A Forest of Stars break their silence

        A Forest of Stars, that Sheffield-based metal band that has masterfully interwoven black metal, folk metal, and psychedelic rock within a bizarre, steam-powered Victorian aesthetic, have at long last announced their upcoming return. In a deluge of new information released via Facebook after their vocalist Mister Curse recovered from an unspecified illness, the follow-up to the band's 2012 LP A Shadowplay For Yesterdays has a confirmed name, release date, track listing, and art.

       The record will be called Beware the Sword You Cannot See, and will see the light of day on February 27th next year (stylized '1895' by the band) through Prophecy. Thematically, the band (in true Victorian histrionics) had this to say:

For our fourth long playing wax cylinder, we have elected to slip down the rabbit hole of death. Cliche notwithstanding, the overarching concepts here are embroiled in the stumbling off of this mortal coil and the pleasures that go with said activity.
Premature grave population, enclosed spaces, panic, worms, maggots, creeping crawling things. Alongside these happy thoughts, we explore rot, mould, feotor, decay and dilapidation. The crumbling of minds, cities and epochs. Mental collapse.

In order to keep with the programme, we also stick our hobnailed boots into organised religion. Physically abusing angels and delousing the house of god.

        Beware the Sword You Cannot See's artwork is equally insane, echoing Hieronymous Bosch's depictions of hell, and involving a train made of flesh, skeletons wearing party hats, and angels shooting up. One of the images is posted below, but all three beautiful pictures can be found here. Incidentally, it was done by Alex CF of English post-metal explorers Light Bearer, a band fans of Cult of Luna will definitely enjoy.

Click to zoom in.

        Track listings, preorders, and more information to drool over can be found on Prophecy's website. A Forest of Stars have been one of my favorite bands for quite some time now, and this information is incredibly exciting.

New Archgoat Song - "Congregation of Circumcised"

         

        It shouldn't be a surprise that I love Archgoat dearly. Their logo, their over-the-top album titles, the fact that they've been around since 1989...everything about the Finnish war metal act is brilliant - including their new song. Torn from their imminent full-length the Apocalyptic Triumphator (which is set to be released January 25th by Debemur Morti), 'Congregation of Circumcised' ratchets the intensity up ten fold, opening with a volcanic eruption of monstrous guitars and blistering drums that careen as fast as a pyroclastic flow.

         Eventually, the band returns to its signature vomitous pace just in time for all chaos to break loose as the song falls in around Lord Angelslayer's gurgled roar, even as a guitar solo - a true rarity in the putrid line of music Archgoat purveys - closes the track off. The overall feel of the song even feels mildly grindcore, coming to an abrupt halt with a howled "LUCIFER" breaking off. Combined with 'Nuns, Cunts and Darkness' (streamable here), Archgoat's newest outing does not seem about to disappoint. 

          You can stream 'Congregation of Circumcised' at No Clean Singing here.

#Metalgate - An (attempt at) objective dissection

     

     

Many folks with nothing better to do than watch nerds fling shit at each other over the internet may have noticed the recent influx of all things related to #Gamergate - an ostentatious "call for reform" in video game journalism that has split gaming culture down the middle. The entire debacle began when the boyfriend of a prominent internet feminist Zoe Quinn published an angry blog post alleging that she had slept with a number of eminent gaming journalists in order to get good press for her new game Depression Quest. The full bevy of accusations, if you can be damned to read it, can be found here.

       

        For better or for worse, Quinn's boyfriend's blog post single-handedly ignited a massive controversy as two sides gradually materialized - the arbitrarily named "pro" Gamergate side, arguing for ethical standards in gaming journalism, and the similarly randomly named "anti" Gamergate side, which drawn the internet's favorite despised subculture - social justice advocates, disparagingly dubbed "social justice warriors" (SJWs). "Anti" Gamergate folks, similar to their opponents, are also calling for standards in journalism, but any common ground the two sides had was quickly blown away as both sides proceeded to dox, harass, and make death threats against each other in what's amounted to a massive internet tantrum that's been, at its best, cringe-inducing, and, at its worst, positively worrying. As someone not too versed in video games (the last game I bought was Skyrim in 2011...), this entire kerfluffle seems to me to have lost its original vision and morphed into a war of attrition between pro- and anti- "internet social justice" camps.

         And normally, I wouldn't care too much, but over the past week, metal music has emerged as a theatre in this ongoing geek war, and my hope with this blog post is to (hopefully) clarify some misinformation and hopefully discuss why "metalgate" amounts to nothing more than concerned hand-wringing on both sides of the issue. 

        The entire "metalgate" affair began with this article earlier this week on Death Metal Underground acting as a "call to arms" for folks to prevent gamergate from happening in the metal scene. In this post, writer Cory Van der Pol dramatically misinterprets several quotes from eminent metal journalists as the advent of a great cleansing - an invasion into the precious flower that is heavy metal, which will deprive it of its ethos in the name of "political correctness". While there is some ground to the DMG post - namely, attempts to make metal "more sociable" have usually been rejected by the underground - the article is very literally making a massive deal out of two quotations, and essentially claiming that the same sequence of events leading to gamergate will eventually infect heavy metal.

       The problem is, there is no definitive proof that the so-called Great Hipster Invasion of Metal is actually anything more than an artistic shift. How many so-called "hipster metal" bands are politically outspoken and trying to alter the way metal fans behave? Deafheaven? No. Altar of Plagues? No. Krallice? Guess. Are their PBR-sipping legionnaires doing anything other than changing the demographics of metal shows? Well, besides the odd misinformed Sunbather bandwagoner whining that metal fans don't take them seriously, or Noisey throwing a tantrum about how people don't like certain bands, there's been very little pressure on metal musicians to "PC-ify" their act. This post on  Servile Insurrection compiles a list of perceived SJW-mediated slights against metal music over the past year, and while it may seem like cherrypicking, the writer does hit on two good points:

1. Social justice advocates are present in the metal scene.
2. These people are not taken seriously because they view music as a political message instead of artistic expression.

         In response to the rising amount of "metalgate" press, resident MetalSucks Babymetal aficionado Vince Neilstein wrote a scathing response that, for the most part, resonated deeply with me. Neilstein calls the debacle, which is rapidly gaining press, as "entirely manufactured. No one, or no group, is banding together to try and change metal in any one specific way — the threat is entirely imagined. Certain social values enter the metalsphere simply because those values are spreading throughout society as a whole[...]the idea of #metalgate ignores one very important fact about metal: lyrics mostly don’t matter to metalheads, it’s all about the music itself. Which further proves that the people writing this #metalgate stuff have at most a basic familiarity with metal; they’re not in metal culture so much as observers looking for a cause to latch onto."

        And you know what? He's got a point. With the exception of DMG, the vast majority of asshats feeding the #metalgate fire are at best only partially involved in metal. Return of Kings is primarily a men's rights activism (MRA) site that takes aim at social justice wherever it manifests. Speaking from experience, very few of the in-depth metal fans I know are outstandingly political - preferring instead to focus on music (as Neilstein said) than on political message. Obviously the tender question of liking Burzum presents an ethical dilemma, but very few Burzum fans will openly plug Varg's opinions.

