Xasthur
Telepathic With The Deceased

Physical and emotional dissipation has a new name: Xasthur. It is not the deceitful advertisement of the breakthrough album of the year; it is a message to those who love Black Metal in its most sinister and dangerous expressions; it is the pure truth. Now among the leading figures of the American Black scene, the band was formed years ago as a trio, but before long the demanding founder (Malefic is his pseudonym) found himself alone behind all the instruments. Xasthur, once a guy named Mike was also excluded from the project, ended up becoming the "child" of Malefic's mind, a way to express his feelings and a vent for his immense creativity. After a myriad (and when I write "a myriad,” I really mean a huge amount) of collaborations with other exponents of extreme music from the US and beyond (Sunn O))), the "colleague" Leviathan, and the Norwegian Nortt) and after another myriad of Demos, Eps, and Lps, Xasthur gave birth to this "Telepathic With The Deceased" in 2004, perhaps not the best of his career (and here I leave it to the experts) but certainly the one I preferred and that left the greatest impression on me.

Obviously, for those familiar with the genre, the moment they read "One Man band" and "Black Metal," Burzum will immediately come to mind, and rightly so; in fact, Xasthur (like Vikernes, Nargaroth in Germany, Leviathan itself and Abyssic Hate in Australia) can be classified under "Depressive Black," that evolution of Black Metal that aims to recreate atmospheres as emotionally degrading as possible. As for the album in question, it cannot truly be said to have influences since our man demonstrates a highly personal style; certainly, you can recognize elements of early Burzum and others in common with fellow Leviathan, who, in my opinion, gives more space to Raw Black elements than Malefic does.

A dozen songs of medium-long duration (from the three minutes of "May Your Void Become As Deep As My Hate" to over nine of the title track) that lead the listener into an unfathomable pain and, what's worse, unavoidable; a very rough and distant production (but less so than in other works I personally find unlistenable like "Suicide In Dark Serenity," a matter of lack of affinity for Black, I suppose) carries sick, fragile, and at the same time hate-filled sounds. Cursed sounds, sounds that speak of weakness and despair, and that in the end are not even sounds. As Fallen pointed out, Xasthur's music does not use notes, or a staff, but uses perceptions, feelings: distant echoes, arriving from who knows where but with a very precise purpose, to torture those who listen to them. It is absolutely inappropriate to talk about technique when discussing such arpeggios that, indeed, couldn't care less about musical approach; just listen to one, hear how the keyboard crawls within it, to understand that those are not sounds, but the voices of the worst human feelings. Diaphanous songs that proceed with the same rhythm as the blood flowing from a wound; fast at first, then slower and slower but unstoppable in their constancy and masochistic implosion. And above all the voice, a filtered scream, nails on a blackboard, the perfect side dish for such a unique offering; the contemplation of ruin, seen through the eyes of those who are undergoing it. And again cold, hunger and lack of appetite, fatigue, and insomnia in the lines of a surprisingly (by Black standards) audible bass and a nerve-racking guitar.

In ancient Greek, the word "dèinos" means both "grand" and "terrible, frightening" (more or less like "terrific" in English) and never was an adjective more suited to a musical proposal; "Telepathic With The Deceased" has no tragic colors, it is the faded photo of bittersweet memories, it is the mist when you wake up in the morning and wish you had died overnight, it is the instinct to stop and let your life go on without you. It is an invitation to close your eyes and not open them again in the fade-out of "Abysmal Depths Are Flooded"; ten songs with dark charm and damnably beautiful for an artist who surely still has much to say.