4 out of 5

Label: Auris Apothecary

Produced by: Matt Riefler

I gotta tell ya’: modern day black metal really impresses the duff out of me sometimes. I realize this is partially my limitations as a listener, but I have a hard time differentiating between much of the scene, with its lo-fi recording style, shouted vocals, and thrash pace minimizing the range – again, to my ears – quite a bit. The closest parallel I’d say would be punk, but that can have some more wiggle room with the singing / shouting; black metal is perhaps purposefully “minimizing” its maximalism, in a sense.

But going back however long now, a decade, or I’m sure more, we start to hear other genres invading black metal, while still remaining true to its identifying traits. And unlike a lot of scenes where mash-ups happen and it feels like a shtick, because of the stylistic impositions of this type of stuff, it’s like you really have to want it to make it mingle with post-rock or surf or whatever else, and the bands that make that magic happen really, really impress me.

Antlers as Roots is another example of that. ‘Finite’s three tracks all start squarely in familiar thrash / shout territory, played at a pace I can appreciate – fast as fuck but not so blazing fast where it’s hard to tell whether or not it’s actually sloppy – and with super yelly vocals but semi-discernible lyrics if you really want to try (though I’m not going to comment on the words unless I can get ahold of them…), and the band absolutely commits to that approach for minutes on end on each song. This alone would be enough to get a “that’ll do” nod, but after earning their bona fides, each song then manages to bridge into… something else. All harsh stuff, still, and probably contained within the tags post-rock or math, but these additions are also not temporary affectations, rather fully applied to the previous formula. And then even within the mini-framework of black metal lo-fi, you start to get some layering going on, adding depth to its darkness. It caught me off guard on each listen in the best of ways, and like the best of music has the power to do, had me hearing more nuance in its more “strict” black metal portions as well.

Still… if I had my choice, I’d probably punch up the production a little. I know, I know it’s part of the scene, but Matt Riefler’s recording buries the drums so deep into the mix that it feels like I’m just shy of being able to fully get immersed – the album is just lacking that extra bit of aural punch, and I wonder if that wouldn’t have had me paying more attention right from the start.

Physical edition packaged in a fun cardboard wraparound from Auris Apothecary.