Xasthur – Page 2 – Wonderbox Metal

Natanas – Treachery (Review)

Natanas is a one-man Black Metal project from the US. This is his third album.

This is a very prolific project and this is the third album from Natanas this year. I reviewed the second album All Is Permitted not that long ago, and already I find there is this new release.

All Is Permitted was in the style of bands such as Xasthur, Portal, Mitochondrion, Enbilulugugal, Ævangelist and the like, and Treachery continues the theme.

Treachery feels like a good progression, (in a short period of time), from the previous album in that it, as a whole, feels more coherent and better constructed. The tracks are still raw, lo-fi expressions of hatred and malevolence, but this time they seem to gel and work better than previously.

The vocals have improved also, and this time they seem to have more bite to them, as well as being generally higher pitched and sharper.

Although the tracks here still have a pulsating organic looseness to them there’s also much more of a pseudo-Industrial and an almost hypnotic, tribal influence to them as well. Discordant, murky drum ‘n’ bass for the Black Metal generation? Maybe, but this album definitely has a more percussive edge to it regardless.

I said last time that this kind of Black Metal is not for everyone, and that still stands. It is, however, an enjoyable sidestep from the bog-standard and has a lot to offer those with the time, patience and stomach for it.

Give it a listen.

Natanas – All Is Permitted (Review)

Natanas is a one man Black Metal project from the US. This is Natanas’ second album.

This is atonal, obscure, underground Black Metal that’s more focused on creating particular moods and feelings rather than songs in the traditional sense.

The vocals are deep gargles and spewings; barely-human sounds and daemonic mutterings are the stock in trade of this warped intellect.

The drums are off-kilter and sometimes seem quite out of place with the more organic guitars and bestial vocalisations. I get the impression that this is done intentionally however, thus fostering the strange atmosphere that All Is Permitted shows off.

This is not a release for everyone, not even necessarily the hardened Black Metal fan. This is for people who enjoy bands that put uncomfortable feelings and sounds before everything else, even production values and traditional Black Metal.

Think bands like Xasthur, Portal, Mitochondrion, Enbilulugugal, Ævangelist and the like, and although I don’t think the guy behind Natanas is currently playing at their level just yet, given enough time and development he could be.

If this is the kind of Black Metal that does it for you then check out Natanas and see what you think.

Wrong – Pessimistic Outcomes (Review)

Wrong are a Black Metal band from Spain and this is their second album.

Created by two people; one from a Thrash Metal background and one from a Technical Death Metal background. From these unlikely roots an album has grown which is surprising in that it is both the epitome of what is meant to be but also pleasingly fresh and full of morbid life.

Wrong play creepy, fragile, melancholic Black Metal with a depressive/nihilistic edge akin to some of the work by Xasthur and Leviathan only not quite as minimalistic and with more of a Paradise Lost/Katatonia/etc. influence to some of the Doomier riffs; think Forgotten Tomb for some of the parts in fact.

The songs are long compositions and have many different facets to their delivery, from fast and sharp to slow and misery-laden. It’s an approach that serves them well.

The sound is suitably fuzzy and Blackened but it has a solid backbone of precise, focused drumming that grounds the band no matter what they’re playing.

Wrong take you on a Blackened nihilistic journey through the underworld, tastefully underscored by some subtle riffing and even subtler effects that hide underneath the torrent of darkness and the pounding drums.

Pessimistic Outcomes takes me back to prime-time 00’s underground Black Metal and all the associated feelings it has for me. This is a great album full of bleak melodics and nuanced moments propelled forwards by some powerful drumming, expressive riffing and scathing, slicing vocal emanations.

If you only have a choice of one album full of emotive Black Metal this month then make it Wrong.