(SOLD OUT)SCAR OO4: Scorched-Earth "Mars" - C-108 / 100 Copies

-4th full length recording.
- Cover artwork drawn by Sean McGrath (Impaled/Ghoul/Engorged)www.myspace.com/digestorart
-Mastered and pressed on c-108 red chrome 24Cr tapes. Packaged with is a Scorched-Earth 1' logo pin and 4X4 patch(of "Mars" cover album artwork)
-Inspired by: The old school spirit, a filthy sound, and an unrelenting black/thrash attack. Think Venom, Bathory, Motorhead, Destroyer 666, Blasphemy.
-Available: 40/100 copies.
-Price: $10.00world. $1 more for Paypal.
Price is postpaid.

***ACCEPTING PAYPAL, MONEY ORDERS AND OR CASH.CONTACT FOR ORDERING INFO AND AVAILABILITY*** novisiblescars@gmail.com


Copies can also be purchased from

Hells Head Bangers:

Ominous Domain:

Iron Bonehead(Germany)

Legion Of Death Records(France)

Rockstakk Records(Japan)

Scorched-Earth had its origins in the one-man band project Nazgul, founded by Terry McCorriston in 1994. After one demo, "Under Blood Red Eyes", the band's name was re-christened "Scorched-Earth" in 1995 and McCorriston set out to form a full band to fully express S-E's Metal Of Extermination. After several line-up changes, their first CD "Thy Kingdom Crushed" was recorded in 1999 with the line-up of Terry on guitar and vocals, Scott Sanders on drums, Mike Kapsiak on guitar and Sanford Johnson on bass. Released in early 2000, it met with favor in the underground and is now sold out. Drawing from the cult thrash feel as well as modern Death Metal influences, "Thy Kingdom Crushed" stood alone in its uniqueness and ruthlessness.

After going through some lineup changes, the band recorded and released "Gods, Kings, and Conquerors" in 2003. This time out they were a three piece, with new drummer Joshua Hanenburg stepping into the fold. "Gods, Kings, and Conquerors" was even more vicious than the previous CD, and fans received it like rabid wolves. Scorched-Earth then played many shows in the US and Canada in support of this album, alongside the likes of Impaled, Exhumed, Dragonlord, Nevermore, Severed Savior, Anal Blast, Dreams Of Damnation, Serpens Aeon, and Drawn and Quartered. Ted Cohn was then recruited to join in on guitar, and the band set out on desecrating the West Coast on the Swarm of Eternal Blackness tour with Kult Ov Azazel, Teratism, and Sumeria.

Scorched-Earth's third album entitled "Devils In Iron" encompassed all the death/thrash traits that the band is know for, but also included new, pervading senses of Doom and Black metal throughput. Songs such as "Gods. Kings & Conquerors" and "Gormenghast" are of epic length, while songs like "Scorched-Earth, Black Wind & Hell Fire" and "War Is Hell(but Combat's a Motherfucker)" are short, direct assaults on the senses.

NVS is proud to announce the release of "Mars" as a limited edition pro-done cassette. Look for "Mars" on CD in early 2010 via the bands own label!


Scorched-Earth is:

Terry McCorriston - Guitar/Vocals

Sanford Johnson - Bass

Joshua Hanenburg - Drums

Ted Cohn - Guitar




Oct 2010 interview at Metal Maniacs: http://www.metalmaniacs.com/2010/interview-with-scorched-earth/



Scorched Earth - Mars (No Visible Scars)
February 6, 2010

Bill from the No Visible Scars label noticed some of my reviews and my bio here on Hellride and thought that I would really dig this release, he thought right. Described as a Venom sounding band, but to me that description deosn’t do it justice, these bastards sound like a killer hybrid of old school thrash, fused with old school death via early Morbid Angel/Malevolent Creation and than throw in some doom elements in terms of slow riffs with a Sabbathy/Pentagram 70’s twist. The ideal sound this label is going for, along with the bands they sign, is the old analog sound of chrome cassettes and vinyl from the tape trading heyday of true heavy metal. These guys hail from Seattle, Washington, home to some killer underground metal acts right now, but have actually been around since ~1995.

These guys have toured with the likes of Kult Ov Azazel, Drawn and Quartered, Exhumed, Impaled, Serpents Aeon, Anal Blast…. They are said to draw their sound from early cult thrash and death metal, and that’s a damn good description of it. If you like it old-school raw, but with quality musicianship, addictive rhythms, diversity in tempo,etc. this is an essential to at least hear, but I’d say get the fucker before it disappears like their other releases have.

In fact one of the songs I’m currently listening to (“Out of the Violent Planet) has this amazing horror-surf style tremolo/reverb intro that just goes into this great guitar jam, and then the vokills come in and it just makes you want to jump around and tear things apart. With that being said, there shouldn’t be anyone out there whose mouth isn’t watering and their ears aren’t itching in anticipation of this stuff.

