The EP, Split and Single Post Part 2 [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By El Cuervo

Long albums are fraught with perils: the wasted potential of pre-release singles or powerful openers; repetition as a band feels obliged to fill more time than they have ideas; inconsistent quality as some songs clearly supersede others; and the sheer fucking expanse of music being too much for a listener. They’re such risky business that I’d counsel against even bothering.

By contrast? I’d advise you either create or consume short-form releases. They’re among my favorite things in the world1. They convey their meaning expeditiously, prioritize quality over quantity and are far more economically viable for the artist2. Grindcore acts learned this over 30 years ago and who am I to deny the immense popularity and evident commercial viability of grindcore? As if all this wasn’t enough, bands that favor EPs, splits, singles and collaborations are also more sexually desirable. Don’t question the science; just open wide and accommodate the following releases. –El Cuervo

This is part 2. Part 1 is here.

Blood Incantation // Luminescent Bridge – As much as I enjoy synth-based ambient music, Timewave Zero was a little too slow to represent more to me than a mere curiosity in Blood Incantation’s story. Luminescent Bridge is a more harmonious fusion of the band’s warped death metal and spacey, synth aspirations, a 19-minute EP bridging what was previously quite a wide gap. What results is the thinking man’s death metal; less fist-pumping and compulsive than previous albums, but just as thought-provoking and technically mesmerizing. What helps most is that the lilting interludes and synth elements are more purposeful and form the connecting tissue between the death metal aspects. The band constitutes an unmissable modern metal band with both elements in their sound. –El Cuervo

Shadowrunner // Ocean of Time – Rebirth and Oblivion – Shadowrunner are low-key the best post-The Midnight retrowave act. All of their singles and EPs to date – note, no full-length album – offer essential listening for lovers of all things synth, sax, and nostalgia. The Ocean of Time duo represents a strange choose-your-own-adventure take on music, levering the same opening four songs but closing with four different ones. While I question this marketing gimmick, I absolutely cannot question the quality of the new music available here. Rebirth is warm and welcoming, while Oblivion balances this with crisper tones and marginally darker themes. Two sides of the same coin, the pair constitute the best synth-based music of 2023. –El Cuervo

Wreathe // The Land Is Not An Idle God – If your group contains members of Fall of Efrafa, Morrow, and Arboricidio, you can expect some amazing d-beatened, passionate emokrust, and Wreathe’s debut EP The Land Is Not An Idle God definitely fits that bill gloriously. Based on vocalist Alex CF’s own grimoire, The Book of Venym; An Egalitarian Demonology, The Land Is Not An Idle God seethes with defiant energy and heartfelt passion, with “Enemy of All Reason” pummeling ruthlessly while “The Stumps Are Graves of the Land” channels the forlorn-yet-hopeful energy of Morrow’s best moments. If you’re at all a fan of any of the aforementioned bands and you somehow don’t pick this up… the fuck’s wrong with you?! –Grymm

Dream Unending/Worm // Starpath – The collaboration I believed only existed in my wildest fantasies. While Dream Unending wears their heart on their sleeve with soaring, ethereal melodies, Worm’s allure comes rising out of spooky, clamorous aggression. Yet the contributions of both are—literally—resonant with otherworldly grace, with Justin DeTore (DU)’s low bellows echoing over layers of cymbals and ascending guitar, and Phantom Slaughter (Worm)’s vicious rasps bouncing off spidery riffs and ominous drums. And when Worm’s blackened death metamorphoses into ascendant, glittering soloing, it’s easy to see how well these two artists compliment one another. Each, in the songs allocated to them, shows the impressive reach of their own individual style, and goes just a bit further than before. “So Many Chances” sees DU extensively using clean vocals, for instance, while “Ravenblood” includes what is probably Worm’s slickest and most beautiful solo. Absolutely unmissable for fans of either, let alone both. –Thus Spoke

Dragoncorpse // The Drakketh Saga – Power metal meets deathcore. We’ve seen this before with Shadow of Intent, but we haven’t seen it the way Dragoncorpse do it. These Aussies’ first foray into two genres that seem antithetical to each other results in one of the most fun and whimsical deathcore experiences I had this year. Granted, this idea is still in its infancy and hence lacks cohesion in songwriting, and is rife with way too many expositional interludes. But between the awesome vocal variety and cool songwriting, I find it hard to care about the disjointed nature of the journey. The choruses are huge, the riffs and breakdowns heavy, and the story epic. “To the Sky” and “UNDYING” in particular are huge successes, testaments to the potential Dragoncorpse’s style holds. Flawed though it might be, it’s worth taking notice of this EP as the promise of something new and exciting for the future of hybridized extreme metal. –Kenstrosity

Spider God // The Faith Trilogy – To avoid another bout of ire from the public, I won’t talk about Spider God’s expanded catalog of black metal pop covers, even though it is a literal metric ton of silly, raw fun—including several covers of famous ad jingles, of all things! No, instead I’m going to talk about The Faith Trilogy, a collected work that includes all three of Spider God’s original EP trilogy based on Ingmar Bergman’s trilogy of the same name. While this material is not new, having been recorded between October and December of 2020, this newly unified compilation still represents everything that I love about Spider God’s original material. Delightful melodies, hooky songwriting, and an entertaining contrast between blackened rawness and jubilant, poppy performances. Nobody sounds like Spider God, and that’s a great thing. Don’t believe me? Just check out “Still No Words,” “Fight the Raging Storm,” “The Echo-God,” “Blood and Water,” “Horrible Forces,” “Strangers and Tears,” and “Embrace Despair.” –Kenstrosity

The Ember, The Ash // Venerate / Abnegate – A side project from 鬼, the creative mind behind Unreqvited, past efforts from The Ember, The Ash simply have not clicked with me. It was unexpected, therefore, that a death metal EP, sounding slightly clinical, even synthetic, in tone, replete with stuttering synth notes and heavily distorted guitars, and vox, should be the thing that finally works for me. But work it does. Concussive and thunderous, but (particularly on “Abnegate”) carrying a grand, semi-symphonic note driven by the synth work, it’s both brutal and beautiful. And it’s perhaps through that lens that I really hear the EP’s roots, anchored in the gorgeous post-black of Unreqvited’s Mosaic I: L’amour et l’ardeur, but now transformed into a snarling, riffing DM beast. –Carcharodon

Mortual // Evil Incarnation – Writhing, festering, booming, this disgusting Costa Rican death metal outing erupts the senses with overwhelming filth and unrelenting riffcraft. Mortual harkens back to a time when metal of this knuckle-scraping attitude reeked of frenetic thrash riffs and piercing whammy bombs—envision the Golgothan clamor of early Incantation trapped under the festering bed of the rainforest floor. Mortual abuses every microphone in the room to capture their hideously toned guitar drags and cavern-creaking kicks. Snarling, wide-cast tremolo rip and hammer-cast tom roll command heads to whip and bodies to flail. Succumbing low-end heft only for hideous solos (“Sadistic Obsession,” “Dimensional Chaos”) and half-time gut-punches led by murderous ride (“Morbid Thoughts,” “Master of Possession”), Evil Incarnation refuses to release you from the underbelly of its decay-imbued roars. In their own words, Mortual seeks to find through their amplified sermons the “ecstasy of death.” While I might still be standing, this loin-stirring EP has brought me, at least, to la petite mort. –Dolphin Whisperer

