Epta Astera's Semper Reformanda (EP)

This is the best Christian recording since Virgin Black's Requiem: Mezzo Forte.  

I don't say that lightly. 

Nor do I particularly like using religion as an adjective for a type of music, since it in no way describes sound.  In the same way that geography doesn't describe sound, but still we see bands throwing "Chilean" or "Balkan" in front of their genres trying as best they can to be more descriptive (and failing).  Finding good "Christian" music is so rare though nowadays it almost needs to be emphasized when something good comes along.   

This music takes influences from Gregorian chant, folk, post-rock and atmospheric post-black metal.  The architecture isn't predictable and tempos vary throughout, changing suddenly and sporadically from quite slow/doomy to aggressive and uptempo (the black metal tempo isn't really a footing).  There are all kinds of instruments on this album, and I don't know what most of them are, but what is really proven here with these instruments is that folk can be worked into about any type of music without sounding gimmicky if done right.  Unfortunately, most bands don't do it right. And the result is... well… gimmicky.

Epta Astera and Falls of Rauros and Skagos and bands of the like are, unfortunately, the exceptions.     

Nevertheless, that makes this avant-garde stuff, when it comes along, all the more sweet.  Ornate and bombastic baroque that even Bach might've found tempestuous. It's a pity these Eastern themes don't show up in music more often.           

To quote Epta Astera's blog, "Black Metal and the Reformation":

Black metal is about individualism. Often times it comes dressed up in vestments of paganism or satanism or misanthropy, but at its core it’s about the freedom of the individual in the face of society (NSBM notwithstanding); a rejection of external norms and authority in pursuit of internal vision.

Black metal's philosophy couldn't be stated more clearly and explicitly. It's important to remember, too.  It's important for black metal bands and listeners not to become a drove - a drove of opposition opposing other droves; that shouldn't be the imprint left by the black metal culture. Rather, it should be a conduit for consciousness, self-examination and internal vision.         

The works of Epta Astera are available for free download here:

http://eptaastera.com/music/

Support the avant-garde and the free expression of music without the limiting effects of coercive institutions. 

 

Maryland Deathfest Concert Review

Absu, Eyehategod, Agalloch, and Autopsy concert on May 14, 2012 at the Sonar in Baltimore, Maryland


Absu Setlist:

1. Abzu
2. Feis Mor Tir Na N'og (Across the North Sea to Visnech)
3. Earth Ripper
4. Swords and Leather
5. Tara (intro)
6. Pillars of Mercy
7. Manannán
8. Never Blow Out the Eastern Candle


Eyehategod Setlist:

1. Run it Into the Ground
2. 30$ Bag
3. Sister Fucker (pt 1)
4. The Concussion Machine Process
5. Dixie Whiskey
6. White Nigger
7. Jack Ass in the Will of God
8. Serving Time in the Middle of Nowhere
9. Methamphetamine


Agalloch Setlist:

1. Dead Winter Days
2. She Painted Fire Across the Skyline, pt 1
3. Hallways of Enchanted Ebony
4. I Am the Wooden Doors
5. Of Stone, Wind and Pillor
6. You Were But a Ghost in my Arms
7. The Lodge (Dismantled)


Autopsy Setlist:

1. Hand of Darkness
2. Twisted Mass of Burnt Decay
3. In the Grip of Winter
4. Severed Survival
5. Gasping For Air
6. Slaughterday
7. Maggot Holes
8. Born Undead
9. Always About to Die
10. Seeds of the Doomed
11. Deed
12. Mauled to Death
13. Voices


This was the first time Agalloch ever played You Were But A Ghost in my Arms live.  What they played sounded great, but what a disappointing set. They got very little crowd reaction save at the end of songs / the times the crowd thought the songs were over. Neglecting to play a single song off Ashes or Morrow is a horrible idea, but if they do neglect to, they should at least play either In The Shadow of Our Pale Companion or The Hawthorne Passage.  It would've been a great show for someone who had seen Agalloch live a few times before and wanted some rarities.  For a first time goer, it was bothersome.    

Absu was killer.  Their blackened thrash sounded great live.  Never Blow Out The Eastern Candle was incredible.

Autopsy got cut off.  There were some sound issues; they actually played Voices after the Sonar cut the PA off.  The vocals sounded amazing.  I didn't stay for the whole set because I was dog tired.    

Enslaved and Alcest Concert Review

Enslaved and Alcest concert on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at Outland Live in Columbus, OH


If someone had told me at the start of the year that both Agalloch and Alcest would tour the United States in 2011, and that I'd miss both of them, I would've been in disbelief.  Right now, I'm in disbelief.
 
I missed Alcest Saturday night because I arrived at the venue too late.  I drove six and a half hours to find out, when I walked up to the girl taking tickets at the door, Alcest had just completed their set and left the stage.  I felt absolutely sick.

On top of that, I'd either purchased the wrong ticket, or Ticketmaster sent me the wrong ticket, because when I handed my ticket to the girl at the door she showed me the ticket was for the Enslaved and Alcest show in Springfield, VA.  So I had to cough up $17 to see Enslaved.

