The Rock Blogger

There was a tear in the world - the world opened it up,

I emptied into it - an empty field

No objects, or subjects - just rushing water, blue-black water

The eyes are always open - I so rarely see

What is there - when they are covered

Gradients of blue-black, orange-black, red-black

emerge from inner-night

Vivid, lyrical catharsis. Damn, I love this song!

-Caspar David Friedrich “The Watzmann”

Within the Alps it is still bright night and the cloud,
Composing poems full of joy, covers the yawning valley within.
This way, that way, roars and rushes the playful mountain breeze,
Steep down through the fir trees a ray of light gleams and vanishes.
Chaos, trembling with joy, slowly hurries and struggles,
Young in form, yet strong, it celebrates loving strife
Amidst the rocks, it seethes and shakes in its eternal bounds,
For more bacchantically morning rises within,
For the year grows more endlessly there and the holy
Hours, the days, are more boldly ordered and mingled.
Yet the bird of the thunderstorm notes the time and between
Mountains, high in the air he hovers and calls out the day.
Now in the depths within, the little village also awakens and
Fearless, familiar with the high, looks up from under the peaks.
Divining growth, for already, like lightning flashes, the ancient
Waterfalls crash, the ground steaming beneath the falls,
Echo resounds all about, and the immeasurable workshop,
Dispensing gifts, actively moves its arm by day and night.

-Holderlin Homecoming

Natural Snow Buildings. The Centauri Agent. 2010.

Yet another epic masterpiece from this prolific French duo. The Centauri Agent further develops the mystical psychedelic folk from their earlier work and stretches it out into an otherworldly dimension. Whereas their previous records incorporated chants and other organic accents, their latest work pushes into deep space, with sparse guitar work, airy drones and feather-light vocals that hover in the distance. An immense work that reveals more beautiful secrets with every listen.

Ulaan Khol. III. 2010.

Guitar driven space rock from Steven R. Smith that buzzes with intricate, psychedelic detail. Wild noodling, with breaks of ambient reverb, trace paths across an arid, sun-baked landscape as everything solid slowly melts. This is the desert, drenched with acid, then cracked and covered in dust.

Yellow Swans. Going Places. 2010.

A fascinating collection of drone pieces that takes oscillating synths, distorted guitars, and bursts of static to make something that sounds as natural as running water. Within the garbling, electronic chaos of this record lies a pulsating heart, providing a strong direction for each eclectic track.

Magnog. Magnog. 1996.

Extensive, fuzzed-out space-rock that weaves between cymbal crashes, ambient noise and shimmering tremolo riffs. Magnog were ahead of their time, finding a cosmic bridge between free-form interstellar jamming and the structured post-rock meditations that are commonplace today. Many wonderful moments, both sublime and cataclysmic, to be found here.

Selections for exploration, meditation, and self-imposed exile.

Fell Voices. Fell Voices 2009.

A terrific and obscure band from California whose members also produced the trance-inducing Sleepwalker project. Fell Voices’ stunning percussion, serpentine guitar work and cosmic drones provide for a deep and intensely rewarding listen. Finding a mystical space between the post-rock crescendos of Godspeed You Black Emperor and the raw catharsis of Wolves in the Throne Room, Fell Voices push black metal to transcendental heights. It encompasses everything great about black metal.

Negură Bunget - Vîrstele Pămîntului 2010.

A grandiose black metal album with progressive and folk elements that honors the pagan history and lore of Romania. Epic songs slowly build from sweeping acoustic melodies to dense tremolo riffing, accompanied by airy synths, cascading percussion and heartfelt vocals (both sung and screamed). An immensely detailed effort with eclectic uses of traditional folk instruments, densely layered progressions and a strong, romantic atmosphere.

Кrоdа - Towards the Firmaments - Verge of Life. 2005.

Ukraine’s Kroda provide spirited celebrations of nature and aggression with bombastic compositions full of caustic drum rolls, folk-tinged instrumentals and ghastly howls. Despite being more symphonic and upbeat than your average black metal band, Kroda are just as warlike as their country’s contemporaries, launching into their dirges with barbaric urgency.