Spiritbox // The Fear of Fear – After the mainstream success of first full-length Eternal Blue and its singles “Holy Roller” and “Circle With Me,” Courtney LaPlante and company release an EP that sharpens the edges of their blurry debut. Heavier songs, catchier choruses, more guitar acrobatics, and LaPlante’s honed harsh vocal attack, incorporating growls alongside her already formidable pipes. Spiritbox immediately hits like a bomb with the frantic and mathy “Cellar Door,” a brutality further explored in “Angel Eyes.” Reconciling the heaviness and the ethereal quality, runaway singles “Jaded” and “The Void,” and closer “Ultraviolet” recall the act’s first two EP’s in dreamy guitar melodies and sultry choruses braced against brutal djent verses. Centerpiece “Too Close / Too Late” features LaPlante at her most vulnerable and charismatic, yearning lyrics taking front and center alongside a crescendo of a track. I don’t say this often, but with Spiritbox’s unique blend of ethereality and djenty brutality, The Fear of Fear is earning the Spotify fame in a spotlight surrounded by the Sleep Tokens and Knocked Looses of the world. –Dear Hollow

The Callous Daoboys // God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys – No one caught the feature-long joke in my TYMHM of The Callous Daoboys‘ Celebrity Therapist, and you bastards should be ashamed. Like, Nachos BellGrande ashamed. Here’s its fucking follow-up. God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys is the Atlanta six-piece’s first semi-self-titled offering, and God smiles ’cause it slays. “Pushing the Pink Envelope” and “Waco Jesus” are the carbon-dated slices of mania you expect from your favorite mathcore slayqueens, chunkier and heavier in its riffs but willing to snap your fingers snap your neck (not with Prong though, Steel Druhm) with whiplash, jerking you off from catchy choruses to panic chords to electronic beats to bone-crushing off-kilter chugs to salsa breakdowns (???) to piano trills – somehow conjuring the ghost of the memeworthy Iwrestledabearonce while sounding more cohesive. Closer “Designer Shroud of Turin” is where you take a hard left at Atlanta. Jazz, flamenco, and wildly intense electronics (courtesy of Netherlands DJ pulses.) infect the brutality and offers a new direction entirely. Go figure out my joke, then listen to this bad boy. No more Taco Bell for you. –Dear Hollow

#2023 #BlogPost #BloodIncantation #Dragoncorpse #DreamUnending #Mortual #Shadowrunner #SpiderGod #theAsh #TheEmber #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Worm #Wreathe

Dear Hollow’s Mathcore Madness [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dear Hollow

Y’all ready to skronk? Cuz it’s ’bout to get skronky. I had a realization about midway this year that all I was doing was contributing mathcore releases to Kenstrocity‘s Stuck in the Filter pieces. So instead of painting myself as a one-trick pony who can only do math three times a month, I decided to reveal my cards as a mathcore sellout by the end of 2023. I have been given an incurably bad taste this year, and a spotlight under which I stand alone while commenters and colleagues alike chuck tomatoes and copies of Mercyful Fate’s Dead Again and Saxon’s Rock the Nations at me (saying, and I quote, “get some culture, you sellout”). See, when the inimitable Kronos left, he took with him the taste for the mathy skronk. I suppose Dolphin Whisperer has some math love built into him, but we’re too busy squabbling over details most of the time.1

Thus, I have compiled a list of some mathcore releases you might, uh, tolerate! Because I have filtered and expressed opinions over acts like See You Next Tuesday, Sleepsculptor, Soulkeeper, and Squid Pisser (I’m not sure why I picked all mathcore acts that start with S, but here we are) you can go find ’em yourself if you’re soooo upset why I didn’t include them. Without further ado, let’s get skronky (another S!).

Better Lovers // God Made Me an Animal – Look, I get it’s an EP, but when your band consists of the instrumental section of the defunct Every Time I Die, the guitarist of Fit for an Autopsy and End, and the vocalist of the legendary The Dillinger Escape Plan, we can make some exceptions. Charisma and sleaze drip through the southern-fried leads of these four songs, while Greg Puciato’s unmistakably charismatic vocals rip across, formidable cleans gracing melodic noodling with a catchiness that contrasts with the dense groove. Speaking of the groove, they hit at just the right moments, recalling I Am Hollywood-era He is Legend in “Sacrificial Participant,” while punk speed graces “30 Under 13” with a franticness, while the riff in the title track is absolutely mammoth. Quite the lineup, and while the sound is what you’d largely expect from its ranks, the five-piece makes its debut EP just damn good mathcore.

Chamber // A Love to Kill For – Nashville’s Chamber enters the fray with a sound that weaponizes mathcore for maximum punishment, a tad like Frontierer meeting late-era The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza in a knife-fight behind the old Kmart: down-tuned thuggishness, chunky and bruising rhythms, noodly riffs, and squealing leads.2 Vocalist Jacob Lilly offers a vicious performance, his roars and fry vocals dripping with vitriol, while the cutthroat axework collapses and crushes around him, and drummer Taylor Carpenter hits the kit balancing rock-solid anchoring and pure mania. A Love to Kill For is a relentless metalcore attack barbed with hardcore punk, mathcore, and hints of deathcore: carefully calculated, intensely brutish, and worth every concussion Chamber can muster.

Euclid C Finder // The Mirror, My Weapon, I Love You – A balanced affair unafraid of the noisemaking, Baltimore’s Euclid C Finder (presumably named after the Fallout weapon) releases a grind-tinged math attack of viciousness and oddity in equal measure. Nineteen minutes of wonky rhythms, blasting percussion, manic dissonance, panic chords aplenty, and insane vocals greet the ears with the subtlety of a five-car pileup. It would be easy to dismiss The Mirror… as just another Dillinger– or Converge– worshiper, but then the groove hits. The trio balances its treble trouble with a chunky hit of downtuned intensity and gruff barks that gives respite to the million-miles-per-hour of noodly technicality. It’s a toothy and intense affair that never takes itself too seriously (i.e. “Jonathan Davis 10000 BC”) and never overstays its welcome.

Telos // Delude – What makes Copenhagen’s Telos unique is its blackened and noisy take on mathcore. Or, if you please, a mathy take on blackened hardcore – whatever floats your boat. A bit like if Hexis (with whom they released a split this year) and Botch had a scary-looking baby. Misanthropy oozes from every orifice and hostile noise fills negative space, ominous leads and dissonant plucking wearing haunting grooves into the brain. Tracks like “Bastion,” “I’ve Been Gone for So Long,” and “As Atlas Stumbled” are full-on assaults of intense proportions, while the more subdued ritualism and atmosphere in “I Accept / I Receive” and “Throne” show the depths of Telos’ lurching and rumbling depravity. Fans of mathcore and blackened hardcore would do well to do a headlong dive into this particular abyss.

