Golden Core – Kosmos Brenner
Norwegian progressive stoner metal duo, Golden Core, started in 2014 when its members were only 9 and 11 years old. It’s not hard to pick up on the influence of bands like High on Fire, Mastodon, Mayhem, and Kvelertak on their style, and it’s those comparisons that made me love this album upon first listen. These guys are serious musicians, so I don’t want to give the impression that they’re like Hanson with their pre-adolescent origin story. They were and are precocious, to be sure. But the end product here measures up well alongside the bands to which they’ve been compared, both creatively and in terms of musical acumen. This is a brilliant album.
We Follow the Earth – Extinct
Camel City (Winston-Salem, NC) has been home to some really solid underground sludge, doom, and stoner metal bands over the last 15 years or so. Several have come and gone. One of the better ones going today is We Follow the Earth, and their second full-length in as many years is submitted as evidence. Recorded and produced by the prolific Jamie King, the high production value, while complimenting the atmospheric aspects of the music, does not diminish its primal heaviness. Low and slow—just the way we like our doom—Extinct aligns with the best of the genre that has spawned the likes of Conan, Windhand, Monolord, and Slomatics.
Oscillation of Void – In Night's Embrace, the Woods We Shun
Beauty in dimly-lit darkness, the one-man instrumental project of German composer Lukas Grässlin, combines atmospheric and melodic forms of black metal with post-black and dark synth ambience. Guitar virtuosity and pummeling percussion are complimented by darkwave soundscapes in this 41-minute epic. Inevitably, the complexity and layers of sound will bring newness to future listening sessions. I only wish I had something like this nearly three decades ago to bring to my high school Music Appreciation class. If something like this had existed then, imagine the butterfly effect it might have had on metal through the late 90s and early 2000s. Nevertheless, this album exhibits how much music has evolved over the decades, and how various influences and sounds continue to be fused in the creation of genuinely new and palatable music.
Solbrud – IIII
The allure of atmospheric black metal is not lost on me. In fact, sometimes I wonder if it has become my favorite of all the metal subgenres. Albums like Solbrud’s IIII support that notion. I used the word “epic” in my writeup of the previous album, but few albums are deserving of that descriptor both adjectivally and nominally. This is one of those. For starters, it runs as a double LP in length, clocking in at an hour and 34 minutes. Normally, I might get bored and lose interest listening to an album that long. But this one kept me very engaged. It’s not just about hooks, though it has its share of those (especially with its scintillating guitar leads). The vocals are gut-wrenching. The drumming is stellar. The bass is dynamic, pulls you in, and entraps the emotions evoked by vocalist Ole Pedersen Luk. Calming string interludes are interwoven throughout, providing refreshing moments for reflection. An economical use of effects brings a chill to the air at just the right times to offset the melodic warmth elsewhere provided. There’s some masterful songwriting on this album. For those of you compiling an AOTY list this year, I heartily recommend setting aside ample time to give this a fair hearing.
Trhä – nêbamΩejn
Atmospheric and ambient as it is raw, this inimitably productive black metal artist’s work has been documented here before in the 2023 AOTY rundown. This 20+ minute track was released on February 10, perhaps a bit later than we might have expected given the copious number of releases Trhä put out last year. It is a continuation of last year’s output in terms of style, so if enjoyed that stuff you will enjoy this one. If this is your first foray into Trhä, don’t expect to be able to make any sense of it. The artist employs a number of self-created “conlangs,” highlighting a stratospheric level of creativity.
Amimia – Amimia
An impervious wall of cacophony will, at times, make you feel like you’re suffocating. But fret not. The chorus is coming to free you to float into an ethereal bliss. The aesthetic of the album art befits its atmospheric blackgaze environs. The moniker DSBM is not one I want to promote, given the closeness with which I have experienced the “S” in that acronym. However, as an outlet or a release valve for the thoughts and emotions that accompany it, there could not be a more heartrending expression than this album for dealing healthily with all that those struggles involve. Empaths beware; the vocals exude pain in a way that extracts sympathy from the depths of the soul. How many true empaths listen to blackgaze? Probably only self-loathing or masochistic ones. Seriously though, people, please practice appropriate self-care. I hope the music I write about helps you do that, as it does for me. If it doesn’t, you’ve probably come to the wrong place. Ultimately, I fully expect to be talking about this album again when I compile my 2024 AOTY list.
Oldspeak – Oldspeak
I’ll leave off here, appropriately, with a band from Dayton, Ohio that self-describes as “heavy/atmospheric.” Oldspeak delivers a carefully-crafted fusion of post-metal, doom, and sludge with a hint of noise rock sensibilities. The plodding progressions are, ironically, never boring, as ever-dynamic effects permeate the layers of down-tuned strings, pounding percussion, and hissing cymbals throughout. The vocals are exquisitely menacing but relatively low in the mix, never overpowering the atmosphere that the band efficaciously conjures. This is a beautifully-produced album, especially considering the fact that it’s their debut LP.