This has been my obsession for the past 2 weeks or so. Cannot get enough of this. I start thinking about the riffs in my head when I'm listening to other stuff, it's that good.I think I may have touched on it briefly in my Howling Wind post, but if not, Profound Lore is probably the bets metal label out there right now. Thanks god they're Canadian. And thank god for their love of New York and Colin Marston and all of these amazing bands that they keep snatching up.
To be fair, calling Castevet just Black Metal isn't quite exact (did I call it that yet?). It is, but it isn't. The drumming is fucking amazing, more along the lines of modern hardcore, same with the vocals, sort of grunted and shouted out... far from your blast beats and witchy screams. But the riffing... fast, repetitive, is pure BM. They also share some similar traits to their other hometown BM peers in Krallice & Liturgy in that there's aspects of progression. These riffs aren't just on spin cycle for 4 or 5 minutes. They grow, expand and become something else all the while never feeling like they've entirely changed the outcome of the song you started listening to. The songs all have space to breathe too. Sometimes a band like Liturgy can become a bit daunting since they're pretty much moving at hyper-speed at all times. A band like Krallice requires a lot of attention because the guitar inter-play is so intricate and ever-changing and songs can change direction in a second. Castevet allows their songs some room to move. There's no claustrophobia here. You're not going to feel like you're being choked out by the music. They throw in sort of post-hardcore angular riffs here and there. The bass lines are sparse and heavy as hell, and go figure, audible. They've also thrown in horns for the last 2 tracks.
I can't say for certain or not if this new wave of USBM, coming of out New York predominantly, will have any lasting effect on what's happening in metal music, but if anyone's been paying attention to any of the trends, pretty much all modern heavy music lately has encountered a good handful of young artists borrowing styles and influences from everywhere and just sprinkling them into their bands' sounds. I think it's to the benefit of heavy music... moves it forward, changes its shape a bit and keeps it fresh. I wouldn't call it cross-over entirely... it's not death-core, blackened death or anything that clear cut. Would you say Converge are just a hardcore band these days? This past decade even? At the heart of it sure, 'cause they're not as full on metal as some metal bands... but they're usually more vicious than most metal bands, so where do they belong? They're just heavy as fuck aggressive music. I think a band like Castevet fits that bill too... not so much the heavy as fuck bit, but I think you get what I'm saying. They have their feet planted firmly somewhere, but they can lean in any direction they want... maybe even take a full step if they want.
Listen: Red Star Sans Chastity
You can pick this up from Profound Lore (I'd recommend doing that very much) or just DL it here.
Castevet Myspace
Tracklist:
1. Red Star Sans Chastity
2. Mounds Of Ash
3. Grey Matter
4. Red aura
5. Stones
6. Wreathed In Smoke
7. Harvester
Stolen from http://www.alldark.org/blog/
Oh, and for being a 3-piece, this band sounds HUGE.
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