Methysticum (2018)

 

(Closest thing to the actual logo that I can still find)

Methysticum is/was a 'Narcotic Metal' project, with two albums recorded within two weeks of one another. It may not be some of my best work, but it's still one of my favorite projects.

Lifelover is an obvious influence philosophically and practically (being composed while high on opioids), musically I also take my cue from the 'Slowcore' genre of alternative Rock. To my knowledge, I wasn't aware of any bands on the more 'Black Metal' side of things, who mixed Slowcore with Depressive or Post-Black Metal.

I therefore decided to give it a shot, and this project happened.

(that feeling when you do a split-album with yourself because reasons)

Funny story... I was talking about doing a split with this one band, when Agrimonia Black (from Tristitia Nigrum) told me they sucked and that I shouldn't do the split. I took his advice to heart, and backed out of doing the split.

Instead, I did a split with myself, making a 'Funeral Doom' project called MOLD to complement Methysticum.

Now, while I do like the Methysticum songs, I really like the MOLD songs, as I felt they really captured an air of dense claustrophobia (which, when speaking about Funeral Doom, is a problem you want to have).

Music for crawling around in a dank, wet, concrete basement in an abandoned building. Come to think of it, it sort of sounds like it could've been recorded there.

(album art caused a bit of an unintended stir)

The second album is the best, in my opinion. I like both of them, but the material is maybe stronger on this one, Methysticum solidifying its sound defined by the blending of 'Slowcore' with Depressive Post-Black. 

The choice of album art was kind of spontaneous. I was looking through images that would give the feeling of addiction in an urban environment. I happened across this image, and used it just because of the dread associated with it.

I dunno, some people thought it might denote racism I guess, just because the victim in the photo is non-White. Not what I meant to convey, but I suppose people will think whatever they're going to think.

After finishing Praise Addiction, about a week later, something happened to my PC. It's an ancient thing, so some connection in the line-in port may have finally disintegrated, or there may have been a complication with how the new speakers I'd bought were set up.
Either way, the end result was that I was no longer able to record using real instruments, nor vocals.

This was the last album made using real instruments until very recently (Feb. 2020 at time of writing).

Download at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation): 

https://methysticum.bandcamp.com/

Mediafire: 

Methysticum - some tracks (presumably from the first album)

Methysticum - "Praise Addiction"

Razorwind (2018-?)

(New Razorwind logo, 2020)

The idea behind Razorwind was to make some form of 'Blackened Noise,' although conceptually revolving around the veneration and glorification of Winter (the season, not the band, obviously). 

What I wanted to do was compose original Black Metal songs consiting of the major elements (drums, bass and/or guitar, and vocals). Using this as 'source noise,' I would mix and master each song in such a way as to create a wall of noise with them (basically HNW), hoping to conjure, capture and emulate the sounds, feelings and emotions of being surrounded by a howling snowstorm on a desolate mountaintop.
I hoped to blend all the sounds so as to make them indestinguishable from one another, barely detectable and distant. It was hoped that the listener would 'get lost' in the sounds, occasionally hearing fragmented melodies, refrains and screams among swirling winds, whipping the snow and ice into a malestrom.

(Split album with Tristitia Nigrum)

I forget how it happened exactly, but somehow I ended up sending some of the initial tracks to 'Agrimonia Black,' the main man behind Tristitia Nigrum, and we decided to do a split. 

The three Razorwind tracks from the split are also the first three on the next album, "Grey.Winter.Noise.," although mixed to sound as if it were played on Marshall amps across a glacial chasm in the Antarctic wilderness.

 

(Cover to Motley Crüe's "Shout at the Devil")

I don't know if I'll do anything else with this project, but I've been considering it. I guess we'll see. 

Download at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation):

https://razorwind13.bandcamp.com/

Mediafire: 

Razorwind (first mix)

Salat - Hayya Al Las Salah (2018)

There's a lot of backstory to this project, but I'm not feeling too well right now, so I don't know how much of it will be told.

I had been intrigued with Islam since about 2010, after having some dreams of attending a mosque (I had never visited one prior, nor did I even know the location of any in the Sherbrooke area, where I was living at the time.
I got a copy of the Qur'an, started studying it, and began learning about Islam as much as I could. It got to the point where I would have converted back then, but had no idea how to do so formally.