Thin // Dusk – Mathcore gone grind. Reveling in tight descending patterns of insanity, with a fearlessness of skull-caving death metal, New York City’s Thin will beat you senseless with every weapon in its arsenal. A wall of noisy noodling, panic chords, and squalid feedback is erected with every attack, collapsing for death metal-inspired weight and dissonant plucking throughout that feels like homage to this year’s Asystole. Screamo orientation fuels the fire and brevity is the name of the game, but toss in formidable performances from all forces involved, with howling screeches giving way to gravelly gurgles, groovy riffs giving way to frantic tremolo, and the rhythm section cutting through the darkness. As the cheery acoustic strums of closer “Mangrove” sound in final respite, Thin revels in its sonic and lyrical pairing of nostalgia and trauma – a dark night of the soul.

Dead Soma // Pathos – A more rhythmic and atmospherically spidery but nonetheless viciously punishing take on mathcore. Best described as Loathe covering Converge songs, the sepia-toned and mysterious Deftones influence is unmistakable, but Sweden’s Dead Soma is unafraid to embrace the intensity. Hinting upon djent not unlike countrymen Vildhjarta and weighty rhythms like Car Bomb, the grooves are palpable and punishing, guided by the dead hands of electronic glitches and pinch harmonics and dragged by manic barks and screeches. Chino Moreno-esque whispery cleans and subdued mumbles add to the glitching and warm synthwork in the more laid-back tracks, which add further dynamic to the relentlessly fat riffs and mathy noodling (see: “Life and Limb” to “Error Blemish”). Warmly atmospheric, it carries a vintage tone by the vocals and synth, but is ultimately uncompromising in its brutality.

MouthBreather // Self-Tape – This one is less mathcore by sound and more by name. The Boston collective’s debut LP I’m Sorry Mr. Salesman (another filter cleaning I contributed to) was Coalesce-meets-Converge-core through and through in a groovy take on mathcore, but after a come-to-metalcore-Jesus moment they go straight for the jugular with a nu-infested, groove-infected -core sound for Self-Tape. The viciousness is front and center, with aggression and fury spewing from every chug and growl, with its storied mathcore history offering its energetic bite. Now featuring more deathcore weight and nu-metal influence to slam into your sorry-ass ears alongside the ghosts of Christmas skronk, Self-Tape reflects a descent into madness through its very reasonable twenty-three minutes of film references. Maybe you’ll think it’s just metalcore with no mathcore in sight, and you’d be right, but (a) that’s why it’s at the end of this piece and (b) your head will be bobbing so hard you won’t care.

#2023 #ALoveToKillFor #AmericanMetal #Asystole #BetterLovers #BlackenedHardcore #Botch #CarBomb #Chamber #Coalesce #Converge #DanishMetal #DeadSoma #Deathcore #Deftones #Delude #Dusk #End #EuclidCFinder #EveryTimeIDie #FitForAnAutopsy #Frontierer #Gideon #GodMadeMeAnAnimal #Grindcore #HardcorePunk #HeIsLegend #Hexis #Loathe #Mathcore #Metalcore #NuMetal #Pathos #SwedishMetal #Telos #TheAcaciaStrain #TheDillingerEscapePlan #TheMirrorMyWeaponILoveYou #TheTonyDanzaTapdanceExtravaganza #Thin #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Vildhjarta

The EP, Split and Single Post Part 1 [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By El Cuervo

Long albums are fraught with perils: the wasted potential of pre-release singles or powerful openers; repetition as a band feels obliged to fill more time than they have ideas; inconsistent quality as some songs clearly supercede others; and the sheer fucking expanse of music being too much for a listener. They’re such risky business that I’d counsel against even bothering.

By contrast? I’d advise you either create or consume short-form releases. They’re among my favorite things in the world1. They convey their meaning expeditiously, prioritize quality over quantity and are far more economically viable for the artist2. Grindcore acts learned this over 30 years ago and who am I to deny the immense popularity and evident commercial viability of grindcore? As if all this wasn’t enough, bands that favor EPs, splits, singles and collaborations are also more sexually desirable. Don’t question the science; just open wide and accommodate the following releases. –El Cuervo

Asidhara // Echoes of the Ancients – There’s little that’s complicated about the pleasure I derive from Echoes of the Ancients by Asidhara. Riffs. Riffs. More riffs. Within 2023, these 4 tracks contain a concentration of top-drawer guitars bettered only by new the new Sylosis record. 20 minutes of straightforward thrash in April was exactly the headbanging salvo I required when compared with a March characterized by reviews of proggy material. I would compare these Welshmen to Power Trip due to the razor-sharp leads, energized vocal attack and crossover sensibilities. It’s a metallic tour de force and one you’d be idiotic to miss if you like guitar music. –El Cuervo

fromjoy // fromjoy – Few releases from 2023 delighted me as much as fromjoy’s self-titled EP. It represents 26 minutes of a shockingly vital fusion between grindcore, breakcore and vaporwave. No other band comes close for genre-bending ingenuity and cathartic insanity. I love each form of their sound, from the wretched, chaotic grind on “Accela,” to the gurgling, stomping breakdowns on “Docility,” to the dancing trip-hop on “Eros,” all the way through to the massive closing duo “Helios” and “Icarus.” The first of these fuses smooth saxophones and sexy synths with brutal breakcore, while the latter levers clean singing over vaporwave synths before closing the release with emotionally charged roars over fat riffs. These 5 minutes are worth the price of entry alone, but what comes before is so compelling that you’ll not want to stop listening. fromjoy and fromjoy are both essential. –El Cuervo

Glyph // When the World Was Young – I was probably predestined to enjoy the output of brand-spanking-new power metal band Glyph, because I’ve loved at least one album that each member has been a part of at one time or another. Comprising the vocal talents of R.A. Voltaire (Ravenous), the axe-wielding of Rob Steinway (ex-Skelator, Greyhawk), the low-end rumble of Darin Wall (ex-Skelator, Greyhawk), and the keyboard wizardry of Jeff Black (Gatekeeper), Glyph specializes in over-the-top power metal that should please fans of Rhapsody, Sabaton, and Gloryhammer. This demo sports three tracks of distinct styles and moods, nicely showcasing the band’s abilities and giving us a good idea of what to expect from future releases. When you take into consideration the music and the band’s social media output, it’s apparent that this project is meant to be fun, and I’m already smiling thinking about a Glyph full-length release. –Holdeneye

Strigoi // Bathed in a Black Sun – Because nobody got enough of Strigoi’s vampiric take on doom-tinged death metal from last year’s monstrous Viscera,3 Gregor Mackintosh and company are back with a brisk, brutal five-song, fourteen-minute EP chock full of heavy riffs and, in most cases, ludicrous speed. No really, “Beautiful Stigmata” says more in its scant 42 seconds than most songs of greater lengths. Besides the title track, all the other four songs were extras from the Viscera sessions, but don’t think this isn’t essential. In fact, besides the menacing “A Spear of Perfect Grief,” the songs on display are more than happy to rip your head clean off. –Grymm

