Atel / Bastard of Majesty Sin - Atel / Bastard of Majesty Sin
(https://atelblackmetal.bandcamp.com/album/atel-bastard-of-majesty-sin)
Well, at least the minimalist cover art doesn't hurt to look at.
Atel's half of this "primitive/lo-fi black metal" split is almost high school talent-show material, clumsy and repetitive to a fault. It's hard to tell whether the drumming is the work of an extreme amateur or the result of abusing the "humanize" function in a MIDI arranger; it's painfully bad either way, and only distracts from the band's already extremely forgettable riffs. I couldn't even get through Bastard of Majesty Sin's first song, a formless mass of reverberation and distortion. The possibility that this whole split is a stealth parody of the worst excesses of bedroom black metal—from unlistenable "lo-fi" production used to cover up shoddy musicianship to the plainly absurd song titles ("Desekrating The Servants To Jezuz Krist In The Ninth Circle Ov Hell And The Infinite Destruktion Ov The Trinity")—crossed my mind more than once. But in the absence of a knowing wink, I'll have to assume otherwise.
Not Recommended/Possible Poe's Law Violation
Megatherium - Megatherium
(https://hywelpayne.bandcamp.com/album/megatherium)
As an absolute sucker for anything Pleistocene, Megatherium's name and premise drew me in immediately. This short stoner/doom project has a bit of everything, from sludgy aggression on "Haft & Heft" to primordial post-rock soundscapes on "Megatherium" to vocoders and heavy, gloomy blues on "Black Mountain" and "(in search of the) Elephant Bird." The opening and closing tracks are the strongest, but it's a good listen all the way through. It also has a giant ground sloth looking majestic on the cover, so bonus points for that.
Recommended.
Urðarmáni - Njorun
(https://urdarmani.bandcamp.com/album/njorun)
Imagine if Burzum occasionally threw in a brief passage of bittersweet post-black and you've got a pretty good idea of what Urðarmáni (a name that can probably be pronounced by humans) sounds like. Although nominally a depressive black metal band, this Swedish band's spin on Scandinavia's grimmest export is actually much closer to latter-day Varg Vikernes, complete with strong folk influences, medieval melodies, and riffs that sound like they're lifted straight from Fallen. I don't mean that comparison disparagingly, mind you—believably channeling a black metal great through solid musicianship doesn't need an apology, and "originality is definitely overrated" would make a good slogan for the entire black metal scene. Njorun's three tracks are conservative, but they're good black metal all the same. Just know that if you can't stand Burzum's melody-heavy take on the classic Norwegian sound, I promise you won't like Njorun.
Recommended.
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