![Ezkaton/Solitude.m – Campfire of None [Split] Review](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ezkaton-solitude-m-campfire-of-none-768x701.jpg)
“From the dense, dark fog of Eastern Europe rises the unknowable Ezkaton, emerging from their slumber of… has it really only been a year? Alright, then. But this time, they aren’t alone. No, this time they emerge from the mists accompanied by… Solitude.m? Who are they? Hang on. I have some research to do. One second… no, can’t find anything. Solitude.m is about as mysterious as Ezkaton themselves.” SMOOOAAR blackness!
“In a year of surprises, mostly of the nasty variety, a new album from Californian experimental legends Mr Bungle seemed an unlikely scenario. Yet here we are, but not as many would have expected. As has been well publicized, rather than pen an album of fresh tunes, the band has continued their streak for delivering the unexpected, revisiting their earliest teenage musical roots, and 1986 cult demo, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny.” Bunny or die.
“If you haven’t gone back to the band’s humble beginnings, you’re missing a hell of a lot. And, not in the sense of the classic black metal of old. No, no. You’ve missed one LP (Marras) and two EPs (Tuoni and Sarastus) of acoustic beauty. There’re more acoustic guitars, pianos, and strings in that handful of songs than all the liquidated Guitar Centers combined. That said, don’t expect grandiosity and orchestral pretentiousness. October Falls’s acoustic discs sound like a couple of guys with guitars sitting around a campfire. A couple of musicians playing simple music for the moon, for the woods, for themselves.” Moon music.
“Steel prophecies are to be heeded! Back in the Year of Our Lord 2018 I covered the sophomore release by U.K. retro rockers Wytch Hazel and verily did I proclaim that II: Sojourn sounded like the album that drops right before a band uncorks their truly killer magnum opus. Well kiddies, that .44 magnum is here with Wytch Hazel III: Pentecost.” The third judgment.
“Post-black and blackened post metal. The same thing, surely? I would argue no. Post-black metal tends to rely on lengthy, brooding atmospheric passages, interspersed with blasts of black metal fury. Blackened post metal, on the other hand, should be towering, mesmerizing riffs with that vicious black metal edge to proceedings. Sheffield, UK’s Ba’al have been knocking around since 2016, putting out EPs in their first year and then in 2019 also, but the absolute shitshow that is 2020 sees this four piece dropping their debut full-length, Ellipsism.” Post-Post.
“I have a strange relationship with progressive metal. On one hand, I feel like the vast majority of prog is made up of decent song ideas separated from one another by fancy time signatures, self-indulgent experimentation, and other forms of needless wankery. But on the other hand, I proudly claim progressive titans Symphony X and Nevermore as my two favorite bands of all time. Those bands had a way of making their immensely complex compositions seem deceptively simple — a hallmark of a good prog band in my book. To me, progressiveness is really just the amplification of — or an embellishment upon — what a band already does well. Thus, my view that much of today’s “prog” music is really just embellished nothingness. On that cheerful note, enter Israeli progressive metal band Scardust.” Prog for dummies.
“It’s one thing to write a review of a returning band you’ve reviewed before. It’s a whole other ballgame to review a returning band that one of the most respected and revered staff members on the site has covered previously. If their review was controversially critical about a popular young artist well on the rise, the pressure only mounts. Not that I disagree with Grymm’s take on Auðn’s last offering. Being relatively fresh to black metal and its myriad offshoots, I hadn’t heard Farvegir Fyrndar before, but on a cursory spin, the unpopular stance that the production ruined an otherwise very solid piece of Icelandic atmo-black rang true with yours truly.” New day, new production.
“Svabhavat is a new duo from the American Pacific Northwest, Black Mirror Reflection their first release. They profess a “cold ‘n cruel” style of traditional second-wave black metal in the ilk of Darkthrone, Mayhem, and especially Katharsis.” Through a mirror blackly.
“New Zealand’s devastating speed metal trio Stälker have deemed it appropriate to drop a new album on our laps this week.” Stälk the cradle of glove.
“I wanted something creepy and mystical in the spirit of Halloween season, and everything about this record from the artwork to the name to the day it releases satisfied my parameters to a T. After some due diligence, I decided these incantations were safe to peruse. Behold, Obsidian Daggers and Cinnabar Skulls!” Cinnamon buns ov death!
