''Have you seen your mother, baby, standing in the shadows?"

A recent release on Holy Terror Records, Sutekh Hexen's 7" 'Shadows'. Pressed on one sided black vinyl limited to 200. I dragged my heels a bit on this as there is always a million other things coming out and missed the orange pressing. Oh well.  The sleeve is a slip of fold-over card:





when opened up reveals some suitably apocalyptic artwork:

On the B-side is a laser etch of the bands spidery logo.

The one track here is a nightmarish drone/noise build up that seems gentle in comparison to the harrowing black metal onslaught it flowers into towards the end. It reminded me of a guy I used to listen to a lot, Kevin Drumm, who specialises in this kind of 'death-ambient' music that sounds influenced by but never actually is black metal. This does both. Its hard to recommend in a sense as listening to it is one hell of an uncomfortable experience. But music that has such a jarring effect is always worth a listen in my book. It also came with a huge patch.

Can't see me using it, but there you go.

While I was shopping, I thought it was time for a bit of catch up on a couple of other records HT had to offer.
The Blind To Faith LP 'The Seven Fat Years Are Over' has been playing on my iPod steadily since I swiped it from the free downloads section on the website. Long missing out on the clear pressings, I got the black pressing which is apparently out of 666. The artwork is a collage of a whole bunch of vile stuff that humanity has coughed up in the 20th century and reveals the band's logo in embossed glossy-ness when titled towards the light.

Same for the track list on the back.

Is that braille?!

This 12" is reverse mastered, which means that it plays from the center outwards. A neat little trick.

Finally, a band I knowingly slept on for a while - Roses Never Fade and their LP Fade To Black. I've been content for a few months just knowing about these and what they sound like, safe in the knowledge that I'll eventually get round to doing something about it. The push finally came when I heard Goodbye To You which turns out is a cover song anyway and sits slightly at odds with how they usually sound but somehow works perfectly in its creepiness. This caught my attention properly so I finally ordered it, and on the 'band copies' pressing of 100 on yellow vinyl. I love how bold and striking everything everything about this package is.

This was actually put out by A389 but the HT store had the rarest (so obviously better) pressing so I got it from there. Also, after purchasing, its no longer listed so looks like I probably got the last one. Cue evil laugh.

Without any idea of what RNF sounded like, you'd probably be surprised with the outcome considering its made up of a who's who of Holy Terror bands (Dwid from Integrity, T from Vegas, Matt Shack and Nick Fiction from Pale Creation) who usually bring the noise.The music here is made up largely of acoustic guitar and percussion to create a dark, ambient soundscape. If you're a fan of Vegas and Integrity's occasional quiet interludes or any of the neo-folk bands/musicians  then this will be right up your street.

Dwid's voice on this album is a raspy, dust caked instrument in itself and special mention must go the last track where Stephanie Van Houtte narrates an increasingly disturbing story over a weird ambient backing track. Listen in the dark if you dare.