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Akitsa est un groupe de black metal québécois fondé en 1999 à Montréal par O.T. et Néant.
Montreal-based black metal duo Akitsa are one of the many overlooked gems in the Canadian metal landscape that come as a breath of fresh air once found. Akitsa are masters of loft, punk/garage rock influenced black metal that also occasionally borders power electronics and harsh noise (especially on tracks like Les Ruines De La Modernité), with downright primitive, ceaseless shrieks from O.T. (the vocalist) that really bring a sense of unquenchable bloodlust and anger that characterizes their work. Whether their song structure is reliant on pretty simple, alternating, almost doomy riffs, or extremely complex instrumentation that completely overwhelms at times, Akitsa does it so, so right- a hard thing to do when driving through multiple tempos, atmospheres, and various types of experimentation in my own opinion.
-fucked by noise
Imagine being able to peer into an underground room with some of pretty bad recording equipment, and a few guys who want to creative very raw and antihuman black metal. Akitsa are that band and Goetie is an album that is about twenty years archaic, though the lofi black metal sound is a fifty/fifty wager on either being incredibly atmospheric or downright abysmal. Though there are moments where the production hampers the experience, Goetie is one of the better examples of underground black metal where atmosphere trumps the choice production. Though it may either take ears accustomed to the sounds of Haine et Vengeance, or repeated listens to understand Goetie the album is a voyage into the murky realms of underground black metal.
-metalreviews.com
Heavily in the Burzum way! One of the most raw and primitive bands emerging from the canadian and the quebecers true underground black metal scene.
-red stream
AKITSA GOÈTIE (FULL ALBUM)
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For most listeners this music is almost unlistenable: unrelenting and mostly unchanging basic flickbeats through a drum machine trot past a fiercely, cheaply, grossly distorted guitar power chording riffs built of the same basic ideas and reacharound counterpoint tendencies. Barring that aesthetic restrainer, a careful listener will find the insecurity of a will behind seemingly random, simplistic music; with interpretation, one can see why this music walks heir to the throne of Hellhammer, Bathory, and Burzum: it breaks down in order to show melody and structure in the cracks of an aging order, and retaliates with a virulent nihilism and ideological anti aesthetic textural synthesis. Where it is brilliant it is, and where else it is nonetheless reflective.
-deathmetal.org
Ildjarn’s chief claim to fame is briefly being a live Emperor bassist, but the mysterious Norwegian also had a self titled project. And, amidst various albums, mostly ambient, deep in the band’s discography lies this deceptive little bastard, armed with a name and artwork which suggests some Bergtatty stroll through gentle, kind trees, perhaps with a picnic. As you’ll know if you actually play it, the Forest Poetry experience is nothing like that. Imagine yourself in a forest at night in a blizzard, being chased by some mad snarling goblin with an axe, frequently running into trees and knocking yourself senseless – whereupon everything goes quiet as you pick yourself up and start running again. The production is very raw, the drumming is a primitive racket, the bass is loud and obnoxious, there are no songs, just count-ins and abrupt endings.
There’s no melody or structure, and the instruments form one deranged DIRNGA-DIRNGA-DIRNGA-DIRNGA-DIRNGA that makes Venom’s Black Metal sound like the lushest Nightwish song in existence. I’d forgive you if you listened to a single track and declared it the worst garage band in the world at rehearsal.
-metalreviews.com
For the most part, Forest Poetry appears to be composed of the same riffs, the same monotonous drumbeats and the same amount of fuzz and static that you expected from the last two records. While the drums actually sound much better here than on the debut album, only the fact that Ildjarn started to compose traditional song structures makes it a little better than the debut. There are no electronics or experimentation on the record either, as it sounds very basic and that might be its greatest downfall. Perhaps I don’t quite understand the notion of kvlt, but the same song with a slight variation for an hour’s length isn’t in any way noteworthy; and comes off as pretentious and lethargic to say the very least. When listening to an album becomes a test of patience, you start to wonder what odd textures roil about in the minds of those who consider this work to be genius. (Eric May)
-new noise
ILDJARN FOREST POETRY (FULL ALBUM)
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The disc is composed of two pieces , without major differences between them, the length of 25 minutes each . We are talking about a piece of music is difficult to define in words that embodies the pioneering spirit of Black Metal, made of screams, distortions, extremism , the typical gait reflective (although here the term seems to be out of tune) of Ambient music: we could talk quietly Dark Ambient if this term were not so overused nowadays be understood another thing (i.e. Ambient played with synthesizers but especially by extreme music exponents). The Abruptum: namely the Bauhaus struggling with the experimental suite “cacophonous” The Soft Machine Third … rumorismo the extremes of the first and dilating ominously structures of seconds (of course I am referring to the most jam-session of the English pieces) . Their music has neither head nor tail, has no real purpose, since it eliminates the shape song that would tie this kind (and any other) to the canons of the Rock / Pop (of which the metal is sound evolution).
-debaser
The line up for the album is quite simple. IT performed the vocals, and Evil took care of the guitar, drums, and noise. The track list, is not even worth mentioning. As there aren’t any. The entire album, is one hour long audial trip to and from Helvete. Each section of the record lasts twenty five minutes.
And it is within this hour, that you will experience a dark awakening and experience. Many listeners to that of Abruptum’s work, especially of this, and of their second full-length Umbra Malitiae Ambulabo, In Aeternum In Triumpho Tenebrarum, have noted that listening to their noise causes violent thoughts, vomiting, and even seizures. That, as well as hallucinations make this a noise like musical drug.
I would speak about the instruments, and the music itself, but there purely is none to speak of. While the guitar and drums are present, they are but there for an effect every now and then. This recording is nothing but loud, blaring, thunderous noise.
As for IT’s vocals, they are absent. All that you have is his screams, as he tortures himself. This, coupled with the demonic noise, makes you feel like you’re in Hell, and are listening as Satanas speaks in tongue.
