VMO, short for Violent Magic Orchestra is a relatively new act, that is for sure. The Osaka, Japan-based project is nothing less than an amalgam of the most diverse kind. There is a lot of Drum’n’Bass in the vein of Roni Size in their music but also a lot of Black Metal - so some people might call this Dungeon Synth, but it is much more beat-oriented and modern in sound. That diverse mix can also be seen in their playlist. There are songs by Melt Banana, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and even Robert Miles but also tracks by Full of Hell, Mayhem, Brujeria or Burial.

The planet HELVETECH in 2099 has the same music as Earth. This time, we VMO chose music up to 2023. The future is still early for those reading this. If you want to hear the music of the future, listen to VMO. メイヘム is a hardcore man. ダークスローン is an electronic man. ゴルゴロス is a light man. ザスター is addicted to anime and K-POP. And VMO was born on the planet HELVETECH. That’s all. Have fun.

ṘO from Spain’s Basque region have given us several amazing releases like Athalase (2020) or Baiagoan a few months ago and we were really excited when they gave us this playlist for all of you to enjoy. They combined classics like Maybeshewill, Caspian, Olafur Arnalds or Toundra and added a few lesser known acts like Apparat, Dut, Mikel Iraeta or Sara Zozaya. Here is what they have to say:

These songs may not be the ones that we listen to everyday but they are really present in ṘO. There is a lot of musical taste variety in our band, but we all share the love for instrumental music. We like those long songs that explore deep atmospheres and emotive melodies but also heavy riffs full of rage.

A few weeks ago we gave you a detailed review of Seer of the Void’s fine full-length Mantra Monolith, this week they gave us a wonderful playlist showcasing some of their influences! Enjoy songs by The Sword, Uncle Acid, Weedeater, Kylesa, Black Tusk and Cough. And some classics, too!

This is a short playlist of our influences through different decades of music. From the psychedelic sixties through the heavier seventies, the more aggressive eighties era till the desert scene of the 90’s and more up to date stuff. These are some of the influences of the band that forged our new album Mantra Monolith and also our debut album Revenant. Some of them are obvious, some of them are more “under the skin”. We also think it’s a pretty good playlist for a roadtrip!

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Hmmm basically nothing but simply the new edition of our playlist-collaboration with José Carlos Santos aka The Devil’s Mouth.

Our favorite festival of the year, heck, of every year is approaching quickly and therefore we used one element of this year’s edition as a chance to do something different, a long look at one label, which started out as a labour of love and which is now one of the main players in heavy Psych-Rock and Noise-Rock: Rocket Recordings from Bristol, which started as a local, very niche label but which is by now spreading out into many different sounds. Therefore the label itself follows Roadburn’s idea of re-defining their sound pretty well, and that was also one of the reasons for their showcase in Tilburg this year, as Walter from Roadburn mentioned to me lately.

Visit the Devil’s Mouth substack to see Thorsten’s picks but right here, right now you can see that José picked some of the most well known bands from Rocket Recordings’ roster: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Goat, Deafkids x Petbrick, Gnod, Uran GBG or Teeth of the Sea! Which bands have we forgotten, folks?

Scandinavian “Everything heavy”-omnivores Draken (whose record Book of Black is out on Majestic Mountain Records - check out Knut’s review) have compiled this week’s playlist and man, it’s loaded with real classics - from Sepultura, Darkthrone, Iron Maiden, Celtic Frost, High On Fire or Slayer! Enjoy, all you metal aficionados!

This playlist displays the mood we were at when making Book of Black. Some of the tracks are direct inspirations, some are music we were listening to at the time of recording, some are songs we, in retrospect, can relate to the album. We hope you enjoy this little playlist!

Our VoS Tapes are back - and we have a mighty cool playlist for you compiled by Ari from STAHV who gives us a cool tracklist! And the man behind the cool Alternative Rock project from the West Coast has a real knack for these things as he is able to incorporate the greats from the 80s into a concise playlist featuring the likes of Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode & Fields of the Nephilim on the one hand and more modern sounds like Ladytron, Unto Others and Drab Majesty on the other. And here is what he has to say about his playlist:

This playlist reflects the dualities at the heart of STAHV: darkness and light, hook and atmosphere, famous and obscure. As a collection of songs, this mix moves through many phases of my life while genuinely expressing the sounds that move me today.

