CORY STRAND "ZODIAC: A REINTERPRETATION" 6CDr (AOW 80)

As devout followers of the label know, I was at one time a criminology major, obsessed with serial murder and aberrant psychology in general, and few cases found the two more closely intertwined than San Francisco's "Zodiac" murders in the late sixties and early seventies.  Robert Graysmith wrote two excellent books about the case (both highly recommended by me) and in 2007 David Fincher released his cinematic interpretation of them in his masterful film "Zodiac" (which easily stands as one of my favorite films of all time).
In working with the source material I have tried to echo what I feel to be the diseased headspace of the case as a cultural phenomenon, moving beyond simple psychological motivations into a piece of history writ large and bizarre.  Those motivations are still explored here but there is a quest for something larger in this material that I haven't attempted thus far in my soundtrack reconstructions, a sense of true and blinding disgust, a distorted throb of numbing anger and rage at imagined slights, rejections, and the torture of sexual inadequacy and unrequited love.  I feel this is one of the strongest sets I have ever released in every regard.  This one's a fucking destroyer and your speakers are going to be in agony.  Thanks to Roger Batty for suggesting I work with this material.
Packaged in a twin volume DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $30 ppd. in the United States, $42 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "I WILL BE REBORN" CDr (AOW 85)

One of two recordings I've prepared in tribute to Jeff Hanneman (the second will be out next month).  I simply cannot overstate how important Slayer have been to me throughout my life; without their music I would not be the person I am today.  Hanneman's passing was too soon.  I can only hope he is now in the sky amongst the floating castles, watching the angels sift through the heavens.
"I Will Be Reborn" is the entirety of "Reign In Blood" played together and then processed into a torrent of high end violent scree and noise destructionism.  I hope this serves as a fitting tribute to Jeff and the incredible body of work he left behind.  If I could raise a knife to the sky and slice it wide open I would.
This album comes with a super secret bonus CD of the masters in action circa the time of the source material.  Please forgive the slightly higher price as the added weight makes this one a bit rougher to ship.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $13 ppd. in the United States, $25 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "DRONE DEATHDREAM" 3CDr (AOW 83)

The companion volume to "Dreamdeath," the same source material processed and manipulated in an entirely different way.  Here there is no violence, no emptiness.  Here there is serenity, the gentle caressing kiss of the white and blinding void, whispers from the other side, hails from another consciousness.  The greater mysteries illuminated in the light, bathed in the remnants of bloody and scabrous darkness.  And that light will burn and glimmer.  And that light will become horrible and yawning, a cavern of despair and agony where dreams go to wither and die.  Death total and void inherent.  Scream until your lungs burts and your eyes gloss over with blood.  There is no echo in the universe.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $18 ppd. in the United States, $30 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "DREAMDEATH" CDr (AOW 84)

Crushing processed feedback symphonies for the crumbling bloody skies.  Bodies of angels collapse to the dirt, broken and exsanguinated, their death cries muffled by the venomous, choking soil.  Afloat in the great and pure dream, eyes bathing in sights untouched by the cosmos.  Vast reaches of emptiness, screams from the void, the jaundiced ether scathing itself into the corners of space and time.  Escape is a nightmare, the dream is the reality.  Only death is real.  Only death is valid.  Your memories are only of death.  What I am and what I want.  I am only after death.  A construct of total horror and unglimpsable beauty, the flesh torn asunder by the inability of the mind.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $22 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "BEAUTY IN THE BEAST: A REINTERPRETATION" 6CDr (AOW 82)

A deep and sonorous ambient reworking of Wendy Carlos's equally deep and complex album "Beauty in the Beast," transformed into a massive engulfment of glacial drones and throbbing bass ambivalence.  The inherent loveliness and menace of Carlos's album are here stretched out to epic proportions, becoming a veritable ocean of sounds to explore, get lost in, and eventually drown beneath.  This is an invitation to meditation, a hand outstretched to you with fingers yearning.  Look into the eyes of the great and unknowable dark.  There's a rumbling welling up from beyond the dirt, tearing the earth at the core.  The strange and echoing sounds of the planets are being brought to bear upon our world.  We are small; so very, very small.
Packaged in a twin volume DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $30 ppd. in the United States, $42 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "THE SHINING: COMPLETE" 6CDr (AOW 71) (reissued with bonus material)

