SHADES OF BLACK: LVTHN, HÄXENZIJRKELL, KVAL, CHERNAA, SHEOL BLANC, YELLOW EYES, FALSE, SCIOLISM

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
May 052019
 

 

Like yesterday’s round-up, this SHADES OF BLACK column originally took shape in my head a week ago, but I wasn’t able to post it then. Over the last week (as usual) a lot of new black metal appeared, but my paying job took me out of town and didn’t allow me enough free time to listen to much of it. The week ahead will be similar (a different destination but not much free time).

In this column I’ve combined the music I would have written about last Sunday with just a few new songs I had time to check out this past week. In case you’re wondering, I am aware that Deathspell Omega has disclosed the existence of a new album and has launched the stream of a track from it, and that a lyric video from Abbath‘s new album also surfaced (here) but those are two of many new things I’ve set aside to listen to later so that it doesn’t distract me from getting this column finished!

LVTHN / HÄXENZIJRKELL

I’ve included the music of the Belgian black metal band LVTHN in numerous previous installments of this column, but not since the release of their 2016 debut album Eradication of Nescience, and therefore failed to mention their 2017 EP, The Spider Goddess. That’s well worth checking out if you haven’t already, but today’s focus concerns something even more recent, a new split by LVTHN and the German band Häxenzijrkell (whose music I’ve also written about before). It was released on April 30th, digitally and on 10″ vinyl by Amor Fati (with cover art by Karmazid). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KVAL — “KUOLONKUU”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Jul 182017
 

 

In the right hands, and shaped with the right spirit, seemingly simple musical structures can become intensely evocative and even spellbinding. In fact, the ability of a piece of music to carry the listener away in a waking trance, where the mind conceives its own visions under the influence of the sound, may become even stronger with simplicity — if the songwriting and the execution are as good as they are on the self-titled album by the Finnish atmospheric black metal band Kval.

The album by this one-man project was first released under the name Khaossus in 2015, but it has been re-recorded for this release under the band’s new name, adorned as well in new artwork (by Moonroot Art). It will be released by Hypnotic Dirge Records on July 27th. This 43-minute work is composed of four long songs, interspersed with three minimalistic ambient tracks. Of those four long tracks, “Kuolonkuu” is the last one — and it’s the one we’re premiering for you in this post. Continue reading »