A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors

Being one of the most well-known US black metal bands, Xasthur made a name for itself by bringing the depressive suicidal black metal (DSBM) sound to the frontlines of the American scene. This project is talked about a lot, and there are a lot of people who love this bleak, depressing sound, but a lot of people also can't stand Malefic's music. I for one discovered Xasthur a few years ago, and this is definitely one of the finest black metal bands to come out of the US. This demo, entitled "A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors", is one of his finest works, and the true beginning to a true black metal giant.

These songs are all very similar to one another. They all rely on dark, depressing melodies to create a truly haunting atmosphere. Xasthur creates some of the scariest sounding music in metal. If you have a bad case of insomnia, I would advise staying away from this demo. This is literally a nightmare in the form of music. The guitars have that raw and lo-fi buzzsaw tone which is, of course, the gold standard in black metal. The riffs can all be heard clearly and are truly beautiful, in a scary and menacing type of way. The riffing isn't too technical, however, the simplicity is one of the album's many charms. They are supposed to get stuck in your head and drag you into a bleak abyss leading to emptiness and nowhere, and they do an extremely amazing job with that. "Suicide in Dark Serenity" contains some of the most haunting riffs on the entire album, and, as with the majority of the album, the bass can even be heard very clearly on this song. This is somewhat unique, as audible bass usually is not a traditional trait in black metal, but here, it totally works. The bass tends to follow the guitar riffs and helps to amplify the melodies. Another unique moment is the guitar solo in "Cursed be the Memory of Light". Generally speaking, solos are somewhat rare in a lot of black metal, but especially DSBM. This was something I immediately picked up on after hearing this demo for the first time. This is not a technical, finger-bleeding solo, but it is pretty fast-paced compared to the overall tempo of the demo.

Malefic has some of the most tormented, hateful vocals I have ever heard in black metal. He is instantly recognizable and almost reminds me of "Filosofem" era Burzum. He sounds like he is quite literally dying, and that really amplifies the haunting atmosphere this demo radiates. The keyboards are also a prominent reason for this depressive sound. The first keyboards on this demo can be heard right away on the album's intro track, and they become a staple to all of these songs. The production used on this demo is raw and extremely bleak. Combine all of these elements together, and we get a steaming cauldron of death and despair. The drums used are programmed using a drum machine. However, they do not sound all that fake and are not distracting whatsoever. Most of the drumming is slow to mid-paced, but there are moments when the double bass really shines, and even a few traditional blast beats. Surprisingly, it's quite varied.

This has to be one of the finest demos in the history of not just US black metal, but black metal as a whole genre. With it's raw, bleak production and haunting tone, the atmosphere is truly immense and foreboding. If you're looking for an insanely fast black metal war, it would be best to steer clear from this demo and Xasthur as a whole. However, if you like your black metal slow and dreary that would make a perfect soundtrack for a suicide, this might be right up your alley. This is an immensely great start to one of black metal's most ambitious projects.

Xasthur is one of the most "popular" DSBM bands, and in fact had a great hand in pioneering the genre itself. A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirror's seems to be Malefic's first major release, and it set a tone for the way Xasthur progressed.

The noise and low production quality of this album adds quite a lot of character to it. Malefic strums madly at his guitar to create walls of chilling guitar chords that make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. For the few seconds before the screams begin, at the very beginning of this release, I feel myself breathing sharply inward in an instinctive preparation for an assault on my senses.

The guitars are a strong point. So are the vocals. Some say that Malefic sounds a bit like Varg did on the good Burzum releases, and I am inclined to agree. In re-releases of this demo, Malefic's voice is far more high-pitched and he's able to carry notes on for a lot longer. Right now, he's still practicing. He sounds like a tired old man, clawing at the bare walls that surround him, as he screams his angst as if someone will hear him.

Percussion is pretty good, albeit unimaginative. It's pretty much just blast beats and extremely predictable patterns, but I don't think this is a weak point. The progressions seem perfectly natural and intuitive to me, and the biggest problem with percussion work is that it's just a little bit too clean.

So what makes "A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors" so good? Apart from its historical context and the haunting lyrics, it's a surprisingly creative release. Some songs, such as the eponymous track, have the epic, wandering quality that traditional Scandinavian acts have used to take listeners through mist-shrouded forests. Xasthur's wandering nature forces me through the darker recesses of my own mind. The noise of the guitar chords clashing together added to the perverse suggestions whispered to me by out of tune keyboards make me cringe at my own thoughts. The bass finally shows up to draw the razors closer to my wrists, and only Malefic's screams remind me that human beings have walked these abominable roads before.

