Qwertyy's Journal of Music Reviews and Other Assorted Ramblings

Mondo Bungle · 01-15-2017, 08:38 PM

It might be more interesting to check this instead since you liked the other https://ququmatz.bandcamp.com/album/tepeu it sounds different I guess. Whether or not it's more cohesive hasn't been determined by myself yet, but people have said some mixed things

The SC3 album is nice though

The Batlord · 01-16-2017, 10:07 AM

In case you ever get back to this...

Ted Maul - White Label

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 04-03-2017, 02:29 PM

Mount Eerie

A Crow Looked At Me

Emotional torture. Tragedy through sound. Musical devastation. While all of these ring true to what Phil Elverum is putting forward on his newest full-length record under the Mount Eerie alias. None of these descriptions, however, are able to truly encapsulate the impact of the music. The album details the passing of the singer-songwriters wife, and while released over half a year after her death, seems to have been recorded only mere weeks after his loss.

The raw, lo-fi, delivery has become a trademark of Phil's music, whether under the Mount Eerie name or his previous project the Microphones. Never before, however, has it felt so real. With minimal musical accompaniment, Phil embarks on a quest without a destination. We may follow the story from the singer's perspective, but there is no definitive start or finish to his experience.

From the opening track Real Death, which opens with the gut-wrenchingly powerful "Death is real, someone's there and then they're not,
and it's not for singing about, it's not for making into art" to the closing track Crow, which finishes with the powerful final line of "And there she [Genieve] was."

In a lot of ways it's hard for me to put myself in Phil's shoes, being that I have been forced to deal with death very few times in my life, and never have I had to see a loved one suffer in the way that he was forced to watch his wife struggle in her fight with cancer. Yet because of the waves of crushing lyricism, the sombre guitar work, and the always feeble presence of Phil's voice, I feel myself momentarily put into his position. Left alone with his daughter, his wife's passing still constantly on his brain and with every thing he does, be it entering a specific room in his house, or driving down a dirt road, being reminded of the woman he loved.

I am just as perplexed as I am sad when I listen to this album though, because it is truly remarkable how Phil manages to paint this image of his wife as such a strong and wonderful soul, while contrasting that with his fear of mortality and the ugliness of death. Take for example the lyrics of the track Swims, one of the more emotionally heavy cuts from the album.

Quote:

I can't get the image out of my head
Of when I held you right there
And watched you die
Upstairs in the back bedroom of our house
Where we have lived for many years
Your last gasping breaths
I see it again and again

Powerful, right? Yet this is powerful in its representation of weakness, her last breath, her dying state, her last moments. As the song comes to a close though, we see her presented in an entirely different light.

Quote:

Today our daughter asked me if mama swims
I told her, "Yes, she does
And that's probably all she does
Now."
What was you is now borne across waves
Evaporating

As you can see, Phil's description of his wife after her passing is much more abstract, and poetic in a sense, than her final days. While it is clear that he was devastated by the loss, it seems that what really hit him the hardest was seeing her in this position of weakness, unable to fight against the cancer.

Again, this is shown in Emptiness Pt.2.

Quote:

Her absence is a scream
Saying nothing
Conceptual emptiness was cool to talk about
Back before I knew my way around these hospitals
I would like to forget and go back into imagining

I have no doubts that this album will not only go down as one of the best of the year and one of the best Phil has ever released, but this album also has potential to go down as one of the most devastating musical experiences. Whether you are a fan of Phil's catalogue or not, it is most definitely worthwhile checking this release out, if for no other reason than to experience loss through someone else's perspective. It will make you uncomfortable, sad, and fearing your own mortality, and I think that's exactly what makes it such a unique experience.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 12-01-2017, 11:36 AM

A Trve Kvlt Christmas

For most people I imagine this time of year brings along thoughts of hot cocoa on cold days, sitting by the fireplace, spending time with loved ones, etc. For those trve enough, however, December is the most metal month of the year. Nothing accompanies a dark snow filled night better than sitting down and curling up with a good atmo black record.

For that exact reason, I will be officially kicking off A Trve Kvlt Christmas, a journal series that will hopefully stretch from now until the end of the month in which I look to highlight a specific black metal act/album/artist/etc each day in an effort to spread the holiday cheer.

