New episode! Listen: https://linktr.ee/pctd/
Talking to Alexander Clarke from Montréal's ALYKSIR's about their new album Devourer!
ALYKSIR - Devourer
Bandcamp: https://alyksir.bandcamp.com/album/devourer
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4dVD1lPKiaPjFAv5u0B6MH
#alyksir #metalinterview #deathmetal #melodeath #melodicdeathmetal #canadianmetal #quebecoismetal #metalpodcast
By Thus Spoke
By quirk of circumstance, Antipole is the third French-language album I’ve reviewed in a row. Norilsk break the trend in one way, however, as they are Quebecois, not French. Antipole is also not a debut (as my other 2025 subjects have been); far from it, Norilsk being a fairly established name in the Canadian death/doom sphere. With an approach that broadly leans towards the grit and grime of the two genres—rather than the grandiosity or beautification of either—but a tendency to flirt with post, they have garnered appreciation as solid riff-deliverers who can still keep things a little interesting. As its name might suggest, Antipole is a study of opposites, with the promo sheet highlighting the dualities Norilsk explore both conceptually and literally through the music’s evolutions. Such polarities are, in fact, key.
If not granted much attention, Antipole is serviceable doom-y death; deviations from the template rare enough to be forgettable. But it was when my listens moved from passive to active that problems began to emerge. Under a camouflage of unremarkability—a problem in itself—the true colors make themselves plain if you really look. Most melodies become frustrating in their wasted potential; most riffs lack presence; the overuse of essentially spoken-word delivery of the growled vocals gets ever more grating. But the greatest issue, encompassing all others, is that the compositions feel flimsy whereas they ought to feel hefty—instrumental and vocal elements not harnessed to their full potential, and highs dropped in without justifying set-up. Duality is one thing, but disjointedness is another, and it is the former that characterizes Antipole. But it is not a dynamic kind of disjointed—such as one might find in overambitious technical extreme metal—but quite the opposite: an apathetic lack of follow-through that’s insidiously vague, but ultimately brings the above problems into even sharper relief.
Norlisk severely underuse key building blocks of both doom and death.1 Rather than harnessing song lengths to execute builds and releases, to hint, deliver, and reprise refrains, they often repeat empty phrases (“Antipole,” “La chute du géant”), and simply switch into unearned flourishes (“Locus Sanctus,” “La fonte”), or discard a melody for stripped-back flatness (“Nunataks,” “Un chant pour les morts”). Instead of complimenting weighty riffs with soaring themes, or doubling down in grimy dissonance, (most) melodies are thin, barely develop, and carry about as much emotion as a bank statement. The emphasis on spoken word and approximately spoken or whispered delivery for harsh vocals gives much of the music a disinterested, placid effect, while the instances of more aggressive barking come across as put-on if not passable—though they are soon supplanted by the dominating whisper-growl anyway. Individual pieces—a groove here (“D’ombre et de glace (l’asphysxie)”), a riff there (“Nunataks”), the rare appearance of coherent thematic development in a beautiful solo (“La chute du géant”)—are good. But while shrouding the disconnection and the tameness at first blush, soon they make more evident how exasperatingly under-developed the whole is. These highlights themselves lose their sheen like gold dust in a pile of ash–not worth getting excited about, when you have to trawl through the rest to catch them. Let not the embed fool you: it’s possibly the best track.
Everything contained within Antipole is serviceable, but those stand-out elements prove that Norilsk are capable of much more than serviceable. Where they flirt with post (“Un chant pour les morts”) or a more energetic melodeath (“Locus Sanctus”) the music gains a hint of intrigue, but it loses it just as quickly because Norilsk don’t do anything with it, and settle back into comfortable, unremarkable death-doom. Some inconsistencies in the mix possibly contribute to the album’s problems. Harsh vocals sometimes fall back behind the guitars and percussion, meaning that when they would otherwise sound very good, with their resonant growls, they instead end up a little choked and feel non-committal. However, the spoken-word vocals usually appear right at the front of the mix, though they do not possess the requisite gravity for this prominence, and it makes them and the music accompanying them feel somehow flat. When the music is neither crushing enough to warrant a dense production—though at times it pretends to be—nor dynamic enough to justify a spacious one—though, again, attempts are made—the mix never feels just right; to my ears anyway. Perhaps Antipole has just driven me insane.
With apparent appreciation for Norilsk in the underground scene, and some stand-out moments—particularly on the front end—the true face of Antipole turned out to be an immense disappointment. There are approximately ten minutes of good death-doom hidden amidst the full 48, and whether or not this suffices to give Antipole your time is up to you. Maybe Norilsk have fallen from grace; maybe the fans were simply wrong all along.2
Rating: Disappointing
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Hypnotic Dirge
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 6th, 2025
#20 #2025 #Antipole #CanadianMetal #DeathMetal #DeathDoomMetal #DoomMetal #Feb25 #HypnoticDirge #Norilsk #QuebecoisMetal #Review #Reviews
Cherd’s Raw Black Metal Muster [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]
By Cherd
There are two types of people in this world: those who appreciate raw black metal, and those who live fulfilling lives with friends and careers and family who speak to them at holiday gatherings. Since the advent of Bandcamp, the kvltest of all metal genres has become infinitely more accessible. Every year I wade through acres of tape hiss and tinny treble, looking for the half dozen or so raw black releases that rise above the buzzing tangle of cobwebs to rarified, putrid air. The following represent a cross-section of the seemingly infinite number of corpse-painted weirdos in basements the world over making music with no hope of even the smallest commercial success. This is for the fans, like me, as well as the curious. And if anyone in the comments says “This would be pretty good if the production wasn’t so shitty,” I swear on Quorthon’s grave I’ll craft a 1920’s flapper fringe dress out of strips of raw bacon, show up to your niece’s bat mitzvah, and shake my money maker on the dance floor. The shitty production is the point.
