Velvet Cacoon: fact or fiction ?

Some Sunday afternoon surfing had led to the band Velvet Cacoon.

Velvet Cacoon was a Black Metal band from Portland, Oregon, USA. According to the members this band was founded in 1996, although they only released material in 2002. Due to lack of information being given by the band members it is very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction about Velvet Cacoon. The band split up in 2009.

The following I got from Encyclopaedia Metallum. It kind of sheds some light on the Velvet Cacoon's unclearness....

Velvet Cacoon's shoegazer / psych-folk recordings were stolen albums. "How the Last Day Came and Stayed then Faded into Simulated Rain" demo was almost completely stolen from Korouva's "Shipwrecks & Russian Roulette". Korouva's album has 10 tracks, while VC's demo has 9, though two tracks that can be found in Korouva's Myspace are not in VC's demo. The "Dizzy from Eternity" demo is in fact My Violent Ego's "Clicks & Hisses".

Message from Miranda Lehman aka Korouva: "To the fans of Velvet Cacoon: It has recently come to my attention that the band Velvet Cacoon has not only STOLEN artwork and photos on their website from other artists but also their ENTIRE album, "How the last day came and stayed then faded into simulated rain". This "highly elusive" demo album is actually the property of another musician named Miranda Lehman, aka Korouva. The album's real name is Shipwrecks & Russian Roulette and has been sold through the website 16sparrows since February of 2005, before the release of the Velvet Cacoon Demo. Tracks from Korouva's album were also posted on her Livejournal, in working form, long before any Velvet Cacoon release. When confronted with these accusations, Velvet Cacoon deleted their official Myspace music page which contained stolen tracks and artwork from Miranda. You can see that they link to their myspace page on their official site and that the Myspace page has been deleted.

Their main Myspace fan page contains stolen illustration and music as well: "lilac wine, black leaves and me" (real name, "Tide") and also the illustration of a girl with a ship that goes along with the song.
Korouva's own Myspace page is here, where she also links to 16sparrows http://myspace.com/korouva. I am sorry to all the devoted fans who have been deceived by Velvet Cacoon, their blatant theft of another artist's work is absolutely unforgivable."

Note: VC' song "Chesapeake Tide" is Korouva's "Tide", not "Lilac Wine, Black Leaves and me"
Josh's message taken from their google e-group (Which was deleted on August 21/22):
"And on the subject of Velvet Cacoon, the band is a total fraud. Nothing about it holds any importance. The "How the Last Day" demo isn't even us. It's Miranda Lehman from Portland. (check the Wiki site). "Dizzy" isn't us. It's "My Violent Ego". Nothing is us. "Northsuite" was recorded in 3 hours and sold to a fake label who paid us enough for rent and substances. That's why its so terrible. We're utter bastards. We have no respect for anything. Now we're beginning the campaign to show just what we've done. We are walking examples of what far too many drugs will do. They make you crave havoc. They make you want to turn the world upside down while laughing like a maniac.

And now the soft afterglow sets in. VC is winding down. One last album. One final collection. And the damn thing isn't even recorded yet. Maybe we'll just steal it too. I must tell you that our correspondence will not continue much longer. I'm going to make a clean break - you'll know when the moment hits. You'll know exactly what I mean too.

First, I must convince the world that I am nothing special or intelligent, nor was Velvet Cacoon. If there was discussion about us before, I can only imagine what is about to come.
Feel free to spread this letter."

Primary songwriter Josh formed his band Velvet Cacoon in 2001, under the premise of creating magically decadent black metal while at the same time unloading heaps of made up fantastical stories, in order to gain the type of notoriety that few underground bands ever taste. At the peak of this commotion, after a supposed break-up, a reformation, making up albums and demos that never existed, tales of ecoterrorism, being committed in an insane asylum, dramatic live performances and receiving glowing reviews in just about every metal media source around, Josh blew the cover off of his fairytale in an interview with an Italian zine.
Josh and Angela claim that their music is highly influenced by drugs, specially Dextromethorphan (DXM). Both members also claim to be celibate by choice. "When you remove sex from the equation of life, you are left with endless possibilities, a sense of liberated freedom which few could ever comprehend." [Angela]Close.

