2021 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GOOD LISTMANIA 2021 A FIRM FOUNDATION Let’s start out with some of the debut albums which laid a firm foundation for various bands, where I’d particularly like to draw your attention to the doomy delights of Poland’s Grieving, the extremely impressive Progressive Death debut by Nanga Parbat, and the ambitious opening statement from Lunar Ark (about whom I plan to write some more later this month), along with all the rest of these fine records: Angrrsth – Donikąd Ankerkeria – Matriarch Apparition – Feel Autarkh – Form In Motion Burial Pit – Subhuman Scum Grieving – Songs for the Weary In The Shadows of Giants – The Quiet World Io – Fire Lunar Ark – Recurring Nightmare Nanga Parbat – Downfall and Torment Nihilanth – Graceless Planet Silver Talon – Decadence & Decay The Silver – Ward of Roses Thermohaline – Maelström Vertebra Atlantis – Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss GREEN AND PLEASANT BANDS The UK contingent provided a variety of raucous releases for you all to check out if you haven’t done so already, and while I’d honestly recommend giving all these albums a listen if you have the time, I’d also like to specifically highlight Underdark‘s vibrant debut, which saw the band truly beginning to live up to all their promise and potential, along with the razor-sharp Tooth Over Claw by Axecatcher and the intriguing prog-powered grooves of Blind Tendril, whose new album was a late (but extremely worthy) addition to this list. And, of course, the last will and testament of my long-time favourites Send More Paramedics. Rest in pieces guys. Anakim – The Elysian Void Axecatcher – Tooth Over Claw Bleeding Antlers – Stagmata Blind Tendril – α Celestial Sanctuary – Soul Diminished Cognizance – Upheaval Craven Idol – Forked Tongues Lvcifyre – The Broken Seal Mastiff – Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth Necronautical – Slain in the Spirit Ninkharsag – The Dread March of Solemn Gods Send More Paramedics – The Final Feast Thundering Hooves – Vestiges Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Rentry Wode – Burn In Many Mirrors ONLY DEATH IS REAL This year was a big one for the Death Metal scene, in all its different forms, from crushing new releases by living legends like Apshyx and Aborted to as lesser-known bruisers such as Organic and Steel Bearing Hand (both of which I absolutely loved) and absolute annihilators from Carthage and Celestial Swarm… as well as all the other devastating albums listed below. Aborted – Maniacult Aegis of Nothos – Chronicle Aeon – God Ends Here Altered Dead – Returned to Life Asphyx – Necroceros Blood Red Throne – Imperial Congregation Carthage – Sicilian Wars Celestial Swarm – Gateways to the Necroverse Cognitive – Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction Devoid of Thought – Outer World Graves Frozen Soul – Crypt of Ice Genocide Pact – Genocide Pact Hexorcist – Evil Reaping Death Inoculation – Celestial Putridity Necrochaos – Mortal Angels Descent Occulsed – Crepitation of Phlegethon Organic – Where Graves Abound Oxygen Destroyer – Sinister Monstrosities Spawned By the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind Sallow Moth – Stasis Cocoon Snet – Mokvání V Okovech Steel Bearing Hand – Slay In Hell Terminalist – The Great Acceleration The Absence – Coffinized The Day of the Beast – Indisputably Carnivorous The Monolith Deathcult – V3: Vernedering Typhonian – The Cosmic Pendulum of Time DISSONANT DEVASTATION, TECHNICAL TERRORISM The ever-expanding “Dissonant Death Metal” scene saw some healthy growth this year, with new releases from Klexos, Sunless, and Blindfolded and Led to the Woods being obvious stand-outs in my eyes. But there’s no denying that the Technical Death Metal scene was even more fertile… with Hatalom‘s debut, the highly underrated third album from Poland’s Catharsis, and Prophetic Scourge‘s proggy-yet-punishing second album, Gnosis – A Sorrower’s Odyssey, being some of the lesser-known highlights from an extremely fruitful year. Blindfolded And Led To The Woods – Nightmare Withdrawals Catharsis – Human Failures Cathexis – Untethered Abyss Deviant Process – Nurture Fleshbore – Embers Gathering Fractal Universe – The Impassable Horizon Hatalom – Occhiolism Inferi – Vile Genesis Intonate – Severed Within Klexos – Apocryphal Parabolam Moral Collapse – Moral Collapse Portal – Avow Portal – Hagbulbia Prophetic Scourge – Gnosis – A Sorrower’s Odyssey Replicant – Malignant Reality Siderean – Lost On Void’s Horizon Sunless – Ylem Unflesh – Inhumation Xenosis – Paralleled Existence PROGRESSIVE POWER, MELODIC MIGHT If you like your Death Metal with some proggier proclivities or a dash of electrifying melody then 2021 also had some good stuff to offer in that regard, and like to give a special shout-out to both the powerfully proggy Black/Death hybrid of Dementia’s Creed and the intricately