Portal - Vexovoid
Genre: Experimental Death Metal
From the first crash of the cymbal
and distorted weirdness of the guitarwork on 'Kilter', the Australian
“experimental” death metallers in Portal returned to sow musical
terror and confusion this past February with their fourth studio
album Vexovoid. Trying to
apply conventional sense to this music is a lost cause – it's loud,
intense and borderline schizophrenic with its constant riff changes
and reverb-ridden soundscapes. Portal records tend to mold together
into dissonant,
hour-long terror trip with enough claustrophobia and mind-numbing
weirdness to reduce listeners to gibbering wrecks, and Vexovoid
is no different. Nevertheless,
Vexovoid is Portal's
shortest record to date, with most songs falling short of five
minutes. But, as is the case with them for all their records, this
outing with Portal makes its stay much longer than you'd expect –
never in a bad way, but sitting through a Portal record can be
likened to sensory deprivation torture. Minutes turn into hours and
hours turn into eons. Portal make music to lose yourself in as chaos
surrounds you totally. For the masochist lurking in all of us, it's
some of the most terrifyingly perverse ways to torture oneself
sonically.
Some
may know Portal from their bizarre, otherworldly video for the single
'Curtain', off of Vexovoid, which
was released just in time for Halloween. The video, based on one of
my favourite poems by Edgar Allen Poe (The Conqueror
Worm), immediately piqued my
interest in the band, and since then I've found myself confronted by
some of the strangest, most unnerving music I've had the misfortune
to cross paths with. Vexovoid, in
particular, acts the bleaker, darker successor to 2009's Swarth
as it combines the dread of
Outre' with the
effervescent, mutated riffwork of Swarth.
Yet
there's a bizarre stillness to most of Vexovoid –
almost oxymoronic in nature since the instrumentals are about as fast
as your average death metal band. Rather, it's the way the guitar,
bass, and drums work together that forces you into the eye of the
hurricane – as sound rages all around you, there's a sense of being
very confined and very much in danger. As
though you're stuck in an elevator with these motherfuckers playing very loudly and howling right in your ear. In a way,
it's the opposite of a lot of ambient bands, who rely on very little
noise to do so much – Earth, for example.
Portal use a whole lot of noise and do very little. Dissonant,
gut-wrenchingly heavy noise, but noise nevertheless.
What
keeps Vexovoid from
going stale is that the band is, as usual, willing to ease up just
enough for you to tense for the next explosion – the nail-biting
intro to 'Curtain' and 'Awryeon' or, ironically, the tail end of
closer 'Oblotten', which features a few noxious notes amidst total
silence as you tense up for the final torment before, miraculously,
the music vanishes. Just as you're starting to get used to something,
the band shakes you up again, either with a riff change or an
explosion like in the first minute 'Black Wards'. Portal pull no
punches and aren't afraid to smother you if you give them the
opportunity. Not for the
faint of heart.
Notable
Tracks: 'Black Wards', 'Orbmorphia', 'Awyreon'.
Moon - The Nine Gates
Genre: Black Metal
But
we're not just done with Australia yet, because from the Outback
comes the ghost of Xasthur, reborn in the mysterious, otherworldly
black metal of one-man band Moon. Mastermind Miasmyr emerged from his
silence after 2011's Caduceus
Chalice with his newest
endeavour the Nine Gates.
At first listen, Moon's music, especially the case with Caduceus
Chalice, with its distant, eerie
production, comes across as total Xasthur worship – and the barely
recognizable vocals add to the effect, recalling Malefic's harsh,
processed shriek. However, while the influence is clear, it is just
that – an influence. Miasmyr isn't concerned with making you want
to kill yourself the way Xasthur was. Instead, the grandiose
atmosphere and distant coldness is more evocative of mystery
and mysticism. This is
ritualistic black metal – fans of Wolves in the Throne Room or
Throne of Katarsis will know exactly what that means.
Caduceus
Chalice was notable in just how
far away the music seemed to be from the listener – and
the brutally cold production both Caduceus Chalice and
the Nine Gates enjoy
gives Miasmyr even more space to howl his apostasy at the stars.
But unlike its predecessor,
which gave the impression of a distant “wall of sound”, the
Nine Gates' instrumentals are
fairly easy to discern.
It's still black metal to totally dissociate yourself to, in the vein
of DSBM, but never veers too far into the melodies and
heart-wrenching lyrics of Thy Light or Shining. Hell, 'Poison from
the Abyss' starts out with a classic “blast beats and tremolo”
passage before subsiding into a brooding mood with a borderline
catchy drum line.
