Exposure therapy is a way to confront the things that weigh down on you, experience them, and learn to exist alongside of them in order to conquer your fears. It’s something I’ve done battling anxiety and panic disorder, and while going through these trials can provide healing on the other end, actually participating in said activities can eat away at your psyche as you try to survive.

Marthe is the solo black metal project from artist Marzia, who before this effort was active in the anachro punk and riot grrrl scenes, creating music that aligned with her politics. Marthe is something altogether different, and the band’s debut full-length “Further in Evil” is her sort of exposure therapy, sinking into darkness so she can get stronger and create a sort of armor from these things. The result is a storming six-track display that feels like it burns a torch for early 1990s black metal but also has some folk strains and glimmers of her work elsewhere. It’s a thrilling record, once that got me from the first listen as you can hear Marzi’s heart and soul stretched over this music, her passion something you easily can get lost inside of as you battle whatever ails you to develop a harder outer shell.

“I Ride Alone” is the 11:14-long opener, and it’s a hell of a journey, guitars dripping like tar, the drums pacing, then everything engulfed and roaring with life, Marzia’s howls scarring with dangerous heat. Synth beds send a chill as the vocals go into primitive black metal territory, which is a rush and a thrill. The playing then goes cold, numbing your nerve endings, going into mystical winds as the shrieks rip out and dominate. The guitars wash over you, the pace ticks up noticeably, and the final moments are thrashy and fierce. “Dead to You” starts eerily before the drums kick in and loosen teeth, swallowing you whole with grisly intent. The howls are raw and direct, Marzia repeating, “Dead to you!” like she’s forcing that admission into your brain. The song turns spacious and dark, Marzia’s haunting clean wails making your body shiver, vicious snarling eating away like acid. The title track starts woodsy, with an Undertaker-like death chime ringing in your ears. The riffs deliver punishment, her howls make bones rattle, and the thrashy playing punches buttons you didn’t know you had. Cleaner calls work you into a hypnotic submission, and then the burliness returns, slashing and dashing, ending channeled and violent.

“Victimized” runs 9:12, slowly building its force, chugging and bruising, launching an electrifying riff that storms shores. The playing is pulverizing, threatening with evil and terror, the howls smashing down on you. As things go on, the storm clouds get more intimidating as her growls maul, clean calls soar and join the atmosphere, bringing new colors and a sense of boldness. The fires suddenly are overfed and scorch your flesh, making things moltenly uncomfortable, and then drums march and doom drops, ushering in a funereal ending. “To Ruined Altars…” has the singing swirling, dark and dreary guitars adding to the fog, and then the melodies launching into surreal chaos. The playing trudges as the guitars work to dizzy you, a spooky ambiance strikes fear in your heart, and the singing stings, paving the way for shrieks reopening wounds, ending in a pall that reminds of black metal’s second wave. Siouxsie and the Banshees cover “Sin In My Heart” is the closer, and it’s a heater, hovering as keys drip, Marzia singing the title repeatedly in order to hammer home her point. The smoke increases and chokes just as the playing gets oddly playful, the keys put you in a trance, and the final sounds are buried in your amygdala.

“Further in Evil” is both a battle cry and a place for generating strength after a period of loss and pain that requires a response if we hope to survive. Marzia’s journey under the Marthe banner is a profound one that feels transferred from black metal’s heyday to the present, where the subgenre needs fresh voices with raw, scathing intent. This is a thrilling, hammering album, one that can ignite the spirit in your heart and also harden you so that nothing can harm you ever again.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/marthesistersofdarkness/

To buy the album, go here: https://southernlord.com/band/marthe/

For more on the label, go here: https://southernlord.com/