SHADES OF BLACK: SARKRISTA, FUATH, FORHIST, KANKAR, MNHG, FERRITERIUM, ELLENDE, HOLDLAJTORJA

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Jan 242021
 

 

I may have bitten off more than you can chew in this collection of recommended black metal. It’s certainly more than I can masticate with adequate words. I’ve started with a collection of individual songs from forthcoming albums by five bands, and then followed that with a complete album and two full EPs. To make this manageable for me, if not for you, for the full releases I’ve only hinted at what you’ll find within them and then left you to browse for yourselves.

SARKRISTA (Germany)

The first song in today’s collection, “The Beast Reborn“, is a teaser for the third album to be released by these Finnish Satanists (who dwell in Germany). It rips and ravages, batters and scampers, but soars in a way that’s both glorious and desperately beleaguered, and the trilling leads channel a heart-felt yearning that might seem at odds with the completely unhinged, flamethrowing vocals. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: HELRUNAR , A FOREST OF STARS, LUCIFERICON, SARKRISTA

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Aug 052018
 

 

My whirlwind trip to New Mexico is about to end, with a pair of long flights that will get me back to Seattle looming ahead today. I found a little time last night and this morning to sample some of the new black and blackened metal that has surfaced in recent days, and picked three new tracks to recommend. All of them are from forthcoming albums I’ve been eagerly awaiting. And at the last minute, I added an EP originally released in May, but more recently made available on Bandcamp.

HELRUNAR

Vanitas Vanitatvm is the name of the new album by the German band Helrunar. September 28th is the date selected by Prophecy Productions for its release, roughly three and a half years following the  excellent Niederkunfft.

Stylistically, frontman M.D. places it between Niederkunfft and that album’s predecessor,  the massive Sól. He says: “The songs are more compact and mature, also mostly faster, and again, more black metal. Apart from that, there have been influences you might call nostalgic.” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): SARKRISTA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Feb 242017
 

 

I try to have something new ready to post every day by around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. Pacific time, which is the awkward time zone in which I live — awkward, because the vast majority of people who visit this site are in time zones that are between two and 12 hours later than the one that organizes life here in Seattle, which is why I start things so early (for me). Sometimes I get the starting post ready before I go to sleep the night before (which is what I did with this one), and sometimes I get up in the darkness and do it the day of.

As you can tell from the title of the post, I’ve collected some new music to spread before you today. What you can’t tell is that the collection is ENORMOUS. It’s so big that last night I couldn’t even finish what I had planned for Part 1. So I decided to pick one band included in Part 1 and defer the others to Part 2… and Part 3.

So how did I choose the one band to tide you over until I finish the rest of this musical flood? In a nutshell, Sarkrista are a remarkable discovery. Allow me to explain. Continue reading »