Enslaved was great, of course.  I expected nothing less.  Although I'm not gonna lie and pretend I enjoyed the show and had the time of my life.  In all honesty, it was impossible for me to really absorb it and get into it.  I was exhausted, physically and mentally, and for a large part of the set I sat on a couch in the back of the room and just listened.  I wish they'd played more off Vertebrae, which is Enslaved's best album and one of the best black metal albums ever released. They did cover "Immigrant Song" by Zeppelin as an encore, which was awesome.  The set was as follows, from what I can remember... I might've missed one or two in the middle of the set.


Setlist:

1. Axioma (intro)
2. Ethica Odini
3. Raidho
4. Fusion of Sense and Earth
5. Heimvegen
6. Ruun
7. Ground
8. Giants
9. As Fire Swept Clean the Earth
10. Allfaor Ooinn

Encore:

11. Drum Solo
12. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
13. Isa

An Introspective Sound: Alcest

Ecailles de Lune (Part I)

We have our classic black metal bands.  These are the Celtic Frost's and Hellhammer's and Bathory's of the world.  Then we have our next wave of black metal, which has a slightly wider variance in sound.  These would be our Immortal's and Satyricon's and Emperor's (and the newest, Triptykon, which was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2010), so on and so on.  

Then there's… Alcest.  

Let me start by saying the production value is ace.  And this is what we would expect from Markus Stock (the brain behind Empyrium, The Vision Bleak, and Autumnblaze).  

With Écailles de Lune, this band has taken black metal in its own direction, and the results have been nothing short of fantastic.  It would probably be unfair to call them a black metal band, just because black metal is only one of many incorporations they throw into their sound.  It's extremely shoegazish.  You'll find few blastbeats, and absolutely no pounding "D" chords played over and over (retreat!, Whitechapel fans, retreat!).  Rather, most of the album is gentle and mellow, and creates an ethereal sense of beauty in an extremely emotional way.  This is where the post-rock influence finds its way in.  Black metal is a genre that, to a large extent, seems to quickly be becoming stale… still producing great music, just not much in the way of innovation.  Clean vocals of this sort are uncharted grounds for this genre. The vocals on the opening track engulf the song with a wave of sentimentality and serenity.  And they compliment the guitars beautifully, creating truly stirring music with a painstakingly transparent emotional core.   

There are few metal records that evoke so much emotion in the listener (or at least that's the case with me), hence why I usually turn to post-rock for feeling, whether it be depression, inspiration, tranquility, or whatever else.  But this record absolutely does.  This music brings me to a state of introversion.  I've never heard music so beautiful and dreamlike, yet so longing with lingering undertones of lonesomeness and pain.  The lingering follows the album throughout, appearing and reappearing, right to the very end with Sur L'Ocean Couleur de Fer, which is one of the most dreamlike songs I've ever heard.  This is the song I would expect to hear when voyaging to a different realm.  I can almost see the valor behind the clouds…

The slow gentle echoing guitars and the harmonious vocal pattern draw a beautiful romantic ambiance; it's the perfect album closer.  But it still has that strange sense of depression and anguish, like it's trying to seek out the beauty, but just can't get past the heartache… a theme I thought lasted throughout. 

The blackest part of the album was Écailles de Lune (Part II) and Percées de Lumiére, where we heard a lot of that 90's shoegaze meet Agalloch-type intensity and black metal vocals. Percées de Lumiére, especially, ads a lot of diversity to this record.  Neige displays his fantastic shrill screams, which are extremely impressive because I've never actually been convinced he's a black metal vocalist, so I'm not quite sure how he pulls it off.  The drums aren't too technical, but they're interesting, and they mesh well with the bass. There are some great uptempo rifts.  This song invoked a nice feeling of nostalgia, in a way that's not quite so "down" in mood, but still incredibly heartfelt.  

Abysses is definitely the weakest track on the record, but it serves as a nice interlude between the first three tracks and Solar Song and Sur L'Ocean de Fer.  

Sur L'Ocean Couleur de Fer

There have been a lot of comparisons made between Alcest and Agalloch, maybe because they're both on Profound Lore, or maybe because most see them as similar artists, but whatever the reason(s), these are two of the greatest current artists producing music.  Écailles de Lune got #2 on my top albums of 2010 list behind Agalloch's.  Both are blackened post-metal.  Both can be folksy.  Alcest delves more into the shoegaze area than Agalloch.  Agalloch delves more into doom.  But they are similar, and I think comparing them is justifiable.  While I feel Agalloch creates better song structure, greater depth, and slightly more instrumental efficiency, Alcest creates in an area where Agalloch lacks (slightly): atmosphere and emotion.  I definitely get emotional responses from Agalloch's music, but not quite in the sense, or to the extent, I do from Alcest's.  And I think that rolls back around to atmospherics.

Écailles de Lune: 9.4/10 

A special thanks to the Metal Archives and the Mayhem Boards.