Unmother – State Dependent Memory (Review)

This is the second album from UK post-black metal band Unmother.

State Dependent Memory contains 38 minutes of modern/post-black metal, which includes a cover of a band called ΟΔΟΣ 55, here transmuted into something mercilessly savage. Unmother’s latest album pulls no punches.

State Dependent Memory offers up a dystopian vision of urban black metal darkness for the listener to unflinchingly stare at. So horrified, you’re then easy prey for Unmother’s caustic assault.

It’s post-black metal, but without the niceness of blackgaze. This is a vicious, snarling thing, and it will tear out your throat if you let it. It’s driven by serrated speed and abrasive terror, yet still slows on occasion to really make you feel its claws. A hardcore edge is felt in places, where the band loosen up their fierce blackened attack just enough to slip the noose around your neck. Sludgy post-metal is clearly another influence too, adding an additional weapon to Unmother’s well-stocked arsenal. Throw in some electronic and psychedelic elements, and you have a well-rounded record that holds your attention in an iron grip.

It’s not all sonic violence though, as although State Dependent Memory is overtly hostile, it actually has many tools at its disposal with which to dehumanise and brutalise. Unmother are adept at crafting bleak atmosphere and unforgiving mood. There are melodies that are dark and tense. There’s an edge of dissonance here and there that never quite fully ventures into that style, instead withering and rotting into something that merely feeds the corruption of the whole. Non-standard ideas appear scattered across the album like natural disasters, such as the brooding quasi-industrial malevolence of Modern Dystopia or the closing post-rock moodpiece Magda.

I like State Dependent Memory a great deal. It scratches a certain contemporary black metal itch that’s not often easy to reach. Unmother are raw, unforgiving, and incredibly aggressive, yet also have layers and nuance that can be found amidst the extremity. I urge you to check this out if you’re a fan of bands such as Acceptance, Black Birch, Hæresis, Heir, Predatory Void, Terzij de Horde, This Gift Is a Curse, Ultha, Wiegedood, and Yellow Eyes.