Xasthur

Another year, another Xasthur record. While lesser artists would burn themselves out creatively with this kind of prolific output, Xasthur’s Malefic doesn’t seem close to draining that dark well of despair anytime soon, and genre fans are that much better off for it. Defective Epitaph sees a few small shifts in approach for the man and one immediately recognisable one: live drums. With the absence of drum programming, Xasthur’s music comes to dreary, resentful life in a way it never has before and if anything, has become more caustic and abrasive. Less repetitive and cyclical than prior efforts as well, one gets the feeling that Malefic is moving towards something big with this release. That being said, it is a Xasthur record and there’s only so far the depressive black metal sound can be taken in this context. If you didn’t like what he was doing before you probably won’t care much for it now, and he probably doesn’t want you as a listener anyways.