Black Metal History Month - Heretoir : "the Circle"

Any one who thought black gaze was just a phase can now his this German band's ass as the have now been around for 11 years. The smooth clean vocals that come in on the verse have more a Swedish flair to them they remind me more of Katatonia or Opeth , than what I remember hearing from this band before. They do bring back the harsher growled vocals , but once again the song builds more like something Katatonia would do than black metal. After 11 years I am sure you are ready for some of the black metal trapping to fall away, just ask Darkthrone. "Inhale" finds things speeding up with very clean double bass. Things more much more calculated here. There is a more conventional placement to the harsh vocals that are punchier with a more metal-core like cadence to them. This doesn't mean they have gone total mall metal as there are still beautiful passages attached to this song, the bigger production makes them almost sound like something a progressive death metal band would do.

The clean vocals on "Golden Dust" work really well and sound more like what I remember to be their own voice. This isn't the heaviest song so far , but it might just be the most well written. There is a really nice flow to "My Dreams are Lights in the Sky" that is propelled by some really top notch drumming. Not sure if it justifies being an instrumental though. The best song that Between the Buried and me did not write is called " Exhale". The blast beats do show up. In you you were worried they might not. "Eclipse" finds them to continue to go down this modern progressive metal road though the ending of this song is more black metal than not. They tap into a much more organic Deafheaven like take on things with "Laniakea Dances", this is a better direction than some of the more metal core tinged things.

"Faded With the Gray" finds them slip forward back into the more progressive side, while it sounds good this style just doesn't resonate as strongly with me as the previous song did.The album closes with "the Circle" which must be a wink at the more A Perfect Circle like intro that eventually does build into actual metal. This is a weird album to review, the reasons many people might like it are there since it sounds more like a metal album is heavier, but I think the things I wanted from this band are rather toned down, namely the shoe-gazing side. I'll give this album a 9 and see how the changes wear on me.

This drops March 24th.

Black Metal History Month - Acriminous: "Eleven Dragons"

If Watain never listened to Fields of the Nephilim and was just out to make raging in satanic black metal they would sound more like this, here is one of th rare occasions where the geographic   influenced is numbed out as these guys sound more like they are from Sweden than they do Greece. The guitar is pretty ripping , yet the bass is even more impressive, the drummer just knows he has to be good. They hold off on the reckless blast bets til the 3rd song.Dissection is also a fair comparison when they are not locked in the faster more modern black metal sound which would then default back to Watain.

They are capable of indulging a more melodic side to bring a more majestic color out, though this quickly falls back into blast beats about a couple minutes into "Elder of the Nashiym". The bass is audible and the guitar works together well and gives the song the space it needs. The spoken word sections are ok as in the are a departure from the normal vocal roar. The drummer gets the job done, but haven't really heard him shine yet.These guys are capable of throwing some nice melodic interludes together, would be cooler to hear them in context of a song and in some cases unsure why they are not just the intro to the song that follows it. "Qayin Rex Mortis" blasts off with manic thrashing and sounds pretty much like the rest of the black metal that is influenced by Bathory. They keep up this furious pace on "Ominous Visions of Nod" which rages in a blur right past me until the bother to slow down into a darker throb. Unable to control themselves they speed back up into a more deliberate tantrum and then back down again so you can't fault them for a lack of trying.

When they slow down to take the time to smell the burning churches and go with some some lower more guttural growls they begin to step out of the shadow of their influences on " Stirring the Ancient Waters" . 'Litany of Moloch's Feast" just kind of blasts by and seems a little like a waste after we heard  this band really begin to come into their own. They further their addiction to speed with the more thrashy closing song. It is however a song that is over seven minutes so they can afford to blast into it at the beginning , but I am more curious to hear what else they can do. I'll give this album an 8, just when I think they are sinking into what every other black metal band would do they throw me a surprise.