     On the other side of the fence, with the disappointing exception of Kim Kelly's calling metal "deeply conservative" (seriously, Kim? Surprised you of all people would say that), the side whining about hurt feelings plugs such underground gems as...Slayer and All that Remains. Hell, can you even trust the Washington Post as an authority on metal? The ongoing frantic push for metal fans to accept Myrkur's frighteningly unimpressive music, which has boiled down to accusations of misogyny when people point out Myrkur's only discerning factor is her gender, is yet another case. Noisey even lashed out at metal fans who call gimmick on Myrkur as "people who still live with their parents", rapidly extrapolating those fans' reservations into "speaks a lot to gender politics in music in general with how this scenario played out". What all of these critics have in common is that they are not primarily music fans, but folks only semi-interested in metal trying to push a message. 

        Regrettably, the stage is set for a repeat of gamergate, with the "anti" side (loathe as I am to describe it that way) trying to push a social justice agenda again, this time with metal a a bargaining chip, and the "pro" side howling "get out, poser". In any case, this debacle is nothing more than a thinly veiled political debate that happens to tangentially involve metal as a catalyst. Given the gamergate precedent, the music itself will soon become totally irrelevant in this drama as people flock in for a chance to yell down their political opponents instead of promote reform - whether toward or away from political correctness. 

       And this is disheartening, because, as the DMG article writes, "metal is beyond the left-right divide." True, metal can be highly political - see Cattle Decapitation, plenty of thrash songs, even NSBM is an (admittedly disagreeable) form of political expression. But there's just as many bands content to talk about partying, or sadness, or Satan, or death, etc. Metal is a highly diverse genre, and pigeonholing all fans as X-ist is unfair, and both serves to demonize your target demographic and delegitimize your platform. Politicizing something as un-political as songs called 'Penis Perversor' serves no real goal.

        As I mentioned in a discussion about Sunbather a year later, reform in the metal scene has never come from outliers, political activists, or attempts to make money, but from the nerdy music fans that are content to be weird and record themselves being weird. No amount of whining, no amount of howls of execration, is going to change the fact that, as Jack Black famously said, you can't kill the metal. 

        

Archgoat announce new album, release new song "Nuns, Cunts, and Darkness"

        Archgoat, the Finnish war metal act that, alongside Blasphemy and Beherit, defined the foul subgenre in the early 90s, have announced their fourth full-length: dubbed, in true (or dare I say trve) Archgoat histrionics, The Apocalyptic Triumphator. The LP will follow 2011's stellar Heavenly Vulva: Christ's Last Rites, and is slated for release by Debemur Morti on January 26th in Europe and 27th in North America. 

         To that end, the band have debuted a new song from the record. With a title like 'Nuns, Cunts & Darkness', it's easy to tell what you're in for. Beginning with a fiendishly catchy hook, the song barrages the listener through four minutes of Archgoat's signature mix of blood-curdling brutality and tongue-in-cheek obtuseness. As Lord Angelripper gurgles and burps his way through the song, it's difficult not to bang your head, and the band even makes use of some chilling choirs as they did on now-classic Archgoat bits like 'Goat and the Moon'. 

You can stream 'Nuns, Cunts & Darkness' below:

Taake announce new album, debut new track

        Three years after the stellar Noregs Vaapen, the Norwegian force of nature that is Taake will be releasing their newest record on December 8th. The record, entitled Stridens Hus ('House of Strife'), will be the one-man project's sixth full-length in a career that is about to turn twenty. 

         To celebrate the release of this news, a new song from the record has surfaced. 'Det Fins en Prins' ('A Prince is Found') is quintessentially Taake - kinetic, groovy, and unafraid to stand black metal on its head compositionally. You can stream 'Det Fins en Prins' below:

Cult of Fire announce new EP

   

          Cult of Fire, the insane Czech black metal act whose spellbinding sophomore album मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान 's brilliant mix of frenetic black metal and scintillating Eastern instrumentals earned them a last-minue place on many best-of lists last year, are slated to release a new EP, Čtvrtá Symfonie Ohně (Czech for 'Fourth Symphony of Fire', appropriately) this December. To that end, the band have debuted a new song from the album, 'Vltava'. With regards to its name, all I can find is that the Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic.

       While this seems to suggest a more patriotic slant for the upcoming EP, 'Vltava' is Cult of Fire at their best - frenetic, chaotic drums rattle against the backdrop as the guitars weave an epic atmosphere that pummels the listener to death, reminding me of Canadian black metallers Forteresse at times. While the sitar will definitely be missed, Čtvrtá Symfonie Ohně will definitely feature that blistering Cult of Fire sound we've all been thirsting after.

        You can stream 'Vltava' below. Čtvrtá Symfonie Ohně will be released by Iron Bonehead on December 8th.

An in-depth analysis of the new Bring Me the Horizon song

       

         

          Hey all! Sorry for the silence, my life has been in a turbulent state of chaos for the last two months as I get reacquainted with the horror of university and start putting some gears in motion for what comes after. But now that things are relatively stable, I should be able to post a little bit more often.
           To that end, let's talk about Bring Me the Horizon's new single, 'Drown'. Allegedly supposed to be released as a single on December 7th, the song leaked about a week back and the band responded to the leak in the same way they dealt with the leak of their last full-length, Sempiternal, back in 2013 - by releasing it almost two months early.
            As time goes on, and Sempiternal stands effectively unopposed by any other metalcore act in terms of its vision, one's first instinct is to praise the band for putting a fresh new spin on the often-repetitive, rarely interesting metalcore sound that's been in a bit of a rut for the past three years. And while Bring Me the Horizon as a band have always been quite good at reinventing themselves with each release - tracked by yours truly back in 2012 - 'Drown' has left me scratching my head.
            To its credit, the single gives us a decent look into the creative vision of the band, who have a knack for disappearing into the English moors to record new albums. But that doesn't entirely excuse the fact that this song sounds like a B-side from one of Coldplay's worse albums...it's an interesting twist, but at the end of the day the song is severely lacking, even if there's a bit more to this video than usual.
          The fact of the matter is that Bring Me the Horizon's last two albums have all had a much more serious slant - 2010's There is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It, There is a Heaven, Let's Keep it a Secret toyed with themes of suicide, while frontman Oli Sykes has gone on record as saying that Sempiternal was all about his ketamine addiction. Lyrically, 'Drown' is basically a plea to someone to not let Oli Sykes 'drown' - presumably, a flimsy metaphor for a relapse into his ketamine addiction - but the song (and the video) all point to the continued 'maturation' (I hate using that word) that Bring Me the Horizon have been trying to get a grip on for years - even if the video features a zany 'exorcism' replete with blue vomit (how very 2006).

