As some of you might know, I’m presently the editor of Zero Tolerance magazine. That means that, for the past couple years, I’ve been in charge of assigning the content each bimonthly issue. Unfortunately, every issue we have a handful (or more, usually) of reviews that get held over or, sadly, won’t run at all. Believe me when I say there’s really no rhyme nor reason regarding what reviews run and what ones don’t; that’s just the nature of the biz, as the parlance goes.
During my tenure as editor, oddly enough, I’ve had a renaissance in reviewing records – like, I REALLY enjoy reviewing records once again. I’ll get into the whys and wherefores in some other post, as I will also save for a future post my experience being an editor (so far: before the rug’s pulled out from underneath me) vs. being a writer (no rug to begin with). But more often than not, I have to “take one for the team” and let my reviews get held over or even not run at all…and that’s where this post (and a few others, for the near future) comes in.
Here you get a bevy of otherwise-unpublished reviews, all of them otherwise untouched save for formatting, and thus in all their ragged glory. As you’ll see, points are out of 6 (don’t get me started about the Points System, especially in European mags: “some other post”) and length varying depending on how it was (self-)assigned. This first batch of Housecleaning starts around issue 037, when I began my editorship, and goes through about issue 042. Moving chronologically, among other things, you’ll get to read my at-times-problematic relationship with “post-black metal,” having been into shoegaze first (A: Some Other Post) “back in the day,” as well as my sea-change in opinion regarding Drowning the Light. I’m already atoning for my sins.
And if there’s some disconnect in the context of the text, it’s because I was referencing some other review I wrote that issue that may or may not’ve seen print. Like I said last post, my usual Writing Regimen revolves around flying by the seat of my pants. As you’ll soon see, sometimes I forget to wear pants at all.
Enough patter, more splatter…
WOLVHAMMER
BLACK MARKETEERS OF WORLD WAR III
Hmmm…between the moniker and the album title and even some of the song titles, it would seem someone’s taking the piss? Perhaps, but it doesn’t detract from the bludgeoning, Cro-Magnon power of the band’s blackened-sludge/sludgy-BM assault. Parts of this suggest a more fleet-footed Hellhammer; others suggest Khold stuck in a particularly deep tar-pit. By record’s end, though, too much of Black Marketeers starts sounding too monochromatic, the feel Absolutely No Fun. And although “black metal” and “fun” are usually anathema, the occasional hints of Rock Action could’ve been explored and resulted in something a bit more dynamic. As it stands: blunt force.
2.5/6
COLD BODY RADIATION
THE GREAT WHITE EMPTINESS
DUSKTONE
I can feel the estrogen rising. Testosterone’s falling. Old age…is getting older. Resignation sets in. Time is kind? Not sure how to explain it, but despite my initial protestations to the contrary – originally stemming from the assertion that shoegazer guitar-style is nearly the same as Transilvanian Hunger-style guitar, at least in the sense of tremolo, so why not combine something that’s already there but a few steps removed anyway? – I’m beginning to find some merit in this whole “post-black metal” sound, this infusion of shoegaze and post-rock and whatever into BM. I know that flies in the face of my usually purist tastes, but why should that stop me? I’ve loved BM and shoegaze nearly as long, and as long as someone’s getting on with making an unholy, beautiful racket, then big up to ‘em. And that’s precisely what Cold Body Radiation do here: a big, BEAUTIFUL racket that retains Just Enough Unholiness to keep (most of) the indie types at bay (and conversely: way too beautiful for your average BM-forum troll living in his parents’ basement nursing acne scars). Who knows? I could change my tune next month, but for the time being, this will be The Tune.
