TERMINAL TRANSMISSION #39: THE ABYSS STARES BACK

 TERMINAL TRANSMISSION #39: 

THE ABYSS STARES BACK

by Chris La Vigna (@Chris_LaVigna)/featuring a review from Ray Berly (@autotopsyturvy)

The void is calling your name...

Today's broadcast of TERMINAL TRANSMISSION was tight as a snare drum man. The songs rocked, my talk segments felt like they were on point, and I even made the right big boy decision to cut the last song from my set once I realized I was going to go over my time slot. I've admittedly had a bad habit of cutting into the following Kpiss DJ's set, and I'm doing my best not to be too greedy.

My "Bandcamp Pick Of The Week" for today's show was the song "Take The Crown" by Signals Of Bedlam, a super cool and heavy Prog Metal band out of NYC. I've played them on the show before, and I'm excited to hear their new material. It sounds like their upcoming album is going to be full of heavy, distorted soundscapes with some challenging and math rock-y type beats and riffs. Check them out and throw 'em some money, you will not regret it. They will rock your brain into another plane of consciousness.

This week's show also featured a track from Polish Black Meta band Odraza, which was recommended to me by my friend and trusted black metal aficionado, Ray Berly. I found the song both enthralling and punishing (in the best sense of the word), which of course is why I simply had to include it in today's show. I asked Ray if he could offer another in-depth review of the track, and he didn't disappoint: 

Odraza - W Godzinie Wilka - Rzeczom 

"Odraza’s Rzeczom is yet another Polish Black Metal release from 2020 that, for many, was an early AOTY contender. The third track “W Godzinie Wilka” is a suffocating, relentless assault on the senses. Which plays in stark contrast to the previous title track “Rzeczom.” “W Godzinie Wilka” hooks you immediately, building tension with its rapid, jazzy cymbal work and an incessant, stabbing guitar riff that seemingly never lets up. It’s masterful in creating a bleak atmosphere and debilitating anxiety. It then ratchets up the intensity into a nearly unremitting barrage of pummeling double bass and a wall of noise. It's, however, not chaotic or noisy per se, as there is a groove and, dare I say, melody to it all, although somehow discordant at the same time. This groove is elevated with a somber synth that plays throughout. It's all these elements that keep you immersed. It's a song that wants to break your neck from head banging and pull out your hair at the same time as you contemplate just how miserable life can be. This is pretty much the tone of the whole album which has this up and down of high intensity to the more gloomy, slower tracks. While it maintains that same dismal feeling throughout, it also stands to be an extraordinarily versatile album. It’s rich with diverse sounds and structures, which is a testament to the Polish Black Metal scene itself.

Polish bands have always been major players in the extreme metal scene, whether by their music or their controversy, none more so than Behemoth, Decapitated, Graveland, and Vader. However, in the last decade alone, Poland has had a tremendous impact on the Black Metal scene. Its bands tend to be quite experimental and deliver a variety of atmospheric, punky, jazzy, and bluesy styles of Black Metal, lending to various clones globally. Particularly because of the success of Behemoth’s The Satanist and the country’s more recently popular bands, Mgła and Batushka, as well as the controversy and drama surrounding them. However, I’ve been more interested in the more subterranean acts like Odraza, Biesy, Gruzja, Furia, etc., that have emerged from the most depressing, hopeless crevices of Poland’s urban centers. These bands have been dishing more honest, personal, experimental, and profoundly despairing music than your orthodox, satanic Black Metal fare."

-- Ray Berly

Be sure to catch more of Ray's recommendations and reviews in future broadcasts and posts!

If you missed today's broadcast, you can stream it here via the Kpiss website. You can also catch up on past shows here. I'm relieved to see that January, my least favorite month of the year, is almost gone, and that I have another eleven months before I have to see its ugly face again. See you mooks in February! 

TT #39 TRACKLIST:

Seatbelts - Tank! (Cowboy Bebop Opening Theme)

Sick Head - Pisss

Modern Life Is War - End Times Dub (Urian Hackney At The Controls)

Signals Of Bedlam - Take The Crown

The Godawful Truth - Kyoko, Go Go

J. Christopher Arrison - Goodbye Yellow Coin Show

Something Blue - Room To Breathe

Bonnie And The Mere Mortals - 309

GRMLN - Hey Cool Kid

Sweeping Promises - Out Again

The Genuine Imitations - J. Edgar Hoover

Boys Planet - Super Ego

Odraza - W Godzinie Wilka