Response to JTD's Comment

I couldn't reply to your comment, so I decided to just blog it instead: Thanks man, I appreciate your kind words. Rock on:) Yeah, we get 200 free downloads per month on Bandcamp. After that, it defaults to like 7$. If I'm lucky enough to catch it, I set it to $1 or something, but I have like 20 projects, so I don't always catch it on time. But... I rarely go over 200 downloads, to be honest. The reason I said Rotting Serpent was my worst project is because, I was listening to it a while ago and just thought "wow, this is terrible," lol. Thing is, I've learned a few tricks over the years, production-wise, so the newer stuff is better. What should you listen to next? Well, I'm fond of my solo music done under my own name, I'm always hoping someone will enjoy that (but it's not Metal, it's post-punk/goth-rock). Otherwise, Sanctification and Jesus People Of Doom will probably be something you'd like. Cheers bro, all the best.

Blog Update:

I don't know if I'll continue updating this blog, or just delete it. Doesn't seem to be of much use, aside from a personal archive.

Just a heads up, I guess.... for the 3 or 4 people who view it. 

Full List of Projects on Bandcamp

 [NOTE: This list may change as new links are added and/or old links modified.]

https://michaelmosher.bandcamp.com

https://sunwontrise.bandcamp.com/

https://methysticum.bandcamp.com/

https://wednes.bandcamp.com/

https://exaltedsaviour.bandcamp.com/

https://razorwind13.bandcamp.com/

https://salat1.bandcamp.com/

https://devotee.bandcamp.com/

https://rottingserpent.bandcamp.com/

https://jesuspeopleofdoom.bandcamp.com/

https://chvrch1.bandcamp.com/

https://sanctification.bandcamp.com/

https://buzzpuppy.bandcamp.com

https://escapefromhell1.bandcamp.com

https://horeb.bandcamp.com

https://mourningwoods.bandcamp.com

https://pentagrammaton.bandcamp.com

https://skyfather.bandcamp.com

https://xylense.bandcamp.com

Michael Mosher - Sometimes it's Worse (2021)

 

 

This one might surprise people. It's really shoddy, but I have to say, I'm proud of my work on this album. Post-Punk influenced Pop Rock suitable for ominous drives at sunset, with your shades still on. Vampire Rock (somehow), with even some Reggae on a couple tracks.

 

It's a new direction for me, some of my most accesible work to date, perhaps.

I think I like it. I hope you do too. 

(album cover)

 

Download (Name Your Price)

Sanctification/Docile Servant

 

(Sanctification logo2, version2)

 

 

(Docile Servant original logo drawing)

I should have posted this before now, but better late than never.

 

No extra details at this time. 

 

All Albums on Bandcamp (NameYourPrice) 

 

 

 

 

Jesus People Of Doom (previously known as Cult Of Divine Mercy)

(JPODlogo2, version2.... sometimes fonts work just as well;)

 Cult of Divine Mercy has changed names to Jesus People of Doom. 

All of the Cult Of Divine Mercy albums are still up on the site, but new material will be under the new name.

Here's the new link (Name Your Price): https://jesuspeopleofdoom.bandcamp.com/album/that-old-school-son-worship 

Enjoy the music, and praise Jesus!

(My favorite track on the album, with a bit of a dsbm feel)

Buzzpuppy

Doom/Grunge should've been a thing. 

At first, this project was to be called "Monotonous," and it was supposed to be some kind of extra-minimalist style of Funeral-ish type of Doom Metal.

Eventually, it started sounding like Grunge to me, and (I cannot be sure, but think I may have) possibly just created a micro-genre. 

For fans of Khanate, 90's Grunge, Jesu, Nadja, Stoner Doom, Drone Rock, etc.

Anyways, here, check out this crap:

Album: "Badly Recorded, Poorly Executed"

(photo courtesy of Steve Schaut, feat. "Atlas," the model)

 DOWNLOAD: "Badly Recorded, Poorly Executed"

Album: "The Beatles Ruined Music"

 (photo courtesy of Steve Schaut)

DOWNLOAD: "The Beatles Ruined Music"

 

Psalm 135 Prayer

 

The original Gothic/Doom musick.