5/6
LORD OF DOUBTS
LORD OF DOUBTS
SEKT OV GNOSIS
Hey, Lord of Doubts: Electric Wizard circa Supercoven called and they want their sound back. Okay, so this writer’s fully aware of his double standards on the whole Name That Sound? Game when it comes to black metal and is perhaps a bit too forgiving at times, so maybe I should cut Lord of Doubts some slack regardless of what sound they’re blatantly ripping off. Because let’s face it, what’s really “original” anymore (maybe ever?!) anyways? Thus, we get the same drugged-out riff-plods that gnaw straight into your skull and your soul, the same Jus-howls that sound like both skull and soul are being sucked away by an unpronounceable force, the same mass hypnosis through same…despite the apparent and oft-overwhelming power, it’s all just a bit too uncanny. Or maybe I’m not exposed at all to this (hypothetical?) underground of ‘Wizard worshippers. Which is not a bad thing, at least in this case, because it allows me to enjoy Lord Of Doubts with only a very minor amount of cynicism. “But seriously, folks….”
3/6
TOWARDS GLOBAL HOLOCAUST
FEUERSTURM
SCATTERED TO THE WINDS
Curious beast here. Towards Global Holocaust’s debut album begins by picking up where their two EPs left off: an absolutely blowtorched, barely-kept-together torrent of gutted black metal, circling around the bestial, the fago, and that vaguely industrialized (rotten mechanics, maybe?) sub-sector of ‘90s BM seemingly populated only by Niden Div. 187 and early War but not conveniently slotting into any of ‘em, namely because the songs go all kinds of crazy places and with plenty of unselfconscious WTF moments cropping up often. But as the album progresses, a slow transformation occurs – or perhaps a splintering of sanity, whatever last vestiges remain? – as those WTF moments become ever more frequent, each one becoming more daring (within such a gnarly, ghastly context) as the album descends into the depths. More melodics, monkish clean vocals, bizarre filters on the riffs, outside-the-metal-mien mixing techniques, unabashed chorus-pedal abuse, sustained moments of tense placidity, rainstorm sound FX, howling wind…the nuclear-powered BM foundation remains firm, but a sense of delirium compounds as the album heads toward its conclusion, pushing Scattered To The Winds securely into the Realm Of Great.
4.5/6
CANDY CANE / ORANSSI PAZUZU
FIREBOX / VERDURA
Hotly anticipated split here, namely for Oranssi Pazuzu’s half, who belatedly blew my mind with 2009’s Muukalainen Puhuu, a mindfucking mash-up of Finnish filth, cosmic kraut-rock, and dub-heavy post-punk. And the quintet definitely don’t disappoint here, going a comparatively more direct, surge-and-destroy route but nuancing it with space and shade, the brew thick ‘n’ throbbing but with spectral dynamics to spare: breathless, breathtaking, and simply stunning. The peculiarly named Candy Cane definitely do their own mash-up here, too, ranging carnivalesque BM to early screamo (or “emo violence,” as the progenitor form was known) to math-rocking freakout and loads more; it’s all a bit much. And I know that’s totally a double-standard, but I guess it comes down to feel and also something like “synthesis” or whatever: for my money, Orannsi Pazuzu have what I want, and they do it exceedingly, seamlessly well. Nevertheless, amidst the million or so metamorphoses their songs go thru, there’s infinite potential in Candy Cane. But upon further investigation, they’ve got quite a discography going, so proceed with caution.
3.5/6
GRAVE RITUAL
EUPHORIC HYMNS FROM THE ALTAR OF DEATH
RAZORBACK/DARK DESCENT
I’m starting to have difficulty telling all this shit apart, I really am. Because verily, the resurgence of morbid death metal – a bit of early Incantation, a bit of early Grave, a bit of early Belial, and voila – is an incontrovertible fact now, and seems like it’s here to stay, what with the UG popularity of Necros Christos, Grave Miasma, and the like. And it’d be disingenuous of me to rail against that resurgence when, after all, it is the most supreme and affecting style of DM. But, just like their cousins in the bestial realm, there comes a point of overexposure and effecting norms that soon jointly conspire to usher in meaningless gestures and diminishing returns. What does that all mean for Grave Ritual and their debut album, Euphoric Hymns From The Altar Of Death? The band play morbid DM, no more and no less – thus, Euphoric Hymns is a morbid DM album, no more and no less. Everything’s in place and where it should be…but is that enough? Again, does it all conspire into meaninglessness and diminishing’ness? Let the diehards argue; I’ve got enough stress in my life.
