by Snyde
Thu, 6 Jul 2023
Read in 7 minutes
On and on it spins.
The musical stagnation of the 2020s is well documented around these parts. A quick look at the mainstream will tell you all you need to know, with no major developments since the hip hop boom of the 00s. Cultural footnotes such as dubstep, vaporwave, cloud rap and hyperpop certainly influenced the zeitgeist, but never gained a proper foothold. Thus, we stand at a point of complete cultural nihilism, doomed to repeat what has been popular or rebel against it, in ironic acknowledgment of its power.
As a child of the 90s, I may have been spoiled by the quick succession of repeated societal revolutions before and since my birth. As the dust finally settles on the internet age, we might’ve become too culturally connected. Niches that suddenly burst onto the mainstream consciousness with ideas that could’ve only evolved by stewing for years in isolation are diluted via their instant availability. How can cultural exchange happen when we all share the same culture?
So we’ve might’ve just descended to some sort of base state. The entire post-war period finally convoluted to a point of uniformity. A cultural singularity. A low entropy state from which only an external kick can release us. What form could that kick take? It’s 2023 so the inevitable answer is AI. I keep wondering how much of what I hear and see is already AI-generated. If I find the difference difficult to discern now, how much worse will it be in the coming years? Detractors can say AI won’t have an impact since it only pulls from what already exists. My answer: so do we. Get ready to be replaced.
So, what can we salvage? Here’s what the vortex has deemed worthy so far this year.
[10.] Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Maps
Billy Woods has certainly been prolific over the past few years but I am always looking forward to occupying this man’s mind for 40-something minutes. His previous pairing with Kenny Segal, Hiding Places, introduced me to his depressed stylings and cryptic wordplay and the sequel does not disappoint. Even if 90% of his references go over my head.
[9.] Sarmat - Determined to Strike
I don’t really enjoy this one but I’m not really fussed about it being in the top 10. Sarmat is a band to watch. Determined to Strike is more frustrating and annoying than successful in its attempts to shoehorn jazz into metal but they should keep trying.
[8.] Vexing - Grand Reproach
Somehow, another murky, messy, “occasional dissonant melody over indistinguishable downtuned guitars”, barely yellow generic metal album makes its way to the vortex top 10. There’s always one, isn’t there? This one comes with a side dish of extra shitty production, too. Yummy gruel for the dissoshit faithful.
[7.] Temblad - Hallucignosis
I was ready to sunc this one to oblivion after hearing that Goldi and strawberrydeluxe had joined forces to shove it into the top 10 but they were actually right this time. This fucks. The excellent vocal performance is but a complement to the heavy ass riffs and progressive songwriting that, while boasting great technical skill, employs such technicality to kick your ass rather than to try to impress you. A great example of why death metal doesn’t need to be the same shit over and over.
[6.] Thy Catafalque - Alföld
I expected Alföld to be similar in style to Naiv and Vadak and, though I mildly enjoyed both of those, I didn’t want it to be another one for the pile of “acceptable” records in his recent discography. I’m glad Tamás Katái is unencumbered by such expectations. The heavier approach added a certain spice that had been missing from his releases since Meta but I’m not entirely sold on the execution. I’m keen to listen to it a fair few more times, but it seems clear to me that while Alföld is a good record, it would’ve certainly benefitted from more time in the oven, working out sequencing, structure and flow.
[5.] Spirit Possession - Of the Sign…
I forget that this album is in the top 10. As far as orthodox black metal, it’s a decent album I enjoy and it’s a big improvement over their debut but top 5? Just one of those situations where nobody really dislikes it. Which I suppose is a credit to it. But can we stop rewarding the merely acceptable?
[4.] Dødheimsgard - Black Medium Current
DHG are a bit of a rare breed. They take their time between releases and thus, every one of their albums is different from the last. A new DHG release is like a major event. Hit or miss, their model is one we should praise. It’s so often obvious how bands that release albums every two or three years have no creative juice after a couple of attempts. DHG had eight years to stew and iterate on Black Medium Current and it shows. An album brimming with creativity, truly different and worth experiencing.
[3.] Curta’n Wall - Siege Ubsessed!
Metal’s court jester Abysmal Specter continues co-opting the kvlt aesthetics of yesteryear (ironically of course) and churning out exceptionally silly albums. I have more respect for GSR’s self-aware grift than some “serious revivalist movements” but even though he seems to have put a lot of effort into this one, I simply have no interest in listening to a guy laugh at himself for 50 minutes.
[2.] Thantifaxath - Hive Mind Narcosis
The vortex’s absurd bias toward murky, messy, “occasional dissonant melody over indistinguishable downtuned guitars”, barely yellow generic metal has dredged up many too many mediocre albums over the years. So I’m glad everyone finally decided to rally behind a disso record that actually has some thought, purpose and structure to it. Thantifaxath excel in the use of space, establishing an idea and slowing disfiguring it until only a mangled picasso-esque shadow of its original form remains.
[1.] Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags
And thus we repeat, for that is all we have left. As we relive past glories, the thrill may be gone but were we even looking for it? As if sifting through old photos, there’s that same sweet prick of “I remember having felt that.”. Just enough soma to get us through another six months of mediocrity.
Spreadsheet statistics [taken July 4th, 2023]:
Albums appraised: 2824
Album rate average: 4.81/10 [weighted: 4.92/10]
Average rate given: 5.00/10
Number of scores logged: 6098
To close us off, here are a few words of the strange and estranged unicorn. Perhaps, Ferday’s Fortune will show us the way to an enlightened new age:
Here we are, mid-year 2023. And there is fatigue, nibbling at the very edges of existence and sanity. I reckon this is simply inevitability, but this old unicorn, at least, is not interested in new tricks, and so onwards with the ouroboros of listening.
An obvious casualty of the fatigue are the 2023 rates, which are devolving into a factional mess of those who like bad music, and those who like different bad music. It is no fault of 2023 that there is no good content on offer, of course. Even the efforts of the 2nd greatest living mind in black metal (aka Abysmal Specter) cannot bridge the widening chasm of taste and unite the vortex into the force she sold her soul to become. It is no longer the egregiousness of length, though that still is a problem.
It is simply the solidifying realisation that no, Virginia, there is no creativity or originality. But there are still Vortexes, and Bandcamps, and the shrinking but non-zero chance that the RYMs of the world will be overthrown by those who willingly enter into this prison of the spirit we know as the vortex.
Maybe next time.