Ancient Hostility - Ancient Hostility (2019)

Artist: Ancient Hostility

Album: Ancient Hostility (S/T)

Genre: Dissonant Black Metal

Country: Ukraine

Label: Akashic Envoy Records

Preview Track:

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.

A N C I E N T H O S T I L I T Y

Laetitia in Holocaust - Fauci Tra Fauci (2019)

Artist: Laetitia in Holocaust

Album: Fauci Tra Fauci

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Italy

Label: Third I Rex

Preview Track

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.

F A U C I T R A F A U C I