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In anticipation of the profane rites of spring and summer

As the solar powers emancipate the winter’s icy grip, the pieces of art we hoped to dominate this year’s playlists are gradually fading to old news, not to spoil any upcoming reviews of efforts such as Burzum‘s pastoral “Belus”, Immolation‘s showy “Majesty and Decay” and Winterwolf‘s cheeky “Cycle of the Werewolf”. Insatiable death squads that we are, relentlessly lusting for the lower ethereal planes, our sights gaze upon promised treasures such as the debut album of North Carolina’s Anu, “Opus Funaerum” and the sophomore benedictions of Australia‘s Cauldron Black Ram and New York’s Profanatica; namely, “Slubberdegullion” and “Disgusting Blasphemies Against God”. The Anu CD is currently in press and will be available through Graveless Slumber Records and distributors worldwide, this Demoncy related band having already caused a stirring of unbenevolent underground majesties with its acrid and harsh self-titled EP and Myspace samples promising neo-ambient black metal hymnals dedicated to the darkness and quietude of night, in the profound manner of Sorcier des Glaces and Legion of Doom who know how to make the synthesizer sound archaic. The LP version will be out later on Werewolf Records, whose releases I generally find worthwhile to pay attention to. Cauldron Black Ram has hardly softened their sound over the years in favor of pirate maniacs scattered by the sinking of Running Wild‘s flagship, instead paying homage to Autopsy and Hellhammer with primi-syncopated drumscapes, poisonous grunts and eerily progressive riffing that gets at times, not that surprisingly, close to what compatriots Portal practice on galactic hyperspeeds, CD out now on Weird Truth Productions. Profanatica’s audial sodomy, out in summer through the hallowed Hells Headbanger Records hardly needs much explanation nor much can be provided, as Ledney remains the official high priest of evil USBM since more than two decades of non-compromising, pummelling, harsh and blasphemous black metal.

And while waiting for all these to intrude your mailbox as if it was the holy anus, check out some of the forthcoming gigs in your area and present yourself simultaneously as a brutal but intelligent metalhead, in order to raise the honourable status of this artform in your country. Hail and kill.

The White God returns from the Underworld

It’s been 13 years since the last sonically black metallic beast from the most infamous Norwegian perpetrator of Germanic mysticism and spells of darkness. Post-produced while Varg was already enchained to the dungeons of Ila, Oslo, Burzum’s “Filosofem” influenced a decade of ambient black metal with its melancholic drone textures, mid-paced romantic metal on the edge of desperation and hope and slowly drifting synthesizer movements akin to Tangerine Dream. Within the next few years, the caged wolf defied repression by a series of neo-classical MIDI works, that essentially showed he still has deep music within him despite the obvious difficulties in his situation to get the end product he would like to. Yet, this was not a catastrophe for pieces of music that were about concept more than anything else. As a pioneer of narrative and ritual composition, Burzum was never dependent on the devices of rock or traditional metal to bring across the ever deepening spheres of twilight that still continue to confuse listeners of the early albums and create endless clones of “depressive” or “suicidal” black metal which fail to have anything to do with the special mood of the original works.

While loudmouths and troublemakers were proclaiming Burzum’s death on the basis of a multitude of (not unfounded) anti-black metal statements, Varg’s release from prison was accompanied by a promise to return to the scene, figuratively. While details about the forthcoming album weren’t revealed then, now there’s enough to give any real Burzum fan sleepless nights of anticipation. “Den Hvite Guden”, conceptually a drama on the trials of the White God of various European ancient traditions, will include a couple of songs written as far back as 1988, with of course lots of brand new exercises in purely mesmerizing runic metal as only Varg can do it, besides Odin himself! An album to crush the whole past decade of mediocrity in black metal, or another safe, lukewarm comeback? We shall all hear it with our own ears, in the season when the Sun returns.

Immolation builds a new WMD

You love Immolation, don’t you? If you do, you’ll be as excited as we are about this piece of news. If not, what’s wrong with you!?

Unique-disharmonic-blackend-death-metal legends Immolation, have entered Millbrook Sound Studios in New York with longtime producer Paul Orofino to begin recording their Nuclear Blast Records debut and eighth over all album. The band checked in from the studio today to offer the following details and update:

“We are still in the process of getting ideas together for the album’s concept and cover art, but these final details will be worked out in the near future.”

Hopefully it will be convoluted, insane and maniacal again as “Close to a World Below” was. I mean, the last album was great of course but maybe not as awe-inspiring after about 100 listens, which should be the norm for Immolation studies by death metal fans.