2.5/6
SORROWS PATH
THE ROUGH PATH OF NIHILISM
Oh, deary me...this could’ve been a great record. On the surface, we’ve got some busier, early Solitude Aeternus-style doom with one of those nasally endtimes preacher-type vocalists in Angelos Ionnidis: so far, so good. Expanding the surface more, the songs go all sorts of dramatic, doomy ways, chugging and surging and swaggering and cycling tornado-like but all within the austere confines of doom metal proper. But then…well, not so much under the surface as just simply sticking to it and refusing to be ignored are heinously incongruent (hey, that’s being kind) textural touches that detract to no end. I mean, these are bargain-bin parlor tricks left over from The Ignoble Era Of Sports Metal: a wicky-wah bit before a riff here, a chugga-chigga one there, a clattering drum-fill of “industrial” percussion at way-inopportune moments…it’s all so depressing, and NOT in a Doom Way. To me, it just stinks of the wretched 1990s, that decade that pop-culturally went from dayglo to grunge to some even-fouler abomination between two – and it seems that even doom metal’s not immured from its still-lingering stench. That is depressing.
2/6
THE AUSTRASIAN GOAT
STAINS OF RESIGNATION
MUSIC FEAR SATAN
Dude’s racked up a near-Drowning The Light-level-ridiculous discography in three short years, but if Stains Of Resignation is anything to go by, it’s a treasure trove waiting to be plundered. Much like Gnaw Their Tongues mainman Mories explores his radiation-sick black metal side in De Magia Veterum, The Austrasian Goat major-domo Julien Lovet seems to work in reverse: BM serves as the springboard by which he goes venturing down all sorts of doomed-out routes, their paths lined with walls at least a mile high. Or maybe it’s the reverse. Dunno, but he’s created an impossibly dense-yet-spacious work here, mesmerizing no matter what the construct or texture, each track its own otherworld. Sometimes it’s strung-out goth-Americana ala early ‘90s Swans, othertimes it’s Godfleshy pulse but after a nuclear holocaust, and fairly often there’s just good, simple, sinister blackened funeral doom that’s suffocating and vulnerable in equal measures. And then – the real keeper – there’s the Jarboe-sung “Voice Of Aenima,” which is likely to be the most simultaneously beautiful/haunting thing you’ll hear all year. Pretty, and pretty brilliant.
5/6
BATTLESTORM
DEMONIC INCURSION
DEATHRASH ARMAGEDDON
Self-tagged “Ultimate Asian Bestial Metal,” you should know what you’re getting into with Battlestorm. Peruse the Sickness666 artwork and song titles like “Supersonic Devastations” and “Despotic Archdaemon Reign” and then hear the suspicious(ly programmed) drum sound, and are you any closer? Yes, a massive hard-on for Impiety – any era, really, so take your pick, but especially the hilariously OTT Kaos Kommand 696 one. If that’s what you’re in the market for, this Singahell duo do the trick. But with brief sketches of “hooks” barely to be found amongst all the chaotic, post-INRI to’ing and fro’ing, more discerning ‘bangers might want to walk on by.
2/6
BLOODHAMMER/RIDE FOR REVENGE
CHORDS OF THE LEFT HAND
KVLT
And yet another split of cult Finnish black metal – but hey, I’m not complaining. The criminally unsung Bloodhammer have been strictly sticking to splits since their (yes) criminally unsung Post-Apocalypse Trilogy LP in 2006, but this batch of songs is by far the most we’ve been offered in one sitting since then. As such, the shadowy collective show various sides of their sound, from the slow ‘n’ haunting to asskicking Motorpunk to (as ever) the Mortuary Draped. For brevity’s sake, you could say this is the closest Bloodhammer have come to chanelling their inner Blood Fire Death: total support. Ride For Revenge’s side shows…er, a rather strange and at-this-juncture unsuccessful side of this (until now) nigh-untouchable duo. Whereas all RFR material to this point had been laboriously morbid tribal dances of death, their offering here exclusively consists of sometimes-bestial blackgrind and noisescore (in the VERY old-school sense), with only two songs of their 14(!) here breaking the two-minute mark, the average length being around 50 seconds: an interesting experiment, perhaps, but most of it’s way too tossed-off. Overall, an eerily underwhelming draw.
