Trumpet of Amdusias

  a   While calling themselves ''ecstatic" black metal, Agriculture traipses along the line between atmo-black and blackgaze pretty adroitly. I am not as head over heels as some of the metal press I have been reading about them (like Rolling Stone for instance), but I think they have a good thing going here. They remind me of Vattnet Viskar sort of, and I am going to withhold judgement until I can see them live to really decide.  That said, this is an album that has been in heavy rotation at my house since its release. Agriculture by Agriculture

 Highlights of 2023: part 1 I am (sort of) back, with plans to restart writing about music in 2024. As a teaser, I have some albums from 2023 I really enjoyed to share with you. In lieu of a top ten list, or an Album of the Year post, you instead get a small selection of albums I think were stand outs in the past year. First up is ...Stay... , a depressive suicidal black metal one-man project in the vein of Sadness and None (one word dsbm band titles seem to be a through-line in my album picks). I am a sucker for this type of dsbm. Depressive Suicidal Black Metal essentially comes in two forms: Goth dsbm, focused on mood and texture and calm despair; and school shooter dsbm, focused on shrieking anthems to, well, shoot up a school to. Both have their place in my rotation, but the gothier end of things is what I dig most. Call it griefcore - music that attempts to lure you into drowning yourself in a swamp, to wandering into the woods alone never to be...