Now I’m listening to “The Knights of the black Cross vs. the Reavers of the Red Death”, it has a great buzzsaw riff throughout sort of like old Darkthrone then fused with Sabbath, then it starts back into that great tremolo picking surf blistering sound again. This album is relentless, get off your ass and get this shit NOW!!!!!! But don’t blame them when you burn the place down in a frenzy while giving it it’s de-virginizing spin. This stuff is hotter than Hell in terms of everything a good metal album could have, and will spit out flames as it plays. The album is on red Chrome cassette and comes with mini LP style artwork, a great silk-screened patch and pin, it makes me feel like a kid again buying music. This is not only a band to watch for, but the NVS label is truly an underground force that will probably keep dropping releases that measure at a 9 on the metal Richter Scale, although if you play these loud enough they might measure enough on the real scale too. For analog recordings this stuff is clearer and more solid sounding than anything digital and is one of many reasons that I’m scrounging up cash to get my analog system together again.

If you dig any of the following and especially the idea of the best elements of each thrown in a stew of noise, you MUST get this one: High on Fire, Kreator, Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation, Autopsy, Exodus, Venom, Celtic Frost,Slayer, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Immortal, this SOB has it all and many to add. Smoking like a burning Christian corpse at Satans Luau, and reeks of malice and perverted intent!!!!!! Honestly, this thing slams, jams, grooves, kills, slays, bulldozes, stomps….By now you probably get the idea.

http://www.hellridemusic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21905


Diabolic Conquest Webzine(review by KING CRIPPLE)

I recently received, Mars, the fourth full-length album by the Seattle troupe, Scorched Earth. I could name drop with ease here with bands that span Destroyer 666 and Morbid Angel to Celtic Frost and Pentagram, but, quite frankly, I think such descriptions are too difficult to compute and often times sound like a big, jumble-fucked mess. In this instance, I think it is simpler and more effective to describe the band as playing a primitive form of black thrash that also employs old-school death metal and odd, yet effective doom-inspired bits. I have not heard previous output from Scorched Earth, so I cannot speak as to whether they had the "jumble-fucked" sound their lengthy and diverse list of influences might suggest, but the songs here incorporate the influences listed yet have been largely honed to a razor-sharp and deadly point.

Like I said to begin, the backbone of the material here is black thrash with death metal also having a healthy role in the bludgeoning. While Scorched Earth may not contribute new ideas musically to either genre, the thrash here is reminiscent of the early days in the scene. It is chaotic and sloppy, though likely done so intentionally, yet the thing I like most about it is the youthful thrash energy. The superior musicianship and recording capabilities of today usually makes it tough to re-create this type of energy, but Scorched Earth has done it with moments on"Warlords of Mars", "Devils in Iron" and "Hell on Mars" only the slightest nudge away from total self-destruction. I bet this material stirs a hell of a pit.

The counterpoint to the thrash here are smatterings of old-school death metal and occasional doom-inspired dirges. The death metal bits certainly add to the aggressive tone on the album with songs like "Spearhead From Space" being a quick, two minute death metal blast to your gut, but it is the doom that is the most surprising here. The instrumental "No Blade Of Grass"brings about the first doom-y exploit, but it is not in the style you might expect. The bass of Sanford Johnson bounces and plods away underneath big distorted chords, sprawling solos and the occasional textural bit with a 70s doom approach. It is unexpected, but surprisingly effective. Johnson has a rather large presence throughout the album but is most notable during the doom-y moments where he really drives those sections - as a good bassist should. The doom sections, though few and far between, also serve as a nice reprieve from the heavier, up-tempo material. This approach works well on "Out Of the Violent Planet" where its doom-y, reverb slathered intro is slightly altered and used later for a brief interlude with effective results.

The major issue I had with the album is there were a couple times where I felt certain thoughts went on a bit too long. The nearly ten minute "Warlords of Mars" is the best example of this. I realize part of the length is due to the attached intro, but the song also has three different solos, albeit none of them overly lengthy. While textural bits are added, the up-picked addition towards the end is a welcome change, I think the song would have been stronger had a minute or so been absent. A similar argument could be made for the doom-y mid-section on "The Knights of the Black Cross vs. The Reavers of the Red Death". I get the point and it works, but it also lingers too long.

Scorched Earth has thoroughly and relentlessly beat the hell out of my ears since the first day I got my hands on the cassette. I know there are a lot of people that find the notion of cassette releases to be useless and outdated. Those of you with this mindset can pick up a copy on CD through the band's website. I will make a case for the cassette in this instance, however. If you are able to get by with cassettes, the label has also enclosed a 1" logo pin, a 7" vinyl-size copy of the badass, old-school artwork and a 4X4 patch of the artwork. NoVisible Scars also seems like a label that really supports its bands - a rarity these days and a cause I think we all can get behind. But regardless of format, there is one constant: Scorched Earth crushes.