-unbalanced ramblings
Vocals are nothing more than demented and tortured howls and shrieks, as well as some painful moaning. The question regarding whether or not there are actual lyrics here is up for debate. Again, everything sounds quite improvised. If there is an overall structure to these two pieces, I haven’t yet discovered it. Due to the length, I’ve only listened to this recording about a dozen times in the past few years. Whenever I need an Abruptum fix, I’m much more likely to go after the Evil E.P.
-rise of the black moon
ABRUPTUM OBSCURITATUM ADVOCO AMPLECTERE ME (FULL ALBUM)
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Dutch black metallers Urfaust carry the blackened torch of ultra cult, totally personal, and weird as fuck black metal into infinity with this record. Imagine an opera singer, wandering drunkenly down the street, ducking into a Karaoke bar, only to discover that the back up band is Burzum or Woodtemple or some other stumbling droney black metal outfit, and thus proceeds to CROON maniacally atop their grim fuzzy midtempo buzzing backing, in a ultra dramatic warble that is equal parts Ethel Merman, Devil Doll’s Mr. Doctor and Tom Jones. Sometimes the music kicks up a notch into a pounding Viking style shanty, and the vocals follow right along, spat out in belligerent slurred shout / growl, and punctuated by occasional grunts and wild warbling wooooooaaaaahhhh’s. The vocals occasionally get even weirder, becoming a wild banshee like falsetto shriek before slipping back into that campy warbly croon. Sounds goofy and it is, but it’s also totally compelling and emotional, dark and weirdly wonderfully creepy. And these songs are strangely catchy and will totally get stuck in your head. Every once in a while since we got this in, I’ll find myself humming something to myself trying to figure out what it is only to realize it’s Urfaust! Holy shit! How often does that happen? With some demented BM band?! As if that wasn’t enough, toward the end of the record things get REALLY weird. The second to last track is an extended mournful epic, just minor key strings, majestic and sorrowful, a slowly shifting doomscape, and the vocals fit perfectly here, like a damned and doomed heartbroken shell of a man, standing alone at the edge of the world, staring into the abyss wailing and moaning his anguish, in that by now unmistakable hyper dramatic caterwaul. Then the final track comes out of nowhere and finishes things off with a tranquil swirl, an instrumental new age swoosh, all warm and dreamy and blissed out, like the Orb or maybe Labradford, What the fuck?!
-aquarius records
While they may technically not be good at all, his wailing has some sort of depressing, sad undertone that is mesmerizing from start to finish. And to top it all off, he occasionally boasts out a shriek that sounds more mentally unstable than Nattramn (Silencer) will ever be able to. His performance is impressive, as he comes frighteningly close to how a fanatical Devil worshipper would sound. All fuses are blown, and IX is lost forever, dancing and praying in the woods, singing loud his unholy worship. Endless solitary worship. A very chilling experience to say the least.
-metal storm
URFAUST GEIST IST TEUFEL (FULL ALBUM)
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The bulk of the music is built around extremely dreary guitar riffs and tormented screams. This possesses an atmosphere similar to early Mütiilation or Burzum, with the focus on conveying pitchblack negativity to the heart and mind of the listener. Things are often carried out at a brooding pace. Even when the drumming speeds up, the guitar melodies carry on in a hypnotic manner, never really approaching anything that could be called intense. Feasts is the sort of album that would serve well as a soundtrack to a nightmare. There is something downright unsettling about some of the riffs, giving you the feeling that you have been pulled into Hell. The songwriting also includes elements that are similar to the works of Vlad Tepes and Belketre, such as some of the old school rhythms and more traditional passages. Good examples of this can be heard in “Deadsex” and “The Last Supper”. This adds to the unique feel of the material, while also helping it to be that much more memorable.
Feasts is one of the better releases from the LLN, in every way possible, and is definitely essential for fans of Vlad Tepes, Mütiilation, Belketre, Torgeist, etc. Even those into I Shalt Become will, most likely, appreciate the bleak and miserable content of this album. This recording cemented Black Murder as one of the most important bands to ever emerge from the French underground and I, for one, feel as if I have been robbed for not hearing it sooner. Avoid the same horrible fate and seek this out now.
-encyclopaedia metallum
Vorlok Drakkstein still performs those deranged screams. They sound even more deranged on here than they did on the first demo. His crazed nature pierces through the loft production with utter ease. As for the guitars, they too show a greater deal of complexity. Wlad Drakkstein plays a lot of midpaced riffs that, thanks to the tone and reverb, sound ominous and foreboding. The spine chilling atmosphere is present right at the beginning. He also plays a lot of vicious tremolo riffs that demonstrate pure raw supremacy. Some of these riffs even display a hint of catchiness. He even plays a few creepy acoustic guitars, such as those on “Interlude”.
-servile insurrection
What the demo lacks in originality, or even technical skill for that matter, it makes up for in unrepentant ferocity with buzzsaw guitars, powerful drumming and vocals that honestly cannot be explained in words. Surprisingly this demo also manages to create a rather unnerving atmosphere at times, similar to that found in the work of projects like Silencer.
-grim lord of misanthropy
BLACK MURDER FEASTS (FULL ALBUM)
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The music is low quality run of the mill Black Metal; nothing stands out in the album. The production is horrible; I enjoy raw and difficult listening production a lot in Black Metal, but the production in this one is simply not enjoyable; first mistake is the vocals; they’re extremely high in the mix, plus Para Bellum’s growls are terrible, in an attempt to sound original and fresh he simply sounds annoying. The guitars sound dull and the riffing is simply far from being good; one or two nice riffs thrown here and there but overall they sound sloppy and plain boring. As for the drums the only thing you’ll hear is a constant snare beat; I thought drums had cymbals too, but it looks like Blackdeath hadn’t discovered them yet in 1997.
