Painted Throat: The Clock Shaken from the Wall
Out 27th October on Xenoglossy
What sounds like a semi-improvised drum shuffle underpins a procession of bass drones, the topography of which is defined by pitch and dynamics over any discernible melodic content. Feedback compounds on itself, providing welcome background ambience to supplement the abrasion of labyrinthine activity undertaken by the drum and bass. Slurred, distorted grunts complete the timbral picture, matching the drone of the bass guitar in their refusal to properly articulate lyrics borrowed from the poetry of Larry Eigner. As the album calms into a relaxed procession of freeform ambient drone, it retains the motion of industrial noise, one that could be taken for a rebuttal to the rigours of martial ambient. We have much the same ethos, textural range, and artistic import. But the rigid repetition, rhythmic simplicity, and sample driven vocal patterns are here replaced by their opposites. Loose percussive outbursts borrowed from free jazz, performed vocals stretched between the distorted and clean ranges, and ample space for minimalist drone to grow organically via feedback. This is not an album in the traditional sense of a meticulously planned recording project designed to document a creative moment, this is rather an unrepeatable noise event frozen in time. Its structures, momentum, and flow mapped out in vaguely discernible peaks and troughs as opposed to any rigidly rehearsed compositional expression.
Oerheks: Valkengebed
Out 28th October on Amor Fati/Babylon Doom Cult
Oerheks are probably one of the best recent examples of how the merger between ambient and black metal could be finalised. Taking our understanding of the form beyond an exercise in alchemy or balance, the third demo from this Belgian outfit uses metallic instrumentation itself as a means of expressing vast, sweeping atmospheric flourishes via a mix carefully curated to sound liminal, distant, haunting. This recruits the rhythm section into establishing the essence of ambience from the emphasis of the riffs to the drums themselves, levelling out these percussive tendencies until they become mere ascents and descents in intensity or density of information. Although a background layer of synths supplements the brume of euphoric guitar noise, one gets the sense that ‘Valkengebed’ is intended for consumption at the macro level. It is the entire package, working in unison to create this swelling, all encompassing moment of sonic escapism that the listener is supposed to imbibe, rather than dissecting individual elements which are in themselves relatively simple. In short, this is a work of sound art in that the majority of the creative process took place at the mixing desk, and in this it mirrors ambient and electronica despite the hangover of rock instrumentation. Oerheks are hardly unique in this regard, especially amongst hyper underground European black metal acts currently churning out comparable demos under the radar. But a strong case could be made for them being the most successful at conveying this unverbalized desire to express the dreamlike, wistful image of something beyond the mundanity of immediate experience.
Crystal Coffin: The Curse of Immortality
Out 31st October on A Beast in the Field
Credit where it’s due, I’ve never heard a band who purport to combine melodic black metal, progressive rock, ambient/electronica, retro sci-fi themes, and a plethora of non-metallic instrumentation manage to sound quite as tedious as this. On paper this music should at least be obnoxious, worthy of a disdain that at least holds the attention. But Crystal Coffin are apparently adept in the ways of the bore. A flat, sterile mix encases generic rock riffs supplemented by the barest minimum of aesthetic intrigue appropriated from black metal, with keyboards – such as they are – delivering only the most obvious in harmonic accompaniment, and piano lines so unintrusive that they could have been lifted from the Sims build themes. The rest is stitched together with radio friendly rock, generic modern metal ephemera from light thrash, pop-power metal, and bouncy commercialised anthemics. Again, it should be noted that on paper this stylistic blend is not inherently without value, even if the value extends only as far as providing a source of antagonism. But Crystal Coffin are somehow unable to even make a statement interesting enough to be hateworthy. The black metal equivalent of the toy that came free inside your box of Coco Pops.
Teufelsberg: Pakt mit dem Teufel
Out 31st October on Signal Rex
Takes the incrementally repetitive ‘Under a Funeral Moon’ formula and stretches it to near breaking point. One reading of ‘Pakt mit dem Teufel’ would therefore be the structure and scope of Burzum expressed through the vocabulary of early Darkthrone. In lesser hands this approach would result in a frustrating sterility bordering on the utterly superfluous from the vantage point of 2023. But Teufelsberg take steps to not only hold our attention, but create room for originality in this most well trodden of territories. One is through the melodic character itself. Despite the simplicity of the riffs and the extent to which they are repeated, there is an intuitive flow to these compositions that justifies holding on a particular moment, mood, or theme well past its sell-by-date. Secondly, one must give credit to the vocal performance, which displays an adeptness for mid-range rasping, but veers into outrageously emotive histrionics when it counts. The delivery avoids the pitfalls of contrivance or – worse still – comedy plaguing the fraught territory of black metal at its most melodramatic. Here the performance is compelling, dare I say captivating for its sense of theatre and expressiveness, achieving that rare thing in a style where vocals are almost incidental, adding a unique expressive lever that elevates rather than overshadows the music.
Hebephrenique: Non Compos Mentis
Out 31st October on Gutter Prince Cabal Records/Brilliant Emperor Records
Hebephrenique are an act brimming with ideas but short on heart. One can almost smell their desire to be seen as the true heirs to Blasphemer era Mayhem with a healthy dose of death metal. But this desire blinkers them to any other concern. All the elements are there, but nothing fits together. It’s the musical equivalent of someone on the team project saying “wouldn’t it be good if…” whilst offering no roadmap on how to get there. As a result, ‘Non Compos Mentis’ has everything but the kitchen sink thrown at it in the desperate hope that in packing enough content into each measure, we will mistake this lack of artistic filtering for some sort of dense sophistication. Ironically, when Hebephrenique dial back the wanton excesses, as on the title track, we are afforded a glimpse of their true selves as a modestly competent example of technical, dissonant black metal. A little hammed up maybe, but serviceable. Sadly, this glimpse of an identity falls at the end of an EP so stuffed with desperation that we cannot help but conclude such moments arise more by fluke than intent.
Ch’ahom: Knots of Abhorrence
Out 3rd November on Sentient Ruin
Brings the avant-garde hints of ‘Transcendence into the Peripheral’ into sharp, contemporary relief by shifting the emphasis away from the spacious drone of death/doom and into the upland pastures of oddball death metal. ‘Knots of Abhorrence’ is a tale of meandering, frustrated momentum, one befitting the conceptual material of pre-Hispanic South American ritualism. Despite the production playing up to the usual caverncore calling cards, the guitar retains enough solidity to bring clarity to a tradition of weird death metal that has its roots in Finnish eccentricity. This latent ornamentation is forever interrupting the flow of linear riff construction borrowed from the directness of North America. At the intersection, and marshalled by the oppressive mix, a cloying, claustrophobic cocktail of surplus activity pens the listener in, squeezing out the possibilities of experience until only a disorientating mass of swirling oppression remains.
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