Invisible Oranges(Anthony Abboreno)

"Like heavy metal, the planet Mars has power that doesn’t wither. Fools say metal and Mars have nothing to offer, save irony and frozen water. The informed know better. On Mars (NoVisible Scars, 2009), Olympus Mons houses ancient theocracy, the canals run with blood, and the music mixes double amounts of Slough Feg and Sodom with the Realm of Chaos the cover implies.Few bands meld classic and death metal yet remain this breathless. The melody in these songs is never pretty. Tracks like “The Gods Themselves” charge forward with double bass and saber-wielding Celtic riffs. People are subjugated and rebellions are quelled. Elsewhere, death and thrash take precedent, and the results are equally powerful. “Spearhead from Space” is a blitzkrieg for the heart of Mars: it only lasts two minutes, yet mangles its victims for life. The album seldom relents. Occasionally, the music lapses into doom, as though surveying the landscape in horror, but it always recovers and rushes onward.Crucially, Scorched-Earth refuse to treat the concept as a joke. The idea of war on Mars is adolescent stuff, and that’s part of its appeal. Mars could have been condescending bullshit, full of apologetic winks or cheap intellectualism. Instead, Scorched-Earth take their concept seriously and deliver soulful metal. Like great science fiction, the story feels relevant but resists allegory. An ancient civilization entices a young and naive one into imperialist war. Humans and Martians are both villains. Oligarchy reigns, and the sane die."


Antichrist 'zine in Ukraine:
SCORCHED-EARTH “Mars” 2009 TAPE
Novisible Scars Productinos
Novisible Scars prods is coming from USA, they release professional Tapes with obscure bands. This time again I have earlier unknown for me band from USA… SCORCHED-EARTH was formed back in 1995 and have had more-less active life so far; they have about 4 releases. Well, first, about release, this Tape made ltd to 100 copies(!) and comes with pin, patch and wrapped in ala 7”EP booklet, and finally – have pretty good old-school artwork! And what the kind of music falling upon me? Huh, this is totally great meeting I have to say, as SCORCHED-EARTH plays purest old-school Metal of Death! Fuck, shit, it was just amazing listen to this Tape for about 25 times!? And I want listen to it again and again. Musically here’s some kind of rolling death metal, made with influences from ancient metal/rock and from 80-s… So you should wait for only next – do you like fast fucking rolling and twisted guitar riffs? Do you like such massive thrashing rhythm section? Do you like mad pick solos? Do you like just music inspired by such bands like MOTORHEAD, VENOM, early BATHORY, DESTROYER666 etc?! If you like all of afore-mentioned things than SCORCHED-EARTH is fucking totally for your soul! I was impressed by this straight-forward nuclear way which made these Americans. The music is sick, raw, dirty and fast, and fucking destructive. All of those rolling guitars which from time to time come with excellent guitar solos and dense drumming, obscure vocals and just extremely catching songs structure…. Argh! This is hellish beast comes upon the earth and he’s ready destroy everything appears on his path.
101% from 100%
(c) ANTICHRIST 'zine #10/2010 [http://antichrist.deadshop...info]


Deaf Sparrow

Maybe, if the cassette culture will once again thrive in the metal scene (as it seems to be happening) it may be because of labels like NoVisible Scars who are doing their best to stretch the format’s typical presentation. Seattle’s Scorched-Earth (not sure why the hyphen) just had their latest slab of thrashy death metal released by this label and the cassette version comes graced by cover artwork the size of a 7-inch sleeve. The quality of the artwork surely merits the blown up size.

To make the format more appealing, the cassette version of Mars is limited to 100 copies, comes with a 1” logo pin and a patch of the cover artwork, which was done by Sean McGrath, a dude widely known in metal circles for his participation in bands like Disgorge, Impaled and Ghoul.

I am still in amazement at how many quality bands have been around for a while and I hadn’t noticed. And I always fancied myself the super informed dude. Mars is Scorched-Earth’s fourth full-length after three recordings that came out independently. Why no label until now has snapped these Seattle-lites is beyond me. The death metal they make is utterly rambunctious, and sloppy.

In other words, despite being inherently metal, Scorched-Earth’s music is also as punk as say, early Venom was. Here, there are none of the low tones of the Florida or Swedish movement. Partly, that’s what makes this recording so vibrant. Another reason being the raw high vocals of guitarist Terry McCorriston, who no doubt is more a fan of Cronos and Quorthon than say, David Vincent.

The riffs are bad ass. This is totally noticeable despite the intentional purity of the recording, which strips the instruments to its bare tones. In other words, like with most quality black metal there isn’t much heaviness, just deafening guitars that thrash around, fly by in spirited war fashion and that truthfully may be too detailed for the general population, but just about enough for those into deep listening experiences.

http://www.deafsparrow.com/index.htm


(SOLD OUT)SCAR OO2: -Vestal Claret- Lost Loved Ones Ep- C-26 / 100 Copies

-Final farewell Vestal Claret recording.
-Features the vocals of Phil Swanson(Seamount, Briton Rites, x-Hour of 13, x-Upwards of Endtime)
-Anti-Christian, Occult, Satanic heavy metal/hard rock
-This EP features the material which was planned for the split vinyl LP with Hour Of 13th. Re-mixed and mastered and pressed on c-52 red chrome 24Cr tapes.
-Packaged with the cassette is a Vestal Claret 1' pin and 4X4 patch
-Inspired by: NWOBHM, Angel Witch, and Christians Death “Only Theater Of Pain”
-SOLD OUT
-Price: $10.00world. $1 more for Paypal.
Price is postpaid.

