The Asteroid Bullet Belt

They'll never drag me out of the dark alive. In my time listening to metal, I’ve found myself enjoying music from a variety of countries whose language is not English. Nevertheless, they oftentimes opt for English as their mode of lyrical expression, given that it’s the world’s Lingua Franca. Perhaps it’s a way to reach wider audiences, or the language they felt more comfortable writing in. All the same, it creates a Berlin wall-esque barrier between artist and listener, as the former doesn’t get to express themselves in their native tongue, and the other has to use English as a means of connecting with the art. In turn, this means that the cultural differences between musician and listener are obliterated, as they have to make way for a common mode of expression. It does allow for a bridge to be built across cultures, but it invariably results in things being lost in translation. That being said, some artists do make use of their native tongue, and although I’ve always been a “rif...

Digging your own grave V: One crypt closes, another one opens.  One of the universe’s constants is the corrosive passage of time, and Μνήμα, for better or worse, are not exempt from it. 2 years after their inception, X. would part ways with our unnamed multi-instrumentalist, resulting in the band becoming a one-man project. Thankfully, the duo decided to close that chapter of the band’s existence with their best work up to that point, the Interment EP. While each of the band’s projects I have covered thus far has managed to engage me in its own unique way, this is the first time I find myself swept off my feet, my time spent with Disciples of Excremental Liturgies notwithstanding. For one, this goes completely off the path Μνήμα has walked up to this point, primarily in the fact that it’s *slow*. Whereas the furious tremolo riffing was used to weave intricate textural tapestries that blurred the lines between white noise and black metal, here it serves as an exclamation mark. Alt...

Digging your own grave IV: The [adjective + noun] of Time, part 2.   Well, I gotta admit. I didn’t expect to be filtered by a Μνήμα release this early into this series. Given how harsh their music is, I expected there to be at least one of their works I’d struggle to digest at some point in their discography, especially when the “Noise” tag looms large alongside “Raw black metal”. It was a matter of time until I stumbled upon something that truly put the noisier aspects of their music to the forefront, and The Superior Poisoner of Time does precisely that. That being said, the black metal is still there, albeit in a heavily obscured capacity, overlaid with some of the rawest sounds Μνήμα has ever committed to tape. Whereas the riffs and song structures on previous releases were easy to pry apart if you were already predisposed towards lo-fi black metal, here it’s all turned into a massive wave of hissing static that wants to push your limits. It all sounds so fucking busted t...

[Insert a very crass joke about carpets and drapes here]  As 2025 is slowly drawing to a close, it was only natural that I’d find myself writing about the last show of the year. Usually, when I’ve had a very full year, I like to ruminate on what I had seen up until that point, and see how the season finale stacks up to what preceded it. As I’ve only been to a total of three shows this year, it’s not hard to decide which one I liked best. Perhaps it’s recency bias, or it could just be me having turned into a massive fanboy over the course of November, but getting to see Mortuary Drape play All the Witches Dance in full with Nihilism as an opener was hands-down the best show of the year. Unfortunately, the quality of the show itself was not reflected in the turnout for the Italian cult, as the venue was far from full. I can’t rightfully tell you whether it’s because of a lack of promotion, or because the average Greek metal fan lacks an appreciation for the more obscure and esoteri...

Digging your own grave III: Dripping ichor.  (Disclaimer: I will be skipping the individual releases of the Gathering Sorcery to the Eternal Portals of the Past EPs and will be treating the 2022 compilation as a full-length.)  “Once is an accident; twice is a coincidence; three times is a pattern.” This paraphrasing of an Ian Fleming quote has been one that I’ve seen appear in my life time and time again. Actions originally deemed to be singular instances see themselves gradually turn into behaviours that define an entity. One such case is Μνήμα, the pattern in question being one of constant tweaking and experimentation with the basic raw black metal formula, which, while not always providing the most awe-inspiring results, has been a consistent source of interest for me. Every time I move on to another of the band’s releases it’s done with a mixture of apprehension and excitement as to what they’ll be doing, and 2019’s Forbidden Creatures of Time is no different in that respe...

Digging your own grave II: Striking something solid. For how prolific Μνήμα has been during its existence, the vast majority of their output came to be after 2018. Whereas the 2019-2022 period saw them put out a minimum of three releases a year, the first two years of the band’s existence are home to 3 releases combined. Even then, the more leisurely schedule the band went by at the time was put to great use, as the difference in quality between the topic of this review, The Remains of Human Bones EP and the 2017 self-titled demo is immediately noticeable. For one, it actually addresses one of my chief complaints about the previous release, that being its length. While the succinct approach endemic to EPs persists here, the fact that we have 3 tracks spread out over 17,5 minutes instead of 4 in 13 means that we get to see the band try their hand at more elaborate and engaging songwriting that actually sees its ideas through. The riffs get some breathing room and actually get to lodge ...

Digging your own grave I: The first spadeful of dirt.  Black metal has always been a genre that waxed and waned for me, either due to the time of year, or because of the headspace I found myself in. For the past couple of Novembers, I have been indulging in the practice commonly referred to as Nothing But Black Metal November (NBBMN for short), and this time around I decided to emphasise spending “quality time” with a small handful of artists. Not so much running through entire discographies, but rather familiarising myself with some albums. Among those was Μνήμα’s debut, Disciples of Excremental Liturgies , which I found myself spinning time and time again over the course of the month. It wasn’t my first contact with the band, but it was the most substantial one, and the grip it had me in inspired me to look further back into the band’s catalogue. Lo and behold, their entire discography was available for 12,5€ on Bandcamp, and who am I to say no to such a deal? This leads us to th...