Finland’s October Falls is one of the more unsung acts in the black metal genre, possibly because they seem to often switch between harsher releases and more folk-oriented albums. Their latest effort A Collapse Of Faith is a bleak slab of densely atmospheric music, evoking older Katatonia in its dreary, rain-soaked sound. This is a perfect example of mood music - an album that you don’t need to necessarily listen to closely or even really pay attention to in order to enjoy. Just throwing it on in the background and letting its subtle nuances darken your reality is satisfying enough.
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Not being much of a fan of death metal anymore, I love finding death metal bands whose styles are a little bit outside the norm. Texas’s Vex definitely fits that description - right from the first few notes of their debut Thanatopsis it’s obvious these guys are trying to forge their own path. Production-wise, Thanatopsis almost sounds more like a black metal album with a rather subdued, decayed guitar sound, and the actual riffing often eschews brutality in favor of undulating, layered harmonies and tremolo riffs. With a sound that varies from melodic to brutal to sometimes almost doomy, Vex is musically one of the most interesting death metal bands I’ve come across lately.
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Polish artist Andrzej Masianis bears some similarities to other artists I’ve featured recently both stylistically and in terms of subject matter, so I guess it was only a matter of time before I decided to feature him on this site. He came to my attention as a result of some recent cover artwork he did for the Temple of Torturous label’s reissues of Greek ambient black metal act Spectral Lore’s first two albums. While browsing through his portfolio some other paintings looked really familiar, so I’m sure Spectral Lore isn’t the only band that’s utilized his services.
What really made Masianis’s work stand out for me is the extreme detail he puts into his drawings and paintings, giving them a very unique, creepy appearance. Also, many of his drawings and paintings seem to center around themes like the apocalypse, and the way he depicts such scenes of battle with clusters of celestial beings really reminds me of some of Doré’s etchings. Masianis also seems to do a lot of fantasy art as well, with scenes from series like Narnia and The Lord of the Rings popping up frequently.
Unlike a lot of the artists I’ve featured, Masianis has a pretty strong internet presence. Not only does he have an official site, but he’s also on Facebook, MySpace and DeviantArt. Both the official site and his DeviantArt have pretty extensive galleries of his artwork. He has some paintings for sale from his official site, but the store is all in Polish, which makes things a bit difficult for those of us in the US.
Denmark’s Horned Almighty are basically the black metal version of Vader, if their latest release Necro Spirituals is any indication. While blackened at the core, Horned Almighty’s style is straightforward, percussive and brutal, raging forward with punk-fueled hatred. Vader have carved out a niche for themselves playing the same basic, pounding form of death metal for over 20 years now, gathering old and new fans because their sound kicks so much ass. Imagine a slightly blackened version that’s maybe a little less drum-heavy, and you won’t be too far off from what Necro Spirituals sounds like.
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With its image of a tank on the cover and song titles like ‘Battle of Smolensk,’ and ‘Unleash The Panzer Division,’ you’d figure that London’s Eastern Front would be pummeling you with an all-out warlike black metal assault right? Not exactly.
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I figured I should post my favorites from 2010 before we get too far into 2011. It’s kind of amusing looking back at my original list of 2010 albums I was looking forward to and seeing how few actually made the list.
Here are my absolute favorites from the year:
The Body - All The Waters Of The Earth Turned To Blood
At A Loss Records
[Review]
Svart - Förlorad
Frostscald Records
[Review]
Orphaned Land - The Neverending Way of ORwarriOR
Century Media
Locrian - The Crystal World
Self-Released
[Review]
Burzum - Belus
Byelobog Productions
[Review]
Imperium Dekadenz - Procella Vadens
Season Of Mist
Other albums I really enjoyed:
Todgelichter - Angst [Review]
Blood Of Kingu - Sun In The House Of The Scorpion [Review]
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Various Artists: Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer
Whirling - Faceless Phenomena
Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit
Intronaut - Valley Of Smoke
Manuscripts Don’t Burn - The Breathing House [Review]
October Falls - A Collapse Of Faith [Review]
October Tide - A Thin Shell [Review]
Watain - Lawless Darkness [Review]
Winterfylleth - The Mercian Sphere [Review]
Sorgeldom - Inner Receivings [Review]
Fen’s new album Epoch is the first in a while to completely blow me away. The band’s 2009 release The Malediction Fields left me mostly unimpressed, and I was expecting more of the same sleepy, anticlimactic songwriting on this album, but after the first couple tracks I spent the rest of the album’s duration staring blankly at my playlist in disbelief, wondering how this could be the same band. The music still has that dreamy, ethereal atmosphere thanks to Fen’s judicious use of keyboards and clean vocals, but musically this album is light-years ahead of its predecessor.
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