Rotting Christ/Negative Plane - Split EP (2012)

On its surface, this collaboration is yet another of those unique ideas one cannot help but admire. Essentially the 7" split provides the 'soundtrack' to a doctoral publication coming out later in the year through a Swedish imprint known as Malört Förlag, and was arranged by the historian Mikael Häll, who also provides a narrative intro to the two songs and appears on the Rotting Christ track (he also appeared on the 2006 debut by the band Sleeping Majesty). The theme of his dissertation is in antiquated sexual commerce with supernatural beings, but beyond that, let's just come out and say it: the man has great taste, and picked two of the finest bands in the black metal niche to help represent his research.

Of course, Rotting Christ and Negative Plane have two highly distinct sounds that heavily contrast with one another, and I'm not sure they match up aesthetically for this release. About the only thing that connects the two tunes is the deep, sonorous narrative introducing them. The Greeks' contribution, "Naturdemonernas Lockrop: I 1000 Djävlars Namn" is a riff heavy construction, not entirely unlike the material from their past half dozen full-lengths, which features thrash-driven guitars wrought with chants and the sort of triumphant climax chorus you'd have heard on albums like A Dead Poem, Khronos or even Sleep of the Angels. Energetic, certainly, with a particularly bloody execution of Sakis' rasping, but not their most memorable piece in recent years. Contrast this with the non-metallic Negative Plane instrumental, which is founded on eerie, clean guitars and swerving, psychedelic bass lines set to a tinny percussion backdrop, and you get a broad gulf in style.

Of the two, I found the latter marginally more compelling, but only because it leaves so much to the imagination. Effort-wise, I'd not be surprised of the trio could knock out a dozen "Chasm Depths" in an afternoon/evening rehearsal session. So as far as its musical value, I wouldn't think to hold the split in the highest regard. That being said, though, I feel like this sort of collaboration deserves encouragement, not only for the eclectic and rich quality of the artists involved, but also as an outlet for intellectual pursuits that bridge history, literature and extreme music. That Rotting Christ and Negative Plane agreed to do this does not particularly shock me: these are phenomenal bands who have long held an interest in writing music that dives far beneath the epidermis of their chosen genre. Häll's subject matter is fascinating (though I'm not sure English readers will get a translated version when the writings are published), and the idea of such a multimedia exhibition as this is cool beyond words (they've released numerous author audio-literary crossovers before); but, unfortunately, neither of the individual songs here is the best representation of its artist, and so it's ultimately more of a novelty than a necessity.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://www.malortforlag.se/english.php
http://www.rotting-christ.com/
http://www.myspace.com/negative.plane

Negative Plane - Stained Glass Revelations (2011)

The Negative Plane debut Et in Saecula Saeculorum was the best metal debut album of 2006; a refreshing mesh of traditional black and doom aesthetics that I've not stopped listening to in years, and a truly impressive new player on the generally empty field that is American black metal. Five years might normally seem like an eternity to await a follow-up, especially for a newer band just making their mark, but as Negative Plane proves here, it can also be a good thing, because they've patiently written and delivered another truly effective and haunting album in Stained Glass Revelations, with the all too rare ability to offer its listener 100% immersion.

This is created through the band's stark balance of archaic grace and dour, pummeling oppression, a sweltering passive/aggressive tribute to passion and aggression which evokes both wonder and despair. Deep, dark tremolo guitar lines and chords are infused with spikes of frivolous, shaking melody while the bass surges ever low, downward a spiral of arcane hostility in "Lamentations and Ashes" or "Angels Veiled of Bone", but capable of busting out sheer misanthropy through thundering rhythms reminiscent of early Bathory or Hellhammer/Celtic Frost. But above it all, Nameless Void's harrowing, vocal barks reek of the breath of ancients, the poetry of the dead, and add this timeless, mesmerizing environment of ever sinking into the depths of something far older than time itself.

The leads are conjured with the bite of atonal majesty, and the album is spliced with a series of shorter, horrific interludes which help to drive one even further into its taint. "The Fall" is wrought of distant, tolling bells, crashing percussion and writhing, soiled guitars; "The Third Hour" of roiling pianos and teeming organs; "Charnel Spirit" of a sole, soul absorbing acoustic guitar; and the preamble to the title track, "Stained Glass Reflections", the frightening organs one might expect of its own title. These all thread wonderfully through the shadows into the more impressive, fully fleshed and defleshed compositions like "The One and the Many", "All Souls" and the glorious if oppressive 11:30 minute title track, which is wholly worth the 50 minutes it takes in getting there.