The sounds of Space Afrika and Riki are more recent discoveries brought to my attention through playing live shows and exploring modern iterations of genres I love. Then there is a track like “Stepping Out” by Joe Jackson that has never ceased to thrill me since I was a young child in the backseat of our family Volvo. Artists like Ladytron and M83 lie somewhere in between, consistent companions over the last few years.

If anything, the eclectic nature of this playlist is the glue. I’m a sonic omnivore, prone to obsessive immersion into a subgenre for weeks— even months—while simultaneously ingesting nostalgia for dessert.

I work with words and with sound, but music is my soul’s food. It provides me with energy, peace, distraction, and focus. So, from ’80s synth pop and goth rock to atmosphere beats and art rock, here is a curated overview of what makes STAHV tick in 2023.

Here you can also find our review of STAHV’s latest record Simple Mercies

One says there is a certain number of repetitions necessary to internalize a new process. Having repeated our collab with The Devil’s Mouth five times now, this has become a staple for us and for you out there. This time, José and Thorsten take on the 2003, a year many think not to have been a really great one, but they surely dug up a lot of treasures for that year!

As mentioned with the last playlists already, let’s dig deep and search for smaller themes because as the two are nerds at heart, they’ll still find enough stuff to keep your ears busy. Busy because the older listeners will revisit some records and songs and the younger ones will find amazing stuff they might have never heard of! Visit the Devil’s Mouth substack to see Thorsten’s picks but right here, right now you can see that José picked very diverse stuff like Darkthrone, Azure Ray, Early Day Miners, Burnt By The Sun, Willard Grant Conspiracy or Keelhaul - and those are only 6 out 30 songs!

Collaborations are important in our times, because what did John Donne say? “No man is an island!” and as we take our old-time-fellows seriously we love working with our parts of the scene and our collab with The Devil’s Mouth and José Carlos is already running well - so long talk, no sense, here it is finally: Edition No. 4 of The Love Collab and this time we have gone a little closer to the initial idea…

The first two playlist-collabs were harsh, quick, mean, to say the least. The third one was pretty mellow and quiet in all its facettes. And now we do what we set out - one topic that at first seems pretty narrow and enclosed, but who are José and me if we ain’t up for a good challenge. We took a good look at the scenes in Potugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, José concentrating on Black Metal from those four countries, while I looked more at the Doom bands from those countries. Here you get José’s Black Metal playlist and over at the Devil’s Mouth substack my Doom choices are on display! And now - keep on rockin and headbangin’ folks!!

Back again with another playlist this time by English Blackened Noise butchers Mastiff. The guys show that they can more than slaughter, see tracks by Malevolence, Black Flag, Zao or The Body, but also caress our earlopes with songs by Broken Social Scene, Manic Street Preachers or Saves the Day!

Jim
Grief Ritual - “Immurement”: One of my favourite releases of this year

Malevolence - “Life Sentence”: Playing with malev back when they first started and seeing where they are now is just class

Kublai Kahn - “The Hammer”: Nothing to see here other than one of the heaviest songs going

Knoll - “Guild of BlottedLucre”: Flat out from start to finish

Armed for Apocalypse - “Flesh and Blood”: We’re lucky to call these boys mates,and this album is unbelievably good

Taylor Swift - “Cruel Summer”: She can do no wrong

Phil
The Style Council - “My Ever Changing Moods”: This track superbly depicts what it is to be human.

The Ordinary Boys - “Over the Counter Culture”: I love this track, it’s massive and not gimmicky like some of the others they released.

Black Flag - “Nervous Breakdown”: Ace track, an early version of Black Flag being stripped back and catchy as hell.

Drug Church - “Grubby”: An incredibly complete track for its meagre running time.

Saves The Day - “Third Engine”: The riff at the beginning is first class and then the sing along parts are anthemic. 

The Smiths - “Cemetery Gates”: - My favourite Smiths track, it’s about spending time in a cemetery and reading poetry. How romantic.

Jam
Manic Street Preachers - “Faster”: As vicious and acerbic now as the day I first heard it, and single-handedly informed my predilection towards bile-filled heavy music.

Carpenter Brut - “Leather Terror”: Hard metallic synthwave with Ben Koller on the drums. Nothing got my blood pumping this year harder than this song. 

