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Pisswitch and St. Barthelmy's Temple Display Variety on New Split (Full Split Debut)

I’ve gone over the art of the split record before, so excuse me for completely eschewing any sort of witty intro about split records and pairing in favor of diving directly into the music. The mysterious Pisswitch (who purportedly touts leading members of the current underground raw black metal scene) and St. Barthelmy’s Temple both offer different takes on the same style: black/doom metal, or doomed black metal, or whatever you feel like calling it. This lugubrious split is definitely built in halves, with Pisswitch offering an expecetedly raw, but morose and majestic take on evil, slow black metal, whereas St. Barthelmy’s Temple’s approach is more geared towards the heavier doom metal half of black/doom metal, the label citing Eyehategod as a prime example of some of the band’s more groove-laden, sickening songwriting.

How does it work as a split? Pretty well — both bands offer different musical and aesthetic approaches to what is essentially a similar style, and, moreover, they differ enough from each other to keep the release itself interesting. I can’t tell you how many black/doom metal split releases I’ve waded through over the years, and the effort here between Pisswitch and St. Barthelmy’s Temple presents itself as something actually interesting and varied, a rarity in the rawer, more black metal-oriented underground. Listen to the split in full ahead of its Friday release below, and be sure to pick up a copy from Babylon Doom Cult Records.

The Pisswitch and St. Barthelmy’s Temple split releases July 9th on Babylon Doom Cult Records.