I believe it was the beloved actor Thomas Hanks who once said “Xasthur is like a box of chocolates.”  He’s right, though: you never know what you’re gonna get.  We can all be thankful that the last few years have seen the resurgence of the once-and-future black metal act, albeit not in the same form as we once had.  Disharmonic Variations is not another grab bag of material though.  It’s practically yet another reinvention of the project, which has never really been all that easy to pin down in the first place.

I’ve had the absolute pleasure of being able to review Xasthur’s comeback-but-not-really albums, beginning with 2021’s Victims of the Times and on to 2023’s Inevitably Dark, which saw the project break mastermind Scott Conner’s self-imposed moratorium on black metal.  If you’re familiar with Conner’s current situation or you read either one of those reviews, you know things have not been easy for him the last couple of years, and unfortunately the span leading to Disharmonic Variations has been no less trying.  Conner’s living situation is still less than stable, so the opportunity to sit down and record for a block of time in a studio is non-existent.  Instead, songs are recorded totally analog, in whatever room Conner is staying, and completely self-produced.  In that way, they serve as a snapshot into a discrete moment in time, rather than a chunk of a year or more.  These songs carry with them the urgency of someone who doesn’t just record music to live, but to feel alive, to have a purpose and to stay sane when life in the world feels…well, inevitably dark.  Those who have followed Xasthur for a long time won’t balk at the lo-fi recording quality (in fact, it’s to be celebrated considering the band’s second-wave-worship origins), nor will the falter at the dark and gloomy musical landscape put forward on Disharmonic Variations.  Conner still performs all the guitars, bass and drum programming, and this release carries on Inevitably Dark’s all-instrumental theme as well.

The first thing that needs to be cleared up about Disharmonic Variations is this: there are no straight-ahead black metal songs on this album.  Neither, however, are there any of the acid folk songs of Victims of the Times.  Instead, what we get is the best cohesion between the two eras of Xasthur there has been yet.  Victims of the Times kept the gloomy vibe of the DSBM days, without the black metal musicianship, and Inevitably Dark saw the tracks switch back and forth between black metal and folk, but on Disharmonic Variations we actually get a seamless blend of the two styles.  Almost all the tracks feature a toned down, more morose version of the folk guitars that exemplify Xasthur Mark 2 over programmed drums that could be mistaken for nothing except black metal.  In fact, a lot of what Variations sounds like is acoustic black metal, which I appreciate a little bit more than when the tracks switch gears.  It’s all very cool, and it feels like a much more focused and cohesive record than Inevitably Dark.  I do find myself missing a lot of the keyboards from the previous release (especially if you’re not going to have vocals), but that space allows for a closer look at Conner’s deft guitar and bass work, which is outstanding as ever on Variations.  And while I understand that at this point the production style is a necessity and not completely a choice, I do still appreciate that Conner knows what to do to make it sound like it’s a choice.  In fact, the whole record sounds very deliberate and well thought out.

Who even knows what the next Xasthur record is going to look like?  I think a lot of the crowd who was expecting a full-on black metal release might be initially skeptical of Disharmonic Variations, but I urge you to take a closer listen.  This record is about as Xasthur as Xasthur can get, sans distortion and harsh vocals.  It’s another window into the mind of Conner, and that is what Xasthur has always been about.  Here’s hoping that he continues to just do whatever the hell he wants to do for as long as he’s able.

-Ian

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Disharmonic Variations is available now on Prophecy Productions/Lupus Lounge.  For more information on Xasthur, visit their Instagram page.