Anyways, in 2018 (and ever following the spiritual turmoil of 2015), I decided to give Islam another shot. I guess I was trying in some way to stay within the arena of Abrahamic Monotheism. Even though I had some serious quandaries over Christianity, which prompted me to investigate Truth from other perspectives, I still wanted to give Abrahamism a fair shot. 

In February of 2018 I decided to seriously immerse myself in Islam again. One reason was that I was having substance abuse problems again, after having been clean for three years between 2013-2016. I had actually gone out in the city looking for drugs on the street, having no idea what to do or who to talk to. When I couldn't find any, I resolved to go back the following night and try again.

On my way home, I reasoned with myself. The thought struck me: "Instead of becoming a drug addict again, spending hundreds of dollars on opioids, why not just go get that Qur'an for $120 that you've been wanting since 2016?"

I honestly considered whether or not this might be God, urging me in my conscience toward a higher ideal. I decided I would try it. At very least, it would be better than getting robbed in the city or taken advantage of, due to talking with the wrong people.

So, this is how I got into Islam for realzies this time. I spoke with a Sheikh at a local mosque, expressed my desire to convert, and he helped me through the formal process.
I learned firsthand that the perception of Islam (and Muslims in general) in Quebec is extremely distorted, based on false presumptions, and (more often than not) total ignorance. Not only were the people I met kind and loving, hospitable and pious, they were also generous beyond belief.
I can only express my absolute gratitude to them, for without them my wife and I would never have been married.

Unfortunately, even though I had refrained from succumbing to opioids at that time, I still had a blossoming alcohol habit. [Note: I had had some health issues in early 2017; although I was following my doctor's guidance, after several months the medication for treatment was making it worse, and not helping the problem: as a result, I started self-medicating with alcohol and also abusing my benzos. I've been trying to get my benzos straight, and the alcohol habit under control for the past two years.]

All this is to say that, I had a difficult time adjusting to Muslim life. I read Qur'an, I said my prayers, and I learned as much as I could about the religion, its history, and its various factions and offshoots. Even if the intellectual-mind had been fulfilled though (which, I'm sad to say, it wasn't, but that's part of a different story), I still had a daily alcohol habit, dealing with depression and anxiety.
I went to pray at the mosque frequently, but usually when no one else was there. I attended Friday prayers several times, but eventually I stopped going. I didn't know Arabic yet, and (antisocial introvert that I am) being in a crowd of people like that is excruciatingly painful for someone with anxiety or close-proximity issues.

Had that been the only problem, I would have remained with Islam and tried harder to persevere through the obstacles. But I began to become more nihilistic, hopeless, and depressed as a result of my health problems, and other circumstances which lent themselves to the deteriorating optimism that I had worked so hard to cultivate since 2011.
When one gets too depressed, starts thinking of only drugs, suicide, or whatever relief he can find... attending church or mosque becomes pretty difficult. It's just survival from one day to the next.
I eventually just felt like the people at mosque were too good for me. They didn't need me there contaminating their holy place with my presence.

                        

("Hayya Al Las Salah" Album cover)

Now on to the album! I haven't heard this album in a long time, so I don't remember what it sounds like overall. Some people have enjoyed it though, and it has seen a bit more popularity than some of my other work. 

The one awesome thing about this album (imo) is that it's the first time I collaborate with 'Noizen,' who masterfully graced my terrible compositions with the lovely strains of a wind-instrument known as a ney (apparently played by Sufi's or something, traditionally).

If for no other reason, you should listen to this album for his contribution alone.

This album is considered as 'Islamic White Metal,' and one of the things I wished to do with this album was to contribute a release in a form that I'm not sure had been done before: pro-Islamic extreme Metal.

There are a few 'Islamic' Black Metal bands out there, but they're only Islamic in that they live in Islamic countries. Aside from that, I think they're mostly against Islam

As my definition of 'White Metal' has expanded over the years to include music by bands/artists whose musical focus is the expression of  ideals, doctrines, and praxes commonly found in spiritualities orented in a more 'Right-hand path' direction. In addition to Christianity this can include Buddhism, Islam, aspects of Sanatana Dharma (especially of the Vaisnava variety), certain forms of Paganism, and even Wicca.
If Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on Truth, then 'White Metal' may just be any RHP-focused type of extreme Metal, which sees union with God, holiness, and purity as their ultimate goal. Basically, the theological opposite to Black Metal, in it's glorification of the Left-hand path.

