L'appel du vide - Axis of Light
Before I begin, let me say that my intent, if it was not immediately clear, is to attempt to review new releases. This forces me to hear new music and, better yet, saves you, the reader, from my obsessive thoughts on albums you probably like already for your own reasons. That said, I’m also setting out to go mostly for the positive, and frankly, I have doubts that I will find something I’m interested in listening to, week-to-week. So, if you know me (and let’s be honest, at this point, anyone reading this does know me), while I’d prefer not to cater to an audience of me alone, the occasional metal review is bound to fill the void (note the clever pun, French readers). These too will be new releases and, you can be sure, ones that I am particularly excited by. Maybe give them a shot is all I’m saying.
Anyway…
The best metal seems, at least to me, to embody a conspiratorial edge. Perhaps this is because metal, more than perhaps any other genre, draws perpetually from the well of adolescence, where the waters do not trickle, and do not sing, but scream “the world’s against me” loud enough that reason, even tempered by age, holds very little sway. Black metal has made clear its many enemies, to be sure. Christianity and other dominant religions (see Anti Quran Rituals by Seeds of Iblis of Iraq). Modern Society. The entirety of the human race. Political forces. This later enemy has led to some, let us say, unpleasantness, and for every Din of Awakening, for example, there seems to be ten would-be (or should I say, “wanna be?”) Burzums.
Lest I get way too any further from the point, enter Axis of Light, who speak (well, howl. Maniacally.) about “political esotericism,” which one can either interpret as the unseen forces set against us or practicing esotericism (think, Crowley et al., for the uninitiated) that does not ignore the decidedly bleak political landscape. Songwriter Origin’s lyrics are enigmatic enough (bordering, as much black metal does, on the abtruse) that either are plausible. Regardless, his images of suffocating tyranny (realized devastatingly by singer Axiom - more on that to follow) are breaths of fresh air.
Musically, AoL delivers on all my personal preferences for Black Metal: a mix of frenetic yet beautiful harmonized tremolo guitars in minor modes (with an almost punk-like riff interspersed in “Void II”), ambient noise vignettes, completely out-of-control, passionate, desperate, screamo-style vocals (seriously, it sounds like Axiom has little regard for his body and is wrecking his vocal chords completely), keyboards that always seem to wait for the pivotal moment to underscore the chords and take the songs to the next emotional level, drums that push the madness forward with fiery double-bass-drum work while also somehow holding the whole thing together (and holding us in the resulting near-hypnotic state maintained through this 18-minute cassette), and, of course no-fi production. Looking over this list that may as well be true of a million other groups, what makes Axis of Light special is hard to nail down. Emotionality may be the key. L'appel du vide emits a pathos that I haven’t heard or felt this intensely in a metal record since I first heard Deafheaven’s Sunbather and of the Endlichkeit tape releases, also on Fallen Empire Records. Truly excellent.
4.5/5
P.S. Speaking of Fallen Empire, it would be a shame not to briefly give this guy props (I get the feeling this is the labor of love of basically one person) for consistently releasing some of the best recent black metal (3 FE bands have been mentioned in this review) in limited, CHEAP analog releases and digitally on Bandcamp for whatever for want to pay. Whereas lesser individuals could have used the excuse of limited quantities to jack up prices, Fallen Empire has never charged more than $6.00 for tapes, which, by the way, you can buy here.