Perdition’s Mire: Into a Dark Heartland
Out 13th December on Headkick Music
At one point these impotent guitar lines were probably reasonable black metal riffs. Onto this framework is draped a tedious exercise in self-therapy. Because this band’s focus is on individualised inner struggle they have nothing useful to say beyond meaningless gestures on why life sucks. This process is so endemic within the music to the point that any serviceable ideas or themes go completely underdeveloped or are repeated ad absurdum, their potential as powerful narrative devices neutered in order to prop up a contrived conveyor belt of hammed up emotion and tedious lyrical devices. This is essentially what happens when alternative rock bands look at the rich and diverse history of extreme metal and see nothing but material to be lifted piecemeal and re-appropriated as tools for their own emotional catharsis, expecting plaudits for being “brave”, “powerful”, or “raw”. None of which applies here, just a flat and at times amusing plod with all the pacing, grace, and creativity of a school nativity play.
Lord Sin: Portrait of the Devil
Out 13th December on Larvae Records
Essentially attempts to repurpose a drab, epic doom template with blackened undercurrents, and in this regard is not unsuccessful. The main shortcoming being an overreliance on deliberate repetition. The intent appears to be hammering home the torturous, laboured struggle that so much doom metal trades in, but the use of black metal vocals alongside serviceable but hardly spectacular melodic licks does little to undergird the repeated cycles enough to hold the interest. That being said, at the narrative level Lord Sin have much to recommend them, alongside some unique aesthetic choices, showcasing individual refrains and riffs that feel shiny and new owing to the incongruous context. In this it deserves more attention than a good portion of modern doom, but it suffers from a similar ailment owing to its inability to maintain a distinctive concept and develop it enough to justify the longform composition. Structurally sound, but still plain in execution.
Mork Gryning: Fasornas Tid
Out 13th December on Season of Mist
This once curious outlier of Swedish black metal now contents itself with playing every subgenre it can get its hands on in a near random stream of conscience. The impression one gets is of an artist trying to please every base within black metal. Speed thrills interrupt euphoric melodic currents, as if they need to reiterate their extreme credentials when lyrical and technical flair becomes too lavish, lengthy power metal licks give way to primal black metal chord clusters. Lavish symphonic phrases are placed next to d-beat runs apparently to reiterate the punk credentials of this otherwise bloated circus music. The lack of focus is so total and overwhelming that one struggles to divine any meaning, the album’s reason for existing – aside from shaking hands with every faction of black metal it can – lost beneath the confusion. The listening experience is akin to hearing someone describe a dream in intimate detail, and about as enjoyable.
Ancient Torment: Force Me Upon Death
Out 13th December, self-released
This EP pertains to go back to basics. But the two lengthy tracks are actually an exercise in recovering the art of longform composition in black metal. Fast, melodic, riff based, the rehearsal room style production strips away any distraction from following the narrative threads through as they weave a legible but complex web across each track. The high pitched, energetic vocals work in percussive unison with the contouring of the drums, with cymbals emphasising the aggressive staccato beats in contrast to the elongated notes flying above flowing blast-beats. This is offset by guitars that retract into back to basics two chord riffs only to evolve into elaborate melodic phrases. Despite this being a largely energetic and excitable EP, it ends with an extended, repetitive meditation on the track ‘Broken Lays the Mask Borne Against Them’, which takes on an almost mournful tone as the music marches off in a procession of the end.
Kildonan: Embers
Out 13th December on Caligari Records
Fuels the bonfire of substance that is late extreme metal. A series of semi-dissonant drones set to non-linear jazz influenced drums and a vocal performance that is frankly embarrassing to sit through. As with much post Deathspell Omega black metal, it treats tonal clashes as foundational to its compositional approach. In itself this could be an interesting exercise in drone or noise metal if executed with conviction. But ‘Embers’ still behaves like a conventional “rockist” album. The swagger of stadium rock sits behind its emotive drive, its desire to contrive finales and dramatic import across each track. But the reluctance to explore contrast – either tonally or texturally – makes this pursuit utterly futile. The result is a meaningless slog of laboured chord progressions, a directionless rhythm section, and entirely pointless narrative threads. The lasting impression is of a self-indulgent, crass, and ultimately meaningless listening experience.
Nefarious Dusk: Death Beneath a Starless Sky
Out 25th December on Purity Through Fire
Populates the melodic drone metal of the Blazebirth hall style with outlandish flourishes like tempo changes, tentative keyboard accents, and a more expressive rhythm section. For all the modest substantive additions this album makes to black metal, it retains an ethereal, hypnotic quality. This is largely owing to a strong understanding of how to get more from less. Clever but minimal melodic phrasing is enhanced by the distant, lo-fi mix, the static of the guitar tone, and ample reverb applied to the vocals. It’s this interaction between the virtues of black metal production and how it can enhance and elevate basic material that makes this album shine. Despite the fact that this will get no points for originality, it is worth time and attention for its ability to craft tension, intrigue, and nuance in even the most austere compositional framework. Stitching these more dynamic moments together is an immersive ambient quality that takes the listener out of the here and now, another universal hallmark of quality black metal.
Hate Meditations 
Leave a comment