Resuming Ending the Circle of Life...

British melancholic black metalers Lyrinx released an EP back in 2009 titled Ending the Circle of Life. Seemingly insignificant in the sea of depressive black metal, what was then (and maybe still is) popular,  Lyrinx unjustly fell to the wayside as bands such as Xasthur, Shining, and an unfathomable amount of USBM became the toast of the bedroom scene. 

Ending the Circle of Life skipped over banal keyboards, absurd whining vocals, and the overall stiffness that came with doing the whole goddamn album on a computer (not to mention my biggest enemy, drum machines). And while they fall prey to conventions of the genre (over the top titles) they do hit the nail on the head. 

Much like Nyktalgia, Lynrix (post-Nihilistic Purity) rely on core elements; a modest production and well written and performed music. The strength of Ending the Circle of Life was the song writing as each of the two tracks covered an enormous gap of time and distance as they progressed like larvae to a dried up moth. "No Failure in Suicide" sways back and forth utilizing a brilliantly catchy guitar riff and great drumming until it builds up into a mid tempo blast beat and a complete outpouring of emotion and energy. The song finally struck me as I worked one day, nearly ten hours straight on an awful silk-screening project, as it must have played in my playlist for a major portion of those ten hours. Every time I rediscover this EP it is amazing how content I feel with just these two songs.

With all of this in mind, after nearly two years of silence, Lyrinx are set to release their full length in late 2011 through Avantgarde Music, entitled Restriction and Failure.

If I lived in the U.K I'd be pretty depressed too.

Taken from Avantgarde Music's page, and written by members of Lyrinx, about the upcoming album they had this to say:

"This album focuses on the drone-like soul destroying nature of capitalism (or the system), and provides and analysis of the illusory nature of reality. Consciousness could be considered to be a miracle, yet the human spirit is divided and crushed by process, tax, and social structures...Musically this album will represent the old (Nihilistic Purity), and new (Ending the Circle of Life) but will also include elements of progressive metal and post-rock melancholy"

While I'm sold on the gimmick (it's nice to see a black metal band say something political that isn't in support of National Socialism (although this treads dangerously close)), the idea of progressive metal and post-rock makes me think of later Amesoeurs. I have a problem particularly with the "progressive" tag, but we'll just have to wait and see.