Insomnium // Songs of the Dusk – What 2021 EP Argent Moon was to Heart Like a Grave, Songs of the Dusk is to Anno 1696. Specifically, it’s far superior to the respective most recent full-length release. Only three songs and twenty-odd minutes long, it nonetheless makes an impression through Insomnium’s own brand of dreamy, ballady melodeath. Those key changing, soaring choruses (“Flowers of the Night,” “Song of the Dusk”), and impassioned, flighty surges of dancing riffery (“Stained in Red”). Songs of the Dusk also leans heavily into atmosphere in ways not seen since Shadows of the Dying Sun at least, with glossy riffs fading in gracefully (“Song of the Dusk”), mournful, echoing tones backing up key refrains to give them a deep and shadowy presence (“Flowers of the Night”), and echoing clear guitar and piano over stripped-back synth. It never gets particularly lively, but fans of the band’s doomier, dreamier side will be very happy. –Thus Spoke

Vampire Squid // Plasmic – The previous three Vampire Squid outings all represent delightfully weird, skronky, mathy deathcore. Unreasonably heavy chugs, proggy song construction, and whimsical FX combine with Andrew Virrueta’s disgusting voKILLs to form submerged horrors unlike any other in the metalsphere. Then, Plasmic dropped in February and changed everything. Essentially Vampire Squid’s interpretation of brutal death metal with a slam kink, Plasmic is an inky pool of primordial slime for whatever this band is planning on unleashing next (“Cosmic Seepage,” “Wormholes Collide”). Stomps abound, enhanced by a wonderful pong snare, extra-filthy gurgles, and stripped-down, straightforward songwriting that reeks of Bolt Thrower (“Lurking Mystic”). If you’ve got fourteen minutes to spare, and I know that you do, dive deep into Vampire Squid’s horrific undersea world with Plasmic.4 –TheKenWord

Kanonenfieber // U-Bootsmann – At this juncture, it’s really not worth me pretending that I am anything other than an avowed Kanonenfieber fanboy. However, despite that, I assure you that the latest EP from German creator, Noise, is well worth your time and modest investment. In instantly recognizable form—from the practically trademarked orange cover art, through to the rasping roar of the dual-tracked vocals—the two tracks relate the tale of the crew of a First World War German u-boot, as they surge forth on their first mission (“Kampf und Sturm”), to their watery grave in an iron tube (“Die Havarie”). As with previous Kanonenfieber releases, there is something hopelessly mournful about the arc of the story told, from its initial, almost anthemic stomping blackened death on the first track, searing tremolos leading the charge, to an exhausted, fatalistic melo-black sound on the second. The production is excellent as ever, as is the use of samples, including the sonar pings and spoken word passages, which, whether original or not5, add a now-familiar feeling of authenticity to the piece. –Carcharodon

Grub Nap // God Pile – A clanging kit, a squealing guitar, two voices yelping, yowling in asynchronous pain—these values string-slinger Dan Barter (Dvne) and stick-abuser Steve Myles (Groak) hold true with Grub Nap. Though Barter’s name carries a refined yet trudging sludge weight, his fat tone knob guides lurching, hissing Melvins-edged grooves through Myles’ bare, rattling boned kit-tensity. Ever the elegant riff machine, the snaking refrains of tracks like “Closerer” and “Wire Mother” slink about with the snappy play that you might hear in a more loaded Deadguy tune. But more importantly, Barter’s hypnotizing, gain-soaked strums land in concerted attack with each full snare snap, each mechanically resonating crash, each strained throat cry (“Sticky Back Uranium,” “Tin Banshee”) to maintain a violent, marching fullness that understates its two-man nature. God Pile’s six-song, fifteen-minute run will test your neck-bobbing endurance—repeat sets recommended for maximum vibe gains and/or quick catharsis. –Dolphin Whisperer

Haru Nemuri // INSAINT – I know what you’re thinking. Doesn’t Haru Nemuri make that weird, art rap, pop-punk-y, pseudo-J-Idol music suited for matcha latte enjoyers?6 Yes, 2022’s SHUNKA RYOUGEN pulled an extended mess in too many directions despite a few entertaining ideas. INSAINT, however, leans on the straightforwardness of punk and low-frills post-hardcore, albeit colored by the bounce of J-pop and bright-guitar punk acts like 9mm Parabellum Bullet. It’s not a dig to say that the anthemic build of “Destruction Sisters” or the chime-assisted drive of “Flee from the Sanctuary” could find a home in hopeful, comedic, coming-of-age anime. Still, trickier rhythm cuts “I Refuse” and “Inferno” contain a pop-informed, brooding attitude akin to Nemuri’s other work. But framed in the context of this rock band arrangement—minimal synth accompaniment across INSAINT—Nemuri’s many vocal identities instead weave and exchange placement to balance the weight leading up to the furious-kick closer “No Pain, No Gain Is Shit.” If you need rapid-delivery, life-affirming injection to float your work day, consider a little INSAINT in your membrane. –Dolphin Whisperer

Celeste // Epilogue(s) – The French collective has made some of the most caustic and filthy music since their first album Nihiliste(s) in 2004, and the progression towards the more blackened furor of 2022’s Infidele(s) has been a natural one, translating that densely challenging filth and venomous vocals into strangulation by barbed wire rather than beaten by a rusty hammer. Follow-up EP Epilogue(s) acknowledges its predecessor but also takes its own course completely, Celeste offering three tracks that maintain the scathing quality while also dwelling in pummeling meditation with the two tracks while also tossing in their first cleanly and heart-wrenchingly sung, and in English, track “With idle hands.” Celeste kicks open the door of possibilities with this release, refusing to pigeonhole themselves into the caustic filth with which we are familiar – showing a glimpse of humanity beneath the grime. –Dear Hollow

#2023 #Asidhara #BlogPost #fromjoy #Glyph #GrubNap #HaruNemuri #Insomnium #Kanonenfieber #Strigoi #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #VampireSquid #Worm #Wreathe

Aphotic – Abyssgazer [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dolphin Whisperer

Evil. No matter what flowery progressive, flamboyantly triumphant path metal may weave, a large part of what attracted many of us, and a large part of what inspires creators, rests in distilling evil into dark vibrations, wallowing wails, and crooked melodies. Previously in this mindset, Italy’s Nicolò Brambilla (voice, synths1) and Giovanni Piazza (guitars) have presented this energy with cosmic funeral doom act Fuoco Fatuo, and contrastingly with the bursting and churning riffcraft of Brambilla’s 90s-inspired death metal troupe Ekpyrosis. Aphotic,2 born of this grime-crusted pedigree, swings with a ritualistic fervor from ripping blast to reverb-drenched howl to conjure the unique, reeking atmosphere that pervades Abyssgazer. Evil lurks in every phrase.

As such, Abyssgazer presents as the kind of echoing incantation that must ring through ears from first to last note. No mere synthesis of the acts who fed Aphotic into existence, this sometimes blackened, sometimes funeral doom-weighted, always death metal assembly expresses itself in a peerless manner. The cavernous kick pummels that split air to render space for discordant guitar screeches recall the thunderous energy of a lurching Immolation. The breakaways into bouncing rhythms with layered and resonant vocal chants recall the anthemic black metal of Rotting Christ, albeit with a bend toward the psychedelic. The hypnotic kit hammering and looped lead melodies exist as a twisted Godflesh instance manifested as a death metal sacrifice. In hands less mindful, and in engineering fine-tuned by Esoteric’s Greg Chandler—a mind of similar persuasion but much longer in phrasing—Abyssgazer could have flown off its experimental rails.