Zao - “Croatoan”: A masterclass in creeping dread, pinned down in its second half by one of the greatest Zao riffs of all time. 

Wiegedood - “FN SCAR 16”: The most genuinely threatening Black Metal song I’ve heard in years. The hypnotic, swirling and maniacally repeating main riff makes me feel sick in the best possible way.

Burning Love - “Karla”: Pitch-black rock’n’roll hardcore of the highest order, Cursed will always be my favourite Chris Colohan band but the sheer fist-pumping power of Burning Love cannot be denied. 

Nine Inch Nails - “The Great Destroyer”: Year Zero is one of so many underrated later NIN albums, and this song is a perfect example why. Saw them play this at the Royal Albert Hall and the big drop into the massive electronic outro almost crumbled the walls of the building.

Mike
The Clash - “Safe European Home”: Massive sounding song and very well written.

The Jam - “Saturdays Kids”: One of my favourite bands from my childhood. Clever social commentary with the lyrics. 

Killing Joke - “Into the Unknown”: An epic song, which doesn’t let up.

The Damned - “Love Song”: Fast as fuck punk rock at it’s best!

Nasum - “Particles”: Absolute face ripping track! And what a way to open an album!

Radiohead - “Let Down”: A very melancholy song that builds. Listen to it if you want to be truly pissed off.

Dan
Liars - “Broken Witch”: A wonderfully disjointed ritual.

Broken Social Scene - “KC Accidental”: An evolving stop/start gem with a beautiful ending.

The Body - “Nothing Stirs”: One of the bleakest yet most beautiful tracks in The Body’s catalogue.

Aphex Twin - “To Cure A Weakling Child”: No playlist is complete without some Aphex Twin and this track is a banger!

Nothing - “B&E”: Modern shoegaze perfection.

Helmet - “Like I Care”: Bogdan and Stanier are my favourite rhythm section.

Blackgaze is one of those wonderful mixes that can swing from heaven to hell in less than three blastbeats. Norway’s Sundrowned have a real good feel for it as they proved last year with their debut Become Ethereal which received highly positive reviews. And this week they provide us with the first playlist of the year with several surprises like Crydebris, Grouper, Radiohead but also awesome blackened music like Conjurer, Cult Leader or Misþyrming!

This is what the band has to say about their choices:

J. A. Piscopo
When I first heard that Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle were making an album together it got my heart racing. And what came out of it was an album that surpassed all expectations, the marriage of Thou’s signature gut punch sound and Emma’s impeccable sense of atmosphere made for a truly stunning release, ”The Valley”. ”Scrape” is in my opinion Chelsea Wolfe at her absolute best. The undertow of heavy drones with the high range vocals makes the song mesmerizing.

I don’t know how many people I’ve pushed ”Wonder” onto, I practically worship this song. The riffs and drums are a whirlpool of chaos topped with some harrowing vocals, it’s a song that sticks in your brain for ages. ”Young Mountain” is a really great mixture of Shoegaze and Hardcore, their songs are written with a good sense of dynamics keeping your attention from beginning to end. Ariadne is a duo that is super difficult to recommend due to the eccentric nature of the music. Being a mixture of Ambient, Glitch and harsh Noise with operatic vocals makes them a truly unique listen. It’s enchanting, jarring, and divine all at the same time.

L. M. Tjøsvoll
I’ve picked songs that all resonate with me emotionally, and that have had an impact on me, whether guiding me through difficult periods or amplifying my best experiences. In addition, they all embody qualities that I seek out in music. “Mononoke-Picture” embodies a raw vulnerability in the vocal performance that I can only admire as an instrumentalist. “Impact”, from one of my favorite artists stylistically showcases the grandeur and melancholy I associate with the best of Post-Black metal. “Farewell” frequently plays in my ears while trail running, which is where I feel the most in my element and at home. The song is synonymous with natural beauty for me. “Heavy Is The Head…” combines pretty much every element that makes metal exciting, engaging and resonant for me. It’s angry, bitter and frustrated, but it is also extremely fun. There is nothing positive in this song (and often the genre), but it puts a smile on my face every time.