Razorwind - 2 New Albums

  

 

Rain Songs - 4 songs of lo-fi acoustic melancholia with minimal synth elements.

DOWNLOAD

 

 

Hymns In Praise Of Autumn - 4 songs of instrumental Atmospheric Black Metal. Experimental in variation, one song is acoustic, the last approaches DSBM territory. I didn't put vocals because I liked the songs the way they were on their own, and thought vocals might distract from the meditative (repetitive, hypnotic) quality of the music.

DOWNLOAD

A big THANK YOU to anyone who has supported me over the years, whether by actually purchasing any of my music, downloading/sharing, or merely appreciating it in whatever capacity; offering prayers on my behalf, or simple friendship in any way, shape, or form. I thank you all.

Two Collections of Unreleased Material

 

Psalm 88 - The material in this collection was created at various times over the last 3 months. There are no vocals, and there is no production/mastering effects whatsoever. Quite a few songs here, mostly unnamed.

Download (mp3) 

 

Resurgent Atavism - An album's worth of material over four tracks. There are vocals, and cavernous "production." Neanderthal Black Metal, cave-dwellers howling in the night. Atypical uneasy listening. Intentionally difficult, but not without its rewards.

Download (mp3)

[Note 6/24/2020: "Resurgent Atavism" has been released here.]

Road to Antichrist

This is a series which will become increasingly significant to Christians in the coming years. I have my doubts that many will take it seriously right now, but it will be important to understand what's really happening, when the world 'steps into the Light.'

Part 1 - The Orwellian Nightmare

Part 2 - The Real Agenda

Part 3 - The Rise of Conspiracy Theory

There is a 4th installment on the way, as it says at the end of Part 3.

Diet of Worms - Saving Grace (Demo 2013)

[Note: Thanks to the "Splatter Grind Core" blog, from whose page I was able to make everything available here. To put it another way, everything on this page comes from theirs, for which I thank them. If not for them, I wouldn't have had immediate access to this material, so that's cool. As such, I will provide the same links they provide, etc. I dunno, I can't think right now.]

(logo, drawn in ballpoint pen in about 3min)

Diet of Worms came about during my initial studies into Church history (which, for some reason, I started with the Protestant Reformation).
I think there is a tendency for Protestant Christians to begin with the Reformation when they study the history of the Fatih, but it's kind of strange to do so. Obviously, Church history did not begin 500 years ago. But, I digest...

Historically, the 'Diet of Worms' refers to an imperial assembly or gathering, to determine something, or... something. I forget. But, here is the wiki article that explains everything.
It had something to do with Marin Luther, perhaps in effort to make him recant his 'heresy,' or some such thing.

Anyways, to me it sounded cool, like "a diet of eating nothing but worms."
Brutal.
I like double-meanings in wordplay, it's fun.

("Saving Grace" terrible artwork by yours truly)

Genre: Christian Grind/Crust

Download (Mega):

Diet of Worms - Saving Grace (Demo 2013)

Alstadt - 2 albums (2017)

[Note: As far as I know, Alstadt's music on the following albums are still the property of Vision of God Records, therefore the links provided are to their page. If the material ever becomes my property again in future, I'll make free download links available (provided I'm able).]

"Alstedt" - original band name/logo, but I forgot, and misspelled it... thus we have:

(Alstadt - "Rest these Woods in Solitude")

While this is obviously a Christian Metal project, I had been listening to a lot of Pagan Metal at this time. Additionally, my interpretation of Christianity was closer to Gnostic, and nature-based (or nature-reverent). 

It was around this time that my drinking habit began to develop, following some medical problems that occurred in early 2017. Now that I think about it, this must have been recorded exactly at the time everything started to take a turn for the worse.

"Rest these Woods..." is a pretty straightforward affair, fast, raw, aggressive. Just a speedy purge of emotion, conceptualized within a Christian framework.
The songs themselves were pretty much improvised.

I guess it wasn't so well received, but I'm still rather fond of it, as well as the next album.  

