Self

It's been a few years, but after an EP that we reviewed, and a few splits, Terzij de Horde finally has an LP out. Self, featuring a picture of an ant infected with a mind-controlling fungus on the cover, is a chaotic mishmash of blackened fury with a lot of post-metal dreaminess in it, but having a bit of introspection to it doesn't stop it from being abrasive. The album starts with furious black metal riffing, with vocalist Joost's hoarse shrieking coming right in at the front of the mix. The two guitars mix dissonantly with each other, often playing the same notes and leads, but with one always bending away from the other; sometimes one of the guitarists embarks on a wild solo that leaps above the riffing for a few moments before diving back down in. A Marriage of Flesh and Air is more diverse, sometimes sounding like a traditional black metal song, other times giving off a punk vibe with its drumming, while Averoas is contemplative and solemn, with chords left to ring to a minimal drumbeat between periods of frantic speed. The lyrics are deep stuff. True to the album title, Self explores the concept of self used in different ways, billed by the band as the way one fails or succeeds at living with the combination of self and the world and potentially being destroyed from within by not separating the treatment of the two. This is where the split nature of the music comes in; the furious chaos of the black metal moments on this album give way, seemingly at random, to thoughtful, expansive soundscapes with more ambiance, each guitar chord stepping carefully through the music with the care of someone taking one step at a time through a swamp. Contre le Monde, Contre la Vie's precise, clean final chords give way to the noisy sound of the next track, filled with melancholic, ringing chords over double-kick drumming and without any of the calm moments of the prior track. Sacrifice - A Final Paroxysm, the last, is my favorite. It's more intricate, with an atmosphere to it that reminds me at times of some of the sound of Fen rather than the post-black-metal feel that they usually have going on. Self's sound is likely to appeal to anyone who enjoys Altar of Plagues or Ash Borer, and it's reminiscent of some of the Northwest US atmospheric black metal, though far more aggressive. It's definitely a worthy followup to their EP.