It’s no secret that Black Metal, at least that which constitutes as both ‘trve’ and ‘kvlt’, has always been a very insular music with a positively colossal stick up its arse, writes Liam Doyle.With a certain percentage of its fan base snatching up cassette tape demos limited to exactly four copies, snarling at and baying for the blood of bands they deem ‘false’, and generally revelling in their own elite status, it’s a wonder the Black Metal sound ever began to expand and socialize as it has these past few years. With the new millennium seemed to come a new Black Metal fan, one that recognized the contributions by Crust and D-beat bands in the formation of their favourite sound, and so much so that those seminal groups would go on once again to influence a new wave of Punk-stained Black Metal bands. Maybe it was Darkthrone’s The Cult Is Alive that instigated the greasy backseat bingo between the two, or maybe it was bands like the tragic Lifelover or Furze, with their glaring Punk and Psychedelic influences, that got the ball rolling. Perhaps it was simply always meant to be, but regardless, both Punk and Black Metal are very used to being in bed with each other in 2015, so let’s have a look at some of their most recent offspring.
Funeral Chic
Even the name ‘Funeral Chic’ is steeped in snotty bitterness, so it doesn’t come as much of a surprise when you hit play and this noxious quartet unleashes a whole world of impenetrable sonic battery on your person. Funeral Chic’s self-titled EP jolts and convulses like a panic attack, displaying with all tenacity just what kind of throbbing monster is possible when you blacken the Crust.
Nuclear Hellfrost
If you hadn’t guessed by their name, Nuclear Hellfrost are all about heavy metal hyperbole, and their sound is as grating and uncompromising as you’d imagine. They’re a slimy mutant amalgamation of Grind, D-beat and Black Metal, and one that begs its creator for death just to silence the raw, piercing wall-of-sound it pulsates with. These DIY scumbags from Fort Wayne, USA, might be the most repellent thing you’ll hear this week.
Human Bodies
Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, Human Bodies are what you get when you’ve stripped both Black Metal and Punk down to their crudest elements. They tip their hats to the legendary Darkthrone without wasting too much time romanticising them, as do they seethe with primal force without succumbing much to the urge to drag their knuckles.
Status Noll
This one-man Swedish monstrosity embodies everything that is malignant about the Blackened Punk sound. Guitar riffs that pound as heavily and viciously as the percussion are framed by the ever reliable ‘necrosound’ (or just terrible recording quality) on Status Noll’s second demo tape, and with all the din being made over in the USA right now, it seems like these recordings couldn’t have come at a better time.
