(written by Islander)
Welcome to Part 19 of this nearly-finished infectious song list. Although I’ve had some “organizing principles” for the most recent installments, I can’t say I had one for the grouping of today’s three songs, apart from the fact that all three of these got stuck in my head the first time I heard them and they have remain rooted there ever since.
To check out the 53 songs preceding these 3 on the list, use this link.
SPIDER GOD
I first became fascinated by these prolific and musically quirky Brits through their 2022 album Fly in the Trap, and got fascinated all over again with their 2024 album Possess The Devil, which came out last November. The fascination began with the album’s first single “Starcrüsher,” which I wrote at the time was “pretty much guaranteed” to make this list.
The band labeled the song “Black Metalcore,” pointing to the influence of bands like Norma Jean, Underoath, and Zao. I labeled it “Big Band Black Metal.” I’ll repeat the explanation I shared last fall:
Spider God explain that on the new album “live strings are introduced for the first time to create a symphony of madness,” but what stands out about the song to me are blaring musical blasts that resemble Big Band horns.
Other things stand out too: the thoroughly compulsive throb of the bass; the head-rattling effects of the drumming; the absolutely rabid ferocity of the rapidly barking vocals; and the way those horn-like melodies exultantly sway and soar in the choruses.
The rampant madness of the music does diminish and become more menacing in the breakdown, but mainly because the pacing has briefly slowed. Afterward it ignites into delirious glory again in the finale, where the drums give us some blasting at last…. [I wondered] whether it might self-immolate before reaching the end.
https://spider-god.bandcamp.com/album/possess-the-devil
https://www.facebook.com/spidergodband
SUMMONING SATURN VOIDS
Last December I had the extreme pleasure of preparing a premiere feature for Summoning Saturn Voids‘ self-titled debut album. I began by sharing the introduction of this Italian band (accompanied by one Norwegian) to what inspired them, and it’s worth sharing again, even if you might have trouble imagining the results:
“The Summoning Saturn Voids project was born from a desire to create a musical time machine.
“Bringing a black metal singer into the future, immersed in sidereal and cosmic sounds and then catapulting him into the 70’s, jamming with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler…. The potion thus evoked is at the same time spirited and punishing, grim and melancholic, reeking of 70’s era Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and… well, you will surely find out.”
At the end of that premiere feature, I opined: “In a nutshell, Summoning Saturn Voids have managed to do exactly what they foretold they would do, as strange as it might have been to imagine that. And the result is a fantastic album of fiendishly addictive and fiendishly head-swirling music, truly a time-traveling trip that masterfully pays homage to lots of influences and provides listeners a ton of evil and alien fun.”
In that feature I touched on every song from the album. All of them really are addictive, but I think “Nihil Re-Genesis” is the most infectious of all. Pardon me for just repeating what I previously wrote about it:
In this song, Summoning Saturn Voids don’t leave the punchy grooves behind but they do slow the tempo and shift the mood, crafting music that’s both sinister and steeped in gloom, but shrouded in shimmering synths that remind us we’re still voyaging through space and time.
The vocals shift too, bringing malignant snarls, horrid roars, and strangled shrieks into play, and the dreamlike but also soulful guitar solo conjures memories of Pink Floyd. Before it’s done, the song does become a rocking neck-bender, but it remains scary through and through.
https://www.argonautarecords.com/shop/cd/754-summoning-saturn-voids-summoning-saturn-voids-cd.html
https://www.facebook.com/summoningsaturnvoids
THE BLEAK PICTURE
The Bleak Picture is another band whom I got hooked on because we premiered their debut album last year. Preparing that premiere caused me to spend more time with Meaningless than I might have — or I might have overlooked it altogether, which would have been a crying shame.
I went on and on (and on) about what a marvel these two Finns had created — a wide-ranging, dynamic, genre-hybridizing, multi-textured experience that I attempted to sum up, in line with the album cover, as “mysterious, mournful, catastrophic, a quest for meaning, and altogether gripping.” Some of the songs are more electrifying and uplifting than others, others more depleted and desolate, and still others more distressingly devastating.
One of the more electrifying and uplifting songs is “Meaningless Nonsense,” and that’s the one I’m now adding to this list. It turns into a very heavy, very menacing, and very hard-rocking number, but that’s only part of its allure (albeit a big one). The piano and quivering/glittering synth-enhanced melodies create a gripping mood of sinister mystery while also causing the song to sound immense and ultimately glorious, and the roaring growls are also immense. There’s also singing in the mix, but it’s not an unwanted distraction.
Get ready to move.
https://arduamusic.bandcamp.com/album/meaningless
https://thebleakpicture.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thebleakpicture