One more nail in the coffin of crappy black metal recordings claiming to be reminiscent of the old Burzum days of Norge, where true raw power and lo-fi was original and emotive, but now has been cliched and reduced to basement recordings of vocals sounding like the vocalists gonads are attahced to a car battery by jumper cables and the ignition is being turned on and off at random as the guitars and drum machine pound pathetically behind it all. This stuff is definitely polished for something very basic and simple done my a single man and his inspiration to do so. Brown Jenkins has been making some seismic waves in the underground for a while now and came to me of all people so I bought this album from him directly and am in total agreement with the general opinions of the mans work.
Although basic and stripped down, it really has a true complexity to it, a real sense of song structure, emotion, and rhythm. Nothing here is redundant or stale, for an album centered on bleak and grim music this album has a ton of life within it. Several bands responded to me recently about my reviews and said that I was genuine and that obviously took the time to listen to the stuff that I reviewed, and I did so here as well. For all those black metal haters that claim it to be unsophisticated dribble obviuosly haven't heard this and half the stuff that I'm really into. Hopefully artists/bands like this will turn the right heads and convert some over.
Take the track "Ashes in Her Mouth", the vocals are completely reminiscent of the deep death metal growl, but so well executed that they actually sound as though they are a harsh wind blowing across a snowy plain or through cold and stark forest. There is actually some melody amidst the fuzz, time changes, and actual dynamics in this song alone, but also the entire album. NOTHING on here is repetitive in a boring and lack of creative effort way, it's all solid and another album freezing with the chill of a snowy arctic desert.
There's a true hopelessness and isolated feel here, abysmal, straight from the catacombs. The vocals really add so much to this project, they have a more atmopsheric feel and aren't hidden behind the mix as they are in lots of the more esoteric sounding black metal stuff (which I'm a huge fan of as well). A more sophisticated version of old Xasthur days, with some elements of Wolves in the Throne Room/Velvet Cacoon/Nadja, but stands apart as it's own. There is a unique sound and feel here that proves yet again that this music is just as valid and worthy as any other. Metal and extreme/underground music is about individuality and freedom of expression, the true art of expression, and is constantly being bulldozed over by mediocre crap that claims to be what it's not and "True", "Cult",etc. I'm real, legit, speak my mind, never follow trends and truly understand the idea of being an "individual" and that's why I like what I do, get a ton of shit for doing so, and put the effort in for those of you who are like minded. Raise your middle fingers high and salute the real shit, here's some more of it coming your way.
I'd also recommend highly: Benighted Leams, Dormant, Finnr's Cane, Ebonillumini, Old Corpse Road, Gravsahl
Check this man out at: http://www.myspace.com/brownjenkins13
and (I'm hesitant to put labels here because they have been pissing me off as of late, but that's a whole other pile of shit to avoid stepping in for now) : http://moribundcult.com/
