SHADES OF BLACK: DEADSPACE, ABERRATOR, LYCOPOLIS, ASCALAPHA, SEROTONIN

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Sep 012024
 

(written by Islander)

Sometimes when I compile these Sunday selections I plan ahead, doing lots of listening days in advance and narrowing the choices to a set before starting to peck out the words. Other times I wing it — listening, picking, and writing as I go, not knowing what the collection will look like until I just run out of time. This is one of those days.

So you could say that today’s collection is far more randomized than would be ideal. But the truth is, they’re always random. I can never listen to everything; I always have to reach a stopping point; and worthy releases always get neglected.

That would cause severe anxiety if I thought this site were the sole filter or funnel for new black and black-ish metal (or metal of any other kind), but of course that’s not true. People discover new music in a multitude of other ways (even if some of those will lead you astray), and eventually I remember that and the shakes go away… eventually. Continue reading »

BIZARRE PLAYLISTS TO PISS OFF YOUR NEIGHBORS – CHAPTER II

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Mar 222023
 

 

(Yesterday we presented Chapter I of a “bizarre playlist” compiled by Axel Stormbreaker, and there was more to come… which comes now…)

And now we’re back to our exciting installment(s) after this short, commercial break. This sneaky lil’ bugger just had to rearrange playlists in two parts for them being too fucking long.

I think my neighbors may have ordered about a dozen rocket launchers by now. Next thing I know I’ll be finding an armored tank waiting for me at my porch. It’s best I start with the artsy stuff for a change before moving on to obscure ballsy metal. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: SCARCITY, RAAT, STEINGRAB, LYCOPOLIS, NOCTU, MANTAR

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Jul 172022
 

 

As you could already deduce from the previous two posts at this site, in recent days I found more than the usual amount of time I could devote to new music. My day job left me alone, or I ignored it, and I shrugged off household chores too. Baseball presented the only serious competition, because a certain team in the Pacific Northwest is on a historic winning streak (and I hope I didn’t just jinx them by mentioning that).

Focusing on black metal for purposes of this column, I settled on one dazzling album, a collection of quite varied “singles” from forthcoming records, and a new video. You’ll also find poetry.

SCARCITY (U.S.)

Scarcity‘s new album Aveilut (a Hebrew word for mourning) is difficult to describe. In part because it’s a single 45-minute composition, and in part because the trip maneuvers and whipsaws us through a spectacular labyrinth, it defies efforts to explain that “this happens, and then that happens, and then this other thing happens”. How tedious that would be, despite the hope that mapping the album would make it easier to comprehend.

Trying to pick out signal moments as illustrations of the music wouldn’t work very well either, because there are so many, and because they dramatically diverge from each other. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DARK BUDDHA RISING, SPYROS APOSTOLOU, INFANTS OF THE AFTERLIFE, GORRCH, SANCTUS HEXE, LYCOPOLIS

 SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Oct 182020
 

 

Although this column is principally devoted to flavors of black metal, sometimes I branch out and include music that’s outside the genre. Usually that happens when it’s something I don’t want to delay recommending, but it’s also usually music that at least to my ears has a “spiritual” kinship to black metal. And by “spiritual” I don’t mean satanic, but rather a kind of pitch-black mood that makes its placement in the playlist suitable (for want of a better word). I’ve done this today with the first two items.

DARK BUDDHA RISING

To begin, I’ve chosen an astonishing video made by Dehn Sora for the song “Sunyaga” by the Finnish dark underlords of psychedelic drone, Dark Buddha Rising. The song is from the band’s forthcoming seventh album, Mathreyata. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: NUBIVAGANT, HÄXENZIJRKELL, PANYCHIDA, 0-NUN, ASCEND TOWARDS THE MOON, LYCOPOLIS

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Sep 062020
 

 

The “aggressive” sound of black metal — the blazing tremolo runs, the blasting drums, the shrieking and rasping vocals, the often abrasive levels of distortion — is one of the genre’s hallmarks. But black metal doesn’t always sound angry. Even when the aggressive sound is present and accounted for, the music can also seem dolorous, haunting, hysterical, or mystical (among other sensations). Today’s collection includes many of those other emotional touch-points — as well as fury.

NUBIVAGANT (Italy)

To begin, I’ve chosen two songs from Roaring Eye, the debut album by a one-person Italian project named Nubivagant. The album will draw attention because that one person is both Thorns and Omega, the drummer of Blut Aus Nord, Chaos Invocation, Enepsigos, Darvaza, Fides Inversa, and many other groups). Here, he performs all instruments, and he sings in a tenor voice. That’s right, these songs are exceptions to our rule, but well-earned ones because Omega really can sing. Continue reading »