It’s been almost six years since Heretoir graced us with their presence, with 2017’s The Circle being one of the most poignant post-black metal records I have ever listened to. Memories aside, I have felt that black metal is no longer my genre du jour, and the more time I spend away from it, the more I feel disconnected to it. However, Heretoir brings me back to the genre’s embrace with their newest EP, Wastelands.
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I am no stranger to depression and what it can do. It has affected me to a certain degree, where I am always on constant alert about changes in moods and thoughts. While I present myself as functional, there are days where all I want to do is block out the world and lie down on my bed. Listening to SHRVL’s Limbus feels like waking up after a particularly bad depressive episode, where any wrong thought or action during the day leads to doubt and to spiraling about things outside of your control. It’s oppressive, cacophonous, and eerie, and you can’t help but stare at the looming, gray walls these songs seem to conjure.
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Everyone knows the origin of Batman. Bruce orphaned as a boy by a random criminal, dedicates his life to fighting the scourge of crime. He travels the world and trains himself in a number of skills to meet this goal. One night, as he thinks of ways to disguise himself and strike fear into the hearts of criminals, in flies a bat into his study. He declares “I shall become a bat!” Thus, Batman is born. Listening to ΓΓΓ, the latest from Sleep of Monsters, one can imagine mastermind Sami Hassinen has a similar origin. As a young boy in Finland, he dedicates himself to forming a band. By the time he can form one, he sleeps night after night restlessly dreaming of himself as a monster. One night a random copy of Bauhaus’ In The Flat Field flies through his window and wakes him up. He then stands up and declares “I will create a gothic, occult rock band called Sleep of Monsters! Also, we’ll have a lead singer with a deliciously rich baritone!”
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When one thinks of spider webs, many people will often think of a nuisance, i.e. the phrase “cleaning out the cobwebs.” Many others will often associate them with set decorations for a haunted house or horror movie, something to inspire fear and dread. But every web you see is the home that a living creature has made for itself, a microcosmic world happening right under your nose. If we think of these webs as a community unto themselves, would we be able to see ourselves in the tiny creatures that made them? Orbweaving could be thought of both as the act of creating these almost invisible ties that bind worlds together, as well as the result of the community those ties hold together via the vision of Midwife and Vyva Melinkolya.
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When we think of stoner metal and psychedelic metal at this point, the element most likely associated to those genres is smoke. Stoner at this point equates to marijuana usage. People sitting around smoking joints or hitting a bong. Huge clouds of smoke billowing out of whatever room someone has hotboxed or smoke coughed out of a mouth after smoking a joint. Think of the huge cloud of smoke following the stoners as they leave their van in Fast Times At Ridgemont High. Sleep’s Al Cisneros bellows about following the smoke to the riff filled land. At this point, it’s a cliche. But does Kanaan break that on Downpour…
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Nine Circles 