***ACCEPTING PAYPAL, MONEY ORDERS AND OR CASH.CONTACT FOR ORDERING INFO AND AVAILABILITY*** novisiblescars@gmail.com

Copies can also be purchased from:

The history of Vestal Claret:

Vestal Claret was created as an idea in the studio while recording the the second Upwards of Endtime album "Sadly Never Fore". The idea was to create an occult heavy metal / death rock project between friends. The original line up was to include myself (Phil Swanson) on vocals, Matt Moran on guitars, Paul Wise on bass and Adam Kosmin on drums. There were 2 songs planned to record one of which was "The Gathering" that was included on the "Sadly Never Fore" album and the other was "Blood Oath". We were to record right along with the Upwards of Endtime sessions and Paul and Adam planned to use the Upwards of Endtime bass and drum set up for recording. Scheduling Paul and Adam became impossible so "The Gathering" written by Paul and I in the early 90s and was recorded by the UoE line up that didnt include Paul at that time. Simon was running the studio we were recording at and I asked if he would session the Vestal Claret recordings so I could fulfill my desire to create this band, he was payed for his part in this project. I brought the music for all the verse and chorus sections to "Blood Oath" and "The Templars Idol" to him and he added the lead and instrumentals breaks for completion. While Matt was still intended to share rhythm and play lead guitar Adam was unable to do drums at this time so Jim Quinn who was remodeling my home at the time overheard a conversation I had with Adam and offered to play drums in his place. He was never auditioned or previously heard and offered the spot in good faith that he could fulfill the duties, and did a fine job at that. Matt's time was consumed by the UoE sessions and could no longer make time for the Vestal Claret tracks. Tony Truglio (Liege Lord, Simon had never heard of Liege Lord before this introduction) was planned to takes his place when Simon insisted it could get done in better time and without time constraints if he did all the guitar tracks rather than bring another party in. At that time I was exhausting from the studio and agreed. Turns out there was also another guitar player Simon tried to sneak in Tony's place who is sharing his lead versions somewhere on the net without my knowledge or permission I found out quite recently. And by what I heard it seems he may of written the original leads that Simon played on the final recordings.

The two songs were recorded and released as the demo "Two Stones" that were later released on the Atlantean Kodex / Vestal Claret split on Metal Coven Records, when I asked Simon to add back up vocals to the Atlantean Kodex track. I then received a contract to do a full Vestal Claret record based on the demo and approached Simon to help me make it happen. He agreed on the terms that Jim and Matt wouldn’t be involved and he would have to pick the other members of the band. UoE had split by than and Jim was now taking over drums for UoE and Vestal Claret's concepts were a bit out of his element and Matt was as always still bogged down with his work in UoE so Simon and I started to work on ideas for the Vestal Claret full length. Again I brought ideas intended for all the vocals sections for Simon to work off of and as each day grew he would alter and manipulate my original ideas towards his own favor. I grew more and more uncomfortable with where the music was going, it became more disjointed and chaotic. Too many changes and parts loosing all its rhythm and melody, just not what I wanted this project to be. I tried to be patient and when it was my time to start demoing my vocals and lyrics he began to become very difficult. Trying to tell me where and when to sing and on what parts, it was crazy. I had given all the vocal sections and then he would use those parts for short intro or bridge sections and than throw his own long drawn out parts to bury my ideas underneath them and seemingly try to showcase his own talents rather than concentrate on the song itself. It was loosing all focus and drifting far from the original plan of a simple NWOBHM inspired band.

A year was spent composing the Vestal Claret full length demo for the label each week becoming more and more uncomfortable. Simon would make more demands each day and really had no concept of what the intention was all about. He had no concept of true underground heavy metal and what it was all about and thought he could just take the helm pretend that he did. After loosing the past year of my life with this now doom ridden project I decided to use the pre-production demos to propose to label before continuing and they were as expected rejected immediately without hesitation due to the fact they didn't reflect the music that was presented on the "Two Stones" demo that originally gained the contract. I tried to move ahead from there and wanted to look for more players to take part, like a permanent bass player and guitarist so it would become a more diplomatic environment but Simon demanded that if anyone did join they would only play the parts he had written for them? This didnt make finding members very easy and I didnt have any hopes that anyone would want to be a part of that and neither did I. And even though Tony Truglio had planned to play lead on the record Simon had it in his mind that he would write all Tony's parts and leads, imagine that? I wasnt even about to present that to Tony, that is sheer insanity. He also insisted that he alone picked these players. It was getting way out of control and hardly worth my time and effort. During this period I had a chance to appear on the Angel Witch tribute CD and Tony, Matt and I had always been huge fans of Angel Witch and in actuality the first AW along with the first Christian Death record were the main inspirations behind creating Vestal Claret.