Is it
depressive? Is it atmospheric? Moon seems hover between the two, at
once wrapping its listeners in a cold cloak like the former, but at the same time projecting itself across a vast space like the latter. The Nine Gates is
majestic, yet grand, even bringing in an organ on 'Sabbat' to
heighten the mood, or the
slow crawling of 'Astral Blood'. If ghosts made music, it would
probably sound like the Nine Gates
– and, indeed, the sprawling netherworlds Miasmyr paints, for me at
least, recalls the tragedy of Orpheus as he proceeds to the
underworld, or Dante
descending through hell.
There
is suffering in 'Lillu Drowning' but it's outstriped by the
malevolent guitar and synthwork that oozes throughout the record. The
guitar, in particular, almost literally drips with
perverse malice during the passages where Miasmyr lets each
individual note of a chord ring.
The
Nine Gates is an interesting
record because no matter what kind of black metal you are in the mood
for, (well, except maybe old school) it rapidly adapts to. Fans of
DSBM and atmospheric black will absolutely enjoy this album, and
whatever Miasmyr has up his sleeve next, I'm quite excited.
Notable
Tracks: 'Spiritless Winds', 'Lillu Drowning', 'Astral
Blood'.
Silverstein - This is How the Wind Shifts
Genre: Post-Hardcore
I
always feel weird transitioning from intense metal to bands like
Silverstein. Pretty much as soon as I finished my summary of Moon I
put on the new Silverstein album This is How the Wind
Shifts and it took me a few
seconds to adjust to the genre shift. But anyway, I've been rantingabout this album since it was released in March, even going so
far as to include it on my halfway retrospective.
So
I'll say it again. If you're a fan of post-hardcore or emo rock, this
album is an absolute delight. It's actually difficult to put into
writing how much I love this album, and easily consider it one of the
best -core albums of the year (well, maybe not the best objectively,
but more on that later). This is How the
Wind Shifts is the band's first
album with new guitarist Paul-Marc Rousseau, and the band of
Canadians have never sounded better guitar-wise. Equal parts heavy
and poppy, 'Massachusetts''s sing-along chorus and equally infectious
guitar work is equal parts bravado and fun, building up to a big ol'
breakdown before dissipating into a minimalist sound.
This
is How the Wind Shifts is a
concept album – and while that may sound cringe-worthy for one of
the more famous scene bands, it works well, and explores two possible
outcomes for a couple having some issues. But if that doesn't catch
your attention, there's enough variety on this record that each
individual song stands out.
Sure, there are ups and downs – 'A Better Place' is a fairly
nondescript unrequieted love ballad, but then there are songs like
'In a Place of Solace' or 'Departures'.
I'm
going to let the sizeable amount I've written about this album speak
for itself, but rest assured it is not to be missed.
Notable
Songs: 'In a Place of Solace', 'To Live and to Lose', 'In Silent Seas
We Drown'.
HRVRD - From the Bird's Cage
Genre: Indie Rock
I
first heard of HRVRD – a mellow, melancholic indie rock group for
North Carolina – when they mystifyingly opened for Letlive last
year. Sure, the post-hardcore influences were there, and the band is
touring with A Lot Like Birds at
the time of writing, but HRVRD play and sound a lot closer to the
Lumineers than the Fall of Troy, and contrasted especially brightly
considering Letlive's stage show was, as expected, totally insane.
In
any case, I was shocked to learn that HRVRD have been around for
nearly nine years, and in that time have released a scant three
records, this year's From the Bird's Cage included.
Their last outing, 2009's The Inevitable and I,
was a bemused, bittersweet, if somewhat redundant at times jaunt
through prog and post-rock studded soundscapes. In any case, the
album suffered from too many ideas, and at a whopping fourteen songs
was an absolute beast of a record that I've had trouble sitting
through multiple times.
From
the Bird's Cage is the natural
progression from the Inevitable and I –
the band has applied themselves and hunkered down on a set of ideas that work together, and even manages to throw in a few more upbeat passages amidst the mournful guitar work. 'Futurist' is a key example of this – at once fast and loose, while maintaining the space and low-key atmosphere HRVRD are known for. Part of what makes From
the Bird's Cage an excellent
album is that HRVRD know exactly what their strengths are, and
mix the catchy with the nebulous yet familiar. The vocals, which come
across as both resigned and frustrated, are the centerpiece of the
record, and lyrically they match the music's somber nature – hell,
intro song 'Black Creme' even takes the form of a villanelle.
In
many ways, HRVRD show their musical experience and savoir-faire, but
it's always in highly subtle ways that topically make From
the Bird's Cage an excellent
record, and an even more excellent album when you delve deeper. Take,
for instance, the eerie, theramin-riden 'New Information', which
takes queues from melody and dissonance in equal parts before
breaking into the acoustic, atmospheric classic 'Cardboard Houses',
which in turn gets heavier with the transition line “I'm
in hell, I'm in hell, I'm in hell...”.
