CORY STRAND "HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE: A REINTERPRETATION" 20CDr BOX SET (AOW 116)

This one might take a few people by surprise.  The "Harry Potter" films are an epic cycle for me on par with Peter Jackson's work with the Tolkien mythology, beautiful and masterfully made classicist films that both revere and reinvent their source material.  David Yates' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" stands as my favorite of the HP films (as well as my favorite book in J.K. Rowling's series) for its muted approach to what is ultimately the most tragic series of events in the story overall, as well as for its gorgeous cinematography (the burning of the Weasley home and subsequent battle in the wheat field, the Cave Of Despair sequence, and Slughorn's haunting memories of Tom Riddle) and its wonderfully minimalist score by Nicholas Hooper, cradling the events of the film in a moody and affecting palette of ambience that stands apart from the music found in the rest of the film cycle.

In working with Hooper's score, I wanted to go deep into the hushed and haunted tone of the film and create pieces that reflected the overall atmosphere as I perceived it.  This is my true and gushing love letter to the drone, with the pieces found on this set touching on virtually every style i'm known for: deep, stagnant, ominous tone baths, greyed out deathwashes, shimmering Tim Hecker-like blissouts, and despairing glacial expanses of sorrow.  If i'm remembered for anything as a drone artist i would like it to be this set-i have never been more proud of anything I've created and I am honored to share it with those who support me and Altar Of Waste.
There is an astonishing amount of material here.  The first 15 discs are my rework of Hooper's soundtrack proper, an exquisite assemblage of drone and ambient that manages to be both elegant, elegiac, and menacing in its scope.  Discs 16-20 are alternate HNW versions of some of the soundtrack pieces, as well as original synthesizer drone compositions made by me in honor of the film.  Also included is a super secret bonus disc, an hour long synth composition entitled "Hermione" in tribute to the lovely young heroine who helps Harry out of many a difficult situation across the span of eight films.

Packaged in a wooden box with locking metal clasps, with the discs themselves housed in eight of the traditional Altar Of Waste DVD cases (the soundtrack rework proper in three 5-disc capacity cases and the remaining supplementary materials in their own single and double cases).  Also includes an informational insert.  Released in a very limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  I went to a lot of work to create this package and I think it's pretty damn rad.  I know it's expensive but i truly believe the price is fair considering the amount of music (nearly 22 hours) housed in the boxes and the considerable amount of time it took me to make them.  $150 ppd. in the United States, $162 rest of world.  No trades on this one.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

NECRONOM IV "FROM MALICE, FROM NOTHINGNESS" 2CDr (AOW 119)

All new double album of epic deep space stagnation drone from Necronom IV, this time in honor of Ridley Scott's much-maligned return to the Alien mythology, the epic and far-reaching Prometheus.  "From Malice, From Nothingness" seeks to map out exactly what the title implies: the genesis and birth of the creature we have come to know as the Alien through the indifferent and perhaps cruel machinations of the mysterious and elusive entities known only as the Engineers.  The drones here are far reaching and cavernous, different from those found on previous Necronom IV efforts but heavily indebted to the same void of ideals and anti-aesthetics, an exploration of the human race's undying hubris and lack of understanding.  Intent and the inherent morality (or possibility) of action provide a framework for extermination, an evolutionary certainty cast as apocalyptic maliciousness indirectly via our supposed mastery over technology.  There is no substitute for nature, nor is there any way to truly fight it.  We cannot win, and we will be eradicated.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $15 ppd. in the United States, $27 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

ARTERIAL "THE VIOLENCE" CDr (AOW 121)

Gorgeous and destructive twin guitar fallout courtesy of Arterial, bridging the gulf between drone and noise with a mesmerizing and brutal intensity.  Parts of this album recall the severe feedback meltdowns of a Mogwai encore eviscerated through a jet engine while others recall the drifting serenity of San Agustin and and Sonic Youth at their most placid.  Together they create an incredible statement of intent for the electric guitar, an anti-expanse for the disassociated mind and a severely disorienting bit of hypnotic and sickly textures united with a knowledge of drone aesthetics that would make the heavens bleed.  There is beauty in disfigurement; there is a spectre of immolation and sacrifice hidden beneath the veneer of lucid calm, restless and haunting.  "The Violence" is a breathless and masterful elucidation of the possibilities of the guitar, a deep excursion into the lovely burning heart of electricity.
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

CROWN OF BONE "LORD OF ILLUSIONS" CDr (AOW 120)

The third film tribute I've had the pleasure of releasing from the mighty Crown Of Bone, this time in honor of Clive Barker's woefully undersung nightmare noir masterpiece "Lord Of Illusions."  Whereas Crown Of Bone's last two releases with Altar Of Waste have seen the project exploring more textured, screamingly psychedelic, melodic, and expansive approaches to soundtrack revisionism, "Lord Of Illusions" is a total return to scalding HNW primitivism, with Dustin turning in some of his more severe material in honor of Barker's tale of occultic magic and blood ritual.  This record absolutely shreds at your speakers, with masses of distortion and bass textures intricately layered against one another for maximum auditory devastation.  Crown Of Bone's work here reflects the growing sense of detachment from the real that Barker's film so evocatively depicts; as the screaming noise destructionism grows ever more volatile, you begin to recede into the depths of your own mind and float away on the ethereal raft of the possibility entire.  If that isn't a mission statement for HNW then Altar Of Waste has no purpose whatsoever.  Another triumph from one of modern noise's most skilled practitioners.
Altar Of Waste is beyond pleased to unleash this devastating tribute to one of horror's absolute masters.  Crown Of Bone's tribute to "Nightbreed" will follow in the future!  Packaged in a DVD case 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 "THE SHINING: DESCENDANCE" 2CDr (AOW 117)

