(written by Islander)
In the Northern Hemisphere today marks the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall and the point in which the Sun is directly above the equator and the hours of day and night are nearly equal (equinox is a Latin word for “equal night”). In the Southern Hemisphere, today marks the vernal equinox, the first day of spring.
From here on in the north, darkness will steadily increase, no longer merely equal, until we reach the winter solstice, which this year happens on Dec. 21, and then the process will begin to reverse.
I know you didn’t come here for astronomical info, and I’m confident that nearly everyone stumbling into this post already knew all that, but in a Sunday column devoted to black- and black-adjacent metal it’s hard to resist the observation that darkness now begins its reign once more, a coronation that doesn’t always fall on a Sunday.
To commemorate the ascending reign of darkness in our skies, here’s some dark music for you.
ABSCHWÖRZUNGE (?)
If you happen to just be awakening, this first song will speed up the process, sort of like what would happen if you opened your eyes to a raging inferno and an assault of army ants and carnivorous centipedes in your bed.
“Machinations Internecine” is sheer madness, berserk in its violence, fast and utterly freaked-out, and equally malignant. Once you get over the shock and listen again, you’ll notice distinctive bits and piece of the cataclysm re-appearing, providing a deviant structure to what’s happening.
The band’s name looks like a German word, but I have no idea what it signifies. I, Voidhanger Records says the band is international, but that’s all the info they provide, hiding both identities and locations.
The label also says that this secretive group’s debut EP Whorl serves “as a vessel to muse and mock the breadth of man’s ugliness from a sterile perspective of absolute apathy”, “an unfiltered reexamination of a society bereft of purpose”, and “an unyielding testament to the futility of our existence”. The glass is not half full!
Whorl includes three other songs. It’s set for release on November 8th.
https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/whorl
ZVYLPWKUA (UK/US)
If you thought I couldn’t possibly find anything as freakishly violent and head-spinning as that first song, to become a companion for it, I’m going to prove you wrong. Same goes for tongue-twisting band names.
Like that Abschwörzunge track, Zvylpwkua‘s “Cataclysmic Creation” is blizzard-fast, technically whiz-bang, and packed to the bleeding brim with macabre instrumental convulsions. As in that first song, deathly gutturals disgorge the words.
The freakishness also includes unexpected tempo changes, short whispers of voidlike iciness, and frolicking spasms of piercing keyboard clarity within the insectile fretwork feeding frenzies and lunatic percussive obliterations. Sometimes it sounds like bees are dismally buzzing beneath the seizures, annoyed by the surrounding distractions to their work.
Zvylpwkua‘s new album is named Abode…, and it’s set for release by The Centipede Abyss on October 4th. They recommend it for fans of Portal, Gigan, and Replicant.
https://centipedeabyss.bandcamp.com/album/abode
https://zvylpwkua.bandcamp.com/album/abode
https://www.facebook.com/thecentipedeabyss
WĘDROWCY~TUŁACZE~ZBIEGI (Poland)
After those first two onslaughts, I thought I ought to follow with something that’s more clearly in the vein of black metal. But then I thought, nah, not yet.
Instead, here’s a song called “Agapa” from the new and final album of wędrowcy~tułacze~zbiegi. Yes, the Wanderers say this is their last album, which is sad news. Based on this song, it seems that they have tunneled further into realms of ’80s synthpop and New Wave, which given my own nostalgia for those days I don’t mind at all.
Oh, but it’s devilish as well as danceable, a joyful lyrical adieu to the summer but with hints of mystery and menace in the merriment (especially in the vocals, which are excellent as always).
(Here I should add that beginning long ago the autumnal equinox was a time of celebration, because it fell in the midst of harvest season, as well as being a signal for the steady march of darkness.)
The new and final album by W-T-Z is entitled The Way Home. They say it will be released during this coming winter.
https://wedrowcy-tulacze-zbiegi.bandcamp.com/track/agapa
SILHOUETTE (France)
Alright, alright, here’s something closer to actual black metal as most people know it — though definitely not dead-center in the bullseye, just closer.
This next song, which comes with a lyric video, is named “Litanie Contre La Peur“, a title that translates to “Litany Against Fear”. It proves that Silhouette can pound and scream, and can scar the senses with ringing and raking notes that channel agony and despair.
But with the help of a cello performance by their guest Raphael Verguin (Rïcïnn, Psygnosis, Spectrale) and singing that wails, they also create moods of haunting poignancy. They eventually blast and burn that spell away, but then soaring melody, soaring voices, and chime-like ringing notes elevate the tragedy and lift up the yearning.