Instead, disarmingly so, Abyssgazer flows naturally from idea to idea, with each long-form statement having a strong central identity. A trio of world-building breaths intersperse the heaviest moments: “Endzeit I,” a slow percussive build before a shattering blast beat open; “Endzeit II,” an eerie, reverberating acoustic segue before an even squirmier post-informed eruption; “Endzeit III,” a menacing synth-scraping the hisses toward the punishing conclusion. As contemporaries to Bölzer and Tongues, Aphotic finds its death metal rooting not in loud, chunky chords but rather in snaking progressions that rumble through low-end tremolo drills (“Spectral Degredation,” “Depths Call Depths”) and whip with phasing arpeggio force (“Cosmivore,” “Chasmous”). Nothing summons the dark lord like a lumbering, hazy legato.

On early listens, though, equally due to loaded layers of ambient electronic and modulated metal elements, Abyssgazer may struggle to brand its choices into memory. It’s the journey that forms first: the brutalist bashing that kicks off the descent (“Spectral Degradation”), the bellow and choir that won’t stop ringing (“Deathward and Beyond,” “Horizonless”), the summoning dirge that announces collapse (“Chasmous”). The swinging riffs and recursive melodies stitch these points together (“Cosmivore,” “Abyssgazer”). Until a martial spirit reveals itself along the path (“Cosmivore,” “Horizonless”). Everything always moves forward.

Abyssgazer reads less like a grand novel and more like a short story, ultimately. Its tools well worn and non-gratuitous, the time that elapses over this debut’s course never feels overstayed. Aphotic has the power to warp time in their meticulous and death-carved hands. So as exciting as Abyssgazer lands, and much, in the same way, it lures the listener along, the next step along this band’s career promises even more.

Tracks to Check Out: “Spectral Degradation,” “Depths Call Depths,” “Chasmous”3

#2023 #Abyssgazer #Aphotic #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Bedsore #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #Bolzer #DeathMetal #Ekpyrosis #Esoteric #FuocoFatuo #Godflesh #ItalianMetal #NuclearWinterRecords #PostDeathMetal #RottingChrist #SentientRuinLaboratories #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Tongues

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Saunders

It wouldn’t be Things You Might Have Missed season without some controversy. Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, prolific, chameleon-like alchemists King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard have garnered a powerful cult following since forming in 2010. Incredibly during that time, they released a scarcely believable 25 LPs. My own experience with the band is limited in comparison to their exhausting, hyperactive output. Sure, I’ve heard songs here and there and enjoyed the odd isolated jam, however, perhaps due to the overwhelming body of work, and skepticism over the quantity vs quality ratio, I have never given a full LP of theirs a good shake. That changed with their 24th LP, the ludicrously titled PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, which dropped upon the masses in June 2023.

Boasting a penchant for pushing genre boundaries and work rates to the limit, channeling a strong progressive and psychedelic rock flair, amidst a myriad of other influences and styles from album to album, the reason for appearing on these hallowed pages, is for the second time in their career King Gizzard channeled their metal urges. In 2019 they released the well-received Infest the Rat’s Nest. Naturally, there will be pre-conceived doubts from listeners as to whether a largely non-metal band has any business releasing a credible, fully-fledged metal album. Well, King Gizzard could seemingly give two fucks what the masses think. And I would encourage those with this line of thinking to at least give PetroDragonic Apocalypse a decent shake, as it is a hugely fun and entertaining platter performed with genuine metal attitude and conviction, all executed within the adventurous, kaleidoscopic realms in which King Gizzard gleefully reside.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is an odd collective with restless ambitions and musical talent to burn. Across seven tracks and 48 weighty minutes, King Gizzard bring their own unique flair and creativity to a set of hard-rocking, driving metal anthems. PetroDragonic Apocalypse’ possesses a scorched desert, Mad Max-style vibe, as King Gizzard weave threads of red dirt-speckled thrash, biker metal grunt and punky Motörhead attitude, all filtered through their distinctive and bizzarro progressive and psychedelic-washed lens. Middle Eastern-tinged melodies, tribal percussion, revved-up riffs and propulsive energy drive epic opener “Motor Spirit,” kicking the album into top gear. The crunchy thrash and punk-infused thrust of “Supercell,” and acid dipped Motörhead charge of “Converge” follow, setting the album’s bar high, with momentum largely maintained. Other bangers drop mid-album, such as the fantastical charms and hopelessly infectious hooks of “Gila Monster,” before the band wig out hard across two nearly 10-minute, hard-hitting and experimental jams to close things out.

It doesn’t always work, some self-indulgent bloat and repetition presents, but the pros far outweigh the cons, and the songwriting is never less than interesting. In the end, the nature of the band, strange vibes and tongue-in-cheek elements will likely divide metalheads. I had initial doubts but left with a smile on my face and scrambling back for more with the music being too damn fun, addictive and wickedly inventive to resist. PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation is well worth a crack for the curious or skeptical, it just might win you over.

Tracks to Check Out: ”Supercell,” “Converge,” Gila Monster,” “Witchcraft”

#AustralianMetal #BikerMetal #DawnOfEternalNightAnAnnihilationOfPlanetEarthAndTheBeginningOfMercilessDamnation #KingGizzardTheLizardWizard #Motörhead #PetroDragonicApocalypseOr #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #ThrashMetal

Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light Volume 2 [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Doom_et_Al

Crow Black Sky’s second album, Sidereal Light Volume 1, caught my eye in 2018 for several reasons. Firstly, it received a well-deserved 4.0 on this here blog. Secondly, it came from a band located in my home (and favorite city in the whole world), Cape Town, South Africa. For those unaware, extreme metal is a tough sell in Africa. No established scene, no radio support, few venues, and conservative crowds. Any metal band from Africa faces an uphill battle from the get-go, which makes it all the more astonishing how many cool bands South Africa produces. Crow Black Sky are no exception, and Sidereal Light Volume 1 was notable for how it melded black metal with a progressive sensibility on an outright operatic template. It felt massive and exciting, and I couldn’t wait for the implied Volume 2…

… Which then passed me by entirely. Maybe it was the long wait time, maybe the lack of label support, or maybe gremlins in the promo sump. Regardless, it flitted by without turning my head (and many others) and that’s a real shame because Sidereal Light Volume 2 deserved to enter many more earholes than it did. Including yours.

For those unfamiliar, Crow Black Sky play epic, atmospheric black metal in the vein of Mare Cognitum or Spectral Lore. There is plenty of blackgaze, some post-metal, but a progressive and highly operatic streak is what separates the band from contemporaries. The band underwent major line-up alterations before Sidereal Light Volume 1, and those changes were immediately apparent on the album, which was very different from debut, Pantheion. More changes occurred before Volume 2 with a new bassist, guitarist, and drummer. Often, this spells trouble. But while Volume 2 is different from Volume 1, it feels like the spiritual successor, not an entirely new beast. It’s also fucking rad.

