Album review: Exaltation - Under Blind Reasoning (2022)

Exaltation - Under Blind Reasoning

New Zealand

Sentient Ruin

Exaltation's debut album, "Under Blind Reasoning," is certainly a vicious slab of feral death metal. The hostility of the music has a certain apocalyptic quality, reminiscent of bands like Krisiun, Rebaelliun and Morbid Angel, while it also has some war metal tendencies. It also helps that the production isn't overly polished, giving the music a kind of organic appeal and raw urgency that many new death metal bands lack. Exaltation's strength lies in their ability to compose well-written songs while displaying a high level of aggression that is immediately noticeable. Listening to it, I was reminded of albums like "Black Force Domain," simply due to how ridiculously ferocious and unhinged the music is. It's also refreshing to hear a band that opts for a go-for-the-throat approach instead of conforming to trendy "old-school" gimmicks. Fans of gritty and violent death metal are in for a treat!

Interview: Kruor Noctis (2021)

 

New Zealand duo KRUOR NOCTIS play harrowing and raw black metal and have already released an excellent EP entitled "Craven Whispers" and two splits. As I was very impressed by the material on their latest EP I decided to contact the band for an interview.

Hails! Can you tell us a little bit about the formation of KRUOR NOCTIS and from which portal this malevolent entity spawned from?

Vaari: Vaark and I probably haven't seen each other for about 7 years, we used to jam a bit but never got a project off the ground together. When he asked out of the blue if I wanted to do some vocals for his project, I said yes.. I had been fairly inactive for a few years, and had not attempted putting anything vocal wise together for over a decade, so it seemed like a good challenge.

Vaark: I formed Kruor Noctis in 2006, it started as a one man entity. I always wrote black metal since around 2003 whenever I had spare time but I wanted to manifest something specific to put a far darker focus into the material I produced. I didn't want to wait to find the right people with a similar goal because I lived in a quite remote part of New Zealand and nothing would have come of it. Vaari and I had worked together in the past so when I started on new material he came to mind immediately.

What does KRUOR NOCTIS mean and what inspired the name?

Vaark: At the time of the bands inception I had a keen interest in Kaosgnosticism. I wanted a name that, in some way, represented the transformation from this world to the next. Blood Night came to mind with Blood representing the life force, and Night representing the void we all came from, and return to.

Which bands influenced your songwriting and how would you describe your sound to those who haven’t heard it before?

Vaari: There are some risks with answering that question, let's just say I was 14 in the early 90's. If anyone asks what we sound like, I usually answer dense and bleak, it’s uncomfortable music for uncomfortable people.

Vaark: Dissection was and is a big influence on me, but I wouldn't say our sound has any similarities. Kruor Noctis is an aural wall of chaotic asphyxiation.

What kind of images do you wish to instil in the listener’s mind when he/she is listening to your music?

Vaari: If you are familiar with Thomas Ligotti, I want people to have that very real yet unknowable horror creep up on them. Little glimpses of the dark behind the dark.

Vaark: I never try to consider the listener when I write this music. The emotions I feel whilst writing it have an entirely menacing and hostile intent.

I’d like to know a little bit about the recording circumstances of “Craven Whispers” and what inspired its bleak atmosphere.

Vaari: Remote, very remote. Trying to snatch moments to get anything done, with no sleep and a newborn. Thankfully Vaark and I don't have a problem with honest criticism, so if it makes to the cut, then it is not too shit by our reckoning.

Vaark: I was studying philosophy and felt inspired. I wrote and recorded a bunch of material and forwarded it all to Maldorer and Vaari to have their input. It all fell into place on its own.

I feel like your ambient parts are actually quite interesting and truly dark, as opposed to how other bands use ambience to make their music sound “nice” – care to comment?

Vaari: Visions of Ulnahar is pretty fucking great. Even in the moments of prettiness, there is something building there on the horizon. Check him out. Do it.

Vaark: I wanted a meditative element to contrast our music. A space of inflection before the storm.

I’ve been interested in the NZ scene for a while now, and know quite a few bands from there (Ulcerate, Verberis, Sinistrous Diabolus, etc.) Do you think your country has a healthy scene considering how small it is? What’s the pros and cons in your opinion?

Vaari: The scene is not something that I have engaged with really, even if I have been tangentially present for an age. The pool of good, accessible drummers is a major con, but I am sure that is true of every scene.

Vaark: The talent pool is quite limited, you will find a lot of the same people in any of the bands that are any good. There is a lot of bullshit here like anywhere else. I think New Zealand being a more isolated and bleak Norway has something to do with the great sound we have here. People are recognising it more which is good.

