Xasthur
A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors

It should be clarified that this is not Xasthur's first album, but rather a posthumous reworking of a demo, indeed, practically the first, dating back to 2001. The CD version I own dates back to 2004 and contains a note in the very sparse booklet from Malefic himself stating that he modified most of the tracks by removing many vocal parts and changing some other things here and there.

In this record, almost an official bootleg, we can find the primordial versions of some songs that will appear on subsequent records, along with other tracks and covers never seen or heard again.

The Xasthur project, for those who don't know, represents something that is reductive to define as Black Metal. Even the definition of Depressive/Suicidal Black Metal is a bit limiting for Malefic's music, as the originality of his musical proposal stands out in the current and past depressive landscape. It could be said that Xasthur represents the evolution of Black Metal in an atmospheric and environmental sense, expanding, filtering, and distancing from the listener the typical sounds of the genre while strictly remaining within the genre itself. The musical proposal, to describe it in words, represents a mix of early Burzum riffs, minimal drum machines, keyboard loops, and highly filtered acid screams. All this not in the foreground but in the second, third, and fourth layers, varying according to the sound to which the listener subjectively, emotionally, and momentarily pays more attention. This is Xasthur, and in this collection, "A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors," its fundamental aspects are captured.

It must be said that the near-total lack of vocals in this collection and the absence of a recognizable and standard song form confer an unusual homogeneity often not found in a collection, to the point that the seventy-seven minutes of the CD flow smoothly as if it were an album, leaving the listener with a meaningful, painful yet dignified nostalgia. In fact, the music offered here and later in the countless other works that comprise Malefic's musical career has something majestic, grand. It is not at all claustrophobic, sick, or negative music. On the contrary, it is pompous and majestic music, but one that makes you feel sad and desperate because it is minimalistic and decadent. Music that is at the same time very subjective and in which the listener's mood plays a crucial role. Obviously, this is not the type of CD to play while getting ready to go out with your girlfriend, but rather to listen to in moments of reflection and internal mourning, generating unique sensations. After all, when you're down for any reason, a Latin music CD certainly doesn't help lift your spirits; quite the opposite. I believe that music doesn't change moods but is only capable of generating sensations and emotions; therefore, it may prove useless and even annoying when the mood isn't right.

Often, this type of music, when it leaves its environment and comes into contact with those outside the "niche," evokes conflicting feelings such as revulsion, compassion, hilarity, particularly here on DeBaser. This is entirely understandable, yet I don't see why this type of music and its listeners, who are often completely normal people with completely normal lives, should not be respected in their tastes and musical choices.
Nostalgia, memory, sadness, and despair have been set to music and poetry ever since humanity gathered around the fire and looked at the stars, no need to be an anthropologist to know and understand this. The music of Xasthur and those like him, who make the search for despair in music their job, therefore represent the post-modern, nihilistic version, even infantile and simplistic if you will, of these ancient human impulses. And it is precisely as such that they should be appreciated and respected, in their context and nothing more.