-metalreviews.com
Yes, the production kinda sucks, even by Black Metal standards. The synth drums are terrible, and the vocals suck beyond belief, they sound like someone’s screaming and moaning random Russian obscenities over a broken phone or something. Anyway, whenever in need of decent BM from Russia, stick to the Blazebirth Hall bands (Branikald, Forest / Vargleide, Nitberg, Ravendark). Far from essential, and nothing terribly original, but generally better than this disappointing album.
metalreviews.com
Upwards and onwards 80%
BM_DM, December 18th, 2007
There are motifs in the third full-length Blackdeath (Rus) release, ‘Bottomless Armageddon,’ that you may initially imagine denote the band as no more than early Darkthroneworshippers. The guitar tone and song structures are cases in point: the former is typically reverbdrenched, sharp and thin, whilst the latter often revolves around sequences of riffs, with little or no repetition. Opening track ‘Baphomet’ would be a typical example. Areas where the similarities end are the pleasantly fuzzy and clearly audible bass and the vocals, which are higher pitched and more rasping than the trademark Fenriz / Nocturne Culto croak. The ‘spoken rasp’ passage towards the end of the third track, ‘The falling of gold Jerusalem’, is supported by a halting bass line and nothing else. It is an interesting device, jarring in a good way and serving to refocus the listener’s attention on the rest of the track. ‘Bottomless Armageddon’ features other elements that set Blackdeath (Rus) apart. The synchronised bass and guitar line underpinning the simplypicked riff in ‘Under the spell of the black moors’ reminded me of similar passages in King Crimson’s ‘Red’. This three minute track drones on without a great deal of development, but is pleasingly hypnotic. In particular, I enjoyed the fact that its lack of complexity is a thoughtful counterpoint on the composers’ part to the barrage of twisting riffs in the track immediately preceding it.
Blackdeath don’t stint on the ‘metal’ on this release. The fourth track, ‘Dominus dusk hammer’, sees the guitar, bass and drums coalesce around the 1:30 mark for a nice head banging break before splitting up to go their separate ways. However, it’s not all good news. The curious ‘three blind mice’ motif which is repeated several times towards the end of ‘Seven towers of Satan’ is disappointingly bland after some of the exotic riffing that the listener has been treated to in the first two thirds of the release. It should be noted that, atmospheric though it is, the final track (‘Apocalyptic dream’) is really just an outro, with a little guitar work over wind sound effects. Other bands have called releases of similar duration EPs, but no matter.
Darkthrone have clearly served as a template for Blackdeath (Rus). However, this release is not merely the slavish reproduction of a blueprint, but more in the manner of a Wittgensteinian ladder: a means of ascent to a plateau upon which the band has created something distinctively their own.
BLACKDEATH BOTTOMLESS ARMAGEDDON (FULL ALBUM)
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The one thing that is problematic about Strength & Honour is the drum production. The bass drum is very loud and punchy, which, compared to the rest of the music, seems like it nears dance club levels. This big and boring bass kick is especially troublesome on track one, “Raging Winter” (which is maybe the worst song on the album), in which the simple, constant eighth note bass drum plod makes for an unpleasantly banal hammering experience. In a more practical sense, the loudness of the bass drum gets in the way somewhat of being able to hear the rest of the music, but it’s not so bad that you won’t be able to hear anything else. Overall, a good raw and basic black metal album.
-maelstrom zine
After the first riff hits your ears you have the scene set for the rest of the album, lowfi, dark, depressing and brutal. The way in which Satanic Warmaster are able to instantly switch from brutal black metal to depressive ambient guitar riffs is quite astonishing. There is also a sense of a dark atmosphere which inhabits every track on the album. Although the drums are typical of the black metal genre they are nevertheless crushing to your ears and effective at piecing this soundtrack together.
-encyclopaedia metallum
The most negative aspect of Strength and Honour is the production. Underground Black Metal is supposed to be raw, and this is no exception. In fact, the sound on this record is very much preferred over the horribly slick and soulless vibe of Horna’s Sudentaival. That said, the drums are far too high in the mix, with the bass drum being particularly distracting. The songwriting is fairly generic and there is nothing here that had not been done much better a decade earlier; nonetheless, for those people that want to hear more of this style, a more guitar oriented sound would have been beneficial. For the majority of the album, the riffs are nearly stomped out by the percussion, which is something that should always be avoided. The vocals are a bit too prominent as well, though the problem may actually be that they sound oversaturated in effects. The cheap microphone did not help matters, as certain puffs of air come through far too much and add to the unprofessional quality that permeates this L.P. Strength and Honour is a fairly mediocre release, though it is actually one of the better albums to bear the Satanic Warmaster name, ranking just below Opferblut. There is nothing about this record that makes it essential for fans of Black Metal, as there were plenty of other bands doing the same style in a much more impressive manner, around the same time that this came out. It is doubtful that it even drew that much attention from fans of the early Horna material, that may have wondered what their exvocalist was up to, since Nazgul’s style is not very distinguishable. If you do not demand a high level of quality from musicians, then this may be for you. Otherwise, you may want to stick with originators, while ignoring those that tried to emulate them.
-rise of the black moon
SATANIC WARMASTER STRENGTH & HONOR (FULL ALBUM)
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This album surprised me… what happened to this band? Whereas the other two Judas Iscariot albums that I own (‘Heaven in Flames’ and ‘Of Great Eternity’) seemed to be mainly illustrating Akhenaten’s conflict between ‘traditional’ black metal and the compositional experimentation he obviously wanted to undertake, this record does away with the trepidation or instrumental hesitation that I hear on those earlier releases and instead decides to go straight for the listener’s throat with a strong sense of conviction and determination. Between ‘Heaven in Flames’ and this record Akhenaten must have reached something of a crisis point in his career, as the music here demonstrates a mastery of tone and obscure melodicism that was only hinted at before it’s as if the man went through a trial by fire, and emerged whole and victorious on the other side. Perhaps it is only his musical ‘maturity’ that I am feeling here, the ease with which he now approaches composition. Perhaps it is the sound of a reconciliation he had with his own aims within the genre. I can not be sure. But I am sure of one thing: this is not the Judas Iscariot that I knew from earlier recordings.