2.5/6
CRASS
PENIS ENVY – THE CRASSICAL COLLECTION
CRASS RECORDS
Crass’ Penis Envy – what can you say about this that hasn’t already been said? The arguable apex of the legendary anarcho-punk band’s Middle Period, their transitional record from early burning ire to more angular song-structures and weirder, more unsettling textures, their fullest-formed commentary on gender politics…all that. If you know Crass, you should know this record; if you don’t, then perhaps it’s not in your stars. The next in line of the band’s (contested by some ex-members) “Crassical Collection” reissue program that also coincides with a reunion tour of sorts (also contested by same), Penis Envy was for many the last remotely “listenable” Crass album, containing as it did that early but no-less-angry buoyancy before the band descended into full-on agit-prop-as-music, culminating in personal fave Yes Sir, I Will. The LP’s original fold-out liner is lovingly reproduced here, as well as a separate (and lengthy) booklet of reflections by Eve Libertine and Penny Rimbaud. But the real deal-breaker here is “The Unelected President,” a(n of course dated) 2003 rewrite of “Major General Despair”: perhaps even more blanching now, proving that Crass-As-Ideal is eternal.
4.5/6
COLOSSEUM
CHAPTER 3: PARASOMNIA
FIREBOX RECORDS
Alas, here we have Colosseum’s swansong, this funeral doom cult ending on a respectable if not overly brilliant note. The Finns’ debut album, Chapter 1: Delirium, was a mini-classic of mesmerizing, twilit majesty – and with the subtlest suggestion of evil, to boot. Chapter 2: Numquam was essentially more of the same, but nevertheless saw their sound become bigger and more expansive, that subtle evil far more pronounced. And now, with Chapter 3: Parasomnia, we have yet another More Of The Same record and yet one not without its charms. In many ways, this final album’s the perfect compromise between the first two – the consistent crush of the first, the grandiose drama of the second – yet with Colosseum stretching nearly all the song lengths well into the double-digits and highlighting the narrative flow which they made their forte. So, in another way, that’s a good development here: no mere slog-it-out-as-long-as-you-can miserabilist repetition. Some clean-toned, Dolorian-esque moments abound, which is a direction I would’ve like to have seen them explore further, but oh well now. In conclusion, farewell to a startlingly consistent, unwaveringly funeral doom band.
4/6
IPERYT
NO STATE OF GRACE
WITCHING HOUR PRODUCTIONS
I’ve always wanted to like Iperyt; gabber black metal is concept too rarely explored. Knowing the aesthetic beforehand, I was pretty stoked to hear their debut MCD – too silly. Still knowing it, approached their debut album wearily but with hope – too flat. Third time’s a charm, it seems, as No State Of Grace is the place where Iperyt get the balance right(er): mechanistic, totally OTT production and songwriting that’s all flesh and blood. Almost like a blackened version of The Berzerker before they lost the plot, here Iperyt ramp up all the frequencies into the realm of Technicolor, everything full-bodied and simultaneously believable/unbelievable – again, such synthetics are crucial for this style as long as they’ve got some teeth – whilst each song is a shuddering attack of surge after surge and purge after purge, tense dropouts teasing your anticipation for an exciting blast-back-in. It’s a wild fucking ride, if not a bit exhausting by album’s end. While Iperyt still aren’t on the Bladerunning imaginative level of Blacklodge, recent Abigor, or the revitalized Aborym, methinks they’re at least on the path and not too far behind.
