Cold icewinds sweep my weightless body over the bridge to unknown lands. The fog was thick before me as I fell into the unknown realms. The darkness had fallen before me, as I saw my body fall into the ground. I am far away, I am far away from the sun… Beyond All Horizons features shorter reviews dedicated solely to black metal: a new release, an older album (a month, a year, a decade, or perhaps even longer), concluded with a hand-picked track of the week.
Was hard for me to muster the energy to get this one out considering everything going on, but alas the world keeps turning. Solidarity and love to my friends in Minnesota, the most welcoming and community-oriented place that I have ever been in this country. This second iteration of Beyond All Horizons features some new French black metal from Archvile King along with some impending festival prep with last year’s album from One of Nine and a track from southern speedsters Interceptor.
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New & Trve: Archvile King – Aux Heures Désespérées
What first drew me to Aux Heures Désespérées was the “castle metal” melodies of single “Le Chant des Braves”, a style that anyone who follows Nine Circles knows I’ve been doing my best to document as it continues to expand further. The music of Archvile King’s sophomore full-length is overall a far cry from the main bands associated with that sound, but is not without a degree of shared lineage when it comes to bombastic heavy metal-ism. Aux Heures Désespérées is black metal that infuses itself with more classic heavy metal drum patterns and thrashy skank beats when not blasting away, coupled with riffs that alternate between extended trem picking and punkier rhythms that pair well with the thrash drumming. As if the album cover didn’t give it away already there’s a clear medieval fantasy inspiration at play with lyrics depicting humanity’s battle with the so-called “Worm King,” these elements reflected in the music with some dungeon synth on “Sépulture.”
In conjunction with the lyrical themes there’s a bit of bouncy playfulness at work underneath the more standard black metal on the title track and elsewhere, feeling pseudo-folky at times. I’m reminded of the early works of Ungfell who similarly inflected a pastoral atmosphere into a blistering black metal sound. Penultimate track “À Ces Batailles Abandonnées” brings the album full circle with the most soaring blackened melodies and outright heavy metal riffs on the entire album, sounding very much like Kvelertak in its final minutes. Aux Heures Désespérées doesn’t really bring anything new to the table but it’s fun and well-made, and sometimes that’s all you can really ask for. And something that we could use right now.
Aux Heures Désespérées is available now through Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions. For more information on Archvile King, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.
Old & Cold: One of Nine – Dawn of the Iron Shadow
With all that’s been happening, the fact that I’ll be attending Hell’s Heroes for the first time in less than two months keeps getting pushed to the back of my mind. Enslaved’s Vikingligr veldi set and the US debut of the Blood Fire Death may be the primary reasons I’m attending but there’s a hell of a lot of other music to look forward to. Black metal may only be a minor feature at the festival, but I’m hoping to have my opinion changed on Charlotte’s One of Nine after experiencing them live on day one of the festival. On paper a Tolkien-themed melodic black metal band that isn’t another Summoning clone checks off a number of boxes that should pique my interest, but since the release of Dawn of the Iron Shadow last Halloween I just haven’t been able to find their music interesting enough when modern stars like Stormkeep and Moonlight Sorcery exist. There are several reasons for this; the biggest factor is probably the riffs themselves, or lack thereof. Melodically-oriented black metal lends itself well to more complex arrangements like the aforementioned bands or other newer acts such as Inherits the Void and Valdrin, and One of Nine rely on more simple walls of chords and plodding chugs throughout.
The riffs are punctuated by upper register leads and grand synths on tracks like “Behold the Shadow of My Thoughts”, but the latter in element in particular ends up hampering the album a bit. At a number of points the guitars will break to let the synths shimmer, but it feels more like a hastily thrown in reminder that “oops, we need to sound a lot more like Summoning!” At least the band use a real drummer to differentiate themselves from the Austrian legends. There’s some genuinely great melodies on “Age of Chains” and “Quest of the Silmaril” and the production is solid — not raw yet far from overproduced, with the synths mixed in well when they do appear — but it doesn’t quite commit enough to either the melodic or symphonic components to win me over. I’m very much reminded of the sophomore album from Finland’s Bloody Valkyria last year that also left me regrettably wanting, as that album similarly tried too hard to tell you how epic it was rather than occurring more naturally. While we await the follow-ups to Tales of Othertime and Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle, this partially satisfies the need for fantasy-oriented black metal at least. I hope their Hell’s Heroes set exceeds my expectations!
Dawn of the Iron Shadow is available now through Profound Lore Records. For more information on One of Nine, check out their Instagram page.
Twilight Hour: Interceptor – “Black Ritual”
Black metal may be my favorite genre yet I’ve never been able to enjoy much of the first wave aside from Master’s Hammer. Most of the time it just sounds like badly played thrash (though I guess that was often the point, looking at you Venom). I’m certainly open to bands that can change my mind though! One such band doing that for me is Charleston’s Interceptor, also appearing at Hell’s Heroes in March. This group of youngins also released their sophomore album last year, the aptly named Metal Death. If the logo wasn’t already an indication they’re much more a speed/heavy metal band, but of course black metal wouldn’t exist without those founding styles! Right from the opening trills of “Black Ritual” you know what you’re in for, but this song and the rest of the album are played with such an infectious energy that I can’t help but be impressed. The demo-quality production is a big draw as well, it feels like listening to a group of guys rehearsing in a basement rather than something robotically perfected on a desktop. Big props for the absence of rhythm guitar during the solo as well, it aids tremendously in making the song feel live. At 50 minutes Metal Death is a bit long for its style, but is a hell of a fun ride that proves the kids may just be alright.
Metal Death is available now through Motorpunk Records. For more information on Interceptor, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.
— Colin
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