G. L. Innocent
“The End of Man Will Bring Peace to This Earth”, one of my absolute favorite songs from Portrayal of Guilt. The drums in this song are amazing, especially the first minute, with lots of energy and well-played structured chaos. Led Zeppelin´s “Communication Breakdown” manages to capture some of my favorite drumming elements from my biggest drumming influence, John Bonham. His riff-based drumming, somehow constantly playing around the guitar riffs, is something I’ve used a lot with Sundrowned as well. Conjurer´s “Choke” has some amazing blastbeat-sections. Our biggest inspiration for drum sound and production on Become Ethereal comes from Birds in Row´s album We Already Lost the World, especially the song “We vs. Us”, where the drums just sound so organic, natural, dynamic and “airy” in some way. Phil Selway´s drumming in “Bodysnatchers” manages to keep the energy going, playing the same pattern throughout the whole song, this inspired the whole “less-is-more” drumming in our debut album.

M. B. Jakobsen
The songs I’ve picked out are a mix of stuff I´ve been listening to recently and music that has influenced both me personally and the band. I decided to include the Icelandic band Misþyrming, as they’re one of my favorite Black Metal bands nowadays. The thunderous title track of their second album ”Algleymi” could quite possibly be one of my favorite metal tracks of the past decade. The band Nothing pretty much acted as my gateway into the world of Shoegaze when I discovered them in 2015. This also prompted me to start buying a whole lot of effect pedals in order to get the same soaring and dreamy sound that they had. So, in a way, I guess you could say that they’ve influenced my guitar playing too, in addition to being a big inspiration for the band as well. As for Grouper, she is perhaps the artist that I’ve listened the most to lately. Especially the A I A: Alien Observer record. I chose the title track for this list as it is probably the most accessible of the bunch. The last band I included is the American Hardcore/Crust-Punk outfit Cult Leader, of whom which we are all big fans in the band.

There it is, the third edition of our collaboration with José “The Devil’s Mouth” Santos Carlos! And we are back to entertain you by calming down your jangled nerves amidst these tiresome times of WorldCup-quabbles and the vain attempt of trying to steer clear of “Last Effin Xmas”!

As we like to change things around a bit we wanted to come up with something totally different musically because the first two editions were pretty heavy, right? So what better thing to do than come up with a playlist full of calmer, quieter songs? Right, nothing! José’s playlist has lots of interesting choices - William Elliott Whitmore, 40 Watt Sun or M. Ward and also stuff one might not expect like Ulver, Therapy? (again!), Danzig or Katatonia. And one band is even featured on both playlists. Both? Yeah, both, because The Devil’s Mouth will be hosting our response our response with even more stuff!

Girih might be new on the dunk!records roster, but we all know that doesn’t mean anything, right? Because these guys definitely can hold their own ground. Knut’s review clearly explains what is so special about the band, for the trio shows what is possible with two guitars (Alex and Jeremy) and one drum kit (Brian). The playlist they compiled for us is a good indicator of their diverse taste, for the guys have some awesome and highly contrasting acts like Big | Brave and Sundrowned, August Burns Red and Dream Theater, Olafur Arnalds and Alexisonfire.

Alex’s songs:
Big | Brave is an influence on what three people can create sonically. Astronoid, Sundrowned, and by extension Holy Fawn are masters of both excess and utilization of that excess. Rolo Tomassi and Novo Amor are doing more with less in these selections, which is huge as an influence as well. And then Animals as Leaders are creating interesting rhythms, often well out of reach in terms of a listener, but still influential when pushing the boundaries of our own musicianship.

Jeremy’s songs:
Jakob was a big intro into the world of Post-music for me, in particular this song’s drum grooves were really inspiring in using double bass as a texture rather than just a time keeper. Similarly Danny Carey’s use of the toms and double bass really makes for a super intriguing groove, with multiple layers in the drum parts. August Burns Red, in this song particularly the intro section, really builds the song in my opinion and sets the stage for the rest of the piece. “Octavarium” is still one of if not my all-time-favorite piece by Dream Theater. I grew up in the prog world, and this song, with how symphonic it is, really takes the listener on a musical journey, and not just lyrically. The same goes for “Nymphetamine”, it’s a sonic adventure with many different actors that come in throughout the 9+ minutes of it. Russian Circles is, of course, a huge influence of ours, and “309” has some super interesting drum grooves in it that inspired a lot of the way I approach writing drum parts.

