Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Benediction, Part IIOut 5th December on NoEvDia The second instalment of the Benediction series sees this Polish entity expand on their torturous, laboured brand of black metal ritualism, pitching a mood somewhere between depressive black metal and second wave Norwegian trademarks. Mayhem stands as an obvious influence through clever manipulation of ringing, open strings to... Continue Reading →
Depths of SufferingOut 31st October on Lavadome Productions The rough presentation of this album cloaks a well oiled machine of dramatic, borderline orchestral death metal. The music’s darkness emerges not from a drab, introspective melancholia, but from a pervasive, ambient gloom, as if we were in the presence of some unknowably vast presence, be it... Continue Reading →
Ialdabaoth: G.O.A.T. / S.C.O.P.E.Out 13th March on All Is Threat Lo-fi, frantic black metal pulling from the futurist undercurrent of the genre, here reimagined as a random, feral entity, defined by illogical fits of violence, laboured interludes of despair, and uncanny structuralism. Despite the demo quality production – something utterly incapable of containing the flamboyant... Continue Reading →
Lord of NightmareOut 25th July on Hessian Firm (originally released in 2006) Endless Dismal Moan, the brainchild of one Chaos 9, who sadly took their own life in 2008, was an enigmatic Japanese black metal entity that typified or even perfected the dark, urbanist turn the genre took in the early 21st Century. Hessian Firm’s... Continue Reading →
Sacrosanct DemonopathyOut 16th May on Werewolf Records Reminiscent of Gnipahålan for its filling and oftentimes recklessly dense concoction of Nordic black metal leftovers. The result leaves a similar residual feeling of being over sated. All the moving parts work, but at times their simultaneity threatens to collapse the music into incoherence. Given how safe 2021’s... Continue Reading →
Draugaskogur: Fullmoon Hypnotic RitualOut 25th April Profundus Records Ethereal but energetic black metal from Serbia achieves a good balance between ambiguous mysticism and epic narrative expressions. The latent heroism of early Enslaved meets a gloomier aesthetic expressed through a haze of additional harmonies played through guitar effects that warp the tone of the instrument to... Continue Reading →
The Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence Out 19th April, self-released Jakarta’s Tombstone return for album number three of no thrills melodic black metal pulling from the mid-90s Swedish style. Here we see the contours flattened off somewhat for the sake of producing an even more direct, transparent delivery mechanism for linear runs of simple melodic sequences,... Continue Reading →
Chasms of Ash and InequityOut 9th March on Blackened Label Records Metal Archives genres are an interesting thing. The site goes out of its way to stay as broad as possible. I generally agree with this policy. I may even go broader (there are only four metal genres and I will die on that hill).... Continue Reading →
Screaming with no face The Englishman’s reflex for emotional repression is unmatched. But even he will experience particularly challenging periods, periods liable to breed emotions faster than they can be slaughtered. The obnoxiously clement weather mocking any attempts to wallow in peace. In such times, his fine tuned ability to kill emotions in their cradle... Continue Reading →
Impious Throne: Suffering Out 11th April on ATMF – De Tenebrarum Principio (originally released in 2024) Despite the brevity of this album, one can’t help but wish for some heavy handed editing. Frantic, riff centric, immediate black metal succeeds in conveying a tragedian gravitas and sense of occasion. But Impious Throne are forever saddling themselves... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 