Terminus Episode 60 - Broder, Luminous Veil, Serpentrance, Thaumaturgy

It's double episode day, boys! In addition to a sprawling interview with Lori Bravo of Nuclear Death is your regularly scheduled session of extreme metal discussion. This episode features four records with numerous crossing threads which will be familiar to regular listeners- the resurgence of cavernous black/death metal, the atavistic urges of primordial extreme metal, and the concept of songwriting sprawl vs. clearer organization. As usual we pride ourselves on our lack of approachability, and today's records will undoubtedly satisfy the tastes of anyone who wants their metal weird and monolithic.

Starting the session is the new EP by Denmark's Broder, a barbaric attack of primitive black/death metal from the Korpsand Circle. Broder resembles many things around the edges- war metal, Celtic Frost, primitive deathrash- but finds its own identity in its abstraction. This is a short record that punches far above its weight in sheer intensity and aggression, and is an absolutely essential listen for those whose favorite parts of extreme metal from when it was first slithering out of the primordial ooze.

On a completely different note is Luminous Veil, who perform a thoroughly eclectic style of... symphonic post-black with breakcore elements? Its constituent parts are as diverse as possible, but they add up to a whole with a distinct vision. Joyous explosions of arcing riffs, chiming synths, and hyperspeed drum machine theatrics make for a record which will undoubtedly be divisive, but likely exactly what a few people have been looking for their whole lives.

After our break comes two sides of the cavernous black/death coin. First up is Serpentrance, a Russian band who imbue the traditional sounds of Profanatica and Archgoat with a granite slab of minimal, crushing doomdeath. Other bands play; Serpentrance churns with a terrible weight and certainty which brings to mind some of the ugliest parts of modern doom and sludge. You know it's good when even the fast parts sound slow, like the band is struggling to complete a song while being waterboarded.

Concluding the evening's festivities is a listener submission. Thaumaturgy also plays a cavernous style of black/death/doom metal, but coming from a radically different direction, more interested in pointelistically etching out abstract, colorful riffs like a Jackson Pollock interpretation of Onward to Golgotha. It's abstract and vertiginous music more concerned with dizzying the listener than crushing them, but when the final car on the rollercoaster starts its descent, the G-forces equal that of any better known ride.

 

0:00 - Intro/Terminus News feat. Nuclear Death

0:13:42 - Broder - Det højes smed (Independent by Korpsand brothers)

0:52:56 - Luminous Veil - Vespers for the Loom and Lain (BMC Productions)

1:34:29 - Interlude - Tårne Spirer - “Mit vaesen forstummer,” fr. Varmblod (Instruments of Discipline, 2018)

1:43:15 - Serpentrance - Akra Tapeinosis (Godz ov War Productions)

2:22:02 - Thaumaturgy - Charnel Gnosis (Adirondack Black Mass)

3:02:09 - Outro - Witch Tomb - Crippled Messiah fr. Crippled Messiah (Die Todesrune Records, 2009)

 

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