Brian’s songs:
Olafur Arnalds was the first concert I went to after (?) the pandemic. I was able to see him play at Berklee in Boston after years of missing his rare American performances. It was worth the wait. He is definitely a huge influence on me musically. This track off his most recent album makes me feel like I’m watching a film about my life and I’m at a scene that I had forgotten about. The rest of the songs are a collection of what I’ve been listening to lately. Ranging from brand new to not so new-ish.

Thanks for listening!

Well, here we are now already with the second edition of our crossover-playlist-project with The Devil’s Mouth - which will now be releasing our playlist on each other’s socials every third Friday of the month. This time the songs are also longer than last time, don’t worry!

For this month, the basic idea was an inversion of the “Good Santa” aka “Good People”-idea so we took the route to ”Bad Will to Bad Men” and tried to come up with songs of hate and anger and a bit of malice. And now without further ado, enjoy the music - Josè’s playlist features songs by Triptykon, Therapy?, Dragged into Sunlight, Anaal Natrakh, Lingua Ignota, Swans and many more.

Salt Pig from Sheffield released one of those complete, utter surprises of an album a few weeks ago, which Thorsten reviewed very highly also because of its non-conformity. And now they sent us this mesmerizing playlist-text which makes us fall in love only more! Salt Pig, ladies and gents!

Number 75 already? Wow, time flew by, huh? So for this one we are happy to have Noise Raid as our “radio host” this week and their diverse mix will initiate a lot of head noddin in acknowledgment or some booty shakin because of the rhythms - they chose by Kvelertak, Nine Inch Nails, Wheel, NoFX, Jinjer, Seas On The Moon and Far Behind The Sun amongst others. Have fun, ladies and gentlemen!

“As Knut had already pointed out in his review, we are big fans of incorporating different genres into our songs. This results in unusual combinations, like progressive rock meeting punk or reggae alternating with noise metal. However, we still prefer to call the result just instrumental metal, because the harder pace and the fat riffs from metal are the only constant in all of our songs. But how did we as individual musicians come to write our music like this?

Our guitarist Andi names the American artcore band Horse the Band as an influence for the varied songwriting. In the song “Rape Escape” they show, together with the Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa, that it is possible to combine artful, dissonant metal with fragile synthesizers and neo-classical 12-tone music. On the other hand, the progressive rock old masters Pink Floyd are mentioned as the second influence. Especially with the experimental pieces they presented at their audience-less live performance in Pompeii in 1972, they show beautifully how the imaginary boundaries of music can and must be overcome.

More catchy, on the other hand, are the two common influences of the two guitar players (Lilith & Andi): Both mastermind Josh Homme’s Queens of the Stone Age project and Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails are mentioned here for their incredibly detailed songwriting and expressive work with contrasts and breaks. However, the influence of down-to-earth, driving punk rock like NoFX play it should not be forgotten. Combine this with Nordic black metal and a bit of rock’n’roll and you load up on Kvelertak. As Knut correctly guessed in his review, our German title “Würgegriff” is an homage to their band name.

Our bassist Lars gets his inspiration from songs like “I Speak Astronomy” by Jinjer. He likes their sophisticated grooves coupled with heavy sounds. Another favourite band of his is Seas on the Moon, who collaborate with several different artists to create a wide range of different songs. One of which is “Bugs (extended)”, on which Brooke Dougherty a.k.a. Athena sings. This song starts off quite chilled and then takes off with a nice, heavy riff. The last influence he lists is the song “Wheel” by the equally named band. Here, a bass and drum centric groove builds the foundation of the music. In his opinion, the interplay of these two instruments can often make or break a song.

Etiennes drumming is often following the pattern of the rhythm guitar divided on bassdrum and snare like the German Post-Rock band Far Behind The Sun used to do it. Together with slow and repetitive patterns loaded with crash cymbal wash played to epic and escalating, emotional guitar leads. (Unfortunately Far Behind The Sun’s most influential songs, for Etienne, are no longer available on Spotify, but you can still find them on YouTube: “VCC 1316” & “GCG 53517”)

Sometimes it’s astonishing what people can do with a lot of time on their hand - the music made by HEIMLICH MANØVER is just another proof for it. We reviewed their first EP (here) and are very happy to host this playlist compiled by the duo from Northern Germany. The guys have incorporated tracks by acts as diverse as Hugar, Trentemøller, Angeloa Badalamenti, Utopia Union, Pray for Sound, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, William Ryan Fritch or Nils Frahm. Enjoy!