Exhibit A:

     While many of you will be drawn into Oli Sykes' seductive gaze, the symbol behind him is one that the band have been playing a lot with recently and is the emblem of Aleister Crowley's esoteric religion Thelema. Now, this is a pretty obscure symbol for a metalcore group to be touting - especially when their scene is replete with Christian fundamentalist shitheads, and while it's possible the band picked the Thelema symbol because it looks cool, its significance as a semi-pagan icon suggests that they're trying to be anti-religious but in a "look, we know how to use wikipedia" type way.

     Exhibit B: the first fifteen seconds of 'Drown'. I've heard similar passages on a This Will Destroy You song, and from Sempiternal we know the band is definitely listening to a little post-rock. The introduction to the new single closes the gap between what they're doing and what they want to do, even if Oli Sykes still has to sing to appease the girls. Regardless of whether or not they succeed, Bring Me the Horizon are getting closer and closer to it. Maybe Oli Sykes' decision to use clean vocals on this song is his way of 'growing up' from the screams of metalcore? Either way, the band still have a long road ahead of them before they can even be remotely linked to post-rock. 

Exhibit C: There's the sense that this music video is extremely backward-glancing - without music, the video could be something the band released during their Suicide Season touring cycle - the garish colors, the tongue-in-cheek 'zany' scenester humor, all of it is contrasted with the music, which is as far from the band's previous sound as possible. It's almost as if the band is nervously trying to poke fun at themselves. 

        The only problem is, at the end of the day, 'Drown' is just not a very good song. When compared to some of the hard-hitters on Sempiternal ('House of Wolves' springs to mind), it can't hold up. As a song, it takes none of the risks and blazes none of the new territory we'd expect a new Bring Me the Horizon song to try. And while we can learn a thing or two by analyzing the video, that can't really excuse the poor quality of this new material.

           

Babymetal is this year's Sunbather

      I get it. Babymetal are cute. Babymetal are catchy. Babymetal are Japanese. Babymetal are the best idea since gravity. There is literally nothing wrong with Babymetal and if you don't like them, you're just a greasy grumpy elitist who doesn't know how to have fun since you never leave your mom's basement because Babymetal are fun. Why can't you have fun!? You must like Babymetal. Babymetal are one of the best metal bands in existence. Babymetal are the only real metal band in existence. Babymetal.

      Back in 2013, the internet got in a stir over a certain J-pop act named Babymetal, who, despite later confirming they had no idea what it was, used a decent amount of generic melodeath/NWOBHM guitar lines in their music and happened to have a heavier backing band than one would normally find in a J-pop girl group. Now, normally, people would chuckle a little, roll their eyes at the now-so-characteristic "Japaneseness" of the spectacle, and move on with their lives. But regrettably, that's not entirely what happened. Well, not at all.

     The past year has seen an explosion of hype surrounding this act. They opened for Metallica at Heavy Montreal a few weeks back, and have every yellow-fever-stricken weeaboo absolutely gushing unending praise, citing the same hackneyed argument: "Only metal elitists could dislike this!" Well, I'm far from a metal elitist, and while I don't find the band's music that tantalizing (always was more of a K-pop dude), Babymetal fans, between their superiority complexes over liking something as stupid as a J-pop band and their inability to make a good argument, are insufferable.

      A few months back, I wrote a post condemning the unfair hype Sunbather garnered last year. In it, I criticized the insistence that disliking the album made you an ELITIST who didn't want to see metal move in a less traditional direction, as well as retrospectively noting that the music was nothing special. With Babymetal, I see the exact same series of events. 

       1. Band uses accessory metal elements to appeal to a broader audience.

       2. Band is hailed as 'visionary'.

       3. Everyone points fingers at a "metal elitist" strawman who does the unthinkable and has a                 differing opinion.

    Except, somehow, the Babymetal hype is even worse. Vince of MetalSucks blathered about how the music is "incredibly complicated"  in a masturbatory post calling them "the best thing to happen to metal in the last decade". The convenient fact that Babymetal is comprised of three girls has unleashed the social justice wolves on the band's detractors with cries of 'misogyny' (Never mind they probably call Butcher Babies 'boob metal'), and NPR even compared them to Oranssi Pazuzu. Sunbather bandwagoners, while still insistent it was the "dawn of a new age of black metal", had the added limitation of being fans of a niche genre (read: hipsters). Babymetal, because of their listenability and spread mostly via YouTube as an internet meme, have developed an insane penetrance and just as many loudmouthed fans.

     But beyond that, Babymetal fans use almost exactly the same arguments as Sunbather proponents did last year. In fact, they're so interchangeable I made a chart (click to enlarge):

     Now, let's get one thing straight: there are good aspects of Babymetal's huge exposure. Namely, it will definitely cause a surge of interest in Japan's thriving heavy metal scene, which contains some absolutely amazing acts like the serial-killer-obsessed doom band Church of Misery or the unrestrained insanity of Sigh, whose ridiculous compositions give Deathspell Omega a run for their money. Just as well, maybe more people will get into metal now, etc.

     But at the end of the day, Babymetal is purely a corporate gimmick - the band didn't even know what metal was when they started out, so I'll be damned if they know who Slayer are. And their fans, like all other fans of gimmicks in metal, hurt more than help with their blind refusal to see it as one. So, with all due respect to Babymetal, fuck Babymetal fans.

 


   


   

Supergroup Alert - Martröð

   

       Fallen Empire, the American label that this year has been cranking out unforgettably crazy black metal from acts like Skàphe, Xothist, and Misþyrming, have announced the signing and upcoming release of a new band, with the equally unpronounceable moniker Martröð (which can be  be roughly transliterated as 'Martreuth'). Despite the band's Scandinavian flourishes to their name, their guitarist is the only true Norseman in the group - and just so happens to have a little project of his own you might know of called WORMLUST.


        Followers of Idiot in Remission will know that I absolutely adore Wormlust, so when I saw its mastermind H.V Lyngdal would be contributing guitars to Martröð, my interest was piqued, and, to my amazement, I realized the group is a dream come true for black metal nerds like me. The lineup features MKM of French destroyers Antaeus and Aosoth on vocals, Jef "Wrest" Whitehead of Leviathan on keyboards, Esoterica of Krieg, and Thorns of German band Barad Dür on drums.

        According to Fallen Empire, Martröð will be releasing a two-track EP later this year. Get excited! Hopefully this supergroup works out better than Wrest's last endeavor... 

Svartidauði release live album "III.XX.MMX"

       

          Well this came out of nowhere.

         The Icelandic BM thugs in Svartidauði have released a live album from a show in 2010 they did with  Urfaust to commemorate the rash of volcanic eruptions that have rocked Iceland recently. The album, recorded the day in 2010 when the volcano Eyjafjallajökull (try saying that three times fast) cataclysmically erupted and stalled air traffic over Europe for almost a month, is exactly what you'd expect it to be coming from Svartidauði - violent, dark, and uncompromising, but what makes this release so great is the band's bombastic press release, posted through their Facebook page:

On the 20th of March 2010, we performed a ritual with our brothers in Urfaust here in Reykjavik. As the last notes of the night faded out the volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted, causing the rest of the world billions upon billions of dollars in economical- and environmental damage.
So, to celebrate that our lands have again begun to ejaculate fire and toxic smoke we've put recordings of our whole set from that night online. (Source)

         I absolutely adore Svartidauði but this sounds like a mix of something Gaahl and Nathan Explosion would say.
 
