Hermit Rites 008

Music and Reviews//Horror Drabble

Hello fellow Hermits! Welcome to the eighth ritual of Hermit Rites. I’m pretty much only writing about music this month because I am once again fully in a reading slump. I’m not as mad about it as usual since I am doing fairly okay in the writing department. I’m officially working on a fantasy novella, and it might actually be a unique genre mix, with fantasy as the base. In my fucking around with style I also decided on a different method of writing the story itself; I will be a pretentious hipster writing the entire thing by hand, then typing it, then going forth and doing the work on it (which is how I used to do things).

This has, unfortunately, also caused my writing in general to slow down, and that correlated to me missing my deadline for the newest Death Wish Poetry issue. This further correlates into my next submission to Death Wish Poetry having to be even more violent than “The Nightmare”. My apologies, King Loke. You have been warned.

Anyway, back at it; there are no breaks for me as guaranteed under my contract with Universal Writers Who Cannot Stop Writing Union, under my Editor-in-Chief Oscar. He’s a hardass, and difficult to please.

Oscar, the Editor-in-Chief, making sure I don’t take breaks.

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Music this month was an interesting trip. I set myself a challenge to not listen to a single album more than once. Meaning that if I want to listen to A Line of Deathless Kings or The Great Cold Distance, I only get one shot. So what did I do? I explored. I have 900+ music releases in my Bandcamp collection—mostly because of my subscription to Fiadh Productions—and about that many CDs in my living room. I also went intentionally exploring in Bandcamp’s Punk and Crust tabs because I love that shit but own almost none of it, and listened to a bunch of futurepop and industrial CDs to cleanse my palate from all the black metal and synth I’ve been listening to. And yes, I do see the irony in listening to a genre full of synths to get away from a genre full of synths and another genre literally called synth.

1. Lucerne Hammer - Demo [2025/Black Metal/Timcore]
2. Bihargam - Executioner Star [2023/Black Metal/Snowwolfcore]
3. Morke - Forged in Steel and Love [2024/Castle Metal]
3. Besna - Besna [2023/Post Black Metal]
4. Feijoa Tree - A Day in the Life (CS) [2025/Fantasy Synth/Ziricore]
5. Gladekeeper - Yearntale (CS) [2024/Fantasy Synth/Willowcore]
6. Assemblage 23 - Failure (CD) [2001/Futureop]
7. Assemblage 23 - Contempt [1999/Futurepop]
8. Assemblage 23 - Mourn [2020/Futurepop]
9. Begrime Exemious - Rotting in the Aftermath [2022/Death Metal]
10. Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell [2005/Gothic Doom]
11. Dragnipur - The Pannion War [2024/Fantasy Synth/Dungeon Synth]
12. Elminster/Erythrite Throne - From Tomes of Stygian Sorcery [2022/Dungeon Synth]
13. Panopticon - Kentucky [2012/Black Metal/Folk]
14. Psyclon Nine - Crwn Thy Frnctr (CD) [2006/Aggrotech/Terror EBM]
15. Deftones - Diamond Eyes (CD) [2010/Alternative Metal]
16. Sargeist - Satanic Black Devotion [2003/Black Metal]
17. Ancient VVisdom - 33 [2017/Occult Rock]
18. Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster (2CD) [2009/Pop]
19. Fernmage - Speak Frond and Enter [2022/Fantasy Synth/Comfy Synth]

