Beatrik “Requiem of December” CD

Now that December's over and gone I figured this would be a good one to cover. Beatrik hails from Italy and started out as the solo project of a guy "named" Frozen Glare Smara (I'm not really into the band name, and perhaps now I know why!), and it still sort of is since he currently handles all of the writing and instrumentation sans the drums. "Requiem of December" is the band's second full-length of self-proclaimed "funereal melancholic black metal", released earlier in 2005 by Avantgarde Music, and this really is the perfect form of black metal in my book. Rather than focusing on speed, the focus is on atmosphere, balancing traditional uses of blasting tempos with drawn out "funeral doom" passages reminiscent of acts like Nortt, as well as plenty of pounding midpaced rhythms with winding riffs that carry a slightly more "modern" Norwegian sensibility. The chilling dissonance and cold, distant sort of rawness to the sound throughout accentuate the tortured screams as well as nailing the precise feeling that I tend to look for within this style of music, and despite songs averaging seven to eight minutes apiece (some more, some less), the total running time of nearly 50 minutes for just six tracks never gets boring.

Beatrik "The Last Wandering"

I picked this one up from The End Records a few weeks ago after eyeballing it for a couple of months and it has since sold out. I imagine they'll get it back in stock within a month or so, but you can still grab it elsewhere, so I'd do so sooner than later if it interests you, 'cause you never can tell when this stuff's just gonna vanish and become quite a chore to track down:

@ Relapse Records