(written by Islander)
Like yesterday, I got a late start on today’s column, due to festivities with spouse and some new friends last night. Like yesterday’s column, this one includes more full-length releases than normal (alternating with some single songs), and I only have time enough to offer some impressionistic thoughts about them rather than carefully thought-out reviews.
My overarching impression is that most of what you’re about to hear sounds… possessed. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
Like yesterday, today I had enough time to include a lot of new music and to spill a great volume of words about almost all of it.
For reasons I’ll explain, I’m beginning with a new album that’s well outside the usual parameters of this column, but then launching straight into a sequence of black metal songs (in varying shades of course) that are fantastically thrilling, and sometimes unexpectedly sublime. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
This has been one of those rare weekends when, due to some other plans falling through, I had a ton of time to immerse myself in new metal and spew out a bunch of thoughts in print. Yesterday I compiled music from 8 bands, and today I’ve got 6 (I did have 8 but ran out of writing time). These bands, of course, exhibit their creativity through varying shades and phases of black metal — except the last one, a final curveball for you.
This collection includes three complete EPs as well as enticing excerpts from records not yet out. I hope you’ll give them all a chance. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
Only five selections today, but there’s still a lot here — three EP-length records and a complete album, in addition to a lead-off song by a respected Balkan band from their next full-length. (Having more time to pursue my own perfidious activities is one silver lining to the personal cloud of enduring my wife’s absence while she’s off partying with one of her two sisters in Nevada this weekend.) Continue reading »
Dimholt
(written by Islander)
In compiling this Sunday’s column I can’t say that I intentionally searched for unsettling music, but that’s where the listening trail led me — in directions that were chilling, depressive, and enraged.
Time being limited (as always), I left a few discoveries behind that were especially raw and abusive, in addition to being unsettling. I hope to get back to them later. One thing that struck me about what I didn’t leave behind is that all the music that follows turned out to be more multi-faceted than first impressions might suggest. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
When I finished writing the SEEN AND HEARD column yesterday and scheduled it for automatic appearance this morning I really didn’t think I would be awake or clear-headed enough to prepare a SHADES OF BLACK thing for today, which is why I said there wouldn’t be one. But even though I didn’t get to sleep after my spouse’s Saturday night birthday party until 1:30 am, I woke up at 7 am — amazingly not hungover, only weary.
I still thought about not trying to do put this column together, but I really hate leaving holes in our regular schedule, so here we are. Fewer selections than usual, but (I hope you’ll agree) very good ones. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
As was true with yesterday’s SEEN AND HEARD roundup, 21 days have passed since I was able to compile one of these SHADES OF BLACK collections. Unlike yesterday’s roundup, I’m not able to make up for the lapses with a mega-sized assembly today, due to… baseball. It’s the last game of the regular season for my hometown team, and I’m going.
I know that confession damages my kvlt credentials, yet I’ll try to repair the damage with the following five selections. Stylistically they’re not in the same vein, and yet I do think there are some connections, including a certain classical elegance and immensity among some of them, and a certain dark and even depressive cast common to some, which seemed fitting for the day — roughly one week into the Fall season, with The Big Dark looming here in the Pacific Northwest. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
In this week’s edition of SHADES OF BLACK I’ve called attention to recent songs excerpted from forthcoming albums by four bands. After that I’ve highlighted two recently released albums that really made an impact on my addled head and heart. And “highlighted” is the right word, because I just haven’t had enough time to give either of them the more comprehensive review they deserve. But as I always tell myself on days like this, something is surely better than nothing.
I’m not sure I have a coherent way of trying to sketch out how the musical experiences change from one selected band to the next. They’re all diabolical in their own ways, but you might get a couple of instances of whiplash as musical shifts occur. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
Today I decided to focus on four selections: two songs from forthcoming albums, a debut EP, and a debut full-length. The two songs are tragic but breathtaking. The EP and the album are also stunning, in different ways.
The world often seems like it’s either burning or devolving into a deep and disgusting pool of glop (“shit” is an overused word), but if you immerse yourself in what I’ve chosen today I wager you’ll forget all about that, even if it will all eventually come back to you. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
Welcome to another bloody blackened Sunday at our site. In deciding what to include today I fell into something like a fugue state, by happenstance finding one relentlessly intense song after another, and so engulfed by the experiences that I didn’t even think about trying to create some kind of musical detour before the end.
To be clear, you’re not about to get blown out by blizzards of raw black metal. All of these songs have vital melodic components, but even the melodies channel emotional intensity of differing kinds. But to be further clear, all the songs should get your hearts pumping and muscles throbbing too. (There’s also a bonus entry at the end.) Continue reading »