20. Willow Tea - Faery Circles [2024/Fantasy Synth/Forest Synth/Willowcore]
21. Fogweaver - Fogweaver [2019/Fantasy Synth/Evergreencore]
22. Robes of Snow - The Wooden Wheel: Summer Storms [2023/Dark Folk]
23. Wolven Daughter - Gospel of the Claw [2024/Black Metal]
24. Termagant - Demo 2024 [2024/Death Metal/Eleanorcore]
25. Jocund Forest - Jocund Forest [2023/Comfy Synth/Forest Synth]
26. Warpu - The Solitary Flying Squirrel [2024/Comfy Synth/Forest Synth]
27. Hircine - Return to the Ruins [2024/Fantasy Synth/Damiancore]
28. plein de vie - Koltuk Degenklerinden Kanatlar Yapmak [2022/Post Hardcore/Skramz]
29. Wyoming Toad - Under a Critter Moon [2023/Comfy Synth/Forest Synth]
30. mel·lon - elena [2024/Fantasy Synth/Comfy Synth]
31. Wive’s Tale - Witch Tree Demo [2024/Blackened Doom Metal]
32. Woe - Absinthe Invocation: Five Spells Against God [2007/Black Metal]
33. Woe - A Spell for the Death of Man [2008/Black Metal]
34. Hexenschorf - Certain Rapture [2023/Black Metal]
35. Home Front - Think of the Lie [2021/Post Punk/Bootgaze]
36. Home Front - Games of Power [2023/Post Punk/Bootgaze]
37. Rammstein - Sehnsucht (CD) [1997/Industrial Metal]
38. Psyclon Nine - Divine Infekt (CD) [2003/Aggrotech/Terror EBM]
38. Rammstein - Herzeleid (CD) [1996/Industrial Metal]
39. Slough Feg - New Organon [2019/Heavy Metal]
40. Assemblage 23 - Storm (CD) [2004/Futurepop]
41. Mayhem - Ordo Ad Chao (CD) [2007/Black Metal]
42. Gjendød - Krigsdøger [2019/Black Metal]
43. Lightning Swords of Death - Baphometic Chaosivm (CD) [2013/Black Metal]
44. Spife - Battle Gnome [2024/Fantasy Synth]
45. Darkthrone - Soulside Journey [1991/Technical Death Metal]
46. Dawn Treader - Bloom & Decay [2024/Post Black Metal]
47. Halizth - Halizth [2025/Cosmic Black Metal/Sylfvrcore]
48. Gråt Strigoi - The Prophetic Silence [2024/Black Metal]
49. Altars of Grief - Iris [2018/Blackened Doom/Damiancore]

50. Ice War - Arrowhead [2019/Heavy Metal]
51. Ice War - Manifest Destiny [2018/Heavy Metal]
52. Spiral Skies - A Queedom to Come [2015/Doom/Heavy Metal]
53. Spiral Skies - Blues for a Dying Planet [2018/Doom/Heavy Metal]
54. Weald + Woe - For the Good of the Realm [2023/Castle Metal/Jeffcore]
55. Katatonia - Brave Murder Day [1996/Death Doom]
56. Captain Jazz - The Want [2023/Screamo]
57. Greenhollow - Pathway [2024/Ambient/Fantasy Synth/Willowcore]
58. Snawfuss/Hermit Knight - Rendezvous (Split) [2023/Fantasy Synth/Gnomecore]
59. Tyrranus/Magicide - Tory Punching Music (Split) [2023/Black Metal/Death Metal]
60. Vassus/Hemlokk - Fragments of Empires Long Buried (Split) [2024/Atmospheric Black Metal]
61. Everdead Wood - In Pious Chains [2023/Atmospheric Black Metal]
62. Haunter - Black Masses at Midnight... [2022/Blackthrash]
63. Robes of Snow - The Wooden Wheel: The Crones of Autumn [2023/Folk]
64. Cailleach Bheur - Cailleach Bheur [2024/Black Metal]
65. Culturist - Returning to the Dungeon Rave [2025/Dungeon Rave]
66. Junius - The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist [2009/Post Metal]
67. Imperative Reaction - Eulogy for the Sick Child [1999/Electro Industrial]
68. Plutonian Winter - Plutonian Winter [2025/Winter Synth]

