Book Of Black Earth | Horoskopus = Black Death Delight!

Genre mixing works pretty well these days. In almost any case you can mix two genres of metal and make it sound well. Except for Straight Line Stitch, they screw it up terribly. Mixing some genres are fairly easy. Black Metal and Death Metal fuse together pretty well and Book Of Black Earth give us a a tasty helping of it with their October 14th release, Horoskopus on Prosthetic Records.

With a demo, a split and one full length under their belt, Book Of Black Earth take it to the next level with their debut Prosthetic Records release. Book Of Black Earth are a 5 piece out of Seattle, Washington. The line up reads like this: T.J. Cowgill on guitar and vocals, Dav Tafoya on Bass and Vocals, Joe Axler on drums, Hank Guthrie (Not trying to knock the dudes name, but it sounds like a country singer) on keyboards and Tony Lombardi on guitar.

Dark rhythms and doom ridden bridges fill your ears with a black/death metal delight. It’s hard to make out the keyboards in the mix and the snare sounds a bit louder than almost everything else at times. Although its a flat “tinny” sounding snare, it doesn’t sound out of place. production almost sounds a bit staticy, but not in the Death Magnetic way, but in a good way. Over all Horoskopus sounds good. The rhythm doesn’t stay stagnant and it’s a good mix of tempos. Thick, low and heavy and the guitars aren’t overproduced. There are some really good break downs and the only thing that I think would make Horoskopus better is some really good, gut ripping solos.

T.J. Cowgills vocals stand on their own and each song tells a dark story. “Horoskopus is about hidden astrological eliments of the Christian church,” Vacalist/guitarist T.J. Cowgill says. “From it’s origins as a stats sponsored religion in the fourth century to the present day, it has been guided by astrological concepts conceived before Jesus Christ was mythologized as the ‘Sun’ of God” 

Book Of Black Earth’s tour starts tonight in their hometown of Seattle and are touring with label-mates Withered and Black Metal veterans Watain during October on the Black Metal Magic Tour. You can hear the track “Funeral of Peace” on their Myspace page.

• 9/25 Seattle, WA – The Comet (with Blackbreath, Immiserate, Galdr)
• 9/27 Spokane, WA – Mootsy’s (with Rutah, Doom Lit Sky, Behold)
• 9/29 Minneapolis, MN – Memory Lanes (with Wrath, Dianoga)
• 9/30 Minneapolis, MN – The Cube
• 10/01 Milwaukee, WI – The Borg Ward Collective (with Abbadon)
• 10/02 Detroit, MI – Floyd’s (with Off The Pigs)

(Black Metal Magic Tour with Watain, Withered, Book of Black Earth)

• 10/03 Toronto, ON – The Opera House
• 10/04 Montreal, QC – Katacombes
• 10/05 Montreal, QC – Katacombes (Second show added)
• 10/06 Ottawa, ON – Maverick’s
• 10/07 Boston, MA – The Middle East
• 10/08 New York, NY – Knitting Factory
• 10/09 Pittsburgh, PA – 31st St Pub
• 10/10 Cleveland, OH – Peabody’s
• 10/11 Chicago, IL – Reggie’s Rock Club
• 10/12 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
• 10/13 Denver, CO – Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
• 10/14 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
• 10/15 Seattle, WA – Studio Seven
• 10/16 Portland, OR – Rotture
• 10/17 Oakland, CA – The Metro
• 10/18 Hollywood, CA – Knitting Factory
• 10/19 San Marcos, CA – Jumping Turtle
• 10/20 Tempe, AZ – The Sets
• 10/21 Farmington, NM – Gator’s
• 10/23 Dallas, TX – Reno’s Chop Shop
• 10/24 Houston, TX – Walter’s On Washington (with Ritual Killer)
• 10/25 Austin, TX – Red 7 (with Ritual Killer)
• 10/26 New Orleans, LA – Red Dragon (with Ritual Killer)
• 10/28 Tampa, FL – Brass Mug
• 10/29 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
• 10/30 Raleigh, NC – Volume 11 Tavern
• 10/31 Springfield, VA – Jaxx
• 11/01 Allentown, PA – Sterling Hotel