Free Album: Obsidian Kingdom: Torn & Burnt – new album

Well, November 2013 is now officially one of the worst months of my life. Hanukkah begins tomorrow and the Hanukkah-stuff/end of the year-thingy I do on this blog is far from ready – maybe I somehow missed the approach of the end of the year because it’s 32 fucking degrees Celsius outside. All in all, I have missed quite a few things this month, being slightly torn apart on the inside and quite burnt out on the outside (see, it’s funny how everything always fits), and there is nothing I can do about it now. It would be nice though, if the rest of the world (or certain people, rather) would simply use these new tools available too nearly all of us these days for the best and not the opposite, as MONSTER MAGNET nicely put it: “Why even keep it hard in a flat-lined world/Where every piece of dung is the next big thing/What’s gonna happen now?/Will the good guys pull through somehow?/Stay tuned till next time and we’ll see what’s what” (‘Stay Tuned’, from ‘The Last Patrol’ 2013).

And then I remember again that music is actually what makes the world go around. Like OBSIDIAN KINGDOM, for example, who not only conjure interesting music, they also give it generously away for free here (BandCamp) using those precise tools I alluded to. (Plus, they are immensely polite, calling me “Noise & Stuff editor”.) Their new album called ‘Torn & Burnt’ is a remix album featuring seven OBSIDIAN KINGDOM reworks by Octopus, Subheim, Poordream, Necro Deathmort, Jr Morgue, Drumcorps, Larvae and Mothboy, “giving their fans the opportunity to rediscover these seven songs through the prism of electronic-related styles such as abstract hip-hop, ambient, breakcore, idm or dubstep”. ‘Torn & Burnt’ was released independently on November 15th, 2013; it was mastered by Mr Ax with Jorge Mur and OBSIDIAN KINGDOM at Ax Studios in Barcelona, Spain. The album's art was created by Raf Veulemans. So, give it a spin below, because OBSIDIAN KINGDOM are an inspired and exciting bunch, and then download or buy the album from BandCamp or from the band's online store here. You can also stream it on Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud and every other major online music distributor:

OBSIDIAN KINGDOM came to be in 2005 in Barcelona, Spain because they felt that “the traditional values of the music industry have suffered a severe collapse”. Bypassing music labels they felt were “no longer the only ones who can decide which music is worth recording, promoting, distributing or listening to”, they have decided to return the power to its rightful owner – the audience - through the internet, p2p schemes and other sharing devices. They believe that the key to success lies not in record sales; “but in whether or not a band manages to build a loyal fanbase and worldwide exposure by whichever means”. Therefore OBSIDIAN KINGDOM give their music away for free. The band's first creation came in 2007. Called ‘Matter’, the recording was “musically speaking, a complex yet cohesive melting pot of various styles and influences; a bet on innovation through eclecticism, always inside the boundaries of extreme metal”:

In November 2012, OBSIDIAN KINGDOM released their debut full-length album ‘Mantis’ (or “an agony in fourteen bites”). A conceptual album featuring a single song divided into fourteen tracks which flow through different genres and as diversely influenced as Akira Yamaoka, to CULT OF LUNA, ULVER and PINK FLOYD, ‘Mantis’ has been produced by Jorge Mur and the band and mastered by Jens Bogren:

OBSIDIAN KINGDOM features: Rider G Omega – guitar and vocals, Prozoid Zeta JSI – guitar, Zer0 Æmeour Íggdrasil – keyboard and vocals, Fleast Race O’Uden – bass and Ojete Mordaza II – drums