Velvet Caccoon released the following:

Full length albums:

Dextronaut 2002 
Genevieve 2004  Northsuite Compilation 2005 
P aa Opal Poere Pr. 33 2009
Atropine 2009

Demo's:

Music for Falling Buildings 2002
Chapelflames (Red Steeples) 2003

              
  

In My Shiver

Sometimes visiting music sites brings forth material of some interesting newcomers, much like this band. In My Shiver is a newcomer in the Black Metal scene; this band consisting of three members was founded only in 2010.

This band is from Italy, even though this band does not sound at all like Hiems, another Black Metal band from Italy. Their debut album Black Seasons almost sounds like Fen at times... Which is quite possible seeing as this album is of the Black Metal/Shoegaze/Alternative genre. I think that people who can appreciate Fen's work, will like this band too.

Their lyrical themes include Night, Darkness, Misery, Hate, Sadness, Depression, Pain, Desolation.

In 2010 they released their debut, Black Seasons, with the following tracklisting:

1. Night Feelings 
2. Around The Sadness 
3. Enshrine Your Sorrow   
4. The Hills Of Hate  
5. The Cold Depths 
6. Dawn Of The Chaos 
7. Promise Your End 

This year they are set to release a new album on May 1st, 2013. This one will be titled Delicate Poison.

Tracklist:

1. Closed View     
2. False     
3. Liquid Hour     
4. Into the Gray Line
5. Drain     
6. Empty Wealth     
 
Unfortunately a trip to Amazon.com will not get you the In my shiver music. A search on Ebay will get you the  CD's sometimes,if you're interested in obtaining a copy.
For a sneak peek:

'Devil worshipping bondage metal'

My curious nature has made me stumble on yet something new: The CD released by Belphegor in 2011. The band originating from Salzburg, Austria, is being described as the 'Masters of the necrofilic, devil worshipping bondage metal', have released their ninth studio album in 2011. The album is called Blood Magick Necromance.

The name Belphegor comes from the biblical name Baal-Peor, he is the God of the Moabites. The story is that when Israel owned the northeast corner of the plains of Moab, the Israelites would have illicit relations with the Moabite women and would sacrifice them to their god. Moses punished by death the Israelites who had sacrificed to Baal-Peor. The slaughter amounted to 24,000 deaths.

Tracklisting of Blood Magick Necromance:

1. In Blood - Devour This Sanctity
2. Rise to Fall and Fall to Rise
3. Blood Magick Necromance
4. Discipline Through Punishment
5. Angeli Mortis de Profundis
6. Impaled Upon the Tongue of Sathan
7. Possessed Burning Eyes 1997
8. Sado Messiah

For a small impression:

"...a black mist rising from a deep dark dense forest..."

Negură Bunget is a Black Metal band from Timişoara, Romania. This band formed the support act for Enslaved on 27 April 2011 for their concert at The Kade in Zaandam, The Netherlands.

“Negură Bunget is a black mist rising from a deep dark dense forest. The name seems to be carrying out some sort of atmosphere, musically and spiritually, as we are trying to create with our music. It also has an esoteric nature, which stands for the inexpressible parts of our ideology. The two words are also the Tracic substract of the Romanian language, (the oldest, with approximately 90 words) this is because the interest for our local history and spirituality is of crucial importance, and of meaning for us as a band.”  

I got acquainted with Negură Bunget as they were Enslaved’s support act in 2011 and I loved their style right away. They use indigenous instruments and the atmosphere they created really does the meaning of the band’s name justice. They sound equally as good live as they do on their albums, and the language used in their music is an eerie addition to the atmosphere they are trying to create.

Out of their work I am familiar with the albums OM, Vîrstele Pamîntului and the EP Poarta De Dincolo. I’m still to listen and discover their newest work, though.

The band came forth with the following :
 
Albums:

Zîrnindu-să, 1996

Măiastru Sfetnic, 2000   

'N Crugu Bradului, 2002

OM, 2006 

Măiestrit, 2010 (re-recording of Măiastru Sfetnic)

Vîrstele Pamîntului, 2010

Tău, 2012/3[7]

EPs:

Sala Molksa, 1998

Inarborat Kosmos, 2005

Poarta De Dincolo, 2011[8]

They have released a DVD with the name "Focul Viu" which is Romanian for "Living Fire".