Just to give an example... (Varg may not like it, but)... I have always felt Burzum's Belus to be one of the greatest 'White Metal' albums of all time, it is so spiritually uplifting. Actually, I think he would be pleased that his music uplifts the spirit to a higher ideal. 

Also Moonsorrow's "Verisäkeet." 

Lyrics to this album are actually the daily Islamic prayers. 

I tried to use somewhat of a different vocal style, modelling it after the sort of 'chanting' one uses to say the Islamic daily prayers. I had planned to refine this technique over subsequent albums, but... they never happened.

Actually, that's not true, there is a second Salat album out there, somewhere.

No guitars, just a distorted bass, and some drum tracks.

Consider this in lieu of an appropriate conclusion.

Download at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation): 

https://salat1.bandcamp.com/releases

Forced Xristian - Violation of Hypocrisy (2012)

 

(FX logo)

Forced Xristian was a 'Horror Death Metal' project, shortlived, like so many others. Aside from drum tracks, all music on this album is completely improvised. Could be better, could be worse, but it is what it is.
Lyrics/Songs were originally written some months prior (Nov.-Dec. 2011) intended for another project which I was putting together conceptually back then ('Ritual Abuse' was the name I thought of using for a Christian Death Metal band, the theme of which would be based around SRA, with songs about regular Christian Metal stuff as well).

The name 'Forced Xristian' came from three ideas (at the time), superimposed: 1.) The idea that, due to its obvious truth, I felt I really had no choice than to accept Christianity whether I wanted to or not; I was forced into it, the same way a person is forced to choose between life or death in a detrimental circumstance that hinges upon their right decision. 2.) A fetish found in a certain pornography subgenre where people of one gender are forced into the role of another. 3.) Phonetically, it rhymed with 'Mortician,' the band whose style I was basically ripping-off, and doing my own version of. 

(Image saved years ago that was supposed to be used somehow in a subsequent Forced Xristian album that never happened.)

(Cover to the album "Violation of Hypocrisy")

I wanted to use a bunch of movie samples (like Mortician, of course), so I took some from some movies I really liked. In retrospect, these movie choices (for the most part) are pretty atypical and not what one would expect from the Horror Death genre. Some odd choices in there. 

I can remember having been up for three days on speed already at that point, and having finished the songs, staying up throughout the night editing movie samples. 

Mediafire link: 

Forced Xristian - "Violation of Hypocrisy" (2012)

Devotee (2018)

Devotee is a project from 2018 that I did four albums with, all in the same year. My music is often an outlet for, and a reflection of, a lot of emotions, trouble, and spiritual fluctuations that I may be going through at any particular period of time.

Devotee is no different, in this regard, tagged as 'Hipster Black Metal,' for the lulz of it.

Spiritually, my disenchantment with Christianity was reaching an apex following three years of uncertainty, doubt, and speculations causing me to research avenues of comparative-religious study with which I was not previously familiar. This really deserves its own post, but just to give an idea of what I was going through with these projects/albums.

(the first two)

Within the music, aesthetic, and imagery of Devotee's first two albums, influences can be detected from Left-Handed Islamic ideation, gnostic glorifying of the Demiurge (reverse-Gnosticism), and Pre-Islamic Paganism.

"Sacred Visions" is full of raw hymns to the Demiurge. The idea behind this was a backwards approach to early/medieval Christian Gnosticism, where it was proposed that the god of the Old Testament was the Demiurge, unworthy of worship, and identifiable as "Satan."
My reasoning was that, were this true (by their own logic), then worshipping the Abrahamic God was akin to devil worship. Sarcastically then, I devised "Sacred Visions" as a rejection of this concept, which in turn promoted a 'Left-handed' interpretation of what would otherwise have been seen as a 'Right-handed' one.
Simply put, I flipped it on 'em.

"Faith of the Ancients," is probably my favorite Devotee album. The final production might not be great, but I purposely left it as it was because the mastering tools at my disposal took something away from the music, while still giving it a 'fuller' sound.
Since I don't know what I'm doing (learning as I go, with obsolete equipent), I just left it raw, and I think it sounds better that way.  

(the last two)

Things take a sharp turn to the left (no pun intended) with the release of "Grey Metal," which almost shares more common territory with Noise music. Catastrophically atonal, fraught throughout with dense, relentless anxiety, and suffocating esoterism, it is probably uneasy listening.

