siLLy puPPy
NETHERWORLD MAJESTY is a black metal band that formed in 2015 in Alexandria, Louisiana and has so far released only this one EP titled ACUITAS which is available for your listening pleasure on Bandcamp and although it only clocks in at a mere 23 minutes and 21 seconds with five tracks, what a decent black metal experience this is!
As seen by the awesome album cover art of Elias Aqvino, this one is dark and evil. While rooted in the second wave of Norwegian black metal like the bands Darkthrone, Mayhem and Immortal at least in the orthodox aggression and black metal purity such as sounding super evil tremolo picking, angsty din and raspy vocals along with percussive blastbeats, it too dishes out some unexpected surprises.
NETHERWORLD MAJESTY also employs a melodic touch more typical of bands like Dissection and Sacrementum except this band tends to alternate between more jagged atonal passages with bleak atmospheres with segments that deliver a highly melodic anthemic guitar lead often contrasted by a thumping audible bass and diverse drumming styles.
While this band has had a few lineup changes, the musicians on ACUITAS include E.R.C. (Guitars, vocals, and bass), B.N. (Guitars, bass, keys, drums, and backing vocals) and A.B.(Drums and percussion on God's Poison and Tsalmavet). While the overall presentation isn’t anything new under the sun, the composiitons deliver interesting deviations from the norm such as weird thrash moments as well as entering instrumental interplay that sounds very unique.
In other words the unexpected twisted turns offer a unique take on the orthodox sounds of second wave black metal. This is a very good collection of five songs that nails all the elements down which make an exciting black metal release. After it’s over i actually want more and i do hope this band is busy crafting a bonafide album’s release of material because this is high energy mindfuck is exactly what i love best about this kind of music. It’s relentless, unapologetically evil as fuck and has a thread of melodic structure to latch onto as well as rhythmically complex. Bravo!