-encyclopaedia metallum
I guess I can’t say that any of these songs are bad per se as they’d probably be perfectly adequate coming from another band, but for Judas Iscariot they’re mediocre and phoned in. The first two tracks are conventional blast and tremolo numbers with decent riffs but no real surplus of inspiration, ‘Journey Through Visions Of War’ provides ‘variation’ by being slower than the first two, and ‘March Upon A Mighty Throne’ is a guitar only track because, well, Judas Iscariot does guitar only tracks! The only reason this sounds like Judas Iscariot is because it’s MADE TO SOUND THAT WAY, not a natural outgrowth of Akhenaten’s style. I’m not really sure what went wrong here but it really feels like a case of an artist believing his own hype. This is a pretty unnecessary release and even though it’s not really awful its lack of inspiration is so clear and massive that it’s kind of uncomfortable to listen to. Stick with the project’s earlier output and pretend this didn’t happen; if you get what Judas Iscariot was really about, you’ll be disappointed.
-encyclopaedia metallum
Of course, as Judas Iscariot’s music is only about the minimalistic style popularized by Darkthrone, the rhythms and pace of the songs remain pretty much constant, so Akhenaten really only has to work on one type of playing. But man, this is some great stuff. The production and feel of the songs are just right. This is the fastest material Judas Iscariot has done to date. While the best album of this US black metal frontrunner is still Heaven in Flames, I have no doubt that any fan of necro black metal will eat this up.
-maelstrom zine
JUDAS ISCARIOT DETHRONED CONQUERED AND FORGOTTEN (FULL ALBUM)
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Ashdautas belonged to the Black Twilight Circle. Disbanded in summer 2011.
“Ashdautas has nothing to do with that pathetic bullshit spouted from the mouth of Edward/Volahn in the [Phoenix interview],” Naeth wrote in a forum on the Nuclear War Now Productions site. “I am not Mexican and I started Ashdautas which is the first of all of the bands that have to do with what has been labeled ‘Black Twilight.’ Since that interview/statement was released I have ended Ashdautas as I and our other members can not be aligned with a person who is a lying, delusional, pseudo racist, wanna be brown power attention whore who grew up and still lives in the whitest part of the entirety of Orange County, CA.”
Naeth was evidently referring to a portion of the Phoenix interview in which Volahn claimed to have been involved in a violent altercaton with neoNazis, and spoke about the group’s solidarity with the Mexica movement. “Being brown in LA is hard,” Volahn told the Phoenix in last week’s interview, “especially dealing with cops and immigration. Settlers on the land of my ancestors want to govern my life. Fuck white occupation of my sacred land! We are to be governed by our own people. I’m an indigenous revolutionary for my people and our struggle, and we’re the true representatives of our culture today.
On another message board, Naeth elaborated on his reasons for breaking up the group: “I ended Ashdautas because Edward/Volahn is against me and my people racially as I myself am Russian/German and not Mexican. If that shit had been posted by a white person ANTIFA [an antifascist network] would be all over it and he and all related persons would be added to their list of hateful groups.”
In a separate email, Naeth added, “He [Volahn] talks about how people around him ‘fell into gangs and prison’ but there is only ONE person he knows who is in a ‘gang’ and served time in prison and guess who that is? It’s me.”
-thephoenix.com
It wasn’t long ago that the words “American” and “Black Metal” in the same sentence would produce laughter and scorn from many staunch supporters of deep Satanic art. Nowadays it would seem that some of the most interesting and violent Black Metal comes from the states. It’s difficult to peruse the pages of the metal mags and miss all the accolades thrust upon bands like Xasthur, and Leviathan. Los Angeles’ Ashdautas may not get the attention of the aforementioned hordes, but their 2005 album Shadow Plays Of Grief And Pain is so harsh and so mephitic that it demands to be heard. Most noticeable are the tortured vocals of Naeth. The guy seems torn apart from within, and combined with the fumbling, discordant chaos of the band, Shadow Plays is a noxious cocktail of pure, unabashed agony. Ashdautas received a bit of attention some time back for their hardline stance against “MySpace bands” and their threats of violence to other bands and individuals in “the scene.” This all makes for interesting threads on the interweb forums, but also serves as a distraction from Ashdautas’s real appeal, their brutally stark and manic cacophony. Ashdautas belong to a devout subject of Black Metal bands calling themselves The Black Twilight Circle. Other bands in this rigid group include Volahn, Aresmenda, and Kallathon. Ashdautas is no joke. If your interest in Black Metal is only an ironic gawking concern to be tittered at between rides on your fixed gear and lines of coke at Pop’s then turn back right now. This is the genuine article, you are not.
-cosmic hearse
ASHDAUTAS (LIVE)
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Nefarious Dismal Orations is easily more album-focused than their previous record Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer. Where that album had plenty of individual standout tracks, this album is best experienced as a start-to-finish piece of work. Between the melodically-inclined riffs and Dagon’s distinctive (and equally divisive) vocals, I’ve always thought that listeners needed to make a conscious choice between whether they wanted to take Inquisition’s atmosphere seriously or not. Those who choose to see the sound as legitimately eerie and evil will get what they’re looking for. I never understood a lot of the flak Dagon’s monotonous croak has received from detractors; it’s certainly unique, but no less outlandish than Atila Csihar’s vocals. The casual jokes are for nil; the strangeness gives Inquisition a sense of alien Otherness that would seem to contradict the instantly gratifying “hook” factor of their riffs. If you’d heard much of them before, nothing on Nefarious Dismal Orations should come as much of a surprise. Dagon’s riffs are hooked on the same melodic grooves. Incubus demonstrates himself again as one of black metal’s great (and underrated) drummers, launching into fills and intricate playing where lesser drummers might have settled for pure blasting.