Black Metal History Month -Medico Peste : "Herzogian Darkness"

Yesss... this is what I am fucking talking about, black metal so dark and dissonant that you can taste the motherfucking evil dripping off of it, yet it has balls and power to it. This band from Poland doesn't over do it with the blast beats, but their drummer is a god damn animalistic machine capable of putting a beating on your when they feel like it. I think the key here is they know how to maintain a healthy balance with all of these varied elements we have come to know as being components of black metal over the past decade. Not to say that this is not from the Mayhem school of thought. It is. There are also other influences at play, while the Bauhaus cover is going to come until the end, there is still a little but of darker punk behind the wheel of "Hallucinating Warmth and Bliss". The title alone sounds like something I experienced back in my drug days. If you thought you recognized a snarl back on the first song, you might have since it was Mark of the Devil from Cultes Des Ghoules lending his voice , which gives you idea of the company they are keeping which puts them in a bizarre zip code of their own, so even when the blast beats do come they are touched by surreal weirdness. There is less form and more chaos to the beginning of the the slower paced "Le Delire De Negation". The drummer do a pitter patter march around the slink of the guitar as the vocals descend into madness. It creates a great mood, but compared to the first two songs isn't as strong of a composition. They tackle "Stigmata Martyr" by Bauhaus. It has more attack.And to some it might seem like blasphemy to say perhaps to much as it obscures the main theme of the song. So overall the first half of this ep is stronger, with the first song really grabbing my attention and raising the bar, look forward to hearing a full length from these guys I'll give this a 9.

Black Metal History Month- Woe : "Hope Attrition"

Woe has been one of my favorite American black metal bands. They don't settle for just blast beats and Chris Grigg understands he has to write songs first. When the vocals come in on the first they give them space to roar. The recording captures a dense and dark sound that still has clarity to it. They know when to lock into a powerful chug to create a dynamic kick. Grigg's snarl still allows for you to make out most of the lyrics. They throw themselves into a more thrashing speed for "No Blood Has Honor". He drops down into a more death metal roar at times on this song. Their hard-core roots help the breakdown toward the end of the song reach a more emotional climax. They get into a more blasting form of traditional black metal on "the Din of the Mourning". There is a more melodic section that kicks in with clean vocals that are not too over the top. There is a more death metal tone to "the Ones We Lost". It is the album's most aggressive moment thus far. The vocals are more of a husky growl. It paints a portrait with sweeping swathes of darkness, that makes you forget this is nor coming to you by way of Sweden. The vocals are angry , but there are more introspective emotions in the guitar harmonies. They launch back into the blasting for "Drown Us with Greatness" the guitar work on this song is very mature and nuanced.The bass playing creates a very tasteful under current. The song builds into a more punk like charge forward. Their drummer really earns his pay on the closing "Abject in Defeat" which smoothes out from the avalanche of fills and blasting into a more fluid gallop into battle. The vocals trade off between the scowling higher pitch of black metal and lower death metal like snarls. The guitar melodies really make this one soar nicely. Nicely seems like a funny adjective to use for a black metal review, but it's very flowing and clean and feels like a little stream is guiding you down this otherwise post-apocalyptic landscape. I'll round this album up to a 9, it's slightly more straight forward than past releases, but the song writing has stepped up a notch.

Black Metal History Month -Digir Gidm : "I Thought There Was the Sun Awaiting My Awakening"

We are not ruling out blast beats altogether this month. I might a little disappointed if I didn't get a few . Right from the opener of this album we are getting them , but in doses that are not making this creep-fest a monochrome blur of blackness. The vocals stand out to me as there are varied approaches at work here from chants to some really fiendish snarls. Things at time get dark and angular which when you have a 12 minute song you are opening your album with then you have to do something. I like the fact the atmosphere being used here is unnerving. Going into the second song I suppose you could hear /more of an Emperor influence.  The elements that give them more of an original sound like the angular riffs and chanted vocals thrown in are still intact, but the drumming sounds more typical of what you would expect from this sort of thing, you can also hear where Deathspell Omega could be an influence. Though  it gets darker the song also seems to get a little lost in its self in the last four minutes, which is the risk you face with 11 minute songs.

