Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
The DistaffOut 21st February on The Larvarium The return of this enigmatic neoclassical-cum-darkwave entity adds a welcome addition to the annuls of not-metal-for-metalheads. Anna von Hausswolff built a musical universe around the church organ alongside her eclectic vocal talents, Maud the Moth achieves something similar with her preferred tool, the piano. Whilst the previous effort... Continue Reading →
Zora: Scream Your HateOut 28th February on Great Dane Records (originally released in 2016) Direct, linear death metal benefits the form by stripping away any unnecessary fat, leaving a precision timed device of aggressive, energetic percussive noise. The format may be simple, but the playing is precise, with pin sharp rhythms forcing what are at... Continue Reading →
Oblations in AtrocityOut 15th February, self-released Captures a sense of amateur possibility missing in much of the overly curated gestures to lo-fi black metal in the contemporary landscape. In this regard it mirrors early Ungod in its bisection of idiosyncratic riff signatures that nevertheless thrive within traditional melodic forms elevated by a drab ambience that... Continue Reading →
The purpose of an interview is what it does The recent discussion between Decibel’s Albert Mudrian and longtime YouTube reviewer Anthony Fantano looks benign enough, but what does it do? Unsurprisingly, Fantano’s line of questioning ventriloquises the polarised interests of the modern fanbase, which tends to oscillate between an obsession with death metal’s origins and... Continue Reading →
EspressoOut 23rd August on Island Records Sabrina Carpenter develops the form of trancelike black metal by pivoting on a simple yet effective interchange of two chords, using this framework to hang harmonic interplay arriving in whimsical sequences that take time to unpack on repeated listeners. Percussion adopts a similar poise by fleshing out a basic... Continue Reading →
As per the title https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3NMip8lziU
Scheusal: UrwahnOut 3rd March on Purity Through Fire Supplements the playfully abrasive punk of Ildjarn with a tragedian melodic signature. In this sense there is an oddly modernist swagger to the presentation, a mechanical order speaking more of concrete and machinery than organicism. This is something only emphasised by the predictable precision of the simple... Continue Reading →
Sunbathed slime March is an odd time of the year in England. Daylight bulges. The interval between dawn and dusks sags alarmingly. As if saturated by the merciless spring rain beating the ground with violent regularity. But this emergent excess of sunlight reveals a world still utterly dead and utterly miserable. Decaying leaves continue to... Continue Reading →
Eternal Roar of the Thunder and RainOut 21st February on Eternal Death Atmospheric black metal that takes the legacy of Burzum somewhat seriously, in that Burzum, especially on the first two albums, were never much of an atmospheric outfit by today’s standards. The chief source of dreamscaping invoked by music to “stimulate the fantasy of... Continue Reading →
Tubal Cain: Slime AbyssOut 27th February on Darkness Shall Rise It remains curious to look at black metal as the completion of metal's evolutionary circle. A symptom of the hysteria and panic that gripped metal fans as death metal bands proudly displayed their tracksuits and time signatures. Black metal’s closer alliance with linear heavy metal... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 