I soon after started to separate myself from Simon while trying to figure out how to complete what I began when I was approached by Chad Davis and Hour of 13. Chad knew exactly what occult metal was all about and had some amazing music that fit my vocal and lyrical ideas perfectly. I scraped Vestal Claret in favor of Hour of 13 and didnt look back. There were some cover songs (all selected by me) and 2 of the more proper suited songs (Devils Daughters and Call To Satan) that I felt still reflected the music intended like that of the "Two Stones" songs during the Vestal Claret sessions that I had later completed with Tim Schmidt of Seamount, the covers were released in a super limited 100 copies CD titled "Worship" and the final 2 original songs were planned for a split release with Hour of 13 again on Metal Coven Records sometime in the future.


"Speaking about heavy metal …… and big names as well, like for example, Philip Swanson (from Hour of 13, Briton Rites, Seamount, Atlantean Kodex, etc. …) here is another ultra-cool gift from Doommantia: the 2009 EP Lost Loved Ones, plus three bonus tracks, by Vestal Claret for free download.


US-based Vestal Claret has been one of the most obscure Heavy Metal acts populating the underground.
As Philip Swanson refers on the blog of the NoVisible Scars label, the band started in 2005 as an occult heavy metal/death rock project among friends. The original planned line-up should have included Phil Swanson on vocals and friends Matt Moran on guitars, Paul Wise on bass and Adam Kosmin on drums. But apparently problems of fitting things together soon rose. You can read Phil’s complete tormented story of the band here.
Vestal Claret disbanded in 2009 and Philip Swanson devoted himself to Seamount and went back to Hour Of 13.

Vestal Claret’s style has been described as Anti-Christian, Occult, Satanic heavy metal/hard rock inspired by a loooong list of massive rock and metal bands of any time, but especially NWOBHM, Angel Witch and Christian Death’s first album “Only Theater Of Pain”.

The tracks of the Lost Loved Ones EP were originally recorded to be a part of a split with Hour Of 13 which was never completed. Instead it was released as a very limited edition red chrome cassette tape that is by now sold out.
So, as Ed on Doomantia pointed out, this EP is very much a collectors item in its original format but luckily Phil Swanson has agreed to circulate this EP once more, this time via a free download with the inclusion of unreleased cover songs!
So here you’ll find the EP stuff in a single +25 minutes long track plus cover arts of the tape edition. Exclusive to this free download are also three additional, super-cool covers songs from Thelema, Skin Yard, and Lubricated Goat.

The line-up playing in this tracks should be the one with Swanson along with Simon Tuozzoli on guitars and bass, Tim Schmidt on guitars and additional sounds and Mike Petrucci on drums.

Here’s some literature about the EP tracks from Hellride Music webzine:
Opener “Devils Daughters” begins with a narrative description of satanic child abuse set to an ominous background build up that could have been cheesy but actually pulls off a heavy creepiness element. And when the guitars (courtesy of Simon Tuozzoli and Tim Schmidt) kick in both the heaviness and creepiness meters go all the way red. An almost doom metal intro shortly gives way to a chugging riff overlaid with a searing lead, soon joined by Swanson’s Ozzy’s ghost wailing vocals, all of it carrying an oppressive and downright claustrophobic feel to it that is well set off by the urgent and crisp drums of Mike Petrucci. And all that works extremely well. There are downright searing guitar harmonies slammed against lead weight riffing, drum cannons to the left and right, vocals desperate and evil, and bass pulsing and malevolent. This is metal as it was meant to be folks.
Next up “Endurement to the heirs of Shame” turns down the fever pitch a bit, mixing a black soup of sorrow and menace. Powerful and purveying some seriously doomy atmospherics equally well in both cast iron riffs and a soft but very plaintive vocal section.
“Missing Girl” adds another seriously dark tale to the tally and has some sections where the explosive combination of metal riffing and soloing in downright exemplary, before fading on a magnificent and heroic outro. All throughout this ep the songwriting is just unwaveringly top shelf. “Call to Satan” rounds out the ep, in the same vein as, and of the same caliber as, its predecessors…heavy, dark, powerful and extremely well written. Seriously, I just can’t recommend this enough, a true dark metal jewel.


After listening to this stuff I cannot but agree with Ed’s consideration: “how this band didn't make it big in the underground metal scene is both a mystery and a tragedy”.
It is sad to see how great talent like this has been virtually ignored when bands like Ghost are exploding in a day. No doubts that the mysterious Ghost band is great, I liked them very much when I saw them in London.
But let’s put it like this: if you liked Ghost and you dig genuine, heart-filling heavy metal and haunting rock, you’ll LOVE this stuff …"

(Thanks to Phil Swanson and to Doommantia for sharing!)
http://sludgeswamp.blogspot.com/2010/11/speaking-about-heavy-metal.html


