Nechochwen – Kanawha Black
Release Date: 13th May 2022
Label: Bindrune Recordings
Bandcamp
Genre: Folk Black Metal, Progressive Black Metal.
FFO: Spectral Lore, Winterfylleth, Agalloch.
Review By: Andy Spoon
When a person dives into the history of black metal, the immediate thematic corpus is largely anti-religious or anti-imperialist themes which are based from the optics of a culture whose ancient culture was stolen, usurped, or suppressed by a larger, more European-centric view of existence. Several cultures have been able to use the genre as a media for bringing up political and historical dialogues between descendants of those who took part in cultural violence in the past. In essence, black metal is the canvas on which the imperialised or religiously-oppressed can take part in rhetoric regarding the historical context of history. Most black metal involves the Christian takeover of ancient Norse cultures and the repression of the Nordic mythology which has pervaded the northern European landscape for eons before the expansion of the post-reformation age.
I have taken on a personal mission to explore some of the more modern cultures whose plight or story lends itself to black metal, and the main cultures that have persistent rhetoric in this narrative are American native cultures (both North and South American) who faced cultural annihilation at the hands of European expansionism into the far west. While this is obviously not intending to take any particular stance on that issue (although it is something that has relevant factors in today’s social world), it bears repeating that from a substantive viewpoint, these cultures have the precise vision of the heart of black metal which is still sought after since the first wave of black metal is largely a figure of metal music history, thousands of projects taking steps into other directions.
Nechochwen is a black metal project featuring a duo of artists from American Appalachia obsessed with exploring the lost mythology, history, and spiritual connections with the regions close to West Virginia, United States, a lush mountainous area once rich with cultures, peoples, and religions before the western settlement of European immigrants. In their own statement, Nechochwen insists “we hope that these songs will also convey to the listener that the essence of the past, even in fleeting moments in our modern lives, is still connected to us in many ways through natural mystery. Kanawha Black is our attempt to tap into the veil of this connection.” While it is important to want to focus on the performance of the music in these reviews, I can genuinely say that I was excited to hear some new and fresh perspectives on the original canon of black metal thematics.
Nechochwen explores some musical themes which are not traditionally associated with black metal, but lend themselves to the overall atmosphere of that folksy, somewhat traditional sounding metal, several tracks starting with clean guitar lines and melodies and meandering down melodic and folk phrases for some time before the vocals enter. For instance, Murky Deep relies heavily on a melodic flamenco-style intro to start its mood before the hollow, airy black metal sections take over for a few bars, ultimately transitioning back to some groove elements and refrains. There is quite a lot of sound happening in one linear track.
Honestly, there is a majority of the album that translates largely to folk as the main theme, rather than black metal, which is brought in for only a short amount of time in each track, relatively speaking. If the listener is looking specifically for just something that is thrashing, screeching, echo-y black metal, Kanawha Black is probably not going to offer that level of repeated intensity. While it’s not disappointing to hear that frequent transition between melodic and extreme music, it’s definitely not going to be the same experience as similar act Blackbraid, whose overall sound dynamic is quite the opposite. Kanawha Black is meant to be more regionally-defining, not transcendental black metal, in that it absolutely relies on the melodic folk sections as the basis of the song, leaving the black metal heaviness to choice moments for emphasis.
Lyrically, the spiritual concepts of life, death, the spirit of the earth, and nature are the primary ingredient of the poetry, something for which Nechochwen is very proud. Frankly, I had thought it would be more religious and political, regarding the last days of these cultures in the wake of the American settling of the Appalachian mountain range. That is not to say I am disappointed, but on some levels, I feel like I wanted to experience some of the art that would have come from a post-extinction angst felt by the indigenous peoples of West Virginia. I was frankly hoping for a deeper dive into those issues. If you want, you could explore their back catalog for other specific matters on the historical concepts. This album, rather, dives into lore, mythology, and spirituality, rather than political matters, at least a majority of the content does. Overall, I did not find it to be a compelling listen as I was certainly hoping for more of the anger, hatred, and angst that I have heard in other projects regarding similar subject matter. That is not to say that Kanawha Black fails to impress with its plethora of musical influences, it just feels underwhelming. That being said, it still compares favorably to other folk/black metal projects of recent years in the sense of production, holistic value, and overall heaviness that listeners are looking for. It’s worth a listen, but definitely not the groundbreaking Native American black metal project I’ve been looking for in 2022.
(3 / 5)
