Blattaria - Dismantle The New Cult (Self-released)
Blattaria's latest album doubles down on the skittering riffs, claustrophobic atmosphere, and cockroach druidism that made his previous records so flavorful, deepening the haptic feedback between solo black-metal artist and his abdomen-brained muses. The result is the most cohesive and unique record in an already colorful discography. As you might expect, this is a decidedly dissonant and chaotic album, but each track is scaffolded around spiny chromatic arpeggios that iterate to provide much-needed structure. Much like Serpent Column or Gudveiki, the atonal fret-scudding and schizoid songwriting are bolstered by completely unhinged, frantic drumming that sustains a flogging pace. This is an explosive album, but there's a brooding, psychedelic edge to the insectoid aggression that also invokes bands like Skáphe (in the vocal department, especially) or HWWAUOCH. It's not that type of trippy, though, so put away the black light posters and glowsticks. The locust-swarm assault will "harsh your mellow" with its mastery of a paranoid, Cronenberg-esque mood that feels like watching Naked Lunch on a bad batch of DMT. It's a win-win in my book when an album can be simultaneously violent and vibey, and Dismantle The New Cult succeeds on both fronts.