Black, Death & Extreme metal





stathis

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Βίαιο αιχμηρό ακατέργαστο βρώμικο καταστρεπτικό death from USA.
Pissgrave - Suicide Euphoria 2015 USA


 











cosmarpan

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The Beast ordered to post the favorite black/death/extreme records of the year, in a reverse order, in English language, on Monday 22/1/2017, 09:39 local time, so here it is.


40. Faceless Entity - In Via Ad Nusquam
Spooky, raw black metal from Netherlands. An incessant drone of barely discernible guitars, rumbling vocals, and simplistic drumming.

39. Hermóðr - Hädanfärd
Swedish one-man black, beautiful and epic-sounding. Very Filosofem-esque, but with just a hint of folk/viking flavor.

38. Dargar - The Shores of Space
Dargar is the black, noise side project of Pete Majors and James Brown III from Harassor. This is a hazy mist of fuzzed-out guitar, ghostly vocals, and drum machine. Hovers mostly in slow-to-midtempo territory, but picks up the pace enough to keep it black. Sounds like it may have been recorded by ghosts.


37. When Bitter Spring Sleeps - Star-Thrown
US black duo consists of Lord Sardonyx and Syntax A. Massively mid-paced epics that are somewhat in the vein of Summoning, but with more varied songwriting, way less keyboards, and all clean vocals. Star-Thrown is a major step forward for this band. I've always liked them, but never would have thought of them as year-end-best-of-list material, yet here we are.


36. Ostots - Ezer Ezaren Araztasuna

Spanish, Basque black. This is their third and best official full-length. Raw and blown-out, but with a haunting, hypnotic cumulative effect.


35. Svartsyn - In Death

Swedish black art, this is my favorite Svartsyn since His Majesty (which IMO is on the shortlist for all-time greatest black metal records) Despite near-constant blasting and tremolo-picking, there's always a time signature twist to keep you from getting too comfortable. The kind of subtly advanced, deceptively complex record that only a veteran band can pull off.



34. Häxxan - Loch Ness Rising

Ohio based US black, doom-infused, evil but hooky, open-chord-riding, Swedish-sounding riffs, with lots of funereal organ for subtle occult psych vibes and full, punchy production. Extremely cool. If this band tours, they're gonna be big.


33. Striborg - A Procession of Lost Souls

Aussie black art, in which Sin Nanna reclaims his crown as king of eerie, nauseatingly dissonant black metal, while adding a drop of melody to the sickening concoction.


32. Skáphe - Untitled

Unbelievable US black from Pennsylvania. Just about as cavernous and dissonant as cavernous, dissonant black/death can get. They're pretty much a noise band at this point.


31. Neige et Noirceur - Verglapolis

Ambient black/drone/doom band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Abstract and largely ambient. Monotonous guitars, droning keyboards, and growls hover like specters, with occasional, minimal drumming to provide a sense of weight and structure.


30. Azarath - In Extremis

Fucking black kings from Poland. One of the greatest and most brutal black/death bands of all time returns after six years with a fucking banger. At this point there's only one original member, but it's Inferno, so we're all good.


29. Black Cilice - Banished from Time

Portuguese do raw black metal like none other, and Black Cilicie's haunted, ritualistic take on it puts him at the very top of the heap. Though I certainly would be curious to hear what might happen if he tried something new -- an all dark ambient record could be super-tight - as long as his output remains this flawless, I'll be on board.


28. Farsot - Fail-Lure

German black, ambitious and progressive -- not prog-gy, mind you, but progressive. Acoustic and clean guitars are often layered alongside distorted ones, which, along with some keyboards and epic-sounding singing, makes for a mournful, emotionally resonant tone.


27. Jordablod - Upon My Cremation Pyre

One-man black band from Malmö, Sweden. It's good to see Swedish bands ripping the modern era of black, as opposed to hammering away at the 'classic' Swedish sound. Fluid guitar work that jumps effortlessly from tremolo-picked arpeggios to thick chords to wailing solos. And the reverb-y but forceful atmosphere is awesome -- not so much "cavernous" as it sounds like you're hearing it from the opposite end of a gymnasium.


26. Wiegedood - De Doden Hebben Het Goed II

Belgian black from Ghent, composed of members of Rise and Fall, Oathbreaker and Amenra. This is a tight, precise performances of often quite intricate, riff-y songs and simple, spacious, sorrowful stretches of post-metal.


25. Anima Damnata - Nefarious Seeds Grow to Bring Forth Supremacy of the Beast

Brutal death/black from Wrocław, Poland. Fully complete and utter blackened brutal death destruction. 10 tight, punishing masses of pinch harmonics, chugging riffs, gravity blasts, and generalized aural obliteration.