The closest comparison that comes to mind is if you had Blut Aus Nord's "Mort" attempting to interpret Leviathan's "The First Sublevel of Suicide." Whether or not this is apparent to anyone else, or only in my personal sense of delusion, I have no idea.
"Grey Metal," ideologically is meant as an excercise in balance between Right-hand and Left-hand, with regard to spiritual practice. It is a merging of the two realms (throwing accusations of heresy to the wind), and an audial example of how this feels to me, due to what I was experiencing at the time personally (anxiety, health issues, habitual drinking, spiritual conundrum causing synthetic syncretism, emotional imbalance seeking equilibrium, among other things).
It is what happens when you mix Christianity with it's opposite, through a bridge of Islam. The (only temporary) grey limbo that ensues is captured on this release. It's a necessary, albeit uncomfortable stop on one's journey toward truth and understanding.

"Second Blood," is the ironically titled fourth album. This album has more obvious punk influences, and there's even a 'Black Metal Reggae' song. The alcohol was flowing free on this album, evident in its Punk Rock nihilism, and it's "idgaf" ethos. The vocals are mixed way too loud, of warbled, drunken ramblings and urgent nonsense are screeched into the void.
Strangely, this album has seen more popularity and success than the others, I think.

Download at 'Name Your Price' on Bandcamp (free or donation):

 https://devotee.bandcamp.com/ 

Mediafire links: 

"Sacred Visions"

"Faith of the Ancients" 

"Grey Metal"

Wednes (2005-2019)

(Wednes logo)

Wednes incorporates a great majority of my instrumental synth-oriented/DAW-produced music, going back to 2005.
I only organized it under this name in 2017 I think, so prior to that time, several of the older albums had been released at various times in the past under a few different names (i.e., GODISDEAD, My Dying TS404, and Intra-Uterine Sabbat among others...). Of course, these releases were so obscure as to hardly even be noticed, so I didn't think a name change (or several) mattered too much.

In 2015 I made a Dungeon Synth album called "At Summer's End," for a project originally called 'Skorne.' This album, apparently, is well liked, I'm grateful for that. It has been one of my more popular albums I suppose. 

 (original Skorne logo)

 I had wanted Skorne to be a proper Dungeon Synth project, but when you're a solo artist as disheveled and erratic as I am, your multiple projects start to blend and bleed over into one another. I figured the best thing to do was think of one name, one concept, to unite everything under, rather than have 20 projects of synth-based, instrumental music made in a DAW.

The name 'Wednes' was one I had considered many times over the years, and it fit nicely for the more pagan-oriented, natural concept I wanted the project to exhibit.

Wednes has a lot of variety from album to album, from electronic black-metal, to electro-doom, to gothic elevator-music, there is a lot of material here to be digested.
I'm thinking that I should leave Wednes as it is. There are 9 albums, and that seems a perfect and compleat number to finish a project like this on, all things considered.  

Shout-outs to Ancient Meadow Records, for picking up both "At Summer's End," and "Vael" for physical release on cassette. Links to their site below:

"At Summer's End" at Ancient Meadow Records

"Vael" at Ancient Meadow Records

(At time of writing, I received my package from Ancient Meadow a couple days ago:)

There's a lot more detail to this story, songs and albums being shuffled around to other projects, etc., but whatever. Enjoy the music!

Download albums at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation):

https://wednes.bandcamp.com/


Mediafire:

Wednes - "Northern Earth Grounds Us All" (2018)

CrrYxiA (2008-2010)

Crryxia (stylized "CrrYxiA") is a name I put four or five albums under, back in 2010.

The first of these albums was created in 2008 under the name "Tecnal-C," in reference to the prescription analgesic medication of the same name, containing a mix of codeine, butalbitol (a barbiturate), aspirin and caffeine.
Back then, isolated as I was from the rest of society in mind and spirit, I had never heard of downtempo electronica up to that point. Had no idea it even existed. So, getting high on downers for the first time in my life (until that point I had only smoked weed, used alcohol, mushrooms and LSD) in order to cope with depression and a blossoming anxiety problem, and between viewings of "A Scanner Darkly," I decided to craft this album.
I guess it would be IDM, or Downtempo, but back when I made it, I referred to it as "downtronica."

The other three (or four?) albums were composed in a single night in 2010, while under the influence of ketamine.

"Declassified: 2008-2010" contains all of the albums previously mentioned, in one package.

• Tecnal-C (tracks 1-6)
• Disco 2012 (tracks 7-10)
• Lunar Magnetic EP (tracks 11-12)
• O'Rlyeh? (tracks 13-? read below comment, it also applies here) 
• Digital Winter (tracks ?-? I'm not even sure if this album is there, but it should be)

Oh well, good enough for now.