What’s some of the best albums you’ve heard this year? Do you make an effort to check out new bands?

Vaari: I don't think I am in touch with what black metal is up to this year. Naxzul's "Irkalla" is pretty great. The newest albums that have remained getting some play are Delirant's self titled, amazing Spanish band, Vitriol "Chrysalis" and Cultus Profano's "Accursed Possession"

Vaark: The Warmoon Lord and Chamber of Unlight albums are superb, very much looking forward to the new Pestilential Shadows album also.

What’s your opinion on your neighbours’ Australia and their metal scene? Surely the greatness of bands such as Destroyer 666, Bestial Warlust, Portal, etc., cannot be denied!

Vaari: They can do them, we can do us.

Vaark: We don't have a lot to do with them. Nazxul and Drowning the Light are great.

Now I’d like you to share your opinion on the following tracks and give each a rating out of 10:

Vaari: This going to suck, nothing personal other bands, wholeheartedly believe that music is about doing what is right for you and fuck everyone else.

Vaari: Dimmu with added grit. Would probably give another spin. 6/10

Vaark: Love Seance Records and what they do, this isn't bad for what it is. 7/10

Vaark: I enjoyed this, for me it sounded as though Angelcorpse and Blasphemophagher had some grotesque offspring, enjoy the beherit worship in the middle too. 8/10

Vaari: Apparently I am going to be that prick that compares everyone to old bands. Kinda Entombed hooks with early Mayhem aggression. Not sure if for me. 6.5/10

Vaari: Ok. Just the soundtrack to my 1999/2000. This was the song that turned me on to the madness that is Steve Austin. This song is perfect example of communicating what you want heard. 11/10.

Vaark: Don't know enough about this genre, not what I'd listen to. 0/10

Vaari: No thanks. 2/10

Vaark: Again, not my thing. 0/10

Vaari: A touch more polished than I usually like, but I got distracted and started to listening to the rest of the songs on the album. They have that "something" interesting that is them. 8/10

Vaark: This is pretty unusual, I enjoyed it for the most part. 7/10

How is the whole covid bullshit over in New Zealand and how has it affected you? Do you think it’s mandatory to do exactly as the government tells us? Is humanity free or enslaved?

Vaari: The lockdown was pretty surreal at first but having to still work kinda normalised pretty quick. Cogs still have to turn, the machine just changed it's messaging. Humans choose their masters, that is what option B is for.

Vaark: New Zealand handled it pretty well. Isolation helps. I tend to turn to experts on matters I know nothing about, if our government is heeding the advice of experts then that is probably the best advice I could take.

What’s some of your favourite films of all time and what is your opinion on New Zealand cinema? I’ve seen some entertaining films from your country such as The Ugly (underrated!), Black Sheep, Brain Dead, What We Do In The Shadows, Bad Taste, etc.

Vaari: Love a good slowburn. The Wailing (2016), A Dark Song (2016) and Hereditary (2018) are my recent go to recommendations. And anything Kubrick, Jodorowsky or Lynch. NZ cinema can be fun, but it seems a little scared to move beyond the clown mask and into something real. I guess that's why Once Were Warriors (1994) was such a stand out, it peeled back that "she'll be right mate" veneer that people like to hide behind.

Vaark: Once Were Warriors shows a side of New Zealand many probably have no idea about. I am a big Lord of the Rings fan also, but I am mostly a sci-fi fan. Arrival, Bladerunner, Pandorum and Event Horizon are some of my favourites.

If your music was a weapon & could kill people, how would they die?

Vaari: Isolation tank dropped into the Mariana Trench. Enjoy.

Vaark: Pull the air from your body. So if there's air left in your lungs, they will rupture. Oxygen in the rest of your body will also expand. You'll balloon up to twice your normal size, but you won't explode.

Finally, what does the future hold for KRUOR NOCTIS? Thanks for your time!

Vaari: A full release once we navigate the current roster of riffs for the cull.

Vaark: Our split with three other groups of New Zealand Black metal acolytes has just been released. Four very strong tracks from a few long standing New Zealand black metal acts along with two newer ones. This is available through Maelstrom Brink Records both digitally and on Cassette through their bandcamp

https://maelstrombrinkrecords.bandcamp.com/releases

INTERVIEW: VASSAFOR (2016)

The Kiwi cult known as VASSAFOR has forged a sound that would place them among the most influential hordes in the current wave of Black/Death/Doom, and also define them based on their geographical bearings, proudly branding themselves as "NZBM." (New Zealand Black Metal.) The following interview was done in 2016. 

Hails VK. Vassafor has been around for more than twenty years, what has kept the flame burning after all these years? And what would you regard as one of the definitive highlights throughout its journey?