The biggest change is Crow Black Sky’s continual development towards a more progressive, vibrant sound. The blackened elements still predominate, but there are many moments of major keys and uplifting melodies, which can initially be jarring. Opener, “The Blinding Might of Creation” begins so triumphantly, it is initially confusing. Where is the gentle prelude? The pointless 2-minute intro of chanted words? The frosty tremolos? Instead, we have warm hues, major keys and shimmering synths. It reminded me of Countless Skies’ 2020 gem, Glow. Crow Black Sky have no interest in limiting themselves, and Volume 2 sounds glorious and expansive precisely because it jettisons our notions of genre conventions. The album is a trip through the cosmos, with each of the 4 songs building upon the previous one.

Yes, I could have done with another song or two. Yes, I think the band has lost a tiny bit of bite in its embrace of melody. These are nitpicks in a stellar album that often sounds truly cosmic. More importantly, Crow Black Sky don’t sound like anyone else out there right now. It is rare for a band to combine common elements and make them sound unique. This makes the fact that so few heard this collection a real travesty. Crow Black Sky are onto something here, but they need a nudge and support. Put your headphones on, relax, and let them transport to you the stars.*

*Then pay them for their album, get them a record label, convince them to tour, and make sure it’s not 5 years until Vol 3.

Tracks to Check Out: There are only 4. Listen to all of them.

#2023 #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #CountlessSkies #CrowBlackSky #IndependentRelease #MareCognitum #SouthAfricanMetal #SpectralLore #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023

Begravement – Horrific Illusions Beckon [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Saunders

Amidst the slew of mighty fine death metal releases in 2023, there were some killer debuts and plenty of albums well worth your attention, even if they didn’t feature heavily, or at all, during another epic Listurnalia campaign. One such album was the debut LP from up-and-coming Minnesota death dealers Begravement and their potential packed Horrific Illusions Beckon album. And though it didn’t quite crack my own end-of-year list, I certainly spent lots of time jamming Horrific Illusions Beckon. In a crowded modern death metal field Begravement’s lively formula features the distinct stench of the classic Florida death metal scene from yesteryear, coupled with forward-thinking arrangements, progressive flourishes and an aggressive, thrashy bent. In what we hope will be an equally robust year of death metal in 2024, let’s explore the exciting depths and twists of Horrific Illusions Beckon.

Begravement offer a busy, multifaceted sound that touches on numerous styles and influences within the broader death genre. Creating a colorful, technical and wildly adventurous offering that nonetheless doesn’t forget to have fun, Begravement unleash an abundance of fiery, headbangabale riffs and furious thrashy death salvos. There are knotty technical and proggy nods to Death and Atheist, the gnarled thrashy precision of Vader and The Chasm, and hints of modern trailblazers Horrendous. Throw in the prominent thrash influence, experimental touches and hints of smooth melodeath elements and you are left with a memorable and versatile package. Whether exploring more progressive, complex and adventurous pastures (“Valley of Everlasting Darkness,” “Intergalactic Espionage,” epic closer ‘Return to Planet Earth”), ripping, though bouncier melodic territories (“Anaphylaxis” and “Scarabs Beneath the Flesh”) or straight up proggy, death ragers (“A Horrific Illusion,” “Desecration of the Meek”), Begravement execute swiftly and thrust their rabidly aggressive stylings to the forefront.

Musically the four-piece are an accomplished bunch, collectively flexing their instrumental muscles, without letting shit get too cutsie or self-indulgent. Ezra Blumenfeld (also on vocals) and Owen Hiber share a deep appreciation for death metal’s long and varied history, slamming out a dexterous mix of slash-and-burn death-thrash riffs, striking melodic leads, and brooding, progressive turns and explorations. Grady Westling attacks his kit with feisty energy, comfortably shifting modes of speed and rhythm with the ever-shifting dynamics of the music, while extra praise is warranted for the skillfully performed melodic counterpoint of Matt Schrampfer’s fretless bass. Blumenfeld handles lead vocals, with his mid-ranged, well-enunciated and deceptively dynamic rasps and growls fitting the vibe well, though I occasionally crave a little more guttural heft.

All this impressive musicianship would count for little without decent songs, and thankfully Begravement do not disappoint in the songwriting department. This is a collection of finely crafted and diverse compositions, though at 54 minutes there is some bloat present, indicating a future need to perhaps tighten up on the editing front. Overall, for all the many positive traits, strengths and potential packed into Begravement’s debut, the pleasing takeaway is that this is early days and the prospect of Begravement improving and building on the sturdy frameworks and foundations they have created here stirs up excitement for where they head next. In the meantime, Horrific Illusions Beckon is an extremely accomplished, borderline great album for an exciting death metal act on the rise. A little more refinement of their songwriting abilities and tighter editing will hopefully see Begravement reap greater rewards on their next album.

Tracks to Check Out: ”Anaphylaxis,” “Valley of Everlasting Darkness,” “Intergalactic Espionage”.

#AmericanMetal #Atheist #Begravement #Death #DeathMetal #Horrendous #HorrificIllusionsBeckon #OldSchoolDeathMetal #ProgressiveDeath #Review #Reviews #TheChasm #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Vader

Subsignal – A Poetry of Rain [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Mystikus Hugebeard

Subsignal, the German progressive metal/rock outfit that rose from the ashes of Sieges Even, has gradually evolved from “a band I quite like” into “a core tenet of my musical identity,” and it pains me that they’ve never been covered on this site. Granted, even at their heaviest, Subsignal’s style of progressive metal leans toward gentleness, but they’re still no less heavy than some other groups featured on AMG. I hoped that after all this time their newest opus might get a full review, and I was crestfallen that we never received their promo. I guess sometimes you’ve just gotta be the change you want to see in the world, and so it brings me genuine joy and catharsis to finally give Subsignal a spot on Angry Metal Guy with their excellent A Poetry of Rain.

Primary songwriter and guitarist Markus Steffen has woven an unusual, wet melancholy into Subsignal’s usual gentle prog. “Sliver (The Sheltered Garden)” hints at an ever-present gloom with eerily distant guitars and precise drumwork, while the burgeoning warmth of the keyboards in “Marigold” and “A Wound is a Place to Let the Light In” dispels the darkness. It’s worth noting that the careful restraint in Steffen’s songwriting makes A Poetry of Rain Subsignal’s most understated album to date, but no less impactful. Every song is a concise, individual experience that never overstays its welcome, allowing the album’s heart of soft sadness to always shine through. Steffen knows exactly when to let the energy rise or fall, until the music culminates in the sublime “The Last of its Kind,” a near-perfect apex of the album’s emotions whose final chorus (and killer saxophone solo) has cemented the song as one of my favorite Subsignal tracks.

It’s difficult to exaggerate how much A Poetry of Rain benefits from the irreplaceable vocals of Arno Menses. He is inseparable from Subsignal’s identity and appeal, and even if the music doesn’t resonate with you, I’d wager that Menses’ performance will move you all the same. His is that rare voice that sounds effortless in whatever he sings, be it during the powerful zenith of “The Last of its Kind” or in the solemnity of “A Room on the Edge of Forever.” A Poetry of Rain continues Subsignal’s liberal use of layered vocals with Menses’s voice mixed into those of the other members, and it sounds as excellent as ever. Some of the album’s best moments come from Menses singing atop the layered voices in “Impasse” and “Embers Part II: Water Wings.” Subsignal is full of talented musicians who are excellent at what they do, yet Menses’ masterwork pipes stand far above the rest.

