Martyrdoom: As Torment Prevails
Out 23rd October on Memento Mori
Anyone vaguely attuned to current events will be aware that modern death/doom is overstuffed with content. The reasons are not hard to fathom. The genre encourages puffed out mixes that make the bar of entry low, you can pad the runtime with long passages of guitar drone to cloak a lack of ideas, the aesthetic is easy to grasp without the need to challenge the listener with compositional inuendo, and if you’re at a total loss you can just plagiarise Incantation. Martyrdoom look for all the world like another such bargain basement fake-it-till-you-make-it death/doom outfit. But peering through the undulating mass of ‘As Torment Prevails’ reveals an intention that overrides the fluid simplicity of individual riffs, delivered with a slick efficiency that speaks of a refreshingly rigid quality control. The mix borders on caverncore fodder, as do some of the riffs leaning toward doom. But these are supplemented by upbeat passages making hay somewhere between Asphyx and Autopsy. A pleasingly intuitive immediacy pulls us in despite the minimalist character of each progression. Some ideas may be repeated for a few bars too many, but Martyrdoom can be relied upon to deploy a payoff following even the most repetitive of passages. This gem may be easy to overlook given its disguise an inferior product, but any passerby is invited to delve deeper, modest rewards await.
Malokarpatan: Vertumnus Caesar
Out 27th October on Invictus Productions
The spirit of early Czech black metal clashes with a progressive rock intellect, the heart of new folk revival, an ample rump of eccentric class. Featuring two members from Krolok, Malokarpatan are something of the chirpier sibling to the mystic churning darkness of the Krolok endeavour. Despite the divergence, we would be justified in locating both within the broad church of black metal. A combination of brightly orchestrated heavy metal jams calls to mind the pomp of Greece’s Agatus, alongside a swirling dark thrash lifted from early black metal as it was prior to the Nordic turn. Populating this like ornaments on a mantlepiece are all manner of musical divergences, something we have collectively agreed to refer to as “progressive”. It’s important to note for anyone less familiar with the Weird (capital W) approach to black metal adopted by many central European bands, progressive here does not refer to the current crop of emo-with-time-signatures bratcore beloved by the scene’s self-appointed spokespeople which they for some reason they also refer to as prog. Here, the term refers to a concoction of rich folk lyricism extended into cinematically grandiose soundscaping projects, defined by their broad timbral range, multifaceted tangents, plot twists, welcome deviations. But importantly, regardless of the extent to which Malokarpatan indulge in such compositional ephemera, all these elements are brought to bear in service of a rock solid foundation of dark metal austerity. A direct, convincing, and immersive experience of laid back extreme metal, but one richly bordered by a cornucopia of slickly delivered sonic delights, the complexity of which takes time to satisfactorily digest.
Lightlorn: At One With the Night Sky
Out 27th October on Black Lion Records
Tell me you like stadium rock without telling me you like stadium rock. Lightlorn are yet another “black metal” band purporting to offer some sort of revelatory experience because they discovered that major keys can also be played over a blast-beat. This is not imaginative, nor is it daring, nor is it overly prescriptive to point out that this has nothing to do with black metal. Of course black metal can be triumphalist. There is a strong current of anthemic revelry running through its DNA. But that’s not what’s going on here. ‘At One With the Night Sky’ is a series of depressingly domesticated pop-rock hooks strung together by lacklustre transitions, tied up with a bow of the most banal cadential resolutions one can imagine. For all the musicianship, the polished production, and the glowing self-praise offered in support of this LP, it amounts to nothing more than radio friendly talking points and contrived euphoria aimed at listeners who require nothing more of music than content-light emotive backing tracks to their Instagram feeds.
Efraah Enhsikaah: One Thousand Vultures Waiting to be Fed
Out 27th October on Osmose Productions
Much as I despise track-by-track reviews, I’ll freely admit that the opening title track to this one tries the patience. But as we move into ‘Letharia Vulpina’ and the tempo remains stubbornly below the 100 BPM mark it becomes clearer what Efraah Enhsikaah are going for here. Topographically speaking, this is an epic doom metal endeavour wearing the clothes of black metal. Albeit a professional, polished iteration of an otherwise unpretentious reading of black metal as an expressive form. In fact it’s this latter point that is key to this characterisation. What marks Efraah Enhsikaah out from DSBM is the clarity and professionalism of the mix. All elements are clear and powerful, but presented with a lick of sparsity allowing this to pose as black metal. But as far as structure and delivery go, ‘One Thousand Vultures Waiting to be Fed’ is traditional doom metal informed by the rich compositional history of epic heavy metal. Why all this quibbling over genre? Beyond the simple joy of locating new releases, ‘One Thousand Vultures Waiting to be Fed’ is one of those albums not all that forthcoming with reasons to exist. The understated approach works only insofar as it serves some other artistic project, but no such project exists here. However, as far as expectation management is concerned, there is value in this release as an exercise in expressing the poetic forms of one genre in the language of another. And in that regard, Efraah Enhsikaah can offer modest but useful instruction.
Iku-Turso: Ikuinen Kirous
Out 27th October on Purity Through Fire
Whilst one could be forgiven for thinking that Iku-Turso are hell bent on returning black metal the primordial soup of the early 90s (how novel), they seem to misunderstand the motivation behind the genre (in its many forms) to the point of being almost avant-garde. Structurally, and to some extent performance wise, these are essentially bouncy rock tracks. Catchy one-two percussive punches border jaunty verses, accented by sugary keyboard licks, and vocals that – despite the raspy distortion – evince a kind of whimsical lyricism anathema to raw black metal. We say raw black metal, but truthfully Iku-Turso call on all manner of blackened variants, from symphonic to black ‘n’ roll to thrash. But each element is firmly grounded in such a blatant passion for a domesticate pop hook, shoved together in incongruent and often bizarre marriages and transitions, that the only logical conclusion is that ‘Ikuinen Kirous’ is a work of subversive experimental genius. Whether by accident or design, the results will require careful study for us to unpick the extent of the mess Iku-Turso have made of our otherwise carefully agreed upon norms and conventions, and whether they should be honoured or banished for the fact.
One of Nine: Eternal Sorcery
Out 27th October on Wolves of Hades
Promises a great deal, but fails to deliver much of what was on offer. In the field of epic, melodic black metal, the bare minimum is a seamless flow of interconnected melodic information, the challenge being to smuggle in subtle divergences from this format via whatever means one chooses, as long as they integrate into the central stream of dramatic intent. Compositionally, it can actually be as complex or simple as one chooses, as long as a theatrical centrepiece is retained and commented on by whatever ancillary techniques one has to hand. And for long passages of ‘Eternal Sorcery’, One of Nine do manage to achieve this. But they fall short in crafting a sustained expressive vehicle. An idea is set up, developed, and recapitulated, but the connecting phrases, developmental material, or the subtle art of transition, all fall short. This results in an interrupted narrative. Individual elements manage to hold the attention, but unforced errors make ‘Eternal Sorcery’ look at best unfocused, at worst unfinished. For aficionados of the genre who simply enjoy watching it done well, this album is not devoid of virtue, but even this year we have seen superior offerings in the field approaching the terrain from different angles (Tombstone, Suhnopfer, The Kryptik).
Hate Meditations 
Leave a comment