IN ROTATION: Our most played albums in APRIL 2019

GOTH MARK’S APRIL IN ROTATION LIST

Greetings, and welcome to my April contribution for BAZ’s “In Rotation” series. Not going to lie, dear readers – I’ve felt particularly uninspired by the metal scene at the moment, or rather the current toxicity of recent events; where certain bands have been stopped from playing certain places due to self professed “scene police” and arseholian moral arbiters who call you “that word” for liking bands that don’t stick to their continuously baffling paradigm. Not going to lie, I feel like making a flux capacitor to stick in a Ford Capri and pissing off back to the 1980s for good, away from this lunacy. Anyway – here’s my top 5 musical stimulants. Oh yeah, blah blah my views are my own and not that of BAZ itself, may contain allergens blah blah blah. Whatever. Next.

MURG – Straven (released: April 2019)
Genre: Black Metal

Swedish black metal duo Murg make a triumphant return with their latest album ‘Strävan’, harnessing the spirit of the mid-1990s titans, with an individuality of their own making. Recently reviewed by my good self, to critical acclaim.

The Agnes Circle – Some Vague Desire (released: November 2016)
Genre: Post Punk/Darkwave

A London based post punk/darkwave band, The Agnes Circle encompass the spirit of the 1980s goth scene with a stunning and magical effect. You can almost feel the dry ice pour from the speakers whilst you shoegaze bass dance wearing PVC trousers, crimped hair, and Doc Martens – scaring the shit out of your neighbors. Brilliant.

Swans – The Great Annihilator (released: January 1995)
Genre: Experimental Rock

A band in a hellish universe of their own, Michael Gira and the lads generate a sonic whirlwind that’s deeply claustrophobic, harrowing, and spellbinding all at the same time. Like a soundtrack to a Stilton fuelled nightmare, it drags you by the scruff of the neck spitting you out elsewhere: scared, naked, flung in a ditch in some weird place, missing one of your shoes.

Nordjevel – Necrogenesis (released: March 2019)
Genre: Black Metal

As stunning black metal band with a virtually all star cast of musicians who have been in bands such as Ragnarok, Vriedhammer, Zyklon, and Morbid Angel (to name drop just a handful from a very impressive list), Nordjevel released an absolute stomper of an album only a month ago that will undoubtedly make many people’s best albums of the year lists already – and at this moment in time we’re not even halfway through the year yet. Killer stuff.

Made In Poland – Kult (released October 2018)
Genre: Post Punk/Coldwave

An accidental discovery due to overdosing on post punk/darkwave/goth podcasts on MixCloud, Polish stalwarts Made in Poland have been around since the mid 1980s and (from some mangled Google translations into English) are otherwise unknown outside their native land. Thanks to the internet, these things pale into insignificance when you discover their latest album ‘Kult’ is easily available from Bandcamp and the ‘Antena Krzyku’ label on vinyl or CD respectively. The perfect soundtrack to driving a murdered out black Skoda Favorit whilst wearing a biker jacket, black jeans, a pair of Wayfarer sunglasses and smoking a Sobieski Premium. Fantastyczny!