         You can stream III.XX.MMX below:



       

Misþyrming continue Iceland's penchant for awesome metal

      Iceland, despite its historical association with the rest of Scandinavia, never really partook in the extreme metal explosion that rocked Scandinavia (or, indeed, the rest of Europe) in the early 90s. Sure, acts like Sólstafir began as rather traditional Viking metal, but within a few years had taken the project in a completely different direction. Indeed, it seems many Icelandic acts are loathe to do the same thing twice - Sigur Rós' experimentations with shoegaze at their inception fused with more pop-minded sensibilities as the band aged - and this trend extends to the country's metal.
      Icelandic metal stands apart from its church-burning-and-corpsepaint-wearing Scandinavian compatriots in many ways. Most notably, and unsurprisingly, is the heady element of atmosphere that almost all Icelandic acts seem to expertly work into their music. For Sigur Rós, this takes the form of dreamy, Slowdive-esque clouds, but insofar as metal acts, Svartidauði, for example, contrast frenetic drumming with sinister guitars to create a nefarious, feverish miasma. Meanwhile, Wormlust's nightmarishly cold synthwork and freezing psychedelia paint a much different picture.
      Enter Misþyrming, an extremely young (as in, formed last year) Icelandic black metal band signed to Fallen Empire Records, who are fast becoming one of my favorite underground BM labels. As of writing, Misþyrming have no material released, with their debut full-length Söngvar elds og óreiðu ('Songs of Fire and Chaos') due October 19th, but have released two tracks of blistering black metal to whet our appetites.
'Söngur heiftar', the album's opening track, echoes Svartidauði's brutal attack while toying with the faintest hint of melody as the drums and guitar surge through catchy combinations - but if 'melody' makes you think Dissection's sorrowful passages, you'll be sorely mistaken. Misþyrming are nothing if not staunchly violent, with the guitar melodies bereft of any sort of comfort.

      Fallen Empire, who just this past year have released two mind-blowing black metal records from Skáphe and Xothist, are well-known for Misþyrming's take on black metal, but this doesn't diminish the Icelandics' skill at songwriting whatsoever - contrarily, it makes me even more excited for Söngvar elds og óreiðu to see the light of day.

      You can stream Misþyrming's two available songs below. 

Falls of Rauros premiere new song - "Ancestors of Smoke"

       

     After a stellar sylvan split with Kentucky bluegrass-BM crossover act Panopticon, Maine atmospheric black metal act Falls of Rauros are slated to return this fall (appropriately enough) with their third full-length Believe in No Coming Shore. The record will follow 2012's folk-y, bucolic The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood, and the reclusive project has released Shore's first single in the torrential, ten-minute wandering entitled 'Ancestors of Smoke'. Despite the band's Tolkien-lifted name, the style of atmospheric BM Falls of Rauros purvey has always been closer to the airy ballads and primal ecstasy of the Cascadian scene than the wintery gloom of Evilfeast, or the epic synths of Summoning.

        'Ancestors of Smoke', however, sees the band broadening their sonic palate ever so slightly. From the melodic downpour that opens the song, to the rambling, four-minute solo that closes it, Falls of Rauros manage to show off everything their past two full-lengths have taught them, and tying everything together deftly that the song flows effortlessly. If it is any indication of what Shore has in store for us, Falls of Rauros may prove that the forests of the east coast are just as inspirational and mystical as the redwoods of Cascadia.

         Believe in No Coming Shore will be released in October or November via Bindrune Recordings. You can stream 'Ancestors of Smoke' below:

Botanist - VI: Flora REVIEW

           In many ways, Botanist are no surprise. While the concept of black metal played on a dulcimer may turn heads, one listen to Roberto Martinelli's bold project will quickly dispel any misgivings. For the past three years, Martinelli's misanthropic black metal anthems about plants destroying humanity (yes, seriously), painted against the eerie not-quite-percussion of his dulcimer, have explored a dimension in black metal that, while at first requires some adjusting, rapidly makeS sense. Botanist, at its core, embodies the folk-y essence bands like Ulver introduced to the genre of black metal early on, as well as the dearth of atmospheric black metal acts the genre has produced, but at the same time seeks to explore what makes black metal, intrinsically, black metal. Is it the atmosphere? The instrumentation? Both? And by limiting itself to one instrument (besides the drums), thus, Botanist is as much an experiment with unusual instruments as it is a study of what, technically, constitutes the genre.

           Flora, the project's sixth release, continues this trend, and while earlier Botanist records went for a rougher, more "raw" (though hardly in the traditional sense) sound, Flora's glowing, summery colors and layered instrumentals give the record a lush, almost carefree texture. 'Dianthus'' moves flawlessly between spring sunlight and eerie tension that recalls White Light-era Swans, while 'Callistermon' opens with what could almost be a post-punk section. 

         The record features Martinelli's prowess with the dulcimer at an all time high, as he switches rapidly between the more heady attack of Botanist's earlier work and new, starry instrumentation. The dulcimer layers upon itself beautifully, contributing to the verdant atmosphere the record paints with erudite brush strokes. Record opener 'Stargazer' evokes imagery of post-black acts like An Autumn For Crippled Children or Lantlôs, with Martinelli's dreamy dulcimer sweetly and gently easing the listener into the record's bizarre-yet-beautiful radiance, but nevertheless the intricacy of many of Flora's songs is what drives the album forward.

        Flora is an album dripping with its own atmosphere, as much as Alcest's 2009 full-length Ecailles de Lune's ethereal dreamscapes did the same. Botanist prefers not to limit itself to one mood, instead switching between mysterious and brilliant, and there's even a hint of Cascadian mysticism in the closing section of 'Pteridophyte'. But that's not to say all of Flora is effervescent, post-rock like atmosphere. For as much as the record is a departure and a refinement from previous work, Martinelli pushes the attack as the record comes to a close, focusing less on summery textures and on more driving pieces, oftentimes breaking up the marching drums with yawning chasms through which one or two dulcimer notes manage to float through. 

        

        With every release, Botanist explore a new corner of the genre, and with Flora Martinelli seems to be determined to sniff out the essence of post-black metal, exploring the starlit textures that define it, while weaving the massive, peaceful atmospheres that spring up in spite of the stormy drums and howled vocals. Martinelli does a deft job, as always, but between the sheer depth of Flora's eleven tracks and the scope of the experimentation, the newest Botanist outing is the band - and one of the year's - strongest treats yet.

       

         

      

One Year Later - Why Sunbather was 2013's most overrated release

     

    About a year ago, San Fransisco post-black act Deafheaven released their sophomore album Sunbather, and the world blew the fuck up. The metal press lit up simultaneously with gushing praise for the album and condemnation of the shadowy 'black metal elitist' who would invariably condemn the album as 'untrve', or whatever. Other publications fared no differently, throwing disgusted comments towards the strawman of black metal fans while smugly preaching that enjoying the 'high art' of Sunbather somehow put them on a higher level than greasy long-haired Burzum worshipers. Noisey even penned an entire article whining about how being aware of the band didn't necessarily make you a black metal aficionado - and the author's dismissal of Inquisition cements this.

