Stream in the Northern Sky #2 - Woodbruch and Volahn
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Last night on Invisible Oranges on East Village Radio, Scab Casserole and I (it looks so ridiculous when you type that out) had the pleasure of talking with Mike from Fallen Empire Records, one of the go-to sources of underground black metal in the US, also partly responsible for the treasure trove of obscurity that is SVN OKKLT. We premiered awesome new material from Lluvia, Death Fortress, Hæthen, Vorde and In the Court of a Broken Flesh, which you can and should listen to on the archived stream of the show. All of those killer tracks got me yearning for the underground, so below are a couple I dug up, fired by the inspiration of cold and cryptic (and soaring!) black metal. First up is Windbruch–Mike, if you’re reading, get on it.
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Windbruch – No stars, only full dark
If you want to talk cold, I’m not sure it gets much colder than Siberia—that’s where Windbruch comes from (-58 degrees farenheit in winter according to Wikipedia), a Russian one-man band that churns out music that sounds like a freezing winter night. The tracks above express a deep sense of wonder and spend as much time stargazing as they do ripping, making it good for fans of Agalloch and the like. “No More Entry, No More Exit” is the most metal forward of the bunch, but it’s worth getting lost in the post-_ vibes of the rest of the album that brings to mind the work of Alcest. Russian black metal has always been a particularly tough nut to crack, so kudos to Windbruch for the Bandcamp. If you like what you hear, check out other somewhat similar and excellent Russian bands Kauan and Sivyj Yar.
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Volahn – Najtir ichik
Volahn is the eponymous one man band from the guy responsible for a lot of the notorious Black Twilight Circle‘s output—counting Volahn, he plays on at least six of the label’s bands, including playing (nearly) everything in Dolorvotre, Axeman, and Kuxan Suum. If you’re familiar with the Black Twilight Circle’s work, that list should give you an idea as to what Volahn sounds like—lo-fi, atmosphere rich, slightly quirky black metal. If those bands don’t ring any bells, a quick introduction is in order.
Like Rhinocervs, the Black Twilight Circle is a loosely affiliated collective of black metal bands based out of Los Angeles. Also like Rhinocervs, for some time The Black Twilight Circle churned out some really incredible material from a number of bands that, from afar, seemingly shared and swapped members at will. Again, like Rhinocervs, the Black Twilight Circle faded in and out of being for some time, burning some bridges with customers along the way. After a couple of false starts, it looks as if the BTC (Crepusculo Negro) is back, with new releases from Volahn and Arizmenda slated for this summer. The stream above is from Volahn’s forthcoming album—head over to the BTC Bandcamp for a new track from Arizmenda.
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