Vestiges / Panopticon: Vestiges / Panopticon (2013)

Splitting Vinyl

The Flenser is always out there giving it away for free in the hopes that people will feel compelled to buy the vinyl. It seems to be working out well for them. Among those releases is a Colin Marston-mastered split from Kentucky’s Panopticon and D.C.’s Vestiges.

Panopticon released the phenomenal Kentucky last year, earning the number three spot on my end-of-year list with a brilliant combination of black metal, Appalachian folk, and miner protest songs. Vestiges, on the other hand, doesn’t even have a Metal Archives page, so I went into that one blind.

Survival v. Desagravio

Post-Apocalyptic Bukkake

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TotalRust was one of the first labels to reach out and develop a relationship with this blog, so I always look forward to getting mail from Israel. They’ve been consistently sending me physical promos for a while now, some excellent (Botanist), some great (Lurk), a few not so good (Shever), and a whole lot somewhere in between.

My most recent Israeli post contained new records from Highgate and Lords of Bukkake. The two bands have a common genre and label, so I’ve decided to resurrect the X v. Y format to compare and contrast the sludge/doom albums Survival and Desagravio.

Kentucky’s Highgate contributed one of the first batch of promos I got from TotalRust, a compilation of their earlier material. It impressed me with “bile-filled vocals” and other blackened touches. This time they have improved production, so they sound heavier. And, there’s a noticeable change of style. All three tracks have an air of brooding melancholy, served well by the production if not by the vocal style. They’ve got the good sense to keep things dynamic, starting out slow but changing rhythm patterns and tempo often enough to make it interesting. The first two tracks are pretty good, but it’s not until closer “Nachwirkungen/Survival” that they get really good, playing with feedback and throwing in a rising tremolo-picked lead. At 20 minutes it accounts for nearly half the album, so on balance I’d say they did a fine job here.

Panopticon: Kentucky (2012)

Come All You Poor Workers

Much of the best black metal reflects a sense of place. Whether it evokes the feel of the environment, or pulls in folk melodies of the culture, you should be able to tell something about where it comes from simply by hearing it. With Kentucky, Panopticon has put it right there in the title. But Kentucky isn't just in the title. It's in every note.

The record begins on a folk song, which isn't all that unusual these days. What is a bit more rare--at least outside Europe--is just how thoroughly the folk has taken over the album. Over half the tracks are pure folk, and the black metal cuts (over half the runtime) all have a folk infusion. Which is great, because Appalachian folk is a style that I've really come to love.

Deposition: Highgate

The band Highgate interested me for a couple reasons. One, the compilation showed a lot of promise. Two, they're from a rural state, like me. Co-guitarist/co-vocalist Greg Brown was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

Full Metal Attorney: First things first: y'all are from Florence, Kentucky, a town of 29,000 people--not much more than the town where I was born. And Kentucky is rural, like my home state of Nebraska. Is there even a metal scene in Kentucky? The live cuts I've heard sound like there's not too many people in attendance.

Greg: There's a bit of a metal scene in Kentucky, although not in Florence at all. You would have to go further south to Louisville to find something of a metal scene. Other than that, there just random bands in various parts of the state...not really any scenes that I know of. The live stuff you heard was recorded in Cincinnati, Ohio, where we have played a lot of our gigs...and yes, not too many people in attendance.

FMA: How did your band get started, especially considering the rural nature of your state?

G: Things started when I ran into Jamie (Porter, Highgate guitarist) at a show back in 2005. I had known him from about 8 or 9 years prior but had literally not seen him since then. We got to talking about music and he invited me out to jam with him and his brother Steve (Porter, Highgate drummer)...the rest is history.

FMA: It's difficult enough for metal bands to get by (especially doom bands), in terms of playing live and promoting their music, when they're from an urban area. Could you describe the unique situation of your band, and how you deal with these issues?

Highgate: Black Frost Fallout (2011)

Review

TotalRust sent me a promo for Highgate's Black Frost Fallout. I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (OK, maybe I am, but that's what they ask me to do), but this is a compilation. It's difficult for me to appreciate a compilation, much less review it. Of course, in the music industry (as the term "industry" implies), the line between "art" and "product" is blurry, but I think an album is the former while a compilation is the latter. I like to think of the best bands as artists rather than manufacturers, and the best label heads as museum curators rather than salesmen. Call me pretentious, but I like to think of what I do as more akin to critiquing paintings than to comparing deodorants.