“The niche within a niche label I, Voidhanger often scrapes the fringes of underground styles for acts embracing the weird, the strange, the vaguely musical—curious but rarely captivating for me. Par for the course, I’d never heard of Denmark’s Tongues before snagging up Formløse Stjerner, but something about the tumultuous landscape of the nihilistically nautical cover called to me like a Danish white whale, a hvidhval, if you will. Feel the Willies!
“The choice of Käthe Kollwitz’s famous Aufruhr (Uprising) as the cover art for the fourth album by Germany’s Porta Nigra is telling in that … hang on, I’m almost sure that … *cue much lip nibbling and skrunkling of eyebrows as I crank my addled memory into second gear*… Panzerfaust!!! You wouldn’t think it would take me quite as long as it did to place the cover art from my 2020 album of the year, the outstanding The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render unto Eden. 2020 was, coincidentally, also the last time we heard from Koblenz’s Porta Nigra, when they dropped the very good Schöpfungswut.” Faust friends.
April’s Record(s) o’ the Month are here right on time, as usual! This month will be particularly contentious, so that oughtta be fun.
“If you were to ask me how to do avant-garde black metal, I would point straight away to Dødsheimgard. The trajectory of their sound from raw second-wave fury to electronic, industrial, jazzy, experimental black has been nothing short of thrilling to witness. 2015’s A Umbra Omega—my personal entry point—set a new standard in the avant-garde metal scene, demonstrating the weird, wonderful depths DHG could conjure, fully realized.” Odd fellows unrest.
