Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Thunraz: Incineration DayOut 22nd November, self-released Sterile, mechanical, jagged death metal meets an undercurrent of dark gothic atmosphere on the latest album from this Estonian entity. There is a clear intent to blend the abstracted violence of death metal with a more grounded, artificial aesthetic. Despite the clear industrial current running throughout 'Incineration Day', one... Continue Reading →
The Skorian // The GreyleerOut 29th November on Profound Lore Records The existence of Mefitis within extreme metal is in many ways metatextual. They imbibe its raw materials only to churn it up into a cocktail of inuendo, subversion, duality of meaning that would go largely unnoticed by anyone not intimate with the legacy they... Continue Reading →
Auriferous Flame: The Insurrectionists and the CaretakersOut 8th November on True Cult Records/Stellar Auditorium Productions โThe album explores the theme of revolution and delves deep into the complexities of resistance and change, offering listeners an intense and thought provoking experience.โ Given the eagerness to share the complex subject matter that inspired this album, one might... Continue Reading →
The World Down ThereOut 2nd November, self-released Croatiaโs Petrale return for another skirmish of suffocating, eerie, dissonant black metal. This latter descriptor is liable to evoke images of cold, clinical, sterile music replete with jagged edges, tempo change incontinence, and aspirations toward headier subject matter. None of which is completely absent from the world of... Continue Reading →
Bridges to nowhere October opens the gateway to winter. Darkness makes inroads into our lives. The vestigial traces of summer ebb away by the end of the tenth month. Declining temperatures herald the arrival of Novemberโs high autumn. This particular October has also brought with it a glimmer of the Northern Lights to my... Continue Reading →
Carmina Belli ApocalypsisOut 28th October on Black Mass Prayers Armed with a dark medievalist paint job, a murky atmospheric gloom, and a dynamic compositional package, this pleasing Italian oddity attempts a synthesis between early Satyricon and the suffocating malevolence of Demoncy. At times the results are about as unfocused as one might expect. Valadier have... Continue Reading →
ฮฆฮธฮฟฯฮฌOut 4th October on Tragedy Productions This may be purely anecdotal, but it feels like black metalโs popularity is waning. And that's a good thing. Finally allowing the genre to catch its breath and take stock. Sure, there are still the Goliaths of the genre that suck out the oxygen whenever they choose to resurface.... Continue Reading →
King Crimsonโs โRedโ recently turned 50. And apparently itโs okay to broadcast oneโs love of prog now. No longer requested in hushed tones, served under the counter in a brown paper bag. People are poring over this lurid filth in full view of the public. โRedโ, โClose to the Edgeโ, โMirageโ, these were exceptions to... Continue Reading →
PolemicistOut 27th September, self-released The paradox of well known phrases is that, by virtue of wide usage, their meaning becomes unknown. The commonplace phrase goes unexamined. Melodic black metal is one such example. Prima facie an obvious, self-explanatory subgenre. But one that has thus far avoided re-appraisal or revision since the subgenre's solidification in the... Continue Reading →
Father Befouled: Immaculate PainOut 13th September on Everlasting Spew Father Befouledโs by now lengthy career of Incantation mirroring has evolved from the uncanny to the surpassing, as their material has ascending in tandem with Incantationโs descent into a dull autopilot. This latest EP does little to shift the formula. Although one can hear other influences... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 