(Alstadt - "Climes of Northern Sorrow" cover photo by Mary Cox O'Ney)

Unlike with its predecessor, the songs on "Climes..." were written. Well, at least more written than improvised. Even though each song was made in one sitting, more work went into constructing the riffs, and overall composition. I actually sat down and wrote lyrics for this one. It's rare, but it does happen.
Cover photo was taken by Mary Cox O'Ney, and used with her permission. I told her I would credit her, but I may have forgotten to include that information when I relayed it to Duane from VoG Records.

The music is different from the previous one too. For one thing, there's a marked influence of Grind and Punk Rock. All in all, a very interesting album.
The crowning achievement, the one track you should listen to if you don't listen to anything else, 

is "Hope for the Healing," the next to last track on the album:

("Hope for the Healing," courtesy of VoG)

Buy from Vision of God Records:

Alstadt - "Rest these Woods in Solitude"

Alstadt - "Climes of Northern Sorrow"

Kenosis - Flutes of the Dungeon (Book 1)

[Note: this is not one of my projects; it is the first installment where I will be presenting some of Noizen's work, which I am posting with his permission. Noizen is a longtime friend, as well as a collaborator with me on some of my projects.]

 

(Kenosis - Book 1, cover for the cassette release on Gondolin Records, linked below.)

Okay, there's is no easy way to say this: Noizen is (in addition to being a literal music professor and academic) nothing short of a musical genius and adept. I actually feel bad for him a lot of times that his work on our collaborative efforts is marred by my own crappy musicianship (lol). 

On the flipside, his contribution on Exalted Saviour's Blood Sacrifice, and work with Salat, is what makes those albums original, imo: his contributions make my music waaaay better, while mine probably makes his worse, haha. Working with him has been nothing short of an honour.

With that being said, let me just emphatically declare that Flutes of the Dungeon (Book 1) is a 'must-hear.' You need this album in your life. 

It's hard to pin it down musically. It's supposed to fall in the 'Dungeon-Synth' category, and it does... except for the fact that it is entirely made with wind-instruments. No synths whatsoever.
And man... it's crazy how easy he made it all seem. 

This album really needs to be heard, I'm reluctant to even describe it. It's beautiful, tranquil, lonely at times, but mostly... joyous? It's just amazing. 

Both the artist, as well as the album, deserve a wider audeince, and more recognition.

Download album at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation): https://kenosis2.bandcamp.com/releases 

Purchase from Gondolin Records (limited edition cassette presently Sold Out):

https://gondolinrecords.bandcamp.com/album/book-one

Pentagrammaton (2020)

The period between Dec. 2019 - Feb. 2020 has been ... very strange, very difficult, a death-and-rebirth moment (ironic in this time of so-called 'pandemic,' with its unrest; I feel as if I'm coming alive while the rest of humanity is concerned with the threat of pestilence and imminent death). 

I had stopped drinking in late Jan. 2020, switching to CBD-dominant cannabis instead, which has been nothing short of a miraculous 'game-changer' for me (a subject I've touched upon in other entries, but have yet to make detailed post about it specifically).

The reason I mention it at all, is because of the influence it has been having in musical direction as of late.

I never thought I would, but have begun enjoying the Psychedelic Rock of the 60's and 70's (but please... no Beatles!). The curiosity struck me as I was reading about Genesis Breyer P-Orridge's work with Psychic TV, his devotion to Brian Jones, and his experience of the Rock n' Roll scene in his youth.

Realizing that I'd never investigated into much of this style (beyond whatever 'Classic Rock' I was into as a kid), it seemed like uncharted territory. I have long grown weary of the 'extremity' of Metal music, so often just loud, brash, and "Rah-rah-rah! Look at us, we're so brutal with our art! Arrrrghhh!"-type of mentality presented in the great majority of Metal music made for its own sake

[Note: A comparison can be made within Rap/Hip-Hop, where the very artform exhibits attitude and braggadocio as a prerequisite, often making for music that is unnecessarily angry, and in-your-face. Having said that, watch for my next insanely brutal and unnecessarily extreme 'War Metal' project: OXSHHATTGH (coming out next week)].

For those reasons, among others, I've been increasingly interested in alternate forms of music which are more meditative, reflective, spiritual, etc. (whether dark or light... or both). 

Enter Pentagrammaton, which is what happens when I try my hand at Psych-Rock/Blues, with an 'Occult' flair.  

