At this point it seems undeniable that 2019 is the year of black metal. The parade of excellence has been nearly unending; Yellow Eyes, Remete, Saor, Vanum, Vimur, Akasha, even total shockers like Murg's latest have exceeded expectations. Thus, it comes as little surprise now that Ancient Hostility, a brand new Ukrainian/American duo (most of the work done by Ukraine's SadVoice while Imber provides vocals from the US), have succeeded in slipping their self-titled debut into my list of favorites for the year.
At first appearing fairly normal, Ancient Hostility soon advance beyond the well trodden boundaries of dissonant hellfire black metal into more interesting territory. Not that their take on it is stale in the first place, there's an unusually weighty low end to the album and the riffs, while not as demonically concocted as some from the famous Icelandic scene, vary wildly between straightforward tremolo barrages to doom dirges and death metal thunder. Dismal melodies dance on top of the often pummeling riffs so that there's always a multi-dimensional sound, a foundation laid to maintain atmosphere and imagery while the guitars paint grim portraits from the abyss. "Bloodied Fields", found late in the back half, betrays the duo's ambitions beyond just nihilistic BM. It's a startling melodic song backed with the same colossal low end, but with truly beautiful and meditative sounds overhead. It's not long though that we see a return to pummeling riffs and even some spastic breaks akin to something you might find in metalcore were it not for the murkier paint job. Ultimately not as adventurous as their follow-up will likely be, Ancient Hostility still impress greatly with a varied and well executed debut that sets up grander things in the future.
With So Much For The Tolerant Left, Neckbeard Deathcamp return with a second full length helping of what they do best; piss off Nazis and play some loud, proud, and unapologetic black metal. Surprisingly, deep analysis of their music does little good for anyone. By their own admission via the description on their bandcamp page, the album was "RECORDED WITH THE SAME CONTEMPT FOR CLEAN PRODUCTION AND MUSIC THEORY" as their previous record. Yes, it really was in all caps. That's just kind of their thing.
What can be said of the actual music is short and sweet. Neckbeard Deathcamp play a vicious, frenzied variant of war metal pissed on by harsh noise and guitar feedback. Aside from "HORSESHOE THEORY" which is a ten minute exercise in droning noise, every song here is a 3-4 minute banger or an interlude with some dumbass quote from an alt-right dude. The songs are graced with satirical takes on the alt-right for titles, such as "POZERFAUST DIVISION" or "CONSERVATIVE CRYBULLYING". That's all that really needs said. They make it clear which side of the fence they're on and people that don't like it tend to fall on the other side. The message is clear; make no apologies and have no mercy.
Despite most of black metal's practitioners desire to remain independent and enigmatic, Enon Chapel shy away from such pretension, and as a result prove to be one of the more interesting collaborations I've seen during my time as a fan of the genre. Consisting of Meghan Wood (Crown of Asteria, Great Cold Emptiness, etc) and Balan (Botanist, Palace of Worms, etc...) Enon Chapel is a band that delivers a fierce brand of black metal while somewhat subverting expectations of the genre. Influenced by a plethora of different sources - everything from Victorian-era England, to the insidious French Les Legions Noires, to more modern entities like The Black Twilight Circle- Enon Chapel feels like culmination of the genre's long and worn history. Though it may usurp bits of character from the annals of black metal history, their conglomeration of influences feels fresh and untapped; like their main projects Balan and Meghan continue to compose black metal on their own terms, and unsurprising of two visionaries, the result is of a class of its own.
