Written by Guest on 16.07.2008 at 18:58

Anyone into the new by Moss? Sub-Templum is amazing... this band is taking drone and extreme doom through truly occult pathways.

Actually I own that album, and I own Chtonic Rites, but I haven't given it a spin yet. Acid Bath arrived on the same day... I will do so soon and give you my opinion.

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I'm also enjoying a lot Sacrificial Totem, that sound like a more obscure, doomer and, of course, droner version of Velvet Cacoon.

Not sure if I can handle a more obscure and droning version of VC, haha. I'll check it.

I enjoy drone from time to time. Sunn O))), Khanate, and The Angelic Process are probably my three favorite drone bands. I also like some lesser known bands such as Monarkh (I wouldn't really consider them drone, but they do have some elements of it) and Wicked King Wicker. I haven't listened to a great deal of drone and i don't know much about it, but what I have heard so far, I have liked. I will definitely be listening to more in the future.

The definition of drone is a bit tricky to put in place because the basis is very simple: sustained sounds. I've noticed that almost every artist mentioned here is on the dirtier side of drone, but drone can also be very clean. A huge part of ambient can be defined as drone or employing the characteristics of drone. But I guess it's more or less a standard to think of drone as the dirtier "noisy" side of this especially since a lot of artists have started to mix drone with rock and metal. And yeah drone in itself has absolutely nothing to do with metal until you mix it with metal but that has no significance.

How I got into drone? Well this might be a good tip for someone trying to understand drone, because for quite a long time I couldn't stand drone and thought it was just random noise. Anyway, try putting on some good drone that people have recommended on this thread, I recommend Sunn O))) (not because it's the best, but because that's a common starting point) and then try doing something like this:

Style 1). Tell yourself that it's not music (which has some truth in it), and stop trying to hear "music" and catchy parts in the sound like you would do regularly. Ok, this next part might sound lame at first. Try to imagine some sort of a scenario in your mind (closing your eyes can help), something you find fascinating or feel comfortable wondering about. Some example topics could be a walk in a post-apocalyptic world, drifting in space, flying above the clouds, anything (depending on what the sound reminds you of). Then just sit back and let the sound conjure images that you see in that world. Alcohol or other "light" mind-altering substances can greatly help with this. I don't know about hard drugs, something just tells me that you shouldn't mix those with drone, lol.

If that's too hard or you find it something not comfortable doing, then you could try:

Style 2). Play a game that requires most of your attention (and without in-game music of course), something "epic" or "scary" would probably be preferable. Games like Doom III or Half-Life 2 for example. Let the drone fall into the background, ignore it, and just play the game. If the drone distracts you, try lowering the volume, if that doesn't help, try another band. This is sort of like a method to imprint a memory of the happenings in the game and connect it with the sound (and I find that this works pretty well with other music too if given enough time). I'd suggest you keep playing one or two albums only to get some repetition to strengthen the effect. Then later you can try to listen to those albums again without the game. This might trigger memories from the game and you might connect with the music better.

Style 2 is how I eventually grew to like drone, and before that the same happened with ambient and dark ambient. Like with many others Sunn O))) was my first encounter with this kind of music. I used to listen to some of their albums on repeat while playing Thief 2 and later EVE-Online.

Most of my favorite drone artists have already been mentioned in this thread but I'd like to mention Uncertainty Principle again. Their album "Distant" is some great drone mixed with doom metal, very dirty and monotonic with massive crushing riffs. Another artist worth mentioning is Torture Wheel, which is a drone / funeral doom mix. Very slow and eerie drum/synth driven stuff with awesome "distant" growled vocals.

Anyway, I hope some of this helped someone.

Heh, "Style 1" is exactly how I got into black metal all those years ago, using Transylvanian Hunger infact.

