To Hell And Back is a weekly column in which Noisey metal editor and lifelong hesher Kim Kelly explores the extreme metal underground and recommends her latest faves.This week, I’ve been dealing with a bunch of bullshit from basically every possible angle, so instead of digging through my looming pile of promos and demo links, I’ve instead found myself reaching for old faves when it comes time to lose myself in my headphones. It’s literally my job to keep up on new music (and as the list of releases below will attest, I do spend many hours doing just that!), but sometimes, to quote our manic pixie rock ‘n’ roll savior Penny Lane, you’ve just got to “go to the record store and visit your friends.”
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By now, for all their darkness and grime and pathos, artists like Eyehategod, Rage Against the Machine, Merle Haggard, and Mischief Brew that I’ve loved since I was a teen (or younger) feel as comforting as an old sweater. Those familiar songs about suffering, hard work, dissolution, and insurrection help to remind me that, just like all of the other terrible things I’ve weathered, these particular terrible things will also pass—and when they do, I’ll still be standing.This isn’t a unique approach by any stretch of the imagination; I’d wager that basically any music fan with any level of emotional sentience does the same. Humans are hard-wired to seek comfort in times of stress or trauma, and it makes absolute sense (to me, at least, and probably to a good number of y’all reading) that some of us would intentionally seek out abrasive, demanding music in order to find that comfort. After all, what better way is there to mend a broken heart or vent frustration with your landlord than drinking too much whiskey with your best friends and screaming along to “Kill Your Boss” or “World Eater”?When I was in high school and my mom got real sick, all I listened to was lo-fi, antisocial American black metal like Xasthur, Leviathan, and Cult of Daath; I found their CDs in bargain bins and on the shelves at the old Relapse Records store on South Street in Philly, and clung to them as the hospital bills racked up. Their harrowing howls, subterranean menace, and murky buzzsaws were the only things that came close to mirroring what it felt like inside of my head at the time, and helped me feel a little bit stronger when I thought I was anything but. The healing power of heavy music isn’t something that we see discussed very frequently outside of our own community— most mainstream music sources seize on the more bombastic cathartic or angry elements, if that—but I’d wager that it’s a big part of why so many of us got into this shit in the first place, and why most of us still here.
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All that being said, I hope you’re having a good week. If you’re not, maybe these albums will help.Where Birds Sing My Name is the latest outing from Appalachian folk/black metal entity Twilight Fauna, and it's incredible. The project's Paul Ravenwood (joined as of 2016 by drummer Josh Thieler of Slaves BC) has always poured his heart, soul, and stories into this music, which straddles the half-obscured likes between Appalachian folk, bluegrass, and atmospheric black metal (a niche formula which would've been unheard of pre-Panopticon's
Kentucky album, but makes quite a lot of sense when forged by Ravenwood's capable hands), but this latest album is perhaps his strongest, most cohesive effort to date. The charmingly raw bluegrass and folk parts are given space to breathe, bleeding into the black metal sections in a way that feels organic and necessary (and guest vocalist Kendal Fox steals the show on the delicate, cloudy dirge "November's Cold"). Twilight Fauna has been slowly coming into its own over the course of the past few years via a dizzyingly prolific release schedule, and I'm quite impressed by where they've ended up.I’m already obsessed with this Boston outfit, and they’ve barely released their first demo. The immediate comparison that floated to mind when I heard Who Will Be The Victims? was of early Sacrilege meets vintage Amebix, in their gnarled, thrashy, bowel-churning glory. There’s a certain gutter gothic vibe flitting through the stench, too—and what a stench(core) it is! Lifeless Dark’s apocalyptic take on crust punk is heavily metallic, grounded in low-slung riffs that owe as much to Bolt Thrower as they do Axegrinder. This may be just a demo, but it’s a shit-hot one (and it doesn’t hurt that the band also features members of No Tolerance and Green Beret).
Twilight Fauna
Kentucky album, but makes quite a lot of sense when forged by Ravenwood's capable hands), but this latest album is perhaps his strongest, most cohesive effort to date. The charmingly raw bluegrass and folk parts are given space to breathe, bleeding into the black metal sections in a way that feels organic and necessary (and guest vocalist Kendal Fox steals the show on the delicate, cloudy dirge "November's Cold"). Twilight Fauna has been slowly coming into its own over the course of the past few years via a dizzyingly prolific release schedule, and I'm quite impressed by where they've ended up.
Lifeless Dark
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