Chaostar is in fact the classical aspect of Septic Flesh. Everything began with the decision to separate the extreme metal face from the classical music side. Septic Flesh had reached a point after the release of “A Fallen Temple” where they felt it was time to separate the mixture of classical and metal because the standards were able to stand alone without the help of one another. Their intent was to create a unity and to “separate the faces of Septic Flesh“.

As far as I’m concerned today was the first real day of Autumn where I live. The sky remained overcast and it remained nearly dark enough to keep your car headlines on all day. The temperature never peaked much above 52 and there was strong gusty winds blowing leaves against my windows from nearby trees. David Sylvian’s “Secrets from the Beehive” was the most ideal sound track for such a day.

The last few days have been an usually stressful few. Not that everything occurring is negative, but there is a tremendous amount of sea changes adrift. This has required me to listen to music of a more ambient nature to mentally medicate to a more comfortable state. Thankfully Jeff stumbled upon this magnificent album a couple of weeks ago. It is now my current medication and has been working wonders.

I was riding in Jeff’s car when I noticed some incredibly intriguing music coming from his stereo and asked who it was — “Plain Fade“, he said. It happened to be something new he just picked up after hearing some chatter online which peeked his interest. The small amount I heard in his car interested me enough to investigate further.

Anekdoten has been around for about 10 years now, but it wasn’t until Opeth’s “Damnation” came out, that I learned of them and was drawn to their lastest record “Gravity“. I had discovered them as I was casually browsing through some playlists right around the same time I learned of Paatos.

I just received an e-mail that simultaneously made me excited and frustrated. José González, previously discussed on Dark Dose, is flying from his native Sweden to play a couple shows in New York City. I’ll be in New York City this month, just later than the days he’ll be here. Damn. For those of you close by, this is certainly an event not to miss.

So anyways, today we dive straight into utter darkness with a beautiful track off the last Thy Serpent mCD, simply titled “Death“. I was never a fan of Thy Serpent, as their previous mix of black / death metal seemed rather ordinary and uninteresting to me. There were so many bands that had perfected that style, it seemed rather futile to produce more releases in the category. So I was pleasantly surprised when I gave the Death mCD a random listen and found an absolute gem in the last track entitled “Parasites”.

One of the most critically overlooked bands from the now legendary Swedish metal explosion of the 1990s is Eucharist. While their career was short lived, they produced some of the most cutting edge melodic death metal of the time, with an undeniable dark edge. I first heard Eucharist when I picked up W.A.R. Compilation Volume 1 back in 1995. Wrong Again Records (now reformed as Regain Records) was one of the leading labels of the day for Swedish metal, alongside No Fashion Records. Anyone will tell you that the W.A.R. Comp Volume 1 CD was a classic, featuring new tracks from exploding artists such as In Flames, Dissection, Katatonia, Dark Tranquillity, and.. Eucharist. I was so blown away by the drumming of Daniel Erlandsson that I was eager to hear the groups next CD.

I insist it was not my initial intention to have the first two contributions in October be bands with “October” in their name. Regardless, that’s the way it has ended up and I’d say it’s appropriate. As I elaborated in the previous contribution, October is the beginning of the slide into Autumn and Winter, so it’s not surprising bands of a more introspective nature would be associated with it.

I’ll confess I’ve only been aware of October Project for about a year and am rather uninformed to details about the group. This self-titled album was released in 1993 on a very-major label and after it failed to yield top-of-the-charts success (in addition to two further releases), they were dropped.

Today brings forth the great month of October. The beginning of cooler days and the descent into winter. For some this seasonal change may bring forth disappointment. Not for me — and I venture to say not for many who read this site. I bid farewell to the suffocating furnace of Summer, with my middle finger extended. With open arms I embrace the crisp cool days of Autumn and eventually, the frigid nights of Winter. The depletion of daylight and cold weather inevitably bring with it a change in our mental state. There is no better time of the year to enjoy Sweden’s now defunct October Tide.