    Since then, Deafheaven shows have drawn a motley, almost comedic crowd. On their most recent tour with Pallbearer, I was praised for my denim vest about as much as thrown a contemptuous glance from some rail-thin, unsmiling Bohemian. In February, when they opened for Between the Buried and Me, the predominantly metalhead crowd spent most of the night unabashedly laughing at George Clarke's bizarre, vaguely sexual stage antics. 

    Now, this is not a rant about the appropriation of black metal by long-faced American hipsters (who, for what it's worth, write some really cool stuff). This is not a hand-wringing about metal's emasculation and a panegyric to bands like Blasphemy and Midnight. This is not even a condemnation of Deafheaven's music, because Sunbather is, by all accounts, an incredibly well-written and intricate record.

     This is a protracted sigh at how everyone got so excited over what, at the end of the day, is post-black's most accessible, least impressive representative. I'll admit that I loved Sunbather, and wholeheartedly joined in the hype the record left in its wake, but as time wore on and I plumbed the depths of the genre, I found myself confronted with an uncomfortable truth: not only was Deafheaven just the tip of the iceberg, but the band are utterly featureless when compared to their compatriots.

     Post-black metal has a checkered history, and only really came into its own at the tail end of the 2000s, when Neige of Peste Noire left the xenophobic black metal group to form what would come to be the gold standard in the genre, Alcest. Neige's masterful weaving of bleary-eyed shoegaze with the strident guitarwork and emotional heaviness of black metal was utterly without precedence.

     Alcest's 2005 EP Le Secret and 2007 full-length Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde represented the first successful marriage of black metal with a genre outside the umbrella of heavy metal. Weakling briefly experimented with this formula in the late 90s, but the project vanished after their 2000 debut Dead as Dreams. Alcest approached the genre fusion from the vantage point of wistful shoegaze, but from the fiery, windswept black metal half came Ireland's Altar of Plagues, who pushed atmospheric black metal to its extreme limits by using post-rock's grandiose scale instead of more traditional synthesizers.
      Altar of Plagues' choice wasn't as groundbreaking as Alcest's (Agalloch's The Mantle (2001) saw the marriage first explored) but it nevertheless managed to put a new twist on atmospheric black metal. More generally, Altar of Plagues and Alcest were toying with what would become post-black metal.


      Both of these groups were well-established before Deafheaven was even a thought, and long before Libertine Dissolves saw the light of day. But when Deafheaven did come around with 2011's Roads to Judah, not only did the record garner mixed reviews, but it became clear the band were content to be a textbook example of post-black metal and not explore either influence any deeper than they had to.

     Sunbather continued this trend. The band developed catchier riffs, moved the snare to the back of the mix so the music would be more accessible, and didn't plumb any deeper than they had to into black metal or shoegaze. And everyone went nuts. In many ways, it's understandable. For someone who has never dabbled in black metal, Sunbather provided the perfect starting point, and it's undeniable that the band are excellent songwriters.

    Beyond that, however, praise for Sunbather doesn't seem to make much sense. From a post-black context, Deafheaven take no risks. Now, this wouldn't be as much of an issue if the genre's paragons weren't known for doing just that. Altar of Plagues' swansong Teethed Glory and Injury (released, incidentally, the same month as Sunbather) toyed with electronics and steered clear of the safety of expansive atmospherics the band had perfected. Deafheaven's San Fransisco compatriots in Bosse-de-Nage have been slamming black metal into post-hardcore for years now. France's The Great Old Ones subtly insert psychedelics into their Lovecraftian take on the genre.

   At the same time, post-black metal is utterly clogged and oversaturated with mediocre Alcest clones, what amounts to DSBM with more synth, and slightly airy black metal. These are the bands that refuse to take risks, blindly following Alcest and succeeding in going nowhere. Sunbather's catchiness and mainstream appeal, however, saved Deafheaven from being delegated to this category.

   Beyond the band's musical mediocrity, however, is the reaction Sunbather elicited. While the 'hipster half' of Deafheaven's fanbase was unanimous in its tearful praise, metalheads, as they're wont to do, devolved into bickering over whether the band was metal, whether it was black metal, whether it was a good release, with most of it being fingerpointing at stereotypical black metal 'elitism'. The band, for what it's worth, don't really seem to care what people label them as, but as the debate continues a year and some later, it's thrown into relief that people desperately want Sunbather to be not just a black metal record, but a good black metal record: a modern classic, one that will reinvent the stubborn black metal wheel as much as Rennihilation was supposed to a few years back (aside: has anyone heard anything about Liturgy recently? They still writing manifestos?).

    This push makes no sense on multiple levels. Firstly, Sunbather is utterly orthodox both within a black metal and a shoegaze context. It's a mighty beast of a record, to be sure, but the band are impassively rooted in playing frenetic black metal with a reverb pedal. Unless their next release sees them taking a more progressive direction, Sunbather will be Deafheaven's fifteen minutes of fame, and the new trend in black metal will come from another direction (I'm personally hoping for more psychedelic stuff in the vein of Oranssi Pazuzu, but I digress).

     Secondly, black metal made by hipsters has never caught on as a trend. As I said before, Liturgy was supposed to be the vanguard for a wave of 'transcendental black metal' bands, but none came. Weakling's transient lifespan failed to trigger much of anything until nearly a decade after their breakup. Even a year after the thunderous success of Sunbather, we have seen precisely zero acts attempting to imitate Deafheaven's style. Modern innovations in black metal are the result of primarily metal fans - Alcest (as said before), Blut Aus Nord, and Nachtmystium spring to mind as some modern visionaries.

      This occurs when artists try and put the cart before the horse - that is, having an artistic vision without the musical wherewithal to support it fully. Hunter Hunt-Hendrix's manifesto, George Clarke's tear-jerker on how seeing a sunbather in a wealthy neighborhood inspired him to write Sunbather...all truly beautiful muses, but without the ability to stand on your own two feet musically, you won't get anywhere beyond fifteen minutes of fame.

      Lastly, why is there such a conscious need for Deafheaven to fall squarely into a box? Genres are a fluid concept, they act as taxonomical guidelines, not absolute rules to be clung to. Metal, with its various genres and subgenres, has struggled with this issue for years. An artist's genre denomination is zero indicator of anything short of artistic description, and Deafheaven are no different. What's more, innovation in music is an organic event. Fenriz and Varg Vikernes have both sworn that black metal was never supposed to 'become a trend', and were actually chagrined to see it catch on. If Sunbather pioneers anything, as unlikely as I think it to, it won't be because of their fans' clamoring.

      In conclusion I'd like to say that my views on Deafheaven's music are as a whole quite positive - I enjoy all of their work, and find their ability to conjure up summer sunshine wonderful. My primary issue with the band isn't the now-hackneyed "NOT TRVE" argument, it's the sheer flood of unending praise the band have faced for the past year. Sunbather was an excellent record, but it is in no way pushing metal in any direction whatsoever.

