“Metal, and black metal-adjacent styles in particular, has traditionally tended towards the chthonic over the celestial in its imagery. But Am Himmel (“In the Sky”) choose to base their horror in the heavenly rather than the hellish. Their music purports to express, it seems, the eternal divine separation in “starless” metaphysical voids. It could be a project born out of piety or heresy. In either case, the import of existential terror is evident.” Heaven as Hell.
![Violet Cold – Empire of Love [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Empire-of-Love01.jpg.webp)
“In a genre of music that is often deliberately controversial, the cover of Empire of Love by Violet Cold may be one of the most provocative of the year. But unlike other artists where this seems, at times, needless (ahem, Bloody Cumshot, ahem), Empire of Love’s provocation serves a serious and noble purpose. Mastermind Emin Guliyev’s native Azerbaijan has the worst human rights record for LGBTQI people in all of Europe. There is no protection for this community, and atrocities and hate-crimes against them are a depressingly regular occurrence. So to superimpose the Azerbaijan flag onto the pride flag is both a middle finger to his nation’s bigotry and hate, and a challenge to black metal fans who believe the subgenre must conform to their narrow interpretation of it.” Pride and justice.
“Ambient music and metal, on the surface, appear to have little in common: ambient’s gentle, relaxing melodies are, superficially, a far cry from the furious pummeling and screeches that defines most metal. And yet, the two go frequently hand in hand, possibly because, when you adjust to it, metal, like ambient, can be hypnotic and soothing. It would explain why bands such as Wolves in the Throne Room and Violet Cold have both released ambient records, in the form of Celestite and the Sommermorgen trilogy, respectively. Now we have Gruppe Planet, a German supergroup of sorts.” Travel restrictions.
Huck N’ Roll and Eldritch Elitist weigh in with their own Top Ten(ish) of 2019 lists, and they have a lot to say.
“The bleak and harsh Canadian Winter has drawn us into her icy bosom. Days are short, temperatures are lower than the last run of scores I’ve given, and rain and snow abound. It’s the perfect weather for the frosty kiss of good atmospheric black metal, and yet there has been a relative dearth recently. The English trio of Fen aim to change all that with their sixth release, The Dead Light.” Fen is coming.
“It has been described as the world’s most succinct word: “Mamihlapinatapai.” From the near-extinct Yaghan language, it means, “A look shared by two people, each wishing that the other would initiate something that they both desire, but which neither wants to begin.” It also happens to be the name of one of the songs on Violet Cold’s new album, kOsmik. If you look at the philosophy of Violet Cold, the one-man post-black metal project of the prodigiously talented, and prolific Emin Guliyev from Azerbaijan, this word seems to sum it up perfectly.”
“Thormesis is a band that should have been doomed to eternal mediocrity. As a long-time follower of this blog, I’ve seen similarly underwhelming bands succumb to a vicious cycle: album falls to an unwitting reviewer; reviewer, underwhelmed, doles out a middling score; band releases follow-up record two years later; reviewer, out of obligation, hands out a nearly identical score, irritated by the lack of improvement. When I eyed The Sixth in the promo pit, I was all but certain that I was about to cement Thormesis’ place in this cycle.” Rise above.
“There are some truths which we all hold to be self-evident no matter who we are. Examples of such universal certainties include that you will breathe oxygen under a blue sky, fire will be hot eleven times out of ten, and that, one day, you will die. Most do their damnedest to disarm that last trvth bomb, but it’s the only thing Germany’s Arkuum are thinking about on their sophomore effort, Die Letzte Agonie. With a fittingly foreboding production and a staunch refusal to smile, one man fatalist army Arkas cradles that aforementioned bombshell like a kvlt and cvddly baby, singing life itself to sleep with a 50-minute blackened lullaby.”Hvsh little baby.
“It’s not exactly a secret that I enjoy of deep atmospheric black metal just as much as the next guy deems to be unhealthy, though even I don’t know where my own obsession with the sounds ov misanthropy came from. Maybe it was Maine, maybe it was Northern winter nights. Maybe it was you people, maybe it was me and my staunch opposition to joy that lead me here; whatever the case, it sure felt right to pluck Skyborne Reveries’ Winter Lights from the promo bin after a bit of… unpleasantness.” Muppet and the winter moon.
“The Australian summer is defined by a great many things but none more so than the irresistible sanctuary of our sprawling beaches. Umber bodies glisten and preen, hot chips sting the air with vinegar and the roar of the surf is a siren that beckons with a deafening song. Those sun-dappled waves bear a deception, however, because beyond the surface of their undulating splendor belies the dark rips that drag people down into an airless oblivion. I kept thinking about this frightful dichotomy as I listened to Solitude by Finland’s Totalselfhatred, a musical cry for help bifurcated by aching beauty and self-destruction.” Fear and loathing at the beauty parlor.
