Haare have been described as "funeral psychedelic drone" which is quite a mouthful and admittedly what drew me to them in the first place. On the surface of Funeral of Souls (Freak Animal, 2010) there's seemingly very little going on: dirgy, scabrous noisescapes which drone on repetitively over two tracks which are strangely quite un-invasive and almost dare I say inviting – it feels that you can just lose yourself in its bizarre world. Though it’s quite a mind-fuck I have to say, another couple of hours of this and you’d find me in the corner rocking back and forth in the foetal position. Check it out if you’re into this sort of stuff… it might just make your day.
Now, I don’t know what you think of American culture but when it comes to black metal they’ve managed to produce some of the most delightful oddities in the genre. Case in point, Weakling’s Dead as Dream (tUMULt, 2000), which is such a dizzying, psychotropic concoction that I would even dare describe as lysergic black metal. At points their soaring riffage is quite reminiscent of their Norwegian counterparts but their atmosphere is more succumbing, more suffocating, more in your face. Just listen to the title track damnit and tell me that black metal isn’t one of the most aesthetically versatile genres the musical world has ever known! But of course they’re not everybody’s cup of tea: for some they’re too artsy, for others too self-indulged – “ugh, where’s the corpse-paint, the blast-beats, the devil-worship” I hear the tr00 crowd grumbling as I grin knowingly, almost patronizingly, hit ‘Replay’ and kick back to enjoy another spin. Great stuff.
What it is about Varathron that I find so darn enamouring I just cant say. Maybe, it’s the warm, typically Hellenic production or the fuzzy feel of the guitars, or perhaps just the sheer atmosphere oozing out from your speakers - whatever it is it’s uniquely Varathron-esque. It’s obvious that, apart from the typical black/death metal underground fare of the era, these guys were on a wholesome diet of early Mercyful Fate, Cirith Ungol et al in terms of vibe and atmospherics so don’t expect your conventional treble-ridden, blast-beat-laden Norwegian assault. The Lovecraftian aura emanating from Walpurgisnacht is unmistakable - your spine knows that much just by the way it tingles all the way until the album hits the finish mark. There’s a couple of re-releases which you can find pretty cheap on eBay but the real thing was released by Unisound back in the good ol’ days of 1995.
.eof