arranged riffs and rhythms of Pierceive, the second album by Italy’s Screaming Banshee, as well as the electrifying debut from Vaelmyst and the unexpectedly impressive comeback from Destinity too! Dementia’s Creed – Ain Soph Arar Destinity – In Continuum Lascaille’s Shroud – Othercosmic Divination II Morost – Forged Entropy Nakhara – The Procession Screaming Banshee – Pierceive Stone Healer – Conquistador Sullen – Nodus Tollens – Act 1: Oblivion Toward the Throne – Vowed to Decline Vaelmyst – Secrypts of the Egochasm BLACKENED BRUTALITY On the other hand, if you prefer your Death Metal with a more “Blackened” edge (or your Black Metal with a more deathly sheen) then 2021 gave you multiple opportunities to blast your ears off, with obliterating new releases from Crypts of Despair (which almost made the “Great” list), Dakhma, and Our Place of Worship is Silence, and more. Prepare to get blasted. Autokrator – Persecution Creeping Fear – Hategod Triumph Crooked God – Cruel and Blasphemous Crypts of Despair – All Light Swallowed Dakhma – Blessings of Amurdad Diabolizer – Khalkedonian Death Disillumination – Во Тьму Предвечного Слова Hate – Rugia KHNVM – Portals to Oblivion Noctambulist – The Barren Form Otargos – Fleshborer Soulflayer Our Place of Worship Is Silence – Disavowed, and Left Hopeless Sxuperion – Auscultating Astral Monuments Vomit Ritual – Callous PURE DARKNESS Segueing smoothly into the Black Metal scene, the last twelve months were packed with malevolent metallic morsels to sink your teeth into, whether that’s in the form of Concilium‘s soul-scarring debut, Desecration, or the furious final album from Human Serpent, the searing Speak of the Devil by Austral Kult, or the cruel charisma of Whoredom Rife. Aara – Triade I: Eos Aethyrick – Apotheosis Astrophobos – Corpus Austral Kult – Speak of the Devil Concilium – Desecration Decline of the I – Johannes Hegemon – Sidereus Nuncius Human Serpent – Heirlooms Eternal Lykhaeon – Opprobium Moon Oracle – Muse of the Nightside Ofermod – Mysterium Iniquitatis Whoredom Rife – Winds of Wrath MODERN-DAY MISANTHROPY 2021 also found a number of bands adopting a slightly more modern approach while still paying tribute to the genre’s ancestral roots, with Borgne‘s industrialised horror, Feral Lord‘s acid-drenched dissonance, and Wesenwille‘s mercilessly modernist approach, all being worthy of your attention and acclaim (as are all the others, to be fair). Anatman – Existence:Void Borgne – Temps Morts Demonic Temple – Through the Stars Into the Abyss Feral Lord – Purity of Corruption Grab – Zeitlang Hån – Breathing the Void Imperialist – Zenith Kosmodemonic – Liminal Light Los Males Del Mundo – Descent Towards Death Nixil – All Knots Untied Wesenwille – II: A Material God RAGING RIFFS AND GRIM GROOVES Of course, if you just want to bang your head and get your groove on – in punchy, pitch-black fashion – then you also had a wealth of wicked wonders to enjoy too, and I’m particularly partial to the grisly swing ‘n’ swagger of Russia’s Crust, the balls-to-the-wall bombast of Krigsgrav (about whom I plan to do a Synn Report sometime soon), and the sludgy Black ‘n’ Roll of Take Over and Destroy (but don’t forget about Plaguewielder, Thron or Vile Aesthetic either). Codex Nero – The Great Harvest of Death Crust – Stoic Downcross – To the Last Sunset at the Gates of Collapse Ferriterium – Calvaire Krigsgrav – The Sundering Plaagdrager – Rampspoed & Verdriet Plaguewielder – Covenant Death Sordide – Les Idées blanches Stargazer – Psychic Secretions Take Over And Destroy – Fade Out Thron – Pilgrim Vile Aesthetic – To Bloom and Flourish from Utter Rot Vreid – Wild North West Wolf King – The Path of Wrath MORBID MOODS AND AGELESS ATMOSPHERE Looking for something to utterly immerse yourself in? Then the abrasive atmospheric intensity of Arde or ColdCell should be right up your alley. Or maybe you want something with a darker, folkier edge? Then why not allow the new releases from Dantalian, Eldingar, or Pan-Amerikan Native Front to sink into your bones and get your blood boiling? Agrypnie – Metamorphosis Alda – A Distant Fire Arde – Ancestral Cult Blurr Thrower – Les Voutes ColdCell – The Greater Evil Dantalian – Death Magick Blood Eldingar – Maenads Fluisteraars – Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking Fyrnask – VII – Kenoma Harakiri for the Sky – Mӕre Inanes – Acedia Iskandr – Vergezicht Mroh – XII Negură Bunget – Zău Owl Cave – Broken Speech Pan-Amerikan Native Front – Little Turtle’s War Vvilderness – As Above, So Below Waldgeflüster – Dahoam STRANGE AND SINISTER And, hey, if you just want to get weird then we’ve got you covered there too, from Esoctrilihium‘s mind-bending Requiem for the Serpent Telepath and Maladie‘s prog-tastic The Sick Is Dead…, to the truly disturbing (and borderline undefinable) Skin Show by The Lion’s Daughter. An Autumn For Crippled Children – As the Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes Esoctrilihum – Dy’th Requiem For The Serpent Telepath Krallice – Demonic Wealth Maladie – The Sick Is Dead – Long Live The Sick Mesarthim – CLG J02182–05102 So Hideous – None But A Pure Heart Can Sing Spire – Temple of Khronos The Lion’s Daughter – Skin Show PUNCHY PUNKS AND HARDCORE HEAVYWEIGHTS The Blackened Hardcore scene was particular vital and venomous this year, so don’t sleep on the abrasive assault of bands like Anti-Ritual, Magdalene (more about them later this month) and Morokh (a long-time favourite here at NCS who only seem to be getting better and better), while the more anthemic and emotive energy of Areis and Hunted Like Thieves should appeal to anyone who, like me, came up from the Punk/Hardcore scene. Anti Ritual – Expel the Leeches Areis – Areis Arid – Arid Hunted Like Thieves – On The Edge of Giving In Kavrila – Mor Magdalene – Lightcarver Morokh – All the Darkness Looks Alive Rejecter – The Vulgar Wine Vorvan – Awakened Znous – Znousland 3 GRIND, CRUSH, KILL If you want to just get nasty – to hammer, slam, and violate your eardrums – then the Death/Grind/Mathcore triangle offered you multiple opportunities to inflict auditory violence on yourself, from the bonecrushing blackened brutality of Distant and the merciless metallic assault of God Complex‘s posthumous To Decay in a Deathless World, to the gruesome Death-Grind of Swampbeast and the unrelenting Liberation From a Brutalist Existence by Wanderer, and more! Bound In Fear – Penance Bridge Burner – Disempath Carnifex – Graveside Confessions Depths of Hatred – Inheritance Distant – Aeons of Oblivion Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions God Complex – To Decay in a Deathless World Noise Trail Immersion – Curia Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone Swampbeast – Seven Evils Spawned of Seven Heads The Breathing Process – Labyrinthian Wanderer – Liberation From A Brutalist Existence BROODING, BRUISING, BEAUTIFUL From some of the fastest, and most furious, we move onto some of the most claustrophobic and atmospheric albums of the year, whether that’s the suffocating sludge-soaked heaviness of bands like Churchburn and Kehlvin or the pounding Post-Metal of A Secret Revealed and Sigil. And then there’s moodier, more melodic offerings from the likes of Kauan and Slow Crush, or doomier flavoured offerings from Demande à la Poussière and Whitehorse. A Secret Revealed – When the Day Yearns for Light Amenra – De Doorn Black Sheep Wall – Songs for the Enamel Queen Churchburn – Genocidal Rite Demande à la Poussière – Quiétude Hostile Hemelbestormer – Collide & Merge Ikarie – Cuerpos en sombra Kartoum – Maelstrom Kauan – Ice Fleet Kehlvin – Holistic Dreams Krzta – ŻÓŁĆ.NISZCZENIE.ZGLISZCZE. Kultika – Capricorn Wolves Le Monde par le Feu – – À néant – Presages – Pleurs Redemptus – blackhearted Sigil – Nether Slow Crush – Hush Speech Act – Letters On Extinction’s Piece Sterbefall – Verlorene Zeit The Drowned God – Pale Home Whitehorse – Death Weight DOOMY AND GLOOMY Speaking of doomier offerings… 2021 gave us, among others, the deathly, funereal filth of Abysskvlt and Suffer Yourself along with the proggier, more psychedelic stylings of Spaceslug and Maha Sohona (both of whom I hope to write more about very soon), as well as the more haunting and ethereal “Domgaze” of iLLudium and shedfromthebody… plus a plethora of other doomy delights. Abysskvlt – Phur g. Yang Dalit – Moksha Faeries – Faeries The Flight of Sleipnir – Eventide Forlorn – The Answer Lies In The Black Void Funeral Void – In The Epic ov a Funeral Sunset Fuoco Fatuo – Obsidian Katabasis Ghostheart Nebula – Ascension Holy Death – Separate Mind From Flesh Hooded Menace – The Tritonus Bell iLLudium – Ash of the Womb Maha Sohona – Endless Searcher Ophis – Spew Forth Odium Shedfromthebody – To Hold the Ripened Sun Spaceslug – Memorial Suffer Yourself – Rip Tide FAMOUS FACES, NOTORIOUS NAMES Last, but by no means least, we’ll finish off with some of the “big name” bands who released new albums this year, pointing out that Gojira‘s Fortitude probably would have made it onto the “Great” list if it had been a little tighter and more concise (and the same goes for Mastodon‘s Hushed and Grim, which I really like, but think should have been split into two albums and tightened up ever so slightly), and noting that while neither the new Cynic or Khemmis albums were as good as the band’s best work they’re both still worthy additions to each group’s catalogue. Oh, and The Crown rule. ’nuff said. Be’lakor – Coherence Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined Carcass – Torn Arteries Cynic – Ascension Codes The Crown – Royal Destroyer Gojira – Fortitude Hypocrisy – Worship In Mourning – The Bleeding Veil Khemmis – Deceiver Leprous – Aphelion Mastodon – Hushed and Grim Moonspell – Hermitage Swallow the Sun – Moonflowers Scale the Summit – Subjects

