Longtime readers will know that, aside from a
few notable exceptions, I don't really tell y'all a lot about myself. Sure, if one were inclined to delve deep into the OPIUM HUM stacks, one could ascertain or infer a great deal about me through asides and offhand remarks, but overall, as personal as it can feel, I think this blog's pretty light on actual self-disclosure.
Therefore, y'all would have no way of knowing that the past year of my life has been a time of unprecedented personal growth. I feel like a very different person from the one that started this blog, and this version of me aspires to be a force for good and a source of light, and to reject the pitfalls of nihilism, misanthropy, and hopelessness.
Thankfully, none of this has impacted my abiding love for black metal and all the hatefulness and misery therein. In fact, over the past few months, I've been listening to more of it than I have in years. This is at least in part due to this year's crop of black metal records having provided a particularly plentiful bounty thus far -- from raw Darkthrone worship to dissonant death-infused chaos to strange and exciting new directions for the genre. These five records are ones that I absolutely love and that I haven't seen or heard a lot of hype around.
Jesum Christum - Svag Total
Raw, atmospheric solo project from a man who calls himself Adam CCSquele, a.k.a. drummer of the great Slægt. Epic, mournful guitar work and near-constant blasting complimented by some inspired instrumentation choices, such as the choral vocals and woodwinds that haunt the peripherals of "Drænet på uvist tid" -- easily one of my favorite pieces of black metal art in the past however-many years.
Uzlaga - The Sunken Seer
Down-tuned, heavy-as-fuck, ocean-themed black metal from this English solo project. Anthemic one-two beats, three-chord riffs, and vicious, reverb-drenched vocals, with a huge, densely layered sound, rounded out by a handful of industrial-tinged ambient interludes.
Denevér - A vérivók krónikái
Damn, another solo project. I swear I wasn't planning for this list to be all solo projects, I guess it's just a great year for BMSPs -- an acronym that really should already exist. Anyway, this one's Hungarian and vampire-themed, but it's not raw, spoopy vampiric black metal -- the icy, almost thrash-y riffing, hyperspeed blasts, and overall ass-kicking delivery place it much closer to Battles in the North than Transilvanian Hunger. Plus some totally sick shred solos.
Madre - Embryo
French/Italian atmospheric industrial black metal. A thick, droning haze of tremolo-picked guitars, space-y synths, programmed hammer-blasts, harsh noise, and bestial howls from the void.
Schavot - Kronieken Uit de Nevel
Schavot has the sound of mid-late 90s second-wave black metal down to a T. From the melodic-yet-evil guitars, to the lupine vocals, to the subtle layers of ethereal keys, to the punchy but atmospheric mixing -- it's all there. They even got a Lady of the Lake to do some oohs and ahhs and a Pinhead soundalike to do spoken word. Absolutely nailed it.
