The Australian black metal group (Rohan and Jacob appear on this recording, but evidently have added a new member since – if their facebook page is anything to go by) Loss of Self self released a fine, fine demo during the summer of 2012, and this coming year will see them work with the mighty Flenser Records in order to release new music and reach ever further realms of this small Earth. Their three track demo is brutally raw, deviously cold and full of promise and with it, Loss of Self are poised to break. Traces of post-punk beauty (not too dissimilar to the tones of Bosse-de-Nage) fill the cracks the otherwise harsh landscape controls; the vocals beautifully frostbitten whilst the instrumentation beneath swells with a distinct and pure ugliness despite it’s want to cut with a more malign charm.
The way in which the two pieces of the whole work both together, and against each other, particularly on the gorgeous “The Mind: It’s Form and Function” gives Loss of Self that little something more. There’s a clear intelligence here, a want to go against the black metal grain in new ways and structures. There’s a steady disparaging mood throughout and often the starkness of the words thrown forth counteracts the steady harmony that the music below holds, and it’s in this jarring tactic that Loss of Self become a band to interest. Bleak shadows infiltrate the final track “Seidlitz” which ends with a suddenness that’s both disarming yet fitting considering the strangely compelling dissonance that Loss of Self have conjured on this exciting foray into the vastness of the black metal world. An intriguing start indeed.
Keep up with Loss of Self and Flenser Records for information regarding new material, and download the demo for free on Loss of Self’s bandcamp page.
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