Black Birds Descend Down Upon Everything

Jex Thoth/Totem (USA)

Totem

April 27, 2007

Enter a shamanic realm where only through death is enlightenment achieved. To aid this spiritual journey, a hefty dose of alchemical potions is required to be injested. Amongst such concoctions as blood of the lion, ethers that have been passed on through generations of easy riders, Navajo mescaline teas and psilocybin elixers, the transcendent sounds of pre-Jex Thoth cult Totem play host to the events of the Styx-like crossing between the earthly and celestial planes. This midnight fire burns with the ghostly breath of Charles Manson, fueled with the mystical kindling sprouted around Lee Dorrian's Cathedral. The Goddess of the earth is spoken through the overwhelmingly sexy voice of Jex Thoth, Medusa-like in its power to stop you in your tracks, overcome with awe-struck wonder and bewildered seduction. Listen to the psychedelic sounds of a druid black mass under a full moon in the Arizona desert. It's magical. Read more to begin...

Carved into Air

Dornenreich (Austria)

In Luft Geritzt

May 9, 2008

Sometimes I feel compelled to back off the abrasiveness in my audio intake. A little jazz here, maybe some ambient there, it all keeps the cycles flowing. Variety is a spice becoming much more exotic over time, it seems. Maybe that's just the mood I'm in while I write this. Regardless, I always admire Dornenreich's finesse with regards to unleashing their bold yet exceptionally rich duality between elegant acoustic neo folk and magnificently menacing black metal. Generally they are probably more known as a blackened neo folk metal band (But who knows?), though the focus of this post is on their entirely acoustic folk album In Luft Geritzt, a passionate showcase of cultural expressionism, driven by the intimacy of thoughtful guitars with whispered recitations, and steered by the emotionally gripping leads of violin and cello. Moments of aggression do occasionally boil over the pot of stirred feelings within the drama of unfolding love ("Unruhe", "Sehnlauf", "Meer"), there's an almost sexual tension to the push and pull waltz of "Freitanz", though elated triumph is never far away ("Drang", "Flügel in Fels", "Aufbruch"), all the while, a sublime ray of mystical romantic illumination breathes life unbound by time throughout the gentle earthen compositions. Refresh your spirits with this elixer of golden sound. Listen below.

Oh, Ye Great Mysterious Shepherd of Waves

Ahab (Germany)

The Call of the Wretched Sea

September 29, 2006

Okay, so this really should have been my very first post for this blog. As far as I'm concerned, Ahab is on a whole different ship when it comes to music. Their debut, The Call of the Wretched Sea is an absolute behemoth that needs to be heard by absolutely everyone. I cannot overstate this. Majestic nautical funeral dooooom of the most crushing magnitude, all based on Charles Dickens' classic Moby Dick. You just can't beat this kind of class. Once in a very long while you find a band that perfectly encapsulates the very idea of 'awesome' in the most literal sense. The weight of all the oceans in the world is felt within these seven magnificent and elegantly written tunes. Delicately submerged ghostly whale songs whistle eerily calm odes to all that has been before and all that will ever remain amidst the blackest deepest canyons of the seas, never before charted by any man. Discover new depths of awareness, sunken treasures await you. Monolithic slabs of eternal enchantment, older than time, deceptively beautiful in a realm easily mistaken for otherworldy. This is doom metal royalty, pay your respects and listen to this masterpiece below.

Chilled to the Bone

Horrendous (USA)

The Chills

January 2, 2012

Check out this old school death metal project that's been rocking the fuck out of my world lately. 'Ripped to Shreds' just drips with early At the Gates style but with more of an Autopsy-like unhinged menace, while 'Altars' trots along like a rabid pale horse just seething with bile and disease. 'The Somber (Desolate Winds)' was featured in my February 2012 mix tape, and showcases the maturity thats well beyond the members' years, and 'The Eye of Madness' is an epic jaw dropping clinic to those exhuming the corpses of filthy soundwaves exhibited by early Entombed, Obituary and Pestilence. This is some fresh, tasty, savoury tenderloin cuts, I can't get enough of the gnarly horrific atmosphere and the all-around badassery on display here. I have a feeling this will be one of the top albums of the year for me. What's up with all these amazing debuts coming out all of a sudden!? Keep them coming, good music will never die. Listen to this album below. Then buy it right away.

