplished record: it's awfully recorded and the unravelling of the tracks is clumsy and unmemorable. But it's daring, utterly original, and it almost gives the shivers.

Contropotere were a band from Naples, founded in 1985 and disbanded ten years later. "Il seme della devianza" is their second LP, and it was followed just by two other EPs.

Tracklist:

1. La chiave del tempo
2. Templum desertii
3. Clonazione
4. Baghdad: la morte in diretta
5. Urragan
6. U.S.P. (Uniformità Sociale Precostituita)

Download (192 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:

Franti: Non classificato (1987)

Taras Bul'ba: Incisione (Wallace, 2005)