Download at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation):

https://chvrch1.bandcamp.com/album/declassified-2008-2010

βαρ†ιστ chvrch (2015)

βαρ†ιστ chvrch was another excursion into electronic subgenre experimentation. Basically, I really wanted to try doing some Witch House, and this is what happened. I used the name 'Baptist Chvrch' because my wife and I, along with some other brethren, had all stopped going to a certain IFB church at the same time.
We ended up half-forming a small home-church gathering, and tongue-in-cheek references to the 'Baptist Church' were not uncommon.

Not surprisingly, I didn't put too much thought into the project name. It's basically used sarcastically, as a bit of joking commentary on how we viewed the Baptst denomination at that time, as basically embodying every negative thing they say about Catholics, but unable to realize it.

$alt Poi$oning - simply me trying my hand at Witch House music, with a strange quasi-religious slant. Actually, I guess it's not so strange, considering the genre. The title refers to a method of abortion.

Untitled - A bit of a mix between Witch House and Black Metal, although there are no guitars on this album whatsoever. I've often thought of putting this album under a more suitable project, but I guess it is more easily recognizable under this project. If I were to move it, out of the 5 people in the world who heard it, the two of them who liked it wouldn't be able to find it. So, with them in mind, I leave it.... 
...until I move it. 

Download at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation):

https://chvrch1.bandcamp.com/

Cult Of Divine Mercy - Hempgnosis (2017)

2017's "Hempgnosis" is probably the most musically interesting album from this project, Cult Of Divine Mercy.
Originally, CODM was a Catholic-oriented noise project, following the earlier noise created under the Harsh Noise Wall (HNW) project Escape From Hell. The latter still exists today, albeit in a different form.

The first CODM releases were styled as 'funeral noise,' a sort of cavernous, reverberating extension of the Harsh Noise Wall genre. This, of course, was not even picked up on by most who criticised it in the beginning, probably having no idea at the time what HNW even was, let alone an attempted variation of it. Ah well, such is the plight of the artist, to rarely, if ever, have his art understood. Semper fudge.
The albums themselves focused thematically on the divine mysteries of the Holy Rosary; one can hardly say that it's a common concept in the noise scene.

"Hempgnosis," by contrast, is an excursion in Funeral/Stoner Doom Metal. I had thought, even early on, that CODM would make a good Doom Metal project. It's one of the albums I'm more proud of and satisfied with over all. The title, aside from the obvious, is a play on the word "hypnosis."

After relapsing into heavy DXM abuse for a few months between late 2016 through to Spring of 2017, I started to think maybe weed was a better alternative. How I feel about cannabis, and my history/timeline of drug use and abuse in general, is a story in itself. I'll probably end up making a separate post about it at some point, but I digress...
I had considered using cannabis, and just going full stoner, but upon trying to smoke weed again, I quickly realized why weed had become my least favorite drug over the years: panic attacks.

So, I started drinking instead around this time. In spite of its cannabinoid theme, "Hempgnosis" was created entirely under the influence of alcohol (much like practically every release since then, up to present time). Plot twist: at time of writing I haven't had a drink in a month, ironically because I started smoking cannabis again, after learning the importance of CBD in regulating and reducing the negative side-effects of THC. This revelation has been nothing short of miraculous. I used to look disfavourably on people who praised CBD as a miracle drug, but damn if I haven't become one of them. I was wrong. 

Interestingly enough, this post ended with an actual hemp-gnosis.

Download the album at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation):

https://cultofdivinemercy.bandcamp.com/album/hempgnosis

Sun Won't Rise (2012-2018)

Back in 2012, after years of being limited in available equipment an/or technology wherewith to create music at my leisure, I finally got a cheap PC, installed a demo version of FL Studio, Audacity freeware, and plugged my guitar directly into the computer (line-in).
This newfound freedom to experiment musically, in combination with amphetamine/2c-b abuse and benzodiazepine withdrawal, gave birth to Sun Won't Rise. I guess one could say I used this project as practice, or a test. Once I became more familiar with the overall process, I would eventually decide that I should be doing music with more purpose behind it.

It should be noted that, despite my drug abuse/withdrawal, I was struggling to quit and get my life in a more stable place. For that reason, there is overlap between personal issues behind all of these projects, no matter what their intended spiritual focus (or lack thereof, in some cases) may be.

