ninehertz

Gonemage had an album out the week before this split. Their sole member’s death metal alter ego Sallow Moth’s last album arrived in August. And there’s news now that yet another of their bands, Cara Neir, are to return with a release imminently. This is a person with a creative itch that can never be fully scratched.

Here they team up with Lammoth for a neat four track split on Fiadh Productions. Gonemage have always plied a fantastical blend of chiptune twisted black metal, an eccentric and wild routing through unlikely neighbourhoods, while Lammoth promise a unique slant on symphonic black metal.

Lammoth talk the first side. That uniqueness is placed front and centre as it begins with jungle beats as the intro to what then quickly turns to, slightly surprisingly, fairly straight up BM of the symphonic variety. I was expecting all manner of tricks and unusual combinations, but beyond the beginning this is true to the line. That jungle/drum n bass element does admittedly reappear later on, taking over the percussion beneath – and its then the weirdest thing becomes clear – it doesn’t actually sound that weird (never mind sacrilegious). Odd bedfellows they may be, but they coexist here unsettlingly harmoniously. This second track’s synth and water drop opening concedes the path to ghostly black metal.

Gonemage are one of the most exciting bands in their realm, and seemingly growing release to release, a confidence that finds new avenues in this unusual subgenre. Whatever your thoughts on fantasy chiptune dungeon synth black metal – love, fascination, horror – there’s no denying the authenticity and skill Gonemage conjure. Be it through the frost riddle bite of the vocals or the digital codification of black metal, it retains its ferocity, in oddball and ever inventive methods. It is elaborate and strangely warming sound, against everything you’d imagine it should be.

The sub genre may be dismissed by some as novelty, or as limited in potential scope so that it will fade away with time, but Gonemage and Lammoth both show that neither is true and that this is here to stay, through the application of invention, craft and love.