24. Bereft of Light - Hoinar

Romanian atmospheric black. Epic and keyboard-heavy. Sole member Daniel Neagoe is in some of the best doom metal bands in existence -- including Shape of Despair and Clouds -- and you can tell from the stunningly arranged acoustic passages, strings, rain SFX, and other stuff you'd expect to hear on a funeral doom record. But you know, it's black.



23. Vassafor - Malediction

Black from Auckland, New Zealand. Monolithic death- and doom-infused filth. After over two decades as a band, Vassafor has now put out just two full-lengths, but at least they've made 'em count.


22. Antiversum - Cosmos Comedenti

Irish black from Dublin. This is a remarkable debut album of gnarled, thorny, cavernous blackened death/doom, with a side of harsh noise and dark ambient. There's a lot of this kinda stuff going around right now, and Antiversum are among the very best.


21. Forgotten Spell - The Necromancer

One-man band from Germany, a guy called Angra Malakh. Shrouded in mystery (and tape hiss) with a loose, exploratory feel that may or may not be intentional. Sorrowful, melodic, tremolo-picked guitars and clattering drums that always seem to be going at slightly different speeds, but then hit every change together. It's almost jazz-like. Whether intentional or not, the effect is one of barely controlled chaos, and it makes for a goddamn compelling listen.
 

cosmarpan

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20. Aosoth - The Inside Scriptures

Parisian black art in which Aosoth maintain their perfect track record, and arguably cement their status as the premier French BM act. The perfect mix of crushing heaviness, warped guitar dissonance, and structurally impeccable songs.



19. Altarage - Endinghent

Avantgarde blackened death from Bilbao, Spain. Identity and number of members is unknown as the band opts for secrecy on the subject. This is a dissonant, propulsive, technically proficient black/death at its finest. The kind of band and record that blur the line between black and death to the point of obsolescence. I expect to see this on a lot of year-end lists, as it deserves to be.


18. Nightbringer - Terra Damnata

Colorado, US black with a dramatic, dynamic, intense, and totally forward-thinking, with an ample dose of the kind of Satanic psychedelia that I'm a total sucker for. Another stellar album by one of the all-time great US black acts.



17. Severoth - Forestpaths

Perfect epic Ukrainian atmospheric/ambient black one-man project. From the space-y, weightless keyboards to the drawn-out chords to the insanely reverb-y howls from the mountaintops. Utterly mesmerizing.


16. Imperceptum - Aeons of Saturnine Desolation

Bremen, Germany, blackened funeral doom, the best since Elysian Blaze. Imagine the black version of Disembowelment and you’re close.


15. Fen - Winter

Atmospheric black from London, UK. Patient and heavily post-rock-indebted, but without losing sight of the vicious, lupine nature of black metal, and with none of that half-assed shoegaze/emo all these bands are doing now. Fen's best yet.

14. Asofy - Nessun Luogo

Obscure, deep, doom, slow dark black from Milano, Italy. Seventeen years active and just three albums in, Asofy have fully deconstructed their own sound, ending up with something that could be likened to experimental, blackened slowcore. That might make it sound awful, but believe me, it's the opposite. A new go-to for very late, very stoned nights.



13. Der Weg einer Freiheit - Finisterre

German black from Würzburg. Just about as sonically lush as ice-cold black can get. Like their other records, Finisterre is expansive and often quite beautiful, but in the merciless, vicious manner of classic black.


12. Diĝir Gidim - I Thought There Was the Sun Awaiting My Awakening

Black from out of nowhere, as nobody seems to know the origin of this band. Angular and dissonant, with some weird time signatures, eerie keyboards, and practically every style of vocal imaginable, from distorted growls to quasi-classical, choir-like singing. Definitely a dark horse, given their complete anonymity, they don't even want you to know where they're from, but one of the most dynamic, innovative black records in recent memory. Certain rumours refer to another misleading incarnation of the Beast himself.


11. Lorn - Arrayed Claws

Another Italian dissonant, brutal, and out-there black, man. A densely layered, psychedelic, and complex, but not at the expense of a good ol' fashioned ass-kicking.


10. Almyrkvi - Umbra

Icelandic black perfection. Well, over the past few years, the Icelandic black scene has really laid its claim as one of the most vibrant and inventive currently in existence. Almyrkvi's debut album, Umbra is the epitome of everything that I like about the scene. Dense, cerebral guitar work, a not-so-subtle sense of psychedelia, hints of beauty in the peripherals, and darkly enveloping production.


