“Ah, black metal, my old friend. While I’ve been spending much of 2021 either trying to get my baby daughter to smile or try to steal as much weird death metal from Kronos as possible, I can’t deny the blackened shred that settles comfortably into the crevices of my soul. I’ve long anticipated a comfortably atmospheric, aptly scathing breed of second-wave shenanigans to sink my teeth into, and there’s no time like the present.” Semper lo-fi.
“The Venetian Carnival originated in the 1100s as a way to celebrate the overthrowing of the Patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrico de Treven in 1162. Wearing colorful outfits and dancing in San Marco Square, the celebrants retained an air of anonymity by donning elaborate masks, which shortened the gap between the rich and affluent, and the poor and downtrodden. Milan’s Mascharat plays up this influential period in Renaissance history, using it as a backbone for their debut full-length, right down to the fact that almost nothing is known about the band except their location.” No one expects The Venetian Carnival!
“Pestilential Shadows comes from the land down under, where the women glow and men plunder. Listen closely, and you’ll hear their black metal thunder. Listen even closer, and you’ll run for cover. Gimmicky introduction aside, the men in Pestilential Shadows have been at work making some seriously bleak music since 2003, and their fifth album, Ephemeral, shows no signs of deviating from this path.” Anyone want a Vegemite sandwich?
“To kick off 2014 there really is no more fitting genre to review than black metal. Why? Because it’s proof that absolutely nothing ever changes. In fact it’s almost a sign that the apocalypse most certainly is not nigh; the wind still blows, the trees still grow and black metal bands still wear bullet belts and corpse paint. But at some point as a community of metalheads we simply have to pull the wool from our eyes and admit to ourselves that there is absolutely no purpose to bands like Graveborne any more….” Noctus returns with a whole lot of angry and some lessons for our black metal brethren! Don the asbestos suit, Noctus!
