Ygg - Ygg
It’s not often that you hear a jaw
harp (more commonly known as a Jews’ Harp) incorporated into a metal album
(although there are exceptions, such as in Black Sabbath’s “Sleeping Village” and Bathory’s
“One Road to Asa Bay”).
It is even more exceptionally rare to find this instrument within a black metal
album, and put to use remarkably well within and throughout the album.
Combining the use of this simple instrument, well-done symphonic elements, and
some absolutely relentless bass pedal drumming, Ukrainian band Ygg manages to
release an exceptionally solid (and undeniably fun and energy-filled) debut
album, Ygg. Downplaying the symphonic
elements of their music (in comparison to bands such as Emperor and Dimmu
Borgir), the album has choral-sounding effects that remain subtle yet
nonetheless powerful in creating a much more robust atmosphere surrounding the
entire album. After the introductory track of ambient noises and jaw harp
plucking, the album kicks into gear with the first official track, “Ygg”, blasting its way
forward with the continued subtle use of this mouth instrument, an engagingly
catchy riff, hypnotically pounding double-bass pedals, and bleak, high-pitched
wails of the lead vocalist. The drums within the album balance on the line
between sounding overbearing and mixed distractingly loudly, while
simultaneously managing to pump an unyielding sense of aggression and fury into
an already passionate album. As the blast beats kick in just past the halfway
point of the third track, “Урд,
Верданди, Скульд”, one cannot help but be absolutely entranced and swept
away as the drummer abuses and pushes his kit to the limit, adding a sense of
aggression that combats and intertwines with the ethereally choral symphonic
elements of the track. Attempting to look past the bands National Socialist
affiliations and prejudicial ideology, YGG manages to produce a remarkably solid
and thorough debut album, as catchy as it is unrelenting and masterful.
Pyramids - Pyramids
The eponymous debut album by band
Pyramids is quite the auditory journey through the experiences of musical
techniques and stylings. Part ethereal shoegaze, part ambient, part
post-rock/post-metal, and part atmospheric black metal, Pyramids is quite masterful in its cohesive blending of genres to
form complex layers of sound and a powerful wall of effects. Often throughout
the album, the listener is bombarded with such a wild array of pure noise that
one can get simply lost in the multifaceted layering of the album. While black
metal is not always prominent on the album, it nonetheless constitutes the
backbone of much of the overall sound, and serves to enhance particular tracks
such as “Igloo”,
providing a supplemental sense of aggression and pure bombastic chaoticism to
the otherwise hauntingly distanced vocals and dreamy guitar effects intertwined
throughout the track. However, the complexity on this album does not necessarily
constitute an associated depth in the musical sound. At times the album suffers
from sounding a bit shallow, as though it doesn’t accomplish much of grandiose
proportions: the climaxing crescendos found in post-rock and post-metal are
scarce on this album, and the raw, pained emotions that black metal evokes are
lost under some of the albums heavy layering. Despite these minor drawbacks,
the album manages to skillfully blend and mix each incorporated genre of music
into the other, providing a powerful cloud of sound that at times overwhelms
and consumes the listener. Cacophonous at times (“Hillary”),
beautiful and otherworldly at others (“The Echo
of Something Lovely”), and even quite pretentious feeling throughout, Pyramids manages to provide a truly
unique and special listening experience, love it or hate it.
Incipit - Ida
An extremely enjoyable EP from
Argentinian one-man band Incipit, Ida
is short, earnest, to the point, and overall just a very honest effort at
making some solid black metal. While nothing necessarily new or original is
presented in the album, it is nonetheless a very captivating listen, as songs
such as “Falso” storm
quickly in and out, leaving the listener fully energized and hungry for more.
Despite overall themes of pessimism and the negativity of life, the EP is
undeniably fun to listen to, as traditional blast beats and blistering guitar
work sweep the listener away into the netherworld of vigorous black metal
sound. It’s also notable to mention that Incipit is extremely antifascist and strongly
against National Socialism, decreeing this extreme aversion to the ideology in
an album split with band Lure of Flames, on the song entitled “Fuck NSBM”. If Incipit
were to release a full-length album as consistently respectable as the tracks
on Ida, the combination of
traditional black metal with a modernized sound to the overall genre would
produce an exceedingly satisfactory and entertaining album, combining one part
fun with one part grim despair for an overall simple yet cohesive listening
experience.
Echtra - Paragate
Associates of the Cascadian Black
Metal Scene, Echtra combines atmospheric black metal typical of the scene with
simple, acoustic folk guitar pickings layered over a sort of ambient drone (not
representative of typical drone metal, but nonetheless in place to add to the
overall essence of the album). If one loves absolutely becoming lost in the
atmosphere of an album, consumed by the album and the massive cloud of sound it
is able to produce, then Echtra’s second full length album, Paragate, is ideal for such situations.
The album consists of two tracks of equal length which blend together to
essentially become one long track, consisting almost entirely of layered
instrumentals with the occasional appearance of droning, resonant vocals or
growling utterances typical of a more traditional black metal sound. While the
former of the aforementioned vocal styles serves to make one feel as though
they are witnessing the monastic chantings of some dark cult, this impressive
effect is not enough to carry the rest of the album into musical superiority; the
majority of the album is relatively lackluster and uninspiring. The acoustic
guitar twiddling on the album is generically stale neofolk that serves to sound
pretty but be thoroughly unimpressive, and tritely repetitive throughout.
Switching between elements of drone and more classic black metal
instrumentation, the album feels as though it goes nowhere, achieving an atmosphere
that can be quite impressive or hauntingly eerie at parts, but overall failing
to be anything magnificently special or grandiose. Many parts of the album seem
to drag on without any particular direction, which can be fine for atmospheric
black metal if the atmosphere itself is unique and overwhelming to the senses.
Unfortunately, Paragate, while by no
means terrible, fails to amount to anything particularly special or notable, serving
as nothing more than a decent attempt at the Cascadian sound.
Wigrid - Hoffungstod
Depressive Suicidal Black Metal is
wrought with emotions that evoke some of the most bleak and hopeless feelings
that an individual can harbor, these emotions possibly rising from the
sufferings of past experiences, present tortures and miseries, or perhaps just
the pitiful human condition in itself; or perhaps, in the case of Wigrid, from
agricultural conditions. Wigrid is a one-man project consisting of Ulfhednir, a
farmer from Germany who specializes in producing some powerfully draining DSBM.
Although Hoffungstod was released
only 10 years ago (in 2002), it already has the feeling of a timeless classic
of the genre, standing the test of time with its solid instrumentation, disparaging
attitude, and bleak, misery-evoking vocals. Ulfhednir wails his vocals at the
top of his lungs as the listener is swept away in a cloud of despair, as the
slightly-fuzzed guitars seemingly soar all around one’s auditory landscape, preventing
escape from the depressive world that Wigrid has created, as is mastered in “Schreie der Verzweiflung”
(or “Cries of Despair”). Even without the vocals, the sole instrumental track
on the album, “Das Sterben
eines Traumes” (translated to “The Death of a Dream”) manages to create an
unsettlingly morose atmosphere. While the album does not necessarily bring
anything new to the genre of DSBM, it nonetheless is seemingly flawless in its
overall intended style and emotional evocations, making it a definite highlight
of this black metal sub-genre.
Embrace the changing seasons, and embrace the black metal sound.
- Richard Cory
No comments:
Post a Comment