an interview with Acathexis

Call Acathexis an atmospheric black metal supergroup, and you wouldn't be wrong; the project brings together the solo artists responsible for Mare Cognitum, Downfall of Nur and Cult of Erinyes. The fact that their self-titled debut was one of the last albums released by the late Fallen Empire Records is enough to make it noteworthy. Jacob Buczarski and Dany Tee were kind enough to answer my questions about how this remarkable project got together.

Bandcamp Picks: A Forest of Stars, Terra, Downfall of Nur, Taake

Send home the maid-of-all-work and break out the laudanum, A Forest Of Stars return with their fourth album Beware The Sword You Cannot See. The number of seemingly disparate elements in play here is staggering: Violins and female vocals rub shoulders with blastbeats and tremolo picking; elsewhere, psychedelic guitars and neo-folk sprechstimme wash over Eighties goth keyboards. It's a lot to take on in just one sitting; luckily, the album comes pre-divided into two sections, with the second half of the album being the six-part "Pawn on the Universal Chessboard". This is as black as artisanal coffee and just as twee. [$6.99]



If the descriptor "British black metal" makes you think of tinkly keyboards, costume parties, and over-exuberant chipmunk squeaking, newcomers Terra throw all those preconceptions out the window. Their Untitled debut is pure atmospheric black metal, with only a sparing use of [heavily reverbed] vocals, strongly reminiscent of Wolves In The Throne Room at their prime. A commendable debut. [£5]



Argentinian folk/black metal "proyect" Downfall of Nur occupies both the raw and epic spheres of black metal; with no post-rock influence and a guitar tone as frigid as anything that came out of Oslo during the second wave, Umbras de Barbagia plays like a rawer, less NPR-friendly Agalloch. Or maybe this is what "tote bag metal" sounds like in Argentina. [€4]



Taake turned a lot of heads with their last album, pulling out the banjos like a bunch of black metal rednecks (photos of them playing with swastikas and/or their junk showing certainly helped solidify that impression). There are no banjos on Stridens Hus, but there is a classic metal influence that pops up occasionally. Besides that, it's business as usual for Taake: Frostbitten riffs and blastbeats driving songs built for memorability. Beneath the controversy and coloured contacts may be the last great Norwegian black metal band. [$7.50]