folteraar_cover

Folteraar - "Mijn Verlossing" (Premiere)

I’ve been aware of Folteraar and its seemingly endless offshoots for some time now as a loyal follower of the band’s house “outsider black metal” tape label The Throat. The label’s exceedingly limited pressings of home-dubbed tapes have been the envy of many collectors (there are more than a few The Throat releases on my Discogs wishlist). Among their constantly expanding roster, Folteraar reigns supreme. Perfected through countless demos, EPs, and splits, Folteraar’s formless, chaotic, near-psychedelic black metal aggression reaches its apex with their debut full-length, the imminent Vertellingen van een donkere eeuw (Tales of a Dark Age).

Nestled deep within this dense, nihilistic, harsh album is “Mijn Verlossing,” or “My Salvation,” A rumbling, scathing, terrifying blackened punk romp. Folteraar straddles the fine line between black metal’s raw excess and complete incoherence, but use this sonic embodiment of chaos to their advantage. To put it bluntly, this is absolutely terrifying. The amorphous, improvised waves of sound creak and groan, enveloped in a crackling, disorienting haze. Vertellingen van een donkere eeuw as a whole is not an easy listen, but Folteraar is an effective reminder as to just how ugly and horrific black metal can be.

Listen to an exclusive stream of “Mijn Verlossing” below, and be sure to grab a copy of Vertellingen van een donkere eeuw from Iron Bonehead Productions below. Listen alone.

—Jon Rosenthal

In true black metal fashion, Folteraar lacks a social media presence (though has laid claim to a blank Bandcamp page), so you’ll have to keep your ear to the ground for this one. At least you won’t have to send concealed cash in an envelope like I did for a few choice albums in high school!