Rapid Log: 014

Rapid Log 14 features five releases in the black metal realm. Here's the list:

The Breaching Experience - Dark Resonance (2024)

Production: 7.5/10

Composition: 6.5/10

Tracklist:

1. Mute 4/10

2. Subexistence 6/10

3. Appassionato della Morte 6.5/10

4. Melanchology 7/10

5. Gjöll 6.5/10

6. Dödveden 6.5/10

7. The Holobiont 6/10

8. Abystopian Smile 6/10

OVERALL: 60/100

Ingrain - Aembers (2015)

Production: 9/10

Composition: 8.5/10

Tracklist:

1. Bramm 7/10

2. Fragmented Mind 7/10

3. Firmament 7.5/10

4. To see 7.5/10

5. Outro 8/10

6. Voidd (bonus) 7.5/10

OVERALL: 80-/100

Kuolevan Rukous - Demo 2023 (2023)

Production: 8/10

Composition: 7.5/10

Tracklist:

1. Trägheit 7/10

2. Scherbenschmelze 6.5/10

3. Verblichen 7/10

4. Tempelschlaf 7.5/10

5. Niederungen 6.5/10

OVERALL: 70+/100

Lightlorn - At One with the Night Sky (2023)

Production: 9/10

Composition: 8/10

Tracklist:

1. Amongst stellar remnants 7.5/10

2. A tragedy in starlight 8/10

3. Dimensionless blackness 8/10

4. Ghostly soliloquies 7.5/10

5. Of longing spirit and infinite solitude 8.5/10

6. Spiral arms like swirling rivers 7.5/10

7. Earthbound 7.5/10

OVERALL: 80/100

Vagrond - Caliginous (2011)

Production: 5.5/10

Composition: 7/10

Tracklist:

1. I 5/10

2. II 7/10

3. III 5/10

4. IV 7/10

OVERALL: 60/100

Comments

Black metal isn't always produced cleanly. Rough, rusty, jagged textures, even excessive noise, have become iconic in their own right. Of the five bands above, Vagrond presents a sound dominated by a somewhat rough atmospheric layer, still within tolerable levels, though not quite atmospheric black metal yet. Then The Breaching Experience offers more standard quality, but the output volume still feels lacking—you need to turn it up on whatever app you're using. Kuolevan Rukous leans closer to black/doom/sludge metal, with riffing at a heavy pace that has its own potential compared to the two bands above.

Meanwhile, Ingrain and Lightlorn, with their post-black metal style, have the most optimal recording quality, allowing you to focus on emotion and atmosphere. Ingrain uses more energetic riffing with progressive touches and adds clean vocals in the vein of Alcest, but personally, I prefer the melancholic night-time atmosphere at fairly standard/up-tempo pace from Lightlorn.

So, I think readers can get a rough idea of these five bands. If you like post-black metal, go for Ingrain and Lightlorn; if you prefer lo-fi or standard black metal, there's Vagrond and The Breaching Experience; and Kuolevan Rukous for those leaning toward the doom/death/sludge metal edge.

That's all.