Other songs are strong too. Tremolo picking guitars so much that they become noise generators and use of keyboards to link together chilling songs was a wise choice, but there are a couple of gems in this album. The eponymous track, for example, and Storms of Red Revenge. The outro is absolutely wonderful.

Overall, we have a noisy, haunting, lo-fi depressive black metal album. The Burzum cover is a nice addition (though rather superfluous and somewhat of a distraction), so my major complaint is that there isn't quite enough of the epic, uncompromising ethos I enjoy in black metal. Maybe it comes with the neighborhood when you listen to an artist whose stated purpose is to make the listener consider suicide, but this album just didn't lead me to the same egocentricism that other greats do. It showed me very dark corners of myself, and I am grateful for that, but it left me wanting something that it didn't quite provide.

I followed Xasthur's improvement and I really liked the style of the music very much. And this demo is much more than a simple depressive black metal release, this is one of the best depressive black metal releases. The greatest thing that caught all of my attentions is the atmosphere of the tracks, suddenly you will find yourself drowning between the depressive black metal riffs and Malefic\'s screams.

The vocals remind me somehow of (Varg Vikernes) in an incredibly way, the environment of this release was created by the depressive melodies of the keyboards and the heavy riffs that mixed with the screaming vocals on the background, Malefic has shouted all of his huge potential in this demo.

"The candles of black burning in the night
I watched the smoke blowing to the south
The watching moon closing in on you
Summon the eye of death to follow you
Your blood burns within the black candles flame"

The grimness of the music and the repetitive of the heavy riffs make this demo a great beginning for Xasthur, the melodies are truly mesmerizing, with amazing breakdowns through the tracks, drawing perfect scenes of self-abuse, fury, anger and suicide, and the psychedelic bass-lines sections added a lot of melancholic feelings through the atmosphere, the songwriting of this release has reached it's best.

This demo has presented some great tracks such as, "Shrouded In Misery", "Dwelling Beneath The Woods","A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors", the raw production of this release has given it a sense of obscurity, and the mixing of this album was pretty good compared to the other underground DBM bands.

The tight drums-working has really fitted the tracks, and at the core of all this demo's tracks are really deep and dark, reflection a lot of nocturnal feelings such as solitude, and in my own opinion I guess this is the Xasthur's most melancholic release, all of Malefic's views about life have written between the lines here, this unique style of music will steal your thoughts for a while, and your emotions of sorrow and despair will be expressed here track by track, the heavy distortions will flow with the other instruments to describe all the feelings of depression.

To make it clear, this demo is one of the best depressive black metal releases, and all the fans of DBM music will be satisfied when they give it a listen, this demo has described my feelings, and so it will describe yours.

This release, which is labeled a demo even though it is long enough to be a full-length album, is one of Xasthurs first and also one of their (or his) best. From the first track (not counting the pretty anonymous intro) you can really hear how underground black metal is supposed to sound - from the furious drumming to the guitars that sound like they are riffing at random, yet somehow still contribute to creating the bleak and depressing atmosphere. The most important factors, however, are the keyboards and the vocals. The vocals are great in a black metal sort of way - sometimes they sound like Varg Vikernes yelling from a basement, and at other times it goes into an evil Nocturno Culto'ish (of Darkthrone) sort of growling. And the keyboards, oh yes the very instrument that made Dimmu Borgir so unpopular with the tr00 black metallers is acually pretty kvlt here -- check out the start of Moon Shrouded in Misery (Part I): A prime example on how keyboards can be used to create a bleak and creepy sound - simply by adding some odd 'noise'. I can't say that everything is fine and dandy however: Like much of Xasthur, some of the songs on Gate are very long and it seems like Malefic may have been a little too inspired by Kaatharian Life Code at times... This sometimes works good, but at other times, such as Suicide in Dark Serenity (which by the way ended up naming a later EP), it will start to get on your nerves as the song itself is boring, and the length just makes it boring AND overly long.

Since most of the tracks are very very much alike, I only want to mention a few: First off is Summon the End of Time, which is the Gate equivalent of Burzums 'Tomhet' (from Hvis Lyset Tar Oss) - I guess every disciple of Burzum feels the need to do such a track because the same tendency can be seen with e.g. Angantyrs 'Intethedens Larm'.

Tracks like Dwell Beneath the Woods of Evil (sounds like a song title made up by Judas Iscariot...) simply sound like early Burzum with even worse production.

A standard track is Cursed be the Memory of Light. If you wonder about how Xasthur sounds in general, try listening to it as it pretty much sums up 'the sound of Xasthur' - in both good and bad ways.

The second part of Moon Shrouded in Misery is very creepy -- just as creepy as the first part, complete with distant drums (Dungeons of Darkness, anyone?) and a weird noise that works extremely well at creeping you out. Turn off the lights, play the track and close your eyes. It works well.