"Vestal Claret, one of the most underground Heavy Metal acts that were ever in existence originally recorded the original tracks for "Lost Loved Ones" to be a part of a split with Hour Of 13 but it never happened. Instead it was released as a very limited edition cassette tape that came with a Vestal Claret pin and patch. If you have never heard Vestal Claret, you have missed out on one of the best Traditional Heavy Metal acts. The line-up did include Phil Swanson (Hour of 13, Upwards of Endtime, Briton Rites, Earthlord, Blastmat, Loathe, KYD, Damnation (USA), Seamount, Lepus, Atlantean Kodex, Nightbitch), Simon Tuozzoli - Guitars/Bass, Mike Petrucci - Drums and Tim Schmidt - Guitars. The last known line-up however was Swanson along with Ryan Adams - Guitars (Catalyst, Capharnaum, Ipsissimus, Nightbitch) and Jay Bear on bass and drums. How this band didn't make it big in the underground metal scene is both a mystery and a tragedy. This EP is very much a collectors item in its original format but luckily Phil Swanson has agreed to circulate this EP once more, this time via a free download with the inclusion of unreleased cover songs! This EP features the material that was planned for the split with Hour Of 13th. Re-mixed and mastered and pressed on c-52 red chrome 24Cr tapes.Exclusive to this free download are 3 covers songs from: Thelema, Skin Yard, and Lubricated Goat." http://www.doommantia.com/2010/11/vestal-claret-lost-loved-ones-bonus.html


"Originally intended as half of a split with Hour of 13, these tracks finally see the light of day as a very limited edition cassette. Vocalist Phil Swanson should be known to Hellriders already as the ex-vocalist for Hour of 13 and Upwards of Endtyme and current vocalist of Seamount and Briton Rites (yes the man does get around a bit!). Vestal Claret has not been the highest profile of his bands, but is absolutely just as worthy of your time as his other projects (and so far quality control is looking solid for Phil’s project choices). I’ve seen the influences quoted as NWOBHM, Angel Witch and Christian Death’s “Only Theater of Pain”…not by any stretch an expected list from the separating out of Angel Witch, who are about as quintessentially NWOBHM as you can get, to the inclusion of a goth punk classic. From that somewhat eclectic spring board of inspiration, Vestal Claret created a twisted, claustrophobic and brilliant ep.
Opener “Devils Daughters” begins with a narrative description of satanic child abuse set to an ominous background build up that could have been cheesy but actually pulls off a heavy creepiness element. And when the guitars (courtesy of Simon Tuozzoli and Tim Schmidt) kick in both the heaviness and creepiness meters go all the way red. An almost doom metal intro shortly gives way to a chugging riff overlaid with a searing lead, soon joined by Swanson’s Ozzy’s ghost wailing vocals, all of it carrying an oppressive and downright claustrophobic feel to it that is well set off by the urgent and crisp drums of Mike Petrucci. And all that works extremely well. There are downright searing guitar harmonies slammed against lead weight riffing, drum cannons to the left and right, vocals desperate and evil, and bass pulsing and malevolent. This is metal as it was meant to be folks. Next up “Endurement to the heirs of Shame” turns down the fever pitch a bit, mixing a black soup of sorrow and menace. Powerful and purveying some seriously doomy atmospherics equally well in both cast iron riffs and a soft but very plaintive vocal section. “Missing Girl” adds another seriously dark tale to the tally and has some sections where the explosive combination of metal riffing and soloing in downright exemplary, before fading on a magnificent and heroic outro. All throughout this ep the songwriting is just unwaveringly top shelf. “Call to Satan” rounds out the ep, in the same vein as, and of the same caliber as, its predecessors…heavy, dark, powerful and extremely well written. Seriously, I just can’t recommend this enough, a true dark metal jewel. This cassette comes in a 7” record sleeve with a patch and pin and is limited to 74 available copies, so if interest is there (and well it should be) you need to get on this immediately." Mike-Hellridemusic.com http://www.hellridemusic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21022



"Vestal Claret waren eine drei Mann Band aus den USA, die sich obskurem Heavy Metal verschrieben hatte.Obskur ist allerdings auch die Liste der Veröffentlichungen, die von Vestal Claret erschienen sind, neben einem Demo, einer Best Of und einer Split mit Atlantean Kodex haben wir Lost Loved Ones, einer EP, die eigentlich in Form einer Split EP mit Hour of 13 über Metal Coven Records erscheinen sollte.Da diese Split nicht zu Stande kam, die Lieder und das Artwork von Vestal Claret allerdings bereits komplett fertiggestellt war, veröffentlichte die Band die vier Songs nun auf eigene Faust. Der Sänger von Vestal Claret, Philip Swanson, ist in der Heavy Metal Szene kein Unbekannter, er sang z.B. das Debut Album der Doom Metal Band Hour of 13 ein, fungierte als Gastsänger The Pnakotic Vinyls von Atlantean Kodex und konzentriert sich momentan auf seine 2007 gegründete Band Seamount, weshalb Vestal Claret zur Zeit auf Eis liegen.Vestal Claret klingen wie keine der oben genannten Bands, sondern zeigen sich als spannender Mischling aus Heavy Metal und Doom mit einer Prise NWOBHM im Stile von Witchfinder General oder auch Angel Witch. Das Hören von Lost loved Ones löst bei mir jedenfalls Begeisterungsstürme aus; vertrackte Gitarren, eigenwilliger, nasaler Gesang, abwechslungsreicher Songaufbau, atmosphärische Intros wie bei dem Opener Devil’s Daughters, etc. Was will man mehr? Selbiges Lied gefällt im Ãœbrigen auch durch gelungene Abwechslung zwischen treibenden Gitarrenparts und langsamere Strophen. Diese Mischung wird sehr düster präsentiert und kommt stets sehr kraftvoll rüber. Und diese Empfindung zieht sich durch alle vier Lieder. Endurement to the Heirs of Shame fällt noch etwas doomiger aus als der Opener und übertrifft diesen auch prompt in Punkto Gitarrenarbeit. Die Riffs sind einfach nur purer Heavy Metal. Missing Girl ist ebenfalls extrem düster ausgefallen und lässt mich bei jedem Hören an das Cover der EP denken. Den Abschluss macht das mächtige Call to Satan, welches dem Beispiel der vorangegangenen Lieder folgt und nicht an düsterer Atmosphäre, gutem Songwriting oder Härtegrad spart."