"The Glow inside the Shell" finds itself where the other song got lost, it doesn't really stray much from where they had previously wandered, some of the sung vocals had a little more purpose. This loose jazz like dissonance also carries over into the last song "the Eye Looks through the veil". This band thrives on chaos, which is both their strength and weakness. The first lyrics I can really make out is the scream of ''greedy whore" .  Overall the album got off to a strong start and I like the fact they did not just jump on a blast beat bandwagon, but the songs wander and don't always go somewhere that justifies it. So I will round this down to a 7. If you like disjointed and angular black metal you might get more out of it than I did.

Anwar Sadat : "Ersatz Living "

There are hipsters in Kentucky? Who they hell would have thunk it? I am surprised as you will be this came out of Kentucky. Post punk is an influence, going into this the dudes over at Dead Air On the Pulpit who I know not to trust, tried to convince me this was industrial and I don't hear much hinting at that until midway through the album on "Quantum Fighter", then the electronic elements which up until this point has just created noise , provide more of a groove. Something about it also reminds me of older Inxs, a fact brought even more to the forefront when the guitars take on more of a jangle.

It "No Exit" which almost sounds like a Joy Division cover ,that really makes me take note. The vocals are crooned a little more like Iceage and the punk influence is all over this thing. The Joy Division influence is also felt in some other places following this most noted would be the drone of the synth on "Geshenkgeber" which find the throaty vocals in more of a Rollins like hushed whisper pledging to be submissive and getting down on his knees. Overall the lyrics are just as coarse and rough as the music with a pretty shitty attitude and the needed negativity in their outlook. If you ever wanted to hear what it might sound like to have Henry Rollins front New Order then " Ubik" might answer your question. I like when the vocals chose to actually sing in a more Depeche Mode like fashion these guys hit upon sounds that are some of my favorites.

This is an album I had to go back and re-listen to in order to be sure I have really given every song the proper trial that it deserved and heard things differently on songs like " Lower Than Life" which finds the angular riffs and coarse vocals working very well in their rough and tumble pounding with a hook buried under all the noise rock attitude. They go into a more confrontational ranting on the last four minutes of the album that brings more noise. I'll give this album a 9, it's more impressive than even the first song might have suggested going into it, this Godflesh vibe that I have heard some talk about is no where to be heard , but what they do is just as dirty and hopeless in all the right ways.

Black Metal History Month

It's that time again, cus black metal matters. We are going to dig back into the crypts to take another listen to some classics as well as see where black metal is heading so far this year. Before you get you little glue sniffing hopes up this doesn't mean that I am going to settle back for the next 28 days and be alright with blast beats for the sake of blast beats or ease up on the mandate that I passed going into the new year that I would asking more from black metal bands along with every other genre. The days of settling for tremolo picking and the same old same ole, are long gone. I want black metal that stands out from the pack. I want darkness, but I want to to sound beautiful, sonic and hypnotic.

So if a band is typically described as raw black metal then chances are they are no longer going to covered here, even if I have covered them in the past Horna is about as raw as I want to go , if I want to hear something that sounds like old Burzum or Darkthrone, well I own those albums. What I will look for is new depressive suicidal black metal , which is one of the only sub-genres that I am willing to compromise on recording quality for, some times as older Cold World has proven a little rough around the edges works to create the atmosphere.

Since history is a key component here we are going to going to take another listen to some of the albums that influenced the genre even though they might not be what kids growing up in 2017 consider black metal, but kids growing up in 2017 don't know shit any way. So grab you lighters and spark up the lawns out side of the church in you neighborhood, lets hope for snow after all listening to black metal with the crunch of snow under your boots is the perfect setting. The world is going to hell and certainly deserves, so lets celebrate true misanthropy and slap on come corpse paint to praise the coming darkness for Black Metal History month.