Orrery - Nine Odes to Oblivion (2008)

Genre: Black Metal (instrumental)
Country: Australia

The most captivating aspect of Nine Odes to Oblivion are the blank spaces. Thanks to it's production - raw, but certainly not unlistenable - there are scattered moments where I'm not sure exactly what I'm listening to. Is it the actual music, or am I just projecting what I think would sound best here? After of years of listening, I still don't really know; and I absolutely love that. It's personal, visceral and  each individual that listens to it will have their own unique experience. It's a transcendent album and you're only doing yourself a disservice by not listening to it.

Orrery

Nahvalr - Nahvalr (2008)

Genre: Black Metal, Ambient, Noise
Country: United States

Before Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga was Have a Nice Life, they were Nahvalr. Very little similarities can be drawn from the two bands musically because one is a shoegaze post-punk band while the other is a noisy black metal band. Really, the only similarity that could be drawn are the feelings of dread that both bands evoke. The interesting thing about Nahvalr is that it's an open sourced album meaning that it takes fan made music and edits and distorts them. The beauty of this album is that despite being made from several different sounds across the globe, it still sounds like a cohesive album. Be warned because this is a really inaccessible album due to its noisy nature.

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Einna - Les Angoisses d'Arcadie EP (2008)

Genre: Screamo/Post Metal
Country: France

I'm somewhat iffy on the genres, but that doesn't stop this from feeling massive as fuck. Einna creates towering post-metal atmospheres, some of the best drumming you'll ever hear in any genre, and screamo-like guitar playing. France does in fact produce some of the best screamo out there.

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