But
no matter where they go, HRVRD always find their way back to the
style we know them best for, which is impressive because on From
the Bird's Cage they go all over
the place – lots of people tend to bash on indie rock for all
sounding the same, and HRVRD are testament to just how wrong that is.
Notable
Songs: 'Cardboard Houses', 'Futurist', 'Eva Brucke'.
Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
Genre: Black/Heavy Metal
What's
inherently funny about black metal is that, for the most part, its
Norwegian progenitors have largely renounced the genre they helped
spawn. Mayhem, the powerhouse that put out Deathcrush and
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas have
faded into the background, while artists like Burzum or Immortal have
moved on to ambient and heavy metal influenced music.
Darkthrone,
the Norwegian duo acclaimed for their early 90s 'Unholy Trinity' of
albums (A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Under a Funeral Moon,
and Transilvanian
Hunger), have been very vocal in
their condemnation of modern black metal, claiming the sound they
created was never meant to be a trend and withdrawing from the
limelight as other artists from Scandinavia
– Taake and Watain spring to mind – took their place, citing
Darkthrone as one of the most important bands in the genre's history.
From
the turn of the millennium on, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have been
hard at work following in the style of 80s giants like Sarcofago,
Venom, and Bathory, and have morphed Darkthrone into a heavy metal
machine, with all of the motifs and goodies of Panzerfaust
a memory. Fortunately, their
output has been continuously excellent, combining the pomp and
bombast of 80s metal with their own ideas. Their most recent effort,
the Underground Resistance,
raises the Bathory worship to a new level, and it's definitely a
great time.
One
of the most praiseworthy practices Darkthrone have repeatedly shown
is a refusal to skate on nostalgia, instead spurning anything 'kvlt'
they might have once done. The Underground Resistance is
100% heavy metal, and while Fenriz' vocals are harsh, they never
approach the demonic growl of his previous work, while 'The Ones You
Leave Behind' features Nocturno Culto on cleans as Fenriz demolishes
the drumwork (as usual), and it's almost sing-along like in its
catchiness and lack of subtlety.
Aside
from its headbang-inducing attack, the second most striking element
of this record (and, indeed, of most of Darkthrone's later catalogue)
has been the almost palpable amount of fun Darkthrone had making this
record. On 'Come Warfare, the Entire Doom', you can almost see the
smirk on Fenriz' face as he sneers “You are not welcome here”!
There's a permeating lightheartedness throughout the distorted
corridors of the Underground Resistance that
differentiates Darkthrone's later music from many of its
contemporaries, who are obsessed with darkness and death.
Where
black metal is intricate and finely honed to a misanthropic edge, the
Underground Resistance tramples
and rushes forward. It's a refreshing take on a genre many consider
tired and uninteresting, and a few classic 'OH!'s and 'OOOH!'s and
King Diamond-style falsetto and operatics round out the last song of
the album 'Leave no Cross Unturned', adding to the sarcastically
heavy-handed taste this album brings to the table. To conclude,
Darkthrone have done it again – the Underground
Resistance is as much fun to
listen to as it must have been to create.
Notable
Tracks: 'Leave No Cross Unturned', 'Dead Early', 'Valkyrie'.
Shai Hulud - Reach Beyond the Sun
Genre: Metalcore
Speaking
of influential bands, let's talk about an act that has never enjoyed
much of a spotlight. When it comes to metalcore, potentially one of
the most important bands in the genre,
Shai Hulud, remain inexplicably underground. Never
mind that the band is the missing link between 90s hardcore like
Parkway Drive, Shai Hulud probably just aren't cute enough to enjoy
mainstream popularity in the -core genre. It's a deeply unfortunate
fact, because Shai Hulud have been cranking out excellent melodic
hardcore since the mid 90s, and in 2001 released the stellar That
Within Blood Ill-Tempered – a
manifesto on honorable misanthropy. If that's not hardcore, you tell
me.
Thus
it shouldn't be a surprise that Shai Hulud are exceptionally
talented lyricists and
musicians, and are known for taking nearly five years between each
release. February's Reach Beyond the Sun,
which saw the light of day after 2008's similarly excellent
Misanthropy Pure, sees
the band taking their music – thick and stoic as its always been –
in new, riff-heavy directions.
From
their inception, Shai Hulud have always been anthemic and epic in
their music, and Reach Beyond the Sun is
no exception. This is a profoundly good
album, packed with more hardcore intensity than you can shake a
two-step at. Whether it's the ending 'amidst this chaos!' of 'I,
Saturnine', or the chill-inducing
introduction
of 'A Human Failing', Reach
Beyond the Sun delivers an
expected, but eagerly anticipated, eleven anthems, supported by gang
vocals and a ton of riffs to get your head banging.
