Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Permit me to perform a magic trick. Having not listened to a note of Darkthrone's latest album, behold, as I begin typing a review: โanother fearless, authentic, and infectiously fun tour through classic 70s and 80s metal, track X leans more into the classic doom direction of the last three albums whilst track Y takes... Continue Reading →
Kirjad sรตgedate kรผlastOut 25th April on Antiq Five years since their debut and a very different beast has wriggled free of the Kรตdu moniker. Where โUnusta kรตikโ unfolded a jagged, dissonant array of plodding black metal, at once surreal and haunting despite the cold, mechanistic approach, the long awaited follow up broadens the aesthetic spectrum... Continue Reading →
The dark satanic content mills vs. Angine de Poitrine Never try to go viral. Thereโs a unique embarrassment that comes with trying to go virality. The kind reserved for TV ads that appropriate internet meme culture. An abyssal exercise in the pathetic stemming from the fact that virality, by its very nature, is a freak... Continue Reading →
MorgongloฬdOut 27th March on Vidfare/NoEvDia Mortuus, aka Daniel Rostรฉn, continues his habit of saving his best for well outside the Marduk roadshow. This is the third album released under the DomJord moniker, his own contribution to the long tradition of black metal artists dabbling in various ambient side projects. Being a relatively late comer to... Continue Reading →
Good clickbait draws in an audience even when they know theyโre being baited. Rick Beato recently did this to me with his โIs metal dead?โ thumbnail. As an experienced Youtuber with an audience in the millions, heโs an adept practitioner of this dark art. In this case heโs served up a kind of double baiting.... Continue Reading →
UnwellOut 31st October, self-released Somewhere between jazz, industrial, progressive doom, and ambient comes this concept EP preoccupied with the theme of mental degradation. The narrative follows an elderly dementia patient in a nursing home, โhaunted by the spirits of two children who claim he murdered them decades agoโ. In keeping with the artistโs moniker, the... Continue Reading →
Hadopelagyal: HaematophoryktosOut 19th September on Amor Fati If we were to regard this in terms of presentation alone we would come away with the impression that Hadopelagyal are interested in little more than showcasing chaos. The ethos of blackened grind inflicted on dirge ridden black metal riffing to conjure a sense of random, nihilistic violence... Continue Reading →
Please read the following scenario carefully. A discussion will follow. Scenario One: Andrew Lee is an American of Chinese descent. He has a death metal band called Ripped to Shreds. Ripped to Shreds were booked to play a gig with a much older death metal band called Master, who were in the middle of a... Continue Reading →
All Powers of DarknessOut 22nd August on Hells Headbangers Medieval Demon, erstwhile outliers of the classic Greek scene, continue their eccentric second life with a run of occultist horror metal pitched plumb on the border between the sublime and the ridiculous. Where 2022โs โBlack Covenโ was an articulation of shamelessly confident traditional gothic horror tropes... Continue Reading →
In 1985 Ray Belknap placed a 12-gauge shotgun under his chin and shot himself, dying instantly. His friend James Vance then took the same shotgun, placed it under his own chin, and pulled the trigger. He survived but was severely disfigured. The parents sued Judas Priest, whose music, they claimed, had mesmerised their sons, encouraging... Continue Reading →
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