On the 25th day of the 12th month of 2012, the Six-Tongued Hellgoat was summoned to arise from the ashes and bring darkness to this place called POPdose. Join him in his quest.
Somnolent Regurgitation of the Scrolls of Proselytism
(The Hellgoat wishes to convert you to the ways of the metal. But he prefers to let the press release and bio do most of the talking on these nefarious black circles.)
Album: Surachai, Embraced
Label: Self-Released/Trash_Audio
Release: April 23, 2013
Genre: Avantgarde Black Metal
Press: As the hometown of bands like Nachtmystium, Avichi, and Twilight (as well as of the Satanic cult Cathedral of the Black Goat), Chicago is no stranger to weird, off-kilter black metal, and it’s no surprise to see a project like Surachai spring up amidst the ashes. As the sole vision of tech wizard Surachai Sutthisasanakul, Surachai incorporates elements of noise, electronic, industrial, and ambient music into its black metal foundation, and the result is mesmerizing.
The Hellgoat’s Take (8.5/10): Off-kilter for sure but in the case of Embraced, unlike his other records, he let outside musicians play with him and I think that helped reign in his vision nicer than on previous records. The three tracks on the disc are vicious and dark and definitely push the boundaries of the black metal genre while the electronic touches are more subtle and thought provoking than jolting. Embraced is an album that you really have to dig into and focus on while listening but it’s rewarding in the end.
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Album: Aborym, Dirty
Label: Agonia
Release: May 28, 2013 (UK), June 11, 2013 (US)
Genre: Industrial Black Metal
Press: Aborym – the industrial/electronic forefathers of extreme metal – have returned with a brand new, 6th in career, double album entitled Dirty.
The first CD will feature completely new material, and the second CD will include two completely re-arranged and re-recorded tracks from previous albums, covers of tracks by Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails, as well as a previously unreleased track written by Alberto Penzin (CO2, ex-Schizo) and performed by both established musicians as well as several fans and spliced together from all the different sources. The second CD will be available only on digipack, double gatefold LP and prior to release date only via Agonia Records on-line services.
The Hellgoat’s Take (2.5/10): This one screamed out loud to be weary of the disc as soon as the non-metal shitty yellow cover art was attached to it, not to mention the lazy title of Dirty. Aborym used to make somewhat pioneering extreme black metal noise that caught you off guard at first listen and grew on you once you really started to grasp it. The innovation started escaping the group with their 2010 album Psychogrotesque and three years later, this follow up seems to have eliminated it completely. Dirty comes across as a regression into somewhat generic electronic metal as if the players involved are simply bored with what they’re doing. Unless you a true fan of the band, stick with Kali Yuga Bizarre or Fire Walk With Us instead.
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Album: Svartsyn, Black Testament
Label: Agonia
Release: May 28, 2013 (UK), June 25, 2013 (US)
Genre: Traditional Black Metal
Press: Where black metal really dwells, there’s Svartsyn – a Swedish extreme metal outfit renowned in the underground for the traditional and grim approach. [The] band’s 7th full-length [and] the highly expected successor to Wrath Upon The Earth (2011), is entitled Black Testament.
The Hellgoat’s Take (6.5/10): Svartsyn are what you think they are, nothing more, nothing less. Sole member Ornias has kept this project alive for two decades now so he’s doing something right. Svartsyn play very traditional, raw (but not too raw) black metal, which as per the norm, ends up being very repetitive in nature. The lyrics are about the typical things – Satanism, Darkness etc… what’d you’d expect from a band whose name translates to “pessimism” in English. The constant, uniform blast beats on Black Testament really sort of make everything blur together really quickly but again, fans of the genre and/or the band itself should already know to expect that.
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