Me and winter have mixed feelings for each other. Where I live, all four seasons of the year are distinguishable and the weather likes to go towards the extreme of each. Winter is a particularly difficult season for me. Sure the season is beautiful with shimmering snow dusted over anything and everything. But what makes it difficult is my recurring seasonal blues that tries to hold me down from accomplishing anything. Add in a nasty cold or flu and I am a mess right now. Oddly enough, black metal helps alleviate these blues. I know what you’re thinking. “Isn’t black metal the darkest and evilest genre? How could black metal help?”. I wish I had a definitive answer. My best explanation is that the atmospheres pull in my attention and either puts me in a state of nirvana or in a state horror. This horror is similar to watching a horror movie and getting an adrenaline rush.

The other day I was digging for some new releases in the black metal world and stumbled upon a group based in Wales called Revenant Marquis. They’re a more unknown group signed by Inferna Profundus Records; a label that has worked alongside legends of the genre like Leviathan, Nachtmystium, Taake, Ulver, and Enslaved. Revenant Marquis have a very unique brand of raw black metal. Their production goes beyond the normal rough and lo-fi production that many have utilized and doubles down on the bleakness. Everything has a thick layer of muck that is bone-chilling. It just barely reaches over the experimental fence. Yet, the production still provides a healthy balance between instrumentation.

Revenant Marquis’s newest release, Youth in Ribbons, I feel can only be described as maddening. Blast beats are dense and fuzz together throughout. Some may find it grating, but it acts as another layer of disturbing instrumentation. It just latches on and drags you down to hell. Unlike some of their prior releases, such density combined with their assaulting and gritty production rarely becomes overbearing. When the drums aren’t producing relentless blast beats, they provide a great foundation. The opener “Menstruation” has a steady drum pattern that matches the doom metal-like droning guitars. Mix in a lingering layer of fuzz and it works as a foreshadow – a calm before the storm. “The Blood of Lady Tasker” has dizzying drums that are mesmerizing when paired with the distant guitars, but unfortunately this interlude stuns the overarching cold and desolate tone of the album.

The guitars across Youth in Ribbons are definitely Revenant Marquis’s best work to date. The way they shred in and out of the blast beats on “Ephebiphobia”. The rapid tremolo picking on “Ephebophilic Wraith” and “Ysgol” that is made more rough thanks to the production. Although the guitar tones across the album are dark and gloomy, some stick out as outright mortifying. “Grave Lit Transmogrification” guitar riff is pushed to the front and is outright maddening with that snare pounding with the blast beats. “Taskermilward” shares a similar tone but utilizes a smoother riff that quickly devolves into pure insanity. My favorite piece on Youth in Ribbons is “Propagator of an Unspeakable Incestuous Coven” which has a damper production on the drums and a recurring guitar chord that is aggressively distorted and continually melts further into the background as the track progresses.

Also on “Propagator of an Unspeakable Incestuous Coven” along with “The Incorporeal Hallways” are bass performances ever so slightly clearer in the mix. The bass often gets damp and staticky with the experimentative production on Youth in Ribbons, but doesn’t cause too much of a problem. It does get a little too washed out on “The Bones of Lady Tasker” among other tracks. Luckily the blast beats and tremolo picking compliments the overall production providing a stable foundation. I say stable lightly, because this is still pure madness. The vocal performances are a perfect icing on top of the kvlt cake pushing it even further into insanity. Howls and shrieks place themselves distant in the production. Crying out for pain, they echo like their at the end of an unholy deep cavern that goes deep into hell. It’s certainly refreshing to hear unique vocals on a black metal release that go beyond guttural growls and pig squeals.

Overall, Youth in Ribbons is an ambitious and refreshing black metal release. Revenant Marquis’s production hits a sweet spot in my heart for experimentation in black metal. It’s as compelling as it is dreary. It follows many black metal signatures with flare. It emits an entirely new level of emptiness into the listener. Truly perplexing and maddening. This is a must listen for black metal fans, and I hope Revenant Marquis gets more notoriety with this evolution into a more cohesive sound. I cannot wait to hear what they have next.

Favorite Tracks: “Menstruation”; “Ephebiphobia”; “Ephebophilic Wraith”; “Grave Lit Transmogrification”; “Taskermilward”; “The Incorporeal Hallways”; “Propagator of an Unspeakable Incestuous Coven”

Rating: 8/10

Released: 01/20/2020

Label: Infernas Profundus Records

Genres: Raw Black Metal, Experimental Black Metal, Lo-fi Black Metal, Doom Metal

Remember this is all my opinion and I would like to hear yours. Music is overall subjective which allows for great discussions and the chance to learn about music and your own personal taste in music. Make sure to subscribe to the blog for notifications of new reviews, and keep being a music nerd.

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