The kvlt is alive. The second wave of black metal is now thought of along with other classic period of metal like the New Wave of British Heavy Metal or the Combat records years, yet as a sub-genre evolved to develop a sustainable life of it's own. While metal head can be the most stubborn when it comes to change it is esstential to keep a sub-genre moving forward and not going the way of hair metal or grunge. Granted over exposure was the death of those genres which record companies fattened the cash cows for the slaughter. Black metal escaped that in part to it's abrasive nature, it skimmed the outskirts of pop culture. Sure a Lords of Chaos movie would have been the nail in the coffin, it won't happenat this late juncture so are going to accept the stagnation of say Marduk putting out the same album over and over again until they are as old as Lemmy going to cut it . So rather than bitch and moan lets take a look at ten bands who have a chance in hell at pushing the genre forward .
Atriarch-We discussed these guys talking about the death rock resurgence, and in the grimness of the darkness rolling in with the storm cloud in every note this band plays I think these guys are taking black metal into a loenly enough corner. At times it borders the Depressive Suicidal Black Metal, which since Shining went all rock n roll is a banner some one needed to wave, this one just has a darker shade. In future releases I can forsee the Portland quartet dabbling in extremes at both ends of the sonic spectrum busting out the blastoids of hell fire and chanelling Rozz Williams . I'm good with either of those options, I just want to hear more from these guys and if opther feel that way then theres a future.
Nachtmystium- i know they arent a new band their new who's album the silencing machine drops at the end of the month is the next black metal band I see reaching a bigger audience, regardless of the albums reception Blake Judd and friends will push the genre forward, the first few track were a return to a rawer sound yet incorporated industrial undertones, in interviews during the writing process judd stated he was drawing more of an influence from the depressive suicidal side of black metal no surprise considering wrest is one of his collaborators in the side project twilight,
Bosse de Nage-Beautifully brooding while vocal chords are vomitted on the stage, yes bring it. Another band who is off their meds and feels the influence of dsbm, with out being as heavy handed as say a band like Make a Change Kill Yourself was. These Californians aren't hampered by the sunshine when it comes to going intoa full on snare blizzard.Their newest release 3, find them reverting into more of this rawer head on attack, yet is sprinkled with several sections of quirky post/indie rock interludes with cleaner guitar sound doing some interesting things rhythmically
Black Breath: Ok no corpse paint and a very prominent crust element, but on first listen to their "Sentenced to Life " album older Watain came to mind. So not a feast of blast beats, but they are more black metal in attitude if nothing else than some of the genre's bigger blackened acts like Behemoth or Dimmu. Does this also lean heavy into death metal at times but it seems angrier almost punk at times.
Oranassi Pazuzu- The French five piece occupies the same level of hell as Blut Aunord. Highly experimental but not forsaking songs, they have crazed sounds just melting off the walls. Their album Kosmonaut, has an excellent mix and with that kind of production value they can execute the boundaries they are pushing.
Ash Borer- Have already covered ground on these guys before but they have a new album out that is going to feature some female and will see the band venturing into more Wolves In the Throne Room like territory.
Lord Mantis-The initial burst of their new album" pervertor" brings to mind what Gorgoroth might sound like if they got really stoned. The includes a former guitarist of Von, which if you ask Watain it doesn't get any truer than that along with the bassist of Nachtmystium and the drummer from Indian which explains who brought the weed to the party here.
Lunar Aurora-One half of the German duo was Trist. With him he brought the ambiance of the Bavarian woods. The new albums Hoagascht, grinds away with the hypnotic churn of post- prison Burzum.
Vorkreist- The French music scene might be more incestuous than the Norweigan, as every one in the band has played in Merrimack before, and also features former members of Glorior Belli and Secrets of the Moon. While the shoe-gazey BM put France on the map to most , this band is more like a collision of Immortal and DeathSpell Omega, not a epic as in rush to the long boats sense Immortal might be there are some big powerful riffs with a dense darkness to them. Futher listens shows shades of Morbid Angel and really outstanding guitar work.
Dragged Into Sunlight - In many ways this British band is more death metal, but there is something darker to them than say Disma who does something very similar, there is more of the sonic dissonance in Dragged into Sunlight's music, the all out chaos which they blast into sections feels more black metal to me though like lots of other bands mentioned her there is a crusty grindcore like grime to the mess they are making, and that's aside from the vomit on a spider web logo. The higher register shrieks help to seal the deal for me to include them as a dark element and abrasive yet sonically intense instrumentation is what I look for in black metal and even if the guys and most noticeably black breath are more blackened than cold and grim, this is music that would appeal to fans of black metal who reside slightly outside of Mordor's zip code.
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