A reissue compilation of my long out print "The Shining" sets, both of which sold out quickly and have been frequently requested.  This is mostly for the people that missed out on the first pressings, but I've sweetened the deal by including two discs of all new material, using dialogue elements from the film as well as my own "rock" reworkings of Wendy Carlos's main theme as sources.  The new material is incredibly violent.
Whether I'll return to the Overlook in the future is up for grabs (I suspect i will, as I can't seem to pull myself away from the hypnotic allure of Carlos's work for this film) but for now I'll close the book.  Hopefully the music will resonate.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $30 ppd. in the United States, $42 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

DREAMLESS/CORY STRAND "SO WARM, SO STRANGE" CDr (AOW 79)

A totally meta split between my band Dreamless and my work in the HNW genre, with both artists working off the same source material, blurring the lines between what my projects are actually about.  Or maybe just defining them more properly into a larger body of work.  Either way it's ridiculous fun to do this sort of thing.  Dreamless turns in a hyper-destructive cover of Cat Power's classic track "Rockets," transforming Ms. Marshall's 4 minute existential query into a blistering 30 minutes of waaaaay overblown, stupidly heavy noise rock.  If I could get away with making the next proper Dreamless album sound like this I would, but I suspect it might be a little more lo-fi than most people are comfortable with.  I think it sounds fucking awesome.
Cory Strand's piece takes the same Cat Power track and transforms it into a 30 minute assault on the senses, with no respite once the gail force distortion kicks in.  Full on and total immersion in the sludgy devastation.  What was once gentle and dark becomes sheer punishment.  Rockets have been known to explode.
Packaged in a DVD case with two covers, in a limited edition of 15 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $22 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "STAIRWELL: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING" CDr (AOW 77)

The soundtrack to the second thesis film I scored this semester, for my friend Ryan Franzman's project "Stairwell."  "Stairwell" revolves around a mysterious entity residing in the titular domain,  a bizarre infinite space with no beginning or end.  All attempts at exploration result in death or disappearance.  The music for this film is similar to the music I turned in for my own film "213," but whereas that project relied more on direct menace and disorientation, the score for "Stairwell" heads down a much more straightforward path.  This is full on John Carpenter worship in the "Escape From New York" vein, with dark spaced out synths buoyed with electronic drum pulses by way of Wendy Carlos's score for Kubrick's "The Shining."  For me it was a resounding success, and I am very happy to share the record with people.

Included as a bonus on this album is the first soundtrack I did for Ryan, for his film "Midnight Caller."  Loosely based on Lovecraftian ideas of the cosmos, the music falls into a similar Carpenter-ish vein, with a looser, more chaotic feel.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $22 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "MOON PIX: A REINTERPRETATION" 3CDr (AOW 78)

Maybe a bizarre choice for one of my reworks, but Cat Power's 1998 album "Moon Pix" is an exercise in stagnancy all its own, with a parade of 11 songs that traverse nearly identical sonic terrains across their own private expanses, a desert landscape of banality that was for some reason heralded as a critical and artistic success.  In manipulating the tracks I looked to augment that endless drift of nothingness, to create a lasting environment of greys and blacks that echoed the meandering pointlessness of the album proper.  The result is a massive set of burbling, washed out and hollow ambience, pools of yawning sound that reach out to the listener, desperate for contact and understanding.  Some of these pieces are hyper minimalistic, some are shimmering and lovely, and some are caverns of despair hungry for contact and entwinement.  Immerse yourself in the total blank.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $18 ppd. in the United States, $30 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

TENEBRIOUS "FUNEREAL CEREMONIES FOR THE MACABRE AND GROTESQUE" CDr (AOW 72)

Cavernous, dripping, bleak, and near infinite catacomb of profane and blasphemous horror drone courtesy of the mighty Tenebrious, here crafting a violent suite of hushed and blackened ambient deathscapes that mutate into collapsars of punishing and virulent noise.  This is one of the most gorgeously cinematic releases to grace Altar Of Waste's catalogue, and dedicated listeners will easily find themselves quickly immersed in the rotting fields of sound that Tenebrious offer up on "Funereal Ceremonies for the Macabre and Grotesque."  An incredibly deep and meticulously layered piece of work that showcases the absolute best in blackened drone; alien terror for the truly alienated, a drowning pool of venomous, quavering mind fluid stretching out to oceanic vastness.  The eons will shake as the towers crumble.
Altar Of Waste is supremely pleased to birth this filth into the world.  Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 30 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $22 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "213: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING" CDr (AOW 76)