 


   

Electric Wizard's new song is a return to doom

      Seminal British stoner doom act Electric Wizard, hot on the tail of announcing their newest album in three years Time To Die (to be released September 30th by the band's own Spinefarm Records), have debuted a single from the album entitled 'I Am Nothing'. Electric Wizard received mixed praise and flak for taking their music in a more psych-rock-like direction with their last two albums, but if 'Time To Die' is any indication of the Wiz' upcoming work, those disappointed by Witchcult Today and Black Masses can forget the records ever happened.

      'I Am Nothing' hearkens to the band's early 2000s pure doom approach - the hazy, stoned atmosphere of Dopethrone eschewed in favor of Jus Osborn's eerie, soaring clean vocals and stentorian doom riffs that seem to send out shockwaves whenever they hit. Hints of psychedelic start to seep into the music near the end of the song, but for the most part 'I Am Nothing' plays like a We Live-era Wiz song. 

     Fans of the band often point to the 2000s as the time when Electric Wizard lost the magic touch they had in the 90s with their self-titled and the mind-frying Come My Fanatics... (and Dopethrone, of course). But for as much as 'I Am Nothing' echoes that period, it equally lapses into the almost drone-like sections and squealing solos of the band's early work. 

     You can stream 'I Am Nothing' below:

Missing Cult of Luna? Check out Johannes Persson's new band Riwen

         Cult of Luna, the acclaimed Swedish post-metal act who went on indefinite hiatus after last year's monumental Vertikal, draw influence from a variety of sources, from the hazy, violent assault of Neurosis to Godspeed's more crushing drone sections. The band members themselves are prolific musicians and artists, with vocalist Johannes Persson scoring films, writing books, and thus infusing Cult of Luna's albums with an artistic sensibility that makes each listen more fascinating than the next.
        To this end, Persson has debuted a preview of his new band Riwen. From the 50-second clip, it's impossible to get an accurate picture of the band's musical direction, although it seems to hearken back to Cult of Luna's more hardcore-drenched days (their 2001 self-titled, notably). Persson labels the act 'hardcore', though, so in all likelihood this direction is possible.
         You can stream the 50-second preview below, and like Riwen on facebook here.

Solstafir, WITTR, and Pallbearer premiere new songs

       Imagine my giddiness this morning when not one, not two, but three of my favorite metal acts have put forward new material! I'm a little late to the party with the new Solstafir song 'Lágnætti', which debuted a few days ago via SoundCloud, but 'Lágnætti' is just as beautiful and emotional as you'd expect from the band at this point. The song revolves around a heart-wrenching, minimalist piano until the song's three minute mark, when droning post-metal elements make their return. It sounds almost as though the band are using an E-bow at times, and as the song crescendoes, the piano making a return, I can't help but get more excited for Otta. Stream 'Lágnætti' via Terrorizer here.

Otta will be released via Season of Mist on September 2nd.

         Arkansas' Pallbearer, two years after their monolithic debut full-length Sorrow & Extinction are gearing up for their newest release Foundations of Burden, which will be released this August via Profound Lore. I was lucky enough to see the band play 'The Ghost I Used To Be' live with Deafheaven a few weeks ago (to a crowd of apathetic hipsters, but I digress), and the band have debuted the track for everyone to hear. 'Ghost' maintains Pallbearer's mighty traditional doom riffing, interspersed with sparkling psychedelic solos, and in its latter minutes moves into a moodier, more subdued passage. As with everything else the band have debuted, it's well-worth a listen if only for its sheer intricacy. Foundations of Burden will be released via Profound Lore on August 19th via Profound Lore.

You can stream 'The Ghost I Used to Be' below:


Lastly, and ironically enough the shortest song, Wolves in the Throne Room have debuted a new song from their upcoming EP Celestite, entitled 'Initiation at Neudeg Alm'. At a little over five minutes, 'Initiation' seems a much more straightforward thought, veering between thick, stormy guitars that Greg Anderson would salivate over and ritualistic synths that add more color. Nevertheless, 'Initiation' remains just as cosmic and trance-inducing as Wolves in the Throne Room's previous black metal material - and the addition of distorted guitars contributes heavily to this. Celestite will be released via the band's own Artemisia Records on July 9th.

Stream 'Initiation at Neudeg Alm' below: 

Halfway Retrospective - My Top 10 Albums of 2014 (so far)

This has been quite a year for music, overall, and it's only half done! Here, I'll be talking about some of my favorite releases of the year so far.


1.  Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World
     Genre: Shoegaze
         Back in 2008, Connecticut shoegaze duo Have a Nice Life released Deathconsciousness - a massive double album that infused shoegaze and post-punk's airiness with the depressive atmosphere of extreme metal, received the acclaim of critics the world over...and abruptly vanished. Deathconsciousness hasn't seen another repressing since, and despite an EP appearing briefly two years later, many considered the reclusive group gone forever.
           Until, abruptly, this past January saw the release of Have a Nice Life's sophomore outing The Unnatural World. At once somehow more melancholic, dark, and twisted than previous outings, the record delves deeper into both sides of Have a Nice Life's winning, genre-bending formula with post-punk songs such as 'Defenestration Song' and 'Dan and Tim, Reunited by Fate' contrasting with bleak, flighty drone sections like 'Music Will Untune the Sky' or 'Cropsey'. Yet there's always the omnipresent element of shoegaze bliss (if you can call it that on this record) that throws everything for a loop, soothing the rock and lending flight to the drone.
         This is a sorrowful, beautiful record that spans the genre gap between metal and shoegaze in an ingenious way, avoiding the now-clogged trail blazed by Alcest by, simply enough, playing extensively heart-wrenching shoegaze. Fans of both extreme metal and Slowdive will rejoice, and the six years since Deathconsciousness have been well worth it.

2. Thou - Heathen
     Genre: Sludge Metal

       Heathen is only Thou's fourth full-length, despite a veritable library of splits, EPs, compilations, and everything in between since the band's inception in the mid 2000s. I raved about this record back when it surfaced in February and relistening to it today, much of what I said still stands: this is the band at their most vacuous, monolithic, and downright pulverizing. Heathen is an absolute monster of a record, churning
tortuously through ten tracks with a funeral doom-like sensibility.
        The band's precise balance of sludge torpidity and dark clean sections, combined with Bryan Funck's signature scathing, bitter commentary, lends Heathen a bizarre sort of duality that previous Thou records experimented with but never truly realized, relegating it to a song or two. Heathen takes these droning, almost ambient sections and crafts them into flawless counterparts to the band's signature destructive sound, moving between the two tastefully, and often never really abandoning one for the other. At over an hour, it's an odyssey of a record, but in its swirling mires there's more color and heat than anyone can imagine.


