siLLy puPPy
EXECUTIONER’S TORMENT was a black metal band from Santa Clarita, California that consisted of the two teenagers Baaron Murk and Kakophonix. While it’s unknown when these two miscreants got together to conspire to craft their strange fusion of black metal and classical cello music, the band recorded four tracks between 2008 and 2010 and didn’t release anything until this archival EP titled ETERNAL FOG found a home on Bandcamp in 2021.
The four tracks on ETERNAL FOG may be few but utterly unique as far as anything i’ve ever experienced due to the fact that this duo crafted the perfect fusion of second wave sounding blacking metal with virtuoso cello performances that sort of sound like chamber rock with a touch of Yo-Yo Ma cello virtuosity thrown in. The cello basically serves as a substitute for keyboards in the context of melodic black metal.
The opening “The Forsests of Infinite Darkness Pt 1” is purely acoustic with a guitar and cello setting the melancholic mood with the closing title track serving the same purpose. The two acoustic numbers bookend the middle two tracks which feature both acoustic segments as well as heavier distorted black metal that tackles the usual characteristics of raspy vocals, repetitive cyclical loops of guitar riffs and blastbeats. The cello finds its way into the black metal aspects as well making this music sound like no other.
As interesting and melodic as this one is, it’s the production that’s a little clunky as the cello doesn’t quite mix well with the black metal aspects. These were basically demos that were decided to be released over a decade down the road so they surely would’ve been polished and spruced up for an “official” album release. This is actually pretty good for what it is even in the demo stage though and i wish these guys would’ve stuck it out to make a real finished product. If the idea of early black metal Darkthrone meets early acoustic cello based Apocalyptica sounds appealing then you might dig this. Very cool but serious flaws at the same time.