4/6
KAMERA OBSKUR
BILDFÄNGER
COLD DIMENSIONS
Weird one here: ex-Lunar Aurora
4/6
OLD WAINDS
WHERE THE SNOWS ARE NEVER GONE
NEGATIVE EXISTENCE
Over the years, I’ve never made my distaste for Russian black metal a secret. I’m always willing to put that prejudice to the test – after all, who doesn’t love a challenge? – and thus we have this reissue of Old Wainds’ debut album. Of 1997 vintage, Where The Snows Are Never Gone semi-charmingly possesses a number of the rudiments so endemic to late ‘90s BM: Abbath-esque croaks, suitably Pure Holocaustic buzz, humming ‘n’ thrumming riffery, the barest hint of bass, and thusly an aesthetic that hinges more on The Sound rather the songs. Well, I’ve heard this before. So, for my money (or nostalgia’s sake: whichever), I’d rather reach for an old Ohtar or Selbstmord demo. That’s not to take anything away from this record…or is it? Man, can’t you see the indecision here? That’s not a good thing. I’m not convinced. And at this point, I think I’m just padding my word count. So I’ll stop. Some people will want this…
2.5/6
PRIMIGENIUM
FAITH THROUGH ANGUISH
BLACKSEED PRODUCTIONS
It’s tempting to just brand Primigenium’s much-bandied return as Religious Black Metal Makeover and move on. After all, couple the album title and cover together, compound it with a characteristic Necromorbus production, and there you go. But upon the first thunder-thrust of sound, it’s like it’s 2002 all over again…which, if you’re keeping track, was the year Intolerance came out, which was Primigenium’s previous album and more importantly their watershed record, which could rightfully be considered a classic of that era. Alas, can’t quite say Faith Through Anguish tops it, but it’s not for lack of trying. As said, the Necromorbus production is full-bodied and pro as ever, but here perhaps a bit rawer than his usual jobs, which nevertheless fits well to Primigenium’s quintessential attack: surging grimness, ritualistic hideousness, an infusion of the North’s coldness and the South’s duskiness (we’re talking Europe here, folks). There’s also a bevy of daring (and usually successful) experiments in sound layering, not so much becoming the vertigo itself but more so enhancing it with subtlety and (ahem) class; elsewhere, throw in some tasteful down-tempo detours. The result? A more mature, palatably “pro” Primigenium and a big ‘n’ booming BM album: ancient grimness in 3D.
4.5/6
ASHLANDS
AFM
Rev 16:8 first burst onto the scene as Bloodshed in the late ‘90s and released their debut album, Inhabitants Of Dis, in 2002. With an endearingly unorthodox and psychedelically raw production, Inhabitants... displayed a band wholly confident in synthesizing Swedeath morbidity with the more off-the-rails, hellthrashing end of black metal – and keenly note the year, too. Seemingly few folks took notice of this excellent record, and Bloodshed lingered in obscurity until they announced a moniker change to Rev 16:8. Quite obviously, that new moniker also signified an aesthetic shift, and shift they did to religious BM: their Grand Tidal Rave debut fly right by me, being no more and no less a religious statement commensurate with their (largely) Swedish contemporaries…sigh. Good news is that second album Ashlands is stronger in all departments – songwriting, production, execution, album flow – no doubt a result of spending more time in this newer aesthetic skin. But while all these (remarkably pro) rudiments are in place, I’m still left feeling cold and indifferent rather than being incited by hellfire ‘n’ bloodlust like this style should. If that’s not the aim, then we’re simply left with a pro BM record pretty much interchangeable with any other.
2.5/6
UNGOD
CLOAKED IN ETERNAL DARKNESS
KNEEL BEFORE THE MASTER’S THRONE
Right, so supposedly there’s folks waiting with bated breath for the return of Ungod? DNBiC. German black metal’s always been securely on the underwhelming side, and Ungod’s work during the 1990s is no exception. Eighteen years after their debut album (they’ve had a few short-lengths the past few years), these Germans give it another go…and this jury’s still out. Much more on the doomier side of BM than I remember ‘em, Ungod are seemingly playing at a Panzerfaustian sort of scuzz, really Celtic Frosty (or really Darkthrone-doing-Celtic-Frost) but crucially lacking that blanching meanness and more so attitude to elevate this from merely good to great. The songs are there, no doubt, and so is the production. The execution’s spirited, too, but all these elements need at least that aforementioned meanness (swagger’s also nice): otherwise, it’s tantamount to pantomime. Can’t really hate on this, but can’t really love it, either – score’s thusly a bit inaccurate.
