Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Bokkerijders: Crush Kill DestroyOut 23rd October on Personal Records The debut album from this Belgium outfit smuggles in a surprisingly broad sweep of meditative, melodic, emotive black metal beneath a superficial faรงade of old school speed metal. Initially we are taken in by the homebrewed energy of Aura Noir or Merciless, only to be swept... Continue Reading →
Hรฆnesy: EsentiaOut 25th September on Purity Through Fire Five years ago this Hungarian outfit presented an interesting proposition with โGarabontziaโ, a black metal album crafted almost entirely from clean, reverb drenched guitar lines, working their way through oddly cathartic melodic hooks and chord sequences rich in pathos. There was no denying its proximity to post... Continue Reading →
Critical Defiance: Rivers of BloodOut 25th September on Dying Victims Productions 2024 was the year Critical Defiance suddenly caught the attention of a broader international audience with โThe Search Wonโt Fallโฆโ, a finely crafted treat of frenetic thrash fair alongside some well integrated oddball moments. The Chilean death and thrash metal scene has pulled well... Continue Reading →
Krolok: Hriฤov - Sรบฤพov - LietavaOut 25th September on Osmose Productions Slovakiaโs Krolok continue to grow into their skin with this third offering. A finely balanced ingredients list drawn from central European black metal, from Graveland, to early Root, Cult des Ghoules, and ethereal folk elements lifted from Romanian acts like Negura Bunget. But 'Hriฤov... Continue Reading →
Book report - Melancology: black metal theory and ecology Dominik Irtenkauf: [black metal theory] seems to be more about speculative interpretations of a musical sub-culture than developing a coherent system of theory. Is that perception correct? Nicola Masciandaro: Yes. I recently had the misfortune of stumbling onto a debate raging across Substack between continental and... Continue Reading →
Hail Conjurer: Abyss & EkstasisOut 23rd September on Into Endless Chaos Records / Crypt of the Wizard Over several albums, Finlandโs Hail Conjurer have been offering curiously deconstructive takes on black metal, pivoting on doom metal pacing, depressive moods, and dominant yet oddly fragile synth tones offering an eerily mournful counterpoint to the distorted backdrop.... Continue Reading →
What does the metalhead do on their day off and why is it ambient? I listened to all the โblack ambientโ releases from the 90s to find out. If you were to press me on a pithy definition of metal, I would say it's music written through the organisation of riffs. This means it can... Continue Reading →
Mittags-Abgrund: Mittags-AbgrundOut 15th September on Darkness Shall Rise Productions True to the legacy of Russian black metal, this is a piece of impeccably landscaped material, conjuring a fully scoped out environment before our eyes, vast and inhospitable whilst compelling the listener onward, provoking their impulse for exploration. However, Mittags-Abgrund go further in populating this terrain... Continue Reading →
V baลพinรกch vฤdomรญOut 10th September on Me Saco Un Ojo / Dark Descent Records Itโs been a long time coming, but finally Czechiaโs Snฤลฅ deliver on the second album. The upgrades to the debut may be modest given the five year gap, most notably some cosmetic tweaks and slicker production values, but itโs enough to... Continue Reading →
Atomic Aggressor: The Occult ForcesOut 28th August on Hells Headbangers With a history stretching back to the mid-80s, Atomic Aggressor are arguably one of the first to enter Chileโs death metal race along with Pentagram. But following their reformation in 2007 this is only their second album, which may partly explain why they haven't receive... Continue Reading →
