Canadian Black Metal can take many forms (notably the band Blasphemy), but the other day I picked up this promo for a band called Endspace, and I have to say this is an Industrial Black Metal horror show. First Contact is the name of the album, and this creepy bastard is making my Sci-fi horror heart so happy right now.
Some parts Pain, some parts Aborym and a Blackened version of Skinny Puppy. This is a mechanized assault on the senses. Like the best Sci-fi horror game you’ve ever played (you know, if you’re into that sort of thing). The way the song titles are done is called Transmissions. I think that’s cool as fuck, and each one has its own identity that makes it an incredibly enjoyable sequence.
“First Transmission” gets the ball rolling with some huge Pain vibes; the vocals are otherworldly and unsettling. I love the autonomous nature of the effects on the display. The guitars are compressed to the point of being squashed under the cyber hellscape.
“Second Transmission” is like hearing the demise of a planet. It implodes, reconstructing itself with the noxious vocals supplied by members 040118180514 and 102119200914. No, I don’t know who is doing what because the male vocal is distorted to the point where it’s nothing but crackles and pops, and it’s countered by the harsh, female vocals that seem to howl from the outer world.
The “Third Transmission” and the “Fourth Transmission” are like bursts of kinetic energy, contained to a small, private place. The “Third Transmission” is a slow, crawling miasmatic space slug, while “Fourth Transmission” is a striding nightmare with some insane vocal antics.
“Fifth Transmission “ goes heavy duty on the Darkwave tip. It goes almost full-blown Hard Techno in the midsection of the song, sounding like a computer locked in its death throes. But it’s “Sixth Transmission” that is my favorite song on First Contact. It has a swirling, Dead Space video game tone to it, like right before the Necromorphs attack and rip you apart. The second half of the song is furious blasting, and I wish the drums were more pronounced; it is what it is, though.
“Seventh Transmission” is more of a classic Black Metal with some grinding electronic elements added for good measure. Endspace plays with tempos like a cat with a dead mouse. Therefore, “Seventh Transmission” has some lunatic vocals that sound like a robot on acid.
“Eighth Transmission” starts with some slow, plodding drums with the haunting keys in the background. It erupts into a supernova of violence with this cool as fuck riff that propels the track forward with galactic menace. This is unlike anything I’ve heard recently, and I fucking love that! Totally original take on the genre, unapologetically fantastical. Finally, the “Ninth Transmission” comes crackling through the speakers. Soaring vocals match the blasting drums hit for hit, and then it shifts tone completely and does some Space Jazz before the relentless blasts kick in. This is such a powerful album that I want to exist in the world it creates.
So yeah, I love First Contact. Endspace has created a Black Metal experience that isn’t afraid to experiment with mind-crushing brutality and subliminal Darkwave with Hardcore Techno sensibilities. If you like Thorns, Skinny Puppy, Suicide Commando and Aborym… you need to get this motherfucker now.