-encyclopaedia metallum
Overtly Satanic & subtly violent without even treading into misanthropy, depression, fascism, mindless homicide/genocide or confabulated Nietzsche-inspired themes, this album like all others is entirely dedicated to the worship of The Supreme Lord of Nature.
-mehta kya kehta?
What makes the storming black metal of this Seattle duo so special? Certainly not just their love of Satan, though they do seem more sincerely devoted than most. No, they’re just different from the hordes of hordes out there. For one thing, Dagon’s vocals aren’t the usual high-pitched anguished rasps, nor are they deathly grunts. They’re more like droning cryptcreakings, layered and insidious, truly “nefarious dismal orations”, an integral part of Inquisition’s trance-inducing doomic atmospheres along with the varispeed velocity of their attack, seemingly simultaneously plodding yet blurred with speed. Then there’s the RIFFS. You can’t argue there.
Inquisition understand old school heavy metal hookiness without being overtly retro, y’know? And this stuff oozes METAL as much as it gives off a sinister shine of actual originality and serious Satanic faith. Pure metalness plus weirdness (in the arcane, occult sense of “the weird”), yeah! We’re spellbound. And what the heck is going on with the buried, backwards masked munchkinisms we think we’re hearing at the end of the amazing title track?
-aquarius records
INQUISITION NEFARIOUS DISMAL ORATIONS (FULL ALBUM)
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p.s. Hey. ** Steeqhen, Hi. I don’t know the Ivry bio. Maybe it’s better. Alain Borer’s ‘Rimbaud in Abyssinia’ is good if you end up wanting to read more about his post-writer life. No pressure on a ‘Nosferatu’ review. I seriously doubt I’ll go see it any case. No, haha, no gym for me. I definitely don’t have the patience, and I don’t really have much impetus to reward myself. I used to do yoga daily years ago, but I got so bored and antsy I bailed. I spent NYE doing what I pretty much always do, so that seems like a safe bet predictor of this year. I hope whatever you did felt momentous. ** James, Nice, digging through the dudes and pulling out all those great lines. One could write a very good Burroughsian cut-up novel just sticking to the slaves profiles as a source. So thank you! Hail to you! Oh, drips down the throat, so … post-nasal in that sense of the head’s architecture. That does sound really unpleasant. I’m sorry, and I just hope the upswinging is still swinging. I prefer fiction too, obviously, but I fear we are a rare breed. But fuck popularity. I was an independent, keep-to-myself kid, but it’s true my siblings were around. I think being an only kid would have been horrible because my parents’ attention would have been wholly on me and not scattered around. That sounds like a nightmare. Me too: I’m whatever the opposite of a party person is. Fireworks might’ve been nice though. I’m a fan. Anyway, here we are in 2025 and the future is ours! ** _Black_Acrylic, Interesting. The name on Stoke-on-Trent has a bit of mystery to it, at least if you don’t know what ‘stoke’ or ‘trent’ are, and I don’t. Great that your immune system did its bodyguard number. As presumably did the indoors. ** jay, Top of the year to you, jay. Ah, what a coincidence: ‘Suicide’s’ physical but hopefully not psychological proximity. I need to find me a generous cokehead friend or bypassing stranger. Maybe that’ll be one of my resolutions. I think with visual porn, I kind of feel rather interested in the particularity of the cameraperson’s curiosity and like to compare what they want to see and from what angle and how closely or far versus what I would want to see if I was at the location. Mario was left stewing in his cockpit yesterday, but I hope to advance him towards the game’s presumably fun conclusion today maybe. May the sun be bright and your spotlight today. ** Charalampos, I have a favorite kind of nose too, but none of those slaves had it. Your comment made it safe and sound, obvs. The other Gide novels I remember quite liking are ‘Lafcadio’s Adventures’ and ‘The Immoralist’. HNY, emphasis on the H, from slightly too chilly but not painfully so Paris. ** Misanthrope, I don’t know, it’s even worse if he started out working his ass off and then became what he is today somehow. Humane mouse traps in the future, dude, what do you say. I’m obviously sorry to hear that about David. Is the ballied about idea of him -> military off the table, not that it shouldn’t be? Happy Newest Year, Big Boy. ** Tyler Ookami, That makes sense: your thoughts on how manga/porn manifests via women vs. guys. Yeah , interesting. I don’t know ‘I Made Too Much Pasta’, but now I’m very curious, obviously. Is there, like, a whole genre of furry bands? I’ll find out, I guess. Huh. I watched one of the ‘Megs’, I can’t remember which, on my last plane flight. It definitely wasn’t #2 because that clip looks infinitely more fun than whatever ‘Meg’ I saw squeezed out. Cool. ** HaRpEr, HNY to you too, pal. ‘Tropisms’ is so great, yeah. Sarraute is very underrated, I think, and so little of her work is in print in English these days. I highly recommend ‘The Golden Fruits’ if you ever find an affordable copy. Nice book haul. ‘Nest of Ninnies’ is lovely. Schuyler’s novel ‘What’s For Dinner’ is really worth reading too. Starkie’s Rimbaud is very good, but Robb’s is preferable because a lot of information re: Rimbaud was discovered between the time Starkie wrote hers and Robb wrote his, some of it kind of disqualifying of what Starkie knew/presumed. Happy hopefully fresh feeling day. ** Lucas, HNY, buddy! Nice that the party paid off, with a new friend no less! Vienna is nice. Dominick aka SCAB’s mastermind lives there. As of 9:11 am, i.e. now, I am feeling … no different than I felt yesterday, which I guess is good, right? Considering the alternative. Hope your AM wasn’t groggy. ** Justin D, And New Year Salutations to you, J! Nah, I did nothing-ish last night. Listened to slew of GbV songs to make myself happy, so I treated myself well in my otherwise surrounding normality. Good films? Happiest morning or whenever! ** Corey, I think one can swipe from the slaves without being morally questionable. From their texts, I mean. Those blobs were supposed to be ghosts, but, yes, they were too blobby to be ghosts, I know. I know the name Nico Teen, maybe from you? I’ll listen. Nice name, of course. I’m surprised it was free to be employed. I wish for our film to have a successful birth, whatever that means, and then criss-cross the world gathering fans along the way at a reasonable pace. And me? Write something. Get decently into making a new film. Not get creaky. That’ll do. You? ** Okay. I thought I would start the new year off with a big crunch by restoring a beautiful and informative old post made by MANCY who is better known as the artist Steven Purtill. Eyeball it, crank it up, and luxuriate. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
I may be no authority on Black Metal but I do admire its concept, so thank you MANCY via the portal of time for this guide! I do remember circa 2000 that the Glasgow art scene was all about this genre. Made a fair bit of my own work about it at the time.