Conifère // L’Impôt du Sang – Let me get this out of the way: this is much less raw production-wise than a lot of raw black metal, but it’s my piece and I decide what goes in it. Besides, look at that shitty cassette tape cover art. See? Lo-fi. Montreal’s Conifère play the kind of Québécois melodic black metal their stomping grounds are well known for, but they run it through with punk undertones and rollicking black’n’roll. Their main goal on L’Impôt du Sang is packing as many blazing riffs into 31 minutes as possible. After spinning this taut little meloblack gem over and over, I’d say they’re lucky the seams haven’t blown out completely.
Hekseblad // Kaer Morhen – For those of you looking for that contemporary black metal album that captures the gloomy piss and vinegar of the 2nd wave 90s heyday, Kaer Morhen awaits. With lyrical themes set in the world of The Witcher, also a product of the 90s, Hekseblad owe much of their sound to the likes of Emperor and Gorgoroth. It’s not quite all pastiche, however, as the old-timey piano waltz segment of “A Grain of Truth (Nivellin’s Waltz)” and the organ grinder/harpsicord-ish melodies in “The White Flame” and at the end of the title track help throw the band’s serrated riff-craft into sharper relief. Closer “Vatt’ghern” even wanders through a stretch of atmospherics before bringing the record to a triumphant close.
Keys to the Astral Gate and Mystic Doors // Keys to the Astral Gate and Mystic Doors II – This is the stuff here. Raw black metal. Look at those two weirdos standing on a pile of snowy rocks in a Wisconsin winter, holding swords, while their buddy takes a picture with their phone. Look at the OCD doodle for a logo. Listen to that production. Doesn’t matter if I listen to it on my expensive headphones or on an answering machine from 1993, it sounds exactly the same. That said, unlike so many of their self-serious peers, Keys to the Astral Gate and Mystic Doors are downright gleeful, not only in their melodic riffage, but in their presentation. Not to mention the closer to this their second demo/EP, “What Is the Glimmer ‘Top the Looming Castle Bell” has an infectious jangle-rock structure that hints at evolutions to come.
Lander // Heroic Lands – Most of the bands here were on my radar before their respective releases, but Lander crashed this list out of nowhere, making it my favorite raw black find of the year. This Seattle based, two-person, war themed project has a mean streak the other entries don’t; heavy, knuckle-dragging riffs mixed among the triumphant Viking metal melodies and tastefully restrained synths. With a dedicated drummer in Krieger, a rarity in raw black projects, Lander boast a more organic sound than many of their genre counterparts. On the same day Wergild Records released this EP on cassette, they also released the band’s first full length—10 whole minutes longer in run time—Boreal Tactics. While I also recommend visiting that release, it’s Heroic Lands that hit me hardest.
Nimbifir // Der böse Geist – I’ve been waiting quite a while to put Nimbifir on one of these lists. Five years ago, I was just getting into raw black metal when I discovered their first two demos and four-way split Ruins of Humanity. Something about these Germans’ hard charging songs and exultant riffs stuck in my craw. I had to wait until 2024 for their debut full length Der böse Geist, and thankfully it did not disappoint. There’s no one song that rises above the others, so it’s best to take this record all in one sitting. Easy enough since it’s a brisk 36 minutes front to back. There’s an ebb and flow to each song and to the album composition as a whole that gives the impression of a battle, desperate in places, epic in others, with an almost cinematic sweep that keeps you riveted.
Vampiric Coffin/Enshroud // Reek of a Thousand Graves – This wouldn’t be a decent raw black metal list without a Grime Stone Records release, and for the second year in a row, it’s Vampiric Coffin leading the charge, with Enshroud covering their six. Count Jeffery the Vampire contributed to two splits on Grime Stone this year, and his new batch of the combined 11 songs are the same thrashy, punky, raw blacky, infectious as MRSA ditties he’s come to be known for. Reek of a Thousand Graves gets the nod over his split with 1692 AD thanks to Carmilla Dracul and Ysbryd of Enshroud and their ability to craft a complimentary set of dungeon synth infused black metal songs that never forget to be vicious on top of lugubrious.
Wraithlord // Phantasmal Warfare – If Wraithlord’s 2022 full length Dawn of Sorrow had been released any time before or after December 22nd, it would have made my ’22 or ’23 list. It got lost in the shuffle of the holidays, as all releases do around that time, which is probably why the kvltest of the kvlt like to release around then. Thankfully, the June release of Phantasmal Warfare gave me plenty of time to acquaint myself with another quality release by this one-man Flint, Michigan project. M, the mono-consonant moniker of Wraithlord’s brainchild, has a knack for stringing together riffs and transitions that don’t end up in the places you expect them to. This is easily the longest release in this feature at 48 minutes, but it suspends time by pulling you into its own twisted internal logic.
#AmericanMetal #BlackMetal #BlogPost #CanadianMetal #Conifere #DerBöSeGeist #EmptyPitRecordings #Enshroud #GermanMetal #GrimeStoneRecords #Hekseblad #HeroicWorld #HypnoticDirgeRecords #KaerMorhen #KeysToTheAstralGateAndMysticDoors #KeysToTheAstralGateAndMysticDoorsII #LImpôTDuSang #Lander #Nimbifir #PhantasmalWarfare #QuebecoisMetal #RawBlackMetal #ReekOfAThousandGraves #SelfRelease #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024 #VampiricCoffin #WergildRecords #Wraithlord
PodCast Them Down
Angry Metal Guy
