New Music Roundup: Lychgate, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Keep of Kalessin, Enslaved & More
I’m not blind to the Toilet’s drawing power. You come here for the dick and butt jokes, but you stay for the music. We’ve got some more of that for you right here in this post. (Note: if you, conversely, come for the music but stay for the dick and butt jokes, you’re pretty much guaranteed to find those here, too).
________
I had a pretty weird dream last night. You all had shells on your backs. Like, big ol’ tortoise shells. You were all talking about and posting pictures of your brand new fucking shells, and I was the only person who didn’t have one. You guys weren’t exactly nice to me about it either. I felt pretty left out, man. I woke up in cold sweat and a warm puddle. That’s going to be your sorry ass if you’re the only one to miss out on Lychgate‘s new song “Letter XIX” from their upcoming album, An Antidote for the Glass Pill. If my memory serves me the band’s self-titled debut (2013) was fairly standard black metal with some symphonic touches here and there; mainly organ. Now it sounds like we’re in for something a lot more interesting. According to the label, An Antidote for the Glass Pill is “perhaps the only black metal album in history that features full accompaniment by a professional church pipe organist throughout,” which sounds more impressive than it reads, especially in the context of Lychgate’s newfound affinity for what-the-fuck-is-happening-right-now black metal. This song is uniquely unsettling. Check it out. For fans of: stuff that doesn’t really sound like anything else.
________
Der Weg Einer Freiheit has got to be one of the worst band names ever, and it’s even worse when translated to English (plus, “einer” totally sort of looks like “wiener”). It’s probably for that very reason that I’ve not made myself familiar with the band. That and I’m just generally lazy (see: next song). I did, however, happen across “Einkehr” from their new album Stellar (March 23, Season of Mist), and it sounds like something I can fancy. Mare Cognitum’s poignantly dramatic approach to black metal immediately comes to mind. “Einkehr” boasts an ascension to climactic heights every bit as lofty as “Noumenon‘s”. Listen below.
________
W. has been telling me to listen to the full stream of Keep of Kalessin’s new album Epistemology for like a week straight now. Every time I say, “oh yeah, I’ll do it tonight” and then I definitely don’t do it tonight. I still haven’t listened to it (or anything from them, for that matter), because I’m a stupid person and I keep forgetting. That’s it. As soon as I’m done with this post, I’m going to do it (I won’t). Anyways, I can’t tell you anything about this album other than the fact that it has W.’s Presidential Seal of Approval, but that’s really all the convincing you should need. Stream the whole thing at Metal Hammer. [Since writing this, the Masterlord has finally listened to the record. His eyes hath opened to the glory. — W.]
________
Hopefully you didn’t completely blow it by missing Enslaved’s new single (“Thurisaz Dreaming”) from about a week ago. In case that wasn’t enough for you, I found this video of Ivar Bjørnson talking about the recording process of In Times. It’s really, really boring. But, there’s a frustrating if not offensive total of 22 seconds of new music at the beginning and end. Enjoy I guess.
________
Props to Steel for Brains for turning me on to the new song by Acherontas. It’s the first we’re hearing of their upcoming album Ma IoN (Formulas of Reptilian Unification), which looks to be another in a long line of maddeningly long (01:10:22. . .) orthodox black metal releases, set for release through World Terror Committee on February 27th. All that being said, this is a good song. “Ma IoN” has everything I want in this sort of black metal: mesmerizing rhythm, fittingly vile leads, and an arresting air of ritualism and ceremony. Shit is pretty evil. Will the full album be enough to justify its exorbitant run-time? We’ll just have to wait and see.
________
Last-minute additions:
Hacavitz (Dark Descent) sacking the bestial death and focusing instead on fully-realized black metal. Dark, dismal, depressing, disheartening, a bunch of other “D” words. Check out “Darkness Beyond” and “Deadreams” on their Bandcamp.
Profound Lore is streaming another single from Leviathan’s Scar Sighted. Check out “Within Thrall”. It’s good I say.
