Three Radikal Rekerds #35: Deluge in a Deer Dwelled Dungeon

Today I'd like to present with three recent acquisitions to my bandcamp collection that represent the more melodious, sublime, excellently composed and written, gorgeous even, strains of atmospheric extreme metal acts that I've been fortunate enough to have unearthed. 

I was partly inspired to do so after a fellow from my friends list by the name of 6-𝕾𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝕬𝖙𝖙𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖉 posted a bulletin regarding the song Embers by one-man Scottish folk/black metal band Ruadh. You should definitely go give 6-Strings a friend request, if it so pleases you... :D 

 

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal/Folk Metal

Standout track: IV

My infidel Google translating of the cyrillic title gives me "neither king, nor god" (if any Russian speakers are reading this, please feel free to roast my pitiful efforts ;p) My pathetic monolingualism aside, what's important to take away from this featured album is the amber-coloured myth-haunted quality to it's sound. Indeed, the "cleaner" instrumentation and general song-writing/song-structure reminds me of that knowingly pathos-driven sound of so many post-soviet bands. Despite only being around half-an-hour long and despite having some of that rawness in production that those familiar with UGBM will recognize, it still feels so lofty and epic that'll feel as though you've been transported away from mundane concerns for much longer.   

Genre: Post Black Metal/Blackgaze/Ambient Black Metal

Standout track: Ageless River I

Another Russian outfit. I must confess it took me an embarrassing number of days to even get past the first song, an absolutely stunning almost six-minute long ambient piece (one of five "Ageless River" tracks that chain together the four actual metal songs on this album) that currently haunts both my waking hours and slumbering mind. If you ever manage to wrest yourself away from the intro without getting hopelessly bewitched by it's awe-inspiring grand melancholy, you'll be rewarded with an absolutely majestic, uptempo, bared-soul variety of soaring, wanderlust-inducing, progressive rock-inflected metal.

Genre: Black Metal

Standout track: No Light Shines Through

Genuinely and sincerely defied my expectations. This Dutch outfit's albums tone is noticeably darker, misanthropic, on the surface more traditional sounding black metal fare, especially when compared to the previous two records. But ironically it possesses the highest production value, and a relatively "cleaner" hi-fi sound between the three albums presented. What stood out to me was the exceptionally memorable and diverse song-writing on this paean to human conflict. An absolute gesamtwerk of a black metal album whose multifaceted qualities and abundance of ideas put's the entire discographies of many one-man BM acts to shame.