Colosus – Blestem
True black metal. How many times have you heard that one? True black metal from Norway. True black metal from France. True black metal from Chicago. True black metal from Harrisonburg, PA. But when has it really been ‘true’ and what does it even mean? Let’s consider the options. Must it sound classic, bold, inventive? Must it involve the usual symbols, anti-Christian themes, or go in another direction? The common opinion on the matter is that so-called ‘true’ black metal must incorporate a few things: themes of darkness, steering away from high-production, frail, incessant chords, wailing vocals,and having a fanbase that numbers less than a thousand. Really? Go back as far as you want, dig down to the bottom of the roots if that’s your fancy, but if you define it based on what came before, you’re not going to get anywhere today. Black metal has changed but some people still waste time getting caught up in the idea rather than the actual sound. Adhere too rigidly to the old and your tiresome output will sink your worthless albums into the bargain bin pit of internet despair and cassette comps. But hey, at least you’ll have the low fanbase to stake claim in your honesty in all that is black metal. Luckily, there are some people out there who don’t give a crap, they just want to generate darkness, to create that atmosphere that made old black metal become such a “thing” without really caring much what their roots are or who they should impress. They’re not out to impress anybody. Colosus broke off from this discussion of truth in black metal long ago to do something unique called actual black metal, and here’s his first release.
This is a side-project from the drummer of Sidious, a deliciously underground blackened death metal act from out of England that’s on the same label as this particular release we’re looking at here. No need to discuss the connection further than that. Typically when we receive something of this nature, we expect the usual, but our expectations were quickly destroyed once Blestem began. Colosus has an idea and he knows how to form it together; he reaches back to the early days but is not interested in approaching things commonly, he’s only interested in the presence from then and making it the now. The general feeling of this one is like being tossed into an endless abyss surrounded by empty cold and fractured screams, and it never ends. We’ve often looked for a good mixture of ambient and black metal, but this may be the first true case where we’ve actually seen it and we’re not exaggerating for flavor and Facebook hits.
Blestem does it in a spectacular way by creating giant sound through the minimal, something people keep claiming a certain someone does all the time but yet never has. Colosus truly has, in real life. He focuses primarily on ambient sounds that sudden sweep into unremitting power forming utter agony from out of the most pleasant of days. Everything is almost entirely empty, at times your mind feels like it’s been sucked into a soulless vacuum, but then you hear the call of the death bird, random screams that sound like a woman dying in childbirth breaking apart the last sense of joy you had and turning it into complete ruin. You collapse to the ground, raking your eyes, screaming for release from the futility surrounding you, tears combining with pools of blood as you lacerate your skin to cut out the pain. The balance between the soft and the hard in Blestem is spectacular, we almost thought we were the only ones who “got it”, looking around at some of the pathetic reviews online. Did any of you actually listen to this? There’s just no way. Colosus has found the perfect combination of absence and existence, serenity and disturbance, affliction and absolution. Every track has something breathtaking whether it be a neverending riff dirge, eloquent keyboards, unrepentant moans from the grave, or stellar drumming (just check out that excellent touch with the hi-hat in “Inturneric”) that beat your bones into powder. If you’ve been looking for true black metal of the real variety, here it is, finality achieved. Keep those likes under a thousand, if you don’t mind.
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Colosus – Blestem
Kaotoxin Records
5 / 5
