Anonymity in black metal has always been a double-edged sword. While it’s refreshing to see artists solely focused on their music and presentation rather than themselves as artists, it can also be frustrating to be unable to spotlight bands that truly excel at their craft. This latter point certainly applies to Mamaleek, though you’d be hard-pressed to describe them as “black metal” without employing several genre caveats. The Flenser describes the two brothers as “Bay Area-based black metal weirdos” who “repeatedly create some of the most intriguing, aesthetically-realized Black Metal an ..read more

Subtlety isn’t a common approach when it comes to sludge metal, which rather favours blistering, distortion-focused guitars and thunderous drums since the notoriously volcanic heaviness of genre spearheads Electric Wizard and Weedeater. Although in a genre that finds it’s bands in a battle of extremes, seeing who can cause the most damage to the PA system with their amps, the 2010s have seen sludge been taken down a number of different avenues. We have Mastodon using it as a basis to conjure up progressive, multi-layered musical odysseys, Indian using noise experimentation to make it as hellis ..read more

Up to this point, Jute Gyte has made an almost annual tradition of releasing the boldest black metal album of the year. With this project, multi-instrumentalist Adam Kalmbach has channeled the black metal blueprint through classical composition techniques—microtonality and serialism, primarily—and paired the results with elements of dark ambient, industrial, and noise. His recent output has been particularly exceptional, with our staff bestowing high praise on albums like Perdurance (2016), The Sparrow (2017), and Oviri (2017). Each release is challenging and rewarding in its own way, as Kalmb ..read more

There are certain electronic artists who have logical crossover appeal with metal fans; Merzbow and Prurient immediately come to mind, as well as industrial-leaning acts like Author and Punisher. Yet, there are other purveyors of dark electronics whom I’ve always felt should have more fans in the metal community, specifically Autechre. The duo’s abrasive, rumbling assaults feel very much in line with what attracts people to metal while also offering a distinctly electronic sound. Come, Deathless is yet another example of this proud tradition of dark, heavy electronic music perfectly suited for ..read more

The sort-of-recent trend in metal has been trying to disgust and terrify listeners with sonic bombardment. Full of Hell and The Body already made that noticeable enough with their collaboration One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache (nicely reviewed by our own Simon Handmaker), and Author & Punisher did something close to this (albeit with a heavy industrial influence) with last year’s Melk En Honing. Today, however, I’d like to bring to the table a band that is arguably a forerunner of the “grosscore” sound that we love today: Wolf Eyes. [bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=31376939 ..read more

No genre has experienced a more distinct shift in its cultural purpose than classical music. What was once the sole form of musical expression in Western culture has been largely relegated to specific roles in society. Modern classical certainly hasn’t lost any of its esteem, but in terms of popular consumption, most everything outside the realm of film or television scores are appreciated mostly in academic, bourgeois or kitschy setting. Sure, the average music consumer might occasionally don formal wear for a ballet or performance of repertoire, and they may find the Trans-Siberian Orch ..read more

The purpose of this feature has always been to highlight the synthwave scene and, up until now, it’s mostly been in the service of highlighting one particular act per installment. This has created quite a backlog as a result, due to the fact that there are just so many acts in the scene patiently waiting in the wings for their time in the spotlight. Such is often the case in the music industry itself when an artist is looking to gain ground and forge their own path yet, in order to do so, they will often find themselves amidst their colleagues on a piece of collected work to start in order to ..read more

Welcome back to Unmetal Monthly, fair readers. Have we mentioned you look hot today? You’re hot for reading this. Why? Because beyond the next divider, you’ll find everything you need to round out a good weekend doing hot shit: Mad Max-themed synthwave to rage to, late night k-pop to turn your kitchen into a dancefloor, and some foggy lo-fi to nurse your hangover the next morning. Oh, and an intergalactic ambient sojourn via sanguine ritual or something, presumably for your Sunday night. Whatever, she goes here now. –Calder Dougherty Top of the Pops Baldocaster – War Rig (synthwave) While the ..read more

Over the past several releases, New York-based White Suns have crafted an abrasive and esoteric noise rock formula. Rather than operating in the genre’s standard fare of “noisy rock,” the trio of Kevin Barry (vocals, guitar), Rick Visser (guitar, electronics) and Dana Matthiesen (drums, electronics) have opted instead for a seamless marriage of noise and experimental rock, with an elevated mood of unease conjured by Barry’s cryptic lyricism and spoken word delivery. It’s a peculiar formula which unfolded spectacularly across nine disorienting tracks on the band’s previous effort,&nbs ..read more

This year could end up being remembered by many things, but if there’s any justice in the world, one of those things will be big, groovy, stanky riffs. From the cosmic dealings of Teeth and Blood Incantation to the earth-shattering antics of Fit For an Autopsy, 2019 was filled with tones and compositions that made the most out of death metal’s predilection for mass and a feeling of unstoppable momentum. On Emanations of Desolation, Sun Worship throw themselves into contention for most filthy sound, melding their death metal underpinnings with plenty of black metal to keep things especially abr ..read more