Review: Xenoglyph – Spiritfraud

Style: Avant-Garde/Dissonant Atmoblack (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Blut Aus Nord, The Ruins of Beverast
Review by: Andy
Country: United States/GJ357d
Release date: 15 July, 2022

Earlier this year Blut Aus Nord released Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses, which expanded on The Ruins of Beverast’s trademark ritualistic blackened doom by incorporating a cephalopodian swagger. Slick tremelos wrapped their way like countless tentacles around the unwary listener’s throat as dissonant buildups rose and fell in the blink of an eye. Xenoglyph occupies today’s limelight, further expanding upon Blut Aus Nord’s avant black formula, the dissonant atmospheres this time occupying outer space. Claiming to be of a species hailing from a Neptune-like planet GJ357d, Xenoglyph are harbingers of dystopian messages and bringers of more avant-garde black to the genre’s assumed home planet Earth. 

Taking on a prophetic role to warn of humanity’s imminent destruction from the technology that should be the species’ tool, Xenoglyph experienced a technological uprising on their home planet and want humanity to avoid the same fate. Their broadcast from across the galaxy assumes the form of twisting psychedelic black metal sooner to induce a trance than headbanging. Unceasing barrages of trem picking slink up and down scales with nary a rest until one song ends and the next begins. The first two songs largely follow the same formula: blast beats, icy vocals, Omega Infinity’s industrial tinged atmosphere, and those relentless, carpal-tunnel-inducing guitar-lines. All the while the band preaches of their lost war to technology, making the irony of the electronic textures acute. 

The first track to deviate from the path carved by Blut Aus Nord is “Cyphon” with its walking, bass-centric pace. Although undoubtedly forged on the same planet as the “Mainframe Equilibrium” and “Spiritfraud”, “Cyphon” excellently uses the bass as counterpoint to the hypnotic rhythms of the other instruments. Final track “Acclamation of Emptiness” also breaks the mold with guitars following each other’s harmonies in a way almost as majestic as a track like “The Indwelling Ascent” by the metal masters of guitar canon Mournful Congregation. Xenoglyph use this technique to dizzying effect, the swirling dissonance and clean, robotic guitar tone leading to a case of musical vertigo. The production compounds this state of vertigo, however, as forty-three minutes of treble heavy, pounding drums and guitars take a toll on this listener’s mental health. A more balanced mix would make the album more palatable for long periods of time.

Throughout the album The Ruins of Beverast-like buzzsaw guitar drones occupy the less frenetic background–and the foreground also during slower moments like the middle third of “Iconocide.” This shamanic element both fills the negative space and likely alludes to the state of humanity sans technology: dark, dirty, and simple. Xenoglyph does not denounce all technological innovation, merely that which stifles progress like meaningless advertisements (Bernays would be fascinated by Xenoglyph’s philosophy, I’m sure). The near constant drone of all the instruments suffocates not long after starting the album, though, and it underscores some other major problems. While “Cyphon” and “Acclimations of Emptiness” maintain many of the traits of the other tracks, they are the only ones with major distinguishability. Perhaps the people who lived on GJ357d had greater sonic comprehension, but to me—a lowly Earth human—a track like “Spiritfraud” does little different than a track like “Nightshade Reverie,” down to the endless trem picks and blast beats.  
Spiritfraud’s mix may be too focused on the treble and the songs overly formulaic, but the cohesive style spreads their prophecy well, inducing states of dreamlike psychedelia where the robots supposedly can’t reach humans yet. Choosing to transmit a message to Earth that the band finds vitally important to the future of humankind as an avant-garde black metal album seems like an ineffective choice, but my review will hopefully promote the matter to a broader audience. I, for one, will not accept our incoming technological overlords with open arms after hearing this album.

Recommended tracks: Cyphon, Acclimations of Emptiness
You may also like: Omega Infinity, Plague Organ, Void of Nothingness
Final verdict: 6/10

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