Beneath the Underground: New Music From Emanations
You may be familiar with Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions, the excellent underground French label that hosts The Great Old Ones. But are you aware that this underground label went even further underground to run limited releases of emerging black metal bands under the production name Emanations? The French have a phrase for this sort of trveness that I probably did but definitely did not make up just now: tres bord. Don’t look up the translation, take my word for it, and listen to these new albums.
It takes a lot of integrity to commit to underground metal, and Les Acteurs de l’Ombre does it in style. A quick browsing of their Bandcamp page shows the sort of quality they put out; album after album of dark, heavy, and ponderous (aka French) black metal await your ears. They decided to push that integrity one step further by establishing Emanations, a sort of sub-label to host smaller outputs of physical and digital releases from emerging bands. Today they released four excellent albums by bands I had never heard of/can’t pronounce. Granted, this sort of release won’t garner these bands instant fame, but man all of these albums are excellent and they need to see the grim light of the moon (not the light of day, you poser).
Aezh Morvarc’h creates a swirling atmosphere of dark, brooding black metal with an impressive tonal expanse and nasty, raspy vocals. Pick up a physical copy (if you like tapes) of Mare Humorum or the digital album here.
I can’t yet wrap my head around the fuzzy, mid-driven production style (especially in the kick drum) of El Viaje Definitivo by Profundae Libidines, but I like the unique approach and the seriously odd vocal diversity you see in this one. The cover art may throw you off a bit, but I get the feeling there’s a LOT to be continuously discovered with this one. Pick up the tape or the digital copy here.
In Cauda Venenum wins big for the best album art out of this bunch. Their self titled album is two monstrous tracks, but they pack enough diversity in their long-winded approach to stay fresh through the long run time. With somber clean sections and harrowing, atmospheric blasting and everything in between, this will be an album to come back to many, many times. Get the tape, CD, or digital copy here.
Lifestream is the most raw one of the group. I wouldn’t call it lo-fi, but there’s a definite unpolished sound in their production that I really dig. Reverb laden vocals and a twisting, turning approach to structure seal the deal for me. The tape, CD, and digital version of Post Ecstatic Experience is available here.
Well, it’s time for you to get out of my face. We all have some listening/shrieking in a forest to be doing right now, so get over there and listen to some black metal.
