Negromancy - 3 Tape set

If any of you have been following the likes of Integrity or Oede on FaceBook, you have probably stumbled across NEGROMANCY. What is the best way to describe exactly what this is? Perhaps the best decription comes straight from the source; "Negromancy conjures lo-fi blackened creole cigar box guitar spells and other acts of swamp witchery".

But just in case that was a bit obscure, here is an outsider's description. I'd say Negromancy is best described as a tape label specialising in cigar-box guitar based music. This is pretty cool, as generally the instruments are not only played by the musicians, but also produced by them too. They even sell their own wicked looking cigar box guitars from time to time.
But enough about the label. What we have here is one of their latest releases, a set of three brand new tapes. The first, released by Bleme, comes in this great cardboard packaging above. It also came with it's own feather and incredibly loud artwork.

On the reverse of this is another cool aspect of Negromancy. The provide instructions on how to make your own weapons of musical destruction. I'd love to give this a go...

Next in the set of three is this split by VVlad and Nékrhärkh. No I can't pronounce that either.

The tape is dark as hell, with vocals sounding like they emerged right from the depths of Hell. It comes with a rather large foldout/artwork that is equally as menacing.

What I was actually most interested in (and really why I bought the whole package), was this tape by Fog Specter. On the Cvlt of the 7 Crovvns mixtape there was a single track by Fog Specter, Fog Mistress. I tried to find out more about this band online as it was something in very stark contrast to the rest of the tape. My search was not entirely fruitful, and only managed to find a tiny piece of information somewhere.

This tape contains just over 17 minutes of Fog Specter goodness. It is really something quite strange, and feels like it is haunting your very soul. But in a strange way it is quite soothing to listen to.

The whole set is limited to just 33 copies, and sold out pretty quickly. Luckily you can hear everything courtesy of their bandcamp page.

Cult of The Seven Crowns Mixtape I - Land of Screwdom

When I first heard (or perhaps read is more appropriate) this tape was going to be released, I was keen to pick up a copy a.s.a.p. Surely enough I ordered one as soon as I could, and it arrived rather promptly. Now I knew the sort of songs I'd be expecting to hear when I first played the tape. In this way the tape wasn't a surprise, but in another way I haven't been more surprised by a release in a long time. When I first played it recognised a beat coming from Mobb Deep, although something was different about it. It seemed painfully slow and distorted but soon enough the signature Gehenna-style madness flooded the speakers.

And that's what the whole tape is like really, it's great. It's an interesting take on the usual metallic hardcore, I'm not sure of another mixtape in this style that has taken this approach. But it certainly makes some of the tracks sound particularly menacing. To get a taste of what I mean perhaps try loading up Audacity and messing around with 83%. If you slow it down from 45 to 33 rpm you may just get an appreciation of what I mean.

As you can see we've quite a diverse range of tracks on this tape; ranging from Gehenna and Sangraal to The Discreet Doll Band and Fog Spectre. It certainly makes for an interesting mix of 'genres'.

Only a mere 100 of these tapes have been released in a joint effort between Idonuem Bello and Fuck Yoga, with mine being lucky number 72. It seems these are now all sold out, so if you're keen for some COT7C action you'll have to hit up Ebay in the hope some foolish person is willing to let go of their precious copy.

One of the more interesting tracks on the tape was the very last one, 'Fog Mistress' by Fog Specter. I've heard nothing of this band before, and can't seem to find much information on the internet apart from a rumoured 7". Even Evan (who has written a great review of this tape himself) didn't have any more information than that which was surprising. If anyone else can enlighten me on this band I'd greatly appreciate it.