I actually find Drone hugely enjoyable and quite pleasant as a musical form. I don't find it particularly challenging anymore but it's certainly excellent background music for playing games, doing work, chatting on MSN etc. if that's how one chooses to listen to it. I don't agree with the comparisons to the noise genre anymore despite the same format ie. layered soundscapes, purely because drone is ultimately far easier to deconstruct as it's almost always conventionally structured and frankly a much easier sub genre to digest.

I wonder about the future of Drone, I find myself tiring of certain bands as they're still essentially ripping off formulas started by Earth and Boris all those years ago. Of course some bands are splicing it with black metal, post-rock so I guess there's exploration going on still. A wonderful band is Tenhornedbeast who combine some excellent drone with atmospheric dark ambient. Highly recommended.

One of my fave bands of the genre is Methadrone, don't think they're been mentioned yet. I would say they fall under the psychedelic drone umbrella especially their Retrogression album. It's a very interesting listen.

I've heard one release by both Tenhornedbeast and Methadrone, and remember liking both. But I check out so much music that I don't remember much anything about the ones I only listened to once. I'll be sure to re-check these releases.

Yeah actually I checked your last.fm, you do indeed listen to a lof music, possibly more than anyone else I've seen on there. Seriously, 4500 individual artists?! Can't imagine how much music you possess.

Written by Guest on 30.08.2008 at 12:47

Yeah, still think Sunn are overrated, and still don't think they've made a noteworthy album since White2.

Black One seems very worth the money IMO... Haunting drone with a little balck touch in it. But everyone to his own of course

Yeah I've always had a bit of a grudge against that particular album. I just think, dare I say it, it's rather a sell out album in many respects. Just the way everything about it was catered to a black metal audience (a much bigger market than drone will ever be) Malefic and Wrest's contributions, the Bathory and Immortal covers I just think it all served to water down a potentially great minimalist ambient drone album whilst giving Sunn their connections to a black metal audience. None of which is necessarily a bad thing I just don't think it worked as an album as well as some others.

Written by Guest on 30.08.2008 at 19:46

Yeah I've always had a bit of a grudge against that particular album. I just think, dare I say it, it's rather a sell out album in many respects. Just the way everything about it was catered to a black metal audience (a much bigger market than drone will ever be) Malefic and Wrest's contributions, the Bathory and Immortal covers I just think it all served to water down a potentially great minimalist ambient drone album whilst giving Sunn their connections to a black metal audience. None of which is necessarily a bad thing I just don't think it worked as an album as well as some others.

Talking about selling out when it comes to Sunn O))) or any drone band is fucking hilarious tbh.

You're not the first person to say it but in a sense it is selling out, when you compromise an utterly innaccesible sub genre like drone by melding it with something like black metal, a genre widely enjoyed kvlt kiddies everywhere, it gives the accesibility a drone band would otherwise never have. You say sell-out in the modern metallica/cradle of filth sense but Wrest and Malefic are (comparitively) big names in the underground music circuit. And god, the introduction of black metal screaming to this kind of music is the ultimate mood killer in my eyes.

I'm aware it's a fairly unsual and unpopular opinion but you only have to look at the popularity of Black1, it's certainly not down to the songwriting if you ask me. White2 is a far more interesting album, the song BassAliens in particular, the use of minimal ambience created one of the most alien soundscapes I've ever heard. I just like my extreme music to be fucking extreme.

Written by Guest on 30.08.2008 at 20:03

You're not the first person to say it but in a sense it is selling out, when you compromise an utterly innaccesible sub genre like drone by melding it with something like black metal, a genre widely enjoyed kvlt kiddies everywhere, it gives the accesibility a drone band would otherwise never have. You say sell-out in the modern metallica/cradle of filth sense but Wrest and Malefic are (comparitively) big names in the underground music circuit. And god, the introduction of black metal screaming to this kind of music is the ultimate mood killer in my eyes.

I'm aware it's a fairly unsual and unpopular opinion but you only have to look at the popularity of Black1, it's certainly not down to the songwriting if you ask me. White2 is a far more interesting album, the song BassAliens in particular, the use of minimal ambience created one of the most alien soundscapes I've ever heard. I just like my extreme music to be fucking extreme.

