2012 Year end list...

This year has supplied many excellent releases. The following are The Cracked Skull's top picks of 2012 in no particular order.

Velnias--RuneEater
Horseback--Half Blood
Swans--The Seer
Blut Aus Nord--777 Cosmosophy
Om--Advaitic Songs
Ash Borer--Cold of Ages
Neurosis--Honor Found in Decay
Wreathes--Wreathes
Kinit Her--Storm of Radiance
Earth--Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
Pyramids/Mamiffer--Bless Them That Cusre You
Mutilation Rites--Empyrean
Barghest/False--Split
Bosse-De-Nage--III
Worm Ouroboros--Comes the Thaw
Samonthrace--Reverence in Stone
Nate Hall--A Great River
Scott Kelly & The Road Home--The Forgiven Ghost in Me
Alcest--Les Voyages De L'ame
Hell--Hell III
Acephalix--Deathless Master
Lord Mantis--Pervertor
Anhedonist--Netherwards
Black Goat of the Woods--Black Goat of the Woods
Kata Sarka/Boddicker--Split
Kata Sarka--Existential Oblivion
Kata Sarka--Crucible of Misanthropy
Chelsea Wolfe-- Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs
Killing Joke--MMXII
Flourishing--Intersubjectivity
Atriarch--Ritual of Passing
Grails--Black Tar Prophecies Vol. 5
Circulation of Light--Acheiropoeita
Wreck and Reference--No Youth
Knelt Rote--Trespass
Panopticon--Kentucky
Aluk Todolo--Occult Rock
Rhinocervs--RH-12
Ahab--The Giant
Drudkh--Eternal Turn of the Wheel
Mgla--With Hearts Toward None
Wodensthrone--Curse
Agalloch--Faustian Echoes
Circle of Ouroborus--The Lost Entrance of the Just


Indiana bands that ruled either live, recorded, or both.

Kata Sarka... katasarka.bandcamp.com
Thenn... thenn.bandcamp.com
Casque... casqueindy.bandcamp.com
Torturess... torturess.bandcamp.com
Black Goat of the Woods... blackgoatofthewoods.bandcamp.com
Boddicker... boddicker13.bandcamp.com
Chaotic Neutral... chaoticneutral.bandcamp.com
Chinaski... chinaski317.bandcamp.com
Overpower... overpowerxxx.bandcamp.com/album/overpower-7
Coffinworm... coffinworm.bandcamp.com
Giraffes Eating Lions... giraffeseatinglions.bandcamp.com
Nak'ay... http://nakay.bandcamp.com/

Bloomington's grimmest...

Hailing from Bloomington Indiana comes a bare bones black metal beast: Thenn. Seething and churning, Thenn play a very true and grim version of black metal on their EP release Threshing the Golden Fields. Thenn ascribe to the rawest essence of black metal: its fury, its rage, and its misanthropy. There does not seem to be any gimmicks with the band. Thenn mix slight elements of crust and brief moments of doom into their chaos as they follow the path blazed by early Scandinavian black metal bands. Threshing the Golden Fields has a grainy, lo-fi vibe that offers a familiar but satisfying take on oblivion.

http://thenn.bandcamp.com/

Overpower Band Camp 7" Review...

An aptly named Overpower is the curb stomping Straight Egde hardcore band that Indianapolis has needed for quite some time. These three songs are one side of a soon to be released seven inch. And they are a four minute assault drenched in feedback, anger fueled vocals, unapologetic breakdowns, and a methodical churning of instrumentation. This is what hardcore should be; rough, assertive, direct, and bent on pushing back against the status quo. Suffer opens up the release to the caterwauling of feedback only to blast into full powerviolence mode. Once the breakdown hits Suffer swills with mid-tempo angst as the song ends in droning feedback morphing in to a two ton sludge riff. Mercy must be a conceptual hope for the next track. There is nothing merciful about this song. It's fifty two seconds of fury and feedback. The first twenty eight seconds or so are devoted to pure vitriol. As the song shifts gears the feedback signals the end with a bludgeoning of guttural vocals as the sledgehammer crashes down. XXXX is Overpower's longest and most punishing song of the three. It's a hateful piece of aural violence aimed at everyone's skull. XXXX blasts and rages as the song tightly shifts from riff to riff driving home the point: Overpower will dominate you. XXXX only slows to deliver the song's ending message: you're fucking dead. Indeed.

http://overpowerxxx.bandcamp.com/

New Casque song...

So you like your black metal drenched in depravity boosted by a fuck you punk mentality, well Casque's Heroin Dreams is your jam. Recorded by Bob Fouts (Basement Rage Studio, Chrome Waves, Apostle of Solitude, and The Gates of Slumber), this cold cacophony seethes with mid-tempo rage to furious discordance. The vocals are harsh and damaged echoing the song's perceived meaning and sentiment. The drumming is the glue holding the song just above the slum line as the the guitars scream in and out needle in hand. It's a poverty stricken track that begs Casque to continue rummaging through the slime and gutters for inspiration and wrath. As a live act Casque are pummeling. Hopefully Casque can continue to refine and channel their live sound when recorded. This is a very promising first offering from a young band looking no further than the ground beneath their feet and the grime in plain sight.

http://casqueindy.bandcamp.com/track/heroin-dreams

An Assortment of Coffinworm videos...

They don't play out of town often. They play Indianapolis and the surrounding area sparingly. And 2012's hellfire summer is nothing but a blast furnace of wretched weather bound to have people feeling charred and numb. Fuck it. Follow the green lights and Youtube your life away...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFyVjaWsfMM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orMSAW_lahI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9XnVZi8Byw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ5PSsrGLoE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwVl_TQsOe8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5BVf1pbjIM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqPB72vUFuU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWU_nzY5J6s

http://coffinworm.net/

New Kata Sarka track...

Well, shit. Yes this is good, very good. Yes, this song hates you. Yes, this rips. And yes, this song will take you on a bleak journey of nothingness. Recorded by Carl Byers of the mobile Clandestine Arts Studio, Kata Sarka drop a torrent of filth in the pursuit of opening a portal to the never ceasing void. With the addition of a second guitarist (Joe Stephens of Casque), the new and improved Kata Sarka thrash, wail, and blast with napalm fueled vigor. The band dares you to challenge their hate and venom. If this is an early example of what to expect, then Crucible of Misanthropy is going to be one of the more stellar releases for 2012.

Mired in Spleen by Kata Sarka...
http://katasarka.bandcamp.com/album/crucible-of-misanthropy

Destroying the false...

Sometimes a band tries to the ease the pain of its members via a musical outlet. Nak'ay is not this kind of band. Hailing from Ft. Wayne Indiana, Nak'ay wish to destroy all in their path. Nak'ay spew forth only the most vile grind. This is hateful music for the extreme shadow draped nihilist. Nak'ay are fast, harsh and only slow the tempo to allow a brief respite before the music returns to blister the listener's ears. The drums blast and ripple with staccato cymbal precision. The guitars are thrashed, chord to chord, in a discordant wall of misanthropic distortion. The occasional blackened riff rears up as a lurker of menace and destruction. The dueling vocals shout, scream, rasp, and growl their venom at top vocal chord ripping volume. Add in a quick sample or two, and Nak'ay's sound becomes a ubiquitous path to devastation. Nak'ay are not hopeful for what the future holds. Their music is bent on delving into all things putrid and reeking of the charred remains of humanity. Destroy the false.

http://nakay.bandcamp.com/