This is a DVD featuring a professional recording of a complete 90-minute performance of Negură Bunget in Bucharest in January 2008. This DVD is very valuable to fans as it represents Negură Bunget in its classic line-up of Hupogrammos, Sol Faur, and Negru. As the band will probably never perform with this line-up again, "Focul Viu" is a must-have for every fan of Negura Bunget who didn't have a chance to witness the band live before their untimely split.

To get an idea of what Negură Bunget sounds like:

Waving the Portuguese flag

The next band on the review list, Daemonarch, started out as a side project by 4 out of the 5 band members of Gothic Metal band Moonspell. Daemonarch could be classified as as Melodic Black Metal.

Under the formation Daemonarch , only one album was released, with the title Hermeticum.

The album consists of a compilation of poetry wrote by Fernando Ribeiro. He wrote his poems between the ages of 14 and 16 year. He was inspired by his deep interest, experiences and studies of the Occult and Satanic philosophies and arts, but from what I read it might be that the poetry might have been revised somewhat for the making of the album.

Hermeticum is basically a swirl of tribal drums, metal chords and atmospheric keyboards. There is also a lot of dynamic exploration and some searing guitars in addition to this.

For a small impression of this band and of the album Hermeticum:

Black Metal from Dutch soil…

From Dutch soil we come across a small band which used to play melancholic Black Metal on their first demo “I Am Alone With You, 2008” and album “Sehnsucht”, but then turned to somewhat faster, more atmospheric style on their EP “Hypomanie”. In January 2011 the band released the EP “She Couldn’t Find a Flower, But There Was Snow”, with soon after that the album A City in Mono.

I checked out the “Hypomanie” album back in 2011, and I liked it a lot. Even though this is a relatively new band there surely is potential for them to grow within the Black Metal scene.

According to Encyclopedia Metallum, Hypomanie was originally founded as a Black Metal project and was really Black Metal for the first three releases. With the release of the self-titled EP, a more post-punk orientated sound was used, mixed together with the vocals from his earlier work. After, Selwin decided to leave black metal and began to play an instrumental shoegaze style, with some slight post-black metal influences

Not all of their work can be found online, however “A City in Mono” can be ordered via Amazon.com.

After checking Encyclopedia Metallum I came to discover that this band released another full length album since I reviewed the “Hypomanie” album.

I have not checked out the album “Calm Down, You Weren't Set On Fire” yet, but you can order it here

An impression of their music:

'

Fen

From the United Kingdom we bring you Fen.

The band Fen deals with an expression of loss and melancholy. Their primairy goal is to engulf the listener into a windy and desolate landscape, bereft of hope.

The album Epoch is very diverse and sometimes even reminds me of Enslaved’s work.

Fen really captures the dark and desolate atmosphere, where there is no light, no hope, no happiness. This band is what is called Black/ 'Shoegaze' Metal. Even though I am remotely new to the Black Metal scene I really loved Fen from the start. It captured the hopelessness very well.

A quote from www.cackblabbath.co.uk :

"When Fen’s previous album, The Malediction Fields, came out the band were heralded as “a UK rival to the throne of bands like Enslaved and Primordial”. With Epoch Fen have certainly lived up to that high praise and delivered on the promise shown by their previous release. It’s out next February and will surely feature in several top 2o lists at the end of 2011."

”Epoch” can be found here
The Malediction Fields here

”The Ancient Sorrow” is a split with De Arma which is unfortunately not for sale on Amazon.
”Towards the Shores of the End”, another split of Fen and De Arma, which can be found here

I did not listen to the following yet but it can be found on Amazon.com as well…

”Trails Out of Gloom” here
”Of Losing Interest” here
“Dustwalker” here

Welcome!!

In the past (not ancient past, but 2 years ago xD) I've contributed to a blog where I would review albums of metal bands that I'd listened to. As the link between me and the blog owner is gone for some time now I decided to make my own metal reviews blog, which focusses specifically on album reviews of recent releases. This will be about all sorts of metal that I can get my hands on, varying from symphonic metal to black metal, from all corners of the world. Enjoy :)