HI ARC TOW presents the long-awaited return of ambient cosmonaut Khand.

The Fires of Celestial Ardour consists of ten pieces of deliciously neoclassical synth-ambient that take the listener on a journey through lonesome, starlit expanses. For fans of Tangerine Dream, Dead Can Dance, Raison D’Etre, Endura, Mortiis, Nox Arcana, Ildjarn.

Download The Fires of Celestial Ardour HERE.

Khand’s page at BANDCAMP.com

Now that you’ve got your teeth stuck in to the new Beithíoch release, Summoning the Past, you can now download the mini-album in various high quality formats from the band’s bandcamp page – with an added bonus of two all new tracks (totalling a further 18 minutes of music!) for a mere 2.50 euro.

Click here to visit Beithioch.bandcamp.com and DOWNLOAD THE FULL RELEASE

Twisted, moody death metal by the mind behind Absvrdist & Abhorrent (similar maybe to both those other projects, if a lot less grindy than Absvrdist, and less overtly technical than Abhorrent). Tentacles of Circumstance is the first track to be aired from the forthcoming album Obeisance, to be released some time in 2013.

For one reason or another, the planned physical release of the newest Beithíoch EP, Summoning the Past, appears to have been indefinitely delayed.

In the meantime – eager for people to hear the work, Beithíoch has decided to offer the EP up on HIARCTOW.com as a free Creative Commons download.

The EP is made up of tracks originally released on other albums/demos/etc, that have here been re-recorded to bring them to a more ‘definitive’ level of completion. The EP is intended to presage the next Beithíoch album, showcasing how the project has matured stylistically over the years, and to give a little bit of a sense of what can be expected from new material.

DOWNLOAD THE EP HERE
or
STREAM IT AT BANDCAMP.com

Beithíoch have uploaded a new track to preview an upcoming mini album.

The release will consist of substantially updated versions of tracks that are already out in the world but were never quite finished to a level I was 100% satisfied with, until now. It should give you a bit of a sense where the work for the new album is going also – ie. denser arrangements, more epic and varied.

Chthe’ilist from Québec play twisted, Lovecraftian Death Metal in the rarely reiterated style of Demilich, Adramelech and Timeghoul – serious cult bands that it takes balls to try and compare to. Chthe’ilist manage respectably well and have enough of their own voice to not sound like a novelty ‘old-school’ rehash.

Chthe’ilist‘s Demo Amechth’ntaas’m'rriachth can be downloaded free HERE

More info:
facebook.com/chtheilist

A CD digipack version of Absvrdist‘s new album Illusory can now be purchased by emailing absvrdist@gmail.com

In other news Marlon from Absvrdist’s other band Abhorrent are newly re-activated and planning to record a 5 track EP some time in the near future.

Texan Grindcore weirdos Absvrdist have posted their entire new album Illusory online for free streaming. Listen below on their bandcamp page Absvrdist.bandcamp.com

The artist behind Cryosyncopy/Mushin has decided to pull all of his work from this site, taking it down from the internet altogether. It is unlikely also that any future material can be expected from either project.

From Forbes.com:

For liberals, it’s about being Greater Together. For conservatives, it’s about pulling the plug on our nation’s losers. “About 4 million Americans are born every year,” warns David Burge; “about 90k Americans graduate college with art degrees. One out of 44.” With few exceptions, our bitterly divided ideological camps speak as one on education. Up with scientists! Down with artists!

[...]

We shouldn’t be bothered that so many kids these days are artsy and think like actors. We should be bothered by the fact that we’ve guided them into a system where your talents and proclivities are frowned on unless they’re credentialized. We expect our kids to get degrees in whatever they care about most — and then to get whatever jobs those degrees qualify them for. This is a recipe for embarrassing, ridiculous case studies like the underemployed Occupy guy with the bachelor’s in puppetry.

James Poulos, Forbes.com

The arts get a ripping here, but they brought it on themselves: by tolerating and, worse, promoting the brain-dead, fraudulent and self-absorbed for nigh on a century. The encroaching of the academia into the arts hasn’t upped skills amongst artists so much as it has legitimised frankly worthless art and given it a monopoly on state funding.

“the strength to build is now paralyzed; the courage to make far-reaching plans is discouraged; the organizational geniuses become scarce”