I guess most of this article is just filler at this point, because Pentagrammaton (as a project) was literally put together cohesively within the last 2 days.
The material presented in the two albums made under this project concept is stuff that I've been working on for the last two weeks, pretty much.

("iii" album cover, a demo... sort of.)

iii - The three songs on this album were my first attempts at 'Psychedelic'-whatever, and since they led to the material on the next album it seemed appropriate to release them as a demo, or at least a precursor. I really didn't know what to do with these songs after I'd made them. At first I thought of putting them under Rotting Serpent, but that didn't seem right (even though they would've fit as extensions of musical/ideological themes stemming from "Breath of God," and other songs on Legends of the Sawyerville Cult). "iii," is, of course, a reference to the 3 songs that make up the album, and the font was chosen because it makes two crosses. 

(Rock for warding off evil.)

Apotropaic Rock - Regardless of whether or not the songs on "iii" go with it, this album stands alone on its own merit, in my opinion. It's quite unlike anything I've ever done, at least in more recent years. Musically, it hearkens back to my own roots of primitive guitar-playing. If one remembers that my primary influences have always been Danzig, Type O Negative, Dissection and Xasthur, what is offered here shouldn't come as much of a surprise.... even if it sounds relatively like nothing from any of those bands. Songs on this album are literal embodiments of my own spiritual philosophy, and the challenges I have gone through lately. As such, the very process of making the music itself is for the purpose of 'keeping the darkness at bay,' and a chronicling of what went into that process. Of course, it just sounds like music, doesn't it? 

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

https://pentagrammaton.bandcamp.com/

Rotting Serpent - Advanced Systematik Operations for Xristian Terrorism (2012) [Official Bootleg]

(Album cover... cropping is hard)

Well, the righteous dudes at Coleiosis Media have done it again (in a good way). Hats off to them. Some people out there actually collect my music, and I become aware of it once in a while.

Upon hearing that they had "Advanced Systematik..." (the only Rotting Serpent album not on the bandcamp page), I gave them permission to upload it if they wished to, as an 'official bootleg.'

For all intents and purposes, the album strikes me as more of a 'mixtape.' While it was meant to be an album proper at the time, the songs were basically just me playing badly over backing tracks which were songs in their own right (currently featured under Wednes, and level 131).

This was a crazy time period. I was hooked on amphetamines that year, and had probably been up for 3 days at least when I made this album. [Note: That doesn't (and shouldn't mean) that there is any less sincerity in any of a person's spiritual hopes and/or convictions. It is merely indicative of a deficiency.]

I haven't listened to it in years, it's actually embarrassing to me, as I don't remember it being that great. My playing was sloppy (that is, more than usual), and I just remember there being many mistakes.
That isn't to say it's not listenable, I guess it is. But for me, it's one of those albums I only like to hear once every few years, in private, just to see what it sounds like.... usually with face embedded in palm.

But hey, some people like it (surprisingly) and that's pretty cool, from an artists point of view.

These songs are pretty much Rotting Serpent re-interpreting music from: 

• Wednes - "Rise of the Second Dark Age," and "World Ice Theory" 
• level 131 - "Gnostick Suicide" (originally created in 2008, put under Wednes in 2017, and then re-released with vocals under level 131 in 2019)

Grab it if you like it. 

'Official' Bootleg Download (courtesy of Coleiosis Media):

https://coleiosis.bandcamp.com/album/advanced-systematik-operations-for-xristian-terrorism

deCRYPTed - ...When The Dead Rise (2018)

 

(Logo by me; album art, I believe, by Benjamin (ex-Vociferator), if I'm not mistaken.)

Wow, this is one I had forgotten about!

Recorded so very long ago at the start of 2018, this recording is part of a large portion of albums made around this time that I just deleted one day, on a whim.
Those were strange and turbulent days, and saw the start of my alcohol habit. I was still making Christian music at this time though.   

Some semblance of a back-story can probably be gleaned from random anecdotes on other albums featured on this blog, which were created around this time.

Whatever the case, I had totally forgotten deCRYPTed was picked up by Vociferator Entertainment. I figured it had been lost like so many others, when I received an email from 'Coleiosis B.' from Coleiosis Media letting me know that he still had a few of my albums.
That is pretty cool.