In the interests of my staying healthy, NYE was a total non-event. Word is that the cold is sweeping the streets of Leeds, with great swathes of the population falling under its spell. There is also apparently a big measles outbreak going on, yikes. So far I am fine!
Totally giddy 2025 me speaking here. *
A BLACK METAL POST. I actually was able to score some white oil based faceprint yesterday from this second-hand repurpose store.
So I feel like a wrote a comment and never sent it but I can’t find it so maybe im crazy anyways I’ll continue.
Do you know the comic series “Freak Toons” from the 90s? Its released by VD PRESS an Ohio based comic press. I bought it at the comic store because I remembered hearing about this Ohio-based comic artist who was literally arrested for his “obscene” art style. It wasnt that guy who worked on this, but it is a fucked up Disney homage to Dawn Of The Dead called Twilight OF The Dead Animations, but replaced with Mickey and friends.
Kind of cute, it calls itself “Bathroom literature?.”
I figure if anyone would know what they were saying it would be you in terms of zines, so, what the hell is bathroom literature, ive never heard it maybe its just a joke flying way over my head.
I found it cool, and maybe you probably will too, not only because it has Mickey Mouse on the cover, but also but also because it seems like it has that 60s-70s underground comic inspiration…and then some violence. I literally can find nothing on it on the web besides some people selling my copy and then a comic archive so I feel mysterious owning it in pre-internet kind of way.
https://comicbookrealm.com/series/85838/641729/freak-toons-Issue-1/
I’ll be back later to tell you how my new year was. (It was good)
there is a rat crawling across ur keyboard ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ🐀
Happy new year!!!! I had a great, great night out. For some reason, someone at the party put “Don’t Look Now” on the projector, which was a really terrible choice (lots of long lingering close ups really suck when projected onto other people), but I had a great time. New Year is maybe my favourite thing ever, sometimes. I love the idea of everyone for miles suddenly just having this release of tension and emotion, it’s so awesome. I kind of wish timezones weren’t a thing, so that there was just this Mexican wave of jubilation going across the globe, before people went back to normal.
That’s such an interesting way to look at porn. I think I’m sexually quite a bit too passive to really have any ability to have an idea of what I’d do differently, I normally just tend to observe and follow, both in terms of watching porn and meat-space, haha. I think I tend to inhabit my sexual partner almost completely, like trying to figure out what they enjoy, what they want to do but are too awkward to ask for, et cetera. Watching stuff from another person’s perspective is amazing, though. One of my exes used to record our sex from a handheld videocamera, and that was always amazing to look back at, at least for me – I think if studio porn had a less professional, more “Enter the Void” kind of floating camera, like those videos, I’d like it a lot more – I guess what I mean is, I’d like if the voyeur perspective was more pronounced, rather than put through this nullifying filter of semi-professional camerawork.
Oh also, I forgot to say yesterday, but the slaves post was hilarious. I showed it to a few guys at the party, and they all found it really amusing – particularly “Dart””s comment, one guy kept saying “No friend, no family, no meaning, no motivation. I’m not doing good at all” in a really monotone, slightly louder than usual voice that (at least to me) is exactly how weirdly capitalised text sounds. Anyway, best of luck for 2025 – and good luck finding your coke buddy!
Hey Dennis,
Watched Anora and Nosferatu (the silent one) last night, and read The Stranger by Camus after finishing that book Transgressions. Feel like it was a good start to the year, though I had a horrible dream of screaming and fighting with my family. The dream was also about the Superbowl being held in Cork and Kendrick Lamar (who’s doing the halftime show this year) was performing *before* the game, when nobody was there and he was visibly pissed off. He became more of a dj too, instead of performing — it was such a strange dream but I also can start to think of random conversations, thoughts and actions from the past few days that definitely inspired it. Last year my ‘reading goal’ was a simple 15 books, which I surpassed by an extra 6. Going to aim higher this year, probably go for 30 or so.
Yoga has never been something that interested me. I can get behind meditation and mindfulness, but yoga just feels like an over-the-top version of it. My type of mindfulness is sitting in a park, smoking a cigarette, and watching leaves and birds, or lying on my bed and trying to exist in a half aware half unconscious state; if I’m gonna be moving around, I don’t wanna be mindful about it!
My throat and cough are getting a lot better I feel. Hoping I’ll be rid of it (or at least unaware of it) next week!
Hi!!
Happy Death of the Previous Year, Dennis! How have you been these past few days? How does the start of the year seem/feel so far? Apart from the 8.5-hour trip, our time in Hungary was lovely. I spent as much time as I could with friends and family, and now I’m ready to return to my hermit life with Anita, haha.