 

(photo taken by Jewel, in Sawyerville QC @ my dad's place circa 2012) 

It may not be much of a surprise, to those who know about me, that the first three SWR albums were recorded within days of one another, and all intended for different projects. It occurred to me that the sound was similar enough, yet the music diverse enough, to give the impression of a single project with an evolved progression across albums.
I took some time trying to find a name to unify them under. I spent days (no lie) high on amphetamines, scouring the dictionary, looking at words and definitions, noting the ones that I found interesting.
None of them were satisfactory, they all sucked. At some point, in my conundrum, I looked at the sun shining outside, and with typical Black Metal sarcastic cynicism I blurted out "Sun won't RISE!" as a joke. It made me laugh, but upon reflection I thought it sounded pretty cool, so it worked.
I used the artist name 'Michelle Massacre,' which was a name I had been using since 2010 post-AnHero.

Music on the first three albums was entirely improvised, essentially me making up riffs on the spot as I recorded guitar over the drum tracks. Vocals were screeched into a cheap microphone, consisting of me just 'throat-growling' morbid crap and overlaying the vocals with a bit of distortion afterwards. I wasn't able to do my regular Black Metal screams and wails (due to living in an apartment).

Not wanting the neighbors to call the cops for suspicion of violent murder-victims screaming, I developed a method whereby I could growl softly into the mic, but modify it later to make it sound like loud screams. This was done simply by adding a bit of distortion and echo/reverb, and finding the desired tone.

At this period, I was spontaneously creating albums left-and-right. Being constantly high on speed alternately with 2c-b, I'd often create about 2-3 albums per week.
Boom. That's an album. "I feel like playing guitar." Boom. That's another album. "I've been up for 5 days straight."

(photo from 2012, taken by (now wife) Jewel in Montreal QC, wearing both cross and baphometic sigil)

Eventually, I decided that my music should be used to greater purpose, rather than just give vent to my strange whims and nihilistic emotions. Ever striving to strive toward a spiritual focus, I put SWR aside in order to resurrect Rotting Serpent.

Many albums (and several projects) later, I brought SWR back in 2018 with the album "Not Here, Not Now." (Note: I honestly had no idea there was a Swans release of the same title, I've never heard it, nor listened to them... although, I've heard things.)
This album, while showing a continuity from the raw post-black sound of 2012's "Hang In There Baby!", undoubtedly also has better production and sound quality. It even sounds like the songs were written in advance (which they were not, they almost never are).

Musically, it's probably best described as a mixture of Post-Black Metal, and Sludgy Doom Rock riffs. At this time, I was influenced by Jesu and 'slowcore' music in general.
Instead of amphetamines, or other drugs, 2018 saw me developing an alcohol problem as a response to certain physical and emotional ailments (which I've been battling pretty much all my life). I hope some of that pain translates into my music at least, making some thought-provoking art, and possibly turning something negative into something positive..... or just negative. Whatever.

(photo taken by Jewel circa 2014, rare meetup and jam session with former bandmate and longtime friend Rémi Bilodeau)

Finally, the Metal-Archives Bio has been outdated for years. 'White Zion PRDKSHNZ' hasn't existed for a long time, and my 'girlfriend' is now my wife. It was a long road from 2012-2018, strange and interesting. It continues to be, even now, and that is fine.

Download from Bandcamp 'Name Your Price' (free or donation):

https://sunwontrise.bandcamp.com/

Mediafire links: 

"Ballads to Beckon the End" (2012)

"Hang In There, Baby!" (2012)

"Not Here, Not Now" (2018)

Hated - Comfort (2014)

Hated is another one-off project that I always meant to do more with. There have been times when I almost released, or half-released, some songs under this project, but in the end they never felt right. One of the reasons for that might be because of the difficulty in following such a strong first album.

I don't really care what anyone else says (although the commentary on this album has always been positive), "Comfort" is one of my best albums. As had become the norm for me at that time, none of the songs were 'written.' Rather, they were constructed as I recorded the album. I'd figure out a riff, and then record it.

(alternate cover)

As a result of 'improvising' my songs and recording so many albums of material in this way, I actually can't remember how to play any of the songs on this record, or the other records. The story of this process would deserve its own separate article though. I'm too lazy to write a book, so this blog is going to have to suffice.

