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I’ve been writing for Echoes & Dust since December 2013, mostly on drone, doom and black metal. Since then I've completed a PhD looking at mysticism, ritual and religion in drone metal, and will be publishing a book related to this in 2017. I'm also trustee of Oaken Palace Records, a record label run as a charity, each drone release raising money for the conservation of a particular endangered species.

Articles by https://www.echoesanddust.com/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/1-3d11e6359f4a3f742938a300b46ac332/2016/09/IMG_0038.JPG

Trépas – Les Ombres Malades

Necktwitching riffs don’t let up for the seven tracks of the Quebec band’s second full-length.

Miserere Luminis – Ordalie

The record continually balances the tastefully decorative and extremely destructive throughout.

Sacrenoir – Comme des Revenants Parmi les Ruines

Quebec collaboration between two of the scene’s biggest names, Athros of Forteresse, and Monarque join together in Sacrenoir for a homage to black metal’s thrashy, trashy first wave origins. 

Yawning Man – Long Walk of the Navajo

Long Walk of the Navajo really really sounds like Yawning Man being great at sounding even more like Yawning Man than ever. Really.

Midwife and Vyva Melinkolya – Orbweaving

Orbweaving is a great demonstration of the range but also the specific atmosphere conjured by these artists.

William Basinski & Janek Schaefer – on reflection

Like a 20-second soundtrack to a ‘slow hazy waking-up’ scene in a movie expanded to forty minutes.

Messa – Close

Close is an eclectic, omnivorous, deep and heavy leap forward from Messa.

Ossuaire – Triumvirat

Great new record Triumvirat by Québec’s Ossuaire: fast, aggressive, but with the backdrop of harmonic grandeur you can generally expect in black metal from that province.

Délétère / Sarkrista – Opus Blasphematum

Distinctive but complementary halves which each feel like they’re self-contained but benefit from being heard in the vicinity of their companion. Highly recommended.

Iskandr – Vergezicht

Like stained glass glints stabbing through the heavy black drapes of murky droning riff cycles.

Skepticism – Companion

It’s still Skepticism, which means the songs and the sound are impeccably judged in their creation, delivery and recording, and that sound is still ominous yet grand yet melancholy yet crushing.

Fluisteraars – Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking

35 minutes of epic but gritty, tightly wound but flowing black metal.

King Woman – Celestial Blues

It’s everything you want from a new release, keeping all that was unique and powerful from previous records but expanding the scope and pushing the limits in places.

Craven Idol – Forked Tongues

Forked Tongues is a furious, refreshing extreme blast.

Festival Review: Roadburn Redux – Part 1

Part 1 of our Roadburn Redux coverage. “It got far, far closer to that magic than I imagined possible for a digitally distanced event. A fantastic achievement from all involved.”

Yawning Sons – Sky Island

The highs offered by Yawning Sons’ Sky Island get pretty high.

Profond Barathre – Tinnitus

The Swiss black metal trio’s new record Tinnitus explores post-metal textures while conveying atmospheric iciness.

Mainliner – Dual Myths

Guaranteed to make your brain fizz.

Tuskar, Calligram, Ungraven at The Black Heart, 14–15 October

In a world without live music Owen Coggins was lucky enough to see back-to-back gigs by Tuskar – one live, the other livestream – in an autumnal double-header at the Black Heart.

William Basinski – Lamentations

A fantastically immersive soundworld, revisiting the powerful impact of his processed loop investigations while exploring a wider range of atmospheres.

Urfaust – Teufelsgeist

It’s the most absurdly evocative combination of sonic theatricality and occult power.

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