Untitled

It was just too interesting of a name not to click, too interesting of a description (or lack thereof) to pass up a listen and too good a listen to forget. The music is washy, shrill Black Metal fogging out over a sea of clattering drums. It sounds like a live recording, quiet and blurry but it's not so awful sounding as to turn off the initiated. The murky nature of the recording makes the guitars an amorphous force so much that I can't tell how many there are or if there are ambient keyboards. The drums aren't at the extreme end of speed or technicality but it is a real person swinging away. The vocals come out of the depths to the front of the mix, as if a cavernous croak from a windswept Hell.

Best tracks are II & V, containing atmospheric flourishes that almost seem hallucinatory but the first track is a ripping opener that is hard to forget. I don't follow the contemporary lo-fi Black Metal scene, so my best comparison will be early Ulver. Think of Nattens Madrigal but with the Ondes Triumph/Rehearsal '93 tape's quality.

With no information about the players or lyrics, part of the draw is the mystery. Untitled is an honest musical statement, with no credit is sought, like a Black Metal cave painting. I feel very strongly this deserves a 100, but why? To me, it is the "essence" of Black Metal music, something obscure and confounding. It's not for everyone, weeding out the impatient and the weak willed. While it only superficially resembles my other favorite works in the genre, Unknown Artist's Untitled is definitely the most "Necro/Grim" sounding things that has captivated my attention. I can't explain why I like it so much, it's a quality... unknown.