Sun Ra - The Cymbals/Symbols Sessions: New York City 1973 (Modern Harmonic, 2018)

This is a genuine "lost album" (unlike the Coltrane "ehhh kinda not really" lost album) recorded by Sun Ra and members of the Arkestra in 1973 for Impulse!. Seems the relationship between Ra and Impulse! soured quickly and a couple albums that were scheduled got shelved - Cymbals/Symbols and another one due for a reissue later this year called Crystal Spears. This one is an oddity in a discography of oddities - the Arkestra here is only an 8 piece and they perform mostly in smaller configurations like quartets throughout the album. Stalwart Marshall Allen is completely absent, and John Gilmore only plays on one piece. Strange. The first disc is the actual Cymbal/Symbols album remastered, and the second disc is from an unnamed tape recorded at the same sessions. Given we're looking at a smaller lineup without many mainstays, Cymbals/Symbols is a little flat. It opens with an awkward, stuttering "The World of the Invisible" and then torpedoes into the 16-minute "Thoughts Under a Dark Blue Light" (the one piece feat. Gilmore) and then settles into some relatively nondescript, non-astral boppy Ra jazz. The second disc gets a little loopier - Ra really lets the Moog loose on the incredibly overlong "Myth Evidential" but nothing here really struck a chord with me. Let's see what Crystal Spears is all about later this year.

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Nachtmystium/Leviathan - In the Valley of Death, Where Black Metal is King: An Homage to the Roots (Ascension Monuments Media, 2018)

What the fuck is that title. Okay I get the first part is a Judas Iscariot tribute, but did we really need "an homage to the roots" in there? Hey wouldn't it be funny if these were actually covers of the band The Roots? Anyway. This album was supposed to come out 10 years ago, but it was blocked by the bands' respective labels. Now I guess they've figured out a way, or Blake Judd needs money for drugs so he's figured out a way, to put this out. The Bandcamp version has 8 tracks, 5 from Nachtmystium and 3 from Leviathan, but I've seen a 10-track tracklisting elsewhere. On the version I have, we have Nachtmystium covering Judas Iscariot, Ildjarn (twice), Von and Burzum. Leviathan tackles Ildjarn (twice) and Von once. I seem to be missing Leviathan's Judas Iscariot cover ("Where the Winter Beats Incessant") and one of Nachtmystium's Von covers ("Von"). Weird. Wonder if there were some licensing issues or something. All four Ildjar...

Corrupted - Felicific Algorithim (Cold Spring, 2018)

For whatever it means, this is the beginning of Corrupted's "Hollow" series. Maybe the clue is in the music? Unlike Corrupted's traditional ultra-slowed down, Spanish-sung, Japanese doom metal this is instrumental harsh noise. Still filthy and angry and depressive but sans vox and also more or less sans metal. Both untitled sides are meant to be played at either speed. The result? Meh. I miss Corrupted's brand of doom, this relatively anonymous harsh noise is fine and all but if I'm listening to Corrupted...well I know what I want. Skippable.

Legend of the Seagullmen - Legend of the Seagullmen (Caroline/Dine Alone, 2018)

You may be familiar with the hype surrounding Legend of the Seagullmen, mostly because of the involvement of Danny Carey (Tool) and Brent Hinds (Mastodon). I wasn't expecting much but these were key bands of my youth, so I gave it a whirl, and it's whatever. It sounds kind of like a more rock/less metal version of Mastodon, maybe a less punk-y Turbonegro, a touch of Melvins (minus all the inventiveness), with horribly stupid lyrics and power rock moves like anthemic choruses and extreme guitar soloing. It's not as bad as the first track "We Are the Seagullmen", a real piece of shit, threatens, but it's not much better. It's a concept album that takes itself only semi-seriously...with the marriage of technical skill and tongue in cheek humor it's along the lines of a Green Jello, Tenacious D or a Les Claypool sideproject. But musically there's nothing here of interest, give it a skip.

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