The gloomy architecture on exhibit here is incredibly potent, and it's fascinating how Negative Plane are able to both eschew and cling to conventions simultaneously to temper their life leeching sound. Stained Glass Revelations is raw without becoming feedback, repressed without complaints, and enormously satisfying if you can succumb to the deepening din of its wavelike ministrations of sorrow. It does trade in a bit of the debut's powerful, individual riffing for a more consistent clamor and climate, and very rarely gives a too bleak impression of 'sameness' through the structure, but it's nearly equivalent to its predecessor in value. If I've got to wait until 2016 for another Negative Plane record, I predict it will be well worth it.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10]

Negative Plane - Et in Saecula Saeculorum (2006)

Despite their rather limited discography of yet, Negative Plane are one of the very best US black metal bands out there, with a fresh take on all the classic sounds of the genre's past, from Bethlehem to Mayhem, from Hellhammer to Mercyful Fate to Venom and even Necrophagia. Though Et in Saecula Saeculorum is their sole album to date, it is superior to what many of their contemporaries have accomplished even after long careers. For this former Florida act, atmosphere and songwriting are the two critical components. Nameless Void has an excellent vocal style which crashes and collides off through the resonant, dark melodies and sinister drumming, and he is not afraid to dowse the already menacing tones with added effects to make them even more cavernous or carnivorous...like some high priest to an Elder God, invoking the formless shapes of nightmare into our reality.

Though the vocals alone put the album over the top of most anything you hear from a 1-2 man project, the music itself is also brilliant, a hybrid of archaic black, doom, thrash and heavy metal sounds which sounds like some long lost, restored classic rather than a modern work. Yes, Et in Saecula Saeculorum could just as well be an influential album from 1992 or 1993, it sounds so dark and formative like matter emerging from chaos. Bestial Devotion is a drummer who hits hard, and the loud crashing cymbals work wonders alongside Void's adventurous rhythms. This is an extremely grim work, yet not in the same way you'd think when hearing the term from so many other black metal albums. This one is close enough to original to matter.

The intro to "The Chaos Before the Light" swells with haunting choirs that almost hiss at you the ancient wisdom of the dead, and then some horn-like strings hum into a descending wall of chimes that suddenly erupts into a violent, grinding black riff with Void's growls and some sliding, warped guitars. A Celtic Frost-like rhythm then bridges an excellent, thrashing riff before the 3:00 mark. Negative Plane create longer songs as a standard rule, but they never become indulgent slabs of boredom, there are truly enough riffs to carry the weight. "Staring Into the Abyss" opens with a downward, doom melody that would not have been out of place on an album like S.U.I.Z.I.D. or Sabbat's The Dwelling, black and crushing below Void's fucking killer vocal rites. If this song doesn't turn you over to the devil, or the dark side, or whatever you want to label it, then I just don't know what can. "A Church in Ruin" opens with saddening organs...and truly this is an anthem of sunken faith, with menacing segments like the drums and melody aftre 4:00. "Death Mass" is simply one of the most brooding and disturbing, brilliant works I've ever heard in this genre, both chaotic and glorious, with killer, driving rhythms and thundering kit work.

A thousand eyes illuminate the mist
revealed visions
showing the other places
unbound by the chains of existence
beyond the hated stench of life
For we are caged in bone, flesh, and blood
Spirits of the void bound to decaying human flesh

Creepy, and not once dull in over 9 minutes. "Unhallowed Ground" surpasses even this, with nearly 10 minutes of grim psychedelia captured through creepy guitar effects, plodding bass and sparse, level percussion. This and the following organ instrumental "Trance of the Undead" make a wondering pair, fit for any funeral of the mind...conjuring black and white occult and horror film memories as if they were the standard for this frightening universe of sound. "Advent of the Beast" rocks out to the end of the album with some blasting and cavernous, crawling black metal born from the dead of night.

Despite my obvious love for this album, I cannot say for certain it's perfect. Of the many riffs, about 19 out of 20 can draw the black ichor weeping from my skin, but there is the occasionally part which doesn't hold up to the rest. The vocals and lyrics are well done libations to the occult and the realm of the dead, and the fact that two people created this is impressive. Negative Plane have all the tools to be the next major face of USBM, alongside luminaries Xasthur and Leviathan. I am eager to hear more.

Highlights: just hope for a swift death and devourment when the walls of reality begin to tear and the hunger of the unknown begins.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (screams of pain throw wide the gate)