And now.. following the second part of Moon is a Burzum cover -- or actually a 'medley' of Black Spell of Destruction and Channelling the Powers of Souls into a New God (I hate long titles) -- cementing the fact that Xasthur started out as a Burzum worship band. This cover can be divided into several parts: awesome, mediocre and creepy. First the awesome part: The first ten seconds of the song are the most awesome ten seconds in the whole of Xasthurs career - they simply blow the original Burzum song out of the water, Malefic's scream combined with the heavily distorted guitar shows how awesome everything could be if Xasthur had the writing talent of Varg Vikernes (or if Burzum had had Xasthurs production qualities). Sadly, the song then degenerates into some ambient stuff (probably the Channeling part, to be honest I can't remember) and goes back and forth between raw black and ambient for a (too) long time. The creepy stuff comes near the end of the track when Malefic seemingly employs the same kind of keyboard effects as he did on the second part of Moon - making the same creepy effect, and a great way to end the album.

The production on this demo/album is hard to understand... Sometimes you get a crunchingly distorted production that makes Mayhem sound like power metal, while some other tracks sound like they were recorded in another building down the road, so it's hard to understand but at least it works well.
To me, this is the (very early) pinnacle of Xasthurs carrier, and is recommended to any fan of Burzum (and other atmospheric black metal acts) who is willing to put up with a production that is sometimes exceedingly raw.

Rocks:
+ The two-part Moon Shrouded in Misery
+ The ambient Summon the End of Time
+ The first 10 seconds of Black Spell...

Sucks:
- Some tracks are way too boring and monotone - even for black metal
- Suicide in Dark Serenity is too long (and boring)

This recording acts as an all-powerful undertow in a ocean of depression. Everything here, from the layers of distorted guitars incessantly raining down like some eternal black storm eroding your will to live, the keyboards covering the songs with malignant boils of melody, to the freezing vortex of Malific's vocals keening like a haunted, decrepit wind, works to drag you down beneath the surface of the peaceful, ignorant existence others around you enjoy.

The sound is top-notch, creating the sense of unending depths awaiting you. You feel you will sink eternally, never to reach the restfulness of burial on the bottom. This is what hopelessness sounds like. The realization expressed herein, that God is a Master of Lies and his minions cover the Earth, determined to extinguish even the faintest spark of hope for escape from the slavery of his Law, isn't a warning, a call to arms, or even a raging cry of defiance. It is bleak acceptance of the final, inevitable, crushing reality of defeat.

If you're angry; if you're still strong; flush with the lust for blood and revenge; if your magickal will still twists the mind of your enemies and brings them down to ruin; if you still feel the might of a legion of black brotherhood standing with you in spirit; this record is not for you. This is for the leprous pariah who knows... KNOWS... that the hateful light will come to blind all eventually. It has been written. It cannot be changed. All that remains is the insufferable wait for the eternal black shroud of death to erase all knowledge of what has been lost.

As pretty much anyone reading this knows, Xasthur is a one-man "depressive black metal" outfit. He's fairly popular within the underground, and, on this album, his style is a combination of old and new; the sweeping, heavily distorted, repetitive guitar work placed over a pulsing bass and frequently layered with a second guitar on the accented notes, distorted high-pitched vocals that sound like a wind tunnel from hell, and straight-ahead drum-machine work are all traits that will be highly familiar to anyone who's heard just about anything by Burzum, Darkthrone, Mutiilation, or a host of other bands, and thus probably to anyone who's reading this review. The somewhat innovative touches are the dissonant chords that the guitar utilizes and the particularly spacey and unresolved quality of the keyboards; however, the effect that these elements are used to is rather suspect.

The material here is surprisingly rockish in its concentration on creating background textures of sound, over which a surprisingly bouncy and upbeat rhythmic hook created by the admittedly excellently programmed drum machine. It frequently even seems like the melody in the riffs itself is aimed at furthering this, with dissonant notes having a tendency to fall upon the emphatic beat, creating a rhythmic expectancy based on tone. The result of this is music that aims to be "depressing" based on its textures and general sound (particularly in timbre), but anchors itself more within the realm of bitter-sweet schmaltz that you'd expect to hear in a "sad song" played on an oldies station. Occasional keyboard epiphanies play out melodies that you wouldn't expect to hear in a black metal album, in that they're not the slow background droning that Burzum made the norm (not that those are absent entirely), but they seem almost like they were lifted from a horror movie, or perhaps a carnival fun-house at times. As the title would indicate, the result is very contrived; Xasthur concentrates on creating a "depressing" atmosphere, but there is no authenticity, no honesty behind his creation, which results in tedious listening. Add to this the fact that if it weren't for the gaps between songs, there would be no telling them apart, because Malefic has apparently never heard of putting transitions between two unrelated riffs (that still manage to keep the same stale mood), and you've got a recipe for utter failure.