Without further ado, let's kick things off where I just happened to kick off my interest in black metal.

Leviathan is the alias under which multi-instrumentalist Wrest (Jef Whitehead) has been releasing black metal music since the late 90s. A pivotal cog in the development of American black metal, Leviathan began as one of the most influential depressive black metal bands around and AFAIC are still one of the best bands under that DBM umbrella to this day. In an effort to chart the progress the band has made throughout the years I will highlight a specific song from their 2003 masterpiece, The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide.

As you can hear on this track, Jef Whitehead combines the typical black metal tropes with some incredibly instrumental work and there's a certain hint of beauty, something that, to overanalyze, seems to almost signify hope, beneath the surface of the track. It's something you would be hard pressed to find in any of his European counterparts' music during this period, but with the rise of blackgaze behemoths such as Deafheaven and Ghost Bath in recent years it's safe to say it has had a huge impact on the American BM scene.

Moving on from this period of Leviathan we next stop at 2008's Massive Conspiracy Against All Life. This album marked a huge turning point in the band's sound in more ways than one. First of all, this was the last album released before True Traitor, True Whore a very significant album that we will discuss further in just a bit. Aside from that it saw Jef take a step away from his DBM roots in order to pursue a much more raw approach. Just one listen to the opening track on this thing will give you an idea of where his head was at while writing this. While many of the dark ambient remnants from his earlier projects can still be found throughout, as a whole this thing is much more heavily rooted in traditional black metal than anything he had released prior. There is still a fair bit of atmo black influence to be found here as well, but it is quite distinctively different from the sound Leviathan had been known for. This was also the first Leviathan album to not feature electric drums.

With that we've arrived to modern Leviathan. Now the band has only released 2 albums since 2010, but they are arguably two of the most interesting records Jef has recorded. First was the aforementioned True Traitor, True Whore in 2011. A record soaked in controversy as it was inspired almost entirely by Jef's personal life which saw him arrested on counts of sexual assault and domestic abuse. Of course this once again saw a change in Leviathan's music delivery, this time leading to arguably their rawest and most aggressive album thus far in their discography. Most of the atmo black influence began to fade away and instead Jef presented some straight up nasty black metal while still putting that typical Leviathan spin on to things. I've seen some people also refer to this as the band's first foray into avant-black metal but I wouldn't go that far. It features some very interesting passages that may differ from what you would typically expect in a black metal album, but for those familiar with Jef and his music, it's more or less what you've come to expect. This album just see's him amp it up 11.

Lastly it's the most recent album, Scar Sighted, that we will discuss. I would put this down as a tie for my favourite Leviathan album with The Tenth Sublevel and would argue it deserves a place amongst the best black metal records released so far this decade. The perfect culmination of everything I've discussed so far on this album, Scar Sighted see's on a continuation in the anger driven song writing from True Traitor but also ties in a lot of that dark ambient influence that was so prominent on Jef's earlier material. This is also mixed lower than any Leviathan album recorded prior. It features some haunting death metal soaked vocals from Jef, and is perhaps the only Leviathan album to really be any where close to deserving the avant-garde black metal tag.

With that, I will leave you with one last song to check out. If you plan on only hearing a single song from this entire post, make it this one.

**Frownland** · 12-01-2017, 11:39 AM

You still haven't listened to From All Purity.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 12-01-2017, 11:40 AM

i'm glad that's what you took from my write-up.

**Frownland** · 12-01-2017, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qwertyy

i'm glad that's what you took from my write-up.

Leviathan is great but I'm more of a Blood Mountain kind of guy.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 12-01-2017, 11:44 AM

1. suck a dick

2.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 12-01-2017, 06:41 PM

That Wintery Feeling

I would argue that there is no genre around better at invoking that cold wintery feeling than black metal. When the fuzzy guitars, the distant shrieks, the crashing blast beats, and almost no-fi production come together to create that ice cold sound, I can't help but feel like I'm in stuck in the middle of a snow covered cavern. It's for that reason I'm dedicating this section to the frostiest black metal around.

Sorciers des Glaces - Snowland MMXII

It's hard to argue against an album with the word Snow included in the title not being wintery, isn't it? Sorciers des Glaces is the pseudonym for Quebec based multi-instrumentalist Sébastien Robitaille's solo black metal project. While he has made his rounds within the Quebec black metal scene, it is with Sorcies des Glaces that he has truly made his impact and crafted his own sound. Every release in his catalogue is an ice cold ode to the winter months and as good as most of them are, none can top Snowland. A bit less atmospheric than their later material, Snowland succeeds in creating a soundscape so chilly you might get frostbite just by listening. One of the most intriguing elements of the band's sound for me is how relatively easy you can decipher the lyrics as Robitaille screeches them. It can be few and far between that a black metal band can deliver a production style clean enough and vocals mixed high enough to be understood without sacrificing some of their edge, but Sorciers des Glaces manage to find the perfect balance.

Agalloch - The Mantle

While the semantics of just how black metal Agalloch actually are can be debated, there is no doubt that their sound is heavily influenced and engrained with nature. While The Mantle is actually my second favourite Agalloch album, I believe in terms of snow soaked atmosphere it does better than any other project they've released. Whether you look at the most melodic instrumental interludes that are woven within the tracks, or the momentous metal passages, this album is the soundtrack to a walk through a snow dusted forest.

Fen - Carrion Skies

I'm not all that aware of the UK black metal scene, but Fen have been pushing hard to be a breakout blackgaze act in the last few years. This is especially the case with the release of 2014's Carrion Skies. This project will give you a lot of what you would expect from a blackgaze album, but rather than ripping from the same playbook's of bands like Deafheaven, Alcest, and Oathbreaker, Fen are able to bring a unique approach to the table. What they give you is some very cold atmospheric black metal that tastefully meshes both progressive and blackgaze elements together while also finding a way to incorporate some very melodic moments and even (gasps) clean vocals at times.

Immortal - At the Heart of Winter

How could you make a list on wintery black metal and not include what is amongst the best albums the genre has given us? This project has so much to offer and it's an album you can constantly come back to without ever losing interest. You will be hard pressed to find a black metal album that can match this one in terms of guitar and drum work. There is some serious shredding and absolutely immaculate blast beats all over this LP. In this it creates a unique sound that separates itself from most Norweigan black metal of it's time. Unlike their counterparts, it did not seem that Immortal pursued the rawest sound possible. While the likes of Mayhem, Darkthrone and Burzum looked to perfect that early raw approach, At the Heart of Winter showcases how Immortal found their sound in an area that allowed them to be flashy on their instruments, use some very grand song structures, and give the genre an entirely new direction. While I'm sure any fan of black metal has already heard this one countless times, it's important not to forget to throw it on a few times as it 'tis the season!

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 12-02-2017, 08:01 PM

La Theme du Revolution

There are few things more important in the province of Quebec than the pride they have in their heritage and culture. This has led to many of the greatest Canadian artists emerging from the province. In particular, Quebec has become known over recent years for their constantly growing metal scene. Of course being a black metal fan, it is that area that I am most familiar with. For that reason, I decided to dedicate a section of this month to introducing some of my favourite Quebec based black metal acts.

The first act I will focus on is easily one of the most important bands to emerge from their scene. Rising during the mid 2000s with their incredibly atmospheric brand of depressive black metal, Gris became very quickly synonymous with making black metal that was just as beautiful sonically as it was raw. Their Burzum inspired hypnotic guitar riffs mesh brilliantly with the gorgeous crescendos and dark folk influence that becomes very prominent from the first moment you hear them.

While the band only managed to put together two albums under the Gris moniker, (one other album was released under the name Niflheim) both of them are must hears for fans of atmo black metal. The crown jewel of their discography is said to be their 2007 release Il etait un foret... which translates into there was a forest. While many bands have since traveled similar routes in search for ways of combining folk influence with black metal, this album does it nearly perfectly. Their second album under the Gris name, released 7 years after Il etait un foret, is equally as brilliant. À l'âme enflammée, l'âme constellée... sees the band pursue a similar approach while looking to encompass more non-traditional black metal elements into their song writing. A much darker, folkier, and varied effort, it is a more mature effort than their previous release and sees them cleaning up some of the production while giving way to longer acoustic passages and atmospheric moments. It shares one important similarity with the debut however as it is once again a near perfect release.

I highly suggest taking the time to familiarize yourself with the band.

12-01-2017, 11:39 AM	#305 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	You still haven't listened to From All Purity. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x