Hello Jim. The fuel for the fire is in plentiful supply it seems, cause we are burning stronger than ever. There's no question the most important highlight of the journey so far was Ben joining during the period after self titled release came out. That was the turning point for us to become what we are now….all things now have come from that piece of the puzzle falling into place

Musically, which bands would you cite as influences regarding the fundamental development of Vassafor's sound? Has the influences changed much over time or remained the same?

I was teaching myself to play guitar the same time as I was writing the first Vassafor songs in that period and listening to a lot of Necromantia, Blasphemy, Master’s Hammer and Beherit (among many, many others) of the contemporary bands, but still obsessed with Mercyful Fate, Sodom, Frost, Voivod & Candlemass records of the 80s. The first band I played bass in was a fairly tech Death Metal band in the early 90s so I could play much more complex material but I wanted to regress to a more primitive style as many of the records I went back to listening too were things like Bathory the Return or Obsessed by Cruelty rather than the shitty life metal Swedish and Finnish “DM” bands which were all selling out and being boring clean rock music, but not even good at that! That's when I really became possessed by the real underground and started digging properly and I guess I still am 20 plus years later

How would you describe the music of Vassafor?

Dark Satanic music, i.e.- Black Metal. I don’t consider Black Metal to be a production aesthetic or guitar sound or vocal style. Its content based, that is the only requirement. For us it is venerable music of worship to our Patron, Vassafor

You've had various members come and go - is the current incarnation a stable one or more like a session collaboration? Is it hard for you to find suitable recruitments to follow your vision exactly as you wish convey it?

It certainly has been the hardest part of Vassafor’s history, but I think the first era of the band with my original partner in crime Dan Lomas which gave birth to the band and the modern era that started when Ben joined the fold are essentially the same. Both are less me only contributing and writing. Ben and Dan both are creative and contribute plenty to all aspects of the band. It has been a challenge over the years to find people, especially here in New Zealand, that appreciate the nuances of the style and aesthetic. But we have been fortunate to have some incredible musicians help us with our live aspects. The touring lineup we were able to take through the European tour in Feb MMIV was perfect. Ben and I were joined by Vince and Kevin from NW bands Weregoat, Ritual Necromancy, Anhedonist, among many others. Back here in NZ and Australia we are still looking for the final member to join us for live shows. We plan to have NZ and Aus dates around April MMIVII. Well, I certainly am a tyrant about how it has to be…but Ben is probably worse! So yeah, we are fussy, but that's because when we play live we are attempting to open the gateway….and that takes the right people. There's no short-cut!

The sonic darkness of Vassafor sounds most potent during the slow, mid-tempo alterations, with an oppressively dark, doomy feeling. Would you say that the slower tempos present a difference when it comes to playing these parts in comparison to the more standard fast tempo?  

Yeah, I want the feeling to be oozing from each note coming out of the speaker. Dynamic range gives you that opportunity to ensnare that way. Almost lull someone into the folds of the music, and then squeeze tight and crush them with the next part. At times soothing, at times oppressive…a great example of a band doing that with slow shifts of gear is Esoteric. They really are the masters of that.

There seems to be a lot of divided opinions regarding nowadays black metal, with some veterans stating that black metal is dead and that the quantity has exceeded the quality. Do you agree with this?

I really can’t understand people who’s ears have obviously stopped listening. There is so many interesting and worthwhile bands infesting the underground in most corners of the globe. Sure, there/s plenty of shit bands, but there always has been since I’ve starting listening. That's never going to change. But there are some really incredible young bands absolutely hammering it out right now. Qrixkuor for a start. I’m really looking forward to that band’s debut album…

As a sound engineer and producer, how integral is the process of achieving the desired effect sound-wise and still sound organic? Have you had any encounters with people who have misunderstood your vision? What do you think of a lot of modern bands over compressing their instruments to the point of sterility?

Well, it doesn’t even have to sound organic as such, just that the band sounds like its on the same page as each other. My biggest issue with separately recorded, click tracked perfectionism in recordings is that it is the enemy of spontaneity or feeling or dynamics generally. It sounds machine like, which is fine for technicians but is incredibly boring to listen too. I don’t want an album of mine to have identical rhythm guitar sounds for 45 minutes, that's an incredibly boring way to make a record. I like to write songs as individual pieces, and record them as individual pieces, then once I’m finished on that one, I move onto the next. There fore, on our records its perfectly obvious when the next song starts because they all have a sound specific to the song. So doom tracks have heavier and denser guitar tones because its not as much trem picking perhaps, where as a violent, chaotic song needs a different kind of production aesthetic to bring out the mood and spirit of the song.

