#post-doom

[doomedandstoned]

AINU Paint Compelling Post-Doom Landscape on Self-Titled Debut

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

AINU is a welcome new name to us, a three-piece heavy cinematic psychedelic post-doom powerhouse from Genoa, Italy (where many a band has popped onto our radar over the years, most recently Isaak). Here emerges today five soundscapes of the instrumental variety, part of the explosion in instrumental rock and metal that has emerged in recent years. The album is 'Ainu' (2024) which, besides being the name for the indigenous peoples of northern Japan, means simply "human."

First track is the stormy "Il Faro," which takes its name from The Lighthouse and appears to quote from an Italian language version of the 2019 film in its opening minutes. While I may not understand the dialogue, I can tell that there's a lot of passion and fluster in the words, and contrasts with a backdrop of eastern drone and psychedelic post-metal atmosphere, gathering like massive rain clouds.

The full band drops its weight two-minutes in and caught away in a swell. From the get-go we notice Ainu is a band that's quite confident in itself as an instrumental unit. The collaboration between Dani on guitar, Jacco on bass, and Gelso on drums is tight. Each instrument is deftly captured on this recording, the bass in particular has lots of clarity and plenty of oomph. It rewards listening with earphones, especially, but you can open up your speakers with this one and give the benefit of a full room -- the sound will claim it all. Listen for a key moment of transition 5:20 in with a warm, doomy bassline.

In many ways, this 12:43 piece mirrors a day on ocean's cliffs overlooking the waters and experiencing moments that are turbulent, mysterious, and serene. It is indeed cinematic in its vision, and this applies in many ways to the evolving scenes that follow.

Likewise, second track "Aiutami A Ricordare" (which means "Help Me Remember") generates big, rumbling sound in the service of a broad tapestry (it also makes its big splash around 5 minute mark with swinging bombast.

"D.E.V.S." and "Khrono" (the latter featuring guest musicians Francesco Bucci and Giorgio Nattero) reference the American science fiction thriller television miniseries D.E.V.S. and samples from the show here and there. The first two-minute track begins with surreal and calming ambience, but soon errupt into second -- a strumming, churning, tremelo-filled current. It's easy to get swept away in the momentum.

Whether you're listening intently, riding, or doing something else around the house, these songs always find a way to pull you into their moods, and here it is serious, searching, and tumultuous. "Krono" ("Time") ends with some of that broad, brash tossing back and forth Yob energy.

"Call Of The Sea," while not the longest, is certainly one of the more ambitious of the record and closes this cinquefoil journey out. The band takes time to build the story, and one could picture themselves picturing the landscape from a seagull's view. After three-and-a-half minutes of development comes the brake-squeaking dissonance announcing a transition, which comes with cymbals, watery reverberating strings, and a bass riff which you almost want to go on forever. It's Bongripper worthy stuff, but not meant to a barnstormer here, just enough gravity to keep our feet planted while our heads sail far above with the whirling, misty ambience of echoing loops and Lili Refrain's remarkable guest vocals. It's not really important to know what words she is singing, so much as to experience it, for it is beautiful and enchanting.

Ainu's self-titled debut comes out June 28th via Subsound Records on vinyl, compact disc, and digital format (get it here).

Give ear...

Ainu by Ainu

SOME BUZZ

'Ainu' is a concept record that moves between powerful and stirring soundscapes, building up at a slow but steady pace between psychedelia and post-metal, stemming from the Genoa trio’s passion for cinema and their close relationship with the sea, its stories and creatures.

Featuring special appearances from Lili Refrain as well as Francesco Bucci (Ottone Pesante) and Giorgio Nattero (Carcharodon), this album is an intense, emotionally dense experience that uses the descriptive foundations of seamen and the calls of huge animals to recall the connection between the sound and the environment. An electrifying and contemplative journey for the heart and soul of heavy music lovers.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[onlyhurtforaminute]

SUTON-CELESTIAL CONSCIOUSNESS STARLIGHT DIVINE

[nathaniacolver]

arcane ships be like

i love a show that teaches equality (😭😭😭)

[coffinwoodx]

ok so for those of you who don’t know, there’s this twitter account of a japanese local hero mascot named dentman who went viral recently due to this tweet

but yeah he saw the tweet. and his response went viral as well (which is how i found his account)

and he just has like. hourly posts reminding you to brush your teeth

oh and his rival? his name is mr. mutans. whenever dentman posts he makes a post of his own, ofc

but THAT’S NOT ALL. literally while making this post i found a THIRD ACCOUNT that’s all about taking your meds

safe to say i’m losing my mind

anyway the point of all this was that people are ALREADY beginning to draw them ship art 😭

and the reactions are everything

I CANT ADD ANY MORE IMAGES BUT TRUST ME THIS IS SO FUNNY

toxic one-sided dentman yaoi wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card but it DEFINITELY IS NOW!

[humming-fly]

I love how Gerald was trying to keep Shadow from spoiling anything about the future meanwhile literally everything Shadow says and does around Maria is the biggest death flag ever

[clownsuu]

God I love the insane amounts of d r i p Stanley just casually wears

[krowtesque]

you already know what day it is

[tired-and-swaggy]

[hmyrine]

this is my way of coping

[gandalf-the-fool]

[doomedandstoned]

France’s ENDLESS FLOODS Return For Mesmerizing  Doomer ‘Rites Futurs’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Today, we hail a powerful new atmospheric gem from Bordeaux three-piece ENDLESS FLOODS. I'm not sure if the band's name is drawn from the Song of Solomon or not ("many waters cannot quench love") or whether it is in reference to something more grim, such as the soul-weathering nature of our era. All that's important is we have a fourth album from the band, which we brought to your attention way back in 2016 when they released their self-titled debut.

