(written by Islander)

The creation of music and its exposure to listeners is, as we all know, an inherently synergistic phenomenon. At least when the music is honest and authentic, the artist thinks something, feels something, is driven by the need to express those thoughts and emotions, maybe even as compulsively as the need to eat and drink. But the listener exposed to musical creations reacts based on their own thoughts, feelings, and histories. What they interpret, whether reflexively or through a thoughtful contemplation, is as much a function of themselves as it is the intention and spirit of the artist.

Bizarrekult is the black metal musical vehicle of Roman V., a native of Siberian Russia who moved to Norway roughly 20 years ago and then began recording music as a lone wolf, accompanying poetic verses he’d been writing since childhood. A demo emerged in 2006, followed by an early split with Theosophy, but then nothing surfaced until an EP in 2019 and then a first album in 2021, Vi overlevde (“We Survived”), followed by a second one, Den tapte krigen (“The Lost War”), in 2023.

Now a third one is on the way. Its title is Alt Som Finnes (“All There Is”), and it includes guest vocalists from Predatory Void, MØL, and Dødheimsgard. What inspired this one? Continue reading »