(SOLD OUT)SCAR OO1: Transcendent Device- The Hoplessness Of Logic- C-52 / 50 Copies



-NoVisible Scars first release
-Viscerally bleak cinematic dark ambiance.
-First ever Transcendent Device cassette release of unreleased material after a 2 year hiatus.
-Sounds constructed solely without the use of keyboards, samplers, and or computers.
-Inspired by: The "void", Personal Tradegy/Loss, Tibetan meditative sounds, Steven Jesse Bernstein.
-SOLD OUT
-Price: $6.00/per in North America, $8.00/per rest of world.
Price is postpaid.

***ACCEPTING PAYPAL, MONEY ORDERS AND OR CASH.CONTACT FOR ORDERING INFO AND AVAILABILITY*** TRADES ACCEPTED(WRITE FIRST) novisiblescars@gmail.com

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Transcendent Device(Micheal Todd) origins lie within his first project, the martial industrial Propaganda Machine(1994-1996). Although never releasing a proper full length, Propaganda Machines following stemmed from material released on such compilation tapes as Under The Ravens Banner and In De Ban Tiwar. It was also around this same period Micheal worked with Jonathan Canaday on what would be the early Deathpile releases(Agonize Humilliate Destroy and the Gasbutcher cassettes) as well as performing live with Deathpile. Amongst the few shows played was opening for Atrax Morgue and Intrinsic Action at the Pyramid Club In New York City in 1997. M.Todds neofolk/ambient project Black Raven followed suite in 1997. Black Ravens debute release was issued by the Swiss label Allegoria that same year and quickly sold out of the initial first pressing. Not until 2004 did Micheal make a return to creating music with his Marspitar and Transcendent Device projects. Marspitar released 5 albums in it's 2 year existence on labels such as Forshadow Productions and Somnambulant Corpse. Marspiters sound can be described as a nostalgic blend of neoclassical, martial and dark ambient ala The Protagonist, In Slaughter Natives, Der Blutharsch and Lustmord. Transcendent Device has produced 6 releases on such labels as Foreshadow Productions and Bone Structure as well as fully downloadable full lenght albums on Entity Benekkea Mahorka
Transcendent Devices sound is subdued subliminal melodic drone accented with darkened ambiance. Think early 90's Die Sonne Satans, Ain Soph and Atom Infant Incubator.


"Notable for the lack of keyboards, samples, or computers used, this debut release for both the label and project offers emotive and bleak power drones with a dark, yet dynamic sheen applied around the edges. Parts of this remind me of Bad Sector, with some classic old school Illusion of Safety thrown in for good measure. Quite hypnotic and easy to get lost in. Recommended" Jason-Malignant Records


"Transcendent Device is Michael Todd, who is also known for his work as the neoclassical ambient project Marspiter. Both began releasing material around 2004. I’d be lying if I said I was familiar with his work, but I do remember a previous release he’d done on the Belgian Bone Structure label. Although his name might not be familiar with some, Todd’s roots actually go far back into the mid-nineties electronics scene having worked with the likes of Jonathan Canaday in Deathpile as well as performing live with them. As for his work with TD, droning Dark Ambient would be a good as niche as any to place him in.“Bleak” is a pretty good way to some up this release. Lots of willowing lines of depressing synth weave their way through the tape. All of the tracks consist of very minimal sounds with heavy reverb for that spooky old church echo. The tracks are all decent lengths and don’t meander on forever like a lot of ambient stuff. And if you like that, huge cinematic sound, this will be right up your alley.For me there’s just not a lot going on sound-wise. I can appreciate the Lustmord, but stripped to the bone approach, but it fails to hold my attention for long. I thing the basic structure of the tracks are good, but they seem like half-formed ideas that need a bit more layers to really make them grab you. Maybe that was the idea, ghost-like images of a song that should have been. Either way, I’ve read the release was to reflect a very personal loss, so that could explain the very austere tone of the tracks. The tape comes housed in a 7” size polybag with pro-printed insert and a numbered card. It’s limited to 50, but as of this writing, they are still available." Plague Haus- Oct 2009- http://plaguehaus.com/