3/6
WINTERUS
IN CARBON MYSTICISM
LIFEFORCE RECORDS
Although this band literally appeared out of nowhere and landed on a sizable label, nor do I know the convictions behind their black metal, I’m gonna have to trust my instincts and appreciate it this for what it is: great music that’s more than a bit blackened. Here on their debut sorta-album (half of it’s studio, then the other half "recorded live"?), Winterus recall everyone and no one. References, however vague, crop up but then are erased when you solely focus on the sumptuous songcraft. But for your sake (and maybe mine), think the flat-yet-full thrust of Immortal’s Blizzard Beasts imbued with the sort of skyscraping, almost-heavenly melodicism that only Agalloch could pull off, arguably made more gorgeous. Already, I’m sure warning klaxons are going off with the culter-than-thou set, and that’s fine; I highly doubt this was made for them. A bright-yet-thorny future awaits Winterus: here’s hoping they either don’t lose the raw edge OR mine that melodicism so thoroughly, no amount of polish will be able to dull it.
4.5/6
BIG SEXY NOISE
BIG SEXY NOISE
ALONE RECORDS
High hopes for this one: essentially, Lydia Lunch fronting Gallon Drunk. Alas, I’m at half-mast, as they listlessly run through tired blues-scuzz tropes done better (more passionately/menacingly) elsewhere. It’s almost as if they all reverted to type(cast) and proceeded to make a much-too-tame caricature of that…too po-mo an analysis? Whatever - I call it a big letdown. I mean, is it beyond the pale that Lydia Lunch could ever again deliver a performance as poised ‘n’ nuanced as her album with Rowland S. Howard (RIP), Shotgun Wedding? Call ‘em the Blues Hammer (spot the reference!) of the post-Scientists skronk set: a “big sexy noise” this ain’t.
2/6
HIDDEN
DEAD LAND ENERGY
RED STREAM
Where the perennially underrated (or just plain overlooked?) Hidden will hopefully get their due. Then again, with a moniker like that, perhaps that’s part of the plan…. Anyway, their first two records purported a cosmic element but was mostly a lyrical conceit (at least from my perspective – I swear I was listening) whereas this one’s actually feeling spacey. Quite an achievement, that, when you’re doing blown-mind black/death metal, but credit goes to the woozy, weaving songcraft here, doubled by the barbarism underpinning it. Plus, Imperial of Krieg’s hideous vocals here are exquisitely echoed, like they’re perhaps a communiqué from some dead land. Album title: mission accomplished.
4/6
KIMAERA
SOLITARY IMPACT
STYGIAN CRYPT PRODUCTIONS
Here’s a good example of how a couple poor decisions can ruin an otherwise-cool record. Basically, what we have here is powerful, heartstrings-pulling gothic doomdeath – no more, no less – that could impress on its songwriting ‘n’ execution acumen alone. Good so far. Then, halfway through the album, we get a hilariously (no, seriously) out-of-place klezmer break or at least something approaching gypsy folk, which would be derailing enough…until later on, along comes a Lord Of The Rings (or is that Braveheart?) film-score tribute. Yeah: WTF. If it wasn’t a subgenre as dour-faced as this, I’d chalk it up to humor. But I’m not laughing. Nor am I listening.
2/6
SOURCE OF DEEP SHADOWS
FADING EMPTINESS
REDRUM666
Really oddball doomdeath here, but all the better for it. Some moments are as subgenre-strict as they come; then come a few WTF moments that completely subvert, however briefly, the paradigm and then it’s back to more normalized business; then normality gets stretched teasingly long, creating delicious tension before something really sublime rises from the muck. Thing is, these songs are less like “songs” and more like sketches, but you’ve gotta admire some of the mad alchemy going on here and just go along for the ride…even for just a little while. Oh, and a handful of unexpected blastbeats and whispers, too!
3.5/5
NECROBLOOD
NECROBLOOD 7”
SPIKEKULT
Back-from-the-dead release from MkM’s legendary UG label, and it’s a scorcher. Takes the coked-out, redline oblivion of early Bestial Mockery and Bestial Warlust and infuses it with the transplanted South American sulfurousness of Nifelheim’s Devil’s Force – gnawing and gnarly, infinitely surging to the point of removing “speed” altogether, blackgrind that goes beyond the “grind” and simply resides in the “black.” Only two songs here, which is mostly a blessing, because if you stretched such savagery across a full-length, it might be too much of Too Much; I await the challenge, though. Oh, and the B-side’s absolutely nuts.