If you really dig Altar Of Waste then you've probably read that I'm close to completing my studies in cinematography and finally attaining a degree.  What you may not know is that I've also scored several of the films I've shot this year (as well as a couple for friends) including my thesis film, "213."  A grindhouse inspired horror film taking its visual cues from the landmark works of John Carpenter (as well as the soundtrack!), "213" follows a young lady as she navigates the surreal terrain of parental disapproval and psychic distress blooming out into caustic violence.  Landing somewhere between "Misery" and "Kill Bill," this film was a joy to make and just as fun to score.
The music here is very different from my work in Dreamless and pretty far removed from any of my noise/ambient projects.  If anything it's a more visceral exploration of my drone interests with an obvious nod to Carpenter, reveling in growing menace and sub-bass terror.  I'm really proud of all the work I did on this film (it's my photography on the cover and inner!) and I hope you enjoy it.  Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $22 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "HENRY PLAINVIEW" CDr (AOW 75)

A companion piece to my upcoming double album release "There Will Be Blood: A Reinterpretation" (out soon on Occult Supremacy Productions), "Henry Plainview" is a full length version of a track found on that recording, here becoming an absolute drone monolith for inner mind descension into the lower realms of consciousness.  Unwavering stagnancy and deep, dark tones provide a brain blanket of troubling and unsettling warmth.  When I finished the original I knew it had to be expanded into a piece all its own.  While "There Will Be Blood: A Reinterpretation" is a study in many tones, textures, and atmospheres, "Henry Plainview" is dedicated to only one: uncompromising, horrific, glacially encroaching dread.  Pure and undiluted, ready to receive you.  Submit and recede.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $22 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

LOVE KATY AND CORY STRAND "JUST WANNA TRY YOU ON" CDr (AOW 74)

Love Katy and I unite on this massive album of pop conjecture and conjuration, with each of us turning in a take on Ms. Perry's quintessential recording "I Kissed A Girl."  Across the space of 75 minutes Perry's candy-coated provocation becomes fodder for Love Katy's celebratory excursions into burbling tarry wall noise and my own relentlessly psychedelic rushes of swirling sludge storms.  Each project then reworks each other's piece; Love Katy explores an incredibly intense and varied atmosphere of punishment while I revel in a washed out, shimmering ambience.  A simply staggering recording that was (at least for me) a blast to make every step of the way.  Get the headphones on and succumb to total saturation!
Packaged in a DVD case, with two different covers, in a limited edition of 30 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $22 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "CULTURAL SUBORDINATION" 3CDr (AOW 73) (reissued with bonus material!)

A reissue of my long out of print "Cultural Subordination" set, now with completely new artwork/layouts and a wealth of extra material.  I don't normally reissue things but enough people have asked about this one that i felt it was warranted.  The new disc is  a gigantic 70 minute composition that runs the gamut of styles found on the first two discs, from belligerent and sludged out wall noise to overblown remixology to desperate and trembling ambient textures.  Ellie Goulding's "Lights" is now rendered into something resembling a supernova of audio terror!
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $18 ppd. in the United States, $30 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

PLANNING FOR BURIAL/DREAMLESS "SPLIT" CDr (AOW 67)

In the works for months and finally seeing the light of day, this recording unites shoegaze ultra-minimalists Planning For Burial with shoegaze maximalists Dreamless for a distinct and reverent take on a female artist of each band's choosing.  Planning For Burial tackles two songs by gloom-folk chanteuse Chelsea Wolfe while Dreamless turns in a cover of '90s pop temptress Jewel.  Both bands stay true to their established templates, with the hushed and delicate nighttime fragility of Planning For Burial's contributions bleeding in to the crushing bulk of Dreamless's purification through volume aesthetics.  A beautiful split by two bands who essentially comprise two sides of the same coin.
Altar Of Waste is pleased to present this alliance in homage; through reinterpretation and imitation both projects illuminate their own processes and obsessions.  Packaged in a DVD case with two different covers, in a limited edition of 30 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $22 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

*If you would prefer a particular cover (either the Chelsea cover or the Jewel cover) please let me know in the "Comments" section of your Paypal order and I will do my best to accomodate you.  No guarantees, though!