“Pinpointing the core sound Eye of Nix conjures proved difficult this last week and change. On one hand, I recognize the elements that compose the content within Ligeia—black metal, doom metal, opera, post-metal, a twist of psychedelia—but I struggle to come to a concrete solution as to what this record is.” The naming game.
“The more wizened experienced writers on staff say it’s best never to go back and read your early reviews. This is the first occasion I have had to really ponder the wisdom in these words. Unreqvited’s Mosaic I: Mosaic I: L’amour et l’ardeur was just the third n00b review I penned for these venerable pages and it is the first band I am reviewing here for a second time.” Shark teeth and time.
“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’s tough to sell a band like The Great Old Ones, who from a passing glance could be accused of ad libbing modern metal tropes. Lovecraftian concepts? Obviously. An indulgence in black metal’s modern, atmospheric trappings? You bet. Adorable matching outfits and manscaped beards? Like you even have to ask. Yet the band speaks for themselves. Unlike so many of their contemporaries in the current black metal scene, they morph the stale post-black aesthetic into something monumental and individualistic, a sound that reimagines post-black metal through an uncommonly aggressive lens.” Olde shadows grow greater.
“Throughout their career as Alcest and helped by gradual fluctuations in style, French multi-instrumentalist Neige and drummer Winterhalter have been cultivating a deep sense of beauty and unfiltered sentiment. An exploration of sonic poetry in the vein of The Lake Poets, unmistakably filled with a romantic ache, a longing, and an expression of beauty and infatuation with the world so deep it hurts. Looking back at their previous work, Spiritual Instinct appears as one of the purest manifestations of this search.” Let the spirit guide.
“Very few days are monochromatic. For every yin, there’s a yang. The day you get promoted at work is the day your beloved pet dies. The day the attractive girl (or boy) rejects your advances is the day your brother gets engaged. Even something as simple as white-hot fury is, if examined truthfully, usually mixed with at least a healthy dollop of sadness. It is for this reason that music that captures different tones and moods feels more authentic than that which simply focuses on one emotion.” Can I borrow a feeling?
AMG is on the case of the brand new White Ward release. Is that gumshoe on your shoe?
“It was cold. We chased the sun downhill and West, out of the snowy peaks of the Sierras and across their weeping faces. It gleamed through the murmured rain on the windshield, beat the slick cliff sides and shattered on waterfalls loosed from the ice above. The only sound in the car, save the pelting rain, was Hope Drone’s Cloak of Ash. No other music could accompany the pounding, screaming beauty of the land. No other beat could choreograph the ferns below and firs above. It was art in conversation with the snowbanks and in time with the rushing streams.” Primal beauty.
“I have a soft spot for things I spot in the promo bin that are self-released. I think this is probably a function of my own complete lack musical talent, which means I already hold musicians in high regard and anyone who has the drive to self-release a record is a little bit amazing to me—the downside to this foible is, of course, that there is no vetting or editing on self-released records.” Self help.
“What’s in a name? How important is that moniker to a band’s identity? And what do we make of it when a band makes a radical change to its own name? These thoughts crossed my mind listening to the new album from Siberian metallers, Ultar. Previously, the members went by the very death-metal-sounding Deafknife. Then, for reasons unclear, they changed their name to Ultar, after the fictional town ‘Ulthar’ in. H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘Dreamcycle’ stories. The town of Ulthar in the books is famous for its most significant law: that ‘no man may kill a cat.'” How about beating a dead horse?