I’ve always been drawn to Black Metal aesthetics, but I know next to nothing about the genre itself. I guess I’ll find out now whether it’s for me or not. Thank you so much for reviving this post!
And, finally, here are my top-five lists for 2024:
BOOKS
Flunker by Dennis Cooper
Come October by Damien Ark
Eighty-Sixed by David B. Feinberg
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Last Watch of the Night by Paul Monette
MOVIES
System Crasher (dir. Nora Fingscheidt)
Femme (dir. Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping)
Close (dir. Lukas Dhont)
Heretic (dir. Scott Beck & Bryan Woods)
Reservoir Dogs (dir. Quentin Tarantino) (This was a rewatch.)
SERIES
Boy Swallows Universe
Fargo (Season 4)
True Detective: Night Country
Couples Therapy (Season 4)
Dragula (Season 6)
Love is not a boy who sparkles, Od.
I only ever ‘got into’ metal because it was liked (and still is) by the first guy I ever Liked with a capital L. I have tried numerous times to ‘get into’ metal with rates of varying success, but more often than not I tire of itquite easily. And black metal is just so ridiculous to me. I cringe at the idea of people seriously ‘devoting their lives to Satan.’ Corpse paint could make for cute guys but more often than not it’s just. Cheesy. And the recording quality of black metal is so bad it’s funny. So at least it has that going for it.
Hullo, D-Dawg, and a happy new year. I haven’t spoken to you since last year! Ha. -_-
Woopwoop, hail to me. But all I do is curate the aspects of the slaves and their reviews that stick out to me – you yourself found them and presented them to us all, so you are just as deserving as having hail to you. Maybe even having an homage or two paid to you.
A Burroughs-type novel about modern/contemporary gay guys would be really fun. You wouldn’t happen to know any, would you? Maybe I’ll have to write it myself x)
Post-nasal drip continues to get better. It’s basically gone, now. So your hopes go rewarded! The swing has gone up. It’ll come down at some point in the future, but for now, an unsore throat, and I haven’t even sneezed once yet today.
One of my friends prefers nonfiction to fiction, he’s a fellow history student. But he doesn’t read much. I don’t know anyone who reads quite as desperately I do.
I find it hard to believe that people would really prefer to read facts instead of stories. Some time ago I encountered a video wherein a woman was mocking/criticising ‘men’ (as a whole) for always reading nonfiction, and never reading fiction. Like. ??? Seriously?
I quite loathe the rise of certain popular nonfiction books. Stuff like ‘self-help’ or ‘guides’ to various ways to improve one’s life, with universally corny titles. And every time I’m in a Waterstones I’m baffled by the amount of celebrity ‘auto’biographies almost certainly written in reality by ghostwriters. Who is reading that shit?
Popularity is nice insofar as being known about is nice, but the more popular you are = the more people know of you = the more possible ways you or your work or words or views can be misinterpreted, and, stuff.
From a social perspective, I’m far less popular than I was at secondary school. But I’m still saddled with the swot/’clever one’ image. Bleh.
Generally my brother is on my side more than he is on our parents’ in, arguments, or petty squabbles, or whatever. He could be a lot worse. And ideally a lot less nosier.
Pros: A reliable family member
Cons: Another person being up in my biz when I’d much rather they were *not* up in my biz
Wonder what an ‘anti’ party would be like, for us non-party people?
I could certainly hear the fireworks, but not see them. I was looking at my laptop screen, because:
Last night I found myself in an unexpectedly emotionally charged conversation with this guy who’s been kind of stalking me through chatrooms for about 5 months. It was weird and pitiful and interesting. There was talk of pornography, being closeted, and love. I wasn’t sure how to respond. He got worked up over wanting to stop talking to me, so as to prevent a further attachment to me, so that it ‘hurt less’ when we stopped talking, which he viewed as inevitable. He seemed like an awfully confused guy, sexually and emotionally. I hope things improve for him. I feel a little guilty about how much I view him as a topic of interest when he’s in a similar state to how I was when *I* was younger and working out the whole liking guys thing.
These are the kind of interactions I want to write about in my fiction, but here they are, happening to me actually. Ideal writing material!
New Year woohoo! Resolutions: read and write more. And write *new.* I think I want to/should try a new writing routine.
Last night I started writing this new thing on Substack. I’ve been using some form gimmickry since it has these like, code boxes, which just make the text look ‘code-y,’ and I’ve been using them to make my own fictional forum threads. The formatting is time-consuming (inserting line breaks, using a random number generator for post ID, marking replies, etc.) but it looks so cool and I’m already a little proud of myself and excited by this writing. I found myself restraining the urge to tell my mother or brother about just what I was getting up to on my laptop.
So, it’ll be a ‘short story,’ I think, and I would like it to be the first thing I finish this year, I think. No idea how long it’s going to be or just where it’s going. I expect violence or murder or kidnapping to show up because I usually veer away from trying to write ‘edgy’ stuff. But new year, new me, new writing! Or, at least that’s the plan.
Irked by the bank holiday probably postponing the arrival of a book I’ve ordered, sigh.
Happy new year! Really enjoyed today’s post for the commentaries/reviews and aesthetics. Sometimes I write art and music reviews for a local newspaper as a side gig, but I’ve never had to do a piece on black metal. I think that’d be fun even though the music reminds me of when I used to go to the gym which is the only time I listened to any black metal. I just walk around for fitness now and mostly listen to indie rock or alternative bluegrass. I got a late Christmas gift two days ago in the way of some infinity land press books: death poems and SHAME. I’m pumped to start the new year with them today. Last night I had an insane dream of giant spiders wrapping me up in web goo. Hope it’s not a portent lol.
Dennis, Happy New Year to you!
Yeah, there are no-kill traps, come to find out. 😛 Who knew? Well, I guess I did kind of know but just didn’t think about them. My bad.
