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Track Debut: Veilburner's "Masturbating the Obelisk"

When Akercocke folded with a whimper after fifteen years, five records, and developing a unique voice, literally dozens of us were upset. Yes, now they’re sort of reformed as Voices, but the song’s not quite the same.

Veilburner, meanwhile, released their debut record The Three Lightbearers back in August, and it deserves to be heard by more than literally dozens of people. Start by streaming the album’s latest single, “Masturbating the Obelisk”, at the link below. I mentioned Akercocke above on purpose, because fans of the ‘cocke will find much to like in “Masturbating the Obelisk” and in the rest of The Three Lightbearers as well.

The song kicks off with some Middle-Eastern derived instrumentation before slamming into high speed. The main riff’s got character, and the thrumming keyboard/synth/whatever-it-is line over top of it sticks in the brain. The song’s pretty representative of the record as a whole: ultrafast portions, midtempo portions, parts where guitar chords are left suspended over blastbeats and double bass. Akercocke always trafficked in unorthodoxy and diversity, and Veilburner appear headed down that path. It’s nice to see a rookie band step up with such a fully formed sound instead of cluttering things up with an rote recitation of black/death metal tropes.

Head below to hear the track; The Three Lightbearers can be streamed via Spotify or purchased from bandcamp.

—Richard Street-Jammer