All new double album of reinterpretations of Wendy Carlos's score for Kubrick's The Shining.  "The Shining: Descendance" is a massive rework of one track, "Day of Wrath," divided into two distinct movements, hopefully soundtracking Jack Torrance's elliptical descent into homicidal madness.  There is no gratification here via an eruption into violence; instead this set attempts to create a distinct and palpable sense of growing unease and discomfort, the encroaching dread and maniacal self-loathing that come to drive Torrance to his bloody work rendered into epochal slabs of buzzing and sickly drone.  Like flies upon the flesh after the sticky sweet blood on the walls, a miasma of hallucinogenic bloodlust tempered with the cavernous appetites of a life completely unfulfilled.  Again, all I can ever hope is to do the original work justice and provide worthy additions to the mythology.  Go down deep into the night.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $15 ppd. in the United States, $27 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

FANTOME DE SANG "MALADIF LUNE" 4CDr (AOW 114)

Scathing and knifelike screaming blackened wall noise and diseased moon ambient from this new and mysterious entity.  Deeply influenced by Les Legions Noire and the primitive spirit of feral French black metal, Fantome de Sang revel in a royal elitism hearkening back to the early aristocratic attitudes found in the work of the early French masters.  Here the romantic and tortured sanguine melancholy of Mutiilation and Vlad Tepes meets the occultic melodies and atmosphere of Moevot, resulting in a sound that is both breathtakingly violent and chaotically composed.  A masterful examination of black metal aesthetics as filtered through a modernist HNW approach.  Vampiric sorrows and cosmic laments create a wretched expanse of aggressive sonics and hymns to a sickly moon.
Altar Of Waste is pleased to unleash this epic summoning of unlight.  Deep forest and ensepulchred terror from the darkest reaches of black metal's storied ideology, Fantome de Sang have unveiled a masterwork of moonlight sacrifice.  The earth will choke on the spilled blood.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $20 ppd. in the United States, $32 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "TO THE WONDER: A REINTERPRETATION" 5CDr (AOW 112)

For all its astounding and ethereal beauty, Terrence Malick's "To The Wonder" is, for me, a film about emptiness, a collection of emotions once felt and now dead, a shell of nostalgiah haunting those whose memories the film attempts to assemble.  The magnificent power of the film lies in its ability to to be utterly unknowable and obscure while still being cripplingly relatable, with the wrenching emotions felt by its thinly sketched characters serving as a map to our own shared experiences in a lifelong quest for love and completion.  The sense of ache and yearning that Malick summons so effortlessly is incredibly painful and touching; the majestic glimpses of the natural world serve as reminder of how expansive and complex the palette of human feeling can be, how mystery and wonder can infect the reality of our world and bring it crumbling to the ground.
In working with the soundtrack I have attempted to preserve that sense of expanse, that feeling of being afloat and lost in a world far too gigantic to notice you.  While some of the pieces here are indeed beautiful, blanketing you with warmth and awe, they are also foreboding, indifferent, and callous to the point of being statuesque.  This film made me retreat into myself and truly think about the map of my life, the paths I've created for myself.  I wanted this music to do the same for whomever hears it.  There are no answers here, only a glacially expanding series of inquiries and the gentle, hazy fog of mystery.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $25 ppd. in the United States, $37 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

NIGHTTIME IN THE ABYSS/SKJELVER "WE WHO WRITHE IN BLOOD AND DESPERATION" CDr (AOW 111)

One of the most emotionally harrowing records I've had the privilege of releasing, this massive split unites the blackened satanic ambient/noise majesty of Nighttime In The Abyss with the scathing sickly vomit screaming ambience of Skjelver.  I use "ambience" here in a manner suggesting only that both projects terrifyingly summon up persistent auras and atmospheres that linger long after the music has faded away, whether that music is cathartically punishing, calming, anxious, frightening, or transcendent (and all are found in abundance here).  After listening to it for the first time I could only sit awash with awe at the overpowering deluge of raw emotion on display.  It's a consuming piece of art that demands your total attention across each enervating second.  Violence and beauty, the flowering of regret and that first choking pain of true nostalgiah.  Sorrow reigns across a barren landscape of self-delusion and self-hatred.  Time is a sword, and it will leave scars.
Altar Of Waste is proud to release this incredible split recording.  I think it's pretty fucking masterful and I hope it will resonate with you as deeply as it has with me.  It's truly intense and sometimes scary. 
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

MINIATURE TOKYO "LISTEN/CLOSELY" CDr (AOW 115)

This record is difficult to describe, and perhaps pointless to do so.  Designed so as to provide a completely unique and intensely personal experience,  Miniature Tokyo's "Listen/Closely" comes closest to being a sort of conceptual ambience where the listener's unconsciousness becomes part of the flow.  Perhaps the sounds at the very last edges of outer space, a vast and impervious stretch of indifferent antimatter.  This is stagnant to the point of spectral, the roar of an ocean billions of miles away.  The drifting echoes in your own head.  Suggestion is often more powerful than the actual.  This one will require some seriously deep listening.
Packaged in a DVD case 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