3. Lord Mantis - Death Mask
    Genre: Blackened Sludge
     "BLOOD. RUST. INCINERATE." rumbles Ken Sorceron on 'Possession Prayer' of Lord Mantis' twisted new outing Death Mask. The blackened sludge supergroup, whose macabre album cover (designed by Jef Whitehead of Leviathan) attracted controversy earlier this year, are not newcomers to the field of utterly disgusting music, with 2011's equally vile Pervertor eliciting similar reactions to anyone with a conscience. But while Pervertor's filthy sludge grooves and torturous, retching vocals were its ticket to success, Death Mask both refines the stage set by previous Lord Mantis outings and adds in a few tricks of its own.
      Notably, this comes in the band's decision to have the sound explore the more sinister aspects of its 'blackened' heritage, avoiding the dredging sludge lines of previous outings. Where Pervertor was pure sludge heaviness, Death Mask is a record that horrifies as well as disgusts, and to the band's credit they've managed to unsettle a fair amount of tried-and-true metal fans - who sat through Pervertor and came back howling for more.
      Industrial themes run rampant, adding to the bizarre, frightening atmosphere as guitar lines surge out in a terrifyingly sensual way. When all gives way to black metal chaos in 'Negative Birth', or the weird vocals of 'Coil', the portrait is complete and you're met with one of the most bizarre and morbidly beautiful sludge albums to come out this year.

4. La Dispute - Rooms of the House
    Genre: Post-Hardcore

      La Dispute's emotionally wrenching lyrics and dreamy instrumentation have made the Michigan post-hardcore act one of the most praised and beloved bands in the modern genre. Rooms of the House, the band's fourth full-length, thus, was unlikely to be a disappointment, but the band rose above that expectation by putting out their most powerful, cohesive and unforgettable record yet. Gone are Jordan  Dreyer's melodramatic, emo-cadenced cries of despair for love lost. Instead, Dreyer moves between an emotional yell and a tortured spoken-word delivery. Not only does this give Rooms of the House a more mature tone (which, when its content is compared to previous La Dispute outings, is completely correct), but it silenced the most common criticism the band faced - its vocals.
       Wildlife, the band's 2011 LP, troubled itself with people at the centre of societal decay, and while Rooms of the House is still a passionately sad album, this time around La Dispute have focused on the emotional weight of the aftermath of tragedy. Dreyer's poetically bleak lyrics serve as the perfect punch to the gut that lend this album its pervasive element of grief - and while the rest of the band's music moves between sadness and anger, technicality and obtuseness, it serves as the perfect backdrop for eleven passionately delivered diatribes on tragedy.

5. Monolord - Empress Rising
   Genre: Stoner Doom Metal

      When the dust clears from the fuzzy onslaught of Empress Rising's title track, it's hard to believe Swedish doom outfit Monolord is only a three piece. The trio craft such a massive, intricate, scathing-yet-psychedelic wall of noise that it seems impossible without at least another guitar. Empress Rising, by stoner doom standards, hits all the right notes square on the head - reverb-laden vocals spinning grandiose fantasy tales? Check. Riffs that recall elephants patiently marching in formation for nine minutes without getting old? Check. A drummer going apeshit in the empty space between the slow crush of the guitar-bass monolith? Check again.

       But Monolord's strength doesn't lie in their hashed-out worship of Electric Wizard and Yob, but in the execution of those bands' visions with the addition of a healthy dash of vintage psychedelia - the album opens with a hypnotic, sitar-like guitar riff that echoes and twangs its way out of existence - 'Harbinger of Death' does something similar and manages to make the bass sound like a Jew's Harp. The title track closes with distant flashes and squeals as the riff that carried the song through twelve minutes suddenly breaks down, layering guitars together before ultimately collapsing. 'Audhumbla', the following track, mixes the psychedelics into a groovy, meandering riff in what's the record most straightforward doom song - echoing Ufomammut's dark, abrasive early days.
       For as much as 2014 was a sludge year, doom has suffered the short end of the stick - but with Yob, Anathema, and Pallbearer releasing new records on the horizon, combined with Empress Rising it's entirely possible that 2014's doom metal will be a question of quality, not quantity.
      

6. Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise
    Genre: Progressive Black Metal

      Every year, a handful of black metal bands make their debut with a fantastic full-length - Wormlust and Vattnet Viskar spring to mind as some of last year's best new black metal acts - and this year it was Toronto's Thantifaxath's turn to leap out of nowhere with a mind-blowing, almost math-rock like take on black metal. Emboldened by the acerbic technical prowess of acts like Krallice, Thantifaxath's debut is a tense burst of energy that combines the speed and rawness of black metal with a dose of dissonance.          Sacred White Noise is a high speed journey that continuously finds new ways to surprise me.
 Despite tremolo picking being the centerpiece of their songwriting, Thantifaxath layer guitars upon each other in what could almost be a post-black move - except it's utterly void of post-rock's frivolity. This is nose-to-the-grindstone insanity as the band howls and hisses through six pitifully brief songs. Most of Sacred White Noise feels wonderfully off-kilter - like the listener is losing their balance as the band veers precariously-yet-purposefully through nooks and crannies. The previous comparison to Krallice is not quite fair - and while their influence on Thantifaxath is undeniable, Sacred White Noise is 100% its own beast, and well worth a listen for any black metal fan.
   

7.  Every Time I Die - From Parts Unknown
     Genre: Metalcore/Noise Rock

     Idiot in Remission writing about Every Time I Die? Unheard of! In any case, the Buffalo act's eighth full-length From Parts Unknown, represents a return to form that most fans have been waiting for since 2005's Gutter Phenomenon. From Parts Unknown sees the band re-exploring their chaotic noise rock roots and melding them with the refined vocals and sensibilities of their more recent metalcore efforts. Parts is a swaggering, sneering douchebag of a record - even the soulful Southern cleans of 'Overstayer' manage to sound vicious and barely restrained.
       The record's strength, however, isn't just a question of bringing back an old sound - From Parts Unknown saw the band examining their own discography for what they did best and shoving it all into a twelve-track, blistering 33-minute odyssey. The noise rock riffing is only one aspect of it - Andy Williams and Jordan Buckley slip Southern stylings into the guitars, and 'Moor', which begin with a clunking, dissonant piano, ratchet up the sense of inebriated chaos the band have been purveying from the beginning. At the end of the day, From Parts Unknown may be the year's finest metalcore outing yet, and it certainly ranks up there with the band's best.

8. Idylls - Prayer For Terrene
    Genre: Powerviolence

      Saxophones? In a powerviolence record!? Yes, you read that right. Australia's Idylls, who back in late March released their sophomore full-length Prayer For Terrene are known for purveying a sonic mess of hardcore, post-punk, and noise rock into a twisted amalgamation of pulverizing dissonance. And yes, saxophones shriek and whistle to dramatic effect almost at random as Prayer For Terrene blows itself to pieces. At twenty-seven minutes, the record is incredibly short, but the band manage to move tightly and insanely through so much noisiness and formless chaos that Idylls' 'hardcore' label seem more a courtesy than an established classification. But as noisiness yields to post-punk melancholy on 'Fagged Out on the Beach', before returning to punkish chaos in 'Animal Test', the record's penchant for sudden, inexplicable insanity shines that much brighter.
         Prayer For Terrene is a formless, seething, blistering record that gets more fun with every listen. It's an excellent followup to the band's 2012 debut Farewell All Joy, and sees the band navigate the mire of noisy, chaotic punk with skill and taste.

