Black metal is a swollen ocean that hardly can handle another drop, yet we all know this storm has no chance of subsiding, and the shores are going to disappear. The rain is coming down in sheets, and it’s nearly impossible to navigate to find the parts of land that are fruitful. Or something. Look, there’s a lot of black metal, and it’s not that easy to find what’s actually worth your time.
But it’s out there, evidence of which comes from Atlanta-based black metal crushers Vimur who are offering up their mighty third record “Transcendental Violence.” It’s not that the band—vocalist/guitarist Vaedis Eosphorus, guitarist Australis, bassist Kiehül Hesperos, drummer Ætheøs—is reinventing the wheel, nor do they need to do that. Instead, they channel black metal carnage and strange textures all over these seven tracks that do not quit. There’s also a goddamn space lion roaring cosmic hell into an unsuspecting planet on the cover, and how could you go wrong with that?
“Aeonic Upheaval” opens in thick darkness with pounding and trudging, the drums taking everything apart. The fiery pace bursts, and we’re in the midst of chaos even as some clean lines attempt to salve the carnage. The vocals crush as things get nasty and thrashy, burning out into hell. The title track massacres as melodies rush and the pace rampages. The shrieks are bloody and furious, the guitars corrode flesh from the bone, and the final crush leaves chests flattened. “Infallible Contra Animus” delivers melodic leads that make your blood rush and black metal terror that continues to build, the playing storming harder as the track develops. The madness disintegrates any sense of serenity as the vocals thicken, and terrifying blazing ends in a pit of acoustics and eeriness.
“Emanations From the Sun Behind the Sun” surges from blackness and then comes unglued, the guitars having their way and flattening with power. The shrieks rip as the playing melts, oppressive heat gets more ominous, and then the speed becomes a greater factor and mauls to the finish. “The Greatest Dying” brings stinging guitars and a tempo that dices muscle as the intensity increases. Ugly darkness hovers overhead as the guitars churn, leaving off thick smoke like exhaust from a tire fire. “Death Absolution” is slow driving, moving as the howls echo in the distance, numbing your mind. Things go cold as the bass tunnels through the earth, and then the guitars get warmer, the shrieks shatter bone, and the last moments blur out of existence. “The Warrior Seers” closes the album with guitars dawning and speed being liberally applied, mangling and hammering before you can even get settled. Mystical sheets soak the molten physicality, atmosphere continues to pump, and that ignites the other end where the bass spirals and drums blister. The guitars glaze plasma while the shrieks breathe fire, and the final moments leave sparks in the air.
As black metal’s ranks continue to swell, identifying the bands that have the true magic in their veins and can channel that into the music can become a task. Luckily, Vimur make it easy on us with “Transcendental Violence,” a record that has a cover that’ll look crazy as fuck on a store shelf and hopefully will intrigue buyers with what’s contained. What they’ll find is wild, devastating black metal that’s true to its core and feels like it’s taking off your flesh.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/vimurofficial
To buy the album, go here: https://borisrecords.bandcamp.com/album/transcendental-violence
For more on the label, go here: https://boris-records.com/
Meat Mead Metal 