Black Mass Pervertor Archives

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): GOTMOOR, PESTILENTIAL SHADOWS, ULVIK, BLACK MASS PERVERTOR, RAMIHRDUS

Jul 032021

Here in the US we’re in the midst of a big weekend holiday, the biggest of the summer in normal times, and in this time also a celebration of release from covid bondage, though whether it’s anything more than a temporary furlough remains to be seen. But here at NCS I pride myself on observing no holidays, only hangovers. And since I don’t have one today I decided to get a head start on what has turned out to be a two-part edition of this column.

What I’ve chosen for Part 1 are four songs from forthcoming albums, and one from an album that’s been out for five months. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of them. Though Part 2 isn’t written yet, what I have in mind is a selection of recent new full releases. Barring a hangover, it will arrive in the usual spot on Sunday.

GOTMOOR (Belgium)

To begin, I decided to celebrate a different incidence of independence than the one our holiday here commemorates. To explain, I’ll summarize the historical background, which I learned from investigating the Dutch lyrics to this opening song, “Verheft het Vaandel” (“Raise the Banner” in English), by the Flemish band Gotmoor. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLACK MASS PERVERTOR — “LIFE BEYOND THE WALLS OF FLESH”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Apr 092018

With a history that can be traced back to 1998 and a sound that has evolved over the course of a demo, a previous EP, and a 2016 album (Phanerosis), the Finnish black metal band Black Mass Pervertor have reached an apotheosis of devilment with their new EP, Life Beyond the Walls of Flesh.

It’s a fiendishly infectious romp that, in the accurate words of the public relations campaign paving the way for its release, bows reverentially to “Belial, Barathrum, and especially early Impaled Nazarene whilst nodding to the early-Noughts work of Horna, Sargeist, and Behexen.”

It has, in short order, become a deliciously deviant pleasure of mine, a pleasure I get to share with you today in advance of its release by Blood Harvest Records on Friday the 13th of this month. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): KÆCK, BLACK MASS PERVERTOR, PROTEAN, NOX, MIST OF MISERY, SATANAAMAH

Metal News, SHADES OF BLACK 4 Responses »

Jun 262016

I’ve been playing catch-up on new and newly discovered music this weekend. It’s been a very good series of listening sessions, and now I’m up to my eyebrows in tracks I’d like to share. I posted one round-up earlier today, and in this one I’m focusing on new music in a blackened vein. But this post won’t exhaust all the black(ish) music that’s now burning in my head, and so my plan is to compile a second installment of Shades of Black for posting tomorrow. As usual, I’ve tried to select the songs, and to divide them between Parts 1 and 2, in a way that would provide a diverse listening experience.

KÆCK

When I reviewed Kaeck’s Stormkult last year, I identified two aspects of the music that I thought made it one of the brightest stars in the firmament of 2015 black metal releases: First, even in a genre known for its extreme intensity, Stormkult is extremely intense. For almost its entire duration, it’s a raging hurricane of sound — bombastic, terrorizing, and chillingly grim. If you want to be electrified by music, this will do it, and leave your head smoking. Continue reading »