Beowulf
Out 8th September, self-released
Whilst few would be thrilled at the idea of yet another metal prefix, the number and specificity of descriptors churning around the aether are useful insofar as they boast explanatory power, and I believe “barbaric metal” is one such. It should also be noted that barbaric metal as I’m proposing it is a vibe as opposed to a genre. The former being an aesthetic, tone, or general delivery mechanism for thematic material, whilst the latter is more grounded in concrete music theory. Barbaric metal could therefore be expressed in everything from power metal to raw black metal. It is discernible for its preoccupation with historic or mythological themes told from a particularly warlike, individualist perspective. Musically it tends toward aggression, primitivism, and violence. It does not eschew theatrics, but limits these flourishes to link phrases and ornamentation. It clings to the epic whilst maintaining a grounded realism.
Why barbaric metal and why Beithioch? This Northern Irish outfit have been churning out a considerable broth of atmospheric, primitive black metal for some time now, claiming ancestry in Beherit, Blasphemy, and Profanatica whilst adding a sophisticated Northern European historicism to the landscape. Musically it sews in a tragedian melodic undercurrent via lead refrains that would be just as suited to violin as guitar.
Their latest EP expands on one specific aspect of this framework, creating space for an expression of sophistication within an explicitly primal environment. The fittingly titled ‘Beowulf’ offers an extended stream of rhythm guitar driven blackened grind, evolving the imposing barbarism of Profanatica toward a place of maturity. Within this constrictive flow, space is eked out for fully realised melodic content reserved in its emotivism, dignified in its expression, and austere in delivery. In some respects this EP sounds like early The Ruins of Beverast if Frohn were a more efficient composer.
Beithioch’s last LP ‘Ghosts of a World Long Forgotten’ (2016) toyed with a monomaniacal minimalism rarely seen outside of Ildjarn. But such reckless sparsity was populated with lead guitar work expressive to the point of lyricism. Equally the last EP, ‘My Flesh and Blood Shall Feed the Earth’ (2019), worked within the heavy metal narrative form, yet retained an overtly barbaric infrastructure as a means of hosting a bright and open triumphalism.
‘Beowulf’ strips back any variation in pitch or tone for the most part, in favour of a holistic and unified delivery with all instrumentation pulling in the same direction. Although not immediately obvious, this approach could be seen as a synthesis between the two faces of Beithioch, between a studied musicality steeped in its thematic material at one end, and the raging primal heart of pure black metal at the other.
This is where I locate barbaric metal within the pantheon. Above the pure animalistic experience of an Ildjarn but below the nuanced melodic flow of a Summoning. Here, there is space for nobility as well as rage, for premeditation as a counterweight to pure action. A simplicity of structure from which grows a complex of philosophical interpretation, a musical expression almost perfectly knitted to its conceptual material in the tale of Beowulf.
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