As
I've gotten more and more entrenched in metal, I've found myself
having trouble with listening to entire hardcore albums at once –
it took me a few listens to really get the hang of Mammoth Grinder's
massive Underworlds (to
be covered later) - but miraculously, I didn't have this issue with
Reach Beyond the Sun.
The album, which features the almighty Chad Gilbert before he left
the band earlier this year, is the band's fourth since 1997, and with
every song having its own rhythm and feel, it's a varied thirty-five
minutes that I'm not going to regret any time soon.
Lyrically,
as I said before, Shai Hulud have been resolutely putting -core to
shame for years. 'Man into Demon: And Their Faces are Twisted With
the Pain of Living' features my favourite lyrics on the album in the
form of: 'The pain of life has twisted your face, You
stagger with the hooves on which you walk. The pain of life has
altered your physical state of being. Devolved and mutated, a mortal
mockery, grossly winged and given flight.'
and though it's painfully short,
the song, while fairly nondescript Shai Hulud fare, trumps most -core
lyrics of the past ever
– and yes, the Color Morale's new album is awful and you should
feel bad if you think
it's 'deep'.
Notable
Songs: 'Reach Beyond the Sun', 'A Human Failing', 'If a Mountain Be
My Obstacle'.
Terra Tenebrosa - The Purging
Genre: Post-Metal/Avant-Garde Metal
Sweden's Terra Tenebrosa (Latin for 'Dark Earth') sprang from the ruins of
post-hardcore legends Breach, and since then have imposed their
bizarre, claustrophobic, borderline uncomfortable post-metal on an
unsuspecting audience. When people hear the words 'post-metal', bands
like Neurosis and Isis spring to mind, artists who combine the
flighty whimsy of post-rock with the downtrodden gaze of sludge metal
to create swelling, melody-driven, relaxing metal, right?
Guess
again.
The
Purging, the band's second
full-length following 2011's The Tunnels,
is as creepy and uncompromising as it comes, replete with howling
screams and twisted ambiance. 'The Redeeming Teratoma' is nearly
three minutes of ambient whistling and bizarre, monstrous swells
before the band emerges ponderously in 'The Compression Chamber'. The
band, who are part of the “mysterious masked members” revival
alongside bands like Ghost, Portal and Deathspell Omega, are fronted
by screecher 'The Cuckoo', who adds his throaty rasp to the layers of
bizarre atmosphere, and his companions 'Hisperdal' (a corruption of a
common anti-schizophrenia drug, risperidone)
and 'Hibernal'. As of writing, only the Cuckoo's role as vocalist is
known, but for only three people to accomplish such chilling, massive
music is a massive undertaking.
People
have been talking about the song 'Black Pearl in a Crystalline Shell'
for quite a while, and it's easy to see why. It's in this song that
Terra Tenebrosa run their full gamut of tricks – bizarre post-rock
breaks, schizophrenic vocals and insanity-inducing instrumentals. The
Purging is a different kind of
terror than bands like Portal, who assault the listener with walls of
sound, and is more akin to the twisted work of Gnaw Their Tongues in
terms of how utterly twisted and murky it is.
In
the end, though, Terra Tenebrosa have an interesting take on
post-metal as a genre, introducing an element of negativity and fear
to a genre that's dominated with artistic swells and tryhard
hipsters. In this, they may be the first catalyst of a splintering
within the genre, gravitating
towards the darkness of metal instead of the light of post-rock.
That's
not to say there aren't any post-rock elements at play, but they're
put to work in ways you wouldn't expect and that serve to send a
shiver down your spine. The bizarre, distorted vocals on 'the Nucleus
Turbine', or the dark crescendos and crackling drums at the start of
the title track can be likened to Isis or Leviathan. It's an
interesting take on the genre as a whole, but it isn't entirely free
from fault.
Perhaps
the most notable fault of the album is that it's very difficult to
listen to individual songs. This is a record that requires your full
attention for it entire fifty minute duration, and it especially
starts to drag on its second half. The Purging also
requires a very specific kind of mood – in all of its creepiness,
it's highly introspective music that lacks anthemic, epic passages –
but unlike Cult of Luna, this is a trip to dark corners of the mind,
to places you potentially might not want to visit again. When all is
said and done, though, the Purging is
a truly intriguing record, not only for its avant-garde take on
metal, but on the perverse images it conjures up. Turn down the
lights, look at some Hieronymus Bosch paintings, and put on The
Purging for a spine-chilling
evening you won't regret.
Notable
Tracks: 'The Compression Chamber', 'Terra Tenebrosa', 'House of
Flesh'.
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