Anyways, back to the album... the influences will probably be instantly recognizeable: Abyssic Hate, Velvet Caccoon, and Dodenstorm, in addition to all the other usual suspects.

Though lyrically based on the Biblical book of Nahum, musically this album is just pure DSBM.

Mediafire Download:
Hated - Comfort (2014)

Photosynthesis - Turning Toward The Light (2013)

Photosynthesis is/was a Post-Black/Blackgaze sort of project. Always meant to do more albums with this project, but it hasn't materialized yet. It has garnered a bit of recognition in the Christian Metal underbelly, which is cool. I often get better criticism on it.

"Turning Toward The Light" is dedicated to my two children.


Download it for free or donation:

Photosynthesis - Turning Toward The Light (2013)

Mourning Woods (2010-Present)

 

Mourning Woods was formed out of the chaotic ash-storm that was the dissolution of +AnHero+, a 'Comedic-Depressive' Black Metal band I was a part of from 2008-2010.
AnHero turned into Molesters, and then Mothers Of Depression (or M.O.D. for short). My bandmate and long-time friend, Rémi Bilodeau, and I parted ways for a while, but I later approached him with the concept of Mourning Woods in 2011. Naturally, he loved it from the start, because it was obviously a bad dick-joke.

Unlike AnHero, Mourning Woods was to be a Depressive/Post-Black Metal project, or 'Blackgaze,' if you prefer. However, much like our former projects, Mourning Woods was to have a bit of humour about it, albeit more subtle than with AnHero.

Rémi and I recorded a few songs on a practice cassette around Sept. 2011, he on drums, and I on guitar and vocals. I had tried to get some songs recorded in time to do a split with the now legendary Annorkoth, but unfortunately that fell through. Even more unfortunate, is that the practice tape eventually got lost with no hope of recovery.

Some of those original Mourning Woods songs, however, would later be used for other projects. Among others, there is:

• "Serotonin Syndrome," eventually was featured on Photosynthesis - "Turning Toward the Light," (2013)

• "Gazing at the Altar of Souls" (originally, it was "...Shoes"), was featured on Rotting Serpent - "Suicidal Ministries"

I decided to resurrect Mourning Woods in 2017, following a relapse into DXM abuse. Finding the best version of an early MW logo from at least 2012, I released "The Refreshening." Actually, it was supposed to be "The Refreshing," but I changed it at the last minute, and it has always bothered me.

Since I've always felt Rémi to have a place in this project, I tried to get him involved again. As a result, the next EP, ''Water/Breath of Life,'' is priviledged to have the track ''Horripilation,'' which, aside from the vocals, is composed entirely by Rémi. It is arguably the best track on the album.

Unfortunately, due to complicated life circumstances on both of our sides, Rémi and I were never able to make Mourning Woods work as a duo, at least not yet. The third release on the MW bandcamp is a cassette recorded in the interim period between AnHero and MW, when we were loosely going by the name M.O.D.

Long live Brown Metal! Long live Beige Metal!


Mourning Woods on Bandcamp, albums 'Name Your Price' (free or donation):

https://mourningwoods.bandcamp.com/


Mediafire links: 

Mourning Woods - "The Refreshening" (2017)

Mourning Woods - "Water/Breath of Life EP" (2017)

Exalted Saviour (2013-2018)

Exalted Saviour overlaps somewhat with Rotting Serpent. I had decided that I would lay RS to rest, and continue in a new direction, with a new sound. There is a lot of sonic familiarity between the RS albums "Breathless Mourning," and "Christian Funeral," and the first ES album, entitled "Tetrad." I imagine they'd flow well into one another. 
Indeed, what was supposed to be, at that time, the last Rotting Serpent song ("Casualties of the Cosmic War"), appears as the sixth track on the Exalted Saviour album "Tetrad."

The project was intended to be an excercise in more "symphonic" (read as "synth-driven") territory, something which I hadn't experimented with very much up to that point, due to lack of proper instruments and technology.
Continuing with the Christian focus of previous work, it has garnered at least a bit of recognition and (possibly?) appreciation within the Christian Metal scene, for which I am grateful.

On the last album, "Blood Sacrifice," I was joined by Noizen on keyboards, and he is a person who will show up in more of these posts later on. He has some projects of his own, so I will try and get permission to perhaps include them here on this blog, in future entries.

