Litha (mem. Hell, Mizmor) explores depression's gnawing "Hunger" (early track premiere)
At the risk of stating the obvious, metal is not exactly an artform known for lightheartedness or self-satisfied musings. On the contrary—For many fans, going to a show or diving into an album can take the sting out of dark thoughts by bringing them out into the open in all their ugliness. Extreme music can help mentally ill people feel seen, and no subgenre is quite as focused on this mode of exhumation-as-expression as depressive black metal is.
Unsurprisingly, many musicians also get a similar catharsis from making and refining melancholic metal. For Andrew Black, live bassist for Mizmor and Hell, new project Litha serves as an outlet for a lifetime of struggle against depression and anxiety. Black is already an accomplished ambient musician in his own right. However, he says, black metal allowed him to give voice to uglier emotions.
"I needed a way to process my anger and pain, which I've historically hidden away from others," Black says. "I felt like I couldn’t say everything I needed to in instrumental ambient music, so I decided I needed an additional outlet. Litha is that outlet and an effort to bring that ugliness to the surface to process it instead of continuing to hide it."
Litha's self-titled full-length, due out November 17 via Tartarus Records, is bleak, spare and beautiful. Consisting of five tracks that each examine the tension between altruism and misanthropy, Litha shifts between melodic highs and introspective lows. There are moments of clarity and moments of churning confusion. Throughout, Black's ragged scream forms a tortured counterpart to the clean guitar and propulsive rhythms.Opening track "Hunger" captures much of Litha's give and take. Ebbing and flowing between stately melodies and bleak passages of fury, "Hunger" feels like a distillation of the ways mental illness can both hollow out a person and stand in for a more nuanced relationship with the humanity around them. Check out an early premiere of "Hunger" below.
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From the artist:
Hunger is about processing my own lifelong internal inconsistencies and contradictions. It’s a theme of this song, record, and project as a whole.
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