9. Agalloch - The Serpent and the Sphere
    Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

     The Serpent and the Sphere, coming four years after Agalloch's last full-length Marrow of the Spirit and two after their crushing 22-minute one-song EP Faustian Echoes, is the band's most bizarre, introspective, and arguably atmospheric release yet. While previous Agalloch records opened with a burst of wind, 'Birth and Death of the Pillars of Creation' moves at a majestically slow pace, building on itself as acoustic guitars fade in and out, and John Haughm's sparse, but grating vocals set the tone for the rest of the record - allowing the wonderfully dark sylvan instrumentation to utterly encapsulate.

     That's not to say Serpent is a completely effervescent, head-in-the-clouds affair. While its post-rock tinged folk leads serve as the band's mainstay this time around, the commanding riffing of 'The Astral Dialogue' or 'Vales Beyond Dimensions' serves as a contrast to the rest of the record's delightfully minimalist songwriting. Despite seemingly appearing out of nowhere, Serpent is very much a synthesis of Agalloch's previous outings - in the acoustic calm of '(Serpens Caput)' or closer '(Serpens Cauda)', there's a hint of the band's White EP, while 'Dark Matter Gods' or the aforementioned 'Astral Dialogue' absolutely scream Ashes Against the Grain. Yet, for as familiar as some of the songs on Serpent get, the record remains unmatched in its sheer sense of introspection - perhaps lacking the definitive, tormented-soul punch of Marrow of the Spirit - and in this regard Agalloch have created an album that has taken many fans aback. Serpent is not a kinetic, dynamic woodland journey, but a more personal, meditative trip.


10. Swans - To Be Kind
      Genre: Post-rock/Art Rock

      And my journey to hipsterdom is officially complete - although I feel as though a metal fan being a Swans isn't totally unheard of. Ever since their return in 2010, New York's seminal No Wave masters Swans have shifted their tone to an equally dissonant, but highly atmospheric approach that almost echoes post-rock in its vast, droning soundscapes...but if you go into any of Swans' newest records expecting the piercing ethereal beauty of a Godspeed cut, you'll be sorely mistaken. Nowadays, Swans explore a dark, eerie sound that's singularly unheard of in modern post-rock circles.

       To Be Kind, when compared to modern Swans' two previous records (2012's The Seer and 2010's My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky), plays up the more mysterious, discordant textures that the band have been refining in their modern incarnation, and while To Be Kind is a tad more accessible (for a post-rock listener) than The Seer, this comes slightly at the cost of the interest factor. The band's instrumentation, including Michael Gira's vocals are, as usual, cryptic, haunting and spot-on. But To Be Kind's biggest drawback is its length - at nearly two hours, like The Seer, the record immediately becomes that much more monolithic and insane - beautifully contrasted with the kitschy, innocent baby faces that adorn the album cover. The atmosphere of To Be Kind is wonderfully bizarre - ranging from quiet and introspective on 'A Little God in My Hands' to thunderous and epic on the title track, which closes the album. That Swans are talented songwriters is no secret, but the sheer dearth and consistency of To Be Kind shows the band at an all time high.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Diocletian - Gesundrian
Eyehategod - Eyehategod
Indian - From All Purity
Svartidauði - The Synthesis of Whore & Beast

Temple Desecration - Communion Perished

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

St. Vincent - St. Vincent: 

Alcest - Shelter

Cursed Altar - The Light Shall Die

Young and In the Way - When Life Comes to Death 

Twilight - III: Beneath Trident's Tomb

USA out of Vietnam - Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes
Wife - What's Between
'68 - In Humor & Sadness
Wreck & Reference - Want
The Great Old Ones - Tekeli-li
Woods of Desolation - As the Stars
Neige et Noirceur - Gouffre Onirique Et Abîmes Cosmiques
Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
The Body - I Shall Die Here


UPCOMING RELEASES (that I'm excited for):

Opeth - Pale Communion
Ides of Gemini - Old World New Wave
Earth - Primitive & Deadly
Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend
Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
Yes - Heaven & Earth
Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestite
Wormlust - Hallucinogenesis
Giant Squid - Minoans 
Solstafir - Otta
Nachtmystium - The World We Left Behind

Solstafir release new song!

           After a run at Maryland Deathfest last month, Icelandic post-metal spellweavers Solstafir have released the title track from their new album Otta, which is due out September 2nd via Season of Mist. At nearly ten minutes, 'Otta' (the song) sees the return of the band's characteristic distortion-free heaviness - and the delicate atmospheric textures that the band have been perfecting since 2009's magical Köld. But as violins layer over gently sung vocals and clean guitar near the end, it's clear that Otta may see the band embark in a decidedly more post-rock direction, away from the more dynamic sound they debuted on previous records.

          Regardless of whether or not the song is indicative of what the new record will sound like, Otta sounds great. You can stream it on Stereogum here.

Another new Every Time I Die song, 'Decayin' with the Boys', has been released

           Lambgoat has a new Every Time I Die song up for streaming! 'Decayin' with the Boys' is a slower, less crusty affair than 'Thirst', which debuted last week, but it's still chock full of the Buffalo act's trademark southern riffs and raise-your-beer-and-sing-along one-liners, this Keith Buckley's screaming 'Salvation is a hell of a thing!'

           Stream the new song here.

Wolves in the Throne Room release new track - 'Celestite Mirror'

       

          Earlier this year, Cascadian black metal duo Wolves in the Throne Room announced that they were breaking their three year hiatus to release an ambient EP entitled Celestite, which would be an exploration of the more ambient parts of their 2011 record Celestial Lineage.
           Today, the band debuted a new track from the record entitled 'Celestite Mirror'. At fourteen minutes, the song dwarfs the band's previously short, two-minute synth breaks. Slowly growing in majesty, while preserving the classic WITTR 'cosmic ritual' vibe, what's most interesting about 'Celestite Mirror' is its lack of motifs evoking nature. It's nebulous, scintillating, and beautiful, but as it veers into a series of stochastic bleeps and bloops around the 6-minute mark, I can't help but feel like the woods of Cascadia - which characterized all of WITTR's music to date - are getting the short end of the stick.
           In any case, 'Celestite Mirror' is grandiose and beautiful, echoing Brian Eno's bliss but with just enough misty mystery mixed in to an entrancing effect. Stream it at Pitchfork here.

Solstafir break silence on new record

       

        Solstafir's flighty, passionate take on post-metal have made them legends not only in their home country of Iceland, but around the world as well. Since the early 2000s the band have melded shoegaze, post-hardcore, black metal, and emotive vocals into a profoundly unique beast of a machine.
         After teasing us for the past six months, the band have finally released the title of their new album, the newest since 2011's Svartir Sandar. On August 29th, Season of Mist will be releasing the fifth Solstafir full-length Otta. Mark your calendars!

          Stream one of my personal favorite cuts from Svartir Sandar below: