Ive been on a hardcore spree of late. Before the excitement predictably (and fortunately) wears off, let me share my two best recent finds in the genre.
Hexis Abalam
From Denmark. Unforgiving business with an oppressive sound and bitter riffs galore. Sadistically attractive despite the deliberate absence of beauty or redemption. However mean, the music is not debilitating, there is enough breathing space in the mix, allowing for a compelling atmospheric quality. Great stuff, brilliantly hand-wrought and delivered!
http://eibon.bandcamp.com/album/ii
Eibon II
Im very wary of anything that comes advertised as crust black metal or any such appellation. Usually the crust part bores me to tears and the black metal tag is oversold at best. As is the case with these French dudes, but in their case its forgiven since the music is excellent. Ill best describe it as 100% desolate, mostly (but not exclusively) doom-paced metal with a taste for dissonance and unsettling time signatures, and a brutally descriptive concept about the ugliness of trench war. Its been a while since Ive felt caught in such a vice of squalor and misery. The two songs are nearly 20 minutes each and thrive as clever and complex musical compositions behind a general impression of sullenness and monotony. The five-minute ambient section that closes the record is a fantastic emotional release that really gives you the impression to creep up and stumble, half-crazed, on a rain-soaked battlefield just a few minutes after the artillery had died down, and realize all your friends have fallen around you.
Feedback welcome.
Hexis Abalam
From Denmark. Unforgiving business with an oppressive sound and bitter riffs galore. Sadistically attractive despite the deliberate absence of beauty or redemption. However mean, the music is not debilitating, there is enough breathing space in the mix, allowing for a compelling atmospheric quality. Great stuff, brilliantly hand-wrought and delivered!
http://eibon.bandcamp.com/album/ii
Eibon II
Im very wary of anything that comes advertised as crust black metal or any such appellation. Usually the crust part bores me to tears and the black metal tag is oversold at best. As is the case with these French dudes, but in their case its forgiven since the music is excellent. Ill best describe it as 100% desolate, mostly (but not exclusively) doom-paced metal with a taste for dissonance and unsettling time signatures, and a brutally descriptive concept about the ugliness of trench war. Its been a while since Ive felt caught in such a vice of squalor and misery. The two songs are nearly 20 minutes each and thrive as clever and complex musical compositions behind a general impression of sullenness and monotony. The five-minute ambient section that closes the record is a fantastic emotional release that really gives you the impression to creep up and stumble, half-crazed, on a rain-soaked battlefield just a few minutes after the artillery had died down, and realize all your friends have fallen around you.
Feedback welcome.
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