The melancholy of A Poetry of Rain makes it an atypical Subsignal experience and a peculiar entry point to the band’s discography, but who cares? A Poetry of Rain still has everything that has always made Subsignal such an incredible band: poignant emotional clarity, subtle and skillful musicianship, and an unbeatable vocal performance from one of the best singers. I hope to one day be able to give them a full review, but even in this shorter format, it’s enough, and it’s everything. Please check this out, and then devour their whole catalog. And then do it again.

Tracks to Check Out: “Sliver (The Sheltered Garden),” “Embers Part II: Water Wings,” “Melancolia One,” “The Last of its Kind,” “A Room on the Edge of Forever”

#2023 #APoetryOfRain #GentleArtOfMusic #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Sep23 #SiegesEven #Subsignal #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TYMHM

Cherd’s Raw Black Metal Muster [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

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 I’ll slap on some messy black and white makeup, put bullet belts across my chest, find where your parents live, show up at their door and tell them we need references for the child we’re adopting together and not to worry about fulfilling other grandparent duties because we plan on selling the child to a Baphomet cult so we can buy drugs. The shitty production is the point.

Fugitive Wizard // Ultima Magus Chapters I, II, III, & IV – It would be fair to say that Fugitive Wizard is a (somewhat) more serious Old Nick, at least musically. The rollicking black metal is a bit more straight forward and the keyboards are a lot less goofy, but they’re kindred spirits. Indeed, Fugitive Wizard was one of the earliest non-Abysmal Specter bands on Grime Stone Records, though they seem to have parted ways. The four Ultima Magus EPs released in 2023 are identical in format to their previous Extorris Magus cycle, with each chapter consisting of two raw black metal tracks and an experimental synth interlude. Ultima Magus Chapter I is a slow start, but the stretch beginning with “Path of Druids” on II and ending with the stirring black metal anthem “Crimsonfrost Red Winter” on III is the band’s best work to date. The interludes can be described as “Brian Eno does dungeon synth” and all four are lovely.

Grave Pilgrim // The Bigotry of Purpose – If you read my raw black metal piece from last year, you’ll know that Grave Pilgrim was one of my favorite discoveries of 2022. They’re the only band to repeat on this year’s list, as full-length The Bigotry of Purpose expands on what I liked about the Molten Hands Reach West EP. They continue to hone a uniquely American take on black metal, with ramshackle riffs and guitar tones that veer into both rockabilly and classic rock territory, as displayed on the infectious “Prometheus Weeps.” Then, there’s that “old soul” character I noted before, this time embodied by the inclusion of “The Silver Swan,” an adaptation of 17th-century English composer Orlando Gibbons’ madrigal, as well as the remarkable guest vocals by a woman identified only as SD. Landing somewhere between opera and 19th-century parlor singing, SD lends a haunting and, frankly eyebrow-raising counterpoint/compliment to the songs “Rhiannon’s Wake” and “The Bigotry of Purpose.”

Jesum Christum // Svag Total – Longtime readers of this site may be familiar with the work of Jesum Christum’s sole member Adam Kjær Nielsen. As the drummer for Denmark’s Slægt, he’s been reviewed three times here, all quite favorably. Thanks to Italian label Canti Eretici quickly becoming one of my favorites for raw black metal, I discovered his highly melodic, atmospheric debut Svag Total. There’s a forlorn, almost cinematic sweep to the riffs that match the classical painting and etching that grace the cover art, but a nasty edge comes out here and there, especially on closing track “Herkser.” Nielsen is obviously in an exploratory phase, as he followed this up with an entirely choral 13-minute track sung in Latin and Hebrew, as well as released similar black metal in 2023 under the moniker Shrug. I hope it all coalesces into something cohesive, but even if it doesn’t this is a fine piece of raw, fiery melodicism.

Mycorrhizae // The Great Filtration – When I first stumbled upon this fungus-themed black metal duo, I knew there was a Minneapolis connection, but I didn’t realize it was the landing place of False drummer Travis Minnick after the ugly breakup of that band. Here he handles all instruments under the pseudonym Collector, along with vocalist Forager. Turns out his talents may have been wasted on drumming, because if Mycorrhizae’s debut full-length The Great Filtration was a breakfast cereal, it would be called OOPS! All Riffs, and your parents wouldn’t buy it for you because it would rot your teeth. And maybe turn you into one of those clickers from The Last of Us. Each tightly wound song runs through riff progressions like a brush fire while Forager shrieks about mycelial networks. If this is humanity’s future, I for one welcome our mushroom overlords.

Trhä // lhum’adsejja – No one, and I mean NO ONE, put out more music in 2023 than Mexico City-born, Texas-based Damián Antón Ojeda, also known as Trhä. Between 11 splits, five EPs and three full-lengths (I’m not even counting Ojeda’s other bands or solo projects), Trhä put out a wide spectrum of raw black metal and post-black experimentation, with all lyrics and titles in conlangs (made up languages) of their own invention. Some releases are sickly sweet and black-gaze-y, some icy and aggressive, all are at least interesting, many good, some very good. I listened to a solid two-thirds of Trhä’s output this year and settled on full-length lhum’adsejja as my favorite. It contains their catchiest riff craft in songs like “ovhen” and “dlhevuqshja dlhumër bem” as well as the sprawling experimental album closer “dosuar Qámrë ëlh,” which cleverly exploits the surprisingly short distance between programmed drum blast beats and EDM styles like drum’n’bass. If you want to dig deeper into Trhä’s mind-numbing 2023 output, I’d also recommend this EP and this split.

Ushangvagush // Pestmo’qon – After my oopsie-daisy in last year’s piece, I’ve become a bit more discerning about which indigenous raw black projects to promote, and Boston’s Ushangvagush appears to be well worth one’s time. A one-man Mi’kmaq wrecking ball of seething riffs and post-rock deconstruction, “D” turns his attention on sophomore full-length Pestmo’qon (“hunger” or “starvation”) to an ever-growing theme among metal bands: climate/ecological despair. The record consists of two 20-plus minute cuts that form a single piece. Part one is all barely contained rage and roiling, muscular riffs, like trying to hold a boa constrictor in a pillowcase. Part two lets some of the complex natural beauty we’re indiscriminately destroying shine through in gentler, eerier soundscapes. This isn’t a very hopeful record. The things being grieved are technically still around, but un-savable.

Vampiric Coffin // Give Your Blood to the Night & The Last Drop – As per usual, I found a lot of this year’s Grime Stone Records releases enjoyable, adding a fair number to my Bandcamp collection. Curta’n Wall made my official top ten list, but Vampiric Coffin also deserves recognition. Between two EPs totaling 12 songs and a blazing 22 minutes, this Mississippi-based project by one Count Jeffery the Vampire wraps one buzzing, infectious riff after another in cob-webby production raw enough to please any lo-fi-o-phile. Black metal is the core, but there’s loads of thrash and punk influence as well with just a sprinkling of synth here and there. The songs are highly repeatable, which is great considering they’re all about two minutes long.

