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

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"