So here we are back with the new edition of a brilliant invention made by our friend Zodiac Lung, the Swamp Compilation aka Swamp Comp, devoted to unsigned underground bands.
While Zodes is waiting for his real baby to come and keep his parents awaken all night long (hahaha, hopefully not!), here’s another biiiig baby who, guaranteed, behaves well, the Swamp Comp Volume III.
I started collecting contributions since mid November and actually the last ones arrived well after the deadline, which was about Christmas time. I had to refuse more coming a few days ago. The contributions have been so many, so varied, so cool but also so “fat” that this edition of the Swamp Comp is back to the original version, i.e., it is containing only the voluntary contributions by the bands.
Last time we had also made an additional mammoth serving of tracks from all the unsigned bands posted over a time span of six months on the Swamp. I have prepared a list of those tracks as well, but they are so many that they may be dealt with and posted in other occasions. Too much is too much.
As in the previous edition, the Swamp Comp Vol. III hosts tracks by unsigned bands as well as a few tracks by not-so-unsigned or freshly signed bands that asked to contribute/were invited and even donated tracks from brand new releases. This is, for example, the case for bands Cardiac Noose and Wizardrone.
As in the previous edition, the compilation also hosts tracks by bands that are not yet hosted by the Swamp, so it is the occasion of know them. Also, as last time, several bands kindly provided exclusive, unreleased tracks from self-produced albums which are about to be released (and even tracks recorded specifically for the comp). This is the case for bands Enirva, King Bong, The Central End, Chris McChubs, Black Capricorn, Last Trip, Lunar Dust and Withered Druid.
Thanks a lot, folks!
Another exclusive feature of the Swamp Comp Vol. III that makes me proud and grateful is the cover artwork which has been created by a young but highly endowed, professional graphic artist, Sibilla. Sibilla is well appreciated for her cool, nasty, psyched-out and gloomy album covers and festival posters in the underground extreme metal scene in Italy. I was so proud when she accepted to collaborate! She did several cool, creepy graphic projects and at the end she elaborated two different cover arts in her crepuscular and imaginative style for the front and for the back of an ideal CD folder.
So here you have a second Witch of the Swamp, equally nasty (or more!) but younger, hahaha!
The Swamp Comp Vol. III is big as it hosts 33 tracks. It is extremely varied as far as musical genres are involved. I must say, it was a big work, and big fun, rearranging the tracks in order to give a sense to or to harmonize the whole collection while tracks kept arriving.
Don’t be fooled by the position of the tracks to the top or to the bottom of the comp. There’s no implication for ranking, as there are cool tracks at the beginning, in the middle and at the bottom of the collection.
Geographically the contributions came from both hemispheres! Tracks came from USA (Enirva, The Central End, Wizardrone, Dead Languages, Romero, Cardiac Noose, Normpeterson, Shintaro Kago), Italy (King Bong, Turbomatt, Stroszek, Mahatma, The Dallaz, Black Capricorn, Beaumont Livingston, Lunar Dust, Manthra Dei, Adamennon), Canada (Devotion, CortisoL, President Camacho, Porno Coma), Finland (The Fërtility Cült, Monuments In The Horizon, Boar), Israel (Behind The Sun), Austria (Home), Brazil (Bode Preto), Australia (Last trip), UK/Denmark (Chris McChubs), Chile (Ocultum), Poland (Belzebong) and Ireland (Withered Druid). The only UK contribution is the cool, unreleased track by Chris McChubs, a “misanthropic”, Lovecraft-inspired musician and Englishman relocated in Denmark for love! Ah, those irresistible Scandinavian ladies …:-)
I’ve received contributions encompassing any shade of desert-stoner rock, southern rock, garage rock, psychedelic-space rock, alternative acoustic rock, doom, sludge, drone-dark ambient, even some black-death-thrash, noise, up to “extreme noise”!
I have arranged the tracks as in a sort of toy swing bringing you back and forth from sunshine to darkness through music. Sometimes the shift from one mood to another is abrupt, sometimes it is gradual.
Some bands sent me a specific track or gave me instructions, whereas some other bands let me free to choose their track from entire albums. My choice has been sometimes driven by the will or the need to follow the “swing”, and probably what I have chosen may not properly represent the style of the band. For example, I’m thinking about band President Camacho, whose track here fits well with the style of Bode Preto’s pill of black-thrash blasphemy! However you are encouraged to further explore the bands introduced here …
There are some bands that we know already from previous editions of the Swamp Comp, like The Central End, Black Capricorn, Last Trip, Lunar Dust and Home (btw, showing quite an interesting evolution towards heavier dirty tunes). Another curious feature is that three out of four Canadian bands, all unsigned, have a musician in common, Laurent Seiter, bassist and boss of Church of Zer blog.