David doesn’t want to do the military anymore. He said, “Fuck the military.” Part of it is his really bad drug problem, part is that he weighs so much and they have weight limits, and part of it is my mom always telling him he’ll never be able to do it. With the last, David’s not the kind of person who would take that as a challenge and be like, I’ll show you! Instead, he’s just like, I’ll show you how fucked up I can be then, thank you very much. Oh, well.
I have cut him off from money as of today. I’ve been warning him for almost 2 years that it’s gonna happen. I can’t keep subsidizing his drug problem and potential death from that problem. Enabling is gonna help him. But I don’t know what will happen when I stop. I guess we’ll see.
I’m off today for New Year’s Day. Get off next Thursday for the Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter. And then off on the 20th for MLK Jr.’s birthday which just happens to be Inauguration Day too. Kinda strange that one.
I like the sound of Akitsa a lot. They sound quite a bit like Wold, another Quebec band. I think French-Canadian BM has its own set of influences, though I haven’t really investigated.
Yeah, there are bands that are “furry”, either just in lyrics and imagery or playing in suit some time! Probably more producers and DJs than bands, but bands too.
Happy New Year’s! It rained hard last night in New York, so it was a good night to stay inside. I talked on the phone with a friend in Canada for an hour.
I’ve encountered the gender divide re: fiction a lot on social media. It still seems to be relatively normal for young women to read novels, but young men tend to prefer self-help and pop history with a pseudo-intellectual veneer, like Stephen Pinker and Jared Diamond. If they do read fiction, it’s a countercultural interest. In Nick Toti’s documentary about Jarrett Kopek, Kopek said that before the mass paperback was introduced, bookstores catered to middle-class women, and we seem to be heading back to those days.
A few days ago, I downloaded a upgrade of LMMS, the app with which I produce music. I’m debating whether I should d/l a cracked version of FL Studio.
When will you be able to announce the world premiere of your film? Yesterday, I was looking over the schedule of an upcoming festival, which said they had one title in competition they couldn’t yet identify, and I wondered if that might be yours.
Love to see this pop up again! Happy NY Dennis, hope you are well!
Hi. Oh, good to know that Schuyler’s ‘What’s for dinner?’ is good, and I believe that the NYRB edition has an introduction by James McCourt so that’s definitely caught my eye. I’ve been reading ‘A Nest of Ninnies’ today, which is definitely the kind of playful book I needed to perk me up. You can definitely tell they were having fun when they were writing it, and that idea of taking turns with sentences is so interesting. I’m sometimes going, oh that’s definitely Schuyler or Ashbery, which is a lot of fun as a reader.
And yeah, I’ve been on the look out for ‘The Golden Fruits’ for a while now, it’s up there with Guyotat’s ‘Eden Eden Eden’ as books that feel like white whales. Luckily Calder press is keeping a lot of the nouveau roman and also
oulipo and other stuff in print in English, at least in the UK where grove press books have to be ordered from somewhere.
I never have money but with my Christmas dough I’m really cashing in on buying books so that I’ve got a good supply for a while. It’ll just go to some bill otherwise, and money is something that comes and goes and I’m getting my student loan soon anyway. I want to treat myself to an infinity land press book. I can’t decide between ‘grave desire’ and the Wolfe Margolies book, both look so interesting. I’ll probably have to toss a coin.
I guess that’s my vice, buying things. I think it’s because I was a shoplifter as a kid so I feel really responsible when I part with my hard earned money for things I don’t technically need. But yes, give me the rush of a shiny new book over drugs and drink any day. Anyway, I have been pretty good about frivolous expenses over the past couple of months, so it’s high time for my library to have a top up.
I still don’t know what day it is and all of that and as stated am feeling pretty blue, so I’m going to make sure I really put myself into my writing. I know it’s a cliche about throwing yourself into your work to get through tough periods, and of course it can be damaging if taken to the extreme, but in my case at least I’ve found that it works during this time of year.
ey Dennis! I tried to comment a few days ago on the perfume post but it wouldn’t go through. Hoping for the best this time.
Perfume and metal are two of my favorite things so the blog has really been hitting it out of the park lately as far as I’m concerned lol. I did want to mention a Substack I really like called FUMES by Miccaeli. Would recommend if you’d like to read some good perfume writing. You might like her article on celebrity perfumes. Also, the Cocteau quote about the smell of opium made me think of a fragrance by 19-69 called Miami Blue which is supposed to have a cocaine note. I’ve never smelled cocaine so I can’t vouch for the accuracy, but it’s a unique scent.
A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you! I went to see my family in Oxford, MS for Christmas, which was probably a mistake, but I did finally pay a visit to Faulkner’s grave, and took my daughter to the bookstores which are the best thing about the town.
With all this talk of nonfiction vs fiction on the blog I have to put in a word in defense of nonfiction lol. I think I enjoy both equally but as I get older I find myself leaning more toward nonfiction, not sure why that is. To be fair, the stuff I read is pretty dry and academic and not at all what you’d find on the NYT Bestseller list or whatever.
Speaking of getting older, I believe we narrowly miss being birthday twins. I turn 27 this month on the 11th. Any fun birthday plans this year? Mine falls on the weekend before an exam so I’ll be studying, but my partner and I are going out to eat this Friday so I think I’m gonna count that as my birthday dinner, lol.
*Hey, not ey, haha. But it went through!
Hey, Dennis! Sounds like we both had low-key, pleasant evenings. What’s your favorite GbV song? Yeah, the films were pretty good, thanks; we watched ‘Conclave’ and ‘A Real Pain’. My bf and I went shopping today, and everywhere we went was so dead/deserted—it was lovely! The Criterion Channel is now streaming Leo Carax’s ‘It’s Not Me’, which I saw on your best of 2024 film list, so I think I will dive into that tonight. How was your first day of 2025?