Simulacrum

From Colorado state comes this experimental one-man BM / darkwave / dark ambient project whose concerns revolve around astral projections and the negative forces of the cosmos. In this respect Xothist's music is in the vein of the Swiss black metallers Darkspace; listening to "Simulacrum", Xothist's debut full-length, I instantly thought of Darkspace and also of Rhinocervs, the Californian-based label that issues cassettes of black metal psychedelia, some of which also cross into Lovecraftian darkwave territory.

Deep cold rumble leads into a storm of BM guitar tremolo flutter, deranged riffs, blast-beat percussion with lots of clatter and a sinister background bass murmur. The pace is mixed up frequently and sometimes the music is fast and slow all at once. The vocals are harsh and barely distinguishable from the hysterical guitar scrabbling. The sound is raw and in parts the guitar has a strained, scratchy tone. Everything is on a heightened and insane path leading to a chaotic climax over a cliff (figuratively speaking) and this listener could do nothing else but follow it all to its inevitable fate.

About the 11th minute the madness dies down to be replaced by a relentless and maddened scratch drone that takes off on its own single-minded trail, followed by distorted noise guitar vibrato texture. Melodies and riffs arise and set off at cracking speeds through the shower of noise. The demented music in which vibrato guitar riffs dominate over the bestial animal growling and screaming that pass for vocals, percussion bash and the general distorted guitar-noise ambience continues into the second half of the album. Apart from occasional moments of absolute stillness, the music rages constantly with all instruments going ever more barmy and the lead guitar tremolo melodies wobbling until they send listeners around the bend in a mind-bending frenzy.

Unexpectedly in the last several minutes the album enters a dark dreamworld circus of distorted solo guitar off-key feedback dementia. This section really is a stand-out for its sound and texture which have the air of a deranged showground soundtrack. Any minute now and a utility vehicle will pull up, doors fling open and creatures half-demon / half-clown will come tumbling out until the whole universe is swamped with them. The guitar oddly has a tone that sounds Hammond organ and it's possible the tones of that cheery keyboard were combined with the guitar.

This is a very absorbing recording in some ways: the details in the music demand your attention by virtue of being insistent and extreme. You simply can't ignore the guitars and the savage snarling and shrieking vocals deep in the interior of the raw BM noise. In that sense the music is highly immersive. The odd thing is that if heard casually, the music seems noisy, monotonous and lacking in direction but if followed closely, it reveals quite a lot of variation in the riffing and melodies, and it is very focused on its own path. Percussion is constant without being outstanding in any way, though with the speeds reached the drumming can do little other than keep time and add tinny clattering cymbals to the cacophonous music. The music quality is quite basic, being neither very distorted nor very clear and precise.

Perhaps the really remarkable thing about "Simulacrum" is its total self-absorption - really intense and always perched between order and sanity on the one hand and complete chaos on the other.