4/6
SEROIM
SEROIMISTKRIEG
SELF-RELEASED
You can’t accuse Mories of being a lazy bum. Dude’s got the super-prolific Gnaw Their Tongues and also black metalled vehicles (and equally super-prolific) De Magia Veterum and Beast of the Apocalypse. But whereas those two BM projects have come closer together in recent times and only mildly suggested blissed-out territory, Mories goes full tilt with The Bliss here in Seirom. Self-released as a free download, the all-instrumental Seroimistkrieg bears a passing resemblance to BM only in that so much (post-)BM has become so shoegazing as of late, and in that regard, this is no prettier nor no uglier than anything else on offer. The first track, blitzed yet beautiful, is the keeper – if Mories continues that direction in the future, then Seroim could be something very special.
3/6
THE LIGHT THAT DWELLS IN ROTTEN WOOD
BINDRUNE RECORDINGS
I finally sit down to write this review and, pretty much overnight, the weather goes from warm ‘n’ summery to cool, windy, grey, and quintessentially fall. Plaintively stated yet elegantly executed, Falls of Rauros
5/6
SO HIDEOUS, MY LOVE…
TO CLASP A FALLEN WISH WITH BROKEN FINGERS 10”
PLAY THE ASSASSIN RECORDS
Yeah, I’m thinking it, too: what an utterly crap moniker. But before you move on – and you’d be within your rights to do so, based on such a moniker, not to mention the equally absurd record title – think if you’d like to hear a mash-up of old-school screamo (we used to call it “emo violence” for a bit…ha!), mystical black metal, and honest-to-goodness classical composition. Really think about that one for a bit, because you really should check this out. It’s not "post-black metal" in the sense of slathering a veneer of shoegaze across BM or vice versa, but rather music that’s rooted in BM taking off into the stratosphere for new paradigms altogether…or maybe vice versa? I can understand purists not wanting a part of this AT ALL , the earnestness being the biggest detracting factor, and I hate to use the whole, usually-trite If You’re Actually Open-Minded argument, but the band’s utter invention + execution have quickly made me a believer – and many plays later, I might add. Pretty striking to behold, but methinks there’s much better things to come from this lot.
4/6
BALANCE INTERRUPTION
ERA II: DESERTS OF ASHES
VENGEFUL ATTAKKK
Pre-release hype mentioned modern Dodheimsgard and Trollheim’s Grott among others, and sure enough, an industrialized BM template is in place. Problem is, Balance Interruption don’t go too far – or, more accurately, far enough – beyond mere black metal with blips ‘n’ bleeps on this, their second album. Verily, there’s the requisite torching of tones here and there to half-qualify it as “industrialized,” but they’re essentially hamfisted onto an otherwise well-recorded cold ‘n’ modern BM record: it’s not like it’s industrial music being ripped asunder, its soul malformed into a hellish blackened hybrid ala the subgenre’s very best (Aborym, Blacklodge). Shame – hopefully next time.
2.5/6
ELIMINATOR
THE ONE THEY WERE WAITING FOR
OBSKURE SOMBRE RECORDS
Fat chance on that title: Eliminator’s debut album was absolutely awful, and yet somehow landed a vinyl release through the usually infallible Blood Harvest. Overall, this one’s immediately better – echoey, vaguely bestial blackthrash ala Flame or a more sober Vomitor – but that’s all down to the first track, “Atish,” which is a staggering, near-inexplicable 18 minutes of retardo-pulse. Then you should just turn it off from there. Spoken-word interludes where they’re practically giggling, no-IQ blues pastiche more abominable than Megadeth’s cover of “I Ain’t Superstitious,” spooky wank, more spoken-word, more blues, more wank…yawn. Joke’s on them.
1/6
Ha: saving the worst for last.
No comments:
Post a Comment