“Maybe it took a lockdown light version and the ensuing reduction of contact with other people for Jan & Bernd to find a starting point. A long time before the pandemic both shared the idea of joining forces in order to produce some calmer sounds than the ones they normally recorded with their instrumental rockband MMTH. At first they met regularly once a week in the evenings and began working on a new fragment every week all the while recordings their ideas without really thinking about it. Having been friends for more than 20 years they also lost sight of each other a few times alongt the way. Only when they founded MMTH together with two other mates their bond grew much tighter and closer. Since then they always exchanged musical suggestions and when Jan showed Bernd the Icelandic duo Hugar and one of their live-sessions on YouTube, that sparked the idea, to get together as a duo and work on some such ideas without any specific goals in mind.

Shared visits to the cinema and suggestions for movies also unravelled a common love for science-fiction movies as well as their oftentimes highly atmospheric soundtracks.

This mixtape shall not discover any secret sources of inspiration, because some obvious similarities between the tracks on our EPs (Fragments 01 and 02) and some of the tracks on here can simply not be denied.

As many know, Mogwai have already composed many soundtracks alongside their regular full-lengths and those soundtracks are always amazing. Another big inspiration was the album Waiting Room of the (unfortunately) a little less famous band Pray For Sound, which also follows a calmer train of thought and which was a favorite for Jan and Bernd long before the formation of HEIMLICH MANØVER

During the songwriting-process both of us also dove deeper into similar soundscapes, re-discovered some older stuff (Angelo Badalamenti or Trentemøller) and also found new faves (Nils Frahm, Tim Hecker, etc.)”

A new feature to our little VoS-realm and at the same time a collaboration with a friend of ours – perfect combination for a Wednesday evening, right? We are lucky to work with José Carlos Santos, whom many of you might know as a masterful music journalist as well as being the guy behind The Devil’s Mouth – with loads of great articles, interviews and podcasts. Each month he will now give us a playlist for your exquisite aural pleasures, folks!

The structure is easy – José will compile a thematic playlist for us and head honcho Thorsten compiles one for him. High Fidelity-vibes, anyone? On our page you will find José’s playlist and on The Devil’s Mouth you will find Thorsten’s reply. The playlist will normally not exceed the 60-minute-mark. Plus – the two guys will be giving you a short video each month to talk about their choices and to nerd it out a bit.

For this month, the basic idea was simply to give you ”A Short Introduction” and what better to keep it short and simple? The songs are all, more or less, under two minutes and you can be sure to find some really cool choices on both lists. And now without further ado, enjoy the music - Josè’s playlist features Eyelet, Vermin Womb, Whores., Threatener but also classics like Brutal Truth, Eyehategod or Discordance Axis!

Another mindblowing playlist from Italy, this time by Bologna-based band Tenebra. They show us their vast influences, ranging from Screaming Trees to Sepultura, from Dinosaur, Jr. to the Bad Brains, so we are pretty sure you will enjoy this eclectic mix!#

“Hello, we are TENEBRA from Bologna. On April 29th our new album Moongazer was released on New Heavy Sounds. This playlist is intended as a small, non-exhaustive collection of some of the influences that inspired us in writing the record. Enjoy!”

Knut is a magician - his reviews always arouse the interest of the bands he is talking about and many of them compile a playlist for us afterwards. The mighty Omegashift from Norway did just that after reading his review and then compiled a cool playlist with some surprises as well. Furthermore, they gave us this mighty fun, and highly informative text about the reasons for their choices!

The band Omegashift combines four individuals with a massive reach regarding musical taste and inspirations. For this playlist we figured we should focus on the Omegashift cd, what bands have coloured the content on Doctrine Of Dust. Not necessary what we like the best, what we grew up with, but pointers towards the stuff we listen to and is audible through the five songs. And perhaps you will discover new favourites?

Our incredibly positive vocalist Jorunn tries to separate herself from the strange [guys] by saying “… I have probably given Omegashift a pinch of mainstream (if that is even possibly)”, but the fact is that she has adopted a similar strangeness, and freaks out the rest with odd places to sing 😊.

