“Another day, another raw black metal act. I was gonna go into the obligatory rant about how it’s the aural form of licorice, but suffice it to say: you either hate it or you love tolerate it. If you’re a masochist who likes to have your ears bleeding on the reg, dive in. If you prefer your music tasteful and somewhat reasonable, stay away. Unless it’s Pa Vesh En, who, along with acts like Black Cilice or Lamp of Murmuur, regularly provide tasteful interpretations of barbed wire tones.” Angry cargo.
Belarusian Metal
Źmiarćvieły – Čornaje Połymia Review
“Źmiarćvieły is an anonymous collective from Belarus… maybe. They keep it under wraps. Like the enigma of their members, number, or location, the name itself is shrouded in mystery, its translation from Belarusian is equally murky. Debut Čornaje Połymia is a childlike EP that managed to stack itself into an undercoat to get into the R-rated LP screening. It’s a gamble, truly, to submit your debut EP without notoriety.” Masked bravery.
Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum – Šahrartu Review
“…or Eximperitus for short. What’s in a name, anyway? For the nameless, faceless Belarusian purveyors of brutscurity, it contains fragments of Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Akkadian, and Sumerian to form the ‘unutterable name of the antiuniverse.’ Sold. Let’s fucking go.” Names fail us.
Dkharmakhaoz – Proclamation ov the Black Suns Review
“Industrial black metal has not boded well in 2020, with groups like American snoozers T.O.M.B. and Dutch painmongers Ulveblod earning some of the lowest ratings I’ve awarded during my tenure. Dkharmakhaoz‘s Proclamation ov the Black Suns, blessedly, is extremely well-written and densely punishing second-wave foray into atmospherics that never neglects its highlights.” Black sunshine.
Mora Prokaza – By Chance Review
“Your fifth grade science fair project. Frankenstein’s monster. That godawful sandwich you made of leftover hash browns, macaroni and cheese, hot dog buns, and spaghetti sauce. Said godawful sandwich growing furry mold sitting in the back of your fridge after vowing you’ll eat it later. What do all these have in common? They’re experiments, forays into the unknown. Rife with experimentation, will Mora Prokaza‘s latest blackened oddity fall into the happy slurpee realm or the “acquired taste” maggot cheese kingdom?” I’ll just stick with the Haggis.
The EP, Split, and Single Post Part I [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]
Did you miss some crucial EPs, splits and singles in 2019? We’ve got you covered, chumbo.
Pa Vesh En – Pyrefication Review
“Pa Vesh En’s Pyrefication begins as many black metal records begin, with a foggy sequence of sustained riffs and electronic noises that draw an atmospheric veil. It takes a moment to adjust to this tenebrosity. The music appears monolithic at first, until silhouettes of individual ideas start revealing themselves. Like a symphonic orchestra attuning their instruments in preparation of a concert, the Belarusian one-man project uses the opening “…In the Ghostly Haze” to timidly set the stage of its second full-length release, exploring and expanding into sound spaces.” Purity through fire.
Verwüstung – Gospel ov Fury Review
“Nothing gets me going like blackened thrash metal. The mere sight of a promising promo that places the words “black” and “thrash” together is enough to manifest a throbbing pillar of flesh in my britches, the magnitude of which is rivaled only by the tower of Isengard. Belarus quartet Verwüstung take things a step further by describing their second album Gospel ov Fury as “a fucking firestorm of blackthrashing metal.” Jesus. Suddenly I need a cold shower.” Rage-gasms.
Irreversible Mechanism – Immersion Review
“Irreversible Mechanism‘s debut caused a bit of a stir when it came out in 2015, becoming one of the most successful new releases at the time for the now well-known metal/synthwave boutique label Blood Music. The appeal of Infinite Fields came from both its epic scale and technical wizardry, but like a lot of metal acts, the band achieved that scale via levels of choral and orchestral synthesis that would make Jari Maenpaa himself blush. As fun as it turned out to be, it was easy to write off the band as a young guitar wizard’s opulent vanity project, accomplished but ultimately lacking in the sort of levity that such maximalism chafes against. It’s not so easy to do the same with Immersion.” New flesh prevails?
Amentia – Scourge Review
“To get the name dropping out of the way, if you’re a fan of Misery Index, Blotted Science or The Faceless then, chances are, you’ll enjoy the kind of technical death metal that Amentia are offering.” Crank the wank.