Now we ready for a fourth album Rites Futurs, this one featuring a seamless melding of talent from Louise Dehaye (vocals), Stéphane Miollan (guitar, bass, vox), and Benjamin Sablon (drums, synth, vox). Thibault Laisney (who provides some additional guitar) a fantastic job of recording and mixing the record at a/b box studio, the sound is clear, full, and roomy.

The songs certainly give you a lot to think about -- less narrative and more contemplative. Sung entirely in the French tongue, the words in English are no less compelling:

"Planet-piercing silver spear Incandescent like immense flames Chariots arrive slowly The chariots and the burning wind"

"L'Eclair" comes out with bristling guitar and wailing dissonance as the moon makes its appearance in the night sky. The amazing three-person choir is immediately arresting, containing elements classic and modern that flow from beautiful to mysterious to unsettling within a single progression. The jaded crooning at 2:05 rivals those of Undersmile. There are exaltant moments in this song (around 4 minutes in) that tap into a similar vein as Green Lung. Endless Floods are masters at transporting us through moods as naturally as the flow of disruptive waters. This is about light, balance, and contrast.

"Décennie" seems to be about time and how events repeat themselves endlessly in cycles, leading to a passionate climax of cymbals, screeching dissonance, and wailing voices.

Relancer chaque jour l'effet et dans l'echo tout noyer

Lyrics are similarly grim on "Muraille," which might be contemplating the ashen remains of Vesuvius (Nuage de lave mêlé au cristal des murs de flammes). There's something quite ancient about the way the song starts, drawing upon early contrapuntal style. There are doomy elements in play, such as the funeral-esque guitar lead that follows. This is counterbalanced by glistening post-metal ambience and a haunting entanglement of voices that eventually take soaring into the aerosphere. There's something at once meditative and bittersweet about the chorus that concludes the song ("Stone after stone, let's climb airless enclaves").

Louise Dehaye's singing is reassuring and enchanting in the serene unfolding of title track "Rites Futures". As the song developed, there are standout moments you'll not hear anywhere else, such as the distant, riotous warbling of carolers set against a slow, fuzzy, bad-ass headbanger riff with garage vibes that goes shoegazey then has an out-and-out meltdown of black metal tremeloes, finally taking us to record center in a blaze of hypnotic glory as singers coalesce Gregorian chant style. The closing moments settle us into calm, reassurance that after all is said and done, we are always in the ever-present NOW.

Look for Endless Flood's Rites Futurs on Friday, July 12th, with a limited run of cassettes issued by Breath Plastic Records (get it here or here). For many it will prompt you to get into their back catalogue, and summer is the perfect time to do it, especially at sunrise.

Give ear...

Endless Floods · RITES FUTURS (2024)

SOME BUZZ

After a five-year absence, Endless Floods are reunited around vocalist Louise Dehaye, Stéphane Miollan (guitar, bass, vocals) and Benjamin Sablon (drums, synths, vocals). Spanning through the crepuscular and droney doom landscapes of their first three records, they reveal in a prodigious blaze of post-metal, doom and shoegaze driven by the trio’s aerial choirs.

Bordeaux, France's doom metal experimentalists Endless Floods formed in 2015 in Bordeaux around Stéphane Miollan (ex-Monarch, Bombardement, Faucheuse), Benjamin Sablon (ex-Monarch, Bombardement, Shock, Mégot) et Simon Bédy. With “no boundaries in heaviness” as a motto, they raise a prodigiously dense wall of sound by blending drone and doom metal aesthetics with mind-expanding ambient structures, like a sorrowful procession arising from the limbo...

The trio released their self-titled debut in 2015, quickly followed by their sophomore album “II” in the winter of 2017. This drone-sounding assault saw the band sinking deeper into bleakness and minimalism, immersing the listener in a monolithic and feedback-laden sonic experience described by the press as “a vast, never-ending room of heavy” (Cvlt Nation), “a juggernaut of sonic grandeur” (Metal Nexus) or simply “sublime” by Pure Grain Audio. Their third album "Circle The Gold” epitomized a fresh start in their creative process: between chaos and light, the Bordeaux trio transcended genre boundaries while unveiling a more melodic and cathartic aspect of their music.

RITES FUTURS by Endless Floods

After a five-year hiatus, ENDLESS FLOODS now returns with a new lineup and their fourth record "Rites Futurs", to be released in July 2024. About the album, the band comments: "On Rites Futurs, we built a mythology around the idea of the rite of passage. The five tracks symbolize this tipping point into the unknown by evoking ancient traditions where fires extinguished everything in their path."

It was recorded and mixed by Thibault Laisney at a/b box studio (Lestiac, France) and mastered by Ben Jones. Cover art and graphic design by Louise Dehaye.

Constantly maintaining the subtle balance between light and melancholy, soaring atmospherics and granite riffs, Endless Floods deliver their sonic rebirth in forty minutes of a grippingly emotional experience.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[drenched-in-sunlight]

i think whenever Marika was on the edge of spiraling, only Messmer knew how to pull her back.

(my art is always based on this theory)

[equill]

Job promotion (now what?)

Comic 1: Interrogation

Caught him lurking in the background (he was being suspicious in their defense)

Comic 2: Everywhere you go.

[the-phantom-peach]

yeah whatever

*posts hylink*

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

tw: stylized blood below‼️

[chloesimaginationthings]

There's doomed yuri... in my FNAF ruin?

[harshr]

Listening to the latest Die Selektion record got me thinking about other goth/industrial bands with brass which got me to revisit Beyond Dawn, one of my all-time favorite acts. Very happy to find that their very unique and particular brand of dark and doomy art/pop/goth holds up perfectly.