The most interesting releases of the week!
The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy was released on Wolves of Hades. It seems that Lamp of Murmuur is no longer being praised by the black metal cool kids club like they once were for their absurd early masterpieces including Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism. I absolutely adored Saturnian Bloodstorm, but it a lot of people didn’t. The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy, the band’s fourth full-length release, continues both Lamp of Murmuur‘s evolution from their raw demo days to something more exploratory and their tendancy to pack their albums full of mesmerizing riffs with stunning resolutions.
With a 53-minute runtime, Lamp of Murmuur have made a hefty album. But they go many places in that time. “Forest of Hallucinations” gives tremolo riffing that any band could envy forming earworm riffs that sound like the evolution of the band’s early releases, while music such as the three-part title track shifts to a more progressive structure that seems to draw from bands such as Pink Floyd without sacrificing any of their black metal grit. The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy may be a bit much for people who want more of the band’s demos, but this sort of uncompromising and excessive evolution is exactly what I wanted from Lamp of Murmuur.
I didn’t expect a new Nuclear Dudes record so soon after Truth Paste, but whatever, I’ll take it. This is the side project of Sandrider‘s Jon Weisnewski, and 4 releases in everything they’ve made is excellent. Skeletal Blasphemy was released on The Ghost Is Clear Records. Nuclear Dudes‘ irreverent electro-powerviolence blend picks up right where Truth Paste left off, but with perhaps more time given to progressing songs via softer, electronic passages and with a bit less bounce-off-the-wall-all-the-time chaos.
Nuclear Dudes have always had a practiced, precise disregard surrounding them, and that’s present on Skeletal Blasphemy. The cover art tells you not to take their music too seriously, but the tight songwriting says that you’re not going to hear much better music for a while. The band’s genre blend suggests music always running at 11, but Skeletal Blasphemy stretches out their songs enough to hit the listener with some very satisfying buildups and payoffs. I cannot recommend this amazing band enough.
Celestial Clear Moonlit, released on Iron Bonehead Productions, is Storming‘s second full-length release. The promo material brags that the album is “several decades behind the times,” which is both accurate and very genre specific promotion. Celestial Clear Moonlit contains four extremely long second-wave worship black metal tracks, and if you expect tricks like “progression” or “creating contrast” merely because a band gives you 10-minute-long songs, you’ll be disappointed. Storming isn’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for the pure distillation of black metal, Celestial Clear Moonlit is an entertaining and satisfying album with good riffs.
Ghoulhouse was released on Horror Pain Gore Death. The band consists of Paganizer‘s Rogga Johannson, whose stuff I find hit or miss, Håkan Stuvemark, who also plays in many Rogga Johannson in many projects such as Wombbath and Leper Colony that I also find hit or miss, and apparently a drummer who goes by the name “Mr. Meatbeater.” In any case, on their third full-length Realm of Ghouls, the band has given us something quite enjoyable. This is raw, stripped-down death metal with guitars that are more distortion than note and a tinny production. Fans of early Bloodbath will enjoy.
Aconite is Strigiform‘s debut, released on I, Voidhanger Records. The band plays dissonant death metal, and features members of Vertebra Atlantis. The band also shares sonic similarities to Ad Nauseum and Imperial Triumphant. Aconite sounds as if the band agonized about the minutae. The blustery guitars near the end of the opener that lead right into “Scorched and Hostile” provide a breather, but don’t overstay their welcome. The guitar bends through the record never sound like they’re even slightly out of control. This is how I imagine Steely Dan would have covered Ulcerate or Pyrrhon.
Tempestuous Fall was last seen on 2013’s Converge, Rivers of Hell split, along with Midnight Odyssey and The Crevices Below, all three of which are solo projects from Dis Pater. The idea was that all three bands would meet in the underworld, and only one would emerge (Midnight Odyssey), with the others being trapped in the underworld. And if releasing a 3-way split with yourself complete with dramatic backstory and deaths seems like an unnecessarily over-the-top way to announce that you’re putting some projects on hiatus and putting their sounds under one name…then yeah. Dis Pater has always been one of the most excessive and dramatic musicians in the metal, synth, and ambient worlds. Tempestuous Fall doesn’t disappoint. The Descent of Mortals Past was released on I, Voidhanger Records.
Musically, The Descent of Mortals Past lies somewhere between funeral doom and epic doom. The songs are slow and massive, with the most dramatic melodies that you’ll hear since the last time you listened to a Midnight Odyssey album. Even with the relatively short runtime, Tempestuous Fall feels grandiose and exhausting. The mostly clean vocals ache with emotion, and the instruments underneath use every note they play to build to the most dramatic notes that the band can muster. Tempestuous Fall, like Dis Pater’s other projects, sounds like it is designed to push the listener as far as it can in one direction. Even if The Descent of Mortals Past isn’t an everyday listen for me, I love and respect the dedication to drama and emotion.