The song is from this French band’s debut album Les Dires de l’Âme, which will be released by the Antiq label on October 20th. (Thanks to Miloš for calling my attention to it.)
Another song from the album is also out in the world — “L’Éveil“. It was also presented with a video, a beautifully crafted one, which I’m also including below. A piano plays a central role in this one, as does the aching crystalline singing of bandmember Ondine. The music does swell in intensity, but Silhouette never cut loose in this one like they do in “Litanie Contre La Peur“.
https://antiqofficial.bandcamp.com/album/les-dires-de-l-me
https://silhouettebm.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/silhouettebm
CIEŃ (Poland)
If that last song was too beautiful for you, we can fix that right away with this next song. There is a guitar in it that rings, but it is dismally wailing and whining, and the vocals are shattering in their wretchedness and rage (the vocals really are remarkably unchained). The riffing also abrasively claws, and the lead-guitar vividly vibrates its agonies.
Even with the presence of a bass that prominently murmurs and muses in warm tones, the song is an ever-deepening descent into misery and despair, led by a slow and steady drum march toward a cruel hell.
The track is “Inverted Cathedrals“. It’s from Cień‘s upcoming album Maledictio, which will be released by Old Temple on November 1st.
https://www.shop.oldtemple.com/
https://cien.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/cienofficial
AVEXIA (Croatia)
When our own Andy Synn reviewed Morkera‘s second album Aggravations last year, he summed it up as an “auditory horror”, “an altogether uglier and more unfriendly record” than their first one, yet also “deceptively, even disgustingly, hooky”, and revealing upon close inspection a “monstrous method behind the band’s madness”.
It turns out that the creator(s) behind Morkera has brought us something new this year, but has taken a different name for it — Avexia — as a sign that the music dives deeper into the abysses of black metal than Morkera did. And that deep dive is manifested in an album named Fyrst Wælm that was released one week ago.
Make no mistake, Fyrst Wælm is also ugly and unfriendly — and unhinged. The vocals are acidic enough to blister flesh and bestial enough to frighten bears. The high-toned riffing boils like acid too, roiling and warping with delirious but vicious abandon. The drums hammer away in a fanatical fury.
But you’ll quickly discover that Avexia is also at least occasionally interested in creating otherworldly audio hauntings, slowing the rattling tempos, allowing the guitars to ring (enticing but sinister), and replacing the vocal tirades with muttered gasps.
There’s often a feeling of mutant malice in those piercing guitar convolutions, as well as a kind of whirling derangement that isn’t hunting anything but is simply lost in its own psychedelic world, screaming into the void (much as the vocals often seem to do) or trying to pull the wings from imaginary flies.
Avexia also introduces drum cadences that meander and become martial, as well as spitting bullets at overheating rates of speed, and bass permutations that also further contribute a bit of dynamism to an otherwise hellish madhouse of sound that’s trying to make a rat’s nest out of your brain.
Occasionally, but not often, you’ll also again encounter those unearthly ringing phases, and “Ephemeral Realm” (which might be the album’s best song) is infernally eerie and almost seductive almost all the way through (but still vocally monstrous). (The closing “song” is nothing at all, unless the preceding tracks broke my computer and headphones, so that doesn’t count.)
Is all of that enough dynamism to let you survive what is mostly a gauntlet-run of songs that sound like very close kindred of each other? Well, you’ll be your own judge. I’m going to buy this.
https://morkera.bandcamp.com/album/fyrst-w-lm
https://www.facebook.com/p/Morkera-100083122581422/
ERSHETU (France)
I have to close today’s column sooner than I’d like, and to wrap things up I picked the first song from a new album by the composer Sacr under the brand of Ershetu. But this time Blut Aus Nord‘s Vindsval is the lead vocalist (guided by Ershetu lyricist Void), in addition to performing bass and additional guitars.
The new album, Yomi, delves into the death folklore of Japanese Shinto, and makes use of tones derived from traditional Japanese instrumentation, as well as… well, you’ll see in a moment.
The first song from Yomi, “Ketsurui“, immediately invokes ancient Japanese instrumentation and meditative melodies, and those features don’t vanish, but the music becomes more vast and cinematic and also more torrential. Drums go mad, thunder reigns through the bass, and Vindsval both screams and sings like a solemn choir.
It’s an interesting and often startling tapestry of sounds and styles, of divergent cultures and moods. Those moods include the grim encroaching of ominous darkness, even as the sounds of a Shamisen and Koto continue their brittle and buoyant ring, and the overarching orchestration magnificently sweeps ahead. Altogether, it’s a breathtaking experience.
https://ershetu.bandcamp.com/album/yomi
https://ershetu.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/ershetu