"Blood Sacrifice," was picked up by Bearded Dragon Productions, and a physical release distributed (or whatever) by Black Mark (?).
You can see I have no idea what I'm doing, and I can't even find good links to their pages, so I'll do the bast I can. I know they both have a presence on Facebook, but I no longer do, and therefore can't provide links to those places. I'm sure they're findable though.

Bearded Dragon Productions on Bandcamp: https://thebeardeddragon1.bandcamp.com/

Exalted Saviour on Bandcamp (all music 'Name Your Price,' free or donation):

https://exaltedsaviour.bandcamp.com/

Rotting Serpent (1997-2018)

("Official" RS logo)

I suppose the best place to start is with Rotting Serpent.

Rotting Serpent began with a dream, back in 1999 or therabouts. In this dream, I was rummaging through a discount bin of cassettes in some music store, and two casettes I looked at were "Infernity" (i.e., 'Infernal Eternity'), and "Rotting Serpent." The Rotting Serpent cover art was similar to Pantera's "Great Southern Trendkill," which I remember finding odd. I awoke with a sense that I should use one of these names for my music.

Up to that time, I had trouble finding one 'band name' under which to organize my music. If only I had known that, in the future, this conundrum would later blossom forth as a spurting chaos, birthing multiple projects in the process.
Rotting Serpent, as a name, wasn't used until 2003. Prior to that time (between 2001-2002), I had gradually organized all my music under the same Satan's Troops, and before that, I had toyed with several other names as well (Broken Open, Once Dead, Butchered, etc.).

While there is a certain bit of musical dovetailing early on, between Satan's Troops, and Rotting Serpent, there is hardly anything extant from the Satan's Troops days. Aside from two songs ("Marching on to Victory," and "Alive in the Forest of Death," both appearing on the Rotting Serpent album "Spirits of the Unblack"), all of the old Satan's Troops material was either lost or destroyed, to the best of my knowledge...
Even so, there is a big similarity with earlier, mostly acoustic, RS material, and the sound of Satan's Troops; it is possible to see that the one came from the other, and vice-versa.

From 2003 onward, Rotting Serpent was a Christian project. While neither Christianity, nor Christian Metal, was anything new to me (having grown up with both), the "Unblack" scene was still fresh to me. Somewhat naïvely, I fashioned the RS logo after Rotting Christ's logo, not thinking at the time about the cringey trend of Christian Metal bands to offer "Christian versions" of various secular bands. Back in earlier days though, I suppose this was seen as 'cool' somehow, and was looked at with less scrutiny than today (where it just seems kitschy).
This version of the logo would be the one used in 2012, before settling (for the most part) on the logo pictured above, late 2012-early 2013. Other logos are sometimes used, but the logo (at top of page) is probably the closest to an 'official' logo that there is.

The last two RS albums became increasingly ambiguous, with regard to spiritual focus, as I began studying different things.

 

(Drawings from 2003, logo sketches) 

The Rotting Serpent bandcamp has music spanning from 1997-2018 at time of writing. Even though RS technically only began as a project of its own in 2003, I have added music to its back catalogue that was either a precursor to Satan's Troops, or running semi-concurrently with it.

(Alternate logo from 2018 and modified 2020, possibly for future album(s)?)

All albums at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation):

https://rottingserpent.bandcamp.com/


Mediafire links: 

"Original Keyboard Recordings '97"

"Disenchant" (2000)

"Spirits of the Unblack" (2004)

RS - "Seduced by the Ghosts of Rotting Serpents (Death of Antichrist)" (Mediafire)

"Unblack Metal Ist Krieg" 

"Raping the Grave"

"In the Dead of Winter"

"Listen to the Donkey"

"The Last Noel"

"Solstice of Failed Prophecy"

Introduction

I've been wanting to make a blog for a long time. There have been a couple attempts, but my last music blog was Suicidal Ministries, back in 2012-2013.

I have released lots of music since then, and journeyed a bit further down this serpentine path we call "life." For those reasons, I've decided to create a blog in order to make my music available to others (usually for free via Mediafire links, or 'Name Your Price' on Bandcamp).

There are a few albums of mine out there which are owned (I guess) by the record company that makes and distributes the physical releases; in those cases I will link only to the company's product page (e.g., Alstadt, both albums from this project are handled by Vision of God Records). Other albums are sometimes handled by independent labels who wanted to make physical releases of certain albums, but of which I still own the rights to (e.g., Wednes, which has seen two albums released on cassette by Ancient Meadow Records).

So, welcome to the blog (whoever you are), and please be patient as this will be a work in progress.

-M.