69. Smoulder - The Sword Woman [2018/Heavy Metal/Epic Doom]
70. Smoulder - Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring [2019/Heavy Metal/Epic Doom]
71. Smoulder - Dream Quest Ends [2020/Heavy Metal/Epic Doom]
72. Smoulder - Violent Creed of Vengeance [2023/Heavy Metal/Epic Doom]
73. Ancient Pyres - Sou la ferule des meteores [2025/Doom Synth/Sylfvrcore]
74. Katatonia - Dead End Kings [2012/Gothic Metal]
75. VNV Nation - Construct [2025/Futurepop]
76. Apoptygma Berzerk - You And Me Against The World (CD) [2006/Futurepop]
77. Deadsy - Commencement (CD) [2002/Undercore]
78. Deadsy - Phantasmagore (CD) [2006/Undercore]
79. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (CD) [1991/Shoegaze]
80. End State - Their System is Broken [2025/Crust]
81. Teen Mortgage - Teen Mortgate [2024/Punk]
82. MASSDEAD - Compostable Billionaire Bones [2022/Crust]
83. VNV Nation - Of Faith, Power and Glory [2009/Futurepop]
84. Faery Ring - Mys & Frox [2024/Fantasy Synth/Comfy Synth]
85. Athelas - Athelas [2024/Dark Ambient/Tolkiencore]
86. Noire - Dark Reverence (Remastered) [2024/Black Metal]
87. Norilsk - Japetus [2014/Funeral Doom]
88. Norilsk - The Idea of North [2015/Funeral Doom]
89. Pig Destroyer - Head Cage [2018/Grindcore]
90. Tumultuous Ruin - An Abscess On the Heart of the State [2023/Black Metal/Guillotinecore]
91. Bauhaus - The Sky’s Gone Out (CD) [1985/Post-Punk/Goth]
92. Bauhaus - Mask (CD) [1981/Post Punk/Goth]
93. Blood Hunters - Death is a Goddess [2024/Ambient Dark Folk]
94. Fuck the Facts - Misery [2011/Grindcore]
95. Vanagandr - Felled Yew [2024/Black Metal]
96. Mourning Mist - Amen [2020/Doom]
97. Goblin Soap - Goblin Offensive [2024/Black Metal/Punk]
98. Face Rot - Ritual of Death [2014/Black Metal]
99. Grave Sermon - Whitewashed Tomb [2023/Death Metal]

100. An Autumn for Crippled Children - Portugal EP [2015/Post Black Metal]
101. Hex For a Hare - Hex For a Hare [2024/Fantasy Synth/Comfy Synth]
102. Morke - Sirens [2017/Black Metal]
103. Imagine A Boot - No Safe Space for Hate [2025/Black Metal/Punk]
104. Black Autumn/Forodren - In The Vast Emptiness (Split) [2023/Atmospheric Black Metal/DSBM]
105. Matthew Good - In a Coma (CD) [2005/Rock/Alternative Rock]
106. Apoptygma Berzerk - Black EP (CD) [2006/Futurepop]
107. The Cure - Faith (CD) [1981/Post-Punk/Goth]
108. Placebo - Black Market Music (CD) [2000/Alternative Rock/Post-Punk]
109. Placebo - Sleeping With Ghosts (CD) [2003/Alternative Rock]
110. Placebo - Loud Like Love (CD) [2013/Alternative Rock]
111. Opeth - Lamentations (2xCD) [2006/Progressive Death Metal]
112. God Dethroned - The Grand Grimoire (CD) [1997/Blackened Death Metal]
113. God Dethroned - The Toxic Touch (CD) [2006/Melodic Death Metal]
114. Baroness - Red (CD) [2007/Post Metal/Sludge]
115. Static-X - Start A War (CD) [2005/Industrial Metal]
116. Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel (CD) [2005/Alternative Rock]
117. Lunaar - Among the Dead Stars [2018/Atmospheric Black Metal/Post Black Metal]
118. Woe - Hope Attrition [2017/Black Metal]
119. Ancient VVisdom - Sacrificial [2014/Occult Rock]
120. Fogweaver - Spellwind [2020/Fantasy Synth/Evergreencore]
121. Fogweaver - Magelight [2023/Fantasy Synth/Evergreencore]
122. Fogweaver - Labyrinthine [2022/Fantasy Synth/Evergreencore]
123. Junius - Forcing Out The Silence [2004/Post Hardcore]
124. Citrus - Succumb to Scum [2025/Crust]
125. IDX - Onslaught Within [2025/Crust]
126. Mock Execution - Killed By Mock Execution [2022/Crust]
127. Genital Shame - Chronic Illness Wish [2024/Black Metal]
128. Joy Division - Closer (CD) [1980/Post Punk/Goth]
129. Fog Castle/Foglord/Fogweaver - In the Kingdom of Fog (Split) [2020/Fantasy Synth]
130. Darkest Dungeons - Unknown Mysteries I-IV [2025/Dungeon Synth]
131. Starer/Ambergaze/Myrvandrer/Mistral - Four Sorrows (Split) [2025/Atmospheric Black Metal/Snowwolfcore]