My post was meant to be a joke since I know exactly what you meaned.

I found it funny because is normal for all of us to think about COB,Metallica, Dimmu and other music like that to be bands that solled out. And just the though about Sunn being the band that open the concert for a sell out band like Dimmu is just a good joke.

People that see any kind of genre of music to be something that cannot be mixed with something else are beyond me... The guy that created the meaning of the word "tr00", "Kvlt" and "Pure" needs a big third eye in his head tbh...

Written by X-Ray Rod on 30.08.2008 at 21:21

People that see any kind of genre of music to be something that cannot be mixed with something else are beyond me... The guy that created the meaning of the word "tr00", "Kvlt" and "Pure" needs a big third eye in his head tbh...

Heh, I don't think I would have got this far in my musical understanding if I thought that genres shouldn't be mixed, but if it's not done well then it's fair that I don't like it not to mention the fact that it's not neccesarily elitist for a person to want particular things from a particular band, especially if they firmly believe the band will produce better quality music from doing so.

Khlyst for me are an example of a band that mixes drone, noise, and black metal and does it well and they may very well be the most extreme band I know, noise bands withstanding.

White2 is my favorite by them too, but I also find Black One enjoyable. They're just two very different concepts and besides, Black One can act as a good "bridge album" from black metal to drone. Well, kind of.

Meh.. Of course that the band would not be good if the mix is terrible. That's a fact. xD

In that case we got nothing left to say. since the mixing of drone and black that Sunn did sounds at least good enough to me.

I don't know Sunn's intentions when they did those mixes or when they did the covers. It's hard to understand the artists specially when their genre is already hard to understand.
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Hey guys... anyone into the new tracks of Hjarnidaudi? Their next album sounds pretty good IMO.
They put every song on their myspace.
The first one has like a techno vibe on it.... Or maybe that's just me. But it sounds awesome.I can sense a little vibe of BM too.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 21.09.2008 at 14:26

Hey guys... anyone into the new tracks of Hjarnidaudi? Their next albums sounds pretty good IMO.
They put every song on their myspace.
The first one has like a techno vibe on it.... Or maybe that's just me. But it sounds awesome.I can sense a little vibe of BM too.

Listening to it right now. I heard some samples before, but that was a loooong time ago.

Part I: Has got a lot more beat to it. Do I hear some church bellls too? (It's unbelievable how un-fitting these speakers are for this type of music). It's not what I had expected, and too soon too say what I think of it, but I might like it.

Part II: Much more like the Pain:Noise:March album.

Don't have time to listen to the other albums, but I'm really looking forward to this album.

Written by Lucas on 21.09.2008 at 14:55

Don't have time to listen to the other albums, but I'm really looking forward to this album.

LOL... I wrote "albums" by misstake. It's just one
All the parts are from the new album. They sound quite different from what I listened of the debut. But it's good that the atmosphere changes a little bit.

Oh yeah, typo on my end. I know it's only one album.

Is Remember November, from Italy, drone doom? They say they play funeral drone doom. I feel they very enjoyable.

Here's the band link: Remember Novemeber

I just discovered a Belgian one-man band called Yhdarl and honestly this is some of the best drone doom I've ever heard... Very dirty and sick sound. I highly recommend this artist. Most of his stuff is also available as free downloads on his myspace. So go on and get them.

I'd recommend checking out the album "Humainly Sick" first and then the EPs "ز" and "Ø".

Some updates here.. one of my favourite drone bands HJARNIDAUDI has collaborated with Niklas Kvarforth of SHINING! Ever wondered what it would sound like if Kvarforth would sing too Pain:Noise:March? You can find out now!

Definitely pre-ordered this already, I still can't believe this. I hope this will be as good as i'm expecting it to be, even though that's probably impossible lol.

Can anyone recommend something that sounds like Hyatari's 'The Light Carriers'. Seriously my fave drone album, great use of percussion, varied songs and unusually lighthearted atmosphere: not skull crushing for the sake of it etc. Just most of the drone I come across tends to be of a similar nature.