"Inspired by a personal loss, Michael Todd created this 52 minute tape of dreary, reflective atmospheres. Within its droning, mournful tones are the feelings of soul confronted with the seemingly absurd nature of life -the existential nausea of any deep thinker. Sonically, the album is composed of what I assume is heavily treated electric guitar (the label makes note of the sounds being created without computers, keyboards, or samplers... I'm not sure why though). Instead of side-long tracks, the artist has chosen to create several compositions that feel like the blurry remains of songs that are half washed away. Each song uses the same sonic pallette of soft gray guitar drones, soaked in reverb and distorted. These tones are wrapped into little cluster-like phrases that gather and release. The effect is not entirely melodic, but still not really atonal either. It's a nice mixture of soothing ambient atmosphere and slightly abrasive guitar workouts.
The gloomy mood of the tape is enhanced by the enlarged cover photo of a man leaning forward and holding his head in his hands. It might be a little cliche', but I find the mixture of imagery and music highly effective. I've heard guitar based ambient music similar to this before, and my usual complaint is that it gets repetitive after a few minutes and I'm left really wanting to hear something to break up the monotony of it all. I feel this is a valid point to bring up with "The Hopelessness of Logic", but the monotony could also be seen as a conceptual choice given the subject matter of the tape. It's an interesting journey but I'm still left wanting something more when it's over". 8/10 -- Charles Franklin (18 November, 2009) http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=5037


"This release was radiating hardly describable sadness, emptiness and despair after I've examined the packaging, even without listening to the sounds. The album is related to personal tragedy and recorded not long after it. Personal touches in music always add some different feeling to a release. The author of this album - Michael Todd. His name is mentioned in a musical world since the middle of the last decade. He played live with Deathpile, opened shows for Atrax Morgue, Intrinsic Action etc. But when looking at his discography - it is not that big. This cassette - first full length release of Transcendent Device after two years hiatus. I am not acquainted with the other albums of the project, but "The Hopelessness of logic" is strange and peculliar. Absolutely grim, cold and empty release and it is quite difficult to put out thoughts in these huge reverbed spaces. Spaces, filled with drone melodies that does not evolve anywhere; they suddenly start and suddenly end; tracks that you live through only at the very moment you are listening to them and after several minutes of silence you cannot remember and repeat the melodies and consonances even in your thoughts. Only mood is left with you. One more weird thing is the length of pieces. Drone ambient tracks are usually very long and when it comes to cassettes they like to take the whole side for one track. It is different with this album. Here they are rather short. It's strange when the theme that was just starting to develop, is interrupted and we are moving to the next theme. That's like a torture, but I like it that way. You cannot enjoy these heavy lines of sounds (there are places where it seems that the source of sound for this album was a guitar) that hides and covers the pain with grim. You cannot enjoy that short wander within your thoughts. You cannot enjoy even that emptiness in this album. The construction of the album does not let you to. We are all here for a moment... Every thought, piece of visuals, track lasts just an instant in this frozen depressive field of ice. There is only one song that is a little noisier - "the walls have teeth", but that storm also continues just for a couple of minutes and sinks in despair. Whether I liked this release or not it is yet another question. When you are deep in the mood of the album, try to understand the inspirations for creating it or simply give up to be carried away by the emptiness, this cassette is perfect. And I like it that way. Absolute minimalism and opaque greyness on my eyes. Could music, taken alone, create such a strong mood? That's a different question. For now, while listening to this album I want to shrivel up and exist here. Buoy in the feeling that this emotional record gave me. Without thoughts. Without illusions."
Levas TeRRoR zine http://www.terror.lt

"Existential pain ambient from Transcendent Device. This music is actually quite good on this cassette tape. Very dark ambient with noise elements, sometimes reminding me of the experimental parts on Death In June records. The sound on here overall is very bleak with existential themes, but can often be very beautiful in fact. The artwork for this is a large image of a man with his head in his hands, ala the famous Minor Threat album cover. This is likely not an homage to Minor Threat however, as these guys do not seem either particularly loyal to punk rock music or the straight edge movement. In fact, this entire record is dedicated to a deceased child (4/06-6/06), which is pretty sobering by itself.

Most of the tracks on here blend in to one another, making one solid trembling miasma of ambient noise. Occasionally a sustained tone holds for a very long time and the effect is quite surprising and beautiful. Some of the tones even achieve a nice temporary residence that reminds me of some of the sounds Dylan Carlson gets on the early Earth records, probably one of my favorite artists of all time. The tones do not sustain though, they drift in an out of an existential void of nothingness. This idea of the void or nothingness seems to be fairly important to this project, with the very bleak song titles and overall feeling of emptiness.

This is definitely not a doom trip though, there is a lot more going on here than just straightforward overt depression music. This really belongs to a style of music that doesn't quite fit into any particular individual category. Could appeal to fans of ambient music just as easily as it could to fans of Industrial and Noise, with a bleakness and mournful quality that is almost gothic in vibe. Not doom, but check this out if you are into doom because this is the true music of sorrow and loss. Not emotional, not for crying, this is cold and illogical walls of ambient delivering harsh truth of the pain of life. Depressing!"

http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20100313182308816