 PÁJAROS DE SOMBRA

Diecisiete poetas colombianas (1989-1964)

Selección y prólogo de Andrea Cote

Vaso Roto. Madrid. Abril de 2019. 295 pp

Lo que empieza como un presente inestable se lee como una evaporación de la certidumbre

La arteria abierta que sangra acorde a la fractura del tiempo que hiere como habitante

Lenguaje que seguirá siendo lo

Una forma de desobediencia en el rictus del corte devenido en los años más recientes

La desesperación por la conservación de lo conocido

Escribir como tal vez el último camino libre que se permite fuera del área normativa de las redes sociales

No saber ya manera segura de conservar vivo un secreto

La carencia de la química adecuada para generar la chispa combustible madera muda

Caminata exigente entre las nubes oscuras de la sempiterna penumbra moral del país

Aquel atardecer que abre la puerta de aquella persona que pronto irá a fallecer

La roca engrudada en la garganta entre el regaño

 Recuerdo vertido en las cenizas previas cultivadas del corazón 

Vacío enloquecido de luz

Cerco a la ruina reciente que también conserva su ardor (criminal)

La muerte brillante que estalla de alegría desde adentro 

Herida en vez de masturbación

Desde el pasado sumergido llegó la tormenta

El rastro de quien no devolvió

Anochecer sobre sí mismo y así abrazar al origen

Perpetuarse en la felicidad

No temer a aquel sueño

El destino es abandonar el hogar

El riesgo asumido desde antes de nacer

Caer y fluir mientras se sacía la carga de la incorporación

Hablar agua y quizás llorar

Su voz como módulo de fuerza

No hay lugar para diferencias interpretativas

El miedo que se dejó como constancia de lo imposible

Su soledad en el presentimiento amargo del atardecer

¿Qué hacer mañana?

La cierta mirada desde la sombra sin objeto a cruzar

No se ha olvidado nada

La luz sostiene hoy una música triste que sobre el cuerpo se cierra;

Fertilidad de emoción

Ya cruza la sombra 

Su

Preludio de abismo

Abrazo en la cruz

Don vertical

A la víspera del límite donde ya ninguna puerta abre

Sigue

Grieta del futuro