I really haven't been keeping up with much black metal lately 'cause there's just so much out there and I haven't stumbled upon anything that hits the mark for me in awhile, but "The Opening of the Primordial Whirl", from Italian act Near (and released by De Tenebrarum Principio), caught my attention right off the bat. Having released a handful of demos and splits since forming in 2002, this is actually the band's first full-length outing, and its eight tracks/41 minutes represent precisely the surging, hypnotic sort of energy that I like to hear from a black metal album. Expect loads of frantic, blasting percussion; relentless tremolo picking riffs with just the right amount of melody, atmosphere, and creeping dissonance; pounding midpaced breaks; sneering vocals; and raw yet easily listenable production values dominated by echo-y layers of reverberated distortion. "The Dead Side of Human Nature" even closes with some nice acoustic guitars and keyboards from completely out of nowhere. It's certainly not the most diverse material out there, nor is it pushing any boundaries, but... for some reason that tends to be what I prefer from this genre. This is exactly what I think of when I think of black metal, and if that means it's a little one-sided and overly consistent (i.e. reliant on what are typically thought to be the "classic", or "true", aesthetics of black metal), so be it. I quite enjoy it and wholly recommend it, too.
This one was just released back in November, so it's not too widely distributed just yet. If you don't feel like waiting for it to hit a few more sources, you can always grab a copy from one of these European distributors, but whatever the case, be sure to pick up a copy if you like that you hear...