Now, about this record: It's weird, pure, sloppy Death/Grind/Crapcore. That last descriptive is apt, because my vocals at points really sound like a constipated walrus... but in a good way.
I relistened to the album earlier, and I'm surprised. For all it's ridiculousness, the vocals are pretty diverse, swtiching appropriately between choked gurgles and growls, walrus-core grunts, moans, and slushy babblings of the random insane. 

The musical portion is probably best described as a guitar (and bass maybe?) interpretation of whatever the vocals are doing. 'Discordant Approximations.' That's the idea behind the style of playing here. The whole thing is chaotic mush. 

Whatever it is, it still exists, and you can find it here, courtesy of Coleiosis Media.

Download:

https://coleiosis.bandcamp.com/album/when-the-dead-rise

Euphemism - Gathered Here Together (2020)

                             

(Album cover photo taken by yours truly @ local cemetery)

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think that Gathered Here Together is some of my best work; at very least, it is some of the best work I've done in a long time. It's funny, I say that while listening to some new music I've made over the past week, for a new album (and new project? TBA) as yet unreleased, which I also think is some of my best work (albeit, a totally different genre).

Euphemism is Funeral Doom with clean vocals, that was the idea. Specifically, what I was going for was to really capture the sound of what it might sound like for a Doom Metal band to be performing at an actual funeral or wake. As such, the majority of background synths are only organ(s) and a lonely piano.
A lot of cannabis was used in this recording. Switching from alcohol to cannabis has greatly increased my creative output, and I daresay the quality of it(?), and certainly elevated the quality of my life overall. Aside from the marijuana psychosis, depersonalization, and the gaze of Lovecraftian beings peering at me from an unseen vantage point, I feel almost sane again.

There are a few reasons for my choice to use clean vocals, as opposed to the typical windy growls so commonplace in Funeral Doom generally. Actually, that's one of the reasons right there, I wanted to try something different and unique. 

In addition to this, I have been wanting to use clean vocals for some time now, and only recently (thanks to the cell phone) have I been able to experiment with real singing again.

It's strange, I used to be such a song writer. I had songs where I actually sung, but all of those early recordings (1997-2001) are sadly lost to the annals of time and memory (probably no one else's but my own, I'd imagine, as anyone else who was there at the time wasn't interested in whatever music I was doing).
All that is to say, that I'm glad to be able to try clean vocals again. The album Blood Sacrifice (by Exalted Saviour) was supposed to have had only clean vocals, but the microphone I had was terrible for recording them. You could growl in it, and gurgle, but it wouldn't do justice to clean singing.

(Alternate Euphemism logo prototype)

Anyways, whatever... this Euphemism album is easily one of my favorites so far. Recorded (mostly) within a few days in Feb. 2020 (the exception being the drum/synth foundation to the track "Funeral Home," which was composed sometime in 2019).
I figured 'Euphemism' was an interesting name for a band, and one that hadn't been used before. As of now, my project is the only one on Metal-Archives going by that name, one I'd actually thought of using since 2012. Fun factoid.

Only later did I look up the lore associated with the word and it's etymology (which appears in the bio on the Euphemism bandcamp page, linked below).

Musically, I think it does well in the 'Funeral Doom' genre, but there are moments when obvious influences from My Dying Bride (see "Weeping") and other usual suspects bleed through.
The execution is sloppy at times, not always perfectly on time, but who cares? As a whole, it fits quite well, the haphazard approach giving it an 'underground' quality.

I love every song on this album, except for maybe "Funeral Home," which at least serves well to ... I dunno, something. It does something. Now that I hear it, it's still pretty good. Funeral Doom with Nirvana vocals, haha.
"Black Velvet Drape," in my opinion, is the one track that should be listened to in total. Really, in order to get the full effect of the atmosphere/emotion, the entire album should be heard as a whole, beginning to end in its entirety; but barring that, at very least the last track should be heard. Everything works on it, it's almost a microcosm of the record itself.