My style definitely isn’t for everyone, and plenty of bands I have been in may not have liked it even and run towards mainstream thinking and conventional productions. But fuck all of them, I’m doing this cause its how I like to listen to music on my stereo, and if people are into working with me its because they have similar thoughts. So its really satisfying when great bands hit me up to mix a record for them as well. Recently finished the Bestial Raids new record and that was a brilliant experience to work with guys that know exactly what they want and recorded a punishing onslaught that I could sink my teeth into. They wanted it even harsher than I was going towards haha, brilliant! I always try to give bands like that exactly what they are after because its the vision of the band. I respect those kinds of bands a lot.

Can you comment on the mic stand with goat skulls and barbed wire which you employ for the live setting?

The mic stand itself is a welded piece with the sigil in the design done by a flat mate the night after we supported Mayhem some years back. He was possessed after our gig to go loose at his workshop for the rest of the night! And we have always had tons of skulls around us since the beginning, so it seemed appropriate to construct the proper pulpit of invocation in a more solid form. I track all my vocals through the mic stand as well, so its not just for stage. It’s the appropriate tool for communicating our message

As a musician, how mandatory is the process of coming up with new ideas, as opposed to staying within the style you are known for or most familiar with?

I don’t think it's very important at all actually. Much more important to be sincere and passionate than redefine the guitar or whatever instrument it is. They are just tools, but the music is communication. If the song takes us down a pathway we haven’t been on before then great, but if its just to try and show off our “musicianship” then its worthless ego driven garbage. And I’m trying to get rid of those things in my music. I can’t really see us straying too far from our formulae and spells. We are trying only to get darker and more pure, not become more popular of standardized. I guess once people hear the next record they can decide for themselves whether we were/are successful or not at that

Most people would figure metal musicians generally listen to the 'truest' of extreme metal only, or are closed to outside genres. However, I have learned from various people in bands that many musicians don't listen to just metal. Where do you stand on this? Do you let outside genres influence your musical output or do you prefer to stay strictly within the confines of the genre as is?

I’m probably atypical in that I used to have a much wider range of influences in my teens and 20's, but since my 30's I have become far more narrow minded and focused on what in metal it is that I like. I still listen to martial/industrial music, (just listened to a Nordvagr project yesterday that was superb) and still have a segment of classical music in my collection as well that gets listened to, but its mainly metal. Especially the ugly shit!

With "Obsidian Codex" it felt like you were expanding your sound to the next level. The compositions are darker, more evolved and dynamic. How long were you working on the material and what inspired the idea to write a double LP? How much of a challenge was the overall process?

Obsidian Codex did spiral out of control a bit. I knew it was going to be a lot of music, and it was designed from before the songs were written (in most cases anyway) to be 4 sides of vinyl. So each side had to be enough as a piece of music on its own terms, and then make sense to each other in context. Nemesis and Makutu were the last 2 songs completed and by far the hardest to track. The mixing of both was difficult as well as the subject matter has a lot of power and resonance, esp. with the lyrics reflecting reality rather than conceptual possibilities. The mix in Nemesis was grueling. I have no idea about how many little guitar overdubs and layers there is on that final mix…but there's a lot of buried horror within it. Finishing the master and sending it off was a pretty satisfying day…now its 4 years later and I’m nearly at the same stage with out 2nd full length. At least this one is only a single LP!!

Tell us a bit about the themes addressed on "Obsidian Codex," particularly the Māori reference on tracks like 'makutu.' You are one of the first bands I can think of that makes reference to Māori mythology. Were you doing a lot of research in regards to the themes? It's quite refreshing to see a New Zealand band acknowledging their country's culture.

Each song has a united concept but (hopefully) its own individual character. The ones most obviously born from NZ soil would be Makutu and Nemesis as each reference actual events in their own way. Nemesis from the perspective of a vengeful warrior whose Utu (sworn revenge) transcends death, Makutu from the perspective of a Magician’s curse that destroys its intended target over a brief period of time. But the other tracks are all birthed from NZ blood and dirt as well. Craft of Dissolution was conceived in a rural area of NZ during a period of almost total isolation with only a guitar and shitty practice amp and pen and paper to write with. There's all kinds of spirits and taniwha out in the wilds of this country, if you can switch off and have the eyes to see & ears to hear. Some write about middle eastern or Vedic spiritualism, but that has no relevance to me. This has relevance, and this is where our gods live…

Lastly, if anyone has any inquiries and would like to get in touch, how should they do this? Furthermore, what does the future hold for Vassafor?

Easiest way for people to contact is via our email vassafor@gmail.com. The future holds nothing but Death….and as its inevitably creeps closer we will continue to create a soundtrack for it…to the Death