Underjordiska / Spectral Lore - Split (Stellar Auditorium, 2008)

Both bands presented on this split have been featured on this very publication. Neither band failed to intrigue with their unique take on the genre, and of course such a collaboration should raise a few eyebrows. Although both stem from a solid black metal foundation, this release sees them at the crossroads of experimental music craft and dark ambient.First it starts off with clean guitar passages that softly segue into a cavernous soundscape of rumbling frequencies and clanking, distorted sound effects. From here on, any sort of structure is engulfed by ethereal ambient textures. Dynamics slowly but steadily pick up, culminating in an awakening crescendo of synths and thick counterpoint. The enchanting eeriness of it all is aptly maintained with the second part, where droning stringed under-layers of seismic tones fuse with sound effects and distorted atmospherics. The musical journey nears its end refreshingly with the sound of a rather unorthodox instrument which I fail to identify (according to the bands they have made use of mandolin and a duduk(?), amongst others) before reaching the finish mark pretty much how it started: gentle melodies fading into silence.

The promo sheet points to the cyclical nature of the split's thematicism, with the descent into the abyss and subsequent returning ascent into the world. But this needn't be so. What truly makes this release stand apart is the effective juxtaposition of different elements. Upon reaching the end, one feels re-invigorated and more appreciative of the incipient themes of contentment and calmness which started off the split. It's a musical offering that essentially leaves you with a question: how can we truly know light if at first we haven't known darkness? Definitely a captivating release from a pair of outfits who aren't just content with riding the zeitgeist but instead attempt to steer it away into new territories.

Contact: http://www.myspace.com/stellarauditorium

(originally written for Chronicles of Chaos - 1/9/2008)

Underjordiska - Dystert Vilse (Cuckold Productions, 2008)

 

It'd take a band as audacious as Underjordiska to show us just how many levels of abstraction black metal has to be percolated through before it loses its fundamental quiddity. Yet from the active artist's perspective, it would be detrimental to impose any sort of compositional framework on his or her work, and this is exactly the album's main strength -- other than being an experiment in form, its music might lack a utilitarian purpose but it seethes with emotional honesty.Underjordiska comes to us from the far end of the purist spectrum, where any sort of convoluted instrumentation equals the dilution of essence. Taking this stance to its extremes, Underjordiska has extrapolated the inherent structural minimalism of its stylistic bedrock with an almost mephistophelian familiarity of the genre's rooting. As the percussion goes strangely unmissed, there's only that much dynamicism herein to maintain a sense of order and any perceptible rhythm is more likely a psychological imposition from the mind's part to sift through this audial throbbing of painful shrieks and buzzing guitars.
The contorted schemas of the compositions often fall prey to the menacing and deliberate atonality of the warped guitar work that effectively ensures that the album retains its unsettling qualities. Song thematics are not monolithic; they vacillate between nightmarish jet-black claustrophobia and the heroism of overcoming, of transcendence (the near twenty minute long "Hope" being the distinctive case in point). Being introverted and self-absorbed, the album mocks at musical conventionality and aspires to present us with one of the most distorted forms of black metal aestheticism yet. _Dystert Vilse_ itself has nothing to hide, it lies bare, a naked edifice for discerning eyes; it's not a step forwards nor a step backwards for the genre, but downwards, towards the abyss, towards the Source.

Contact: http://cuckoldprod.altervista.org/

(article published 11/5/2008)