I'm listening to the song "Weeping" right now, and honestly, if I didn't know this was me, I'd think it was some underground UK Doom outfit lol. I almost forgot it was me for a second, lost myself in my own music. I love when that happens.
It almost makes me feel as if it (my music, my art) matters; or at least it serves the illusion.

These albums are the soundtrack of my broken dreams, shattered hopes, fears, regrets... everything.

"Misery wakens..."

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

https://euphemism.bandcamp.com/album/gathered-here-together

Ukko (2019)

Alcohol is a hell of a drug, it can cause a person to do strange things. In addition to becoming an M.F.A. (that is, a "Mighty Fine American"), when you're an artist, it can make you think material you did for one project would be better off somewhere else.
So you start to move things around, creating 'sub-projects' on a whim just because you think it might be better represented in a different way.

 (Ukko - Kyllikki cover photo, taken in Sawyerville, QC)

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's really not that important, because out of the five people who've heard it, three said it sucked, one person liked it, and the last had no opinion.

What does make the music done with this project unique though, is that it is all basically a purge. It's literally a purging of bitterness, anger, love, regret, disillusion, dejection, and a thousand other descriptives ending in the same suffix.
It's all a mystery, wrapped up in an illusion, packaged in misdirection, and sent out to nowhere. I just had to get rid of it, and get the material off my hard-drive, and out of my system. How'd that work out, you ask? Meh... I guess it's better than it was beforehand.

(Ukko - Remembrance, cover photo taken in Sawyerville, QC)

The music was all created in a DAW. Originally, it was put under Wednes, or at least one or two albums were, each under different titles (one was called "Hate Synth," that much I remember). I threw some old vocal tracks over it, and made a 'new' project out of it: Ukko (named after the Finnish high god Ukko, equivalent of the Nordic Thor, and Sami Horagalles).

Don't let the fact that it was made in a DAW throw you off though, there's some soaring themes in this music, and it's pretty raw. Raw DAW. Eesh...  Whatever.

Only the Mediafire links available for these, and the files are in .wav, sorry about that.

Mediafire:

Ukko - Kyllikki (2019)

Ukko - Remembrance (2019)

Ukko - The True Path of Light (2019)

Horeb (2020)

 

This project was really the outcome of a test: I learned that I could use a cellphone to record with, and I wanted to see what I could do with it.

This album was released a month ago, but I'm going to talk about it like it's already old, okay? Because, to me, it kind of is, but that's just because I make so much material, it's easy for projects to get pushed to the back of my mind with every successive release.

This album is getting back into DSBM/Post-Black territory, with somewhat of a 'Stoner' edge. I was finally able to kick the alcohol habit by replacing it with cannabis. The glories of CBD, its medicinal value, and the very fact that it made smoking weed bearable (even pleasurable) again after so many years is nothing short of miraculous to me. I feel like it gave me my life back.

Because of it, I've rediscovered enjoyment in music. It made it fun again, and I'm really appreciative for it. That is a story of its own, but it's just to give some idea as to what went into these recent recordings.

I chose the name 'Horeb' for a few reasons. Recently I'd been studying Judaism, Kabbalah, Jewish Shamanism, and the like, so I wanted something that would reflect that.
A lot of Stoner bands are heavy on the Eastern Mysticism, so I thought it might be different to do something around Judaic concepts.
That, plus I was thinking of Sleep's "Holy Mountain."
Thus: Horeb.

 

(Horeb - s/t)

Guitars on this album are all acoustic. Vocals were recorded about 3 weeks earlier, in the wintry woods outside of Sawyerville, Quebec. Originally, the vocals were meant for a different project idea, but that didn't happen finally. Perhaps it's just as well, because I love the way the vox turned out on this offering.

For years I have been recording in my living-room (Ha! see? I'm not a 'bedroom' band, I record in my living room! Okay, I'll stop...), and I've had to devleop a different vocal style that wouldn't make my neighbors call the cops out of fear someone was being tortured in our home.
This means that my real vocals appear here on a recording, for the first time since this happened.

As stated before, vocals and guitar were recorded entirely with the cellphone 'voice recorder.' It's a painstaking process, but at least there is a process, and I'm thankful for that.

Download at 'Name Your Price' (free or donation): 
https://horeb.bandcamp.com