Yer Scene Volume 18 is out now! I've been a part of this zine for about 9 months now, and there has not been an issue that somehow didn't improve over the last. From the quality of the articles to the fantastic art and photography, each month brings something truly special. This month's issue is particularly great and contains:
At first glance, Laetitia in Holocaust are a pretty conventional black metal band. In truth, they're not that unconventional on the third or fourth listen either, but they do find a way to stand out from the pack via the haze of mysticism that audibly hangs over the mix. The framework is normal, blast beats and scything tremolo picked guitars galore, but the harmonic balance between melody and just a bit of dissonance keeps things interesting. Fauci Tra Fauci opts out of raw production and jagged, extreme motifs in favor of smooth, slightly foggy production and sweeping instrumental movements. It may not be a direct classical influence, but there's a feeling of classical flare in the grandiose shifts within these songs. As a result it goes down very easily despite the coarse nature of the genre and the wonky bass fills that seem to appear in every track. Unlike a lot of their contemporaries, Laetitia in Holocaust have definitely taken a few classes on their instruments and it shows, making Fauci Tra Fauci a memorable record without necessarily stepping headlong away from the pack.
Post-black metal is a genre that has been absolutely on fire in 2019. Bands like Remete, Together to the Stars, Numenorean and numerous others have released instant classics in a genre that is normally hit or miss. But one band has stood out among the pack so far this year and that band is Australia’s Illyria. Prior to about a month ago I’ve never heard of this particular band but they hit me like a ton of bricks. The dreamy atmosphere of The Carpathian Summit is absolutely magical to say the least. Illyria mixes in traces of post-hardcore and 90’s style screamo with their punishing brand of black metal and it works to perfection. Cries of pain mixed with clean vocals over the reverb of the trems makes for such an engaging atmosphere that makes this album is almost impossible to put down. When you think of black metal you think of Satan and destruction but Illyria makes the genre sound almost happy at times and they execute at such a high level. The Carpathain Summit is about an hour in length but is never grating on the listener or boring at any point. If you like a hazy, almost dream pop like atmosphere then Illyria is just what you need.
Cosmic Putrefaction is one of several solo projects of Italian multi-instrumentalist G.G., and though I have yet to hear those other works, Cosmic Putrefaction is good enough to the point where I think I'll need to investigate this backlog. What initially jolted my interest was the fact that Brendan Sloan of Convulsing -easily one of my favorite contemporary extreme metal acts- was providing the majority of the vocals for this album; however what keeps me coming back is the entire package. It's an album that certainly lives up to its name, exuding a certain celestial quality from it's off-kilter onslaught. In a lot of ways it reminds of me a modernized version of Blessed Are The Sick-era Morbid Angel, with a very Azagthothian feel to how G.G. pairs stuttered, thrashy riffage together with more conventional death metal fare. Brendan unsurprisingly delivers a performance on par with the work in his own band, with his guttural lows feral but also wielding a good deal of emotion. Overall this album is a successful experiment, one that I hope comes together again to give us more excellent death metal.
There are quite a few releases I am looking forward still in 2019, but none of them eclipse my excitement for the return of a certain triumvirate of bands. Connected not only through their intertwining lineage, but a thread of sonic filth, these acts have established themselves as some of the best death metal to come from the US in the last decade, and surely their upcoming efforts will only further their standing in death metal's putrid canon.
If you read my previous post regarding Prosanctus Inferi, you'll know that they are a band I hold in very high regards. After a six-year silence, I was worried they had died an innocuous death, but luckily I was wrong; they are alive, kicking, and gearing up for the release of a new album entitled Hypnotic Blood Art (release date TBA). It would seem Pulpit Sycophants a demo that has so far only been released via Youtube, consists of rough versions of this upcoming full-length. Despite their being incomplete, the material on Pulpit Sycophants is impressive nonetheless, and seems to hint at the band returning to the bestial and crude blackened death metal they wielded on their earlier releases like Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation. Despite my love for their last record Noctambulous Jaws Within Sempiternal Night and its more pronounced death metal influence, I am still very much looking forward to what's coming next.
C O M M O N T H R E A D: Vocalist/guitarists Jake Kohn served as the bassist for Father Befouled from 2009 to 2012, appearing on two full-lengths and one split. Oh, and speaking of Father Befouled....
