The Pitch: "Four tracks of pure devotional, eerie and labyrinthic black/death metal" from Parisian band Amnutseba and underground label Caligari Records. FFO Portal, Deathspell Omega, Malthusian
What I Like: Caligari has slowly and stealthily been developing a sinister arsenol of black and death metal. Amnutseba is perhaps my favorite so far. Their riffs and highly technical drumming are at once a coiling serpent preparing to strike and a buzzing swarm of locusts at ready to devour the remains. When combined with the indecipherable, cryptic black metal howls, there are plenty of comparisons to draw with Portal perhaps most of all. Any one of these four songs could have easily made their way onto Vexovoid. And just when I think the current track is the cream of the plague-ridden crop, the next one takes it up another notch. By the time "V" hits, it sounds as if that previous swarm has been overtaken by an even larger one.
Critiques: The heavy parrallels with some of the bands above caused me to dock some points for lacking innovation; but they play the style very well.
The Verdict: In one fell swoop, Amnutseba has lept to the forefront of the Caligari catalog and made a very strong impression in general. I'll be watching for their name again in the future.
Flight's Fav's: I, V