I’ll always owe the New York black metal scene for helping me get into the genre. I’ll never forget where I was the first time I fell in love with a black metal record. The year was 2013, and I was waiting for my wife in the sofa section of a Sam’s Club. Luckily, I had a pair of headphones and a promo copy of Woe’s Withdrawal, which isn’t even their best record, but the power, the atmosphere, and the ability to conjure up something more meaningful than just hokey Satanic gibberish struck a chord then – and has stuck with me ever since. There’s an existential despair and longing that the best black metal can evoke, and the right combination of tremolo riffs can be downright spiritual.
All this is to say New York’s black metal scene is incredible, and the recently released sophomore record from Brooklyn’s Anicon may be the shining beacon of all black metal records in 2018, not just for the Big Black Metal Apple (trademark pending). Named after the refusal to create representations of the natural and supernatural world (think of the backlash against pagan idolatry in the early Christian church – if you’re as nerdy as I am), Anicon aren’t crafting their black metal rituals to pray at the altar of the Norwegians or the newer Cascadian gods. No, Anicon’s take on extreme metal feels like an “all things to all people” approach to the style without selling out their collective souls. Entropy Mantra is wonderfully atmospheric, but it’s sure as shit doesn’t sound like Deafheaven; it’s also overflowing with blastbeats, but it’s too melodic and pensive to don corpse paint. Hell, many of the riffs are not entirely blackened – hints of death and thrash abound.
What makes Entropy Mantra so successful is how everything comes together. The balance of riffs and atmosphere is incredible, leading to a consistent, elegant listen. The record’s elegiac peaks and valleys evoke the frustrations of daily life in a city – the feelings of loneliness amidst the masses and search for fulfillment in a capitalist society run rampant. Entropy Mantra doesn’t evoke images of nature or the old world so much as it does apartment complexes and pointless pointy skyscrapers. It’s all odd considering Anicon’s musical formula isn’t necessarily all that different from your standard modern forward-thinking black metal act, but the Brooklyn act’s focus and unique mix of driving and atmospheric results in a singular listening experience. The record is continuously more visceral and attention-grabbing than you expect, with riffs or drum fills figuratively snagging your proverbial collar.
Entropy Mantra is a complete package – an album that demands your attention musically, thematically, and spiritually. I have little idea what exactly Anicon wished to evoke with this record, but the emphatic musical scope results in a singular listening experience that gripped me from the onset and refused to let go. That’s what’s important about this listening experience; no matter how it makes you feel – and it will demand you to experience something – there’s ample musical enjoyment to be had regardless. Ultimately, Anicon’s latest masterpiece is an ode to the soul of black metal, and it’s unique ability to connect to the soul of the listener. It’s just the unique route the act take that makes this record so special.
