Xasthur – Subliminal Genocide
Posted on July 26, 2007 at 8:00 am by admin
Note: I know this album came out last year, but it landed in my mailbox, and I have to admit, I was curious about it.
I swear that for the life of me, I cannot make out anything close to spelling “Xasthur” in the band logo. I know black metal band logos are supposed to be illegible, but aren’t they still supposed to spell the band name out? It still looks cool though.
I have to admit, I don’t have very much underground “raw” styled black metal, nor have I owned anything from a one man black metal band. It’s most likely due to the fact that the CD store in town doesn’t carry that sort of thing very often, and I probably gravitated towards something else at the time. I did pick up Twilight’s self-titled album, and to be honest, I thought it was a mixed affair of black metal musical chairs. I also got “Instinct: Decay” by Nachtmystium, and I thought that was a damn great album. I did always contemplate getting that Leviathan demo collection, and that Leviathan split at the CD store….
The introduction sounds as though the guitar sound is mimicking a slightly out of tune piano, as well as the break in the middle of the second song, “The Prison Of Mirrors”. It’s hard to pull off making something intentionally out of tune work, but when bands are able to nail it, the end result is usually astonishing. The songs are very long and drawn out, with generalized feelings of despair and depression pouring off. They don’t build as much as they flow slowly along, kind of like a slow moving stream.
Those buzzin’ guitars are actually pretty audible, and carry the weight of the dreary melodies throughout each song with either repetitive chords, or haunting arpeggios. The vocals are off in the background, distorted as though they recorded through a wrecked microphone. They seem to serve more as ambience rather than as an instrument to deliver lyrical content. The bass is of course non-existent. The drums are done by a drum machine though, and really detract from the atmosphere. All the other playing is so organic and flowing, and then comes in these punchy drums and clicking high-hats in perfect time that go right against the grain of the intent of the song.
Playing “Subliminal Genocide” from start to finish doesn’t bring up much changes, so you shouldn’t expect anything nearing blast-beat speed. In this case it actually works for the album. I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into before I heard this album, and I have to say I actually enjoyed myself while listening to it. Perhaps my understanding of how a band like Cult Of Luna builds an atmosphere helped when listening to “Subliminal Genocide”.
The Official Xasthur Website
Hydra Head Records
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