Rhododendoom in the Verdent Realm

Botanist (USA)

I: The Suicide Tree/II: A Rose from the Dead

July 2, 2011

The only instruments are drums, vocals and hammered dulcimer, which kind of sounds like a haunted piano going through an octaver pedal, which makes this the most organic black metal project I've ever heard of, no need for distortion, electricity, or much technology at all, the guy could pack his equipment and trek to the most secluded isolated cave in the deepest darkest forest and sound just like the album. Grindcore arrangements, black metal textures, and botanical aesthetics. Truly unique today. Gives me the impression of praying mantises, stick bugs, venus flytraps marching towards insect warfare. Creepy, unsettling vibes, like an accompaniment to a vintage silent black and white film depicting our world as a living, breathing organism where insects perform the job of white blood cells and eradicate the virus that is humanity. Or perhaps one of those National Geographic shots where they speed up the time of some kind of animal carcass getting eaten way and decays into the soil. Vile, venomous, and virulent. The lyrics read like a botanical encyclopedia. Definitely an acquired taste, but all the better for it. The second album, II: A Rose from the Dead shows noticeable improvements in overall song writing and cohesiveness from beginning to end. Read about the concept of the Botanist and the universe he exists in, the Verdent Realm, here. Read more to listen...

Living Life Beneath the Hammer

Enslaved (Norway)

Vikingligr Veldi

February 22, 1994

Yesterday I posted Emperor's 1994 full length debut. Today, it's the equally mandatory debut full length by Enslaved, which was released the day after Emperor's. This is a good comparison between albums. I find Enslaved has a warmer sound on this release. Whereas Emperor had a focus on the overtly occult/magical realm of subject matter, and instrumental technicality that forces closer analysis and a more inward, exclusive disposition, Enslaved differed themselves from most of the big names of the second wave of black metal through their emphasis on more of a natural homeland or viking perspective from the get-go, conveying a broader outlook, with simplicity in repetition and a more outward yet inclusive disposition. Musically, this is some of the earliest threads of what would eventually weave into the mossy tapestry of recent American waves of black metal (Weakling, Wolves in the Throne Room), spun from the very locks of Odin that are used today in Norse or pagan oriented black metal (Drudkh, Winterfylleth), but washed in a mildly hallucinogenic witches brew that's shared around amongst more avant-garde or progressive black metal bands (Sorgeldom, early Blut aus Nord). This can easily be played as an ambient stargazing album. Read more for the full stream, I highly recommend it.

My Wizards are Many, but Their Essence is Mine

Emperor (Norway)

In the Nightside Eclipse

February 21, 1994

Out of the familiar Norwegian bands of black metal's second wave (Mayhem, Burzum, Gorgoroth, Enslaved, Immortal, Satyricon), I find Emperor to be of conceptually higher class. Their debut, Into the Nightside Eclipse is an untouchable masterpiece. There is something noticeably romantic about the gothic symphonic elements inherited directly from King Diamond, and ambitious, epic songcraft. Indeed, the compositions often rival those of full blown orchestras in their depth of scope and density of instrumentation. It can sound downright religious at times, that is, if you are capable of gasping through the suffocating constriction of such an all-out assault. Just listen to "Cosmic Keys to My Creations and Times". Thankfully the menacingly grim attitude of drummer Faust and rhythm guitarist Samoth kept the reigns on Ihsahn's bombastic persona, keeping the sound grounded firmly in the grim and trve end of the black metal spectrum (as opposed to the cheap hollow sideshow thrills offered by Cradle of Filth, for an unfortunate example). The cover art is also suitably grandiose for the music. Bask in the world "Beyond the Great Vast Forest", under "The Majesty of the Nightsky". This is black metal royalty. "I am the Black Wizards". Indeed.