When I first discovered Father Befouled, they were EASILY my least favorite of the three bands included in today's post; don't misunderstand, I still thought they were a fantastic band, but they didn't quite hit me like the other two projects. This internal ranking was shaken with the release of their last album, the excellent Desolate Gods. Like their previous entries, Father Befouled still promulgated a particularly doom-y and Incantation-esque version of death metal, however UNLIKE the albums that proceeded it, there were these insanely brief moments of melody that shone through the dirt and grime. Whilst melody in death metal isn't exactly groundbreaking anymore, it is rare that a band as dirty and cacophonous as Father Befouled to feature anything of the sort, and the result truly elevated the piece above not only their prior efforts, but many of their peers (**cough Incantation included cough **). With their upcoming EP Holy Rotten Blood, it is unclear if they will further indulge in this progression, but the slight chance of it alone is enough to be excited.
C O M M O N T H R E A D: Father Befouled's current frontman/guitarist Justin Stubbs is also the frontman of Encoffination, two-piece he shares with ex-Father Befouled drummer and multi-band extraordinaire Elektrokutioner. Which actually reminds me...
Encoffination - We Proclaim Your Death O' Lord (2019)
Encoffination are the slowest band I've ever heard in my fucking life. At first listen, they ALMOST seem like a parody of funeral doom. However, the further you delve into the bottomless pit of their music it becomes clear they are very serious about what they do. Imagine taking a single riff from Incantation (yes, they are a relevant comparison here too), stretching it out to ten minutes long, and adding a choir of unsettling atmsopherics not limited to but including the imposing ring of old, cracked bells and the inherently terrifying church organ. Utilizing these paragons of what should be light and then twisting their visage into something dark and wretched only makes their delivery more horrible and impacting, the exact effect Encoffination aim to achieve. We Proclaim Your Death O' Lord only promises to further instill fear in the religious and enthrall the blaspheming.
C O M M O N T H R E A D: If you've been paying attention, you get it by now.
Atmospheric death metal has always felt like one of those more head cannon-y sub-genres. It's without clear-cut parameters to truly define what it is, and for that reason you have everything from Australian instrument-torturers Portal to Finnish filth-lords Desolate Shrine -two very different sounding projects- performing what could in essence be called atmospheric death metal. It's one of those "you know it when you hear it" types, where the finer details don't matter as much as the finished product.
The reason I bring all of this up, is another project, the incomparably weird An Isolated Mind, seem to fall within this vague and nebulous extreme metal genre. Exuding a stifling sense of psychedelia and featuring a range of oddities - everything from jazzy saxophone interludes to moments of ambient claustrophobia - I'm Losing Myself does its name justice with its variation without ever becoming too overbearing or experimental for its own good. The balance struck between straightforward and atmospheric, dissonant and melody is incredibly well-executed, offering a multi-faceted approach that begs repeated listens. This is very fucking good, and highly recommended for fans of Cynic, Gorguts, Portal, and anything in-between.
L'Acephale predated the Cascadian black metal boom by a few years, but was undoubtedly one of that movement's greatest inspirations. Now, about a ten years after Cascadia's nature-inspired black metal influence had started to decay, these innovators have returned with their most ambitious album yet. Though their "Cascadian" essence remains, L'Acephale, like always, has proven to be so much more; elements of dark folk run rampant throughout the band's self-titled effort, restraining a portion of the blackened fury present. This in of itself isn't **too** peculiar, but when supplemented by an eerie almost-martial atmosphere, L'Acephale feels more imposing than most other albums of its ilk. Cascadia may be dead, but its ghost remains.
Remete continues to be one of the only worthwhile cold and blizzardous black metal band worth investing in. This album rages with the tempest of only the fiercest winter storm yet the underlying ambience remains surprisingly soothing. It's a beautiful album and at this point D has cemented himself as a one-man wunderkind on par with Austin Lunn, M. Rekevics, and any other black metal visionary that's debuted in the last decade.
