Antlers — “A Gaze Into The Abyss” 2015 LP

Antlers -- stock image

Release May 15, 2015, Antlers are billed as Black Metal from Germany, Spain and Catelonia. That description on YouTube is too complicated. The band actually simply hails from outermost Germany.

Get this (of course, limited) 12-inch vinyl on Vendetta Records while you can. The band’s debut is Atmospheric Black Metal, to be exact.

I love the names of their former bands: EKKAIA, COP ON FIRE, SANGRE DE MUERDAGO.

Atmospherically wide and huge-sounding, Antlers are right up-to-date and they carry a menacing evil vibe. The music is very downcast and serious. EMPEROR and ENSLAVED actually pale in comparison!

The album starts, and unlike other Teuton outfits, their songs have no easy reference points. It is quite original. “Reverence”, “Carnival Of Freedom”, “Hundreds”, “To The Throats”, “A Jail Of Flesh”, and “Memories Of The Extinct” come in total at 39 minutes > All the songs are good and equal in stature to each other. It has been a long time since I heard such consistently minute-to-minute strong material, that just blankets the listener in a wall of sound.

The band have a “red” streak in them and they display the anarchy symbol in their logo, prominently.

Whatever.

Bands cramping the scene with their straight-face and grim presences cannot compete with the mighty whirlwind of Antlers. Clandestine Blaze, Nahtrunar, and Wiegedood and Wolfshade cannot — in my humblest opinion — compete with this blowaway disc.

Essential.