Roots of Evil: The Origins of Metal

by Johan Pettersson on August 15, 2017

With the fiftieth anniversary of metal music around the corner, forthcoming years will witness an increase of publications dealing with the history, legacy and defining characteristics of the genre. This could finally resolve the lack of consensus that still exists regarding the definition and origins of heavy metal.

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Fashwave

by Brett Stevens on August 5, 2017

During the tumultuous past few years, a new sub-genre appeared that combines elements of several existing genres. Fashwave is synthwave with a darkwave sensibility and occasional metal-inspired riffs that sound very much out of the canon of Beherit or Burzum, but simplified to fit within the more synthpop-oriented rhythms of fashwave.

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Sanctuaire Readying Feu Sacré

by Daniel Maarat on March 17, 2017

French Canadian Viking-themed black metal/ambient band Sanctuaire announced on their Facebook page that they are in the final stages of mixing their upcoming record, Feu Sacré (Sacred Fire). Hopefully the band have continued improving their compositional skills which advanced from their oft pedestrian Helserkr demo collection to last year’s sometimes inspiring Le Sang sur l’Acier EP.

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Autechre – elseq 1–5 (2016)

by Staff on January 12, 2017


Article by Lance Viggiano.

Autechre‘s elseq 1-5 is a four hour anthology consisting of five individual EPs, each compiled together loosely upon conceptual coherence between the constituent tracks. elseq 1-5 is an exercise in release format rather than just content; the artists behind Autechre seek to utilize the immediacy of the digital age, releasing tracks “as they go” without traditional limitations imposed by the “album.” Granted of course this collection appeared as a hulking and impenetrable dump rather than a sequence. This point bears worth remembering as this overview proceeds as the temptation to view elseq 1-5 as a complete work, or works, is ingrained in popular habits.

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Marko Laiho – Ambient RH020151A (2016)

by Staff on November 4, 2016

marko-laiho-ambient
Death Metal Underground staffers Lance Viggiano and Corey M. reviewed Marko Laiho’s new ambient mix he created for Radio Helsinki.

Marko Laiho’s forays into electronic music can be described as anything but explorations of the myth of the machine. Though his aesthetic pallet draws from future invocations – anything we say of the future is always about the present – he blurs the line between the biological and mechanical unlike so much of the greater genre proper. For this mix, created for Radio Helsinki, the bohemian devil troubadour crafts an enveloping near-ambient journey using samples of original work and that of other artists as well. The success or failure of music in this mode is dependent entirely upon pacing over the course of an unbroken set which in this case does not falter. Broken into halves, the latter is more recessed while the former is more pronounced.

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Goatcraft – Yersinia Pestis (2016)

by Staff on August 19, 2016

goatcraft - yersinia pestis

Article by Lance Viggiano.

Arpeggiated minor chord melancholy culled from or composed during belligerent improvisational tirades given body by a sluggish left hand approximating power chords to provide the work a lattice to the traditions of metal. Yersinia Pestis abstains from its predecessor’s thematic coherence – an accident of writing what were essentially cover songs of a famous painter – to make marked but mishandled improvements in its individual presentations through tuneful reprisals of established Goatcraft trademarks. The dependence upon staccato and arpeggio retain the artist’s characteristic stiffness in execution which blemishes through its brutishness.

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Nigromante’s The Euphonies and Profundidades Available For Download

by Daniel Maarat on August 1, 2016

Nigromante - PROFUNDIDADES cover

Nigromante’s Profundidades, recently reviewed by David Rosales, has been released for free download in MP3 format by experimental ambient label Spheredelic along with the earlier The Euphonies album:

Our second release in July is a double feature including the brand new album “Profundidades” as well as the reissue of the EP “The Euphonies” by Nigromante.
All music and ideas by Ebvleb. The picture for the cover layout was created by Marvin Narciso MMXV

The project Nigromante was founded between 1997/98. The shadowy figure behind Nigromante is inspired by and operating in the most deteriorated graveyards of Guatemala. Nigromante is to be listened to in the darkness of night, with pure candlelight, in order to feel the sound unleash specific emotions. It is the music of graves and the next dimension aiming at a direct contact with the lost souls of those who wander between the next dimension and this one. Nigromante is UNIQUE, a medieval modern aura of necroespiritual compositions.

Nigromante describes his music as “Necrospiritual Occult and Ethereal Nostalgia”. He uses sounds of medieval pianos, oboes, strings, etc. – all created with synths.

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