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Clandestine Cuts Vol. 6 Issue #4 - Awesome New Demos and EPs


Written by: Nefarious, BloodTears, Susan
Published: 01.09.2016


Clandestine Cuts Volume 6, Issue #4
The Metal Storm Demo/EP Spotlight

Brand New Independent Metal Lives Here.
Welcome to the Clandestine Cuts!


Is independent, unsigned, and underground metal what you seek? Weary traveller of the metal world, rest here a while. Clandestine Cuts are the best demos and EPs from these bands, the heart and soul of metal music. These musicians are slaves to their passions, and their blood keeps the metal machine alive and turning. Support them with a simple listen, and discover the future.

Metal Storm users: you can vote in the poll below to choose your favourite demo/EP of the issue. The winners each year are nominated in our annual Metal Storm Awards so exercise your rights: this is the one category chosen completely by YOU the readers. Make sure your favourite independent metal is recognized each year!

(Think your band has what it takes to be featured in the Cuts? Email demos@metalstorm.net to submit your music.)

In case you're new at this, go back and enjoy our last few issues:
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 6 #3
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 6 #2
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 6 #1




And now to the new music...




Ànteros - lunas
Listen at Bandcamp

Ànteros is a band from Barcelona, Spain and lunas (moons) is their debut EP and what an EP it is! The music is a fusion between the splendor of post-metal innuendos and the fury of hardcore/screamo tinges. However, what makes the songs great is the perfect coexistence of these two seemingly conflicting states. Also, the screams in Spanish are quite distinctive and perfect in the context of their music. Whether it's in the exceptional beauty of the piano in "Luna" or the restrained wrath of "Nereid", Ànteros are classy and engaging in all their arrangements. The lunatic world of lunas deserves to be explored and discovered.

by BloodTears





Equipoise - Birthing Homunculi
Listen at Bandcamp

This is kinda stating the obvious, but Technical Death Metal is a hard genre for a band to master. There's so many bands out there filled with talented musicians who wield their instruments with technical wizardry & write impressive intricate songs with surgical precision yet somehow the final product is left feeling sterile & soulless. Luckily for us, Equipoise avoid this pitfall & have provided us with a truly magnificent debut EP. All tracks on display here are executed with extreme technical proficiency, yet the intricate songwriting and variation in tempo, melody & aggression really make Birthing Homunculi stand out & live long in the memory. As an added bonus, the whole EP is available on Bandcamp for free, however I would highly encourage anyone who enjoys this to throw a few dollars the bands way, as Equipoise are donating 100% of the proceeds made from this EP to Jason Becker's Foundation. So not only would you be buying a brilliant EP from a hugely talented & promising band, but you'd also be supporting a great cause.

by Nefarious





Abest - Last
Listen at Bandcamp

The music in Last is quite suffocating and uncomfortable. I don't know about you, but that's what I like to feel when I listen to a darker type of post-metal. The Germans display their influences of hardcore and sludge metal to build an atmosphere of anguish and unsettling nature. Abest aren't reinventing the wheel and, in fact, seem to draw a lot from other sludge/post-metal explorers such as The Ocean and Cult Of Luna. The only problem with this release is that it's too short. You sort of get a bittersweet taste in your mouth afterwards, wanting more.

by BloodTears





Cloak Of Organs - Cloak Of Organs EP
Listen at Bandcamp

"Follow me into the darkness," wails Jennie Mather in opening track "Blood Moon". You don't think; you simply follow. Cloak Of Organs has crafted the kind of excellent debut that could appeal to so many different listeners, based on quality alone. It would be pointless to reach for a genre or style they're inhabiting; instead, they give us heavy mood, an ominously calm retro vibe, and visuals to dance across our minds while listening. The fuzzy guitars will gently encompass you while the ethereal vocals, as balanced as any instrument, yet with decipherable lyrics, will penetrate your soul like a scalpel.

by Susan





Twingiant - Demo 2016
Listen at Bandcamp

Twingiant hit the reset button on their music and, after 2 full-lengths, are releasing this 2-track demo to introduce their evolved sound. Formerly a band of very raw sludge with rock and blues influences (I know, you're also thinking "why the hell change that?!") they've pared down the sludge and stoner elements to present a more heavy metal, focusing on groove, but without losing any of the rawness in their sound or darkness in their color. The result is highly successful and, while I wouldn't wish anyone away from sludge, Twingiant is gifting us with a type of heavy metal as gritty as the bits you can't ever clean off a cheese grater. The songs build and grow at such a perfect pace that I can only imagine what is in store for their next full-length.

by Susan





Conjurer - I
Listen at Bandcamp

Formed in 2014, Birmingham, UK-based quartet Conjurer have been around for a couple of years now without actually having a physical release to their name, until now. Their debut E.P. I is a punishing yet captivating 34 minute journey into the world of heavy, intense sludgy goodness. Conjurer's sound is actually an amalgamation of Death, Black, Doom, Post & Sludge, yet rather than allowing their eclectic mix of influences to result in an incoherent directionless mess, the overall sound is focused, concise, coherent and heavy as hell.

by Nefarious







Poll

What's your favorite new release this issue?

Login or register to vote. Results are hidden




Comments

Comments: 9   Visited by: 108 users
01.09.2016 - 20:50
Susan
Smeghead
Some real gems here.

Abest is HEAVY, and Conjurer is so solid; I can see why their vinyl sold out so quickly. Otherwise I'd have certainly ordered one! Anteros is not my thing but I agree that the styles are blended very well. While my Cloak of Organs is still on top for me, DAMN Equipoise put out something incredible here. They're my favorite of the new-to-me bands
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"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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02.09.2016 - 12:14
BloodTears
ANA-thema
Can I just say that most of the release covers look pretty neat? I Dig that.

Other than that, really cool music to discover here
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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02.09.2016 - 13:28
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
Well, i'm back from office quite early. I've now a lot of time to catch up these new talents you bought for us.

Will be back with my vote and opinion.
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03.09.2016 - 01:27
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
This time no vote non of band was go good to deserve my vote
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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05.09.2016 - 13:03
Vombatus
Potorro
I remember really enjoying Conjurer at the Temples replacements shows in Bristol but never went back to them. Probably should now.
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06.10.2016 - 18:47
Susan
Smeghead
Good news! Twingiant found a label; they just signed to Argonauta Records. New album projected for summer 2017

http://twingiant.com/twingiant-signs-to-italys-argonauta-records/
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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07.10.2016 - 12:23
BloodTears
ANA-thema
Written by Susan on 06.10.2016 at 18:47

Good news! Twingiant found a label; they just signed to Argonauta Records. New album projected for summer 2017

http://twingiant.com/twingiant-signs-to-italys-argonauta-records/


That is great. Always love when our CCs take the next step We've had a few.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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16.10.2016 - 21:34
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
I was torn between Ànteros and Conjurer but fuck it... Cloak Of Organs won me over with the vocals alone which reminds me a tiny bit of Menace Ruine.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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05.12.2016 - 16:44
NocturnalStalker
Metal Addict
While I liked a lot both Cloak Of Organs and Conjurer, I could never resist voting for a technical death metal record with Spanish guitar and lyrics inspired by Fullmetal Alchemist anime.
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"And we are not who we think we are
We are who we're afraid to be"
- Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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