131. Lust Hag - Irrevocably Drubbed [2025/Black Metal/Eleanorcore]

Lust Hag returns with a new full length! Irrevocably Drubbed came out on May 9, so far marking it as the newest release from Missoula’s Mistress of Musical Misery (sorry Eleanor, the music reviewer inside me took over for a second). This is also the second Lust Hag release of the year, following the 10” split with Genital Shame in March. If you’ve read a few Hermit Rites posts, you’ll undoubtedly remember the name Lust Hag from all of my music lists. You’ll also have seen there’s a few other bands I’ve listened to that Eleanor kicks ass in (Termagant, Gun Girl, Infinite Ammo).

The lyrical themes of Irrevocably Drubbed deal with absolute self loathing to the point of “a dejected mind which is planning for it’s violent fucking mortal end.” And for something that topically sounds like a DSBM album, there’s nothing that typically sounds like a DSBM album. To be pedantic about it, if anything it would be closer to symphonic blackened death metal but with next to fuck all for production.

Irrevocably Drubbed is not just a fucking killer album, it also shows Eleanor’s growth as a songwriter and vocalist, especially if you’ve followed Lust Hag since the first demo’s raw vampyric black metal sound to now. The album takes nods at old Lust Hag at times, but from the rear-view mirror, and briefly. The riffs are stronger, more technical, and unfortunately for us, sometimes they aren’t returned to because this album is all about progressing forwards. Progressing through the music, progressing through abject fucking misery, and progressing through Lust Hag’s sound as a whole.

132. 3Phaz - Ends Meet [2023/Electronic/Breakbeat]
133. Galdr - Mörkergång [2023/Atmospheric Black Metal]
134. Rat’s Blood - 8 Tracks Demo/Punks Is Mutants EP [2023/Punk]
135. Covered Bridges/Grimhold - A Festival of Winters (Split) [2025/Dungeon Synth]
136. Birdband - The Rescue [2023/Fantasy Synth/Comfy Synth]
137. Hermit Knight - Adventures in Depersonalization [2023/Fantasy Synth/Gnomecore]
138. Adjure - Live Like You Know You’re Going to Die [2024/Black Metal]
139. Demon Sacrifice - Under the Blacklight of Divine [2025/Black Metal/Punk]
140. Rot//Woven - No Hope for a Better Past [2023/Crust]
141. Vega - Reliquia [2022/Symphonic Black Metal]
142. Weald + Woe - The Fate of Kings and Men [2020/Castle Metal/Jeffcore]
143. Glyph - Odes of Wailing, Hymns of Mourning [2024/Atmospheric Black Metal]
144. Glyph - In Times of Peril [2023/Atmospheric Black Metal]
145. Cynic - Traced in Air [2008/Progressive Death Metal]
146. My Dying Bride - Macabre Cabaret [2020/Gothic Doom]
147. Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars [2023/Gothic Metal]
148. Jocund Forest - Night-time Stories [2024/Fantasy Synth/Comfy Synth]
149. Garbage - Garbage (CD) [1995/Alternative Rock]
150. Garbage - Version 2.0 (CD) [1998/Alternative Rock]
151. Garbage - Beautiful Garbage (CD) [2001/Alternative Rock]
152. Garbage - Bleed Like Me (CD) [2005/Alternative Rock]
153. AFI - The Art of Drowning (CD) [2000/Punk]
154. Placebo - Without You I’m Nothing (CD) [1998/Alternative Rock/Post-Punk]

155. Cirith Gorgor - Unveiling the Essence (CD) [2001/Melodic Black Metal]

Like the Darkthrone/Mayhem split I have, Cirith Gorgor came from Revolver, which used to be Super Tunes, and now at the time of me writing this review there is nothing in that location. Unlike said split, I had no clue who Cirith Gorgor were but they had several things going for them, mostly the Tolkien-inspired name, the super cool logo, and the epic-as-fuck cover art. Oh, and the $14.99 price sticker because I had just traded in enough CDs to get $15 in-store credit.

