(written by Islander)
In my discussion of a Warlust song in yesterday’s Part 5 of this list I hinted that today’s selections, like that one, would include some fantastic guitar solos, which tend to be a rarity in extreme metal. The presence of those solos is a big reason for my choice of today’s two songs. It’s also the reason why I put these two together in today’s installment, though I think you’ll discover other reasons when you listen.
CALCARATA
When I came across the cover image for this German atmospheric black metal band’s debut album Der müde Mensch last September I couldn’t resist checking it out. A giant snail being ridden by a hooded figure? I’ll bite! Turns out I found the music irresistible too.
The album consists of four long songs, in the range of 9-17 minutes. I wrote quite a lot about them here, acclaiming the vocals, which create a range of sensations, as well as the rhythmic variety and the music’s recurring sonic narrative of splendor, tragedy, and poignance, with intermittent outbursts of violence.
I also found the album’s lyrics compelling. Available at Bandcamp, they are literary and eloquent, and they too can be interpreted as a narrative — a quest for meaning, a kind of spiritual journey of downfall and uplift, in which the protagonist seems like a stand-in for all of humankind.
I found all the songs stirring and startling, but most of all the closing song “Heilung,” which I’m now adding to this list. I’m confident I’ve never included a 17-minute song in any previous edition of this list dating back to 2009. Exceedingly long songs can be wonderful experiences but it’s rare to think of them as infectious. This one, however, really is, and the track’s sprawling guitar solo has a great deal to do with that.
That solo might be the most spectacular thing in an album filled with spectacles, not merely a jaw-dropping display of technical skill but a powerful channel for ranging emotions; it’s worth the price of admission all by itself. In fact, as I wrote last September, I’d have to think long and hard to find a guitar solo more fantastic than this one, because the thinking would probably have to take me back into the ’60s and ’70s, remembering people like Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Allman, Gilmour, and Santana (and more recently Prince).
You won’t reach the solo (which goes on for five minutes or more) until about the 9:50 mark, but if you skip ahead to it you’ll miss out on a lot of other enthralling experiences. Moreover, the solo itself loses some of its power if it’s considered out of context. So listen to the whole song!
https://calcarata.bandcamp.com/album/der-m-de-mensch-2
POLEMICIST
It was only about a week after discovering the Calcarata album that I discovered the thoroughly head-spinning self-titled EP from Polemicist, the formerly Philadelphia-based and now Oregon-resident duo of Lydia Giordano and Josiah Domico, joined since 2023 by drummer Elijah Losch (ex-Uada). I quickly wrote about it here.
Taking their inspiration from writings by Nietzsche and Kant, Polemicist recorded four songs for the EP. The first of them is a vibrant overture of orchestral strings (“Skepticism“) created on synth by Giordano — vibrant, but also dark. And after that, all hell breaks loose in “The Ambition and the Wrath“.. This is the track I’m now adding to the list.
In that song we also seem to hear racing orchestral strings, in tandem with the fiery tones of maniacally flickering guitars and scorched-earth screams, and undergirded with drums that pop, canter, bash, and throb.
In some ways the song is a kindred to the opening overture track — it’s intricate, even elegant, and vibrant to the point of delirium, yet it’s also a channel of darkness. The song also brings punchy grooves and — as promised — a long, wailing and soaring guitar solo that really rivets attention. It’s glorious and ultimately convulsive but also distressing, and is one of the stand-outs among the solos I heard last year.
https://polemicistbm.bandcamp.com/album/polemicist-ep
https://www.instagram.com/polemicistpdx/