Magickal Destruction: Venezuelan Black Metal from Veldraveth, Selbst, and Funebria
I have been studying the arcane since I was a kid. Now I am trying to uncover a major conspiracy in my country, a conspiracy with extreme metal manifestos.
Journal. January, 2016:
Living in danger made me realize that the greatest ability a human has while in peril is to dissect the impossible, to think beyond the words and to know what dwells behind the curtain of reality that our eyes cannot see.
My country is being ravaged by unknown forces; I have been tracking the darkness in every corner of my land and now I have a better view of this situation, based on the little data recollected during my nocturnal walks on the spiritual side. But these anemic results made me fear the worst. Beyond the economic plunge, severe drought season and political struggles, there is an uprising of chaotic forces, unseen, hiding in the invisible line that divides the physical and the other world.
Torturing some lesser demons and infiltrating myself into nasty pubs, I identified three high rank generals that are spreading the seeds of despair on our soil; they are using three distinct forms of the music manifesto called Black Metal.
I will pass this information to my Crusade Guild, hoping that some of them realize the danger we have ahead. In the end, I will resume my unexpected conclusion of this work.
Subject name: an entity called Veldraveth.
Magick plane in which they work: chaotic magick.
Last incantation: Malformations of God (2016).
Organization they belong: Engulfed in Darkness Records.
San Félix is in the edge of the Venezuelan rain forest region. In this city, a secret covenant arose in 2001 in which five practitioners of an ancient war against sacred institutions decoded a secret speech of atheistic venom. They named themselves Veldraveth.
Their upcoming full length, Malformations of God, is a script that describes a fractured world without a hope high above. In this sonic torment, the restless drum shots crush the rocks, and the stormy guitar tone cuts the flesh of the infidels. For more than 10 years, this group has practiced to master their weapons of choice and to craft ten hymns of destruction.
Veldraveth, now a three-piece band, shifted from sloppy black metal to a fully equipped war machine, employing their newly mastered blackened death metal propaganda as a tool to communicate the impending demise of this society. Some converts to their school are declaring that Veldraveth are apostles of destruction.
Cuts like “In Chaos Born” or “In Terms of Violence” are dangerous neck-breaking spells. I experimented a little with this magical paradigm, and I must recommend its usage to overcome the difficulties of social apathy. This magick will be cast this March 26th. Beware!
Subject name: a two-headed beast called Selbst.
Magick plane in which they work: individualistic dark mysticism.
Last incantation: An Ominous Landscape EP (2015).
Organization they belong: Sun & Moon Records.
A young nameless duo planted a thought bomb in 2011, crafting with hard work some controlled explosions that detonated after mind to mind in a dominó effect, to spread their wild fire of individual conversion to their philosophies. Since then, they fused into a bestial specter known as Selbst, paying homage to Carl Jung’s concept of the “self”.
Members of the Crusade Guild would like to explore this concept of anti-dogmatic and self-centered explorations of the darkness. I argue that this would go against our organization’s teachings, but the detailed orthodox black metal magick that this duo composes has a high-quality resolution, and it leads to the terrains of meditation states.
The difficult ethos in which Selbst operates makes them a worthy opponent to the light. They work unmasked, with no face paint, and they impose thoughts of auto-reflection with tremolo-driven melodies and anguished wails. Their three-song recollection of their studies is entitled An Ominous Landscape EP and summarizes perfectly my appreciation of their art. I would proceed with caution; these chants to the dark within the corners of our soul might be alluring.
I fell into their trap and realized that the meticulously structured melodies of their magick are, indeed, a matter of listening and analysis.
Subject name: a lethal elemental fury named Funebria.
Magick plane in which they work: satanic necromancy.
Last incantation: Dekatherion: Ten Years of Hate and Pride (2015).
Organization they belong: Sathanath Records.
From the wasteland known as Maracaibo, I have been following this major act for a while. The embodiment of this elemental spirit of violence is known in these lands as Funebria, and I must warn that they have been destroying stages for ten years.
This destructive force pummels bodies and triturates the bones of their victims; the ugly part of this affirmation is that they enjoy doing it. Invoking Satan and their cohort of bloodthirsty emissaries, they have developed a large cult around the necromantic practices.
They have collaborated with Veldraveth in the past, but their last opus, Dekatherion: Ten Years of Hate and Pride, invokes destruction upon the flesh and tortures the souls of the enemies of this sect. The maddened shrieks of the priest Seth Aum Xul command this legion with terror propaganda, and the rhythmic components, comprised of Iblis, Daemonae and Ed Thorn set the foundations for the black pestilence they transmit to the unwary masses.
Their cult of the dead operates under the pulsation of their blackened death metal style. Their guitar tone resembles a carefully sharpened axe that cuts limbs, and their bass and drum duo reminds me of the old bone crusher tortures of the ancient ages.
Their bestial side is tied up with the destructive attitude. I confess that the violent disposition of their magick made me channel some negative energies of my arcane torrent, so I can include these Dekatherion spells unto my future studies.
My analysis is done. And I was fooled by our blinded dogmatism in the Crusade Guild. We must remake our organization, hoping to include a dual approach to the magick. The enemy was not the black metal cults of this country; the enemy is right beneath our very people and we must cleanse them.