Thankfully, the gamble paid off. Unveiling the Essence is fun melodic black metal that reminds me of a rawer Immortal. I have no idea what their older stuff or newer stuff sounds like (yet) but this is a CD that I am getting drawn to more and more lately.

156. Clan of Xymox - Breaking Point (CD) [2006/Futurepop/Goth]
157. Paradise Lost - Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us [2009/Gothic Metal]
158. Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker [2007/Industrial]
159. Ice War - Ice War [2017/Post Punk/Heavy Metal]
160. Sorcerer - Black [2016/Doom]
161. AFI - Black Sails in the Sunset [1999/Punk]
162. Hircine - A Crown of Wildflowers [2025/Fantasy Synth/Damiancore]
163. Maraigh - 2023-2024: A Year Spent Drowning [2025/Blackened Crust]
164. Vandal Moon - Black Kiss [2020/Darkwave/Goth]
165. Sif - Darkstalker/Death on Foreign Shores [2025/Blackened Doom]
166. Lust Hag - Lust Hag [2024/Black Metal/Eleanorcore]
167. Altars of Grief - This Shameful Burden [2014/Blackened Doom/Damiancore]
168. Erotica - The Undoing [2024/Black Metal]
169. Hell Hounds - Paint the World [2017/Symphonic Metal]
170. Vargouille - Oathbreaker/Dark Gods [2025/Fantasy Punk]
171. Les Guillotines Délirés - Les Guillotines Délirés [2025/Atmospheric Black Metal]
172. My Dying Bride - A Line of Deathless Kings (CD) [2006/Gothic Doom]
173. My Dying Bride - Feel the Misery [2015/Gothic Doom]
174. Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze - The Fractal Ouroboros [2023/Black Metal/Evergreencore]
175. Graverobber - Conscious Autopsy [2014/Death Metal]
176. Saltmarsh - Saltmarsh [2024/Ambient Blackgaze]
177. Deadly Doe - Rise of the Cervid Moon [2024/Fantasy Synth/Halloween Synth/Ziricore]
178. Porta Daemonium - Serpent of Chaos (CD) [2016/Blackened Death Metal]
179. Pogost - Messiah [2015/Black Metal]
180. Fuck the Facts - Mullet Fever [2001/Grindcore/Noise]

If this is your first time here, releases in italics are Canadian bands. Also thank you for being here. I hope you stick around.

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A drabble is a short work of fiction of precisely one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity, testing the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in a confined space. Wikipedia

Drabble XV: Deserter (2022)

It was myself and a small contingent of men who had cut across the field behind the forest, hoping to become even a small pincer against such indomitable foes. Our plan was to come in behind, flank, and sever the enemy’s hold on these lands.

Instead, here I am on trial for desertion. Rightfully so. I ran, armour full of my own shit and piss.

The creature was fifteen feet tall. Standing on goatish legs, a body like that of a field man, countenance again goatish. Not stupid and brutish, but eyes burning with intelligence. It saw me.

I ran.

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Drabble XXIII: Mad Scientist (2023)

Before I leave the lab for the night, I look into the cages at my silent menagerie. They rarely look back. Most specimens are too afraid to look, and the ones that are not are too damaged to know they should be afraid. They’ve all experienced what I do so many times. What I am.

Scars cover their bodies. Some are so mutilated even I can barely tell who they once were. Thankfully, some might say, many did not remember themselves either. Good thing I keep name tags on their cages and thousands of notes on my experiments with them.

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