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Intense and Uncompromising Raw Black Metal on dai-ichi's Debut

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Black metal is raw. At least, a good portion of it is. Even albums with the highest level of production have a level of rawness to them. It’s an integral part of black metal, this aggressively tinny assault on the eardrums, but recently black metal has trended to an extreme. Raw black metal has always been around, starting with Ildjarn’s minimalist stomp and moving forward from there, and recent stirrings in the underground have made it clear: low-fidelity isn’t going anywhere. However, mastering it is hard, and many new lo-fi iterations of this subgenre relegate themselves to complete incoherence (but expect them to catch top dollar on Discogs, no lie). There are the few, the proud, who find themselves at the forefront of this raw, uncompromising style, and new entrant dai-ichi makes a strong case for themselves as one of the genre’s finest examples. Listen to an exclusive stream of their self-titled album below.

To sum dai-ichi up in one word, it would be uncompromising, both in sound and execution. This is not entry-level black metal, and yet the duo of vocaliet yūrei and multi-instrumentalist han kirisuto still manage to craft monstrous compositions in a completely monochromatic palette. Of course, this is not impenetrable — dai-ichi’s approach is melodic, if even catchy at times, but still presents itself as a being of hatred and obscurity. This is raw black metal, that is for sure, but this is of a higher tier: one of compositional prowess and an intriguing melodic sense. To set themselves apart, even bass can be heard, which is apparently the hardest thing in the universe for a raw black metal band, but dai-ichi are fearless and know no boundaries within their little niche of black metal. For those who want to delve deeper into black metal’s true core, dai-ichi awaits.

dai-ichi releases October 31st via Fólkvangr Records (vinyl) with an eventual cassette release by Not Kvlt Records.

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