SHADES OF BLACK: GAEREA, HAEIRESIS, THECODONTION, EISENKULT, RAAT, SOMNIATE, OBSCURE RELIC, ENSHADOWED, JUODVARNIS, ODIOSIOR, TERROR MACHINE

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Jun 142020
 


Gaerea – photo by Catarina Rocha

 

Maybe you know about the “Overflowing Streams” format that we use for especially large collections of new music we want to recommend? The idea is to (regretfully) cut back on words and save the time needed to find, download, and upload cover art, and let the music streams mainly speak for themselves. And that’s the format I’ve resorted to for this week’s Shades of Black column, which is mostly a collection of recently released individual songs from forthcoming records.

GAEREA (Portugal)

The meteoric rise of Gaerea continues. In both its sights and its sounds the new video that begins this collection is extremely powerful. The inner pain they express is mutilating. The music is both crushing and explosive, delirious and despairing, sweeping and scathing. For such intense music, it’s also thoroughly immersive… or perhaps it’s better said that this is an emotional vortex that’s hard to escape. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ALMYRKVI AND THE RUINS OF BEVERAST

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May 312020
 

 

I had grand plans for today’s SHADES OF BLACK, but they were derailed by the amount of time I put into an album premiere earlier today and by what happened across the U.S. yesterday and last night, events that fixated my attention and splintered my concentration on music (and on everything else except for the overflowing of frustration and rage in the nation’s urban streets).

I’m still distracted, but wanted to do something for those of you who might look forward to this Sunday tradition, maybe especially in these incredibly unsettling times. So I singled out one part of what I had originally planned to do, and will now focus only on that part — a new album-length split release by two remarkably talented black metal bands: Almyrkvi from Iceland and The Ruins of Beverast from Germany. It’s worth the sole focus, because I think we have here a record that will find its place on many a year-end list. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): ÁRSTÍÐIR LÍFSINS, SIELUNVIHOLLINEN, KANGEHEET, PROSANCTUS INFERI, FIDES INVERSA

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May 242020
 

 

As you can see, I’ve managed to complete the second Part of today’s column in time to post it in its usual Sunday space. I hope you’ll find everything here as exciting as I have.

ÁRSTÍÐIR LÍFSINS

2020 has been a miserable year in most respects, but a great year for the Icelandic/German band Árstíðir lífsins. They contributed a tremendous song to Aldrnari, the tremendous album-length split with Carpe Noctem (reviewed here) that was released in April, and on Friday they digitally released their new album Saga á tveim tungum II: Eigi fjǫll né firðir (physical editions will follow from Ván Records). It is (you guessed it) tremendous. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): ENSLAVED, SOMBRE HÉRITAGE, KALL, UBUREN, XIFICURK

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May 242020
 

 

At the risk of overwhelming our visitors (a constant risk around here), I have again found so many new songs I’d like to recommend that I thought it best to divide today’s column into two parts, and will do my best not to become too verbose so that I have time to finish Part 2 in time to post it today — because Monday is going to be loaded with new things too.

ENSLAVED

I haven’t tried to find out how Enslaved’s new single is being received among fans and the metal press. I, for one, think it’s fantastic, and would rather not spoil the feeling by coming across some grim cur who’s sour about it. Not because I actually think anyone is entitled to be sour about it, but metalheads being metalheads, it’s inevitable. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: YSENGRIN, VALRAVNE, DUTHAIG, FETISHISM, RUNESPELL, FOREST MYSTICISM

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May 172020
 

 

Well, it’s already late in the day, so I’ll dispense with introductory blather and just get right to it.

YSENGRIN

“Potencée d’Or” first appeared on this French band’s debut demo T.R.I.A.D.E back in 2008. Along with three other tracks from that demo, it has been “re-imagined” and re-recorded for the band’s new album (and their last one) Initiatio. The album also includes a revised version of “Monumentum” from the Archivum MMV-MMX demo dating to 2010, plus four new compositions, including two ambient numbers recorded live with the help of Frater Stéphane (N.K.R.T., Rosa Crux). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: GAEREA, UPRISING, FELLWARDEN, DEARTH, IKU-TURSO

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May 142020
 

 

This morning I thought I would have time to pull together a round-up of new music to recommend. In sifting through tracks and videos that had hit my radar screen over the last 24 hours, it dawned on me that the songs I most wanted to feature were all variants of black or “blackened” metal. And so, without planning to do so, I have a week-day edition of SHADES OF BLACK for you.

