Alright! I’ll take another look at what comes up from the underground with some of the best black metal releases I’ve listened to this year. Voices, Primordial, Darkspace and
Ne Obliviscaris, some of the best, really!
Voices – London
To present the world with an album in the extreme metal genre ont he topic of the city of London is daring and at the same time peculiar. Where bands that linger in the sphere of black metal, usually go for occultish and otherworldly themes, the men from Voices pay homage to their great city. Featuring ex-members of My Dying Bride, Akercocke and Dark Veil, that is clearly a step away from what the gang used to make. The result is breath taking though.
The music is sometimes quiet, calm and melancholic piano parts and then again furious and rugged black metal that has the urban rage of Godflesh tucked inside it. Then again the riffs are hectic and frantic like Devin Townsend Project in a way. Nor does the band eschew some funky lines here and there. All in all, this album has so much to say and so much diversity to offer that I’m literally astonished by it. This is not the London of the postcards, but the metropole with all its gritty underground and hidden charm. What an amazing display of musical prowess.
Primordial – Where Greater Men Have Fallen
It’s hard not to love Primordial. The Irish giants of black metal have never reached beyond their grasp, nor taken inspiration from the trodden paths and their new epic album is the latest proof of that. Biblical themes, heavy anthemic riffs and grandeur is a small bit of words to describe what the listner can expec to be bombarded with on this new album by the band around A.A. Nemtheanga. The soaring vocals of the frontman are what carries the true epic quality of this band.
Biblical themes are no strange phenomenon in the work of Primordial. Songs like ‘Babel’s Tower’ depict that in a iconclastic grandeur, where hopes crumble down in major melodic torrents of hefty guitar play. The apocalyptic foreboding and eventual fall that ‘Come The Flood’ predicts is even more powerful to behold. There’s the cold furious black metal, combined with haunting storytelling on ‘The Alchemists Head’ and creeping doom on ‘Ghosts of The Charnel House’. Still, this album might have too much of an accesibility for everyone to admire. Lovers of the sheer brutality some black metal has been displaying of late (check out that new Nihill album), will not be able to admire this new masterpiece.
One may also argue that the work of Alan Averill (aforementioned under his moniker) is letting a bit of Dread Sovereign and Twilight Of The Gods seep into this. I have no problems with that at all however, since it will only help the sound of Primordial to reach new depths and find new domains in which to shine.
Darkspace – Darkspace III I
Darkness… a concept so vast and impossible to grasp, that we give shape to it. To create creatures and elements of darkness makes it less frightning, tangible and less subliminal. So for a band to take the concept of the endless void as their topic, it makes their music something spectacular, specially when it comes to Darkspace. The band name came up in casual conversation and I was not familiar with the Swiss group. Switzerland does produce an amazing amount of spectacular bands and this one is definitely part of that. The latest record is one in roman numerals, like all their work.
What you get is a swirling mayhem of sonic space. Roaring vocals, arising from the depths of the void and industrial segments depicting the confusing last signals of life in space. The atmosphere is dark and cold, full of mystery and the listener gets sucked into the endless void immediately. Only three songs with a total time of over 70 minutes. This is quite the trip.
Ne Obliviscaris – Citadel
Holy shit! What the hell just hit my eardrums? It’s Australian bringers of mayhem Ne Obliviscaris. A mixture of jazz, avantgarde, thrash, death, black and all things extreme in one unholy package to bring you musical joy. This is one of the most impressive records you’ll hear this year and well worth your time.
Hectic, spiralling riffs emerge from the debts, where minimal drums overtake again. Violins wail and folkish melodies play before a new onslaught of brutallity arises. Classical passages and emotional cascading riffs clash in what can only be the sonic expression of the deepest despair. Then again you are surprised by what seems like acoustic gypsy melodies, weeping violins and calm singing. The combination is beautiful.
The band reminds the listener of the likes of Therion at times with a bit of Celtic Frost and the orchestral sensitivities of Opeth. Still that doesn’t do justice to the band from Oz, maybe the previous record would count as a good addition to the mixture. Soaring clean vocals bring a calm over the frantic rhythms and wild cacophony that starts to emerge, but the swirling melody holds on to all its elements in the vast sound of this group.
This is the record everyone should hear for sure, just as the other three. What a set of brilliant releases. The Underground has plenty to offer once again.
