“Unfurl adhere to the school of posts—post-grind, post-death, post-hardcore—that also gives us such bands as Full of Hell and Wake, and Ascension is their third full-length LP. Grindcore is the base of their sound, but these knotted compositions can suddenly swerve into sludgy doom trudges or ethereal clean flourishes on a dime. A handful of genres can be heard at any given time, but Ascension is really a tale of two albums.” Fly the flag of grind.
“Eleven years. Eleven years since Scotland’s Ascension released their debut record, Far Beyond the Stars. While shreddery and wank found a cozy little home on that record, the songs were there, the talent amongst all involved abundant. It was clear from the very start that Ascension were a band to watch for, primed and ready to unseat DragonForce for hyper-speed cheese supremacy after Inhuman Rampage exploded in the mid-aughts. But eleven years is a long time to wait.” Tick tock….
“Regarde les Hommes Tomber’s soundscape is a vertical stack of black-, post- and sludge metal. The sound is dense and relentlessly insistent, a colliding pile of tremolo rhythms supporting ominous, towering riffs. The vocals are one part black metal screams, two parts hoarse shouts filled with desperation. The effect is like getting caught in a mudslide: unexpected speed, suffocating darkness and crushing weight, surrounded by the screams of the other unfortunate souls dragged to their deaths by the unflinching flow.” It’s the rise and fall.
“One-man bands make me both impressed and apprehensive. I’m impressed because having a musical vision is special to begin with and being able to execute it solo takes real talent. I’m apprehensive because there’s no give-and-take or real collaboration for the visionary, and most creators of any stripe lack the will to kill their darlings.” One man with a bully pulpit.
Dr. Wvrm takes time away from his busy n00b kicking schedule to drop his Top Ten(ish) of 2019 because he cares.
Mark Z. and L. Saunders have their moment in the blackened sun to proclaim their Top Ten(ish) preferences for 2019. Fear the words.
Huck N’ Roll and Eldritch Elitist weigh in with their own Top Ten(ish) of 2019 lists, and they have a lot to say.
“I’ve drifted away from black metal over the years. In hindsight, the signs were there; my listening habits shifted away from the genre, I stopped actively seeking out new black metal, I read black metal reviews more for the writing than the record, and – the final straw – while browsing Bandcamp recently, I came across a record and, upon learning it was black metal, muttered “meh” and moved along without pressing play. Then along came Enthroned, with their follow-up to 2014’s great Sovereigns. Despite my ambivalence towards black metal, my interest was piqued; sometimes a bit of nostalgia and familiarity is needed to rekindle a flame.” Back to the black.
“In my early days of metal fandom, there was a period of roughly two years – spanning from the time I stumbled upon DragonForce,’s Inhuman Rampage to when I began exploring Darkthrone’s discography – where I listened to nothing except for power metal and thrash. During this period, as I worked on my sloppy renditions of “Eagle Fly Free” and “Battery” on a cheap Yamaha electric guitar my parents picked up at a department store, I had an epiphany: why the fuck hasn’t anyone mashed up the two best genres in the world?” One mash, coming up!
“Blaze of Perdition is a Polish band, and Poland is a largely Catholic country. Conscious Darkness, their follow-up to the solid Near Death Revelations, is a black metal record, which in the vast majority of cases entails irreligious or fervently anti-religious content. This is black metal fused with death metal, but not blackened death; the Polish, along with the Germans, are particularly good at this!” Poles of blackened fury.