Forgotten Woods - The Curse of Mankind. 1996.

An underrated classic of atmospheric black metal, The Curse of Mankind features gritty lo-fi production, wintry blast beats, maniacal shrieks and long, winding guitar passages. The kind of album that you can just leave on as you drift off into a trance, letting its organic texture seep into your brain.

Lönndom - Viddernas Tolv Kapitel. 2010.

Traditional and nostalgic acoustic folk from Sweden that holds a candle to Ulver’s Kveldssanger. The medieval melodies are hynoptic, coupled with crisp production and sublime vocal work. The sound of the mountain wind and the babble of rivers can be heard between the pristine ringing of guitar strings.

A beautiful short from Belgium by Dwid Hellion, Tine Guns, Ture and Stephanie Van Houtte-McLimans music by Stephen Kasner

Things here will pick up with greater frequency soon, the seasons are changing.

Scott Walker “Cossacks Are” The Drift.

The black snow runs down from the rooftops;
A red finger dips into your brow;
Blue snow flakes sink into the empty room,
They are a lovers’ dying mirrors.
Heavy and torn to pieces the mind muses,
Follows the shadow in the mirror of blue snow flakes,
The cold smile of a deceased harlot.
The evening’s wind weeps in the scent of carnations.
-Georg Trakl - Delirium

Have a Nice Life. Time of Land. 2010. 4.5 stars.

The hidden kings of the American underground return with this deeply subdued EP. Gloom spreads over the lumbering ambiance of “Wizard of the Black Hundreds” with grim, deaden percussion and yawning distortion. The droning waves of black noise rise against ghostly vocals, offering a sacrificial hymn to this menacing occult ritual. The allusions to history here are fitting, as one can picture the processes of the Black Hundred,  the anti-revolutionary forces that cast a pall of violence over the Russian landscape.

“Woe Unto Us” is a beautiful piece of post-punk art, with the gritty buzz of its bass lines, the cold melodies of skeletal guitars and some of the best singing from the band yet. The second half of the song dissolves into atmospheric synth lines that glide over the stark, minimalist drumming. Perhaps HANL’s most accessible track since “Bloodhail”.

“The Parhelic Circle” is a densely layered dark ambient piece, with deep drones, terse crackles of the electric guitar and an eerie keyboard melody that sounds like the prolonged whistles of a factory. “The Icon and the Axe” begins in dark melodic bliss, sharing the somnambulist tenor of “Mogwai Fear Satan”. Haunting voices hover in the distance, reciting sparse poetic fragments about the Devil, bodies and the deep, freezing waters.

Like the preceding Deathconsciousness, Time of Land delves inward, crafting a blackened version of post-punk, left unbounded into a void of drawn-out abstraction. The result is inspired, taking cues from material as diverse as Sunn O))) and Sisters of Mercy to fashion something that has incredible depth and intensity. These guys have vision.

You can listen and download the album here.

Raate - Halki Kuolleen Maan. 2007. 4.5 stars.

Halki Kuolleen Maan is a mind-bending black metal album from Finland that encompasses nearly everything great about the genre. The cold, hypnotic buzz of distortion, cyclonic percussion, airy keyboards and a harsh misanthropic atmosphere are all part of Raate’s post-Burzum vision.

Not content with mere shrieks and lo-fi tremolo riffs, Raate’s compositions are layered forays across many peaks and valleys. Each lengthy track is replete with well-paced transitions in texture, from the cascading guitars to tribal drumming, producing an immersible experience. Its many interludes are also absorbing, including the acoustic folk guitars on “Kaskeajan Laulu” to the sounds of a crackling fire, coupled with rumbling drone, during the last minutes of “Hävitys, Tuhkaa”.

Despite their relative obscurity, Raate has created one of the preminent expressions of black metal art. The scope of their debut is mystifying, with its deep appreciation for atmosphere, cohesion and detail. While Raate may not have the distinctive quality of more popular acts (Wolves in the Throne Room or Ulver for example), they still stay true to the frost-bitten roots of the genre. Recommended.