video review: 'mystical future' by wildernessking

Goddamn, I need to keep remember to cross-post the video to here, this is happening more than it should.

Okay, (finally) Anna Meredith and Flatbush Zombies, so stay tuned!

album review: 'mystical future' by wildernessking

So one of my personal resolutions for this year is that I'd make time to cover more black metal I found a lot to really like last year and Panopticon's Autumn Eternal landed on my year end list for my top albums of 2015...

And thus far, I've been failing miserably. To be somewhat fair to myself, it's not like I've seen or heard about much in this genre that's gotten waves of critical acclaim - my general sources have been pretty dry here - but I also don't think I've put in enough due diligence to cover the acts that have gotten a little hype. So as before with Vallendusk, I looked up the one guy I trust on YouTube to mention some interesting black metal - that'd be Myke C-Town - and saw that he had covered the sophomore release from South African band Wildernessking, so after seeing how much praise their 2012 debut The Writing Of Gods In The Sand received, I decided to give it a shot.

And wow, I'm glad I did. I'll admit I don't always have the best frame of references when it comes to black metal and I can't quite say I was immediately wowed by Wildernessking as I was by the insane riffing of Vallendusk or the genre-bending of Panopticon or the weird avant-garde tendencies of Wolves In The Throne Room or the progressive touches of In The Woods..., but there was something subtle about Wildernessking that really sucked me in. Atmospheric touches that recall post-rock, riffing and grooves that had touches of post-hardcore but still had enough grime and intensity to fit within black metal, and enough focus on melody to really stick with me. Plus - and I'll wholeheartedly admit it's inconsequential but a great touch regardless - they actually posted their lyrics, which considering how deeply they buried their vocals was a real plus. So with the knowledge that their sophomore album was going to be going even harder, I picked up Mystical Future, looking forward to five songs of blisteringly potent black metal - did I get it?