The approach of Canadian one-man black metal outfit Sanctvs couldn’t be more different. On his second album De l’Abîme au Plérôme (From The Abyss To The Plemora), Xavier ‘Mortheos’ Berthiaume delivers six tracks of high-minded black metal that’s even more imposing when you consider he plays every instrument himself. Describing it, he says it’s “an elegy to our own mortality, a dirge to the passing of time and the changes it inevitably brings”. These reflections are carried out with all the dignity and gravitas such a weighty topic deserves, to both chilling and inspiring effect.
Finally, we have The Ecstasy Of Möld by Canadian instrumental stoner sleazeballs The Death Wheelers. This time around, they’ve added a little bit of ’80s metal tang to their grubby sound. Fans of Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Electric Wizard and Church Of Misery will dig the sense of seedy, B-movie wrongness that hangs over the whole thing, while titles like Blood, Bikes And Barbiturates, Homicycle Maniacs and Get Laid… To Rest add to the tone in the absence of lyrics. There’s a lot of greasy rock’n’roll, some dirty psych, and on The Heretic Rites Of Count Choppula, a dollop of spaced out, shark-infested surf guitar. Wheely good stuff.