Xasthur is a Black Metal act that has been around for some time, similar in make up to Judas Iscariot, Xasthur’s is a one man black metal bands from the United States, although musically unlike them to an extent. A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors is Xasthur’s debut(full length) effort towards melodic, atmospheric, and harsh black metal. Its always interesting to see what debut albums do. Do they go for a used formula to gain immediate fans? Or does the band try something new and build up its own unique style of black metal gaining more respect. Xasthur does that later with A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors. A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors creates a great melodic atmospheric environment laced with great guitar, and keyboard work, as well as some great unique vocals. The pace and feel of the album are something to pay attention to.

The overall formula for the songs on A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors is to start out with a raw straight forward in your face rift. Throughout the song a variation of the riff will be kept and rolled. This is what largely creates the great atmosphere for A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors. A great thing about this album is that Malefic can have two to three minutes of guitar work that is not that intense or varies that at all, and still have it sound great. He accomplishes this through the use of subtle changes that elevate the mood and atmosphere in the song. Lacing these sections of the songs with long keyboard notes that change as the riffs change make this one truly unique black metal act. Throughout the album you can find examples of this, most noticeably in Dwell Beneath The Woods Of Evil.

The signature element of this album, and perhaps on of the most unique things in its category is Malefic's vocals. Although similar to some, they are a clone of none. Malefic doesn't use structure for his vocals or work them into the rhythm of the song. For him to do that would not work. Malefic's vocals are a harsh, elongated screech that have some sort of reverb or large hall effect added to them. He places them over his trademark atmospheric music to create a dark and grim effect. The best examples of his vocals are on Possessions of Desolate Magick. There are moments when the screeching becomes inhuman, as if a beast was doing them. He stretches them out to create a truly grim, raw, and disturbing sense of a black metal atmosphere. These vocals are by far some of the best Vocals I have heard from an American Black Metal band. Better than Krieg's, Kult Ov Azazel's, and on par with Judas Iscariots.

One thing about this album that is not up to the standards of the rest of it is the drumming. By no means is the drumming bad, its actually quite good, and if this drumming were on another album it would be more noticeable. The Strands set on A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors through the guitar, keyboard, and especially the vocals. They drums don't do anything to be unique, they just seem like they are there because they need to be there, which obviously they do. They are always good sounding, and only once on Cursed By The Memory of Light do they standout somewhat, where the song becomes quiet and melodic and the drums heavy. They certainly don't take away from the music.

Perhaps the most Unique moment and memorable is on Cursed By The Memory of Light. At the usual bridge halfway through the song where it becomes its most atmospheric, Malefic breaks his mode and chooses to make the song really intense and less melodic. A guitar solo, which is fast and seems that it belongs in a more aggressive black metal band starts over a progressing keyboard which keeps building up into a flowing, melodic, slow outro that has a signature screech from Malefic over it. This is defiantly the most intense moment on the album and it also stands out the most.

You will not enjoy this album if your not into melodic and atmospheric black metal. There are perhaps one or two aggressive moments on this album and that is all. No trademark pounding drums or brutal vocals or sick riffs. Everything on this album is well laid out, well played and well put together. A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors is a well structured album. Structured in the sense that everything is placed where it should be. A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors is the most memorable atmospheric black metal album I have heard. A must buy for any Black Metal Fan. This album just falls short of perfection.

Xasthur is an American one man black metal band. It is not a random form of black metal which we are presented with here. The style is old, ugly, raw and Burzum inspired, which should get any evil mind going. Though it is very Burzum inspired, sometimes can it be hard to hear the difference, between this and the early Burzum material! The material on the album is from the start in 1995/95 and to this day, and it is a great slap of black metal, which invoke nostalgia. If Malefic is a good musician or not, is hard to hear, while the music he plays doesn´t demand to much. He doesn´t seem to have any problems with the style which he is presenting, all instruments are well performed. The vocals should be mentioned as a great thing , it is cold as ice, and cuts through marrow and bone, that´s the ultimate highlight. The production is also dark, raw,deep and muddy and initiate a certain feeling of coldness. The length of the album is 75 minutes and contains 13 tracks and a ´double´ Burzum cover, so you gets something for your money. If you are addicted to Burzum or just icecold old school black metal, from before corpsepaint and inverted crosses became commercial, so is ´A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors´ for you, this is fucking great!