Progressive Black Metal - Tumblr Posts
Imperial Triumphant
Vile Luxury
New York jazzy progressive blackened death. These fellows are insanely talented, and bring a variety of musical elements together into a terrifyingly beautiful experience. Their latest album, Vile Luxury, is a streamlined, precise mixture of all their influences, and it is a powerful creation to behold.
They are currently wrapping up the Blood Sand Ash tour with UADA and Panzerfaust, and you really should not miss it.
Dutch progressive black metal duo Urfaust are easily one of my favorite 21st century black metal bands. Their mix of ambience, atmosphere, and the avant-garde is excellent, and they consistently release quality music.
Their 2016 release, Empty Space Meditations, is a slow building crescendo of ambience that morphs into aggressively majestic howls, a bellowing wail into the void of existence. Each track builds upon the last, flowing seamlessly into one another while still maintaining individual identity.
This duo are exceptional musicians, and they work together flawlessly. This is some of my favorite black metal vocal work, from the tormented screeches to the majestic roaring cleans. And the drumwork. Meditatum V is my favorite track, mostly for the drumming. Its perfectly woven around the chant-like vocals, blending wonderfully with the riffs in a ritual of cosmic comprehension.
I believe most of their material is available from Van Records, and can be found easily on Bandcamp. Highly recommend them if you want a powerful and magical music experience.
Eden in Reverse
Hail Spirit Noir
(Preorder/Upcoming)
Looking forward to the newest release from Greece's psychedelic black metal wizards Hail Spirit Noir, to be released June 19th from Agonia Records. Two tracks have been released so far, with the second featuring guest vocals from Borknagar's Lars Nedland (who released a fabulous album last year).
So far the tracks have leaned heavily towards prog, capitalizing on the bands kooky, ethereal capabilities. The insane spiraling synth of The First Ape on New Earth is simultaneously creepy and beautiful, with the guitars following suit. And the soft clean vocal work hides an undertow of foreboding that permeates the track.
Nedland's vocals work wonderfully on Crossroads, a perfect match of progressive musical beauty. The track might have almost fit in on Borknagar's last album, but yet not at all, with HSN injecting their usual infectious strange into the track.
I've definitely enjoyed the teasers, but really look forward to getting to hear the whole thing, as HSN are one of those bands where the whole album is simply an experience unto its own.
----The album is available for preorder, though depending on your location you may not want to preorder physical copies from Agonia Records' Bandcamp page, as shipping is rather hefty. You may check local record distributors for your home country, and it also looks to be available on at least the American Amazon store as well, depending on where you shop. -----
Mestarin Kynsi
Oranssi Pazuzu
The latest release from Finnish psychedelic black metallers Oranssi Pazuzu is possibly my favorite release of theirs yet. This is primarily due to the track Uusi Teknokratia, the first single off the album.
Overall the album is more of their maddening, psychotic black metal weirdness, but the whole thing seeps an anxious tension that ramps the listening experience up a notch. Several of the tracks exemplify a slow descent into auditory lunacy, with melody giving way to wild noise and back again. The eerie, ethereal synths steadily morph into fuzzy, aggressive guitars, with the crescendo of insane vocal howls dragging the listener through the muck of madness. The last track in particular devolves into utter wild noise to close out the album, fittingly enough.
As for the aforementioned Uusi Teknokratia, it is a lesson in anxiety. The track builds at just the right pace, a crawling, mounting tension that erupts into full blown chaos. It is creeping dread incarnate, before becoming completely unhinged. The synths and vocals blend perfectly, carrying the first part of the song, as the rest of the instruments begin to alter their repetitive melodies and rhythms before exploding. Yet even in the midst of the chaos the synths and vocals continue dragging the listener through the spiraling madness. Finally, you're given a seemingly peaceful reprieve, yet one that continues the anxiety of the first half of the track, with sounds that would suit the lead-up to a jump scare in a horror film. Honestly I cannot say enough good things about this song, and have become obsessed with it.
Kuulen ääniä maan alta is another stand out track, terrifyingly grating, and with the same extreme tension. Despite the fuzz and dissonance, the track remains thoroughly catchy, and is easily my second favorite on the album. This album is a great outing from a band that have really begun to absolutely master the art of dissonant weirdness, and I strongly encourage giving it a listen.
There's also a great Silent German Expressionism/ Film Noir style music video for Uusi Teknokratia, though it is a shortened version of the song, primarily missing the haunting outro.
You can pick up a digital copy from the band's Bandcamp page (cassettes are sold out), and physical copies via Nuclear Blast or even Amazon.