09. The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia

One-man atmospheric black from Aachen, Germany. An absolutely fucking crushing one. Exuvia is a masterclass in heaviness, and my favorite Ruins of Beverast record since Rain upon the Impure. You all know this shit, I'm sure of it, I don't need to say any more, you black mofos.


08. Rebirth of Nefast - Tabernaculum

One-man black band. Started in Ireland and now relocated to Iceland, so it’s a just a letter away. This is the black debut album of the year, right here, right now. Extremely dark and uneasy, with masterfully executed, extreme jumps in tempo and intensity, as well as an enviable feel for controlled tension and release, I really can't believe this is their first album. Expect nothing but greatness from fucking black guy called Stephen Lockhart.


07. Cormorant - Diaspora

Progressive black from San Francisco, California, US. At four songs in just over an hour, Diaspora undeniably is compositionally ambitious. But what's remarkable isn't the length of the songs, obviously, but how well-balanced they are, and how consistently entertaining and engaging they remain. The album-closing, 26-minute "Migration" in particular is a real stunner. By far the best cover art of the year, for all genres, not just black art. A black mindblower.


06. Bestia Arcana - Holókauston

Black metal from Colorado, US, featuring members of Nightbringer. This is a masterpiece of dense, dissonant, utterly modern black. Achieves a massive, world-crushing atmosphere without relying on compression or reverb-abuse, don't get me wrong, there's plenty of reverb, and maintains an unrelentingly intense presence throughout while exploring a diverse, innovative set of musical approaches and influences.


05. Inferno - Gnosis Kardias (Of Transcension and Involution)

Black from Karviná, Czech Republic. A cerebral, layered, and ritualistically psychedelic in a way that sounds both modern and true to the blasphemous roots of black art. Woozy clean guitars chime their way through most of the album, giving it a sense of warped ethereality. Inferno have been around for close to two decades, and have yet to stop pushing themselves in exciting new directions.


04. Lluvia - Enigma

Jaw-dropping, atmospheric black Santa Cruz, California, US. Shimmering ambient washes and glorious flurries of blasting, droning tremolo-picking. There's even a nod to Gas-style ambient techno in there that I still cannot believe how good it works. Probably my most listened to black record of the year.


03. Chaos Moon - Eschaton Mémoire

One-man black act from Philadelphia, PA, US. Intricately layered, precisely paced, masterfully performed, and yet... chaotic and unhinged. Starts off extremely strong, then proceeds to up the ante with every song. 2017 has seen a whole bunch of my favorite bands putting out what I consider to be their best albums yet, and Eschaton Mémoire has managed to climb to the top of that formidable pile. Holy shit, what a great year for black art.


02. Wreche - Wreche

Wreche are a two-piece band from LA, and they play arty black with a major twist though: they have a pianist instead of a guitarist. Yup, it's drums, piano, and vox. They're both insanely talented, though, and the pianist's playing is classically-influenced and extremely dissonant, in a way that's in line with all the things we love in music. I will be extremely thrifty here, if this shit is not gonna change your mind about death / black / extreme, don’t expect 2018 will do something good for you, got it?. A real mindfuck


01. Botanist - Collective: The Shape of He to Come

Jaw-dropping, awe-inducing black art, in which guitars are replaced by hammered dulcimer, and shrieks by gorgeous, lush choral sections. Botanist are from another fucking planet, and we should consider ourselves pretty lucky that they came to visit us. And WOW, what a year for black art, it’s fucking unbelievable how much brilliance and how many terrific bands are out there in the genre. Now go the fuck and listen to this masterpiece, got it? Good, let’s go.
 

wizzy

Music is our (Supernatural) friend!
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Τι βλέπουν τα κατακόκκινα φιδίσια μάτια του Κτήνους...; Επέστρεψε ο @cosmarpan στα δρώμενα του thread; Ποιο από τα επίπεδα της Κολάσεως "άνοιξε" και μπόρεσε να δραπετεύσει...;

Υ.Γ.: Welcome back!:D:thumbsup:
 

cosmarpan

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Ας τα παρουμε από την αρχη, καλως σας βρηκα, ετοιμαστειτε να χασετε τις ψυχες σας και να εξαυλωσετε τις κωλοτρυπιδες σας.

Βotanist - Collective: The Shape of He to Come (2017) Avantgarde Music Records

Jaw-dropping, awe-inducing black art, in which guitars are replaced by hammered dulcimer, and shrieks by gorgeous, lush choral sections. Botanist are from another fucking planet, and we should consider ourselves pretty lucky that they came to visit us. And WOW, what a year for black art, it’s fucking unbelievable how much brilliance and how many terrific bands are out there in the genre. Now go the fuck and listen to this masterpiece, got it? Good, let’s go.

 
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