GAEREA

It’s no secret that I’ve been a huge fan of this Portuguese band since their inception, and have really enjoyed watching their profile become more prominent and their fanbase expand so dramatically since the release of their debut EP in 2016. Their new sophomore album, Limbo, has been high on my most-anticipated list for 2020, and at last we have a track to share, along with the fantastic cover art by Eliran Kantor. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ÆNIGMATUM, ASEITAS, BLACK HATE, CAPE OF BATS, ULTHAR

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May 102020
 

 

I spent hours yesterday trying to catch up on listening to new metal. I now have a giant list of things I’d like to recommend, including enough blackened sounds to fill up a four-part SHADES OF BLACK today. I haven’t figured out how to make that happen, and I don’t know how any normal person would be able to digest all of it even if I could. But I’m going to continue pondering how to deal with my desire to put it all out there. In the meantime, here’s the first installment.

I will say that the “shades of black” in this collection are often very faint shades, with other stylistic ingredients much more prominent than black metal. But I think all this stuff is outstanding, and fits very well together, for reasons you’ll figure out as you listen.

ÆNIGMATUM (U.S.)

“A wild ride full of twists and turns”. That’s how this Portland band describe Adorned In Wrath, a two-track demo that will be released on May 22nd, which they say will serve “to give a glimpse of our forthcoming sophomore full-length”. The first of those two songs, which is streaming now, is definitely a wild ride — in fact, that’s an understatement Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ASCENDENCY, BIESY, HELGAMITE, KENAZ, NEKUS, OMINATION, TITHE

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May 032020
 


Ascendency

 

We’ve now entered the second full month of a government-ordered shutdown here in Washington State, with only minimal re-openings permitted before June, and maybe not even then. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the country communities are being encouraged to become human petri dishes by venturing out to movie theaters, gyms, restaurants, beaches, etc. Good luck to them. I’ll be interested to see what grows within their cells, or doesn’t.

Meanwhile I’ll try to suppress my own depression and anxiety over the prospect of another month within these walls, and continue to sift through the great mass of new metal in an effort to make my life, and perhaps yours, a little more harrowing and wretched. To that end, below you will find six individual tracks and one album to stream. I also have a collection of other complete releases I would like to recommend. Maybe tomorrow…. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): TOSKA HILL, ARCHAÍA SOFÍA, DEATHSIEGE, LUSTRE

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Apr 262020
 

 

This completes today’s two-Part column. This installment includes an advance track from a forthcoming release, a demo single, an EP, and a full-length album, and the sounds are quite diverse.

TOSKA HILL (New Zealand)

If you visit the “About” section of this Auckland band’s Facebook page you’ll see a quote from Vladimir Nabokov about the meaning of the Russian word toska:

“No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.” Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): ELFFOR AND KUOLEMAJÄRVI

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Apr 262020
 

 

I’ve packed a lot of music into this Sunday’s column — four complete albums or EPs, as well as an advance track from a forthcoming record and a demo single. It’s all so new that I haven’t spent much time with the music, and am therefore probably not in the best position to give it well-considered opinions. But the first impressions have been so exciting that I didn’t want to wait. Not for the first time, impulse has again ruled this day.

Because there’s so much music here, I divided the column into two Parts. Part 1 is devoted to two full-length albums.

ELFFOR (Spain)

Unholy Throne of Doom is the latest album by this band from the Basque Country, which began long ago as the solo project of Eöl but seems to have fleshed out into a full line-up, with one of the members performing tambourine, flute, and a traditional Basque instrument called the Alboka. Released on April 22nd, the album consists of four tracks, each of them in the range of ten to thirteen minutes. Continue reading »

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