As the Swamp is variably populated by “sinners” (ask what your non-metal friends think of you when they find you listening to the tunes passing through here, eh eh …), the compilation can’t but start in a sinful way as far as band’s name and song title are concerned!
In this sonic swing big doses of trippy psych stoner-desert and hot, juicy bluesy, southern and garage rock will soothe your years from the heaviness and the distortions of doom and other variably dissonant, disturbing, raspy, nasty or noisy tunes from USA, Finland, Canada, Brazil, Chile and Ireland.
However there will be also a few “ambience”, chill-out intervals through some great, atmospheric, refreshing acoustic or semi-acoustic tracks. Some magic, chill-out moments and guitar work provided by Behind The Sun from Israel (the intro of their beautiful, powerful track) and by Stroszek from Italy (related to the eclectic black metal band Frostmoon Eclipse) may recall Opeth’s style in the wonderful Damnation album. Australia’s Last Trip donated a further dose of great, refreshing, raw and laid-back indie rock as Australians know how to do. A soft, charming, but very gloomy track of Adamennon’s bleak drone-dark ambient will be your scary door to the final, “extreme noise” Armageddon, eh eh …
The “extreme noise Armageddon” (sludgy-drone noise) mentioned above is what will violently drag you out of the Comp! It is kindly provided via tracks by the US band Normpeterson, by the US one-man band Shintaro Kago and by Irish duo Withered Druids. The Shintaro Kago and Withered Druids guys made me laugh so much when they described their tunes. Be aware that for the crazy couple of Irish metallers invented an instrument (see the picture of its construction … gosh!) with which they were able to make all the people hate them at their only gig they did in their peaceful town!!! But I know you’ll be tough and resist till the end with the volume pumped up, eh eh …
Here is the track-list of the compilation, with titles, bands and length.
1 – Names Of The Devil – Belzebong – 5:01
2 – Zen Breaker – Enirva – 5:12
3 – Völkerwanderung – The Fërtility Cült – 11:03
4 – Second December – Behind the Sun – 6:22
5 – Sweet Fever – Bode Preto – 1:52
6 – Motorizer – President Camacho – 2:14
7 – Cthulhu – King Bong – 10:30
8 – Autoclone – Turbomatt – 3:46
9 – Black Iron Gates – The Central End – 7:55
10 – Righteous Evil – Wizardrone – 8:15
11 – Nighthawks And Underdogs – Stroszek – 4:37
12 – Cannabicum – Ocultum – 5:42
13 – Fire Up And Ride - Monuments In The Horizon – 17:52
14 – Sadhu’s Way – Dead Languages – 7:49
15 – Gilgamesh – Mahatma – 7:55
16 – Losers – The Dallaz – 6:04
17 – Bastard Son Of Affluence Blues – Devotion – 3:00
18 – Summer Slide – CortisoL – 11:37
19 – The Monolith – Chris McChubs – 2:44
20 – Astro Destroyer – Black Capricorn – 4:36
21 – Angry Rider – Romero – 7:49
22 – Hot Lips – Beaumont Livingston – 3:29
23 – Isaiah – Boar – 6:09
24 – Patricia – Home – 5:16
25 – Diplodocul – Porno Coma – 3:56
26 – She Don’t Know – Last Trip – 7:43
27 – Rock’n’Roller – Cardiac Noose – 5:16
28 – Beware The Cactus – Lunar Dust – 3:56
29 – The Mute Machine – Manthra Dei – 18:21
30 – Yhell – Adamennon – 4:20
31 – Traffic – Normpeterson – 4:40
32 – Flushes Of War – Shintaro Kago – 1:54
33 – Eyes Closed Wide – Withered Druid – 8:00
The compilation is quite big (over 340 MB for almost four hours of music, if I counted well) but it has been uploaded as a whole. It should be listened to as a whole to appreciate the swing effect, although, eh eh, I know it may be difficult!
The folder also includes an info package where I gathered extended infos and news, links (in a text file) and also some photos (in a separate folder), relative to the tracks and the artists involved in the compilation.
Thanks so much to all the artists involved. I hope many people will appreciate the gift, help spreading the news and support the underground.
And I hope you’ll have fun while listening to the “beast” and admiring the great creepy artwork by the “witch” Sibilla!