I'm busy
Here's a lot of bands, all at once.
I’d like to only listen to music and write reviews about it. I really would. Unfortunately, for being in the infantile stages of this endeavor, I am not going to be paying any bills with my recurring subscriber income of $0/ever.
That’s not to say I don’t have any albums to recommend. Thankfully, reviews are a two-step process: the listening step, and the writing step. I can listen to music anytime, even when doing the work that does pay my bills. What’s more, it’s not hard to find a good album. Per my analysis, there’s already been at least thirty-nine black metal releases this month (only counting full-lengths and EPs), with seventy-three releases slated in total. My cup runneth over.
My review process is fairly simple, too:
Is it black metal, in any way? No? NEXT!
Okay, it’s black metal. Does it suck? Yes? NEXT!
Okay, it doesn’t suck. But is it boring? Yes? NEXT!
98% of blackened death doesn’t make it past this step.
Yeah, I said it. Fight me.
Okay, it isn’t boring. Is it more interesting than anything else I’ve heard recently? No? NEXT!
It made it this far? We have a WINNER!
See? It isn’t a terribly rigorous process.
The hard part is the writing. Sometimes, an album may be good, but I don’t always have a lot to say about the album itself. Take Furia’s Huta Luna. It’s an album I personally enjoyed, and Furia is a band that I love to show to others. However, there wasn’t much to say about the album, other than “Furia fans will enjoy it” and “the final track is half of the album’s total length”. A meaty review, it would not make.
So here are all the bands that 1) I couldn’t think of much to say about, despite enjoying the album, or 2) I could think of plenty to say, but haven’t had the time to get it down in writing. So without further ado…
Furia - Huta Luna
Metal Archives | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube
Fans of Furia will enjoy their latest release, which is a departure from their very experimental and post-punk driven albums of recent years to the rougher sound of their early days.
Also, the final track is half of the album’s total length, so they haven’t fully left behind the experimental stuff.
Mortuary Drape - Black Mirror
Metal Archives | Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube
Frankly, the only acceptable excuse for not having made the time for Mortuary Drape’s latest album would be you not having heard about it.
Well I just solved that, now didn’t I?
R.I.P. Without Name
Tetragrammacide - Typho-Tantric Aphorisms from the Arachneophidian Qur'an
Metal Archives | Bandcamp | YouTube
I was sold at “Typho-Tantric Aphorisms”.
At one point, I was convinced I had left one of my studio’s monitors on, sure that the piercing dog-whistle that I was hearing was the product of some guitar feedback.
Nope. It was this album.
Sodom - 1982
Metal Archives | Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube
Yes, that Sodom. The old-school thrash metalers reprise their proto-black metal days in their recent EP, 1982. It’s comprised of re-recordings of tracks from their demo days. It’s a good time, and will do nicely to wash down the horror of that Tetragrammacide album.
Mephorash - Krystl-Ah
Metal Archives | Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube
I would deem this my favorite album on this list. There’s a certain spiritual angle in the delivery, and as such, the album is very easy to melt into. Count this alongside acts like Behemoth or Schammasch. The vocals often strike a choir-like quality, invoking an ambiance typical of hymns.
To put it simply: it sounds the way that I wish any of Ba-two-shkas second albums would have sounded.
Celeste - Epilogue(s)
Okay, technically, Celeste has not released their new EP, Epilogue(s), as of writing this. However, the entire EP is only three tracks, and they’ve already released two of them as singles. That said, I can reasonably assert that over half of the release is good.
It releases on November 17th, 2023 - tomorrow - so odds are that the EP is already out as of you reading this.
I’m going to call it there. Like I said earlier, I’m busy. I hope to return to full reviews soon, but that will likely be next week (or beyond…)