Five Killer Obscure Metal Bands by Harland Burkhart of Wild Hunt

Wild Hunt is a mystical, blackened metal band from Oakland. If you're a fan of groups like Ludicra, Hammers of Misfortune and Weakling, you might already be familiar with them, since they run in some of the same circles. Wild Hunt's vocals are handed by drummer Harland Burkhart who possesses a creepy, almost drugged-like singing voice.

The quartet is gearing up for the release of Before the Plane of Angles, their debut album. Wild Hunt recently debuted one of the album's tracks, "Window to the Nether," at this link.

When his publicist told us that Burkhart was a huge fan of cultish metal, Noisecreep asked if we could get him to send us a list of five groups that he's been listening to lately. Check out his picks and be ready to be turned onto some crazy stuff!

Ved Buens Ende

"Maybe not that obscure anymore, but this pick is still definitely an oddball one. This is an example of the weirdness that sprung out of the Norwegian black metal scene in the mid-'90s when, for some, wearing corpsepaint and screaming about Satan was starting to run its course. This is heavy music straight from the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari."

Truppensturm

"This is war metal at its finest. These Teutons have honed in on a sound so chaotic and relentless, you might find yourself transported to a bombed out trench in World War II."

Loincloth

"Here's an insanely talented instrumental band from Virginia. Pen Rollings (ex-Breadwinner, the first band to be labeled "math rock") used to be in this group, and 2 of the 3 current members are from the technical doom band Confessor. So, you could probably guess what you're gonna get here---total head-scratching polyrhythmic odd-meter madness. The crazy thing is that it's actually enjoyable to listen to! Complexity without pretentiousness."

Circle

"I put these guys in here because metal is definitely a part of their sound, but I doubt metal-archives.com would list them. Still, I say Circle's Katapult album is an essential piece of music for metalheads looking for something off the beaten path. The song "Saturnus Reality" makes me think of Frank Zappa teaming up with Dødheimsgard, or something."

Misery's Omen

"This is an Australian group with members of Stargazer, Cauldron Black Ram, Mournful Congregation, etc. They feature some phenomenal bass playing from Damon Good, and some truly beautiful black/doom melodies throughout. At times the go kind of jazzy (sounds terrible, right?), and other times they get subtly humorous. They are one of my favorite black-ish metal bands."

Wild Hunt's Before the Plane of Angles was recorded and mixed by Salvador Raya at Earhammer Studios (Saviours, Ghoul) and mastered by Justin Weis at Trakworx (Hammers of Misfortune, Ludicra). The album is out May 1 on Kemado Records.