ARTISTS

Blackrune

PM Goerner, Matt McCullough, Chris Goggans

Years Active: 2012-2016
Genre: Dark Shoegaze / Mystical Post-Rock
Home: Savannah, Georgia, USA
Associated Acts: Fogg & Ashe, Waxing Crescent, Temazcal, Magic Places
For Fans Of: Hum, Sunn 0)))

Bandcamp | Complete Playlist | Facebook | Spotify | Soundcloud | Waxing Crescent Media | Youtube

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Biography

Born out of a series of feedback rituals in the summer of 2012, Blackrune was conjured up by Savannah multi-instrumentalist PM Goerner. Previously, Goerner played atmospheric electronic psychedelia under the moniker Magic Places. "Electronic music," Goerner says in an interview with Connect Savannah, "was really kind of a refuge for me, when I didn't have the instruments to engage with other people on more of an organic, creative basis. It was a way for me to make music and investigate things when I didn't have any equipment." Even before Magic Places existed, Goerner was a veteran of DIY Punk bands around his hometown of Greenville, SC. However, after moving to Savannah without a guitar and “playing the buttons” as Magic Places for a few years, he bought a guitar again in 2012 and Magic Places morphed into Blackrune — a nexus of eerie adventure music and dark fantasy soundtracks, which weave together the moods of occult mystery, ancient history, science fiction, and modern fantasy to create a uniquely curious heavy sound.

“Like an immense, gauzy beast rising slowly from a dark ocean, Blackrune will pursue and envelope you, and swallow you, and pass you on to a strange and multi-hued chemical world where nothing is as it seems.”
– Connect Savannah, interview with PM Goerner about the formation of Blackrune.

In 2012, Blackrune had a couple of releases to introduce us to what Goerner’s plan were, but at that point it was still a solo venture. The debut EP ‘Akhenaten Percentages’ was released on August 31st 2012 digitally and on a very limited handmade cassette via Furious Hooves. Shortly after, Blackrune was included on the second release in the Furhoof Halloween Split series called ‘Devil, Do You Dare Approach Me?’ with Man Eating Sloth.

“Over on the flip loom large Blackrune with ’Oracle of Night’, who craft up a brooding ambient horror phonic feast ripe for back dropping some lost Lucio Fulci 70’s blood curdler and into the bargain sounding not unlike a rather animated Goblin full tilt.
– The Sunday Experience, review of ‘Devil, Do You Dare Approach Me?’ split.

In 2013, Blackrune dug deep into the local swamplands in search of the buried roots of heavy music and from that search, Blackrune was reborn as a trio. Like a dark dust cloud settling across the mind's eye, the deceptively unassuming trio of Chris Goggans (Grand Vapids, Mothers), Matt McCullough (Temazcal, Longitude/Latitude), and bandleader PM Goerner used rock instrumentation to paint blissfully foggy pictures of the fantastic and the mystical in dense, dark shades. Standing at the altar of Sabbath, Floyd, Spacemen 3, and Sunn 0))), Blackrune compels the ancient knowledge of their instruments in an iconoclastic pursuit of modern musical sciences such as neo-psychedelia, dark shoegaze, atmospheric black metal, and hypnotic noise. Their EP ‘Omphalos’ was released August 13th 2013 digitally worldwide and on limited edition cassette via Furious Hooves. It served as a preface to their debut full-length ‘Palustrine Hegemon’ which was released almost exactly one year later on August 5th 2014 digitally worldwide, as well as on limited edition cassette via Furious Hooves. 

"Blackrune drape themselves in Southern Gothic ritual. From the ebon art work to the tactile script – even a name that burns sinisterly with its implications – but it’s all a façade into a rather spiritual and otherworldly plane."
– KEXP, review of ‘Palustrine Hegemon’ LP.

April 29th 2016 saw the release of Blackrune's sophomore full-length ‘Dead Temples’ digitally worldwide and on limited edition cassette via Furious Hooves. ‘Dead Temples’ is a musical-literary fantasy-odyssey in nine parts, drawing inspiration from mythology, occult history, film, and literature on a journey to explore the fringes of post-rock, psychedelia, and the esoteric soundtrack as a standalone experience. Weaving together themes and images from sources like the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Roman pagan lore, Dante's Inferno, and 'The Outer Limits,' 'Dead Temples' hopes to inspire a transportive experience in the fantasy world that exists between everyday experiences.

Around 2015, Goerner began expanding on what could be done with Blackrune as a creative outlet. In addition to their live shows of Blackrune material, they started doing shows featuring live-scoring of classic films such as the 1962 French sci-fi featurette ‘La Jetée,’ an experimental film of Stan Brakhage, and even the cult classic 1970 Czech new wave film ‘Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.’ During this year’s Savannah Stopover festival, Goerner wanted to do something memorable and unique for the Furious Hooves’ label showcase. The result? The Blackrune Circle Esoteric Orchestra, a rare and special spiritual-drone piece featuring an onslaught of Savannah musicians and Furhoof family in a super-group led by PM Goerner and featuring members of Boy Harsher, Heavy Boots, mumbledust, Grand Vapids, HOST, Temazcal, and more.

“The idea is to create a more totally immersive space for people to escape into, to submerge into, to sort of create what I’d think more of as a metaphorical space. It’s not necessarily just about watching a band play with a movie there. It’s about going to see the movie with some extra sensory additions to it to make it an ultimately immersive experience. It’s sort of combines the film and some live music to make something a little bit bigger than both of those in their live settings.”
– PM Goerner with Connect Savannah, interview about Blackrune’s Live-Score Film Nights.

Unfortunately, 2016 brought the departure of many Savannah artists and Blackrune was not immune. McCullough & Goerner eventually both found themselves in Chicago, IL, while Goggans was playing in various bands in Athens, GA area. McCullough releases solo music as Temazcal and Goerner has been honing in on a number of things under the umbrealla of Waxing Crescent Media.

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