I'm slowly running out of things to say in these intro pieces. Do you read them? Do you need to know why I chose these particular records or are you happy to dive in and discover?
Barbelith – Deathless Master (Self-Released/Third House)
Nearly ten years after Mirror Unveiled was released, Barbelith are slowly making their way back with Inner Eternal in 2021 and now Deathless Master in 2023. Good things come to those who wait, right? And Deathless Master is good. It’s a twenty-minute, single track release and shows that the duo are back to full strength after their debut of 2014 left many (me) wanting more. Flickering in the grey area between post-black metal and its base genre, Deathless Master takes in atmospheric elements that build mountains of sound around an ostensibly melancholic riff and vocals that are rendered in screams and roars.
Barbelith utilise the aforementioned clean lines around the nine-minute mark of the song to push for blissful waves of sound rather than punishing with guitars and pounding drums. This switch is one of the most beautiful moments in music so far this year and in changing their technique the band create increasingly shimmering melodies. As Deathless Master progresses it moves into harsher territory vocally, yet the music itself radiates with light. Imagine walking across the sand of a quiet beach as the sun slowly makes its way above the horizon, the warmth of its rays reflect off the lapping waves as the day breaks and the tide reaches the shore. This is what Barbelith bring with this release. A warm glow to be basked in as the music washes over you and returns you to the sea.
Gwenwyn – The Hexing Jar (Self-Released)
Usually found creating curious black metal under the moniker Asenath Blake, this dungeon synth spin-off is their first release under the name of Gwenwyn. Deeply indebted to Welsh history and myth (as is their black metal), Gwenwyn – which is “poison” in Welsh – is a charming and occasionally unnerving collection of songs that burrow under the skin with synth lines laced with venom and an atmosphere that takes you deep into the darkened forest. The songs found on The Hexing Jar are superficially gentle, yet there is something creeping below that surface that feeds into a feeling of being watched as you traverse the woodlands conjured by the music, seeking shelter before the night closes in.
“Flying Ointment” is one such example as it builds its sinister keys around a bizarrely jaunty tune that lingers in the background before taking its rightful place at the forefront of the song. There are a lot of intriguing moments on the album as Gwenwyn allows us to travel to a time long forgotten as the Welsh woods and mountains were dominated by stories, lore and the magick of the natural world. Released on Nos Galan Haf – a night of spiritual awakening - there is certainly a sense of mysticism in the music, as though listening to the songs are enough to bring about a bridge to the next world.
Trhä // Μνήμα – Trhä // Μνήμα (Self-Released)
Trhä is probably one of the hardest working projects out there at the moment, once again releasing a handful of splits across a week or so with little to no fanfare. I appreciate that. This is the one that spoke to me the most out of this round of releases, which also featured splits with Careus and Sankaku. It’s hard to choose when the music is so damn good but here we are. Μνήμα are Greek and deal in raw black metal and are a good counterpoint to Trhä’s continued experimentation with the genre.
Trhä’s side is comprised of two tracks which both feature the band’s signature created language and Thét Älëf’s distinctive vocal. The voice often hides behind the overpowered instrumentation as it strives to unlock the world in which Trhä has made its mission to reveal and in doing so we hear much more of the punk and hardcore influences of the band creeping in to the drum lines and overall style. “tacnjadrhja idlhvrétc lejtovaedënohhdlhumërsa jad” ends on a bombastic note that “mon tlen haoqhar i gonem tënno” picks up immediately. The drums are punchy and Thét Älëf’s voice echoes behind the slightly off-kilter guitars that go a long way to creating a slightly uncomfortable vibe.
Μνήμα push for an eerie and unusual atmosphere with their three songs that begin with the terrifying “Spiritual Decadence” and ends with the subterranean “As I Shed My Mortal Coil.” All three tracks lay deep within the shadows as the unnamed vocalists screams echo through the halls of dungeons left to rot. The horror that lies there is incomprehensible and Μνήμα entangle themselves in the festering tombs and look only for further darkness. They certainly find it on these songs as each weaves a furious shroud around the listener, daring them to enter the pits of hell and holding them there for eternity.
