194 dB / BRYAN REED

No. 2: Quite excited

By Bryan Reed

I first saw Black Cobra (above) about two years ago. They were opening for Pelican in a double-bill at Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte. What I remember most about the show was thinking that Black Cobra was monumentally more captivating than Pelican - which put on a good set, just not as good - and feeling bummed about not having enough cash for records. So to say I was excited when the Cobra's third record (first for Southern Lord), Chronomega arrived in the mail is a mild understatement: I was quite excited.

Having settled into Chronomega, the new jams fail to disappoint. Opener "Negative Reversal" is a blunt-force stomp indicative of the rest of the album - sharp riffs, gruff grooves and a driving, sludgy feel somewhere between High on Fire and early Mastodon. This is no kind of reinvention, but the collection hits its mark without getting stale. I still prefer Bestial (Black Cobra's 2006 debut), but I wouldn't have even mentioned Chronomega if I weren't suggesting it's at least worth a listen.

Lately, though, I've found my attention drawn elsewhere, to three albums, each playing within the black metal spectrum, though not necessarily completely: Azaghal's Teraphim, Merrimack's Grey Rigorism and Mount Eerie's Wind's Poem.

Azaghal's latest, Teraphim, out Tuesday via Moribund Records, comes closest to the sound of the Norwegian first-wave, putting chaotic blast beats behind expansive guitar melodies. This corpsepainted quartet from Finland doesn't stretch the boundaries of what black metal is, but even as it colors inside the guidelines the band adds shades of nuance by way of thrash riffs and - on the record's most divergent cut, "Hänen Musta Liekkinsä" - by way of synthesized orchestral arrangements that are simultaneously cheesy, endearing and adeptly atmospheric. It's telling that the first three seconds of almost every track sounds the same - immediate blast beat that gets ripped open with an introductory roar from vocalist Varjoherra. It's also telling that when it doesn't, as is true of "Filosofi," we can expect a slight but important shift in approach as the song adopts a steady riff and a strong chorus that reminds somewhat of Boris in its melody and vocal pairings.

The Merrimack record, also released by Moribund, has been out for some time now, but has kept my attention because it doesn't seem to settle. Black Metal, for me anyway, is a dish best served with a healthy portion of unrest, lest the waves of guitar become sedative white noise. Like Texas' Absu, or Illinois' Nachtmystium, Merrimack (who, by the way, hail from France) relish elements from all stripes of heavy metal: death metal's bottomed-out groove, sludgy textures and thrash urgency to scratch the surface. I've seen the term black 'n' roll used when describing black metal bands that pack a Motörhead-style hook, and even though I think the term sounds stupid, it fits Merrimack. Check out "In The Halls of White Death," and notice how from the first notes it finds a solid midtempo groove and rides it insistently, even as the guitars float in like an ominous fog to wrap the song into a dark haze.

That haze is pretty much the only thing Mount Eerie's so-called black metal album shares with its European counterparts. This is less br00tal, more br00ding, like Phil Elverum, the perennial indie-dude, discovered a Xasthur record and informed his entire picture of what "black metal" is from that. But - and this is a crucial "but" - Elverum's seemingly shallow venture into the kvlt realm serves this project well, making an album that is good both as a lo-fi indie entry (hey, this is Blurt, not Terrorizer) and as a metal entry. Folks familiar with the plaintive, melancholy folk Elverum's been peddling for years might be startled at first by opener "Wind's Dark Poem," and its harsh-if-muffled roar. But Elverum's not donning corpsepaint or switching his quiet croon to a strangled yelp, he's appropriating textures from the insular, claustrophobic and somehow broad-stroked bedroom black metal of Xasthur and Leviathan, stretching their bleak sounds capes over his own mournful singing and poetic songwriting. "Stone's Ode," the final word in Wind's Poem, is not at all unlike much of Elverum's work, even as it sustains its chords like worn , grayed tulle behind him, and even when he recasts last year's profoundly intimate "Lost Wisdom" (here as "Lost Wisdom Pt. 2") as a droning, blackened dirge, it's Elverum's voice, the sad clarity of it, that grabs us even in the darker, harsher environs he's masterfully created for this effort. That, if you ask me, is quite exciting.

ALSO IN ROTATION: Lightning Bolt - Earthly Pleasures (Load); Horseback - MILH IHVH (Turgid Animal); Baroness - Blue Record (Relapse); Pyramids with Nadja - Pyramids with Nadja (Hydra Head); Chord - Flora (Neurot); Iron Age - The Sleeping Eye (Tee Pee); Landmine Marathon - Rusted Eyes Awake (Prosthetic, reissue); Title Fight - The Last Thing You Forget (Run For Cover)

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Bryan Reed is from North Carolina and, despite his best efforts, he still hasn't grown out of the racket that irritated his friends and family in high school, and continues to irritate them in the present. Stalker-types should know that they can follow Bryan on Twitter @subparrockstar.

[Photo Credits: Black Cobra, bu Shannon Corr; Merrimack, Vertigo; Mount Eerie, Mount Eerie]