This is the fourth album from US industrial black/sludge metal band Invertia.
When I last caught up with Invertia it was on 2014’s Another Scheme of the Wicked, where they played industrial black metal, complete with remixes of the original tracks. Nine years or so later, the band’s music is darker and uglier, yet also laced with hooks and catchy riffs and beats. Continue reading “Invertia – Through the Black Bubble (Review)”
This is the debut album from US black metallers Lykotonon.
An experimental black metal band featuring members of Blood Incantation and Wayfarer? Sign me up! Promethean Pathology contains 39 minutes of darkness, and offers a journey not to be missed for connoisseurs of the underground. Continue reading “Lykotonon – Promethean Pathology (Review)”
Remah are an international black metal band and this is their debut album.
Une Main adopts a modern approach to its black metal, one which adapts elements of the depressive, second wave, and atmospheric styles for its own nefarious use. Alongside this sit darkwave and psychedelic influences, both of which add extra depth to the band’s blackened repertoire. Continue reading “Remah – Une Main (Review)”
Francis Root, (based in Norway), and Sconsacrata, (based in the UK), are both solo black metal acts who have teamed up for this split release, (both artists are also in sludge metal band Beggar).
Francis Root start us off, with 19 minutes of material. The style of the four songs we’re presented with is one that’s modern and progressive, with elements of electronica and industrial sewn into the music. Continue reading “Francis Root/Sconsacrata – Split (Review)”
This is the tenth album from Swiss black metal act Borgne.
Featuring a member of Enoid and Ancient Moon, Borgne play industrial black metal, and Temps Morts contains 73 minutes of the layered darkness. Continue reading “Borgne – Temps Morts (Review)”
This is the third album from Ukrainian experimental black metal band Balance Interruption.
All I knew about this band before I listened to them was that they were a black metal band of some description. As such, I was not prepared at all for what I found inside Door 218.
Here we have an album that might not sound as you expect it to upon hearing the black metal tag. Yes, a lot of the familiar elements are present and correct, but there’s a lot of unusual aspects to the music too. Continue reading “Balance Interruption – Door 218 (Review)”
This is the seventh Aborym album. They play industrial metal and hail from Italy.
I love Aborym’s earlier work, but after Generator I lost track of the band unfortunately, so Shifting.negative is my first experience with them in about ten years or so. What a shocking omission on my part! This review will inevitably come from this viewpoint, as I have missed out on their last two albums, which would probably, (I imagine), have given me a more smoother transition to the current incarnation of Aborym. Continue reading “Aborym – Shifting.negative (Review)”
Wolfpack 44 are an industrial black metal band from the US. This is their début album.
This is a side project between members of Kult of Azazel and The Electric Hellfire Club, featuring guests from such bands as The Electric Hellfire Club, (again), Demonic Christ, Dark Funeral and Coven.
The Scourge is an album with a lot going on, and the band manage to Continue reading “Wolfpack 44 – The Scourge (Review)”
This is the second album from Russian Doom band Aethyr.
This is dark and evil music with a Blackened aura to it that accompanies the Doom core like a shroud of malignancy.
The band utilise emotive riffs that play on the negative feelings of the listener and tease them out, bare and vulnerable for all to see. They then take these exposed emotions and weave them into guitar parts that embody them.
In this respect there’s a Post-Metal quality to the guitars as they’re often transcendent and expressive whilst being dragged down into the gloom of Doom.
Mournful hatred and despondent anger seem to simmer just below the surface. If the music is the main receptacle for the miserable aspect of their sound then the vocals are the vehicle for the anger and rage.
The singer alternates between Blackened screams and dark growls. Both are performed well and neither sound entirely human.
Faster sections are included too and the band have a grasp of elegant dynamics. Corpus is a well-paced album with lots of well-written tracks that easily hold attention.
Overall this is an involving and complete listen. Aethyr remind me of a cross between Red Harvest, Zatokrev and some form of primordial Doom Metal.
Aethyr have clear direction in their sound and use the 50 minutes of music here to showcase their abilities with great effect.
Corpus is an impressive album by a talented band. Give them a listen.
Orbseven is a solo project from the US and this is the third album of Experimental Black Metal that the project has unleashed.
This is a combination of electric Black Metal, sleek Post-Black Metal and ambient/avant-garde darkness. It’s an interesting combination and the resulting album is an exploration of state-of-the-art Blackness and atmospheric expression.
Darkened sounds and interesting effects enhance the tracks in a way that’s subtle enough to not steal any thunder from the main driving force of the guitars but has enough impact to be noticeable.
The songs are propelled by Blackened melodies and experimental sound structures, but there’s also enough Post-Black Metal wanderings to allow the room for shades of both light and dark. They’re well written, have great dynamics and are potent affairs.
.ismos. fosters an atmosphere that’s vaguely mechanistic but overtly malevolent and mysterious. Everything about this album from the music itself to the album cover deals in these mysteries and although there are no answers forthcoming the search for them is what’s important.
The vocals are a curious and varied affair. Multiple styles collide as spoken/distorted words, barely audible pseudo-ethereal sounds and subtle cleans all appear at various times during the tracks.
If you think along the lines of Dødheimsgard, Aborym, Red Harvest and Arcturus then you’ll have a good idea of the basic building blocks of the Orbseven sound. There’s even a couple of riffs here and there that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Mastodon album.
Orbseven is a creative and novel approach to what Black Metal should sound like in 2014. Taking the basic Black Metal template and building/distorting it is common enough, but the always interesting thing is where the band ends up once they have done this. In the case of Orbseven we end up with Experimental/Post-Black Metal that rolls smoothly out of the speakers.
A great effort – show your support.
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