Underground Black Metal is clearly stepping it’s game up in the latter half of 2018. Just the last month or so alone has graced us with some of the most foul and unpleasant sounds to come out of the deepest trenches of the genre in the modern day. Maybe it’s just me and I’ve missed a lot of stuff, but as far as my taste goes and from what I’ve seen, the bulk of gems within the realm of Raw Black Metal, Old School Black Metal and Blackened Punk are just now starting to drop. There have been some rippers earlier in the year too, like from Byyrth and Nattsvargr, but I feel like it’s only now starting to really pick up. The latest example? The absolute fucking filth-fest in question here! This is the debut full-length by Ohio’s Slavehouse; a band who takes the unbridled filth and dissonance of Raw Black Metal and the sleaze and fury of the dirtier side of Punk, and mashes them together into a rotten, scathing assault of hard-hitting, flesh-ripping, gross and unrelenting audio filth that not only tears your eardrums to shreds without a single fuck to give about you or your well-being, but also absolutely schools every other band of hacks who have tried and failed to duplicate it and every trend-driven Hipster fuck brigade that currently plagues us.
Taste in Pain is the latest outing on Fallen Empire Records and is another jarring example of an album that knows how to work with what it has and doesn’t need much more. The dissonance and blown out instrumentation does all the talking as it forces your attention and hits you in the face repeatedly with violent impetus. Not even many fancy riffs are needed. From the very beginning, Self-Punishment opens things up and wastes not a single, solitary fucking second in sonically belaboring you with blown-out guitars churning out grimy, muddy chords, loud, pounding drums ranging from relentless blasting to intensely catchy grooves, fuled with the same attitude and bluster as bands like Akatharsia, Ritual Knife and Grinning Death’s Head are known for having, but turned up to an even higher level of ferocity. Continuing the gnarly grooves right into Fresh Meat, no sign of slowing down is seen nor are you given a chance to breathe as the band’s sound continues to bludgeon you with every passing second.
You have the more paced tracks, like Fresh Meat and Spent, and then there’s the more wrathful and blasty ones, like Höllenloch and (my favorite) Scorpion Whip. It’s a well-structured dynamic that favors both the Punky and traditional sides of the sonic Black Metal spectrum. It isn’t anything too out there or beyond the ordinary, I’ve already mentioned a couple more bands of this style and I’ve gushed over some of them on this blog in the past, but I think this stands out on it’s own in a weird but gripping way. What I love about stuff like this is the unbridled rawness and unlawful chaos that doesn’t aim to please anyone and just sets out to audibly fucking destroy anyone who’s exposed to it and leaves it up to them to take it or leave it. It’s just pure fucking hatred and disregard for validation in the truest and most straightforward form possible, the way Black Metal should be, especially of this ilk that aims to keep the true, raw and ugly essence of the genre alive in the modern day.
Other stand-out tracks are Savage Breed, which definitely lives up to it’s name; just nothing but continuous pounding chords and a muddy snare-beating that you’re giving from start to finish, and the very putrid closer, Putrefaction, which doesn’t fail in closing out this album by leaving a foul taste in your mouth as you sit battered and broken from what you just experienced. The mysterious and vile realm of Raw Black Metal in 2018 once again proves that it is still alive and well and ready to make you unwell. We’ve already gotten some winners this year, but as far as I’m concerned, this one takes the cake. It’s as loud, vicious and drenched in filth as I’ve heard Black Metal get this year so far and I just had to review it right after I heard it. This isn’t anything fancy or intricate that needs time to sink in, it’s just filth… filth, filth and more fucking filth, the way (especially modern) Black Metal is best served.
So overall, get your hands and ears on this as soon as possible! If you’re into dismal and old school to the bone Black Metal mixed with grimy, sleazy Punk, then this is the real fucking deal! Only the latest Serum Dreg rivals this one in this style so far this year, in my opinion and it’s gonna be hard to match up with. Also, check out Knife Vision, run by frontman, John Neumaier, some good stuff to offer there too, including Fever Nest! So yeah, enough with the rambling. Give this a listen and get ravaged, you poser fucks! Total support!
Thy Kingdom Scvm 