SHADES OF BLACK: NEFANDUS, SVARTIDAUÐI, ECHELON,

Collected in this post are new songs from three black metal bands that I want to recommend for your listening pleasure.

NEFANDUS

Nefandus are a satanic black metal band from Sweden whose third album, Reality Cleaver, is scheduled for release by Daemon Worship on April 30.  Though the band’s line-up has evolved over time, they trace their roots back to the mid-90s, with their first album coming out in 1996. However, my first exposure to the music came from the two new songs that Daemon Worship recently began streaming on Bandcamp — “Qayin’s Hunt” and “Reborn As Wolf”.

The first of those songs is a mid-paced procession, almost stately in its cadence and in the grandeur of its dark, minor key melody, yet thoroughly occult in its atmosphere (due in no small part to the filthy vocal delivery). The second track, “Reborn As Wolf”,  quickly accelerates into a gallop, the whirring melody needling like a drill bit seeking flesh within the teeth, though the song also exudes a kind of infernal majesty similar to “Qayin’s Hunt”. Very nice.

http://daemonworship.bandcamp.com/album/reality-cleaver
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nefandus/400598173304868

 

 

 

SVARTIDAUÐI

I first discovered Iceland’s Svartidauði (which means “black death”) about two years ago when I heard some advance music from their debut album Flesh Cathedral (and wrote about them here). Their newest work is a two-song EP entitled The Synthesis of Whore and Beast, which will be released on vinyl and CD by Terratur Possessions and Daemon Worship on April 30.

One of the two songs — “Venus Illegitima” — is now up for listening on Bandcamp. The song is an absolute stunner, in large part due to the mind-bending drum performance by Magnús; it seizes attention right from the beginning and never lets go. Coupled with that are a phalanx of otherworldly riffs and piercing guitar leads that drench the music in an atmosphere of alien menace, plus agonizing roars that will stiffen your spine. Really excellent.

http://daemonworship.bandcamp.com/album/the-synthesis-of-whore-and-beast
https://www.facebook.com/svartidaudi

 

 

ECHELON

Echelon are a fairly new Austrian band composed of experienced musicians. Their debut album Vivito! Creato! Moritor! was released in January by Gravity Entertainment, and takes as its principal subject matter the various dimensions of war, its causes, and its effects, concluding with a musical interpretation of the triptych “War” by the German painter and printmaker Otto Dix.

I haven’t heard the entire album yet, but yesterday I did take in the official video for the song “Des Teufels Bluthund – Horror Ahead and Abomination”.  The song’s jabbing riffs and writhing melody got its hooks in me, and although it certainly includes recognizable elements of black metal, it’s more of a cross-genre affair than the first two tracks in this post. Check out the video below.

http://www.cultofechelon.at/
https://www.facebook.com/cultofechelon