“I was the girl who never stopped dancing and wore too many colours at the same time. I still do:). I believe my list also reflects that I love singing. Making just one list is so hard when the world is full of music, but here are a few of my favourites: “Rumour” by Bel Canto. I heard this album over and over and I just loved the way she used her voice in this song. I think I still know it by heart :). “Even Flow” by Pearl Jam. I love it! If I must narrow down to just one song by Portishead it would be “Glory Box”. It has everything; interesting text, a great bass line and a lovely voice. And last; Etta James’ powerful voice in “At Last””.

Bjørnar, song writer and our lyrical brain: “Both “Hands” and “My epic” are of such presence and tenderness in their music. They anchor their expressions in waves of light and deep shadows that touch me and grow in me. “Crowned in Sorrow” is a majestic and superheavy slab of brilliant doom, and this debut will stay with me for a long time. Extol is our Norwegian pearl of progressive and radiant heavy music. They are a band I have much history with and hold in high regard both musically and lyrically, and as with the other artists I have chosen, they share the same worldview as I do…and that is for me a most important part of music and inspiration.”

Tor, the bass player is reaching out for Rainbow´s Rising album, in his words the 1975 masterpiece from Rainbow is “…an album where every song are top notch. Both Dio as a vocalist and the band have been crucial in forming and defining the metal scene of today.” And Tor is a big fan of Candlemass, no doubt. “This is probably the song I’ve played the most, and the album is a cornerstone of the doom metal genera. “My Death” from Mayhem´s Chimera is the perfect song with headphones on, when working and concentrating. The raw, basic, dirty edges provide an expression few other bands within the extreme metal scene are able to match.”

Yngve, the drummer, grew up in the 70’s, but though he did his thrash years with inspiration from Coroner, Kreator and other excellent bands, for the Omegashift sound other names appear. “I’ve always loved dark music with a positive edge, where the heavy and shadowed feelings bring hope. Longing, heart, sorrow, love, darkness, solitude, and the beauty made by the almighty saviour. For this list my pickings are all lifelong favourites: Pavlov´s Dog and the incredible “Pampered Menial” LP. You need to listen, you will love it. Third and The Mortal? Perhaps the crown jewel of the sacral folkish doom scene. Trouble? Man, if you need to ask, you haven’t done your job. The mighty Trouble, rest in peace Eric, what a killer vocalist. The heavy Norwegian dark rock band Thule is so good they still give me the chills after all these years. Check out the first three albums, especially Natt and Frostbrent (my track is from this album, a killer release, but less progressive than Natt). Back in ‘91 I fell in love with Nick Cave, and though I still love his music, it’s the first albums doing it for me, and with Murder Ballads as the peak. Let Love In was my first new Cave album, and despite my love for the title track and the second version of “Do You Love Me”, I picked the lovely “Ain’t Gonna Rain Anymore”. Pure organic love.

Italian trio Palliatives for Dirty Consciences are from Rome - and as diverse as the city with its mix of ancient temples an ruins and baroque buildings is also their list of influences, which they present us on this playlist. Be sure to also check out their album blankly on their Bandcamp page

“Each of us chose three or four songs summarising his own influences, old and new listenings. The playlist is carefully set to represent what we like for the most: from louder to lower dynamics. Ethereal and dreamy moments are alternating to space rides intercalated with white noise blackouts and crooked ballads.”

When we reviewed Hiroe’s debut record released on the mighty Pelagic Records label we were astonished at how well-composed the record was for a debut. But then again, when looking at the amazing influences the band has, it’s not even close to a surprise. They listened carefully and composed even more so. Here you can find out which records, bands and songs influenced Eric Kusanagi, one of the masterminds behind the band.

“This is music to reflect on.

These songs have a lot of personal meaning to me. They carry a lot of weight. They’ve carried me through good times and bad.

I’m proud to say that some of these songs were created by friends and peers that we’ve had the honor of sharing the stage with.

Some of these songs were created by people that I’ve never had the honor of meeting.

But it’s wonderful knowing that someone out there, be it a friend, or a stranger has created something that resonates, something that you can relate to, something that can take you to another time and place.

Some of these songs have been shared to me, and some of these songs I’ve shared out with others.

Now I share this gift with you. Now I share these songs with you. I hope this music resonates with you, as much as they have with me.

This is music to reflect on.”