#AmericanMetal #BigBovineProductions #BlackMetal #CantiEreticiRecords #DanishMetal #DeathPrayerRecords #FugitiveWizard #GravePilgrim #GrimeStoneRecords #JesumChristum #MexicanMetal #Mycorrhizae #RawBlackMetal #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Trhä #Ushangvagush #VampiricCoffin #VigorReconstruct #WergildRecords

Dear Hollow’s Prava Kollektiv Collection [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dear Hollow

Look, I get this shit is niche. Like real fuckin’ niche. Cherd of Doom‘s excellent Black Metal Muster from 2022 enabled a new generation of us black metal wanderers to flip off the doom and prog aficionados, emerge from our corpsepainted closets, and shriek in indecipherable tones until that Methodist church down the street burned to the ground. Here we are, praising black metal twice in one year, and it doesn’t get much better than the enigmatic Prava Kollektiv, an enigmatic and anonymous congregation based probably in Russia or Slavic states, whose releases are unleashed, often simultaneously, in conjunction with Amor Fati Records and Fallen Empire Records. It is known that its five bands share members, and as you may have guessed, they all share the black metal tag. It is unknown, however, what thread courses through all the releases, as themes of the void, consciousness, the cosmos, and other abstract concepts plague the sound and lyrics. What is more important is that the Prava Kollektiv is an unfuckwithable and unmissable collection of blackened tunes, with 2023 offering their most formidable array yet. Without further ado, let’s get kvlt.

Arkhtinn // 三​度​目​の​災​害 – The Prava Kollektiv’s flagship act is perhaps one of the more traditional of the bunch, conjuring the isolation of ice-crusted stars through its use of raw black and ambiance. The release of 三​度​目​の​災​害 also coincides with Arkhtinn’s ten-year anniversary. Reconciling both the iciness and star-borne darkness of Wintherr’s projects, Arkhtinn’s “third disaster” (in Japanese) proves far from it. Through its two tracks and forty-four-minute runtime, you will feel smothered by darkness then exposed to the vacuum in the course of every ebb and flow of the cosmic winds of tracks “一番” and “二番,” shifting from lonely ambiance to blasting raw black intensity fused with symphonic and crystalline ambiance that recalls Emperor or Vordven. As evident in the 2020 split Astrophobia with and in contrast to Starless Domain, Arkhtinn is also here unafraid to embrace a scathing quality that spits in the face of modern atmoblack’s stereotypical warmth. 三​度​目​の​災​害 is atmospheric and otherworldly, but uncompromisingly punishing work from the act that proves its mettle again and again.

Voidsphere // To Infect | To Inflict – Like Wintherr’s Darkspace to his Paysage d’Hiver, Voidsphere dwells in vicious and suffocating darkness, while Arkhtinn largely concerns itself with isolation and frigidity. You will see the tricks of swelling synth and ambiance, but the claustrophobic ambivalence of noise saturates empty space and adds a weight all its own in Voidsphere’s sixth full-length. The act’s forty-three-minute dive into darkness is less an experiment but a sharpening of craft, as the riffs are stronger and the honed melodies are less a reprieve to the punishment but a last scream cut short. As its name suggests, “To Infect” is far more creeping and subtle while “To Inflict” offers a no-holds-barred assault of blackened intensity. What the void-worshipers have long done above shoulders better than their counterparts is conjure the claustrophobia and darkness of its source material and the colossal quality of its artwork. It has long felt that Voidsphere is hurtling toward some grand and earth-shattering conclusion, and we should all tremble to ponder it.

Mahr // Odium – The denser and darker sibling of the Prava Kollektiv, Mahr separates itself by incorporating a more deathened and industrial take on second-wave worship. Odium is a furious offering, as its hate-themed title indicates, grinding and relentless throughout its forty-minute beatdown. Even its moments of placidity balance the onslaught with scorched earth ambient compositions that survey the wreckage, basking in obsidian tones and subtle industrial electronic beats. “Infames” offers a slowly unraveling structure, layer after layer being stripped across its blastbeats and thick tremolo, culminating in the central riff: suddenly death metal clarity punches through the blackened murk in a downtuned skull-crushing riff paired with death metal vocals that drags the entire industrial black palette to hell and back. Mahr dials the dread up in “Maledicti” with a nearly impenetrable fog of sound that makes the vicious attack even more devastating. Odium finds Mahr distinguishing itself from the Prava Kollektiv’s more household acts with a relentlessly bleak and brutally unforgiving attack.

Hwwauoch // Under the Gaze of Dissolution – While Voidsphere conjures the weight of the void and Mahr channels hate, Hwwauoch’s dissonant and fluid-structure has always felt like a twisted and perverse image of Freud’s unconscious “id.” The dissonance conjured from the act’s catalog has always hinted at something beyond simple menace of or even unknowable hugeness: they play the music of distorted consciousness and humans made in God’s corrupted image. What their fourth full-length constitutes, however, is a radical departure from the dense impenetrability of Hwwauoch’s catalog. They brighten vocals and scathing melody into something resembling free jazz, but into a crippled and limping image unlike the decadence of Imperial Triumphant. A rare semblance of humanity in a chunky riff or tangible vocal appears beneath the howls (i.e. “Voluntary Trepanation”), but across its six-track acid trip they stumble through wonky compositions, complete with jazzy basslines, tortured layers of vocals, wonky ambiance, and dissonant punk riffs. Hwwauoch accomplishes an album that stands out due to its shining clarity and the ultimate descent into insanity.

Pharmakeia // Maenadic Ecstasy – While the tricks don’t necessarily feel earthshaking, the Prava Kollektiv’s newest addition manages to sound the most traditionally “kvlt” while still reveling in devastating density. No frills black metal with no reprieve from the scathing tremolo and blastbeats, there is an undeniable rawness here that recalls the borderline noise of Upir or even Portal’s twisted guitar tone. However, in the refusal to succumb to atmoblack tropes, the breaks in the chaos are more like the raised fist between blows. There’s undeniable psychedelia and otherworldliness woven into Pharmakeia’s approach, which fits them neatly among the Prava Kollektiv’s ranks, while its sparsely used clean baritone adds a haunting liturgical weight. It adheres to the second-wave worship most consistently, that although “Execration” features a sliding riff, “Furore” and “Lunacy” offer viciously chunky riffs, and “Zeal” kicks you in the face with a synth passage, it never feels as if it departs from black metal’s roots. Perhaps the only Prava Kollektiv offering that strays from the “atmospheric black metal” tag, don’t let its youth fool you: Pharmakeia is worth all the pain it inflicts.

#2023 #AmorFatiProductions #Arkhtinn #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #Darkspace #DissonantBlackMetal #Emperor #ExperimentalBlackMetal #FallenEmpireRecords #Hwwauoch #ImperialTriumphant #IndustrialBlackMetal #Mahr #PaysageDHiver #Pharmakeia #Portal #PravaKollektiv #StarlessDomain #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #TYMHM #Upir #Voidsphere #Vordven