“An existence spanning over twenty years in the Japanese underground brings an unsurprisingly bleak atmosphere to Kokyou De Shinu Otoko. From the grim blackness of the cover art to the translation of the title—roughly A Man Dies in His Hometown—Seek doesn’t bring even the smallest shred of happiness to the table.” Hometowns kill.
“I’ll fully admit that I have a soft spot for fun in my metal. After all, a man can only listen to Ulcerate growl about entropy, Triptykon purging Tom G.’s demons, and Kvarforth whining about how long it took him to clean out his bathtub after his fateful promo video (I don’t speak Swedish, so this is conjecture) so much, and even though I greatly enjoy all of those artists and listen to their great work regularly, sometimes a change of pace is needed. Enter Alberta’s Striker, and their excellent third album City of Gold.” For the record, bathtubs are a real pain in the arse to clean.
“A one-man black metal army of darkness – yes, like you I’m already cringing at the thought of spending a week or, God forbid, longer being tormented by fuzzed-out direction-less blackened murk! Somewhere in the midst of releasing their range of splits, EPs and their full-length (Worshipping Times of Old), German band Infestus switched from being a force of three, to being left to the power of one.” Madam X takes on the dank, dark depression of one-man project Infestus, will she end up cut up, depressed and alone? Read on and find out!
“Ever wondered what hell the unholy union of Germany’s Dark Fortress and Secrets of the Moon would spawn? Alright, now let’s make things a little more interesting and maybe just a little more sordid. Let’s bring in Sweden’s Naglfar and turn this into a lascivious little three-some. Taking it a step further, ever wondered what their bastard child would sound like? Well here you have it! Eudaimony is the spawn of just such an unholy, messy union, with former Dark Fortress front man Matthias Jell (Azathoth) on vocals, Naglfar’s Marcus E. Norman on guitars, bass and synthesizer and Secrets of the Moon’s Jörg Heemann (Thrawn Thelemnar) on drums.” Grim, unhappy blackness from a veritable super group of black metal luminaries? That’s got Madam X written all over it…in BLOOD!
“When a band intimates that their album has the charm and atmosphere of a dark, damp dungeon and that it’s packed with bone-dry, ardent, miserable vocals reminiscent of Aske era Burzum it’s begging to get picked off the promo pile. German band Front Beast, signed to Hells Headbangers and led by sole member Evil Avenger, whetted my appetite with just such an oath on their second full length release Demon Ways of Sorcery. It looks like the Evil Avenger has been stumbling along spreading misery and Satan’s message over 24 split releases, EPs and demos, 1 compilation and 1 previous album released back in 2006 and judging by this back-history he’s not giving up on his mission any time soon…” Madam X takes on the supposedly dungeon-ready black metal rattle of Front Beast. Remember, a beast in the front is better than two behind. No…wait.
“I’ve noticed that the face of Norwegian black metal is a changing, it’s becoming more adventurous, more rock infused, more progressive and God forbid, more accessible [well, it can’t get LESS accessible — Steel Druhm]. I can confirm however, that while they’re not just all about the evil any longer, they definitely haven’t lost sight or forgotten about the mighty Dark Lord Satan! Breath people, all is still right in the world.” How does Koldbrann fit in to this new movement? Follow Madam X on her trend analysis.
