N.S.T. @ Ayin’s Razor’s 2012 in Music

Ayin’s Razor’s 2012 in Music

I’ve surprised myself by getting into extreme metal again. Well, for the first time really – apart from a teenage interest in Napalm Death and the rest of the Earache roster, I could never really dig the lack of emotional breadth or melody in much grindcore, and hated the overstatement of death metal. All that teenage phase left me with was a deep love for Mick Harris and James Plotkin, as well as a high respect for Godflesh. Really, two bands have sealed my embrace of the dark side this year: Dephosphorus – a Greek “astrogrind” band whose second full-length has garnered rave reviews from around the web. It’s beautiful, both physically for its art and presentation, and aurally. Brutal, abrasive but intelligent; psychedelic and furious, but controlled. There’s been a massive proliferation of screamy, sophisticated-ish black metal awash with blastbeats and all those same chords and sounds – Dephosphorus do something beyond that, and hopefully will continue to push the sound beyond the very narrow furrow it now inhabits.