New Release Radar: Post Tenebras Lux
A few short reviews featuring Hämnd, Tulpa, Darkestrah, Agriculture, Frail Body, Fuming Mouth, and Bismarck
As darkness looms in my head, so goes the music that I’ve been drawn to of late. Thankfully, as I write these lines, I am preparing to head out soon for a much needed vacation with my family. Post tenebras lux! Since I’ll be less active online for the next 10 days, I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite new releases, vacillating between late March and early May offerings (noting that I’m perpetually playing catchup).
Hämnd – Eldhav
Release Date: 26 March 2024
Location: Linköping, Sweden
Label: independent
This new post-metal act out of Sweden independently released their debut EP in late March to little fanfare. But that must change. I cannot imagine any metal label hearing this and not seeking to snatch them up immediately. Featuring veterans of several underground bands, the band aligns their sound to genre titans ISIS, Neurosis, and Breach, and they do it with acuity. Thick with riffs and atmosphere, this short release will leave you wanting more. That means put it on repeat, lean back, and let it soak in. Yes, there’s more music below, but don’t let that keep you from spending an ample amount of time with this one.
Tulpa – Temple of Wounds
Release Date: 28 March 2024
Location: Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Label: Folter Records
Man, the amount of high quality black metal coming out this year is incredible. Tulpa brings melodic black metal to another level, with an atypical dynamism in tempo and brilliantly melancholic songwriting. The intricacy of the guitars and the sheer force of the vocals meet with driving drums and injections of energetic crust to create an atmosphere that is familiar, yet unique in the space. Don’t sleep on this one!
Darkestrah – Nomad
Release Date: 29 March 2024
Location: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Label: Osmose Productions
Variety is the spice of life. When a band employs throat singing and such instruments as the temir komuz (jaw harp), daf, cow horn, divan saz, dungchen, rin bell, and rubab, you know you’re in for something different. When that’s done in the service of epic black metal by a band of Kyrgyz musicians, you know it’s going to be unlike anything else you’ve ever heard. Nomad is, apparently, Darkestrah’s seventh full-length album. Unfortunately, it’s my first time hearing them. Filled with intrigue, the vocals range from clean-ish to unhinged, ethereal to inhaled, and sometimes those varied methods are layered concurrently. This is worth the time just to hear something completely different than anything Western bands can offer.
Agriculture – Living Is Easy
Release Date: 3 May 2024
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Label: The Flenser
Agriculture is back and they’re, gleefully, as weird as ever. Ecstatic black metal is the moniker they use to describe themselves. But, as one Bandcamp reviewer astutely observed, there’s a heavy dose of Celtic folk melody in this EP, as the band cavorts masochistically as though they’re being bludgeoned by a shillelagh. The sound is thick (largely thanks to Leah’s tantalizing bass work), heavy, frenzied, and given over to the spontaneous order of anarchism. It’s short, but it’s a work of artistic genius. I absolutely love it.
Frail Body – Artificial Bouquet
Release Date: 29 March 2024
Location: Rockford, Illinois, USA
Label: Deathwish Inc.
With a sizzling high vocal fry, frenetic drums, and furious bass, Frail Body is nothing short of manic. This is the kind of screamo I can get with, as atmospheric guitar adds color and shape in building a post-hardcore soundscape within which everything else can operate. Adeptness of songwriting really bears out on “Devotion,” the album’s fourth track, which will take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride. Imagine that—emo being emotional. Parts of the album, as the band acknowledges, blur the genre lines and tend toward melodic black metal. Simultaneously raw and refined, Artificial Bouquet is a top tier album.
Fuming Mouth – Daylight Again
Release Date: 2 May 2024
Location: Milford, Massachusetts, USA
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
I don’t often give attention to singles, but I had to highlight this one because you need to hear it. Fuming Mouth’s “Daylight Again” is a sonic wrecking ball. Recorded by Kurt Ballou, the clarity with which the band’s assaulting blend of metallic hardcore, crust, and death metal meets the ears is astounding. The accompanying track is an alternate version of the song “Out of Time” (from their November 2023 album Last Day of Sun) entitled “Timeless.”
Bismarck – Vourukasha
Release Date: 3 May 2024
Location: Bergen, Norway
Label: Dark Essence Records
Straddling the line of caveman doom and psychedelic stoner metal, Norway’s Bismarck returns with their third full-length album, Vourukasha. As they aptly self-describe, the band “alternates between intense fuzzed out heaviness and clean, atmospheric drones, with lyrics expounding upon Western esotericism, altered states of consciousness and a mystical apocalypse.” If you’re a fan of Conan, Slomatics, REZN, and ISIS (their second mention in this post), this is for you. If you’re not a fan of those bands, I have to question why you’re even here.