Verily, I promise thee that
there’s plenty of madness brewing in the cauldron for this new year. But in the
meantime, might as well clear the decks with some stuff that was written this
past November for issue 050 of ZeroTolerance but which never ran. Well, it runs here, now:
BLAZE OF SORROW
ECHI
Really wish I had gotten
this record in October – late September, even – because this is autumnal black
metal to a T. Now it’s late November and I’m longing for the flickering fires
and the wind wisping through the fallen leaves and the chill that creeps into
the air but not enough to drive you into wintertime hibernation…thanks, Blaze
of Sorrow. Well, it’s not their fault: Echi
can take you there anytime. The band’s Italian, yet they nod to that side of
English heritage BM that nods to Agalloch. The clean and acoustic-y bits are
the best, and really make me long for October. Alas…
nathan t. birk 4/6
CHAOS ECHOES
TONE OF THINGS TO COME
DEBEMUR MORTI
Vinyl-only release from the
usually dependable DMP, and that title’s a cocky one, innit. Because If this is
anything to go by, that “Tone” is fuckin’ OTT gnarly, and practically
unlistenable when ramrodded onto song-constructions as labyrinthine as the four
central tracks which comprise this, averaging nearly nine minutes apiece. A lot
of the time, it works: absolutely gutted in execution but quite often “hovering”
in texture, a weight vs. weightlessness duality that actually doesn’t smack of
late-Naughties DsO. Other times, there’s just too much dicking around, too many
inversely-precious moments of padding out song-length and testing one’s
patience. The mind wanders…and wonders what’s “To Come.”
nathan t. birk 3/6
DARKENHÖLD
ECHOES FROM THE STONE
KEEPER
THOSE OPPOSED
Look up Darkenhöld on
Metal-Archives.com and you’ll see that their lyrical conceit is solely listed
as “castles.” Laugh all you want, but that’s enough to get me excited – and
hey, look at that! Their logo incorporates a castle: nice. Both those weighty
expectations (ha!) in mind, this French trio mostly deliver here. Although
given to windswept bouts of speed, Darkenhöld tastefully stick to a more
measured, reined-in gait. Subtly swathed in synths that are more medieval fog
rather than gothic twinkle – more Stormblast,
say, than Witchcraft – the sum effect’s
like sulking through the castle’s keep(er) instead of flailing madly up its
spires. Not quite NES-era Castlevania-level
awesome yet, but getting there.
nathan t. birk 4/6
LUST FOR YOUTH
GROWING SEEDS
SACRED BONES
The kids of today…debate
all you want their supposedly suspicious motives, but I gotta applaud their
current interest in synthpop, coldwave, and all things vintage-electronic.
Problem is, too few of ‘em have the SONGS despite having the sounds. Indeed, modern
(hipster-approved) torchbearers Lust for Youth have lotsa Cool Sounds and even
stumble upon a mystical atmosphere or two, but the vast majority of sophomore
album Growing Seeds is simply a “cool
sound” looped until they hit “stop” on their home-recording decks. Believe me,
I’m rooting for ‘em – and in their defense, it took Cold Cave
nathan t. birk 2.5/6
WITHER
NECROPOLIS
AURORA AUSTRALIS
The last time I checked in
with Australia MCD : fairly standard Burzumic black metal yet, uniquely, with strangely
bluesy leads. I definitely dug it then and was expecting more of the same
here…but man, have the years been
kind to the duo. Still firmly rooted in BM, Wither go all sorts of
idiosyncratic places on their debut LP – and, crucially, without making much of
a we-try-harder fuss about it (hi, Ulver). The leads are still tastefully
subdued, but now they’re atop a blackened schematic that incorporates deathrock
and funer(e)al doom, the vocals ranging many approaches in kind but especially
the vampy end of the clean tone, and all wrapped in a wonderfully warm analog
production. Sleeper hit of the year here, folks.
nathan t. birk 5/6
WOODS OF INFINITY
SNART…
TOTAL HOLOCAUST
New single here from this
millennium’s foremost purveyors of black metal perversity, and it really is a “single”
in the true sense of the word: two songs, short ‘n’ sweet. Sadly, it appears
that it’s also the band’s epitaph. As it stands, the two tracks here continue
(end?) the demented-soap-opera melodrama of last year's Förlåt, but there’s also more than a whiff of their old folkloric
whimsy/mania (“Mot Usquebaugh”) as well as their most nakedly Manilow moment (“Here
Comes That Lonely Night”): quintessential Woods of Infinity, no more but
certainly no less. As WOI’s final statement, however? Kinda underwhelming.
nathan t. birk 3.5/6