Shit, I've just noticed they're releasing another album this year, Fuck yes.

Written by Guest on 12.11.2008 at 12:44

Can anyone recommend something that sounds like Hyatari's 'The Light Bringers'. Seriously my fave drone album, great use of percussion, varied songs and unusually lighthearted atmosphere: not skull crushing for the sake of it etc. Just most of the drone I come across tends to be of a similar nature.

Shit, I've just noticed they're releasing another album this year, Fuck yes.

Oh yeah Hyatari is great.
You're a downloader right? Check out Fulci - Dead Lights / Red Sky. I own it, but last time I heard it was about half a year ago. Honestly can't remember what it sounds like, everytime I want to check it out again I forget.

Written by Lucas on 11.11.2008 at 22:34

Some updates here.. one of my favourite drone bands HJARNIDAUDI has collaborated with Niklas Kvarforth of SHINING! Ever wondered what it would sound like if Kvarforth would sing too Pain:Noise:March? You can find out now!

Definitely pre-ordered this already, I still can't believe this. I hope this will be as good as i'm expecting it to be, even though that's probably impossible lol.

Really good news indeed. I can't wait to hear how the vocals will fit the music.
I start to like Hjarnidaudi quite a lot, great drone.
The bad thing is that I actually found their debut with Kvarforth's vocals on one of the websites that I use. But I want the original first And no international websites works to much for me because I don't have a bank count so it's a big pain in the ass to talk to my mom or sister so they can buy it from me. [specially since they never buy something out of this country XD]

I hope I can find their debut on a store in Stockholm if I go there sometime.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 12.11.2008 at 21:17

....

http://www.paradigms-recordings.com/main.html

Won't help you much if you don't have a bank account, but once you find a way, you can buy it there. (the original) E-mail the link to your mom and tell them the holidays are coming up.

Written by Lucas on 12.11.2008 at 22:01

Written by X-Ray Rod on 12.11.2008 at 21:17

....

http://www.paradigms-recordings.com/main.html

Won't help you much if you don't have a bank account, but once you find a way, you can buy it there. (the original) E-mail the link to your mom and tell them the holidays are coming up.

Thanks Lucas I'll try this one.

Always ready to spread the word of Hjarnidaudi!

As for more news on Hjarnidaudi, Psyko:Stare:Void is expected to be released in February 2009 on Music Fear Satan Records.

Written by Lucas on 12.11.2008 at 17:17

Written by Guest on 12.11.2008 at 12:44

Can anyone recommend something that sounds like Hyatari's 'The Light Bringers'. Seriously my fave drone album, great use of percussion, varied songs and unusually lighthearted atmosphere: not skull crushing for the sake of it etc. Just most of the drone I come across tends to be of a similar nature.

Shit, I've just noticed they're releasing another album this year, Fuck yes.

Nice one I'll have a look-see, cheers for recommendation 8]

Oh yeah Hyatari is great.
You're a downloader right? Check out Fulci - Dead Lights / Red Sky. I own it, but last time I heard it was about half a year ago. Honestly can't remember what it sounds like, everytime I want to check it out again I forget.

I don't know if I had recommended them already at this tread (I think I hadn't), but everyone interested in drone should check Lotus Eaters, a project with O'Malley, James Plotkin (Khanate) and Aaron Turner (Isis). It is extremely minimalistic music even for drone standards, without a lot of heaviness but containing a stunning, kind of psychedelic atmosphere that truly embraces the listener. I'm an addicted to the Wurmwulv album, the only one I own, btw.

Can anyone recommend me drone band with using keyboard or piano, or can-say ambient drone doom ? I found a drone band Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg, as mentioned in some introduction on some websites, that their music can be fit for winter night in forest due to bass drone with keyboard, but actually when I listen, not so much keyboard in their music, only bass drone. So, please recommend any drone band using keyboard or piano.