Welcome back to Bandcamp Buried Treasure! Unfortunately last Friday, May 9, and the days prior I had some personal stuff to attend to and didn't really have any time to write this segment up. I had given some thought to doing two bands this week, but I feel like that would detract attention from one or the other. Thus, we carry on with life the way things were. Anyway, you know the rules of the article by now:
- I hunt down awesome artists on Bandcamp that have their album up for Buy It Now/Free Download and give them a write up. I'm not explicitly telling you to download the album for free since I'm a big supporter of buying your music, but I like the option for my readership to be there.
- The goal is to introduce you to smaller bands or obscure side-projects you might not have heard of. Anything to expand your musical horizons by just a little bit each week!
- And of course, for there to be a conversation about similar bands or bands you think I should be covering. I check the comments section!
Like I've been saying, I switched the format up a bit with two new sections, titled "The Basic Idea" and "Why I Love It." The former is a short news-style lead that paints a vivid picture of what you're about to hear to get you interested and help you understand a little why I chose the record, while the latter serves simply as a review piece.
Let's let Black September winter up your summer, yeah?
The Basic Idea
Black September don't really play around with sound experimentation. They've decided on a bleak, wintery black metal sound fused with hardcore punk and they're sticking with it through and through. It's a charming conviction that will keep your attention over the course of the whole album and demand multiple listens.
Why I Love It
I'll go as far as saying The Forbidden Gates Beyond is a summation of everything I love about the crusty, dirty American black metal sound. There's just enough frostbitten traditionalism in there to sate the appetite of anyone looking for that kind of thing, there's a few groovy riffs in there, some nice harmonized leads and even a cold, cold interlude just to switch up the pace a little bit.
Oddly, one of my favorite aspects of the album is vocalist Jen Pickett's voice. She goes right for the gold and belts out some seriously brutal, vocal-cord shredding lows piled nicely with some distortion to really drive home the fact that she means business through and through. Honestly, before I looked it up I had no idea there was a female behind the microphone. Pickett makes other vocalists look like they're not even trying, if we're going to be dead honest here.
Lastly, I absolutely adore the production. It's super dry and to the point. There's no big silly reverberated guitars and drums that sound like the ghost of frosty frostbitten frostiness or whatever- nope. No frills and no bullshit. This is an album that's here to beat the snot right out of your skull and there's not a whole lot that's going to stop it.