Sacred Son has grown a lot - from a one-man-project to a full band. And his latest record (our review here) is a perfect metaphor for our modern life. Dane Cross and his mates have taken the historical event of the Peasants Revolution and used it as a blueprint for our modern life. For us he created a themed playlist for one of his favorite bands - Slipknot! Enjoy all you VoS-aficionados - enjoy the weekend and the new playlist!

“Not so long ago I embarked on a long overdue re-appraisal of Slipknot’s post-Iowa outings. Having previously given them unfairly short shrift, I’ve since realised that I probably went at them from the wrong angle - that is, I held them to the impossibly high standards set by 1999’s perfect and iconic Slipknot and 2001’s perfect and iconic Iowa, which was unrealistic of me and would only end in disappointment.

Listening back now to all four records, I discovered that they became much more enjoyable in their own right once I was able to sequester them from the two earlier masterpieces and regard them as their own separate body of work.

So, to mark this week’s announcement of their upcoming album ‘The End (So Far)’, I give you Vol. 6.5: Subliminal Hope of the Gray Kind; my top 13 tracks from the post-Iowa era, structured to emulate the ebb and flow of a Slipknot record.

One low-key exception aside, I have opted to avoid including the singles. We’re all very familiar with them and, in my opinion, they’re often not the standout tracks.”

Stiu Nu Stiu’s latest record (our review here) was an addictive mix of post-punk, indie-rock and some doomy elements with a bewitching female voice. Their guitar player Martin Sandström was so nice to compile this playlist for us and also gave us a cool explanation for his choices. Enjoy all you VoS-aficionados - enjoy the weekend and the new playlist!

“So this playlist was made by me Martin Sandström who plays guitar in Știu Nu Știu and writes a lot of the material. This playlist is a mix of influences I have and in a lot of cases what at least a few more in the band have been listening to a lot over the years.

Some not so well-known Swedish bands that I think more people should hear like the opener of the list Breach, the end with Cobolt (both from the far north of Sweden) or our Uppsala friends Diskoteket. Some of us in the band have loved Slint for a long time and our other guitarist has had a Slint tattoo on his arm for I guess 25 years or so. So there is some pretty heavy and/or hard stuff on this list but also some really lush sounding things.’

I think there is a lot of good stuff going in some sort of post-punk or goth style of music like the Icelandic band Kaelan Mikla or the 80’s-sounding Johnny Dynamite & The Bloodsuckers, or the brilliant band/guy Sadness who, I think, really mixes up some interesting things.

Some of this I dj when I do that here in Stockholm. “

Thorsten’s review of their full-length debut showed a lot of people why it was important to listen to Swiss band Kalkas. And this playlist might show which bands and songs are important to them. Enjoy all you VoS-aficionados out there!

“Kalkas aims to create intense, emotional and narrative music. Telling stories in music, about the strange entity that is Kalkas and the dangers it represents for modern humans. Our voices come to tell, in the style of spoken words, our anguish linked to global warming and the destruction of Nature. We want to give our music a natural touch, coming from the primary nature while mixing the different musical styles of this playlist. In this one, we have gathered a series of tracks that inspire us, as much in the atmospheres as in the music itself. You will find stoner, doom, psychedelic music, black metal, acoustic music or post-rock for example.   Kalkas is a trio from Lausanne in Switzerland, formed in 2019. The pandemic allowed us to record our first album Envoûtante Sève and to lay the foundations for our future stories.

We wish you a good listening and hope to meet you virtually or physically!”

When Daniel told us he wanted to write a review on an album by a relatively unknown project called The Glass Pavilion, we just gave him free reigns as we usually do. When we then listened to it ourselves, we understood why he really, really wanted to do this. And now, being huge fans of Glass Pavilion’s strong yet fragile music, we feel honored to have him give us some kind of insight into his music and what influenced it. Enjoy all you VoS-aficionados - enjoy the weekend and the new playlist!

“I found it really hard to make an “influences” playlist without either going too narrow (because there aren’t many conscious influences in my mind at all when I sit down to write music), or too broad (because there’s a temptation to just start sharing more and more of your favourite songs). So I’ve tried to focus by asking myself what, honestly, are the roots of the musical preferences that tend to come out when I sit down to write a Glass Pavilion track. What I’ve come up with is this “Formative Years” playlist: ten tracks I discovered between the ages of 11-24 (ish), presented in the order I first heard them, that (in my head at least) trace some sort of a line towards The Glass Pavilion.”